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Timberborn News

Timberborn demo is here!

Hi!

You’ve been asking us to make Timberborn available to a larger audience. So, how about just letting everyone play? We've just released our first-ever, time-limited demo – just in time for Steam Game Festival starting next week! 🥳

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]What's in the demo?[/h2]

While the Timberborn demo replaces closed beta, the included scenario gives you a dam good idea of what our beaver city-builder is going to be around the Early Access launch:

  • Irrigation – using both rivers and artificial water sources such as canals and irrigation towers, beaver water engineers keep the ground arable.
  • Dams and terraforming – you can experiment with Timberborn’s water physics by putting up modular dams, digging emergency reservoirs with dynamite, etc.
  • Stackable architecture – in Timberborn, many buildings can be placed atop one other, creating multi-level megastructures and saving limited space.
  • Lumberpunk – the evolved beavers erect buildings and craft machinery using wood and metal scavenged from human ruins.
  • Wellbeing – while the drought is the main threat in the demo, every simulated colonist has a series of needs such as Hunger, Comfort, or Spirituality you need to satisfy.


The demo is a more curated experience, aimed for a wide spectrum of players, even those less familiar with the city-building genre. Some features, such as the map editor, are disabled, and we had to cut on the sandbox-y freedom of large maps where all buildings are available.

For those who had played the game in the past, it’s a perfect opportunity to see the progress Timberborn has made. Heck, you’ll see and hear something new even if you played the game yesterday – how about the all-new beaver models? New music? Refreshed menus? Fixed bugs?



Yup! Gone are the days of our beavers impersonating Mr Potato Head!

Detailed patch notes can be found here.

[h2]Demo availability[/h2]

The demo is available in English only. For early access launch, Timberborn will be available in eleven languages. You already know about English, Polish, Spanish, German, French, Russian, Brazilian Portuguese, and Simplified Chinese versions, but we're also adding Italian, Korean and Japanese translations!

The demo is available on Steam until February 16th, 2021 – a week after Steam Game Festival ends. As we continue preparing Timberborn for the Early Access, however, we might hold additional tests in the future, be it in the updated demo or by hosting special playtest events.

CLOSED BETA PLAYERS: for technical reasons you may get a message from Steam that your Timberborn beta key has been revoked, but you should be able to continue playing since the demo is public. If there are problems let us know.

[h2]How to play Timberborn Demo?[/h2]

To download the demo, simply go to Timberborn's updated Steam page and click the button at the top of the game's description.

After you have played, share your feedback with us on our Discord, and spread the word!

Happy building!

Timberborn Closed Beta ends on January 26th, 2021

Hello, everyone!

On January 26th, after over seven months, we will be turning off the Timberborn closed beta in its current state. We would like to thank everyone who spent hours building settlements full of hungry and homeless happy beavers, and shared their valuable feedback with us.

Mechanistry is an indie team of seven. It is your suggestions that help us set the direction for Timberborn’s development and shape the bright lumberpunk future.

Now, now, why the log face?

With thousands of applications, it was impossible to grant beta access to everyone who signed up or participated in the giveaways. You asked us, time and time again, to let more people play Timberborn.

And that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

Want to know what’s the next step? Check back next week. We think you’re gonna like it.

PS Yes, that's the new beaver model.

Patch notes 2021-01-05 (hotfix)

We have just released a hotfix patch:
  • Fixed a bug causing some beavers to be transparent on macOS.
  • Fixed a bug causing some beavers to emit delicate light at night.
  • Reduced VRAM usage by up to 1 GB depending on your hardware.

Patch notes 2020-12-22 (hotfix)

After the previous hotfix patch, the game is now much more stable. We're aware of the framerate drops at certain points (when the drought comes, for example), and we'll address that down the road. With today's update, we have addressed a few other bugs.

  • Soil now fluidly transitions between wet and dry textures.
  • Beavers no longer ignore resources in paused buildings.
  • The “No tree in range” warning no longer shows up if there are seedlings in range.
  • The status icon above resources marked for demolition no longer disappears above water.


Again, if you do experience a crash after this update, please send us an error report via the post-crash screen. We review them all and it makes it easier to identify and solve the problem quickly. You may also post the report on our forums.

Holiday Developer Stream

As promised in the patch notes for the new update, we would like to show you the magic of Droughts in Irrigation live on stream!

Need a hint on how to keep your beaver settlement alive after the changes? Want a beta key? Or maybe you're interested in a sneak-peek of what’s coming in 2021?

Join us on December 22nd, 2 PM GMT, for a special holiday developer stream! You can also tune in on our Twitch or on YouTube.

Update at 5:20 PM GMT +1: the stream has concluded but we have left the rebroadcast running for a moment after a request from our players. Later today, we'll put it down and put it back up later (tomorrow?) with the "waiting" part removed and the "rebroadcast" label added.

Update on Dec. 23rd: You can rewatch the stream below. Thanks to everyone who joined us!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]