First off, a huge THANK YOU for sticking with Beer Factory, playing the game, and keeping this game lively.

Before anything we want you to know that the development of Beer Factory will resume and you will be provided by updates soon.

We’re excited to share that a new partner studio has signed on to build Beer Factory 2! And so the owner of the IP has been transferred to MyceliumGames. Like mentioned previously, the work on Beer Factory 2 will work only after the work on Beer Factory 1 will be finished.


The last year’s been a tough slog for the original title, and—full transparency—that turbulence isn’t over. Some things are outside our control, but we’re committed to keeping the taps open and communication honest.


Got questions? You can join our discord and we will be happy to give you an answer

Thanks again for keeping the dream fermenting. Here’s to the next chapter—cheers!

— MyceliumGames

修复战争迷雾清除异常

It's been a long while since the last update. My freelance work required more attention, and I also made a pretty massive blog post comparing the cinematic tools of Unity and UE, which took most of the time I would've otherwise spent on the game this year. If anyone's interested in the topic, here it is.

However, the last couple of weeks I've had ample time to focus on a new update.

The first mission used to be also the tutorial. This forced me to steer the player in a certain direction with some artificial triggers and indicators, although the mission is pretty open sandbox-like in nature. Now there's a wholly new tutorial level explaining the basic things. Though it still continues a bit into the first actual mission, the tutorial elements there are much less disruptive.

I was using a pretty outdated version of Unity, so I updated to the newest big release a couple of months ago. It should have some improvements for lighting and rendering performance at least. While getting acquainted with some of the new features (and working on the blog post about cinematics), I also tried out the realtime global illumination called Enlighten in Unity. It's not new, but I only just learned about it. It's a good way to add some convincing indirect lighting, which you can see from for example the shadows on the left side cast by the pillars on the screenshot above having a teeny bit of light. It has quite little effect on performance, but still, I had to be selective about which parts to bake to keep it playable on Steam Deck. Educated by a comment on the cinematic blog post, I also found better shadow settings, enabling soft shadows as well, which I put to use with the quality set on High.

• I finally added leaning left and right, useful for spying on guards. While the head is still a target they can see, it's a smaller target at least.

• There's an outline now as an indicator when you can knock out an enemy

• I did a few rounds of playing through the campaign and fixing bugs and problems I listed during the playthrough. So without going into detail, there are lots of bugfixes.

Since the Unity update changed my settings, I also reworked the skies, now using the cloud layer in addition to volumetric clouds (with a cloud map provided by Unity). Better or worse than before, I guess it's up to the viewer to decide.

Now I'll move on to making new content. Pace has been slower than I've anticipated, but it's all coming together slowly but surely.

Wishing everyone a good day. Work is in full swing, and I don’t have time for a detailed report — there’s a ton of small tasks related to quests and polish. I’m going through all one hundred quests for the upcoming update, and it’s quite a grind. Once that’s done, things should move much faster.

So yes, I’m hard at work. There’s still a lot to do, but everything is coming together very well. I’m starting to suspect that too many news updates without a game update might get annoying, so I may post less frequently for a while.

After the final boss, homunculi will appear that trade instead of characters

Every time you find Josephine with coins, the amount of gold that is lying around increases

New red spider has a lot of health and protection

The jumping spider is now bigger and stronger, and it always drops a tiny emerald.

The red barrel can now be moved

Fixed the rotation in shooting spiders

Now when the player picks up a torch, it will automatically equip it in the active hand if it is empty.

Rebalanced damage in the tutorial

Fixed a glitch after loading the player has little health in the tutorial

Fixed a bug with Pickaxe leveling

Just a small update today. A new build of the game has been uploaded with a new feature that will hopefully make life easier. I was noticing that a lot of players are missing messages from Erica, so I added a message history menu where you can see the last 10 messages she has said to you along with the helper icons:

This menu can be accessed by the lower left button on the main UI next to Erica's portrait:

Clicking on it will bring up the menu, then you can either hover over the up and down arrows to scroll the menu, or use the mousewheel.

A full list of changes is below:

0.4.01

⦁ Created a notification history menu to show previous notification messages. The notification message history is accessible by clicking the Notification History button on the bottom left of the main UI. The notification menu is scrollable by hovering over the up and down scroll buttons on the notification history UI, or by using the mousewheel.

⦁ Corrected the size of the capacity icon when it's tutorial notification was being shown.

⦁ Notification messages will now continue to show while the game is paused

⦁ Added some additional tutorial messages

Thanks builders!

-Joel

Dear players,

A new Open Beta patch for Pro Cycling Manager 25 (version 01.02.03) is now available! This update fixes a crash introduced in version 01.02.02.457, which could occur when in the game setting.

• Open Steam > Go to your Library

• Right-click on Pro Cycling Manager 25 > Click Properties

• Go to the Betas tab and select open-beta from the dropdown

If you encounter any bugs or want to share feedback, please add \[OPEN BETA] in your message title so we can track it more easily!

---

• Fixed a crash occurring during game setting (parameters screen).

Note: Saved games remain compatible, and no action is required on your part to apply the fix, simply update via the open-beta branch. Thanks for your feedback and vigilance, keep it coming!

---

Thank you for your continued feedback and support! 💬🚴

You can report bugs or share suggestions on the game Discord server:

https://discord.gg/bKz7CU2gWu

>> https://linktr.ee/cyclinggames <<

[dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/2511310/Pro_Cycling_Manager_25/"][/dynamiclink]

This week we're mainly working to improve some UX/UI aspects.

While we're working on that, we already give you a small post-weekend patch.

Changes

• Vastly improved load time of complex house layouts.

• Prevent the Crypt Card from showing up after the Crypt was already built.

Fixed Bugs

• Fixed End Building button being interactable without the entrance room built when starting a Nightmare.

• Fixed the Card Upgrade SFX not being effected by the volume settings.

• Fixed unlocking of the Crypt as a Legendary Room after completing a run below Nightmare 13.

If you've encountered any other bugs or crashes, you're always welcome to log them in the Steam Discussions, we'll have a look at them.

If you like the game and the direction we're headed in, feel free to leave a review, as this helps us more than you think!👻

And again, a big thank you for playing and all your feedback ❤️

Wow – we’re absolutely overwhelmed by the number of players who checked out the Star Birds demo and the heartwarming feedback you’ve shared! Seeing so many of you dive into our game and enjoy what we’ve built means the world to us.

Beyond the kind words and excitement, we’ve also received a lot of valuable, constructive feedback. You’ve pointed out what worked, what didn’t, and what could be better – and we’re listening closely. Now, we’re hard at work integrating these insights into the game as we prepare for the Early Access launch.

We’re absolutely thrilled to see how many of you are already bringing the world of Star Birds to life with your own passions and creativity. Whether it’s taking part in the very first Star Birds Community Event (results coming soon!), unlocking the first hidden items in the main menu, or even diving into early speedruns — it’s been amazing to watch.

Now we want to take a moment to recap what we’ve learned from the demo, and share a bit about what’s coming next.

• Over 100,000 players have already played the Star Birds demo since its launch during Steam Next Fest on June 9.

• The demo reached over 40,000 players on the very first day.

• Star Birds climbed into the Top 10 most-played demos of the Steam Next Fest, peaking at over 3,000 concurrent players.

• The demo reached #13 on the Steam Next Fest leaderboard for most-played demos.

• It earned more than 1,000 user reviews with a 95% “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating during the event.

And that is also to your credit! 🙏

"This feels like a game tailor made for my brain, calming and chill music, fun graphics, and resource management, it ticks all the right boxes." - redtailia

"Absolutely love the relaxed and simple structure that becomes step by step a little more complex over time, without getting too insane :D" - Artsuad

"It has birds in it" - Rick (... after over 3h of playing <3)

Providing a well-liked demo, has propelled Star Birds into the Top 100 of Steam global Wishlist ranking.

👉 Right now Star Birds is #95 on the global Steam wishlist charts with over 350,000 wishlists. 🥳

As an indie project, Star Birds relies heavily on word of mouth and YOU – and that’s where Wishlists come in. For you as a player, they don’t cost you anything, but for us, Wishlists are a powerful tool to gain more visibility. Your Wishlist has been a tiny click for you, but a rocket booster for us. We have Lift-Off! 🚀

Yes, we read all your feedback. We really do. Thank you so much for the constructive response — we’ve received over 3,000 messages filled with reports, ideas, and suggestions. We feel incredibly lucky to have such a thoughtful and engaged community that not only supports the game, but actively helps shape its future with smart, detailed input.

As we go through everything you've shared with us, our first priority has been to ask: What’s preventing players from actually getting into the game? Whether it's hardware compatibility issues or frustrating softlocks, we want to make sure everyone can start playing without roadblocks. We're also looking closely at which quality-of-life improvements we can realistically implement before the Early Access launch — especially as a small team.

Here’s an overview of improvements and iterations that are currently sitting at the top of our to-do list for the Early Access version of Star Birds.

• Performance issues, especially during cutscenes or certain UI interactions - performance & stability improvement high on our list!

• Widescreen & hardware support - we're working on supporting wide screens and resolving incompatibility issues with certain graphics hardware (esp. noticeable when cutscenes aren't working on some devices)

• Tutorial break points and softlocks causing frustration - we're aiming to get rid of all of them and have a smooth onboarding experience in our release version

• Sometimes asteroids are generated in a way that they are frustrating to play on - we plan to improve the generation algorithms to have better control about the different kinds of asteroids that can appear

• "Demo nice but short" - we're working hard on lots of additional content coming in our release version. Campaign levels progressing the story, expedition levels with high replayability and achievements for special challenges

• Pipe handling finicky - we want to improve this to make drawing pipes more satisfying

• Desire for additional hotkeys and keybinding support - super helpful to hear your suggestions and expectations so we can make the controls as intuitive as we can

• Wish for concrete numbers to understand requirements & optimize production - we want to keep the UI clean but also want to find places to provide all the necessary information to play optimally

• Star system map readability - this becomes more of an issue the bigger the level gets, so definitely on our list!

With all the amazing community engagement over the past days, we’ve decided to keep the demo online for a while before the Early Access Release. That way, you can keep jumping in for a relaxing round after work, shave a few seconds off your speedrun time, or finally check it out if you haven’t had the chance yet.

Thank you again for being such an engaged, supportive, and kind community. Please keep being the thoughtful, constructive, and collaborative crew you’ve shown yourselves to be — you’re truly fantastic.

Honestly, we’d go to space with you. 🪐🧡

---

Star Birds is an indie project by Toukana Interactive and kurzgesagt. We are over the moon to have such an amazing community. You are the reason why this project exists. If you want to support us, Wishlist the game here on Steam, and tell your friends about it. If you would like to be the first to read content like this and are looking for more in-depth insights, we recommend our newsletter – sign up athttp://star-birds.com/nl.

Vic (VR Designs) is hard at work completing Republica DLC for Shadow Empire, an expansion that focuses on politics. With this DLC, we’re introducing a completely new layer of depth to how regimes are governed, and how political systems can evolve over time. 

To showcase the themes of Republica as development continues, we’re presenting a series of narrative sketches and designer notes that explore all nine political systems featured in the DLC.

Today’s spotlight: Meritocracy.

The essence of meritocracy is in selecting the best candidate for the job. Not one of your friends. 

Please note that these images and ideas are conceptual representations of the Republica DLC, meant to illustrate the narrative and thematic tone of the DLC. In-game footage and visual assets will be revealed later in development. 

The Supreme Leader strode through the vast expanse of the newly completed Level IV industrial complex, his presence flanked by the Zone Governor, the Foreign Affairs Council Leader, and a retinue of silent apparatchiks. The air hummed with the thrum of the heavy machinery.

“This is remarkable,” the Supreme Leader remarked, his voice reverberating in the huge factory space. “And all of this… made possible by the technology shared with us by the Atlantean Federation?”

The Council Leader, a man of few words but great gravitas, nodded with a grunt. “Yes, Supreme Leader. Though, it’s worth noting they’ll be significantly enhancing their tank armor thanks to our research pact. That’s the price we pay.”

The Governor, eager to direct the Supreme Leader’s attention, placed a hand on his shoulder and pointed towards a distant section of the factory. There, four conveyor belts converged into a complex, robotized assembly. “Do you see that, Supreme Leader?” he said, his voice tinged with awe. “I’ve never witnessed such efficiency. Ammunition production has tripled in the past year alone. It’s astonishing!”

They continued their tour, eventually arriving at the foundries, where steam and noise blended into a general mayhem  that overwhelmed the senses. Molten metal flowed like a river, cascading into leaden molds. The Governor’s Vidcom device buzzed, pulling him away from the group. He excused himself, retreating to a quieter corner to take the call.

Seizing the moment, the Council Leader leaned in closer to the Supreme Leader, raising his voice to be heard over the machinery. “We need to replace our easily impressed Governor, and soon. His awe is endearing, but he’s failing in his managerial duties.”

The Supreme Leader nodded thoughtfully. “I trust your judgment,” he replied, his gaze following the Governor, who, oblivious to the conversation, waved back with an ingratiating smile, gesturing that he needed more time.

The Supreme Leader turned back to the Council Leader. “Moreover,” he continued, “wasn’t Governor Zarko something of a brute in the old days?”

The Council Leader chuckled, a dark sound barely audible above the industrial din. “Indeed. He was notorious for personally overseeing the most brutal tortures. He still clings to the immense wealth he accumulated during the oligarchy. It’s clear—his time is up, not just for the sake of efficiency.”

The Supreme Leader’s expression remained inscrutable as he nodded once more. “Your concerns are duly noted, Council Leader.”

As the Governor returned, the Council Leader greeted him with a thin smile. “Ah, Zarko the Terrible,” he muttered under his breath. “Not so terrible now, are we?”

Out loud, he said, “Welcome back, Governor. No bad news, I trust?”

Meritocracy is one of the better systems that provides the player with plenty of bonuses and good Regime Feats. On top of that having a Senate instead of a Parliament means there will be less Laws voted and no danger of overburdening the Nation with legislation. A Senate will also pay much more head to any desires of the Supreme Leader. But it is also one of the more fragile systems because there is both a lack of checks and balances as well as a lack of absolute authority of the Supreme Leader.

Meritocracy means the rule of those with the most merit. Now there are many definitions of merit possible. Any definition would really be quite subjective. Who decides what merit is after all? The best for whom? In the Shadow Empire Universe the ideal form of Meritocracy is the rule of the most capable: those most skilled, most wise, those best at their job. This is exactly what we see happening in the story above, the Zone governor is not very suitable for his job, and voices will go up to replace him. 

However once the Virtus Score of the nation goes down the definition will change and will shift towards the rule of those that have the most Social Standing. Lower Virtus Meritocracy will thuswise slowly devolve into an Oligarchy. 

Be careful to not be too complacent with an Oligarchy as it has a tendency to entrench itself. Atrophy in your ranks will set in as your Senate will start to substitute Social Standing for Suitability and Capability. It will get harder to get new Leaders to important positions. 

Once things turn sour for the Populace due to exploitation by the Oligarchs they might rise up in revolt to dispose of the hated Oligarchs and install a democracy so everybody gets equal power. After all, why would only a small percentage of the Populace have the power? Especially when using it in their own naked interest only? 

Obviously the more a Meritocracy turns into an Oligarchy the more hated the Senatorial elite will be. At high Virtus Meritocracy the elite tries to strive to get the best man on the job and that helps in commanding respect for the system… In an Oligarchy it becomes clear that the elite only has its own interests at heart.

Wishlist Shadow Empire: Republica DLC
[dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/3645760/Shadow_Empire_Republica/"][/dynamiclink]Download Shadow Empire
[dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1154840/Shadow_Empire/"][/dynamiclink]