Star Birds News

Where do you go after making Dorfromantik, the 14th best puzzle game on PC? Unto infinity, chick. Unto infinity, and all the uranium-packed celestial masses it contains.

Berlin-based Toukana Interactive are back with Star Birds - another “soft strategy” sim and laidback resource management game, in which you take charge of an avian asteroid-mining operation. They're making it in collaboration with Kurzgesagt, an edutainment studio who specialise in telling stories about science.

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[p]The Star Birds Early Access Version is out now. Play Star Birds today.

[/p][p][/p][h3]Star Birds takes flight into Early Access today!
[/h3][p]In the Early Access version, you can dive right into 7 full Story Levels, plus additional randomized Expedition Levels for endless replayability. This is just the beginning—regular content updates will be landing until the full release, so there’s plenty more to come. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]What’s inside Early Access?[/h3][p]In this Early Access version, you’ll set out into a brand-new star system where things get frosty. [/p]

• [p]🥶 The Bird Crew will encounter icy plains rich in methane and water to extract, and rugged plateaus that demand clever ramp-building to traverse. [/p]
• [p]⚡ To power up your expanding settlement, electricity comes into play for the first time, adding a new layer of resource management and strategy. [/p]
• [p]🚀 Alongside these new mechanics, the campaign story continues: the Bird Crew’s hunt for the mysterious Strangelet carries on, with 7 story missions to experience in this phase of the game.[/p]
• [p]🏆 Look forward to building upgrades, cool achievements, and challenge yourself with the Star Score![/p]

[p][/p][h3]Why Early Access?[/h3][p]For you as players, Early Access means you don’t have to wait—you can start playing Star Birds today at a special early bird price and help shape the game’s development with your feedback. For us as an indie team, Early Access gives us the chance to keep the project sustainable while staying true to our studio philosophy: learning, iterating, and building the best version of the game together with our community.[/p][p]Early Access lets us refine the game with your help. During the Early Access phase we can gather your player feedback early on and make sure Star Birds grows in the right direction. This is especially important since Star Birds has lots of depth, systems, and balancing.[/p][p]The current Early Access version is already a very stable and smoothly playable experience. We're looking forward to our community playing the game, giving us feedback here in the Community Hub, on Discord or in-game.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]🚀 Take off with the Bird Crew today—grab the Early Access version of Star Birds now on Steam!


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[/p][h3]Download Star Birds & Join Our Newsletter[/h3][p]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, download 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 at toukana.com/starbirds.

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[p]Thanks to your great feedback, we have agreed to keep the demo available for the past 2 months even after the Steam Next Fest ended. We’ve noticed that many of you are still playing the demo every day and that makes us very happy! Here are some of the highlights to round up the Alpha (pre Early Access) demo run:[/p]

• [p]Over 200,000 people played the demo on Steam![/p]
• [p]You left nearly 1,500 reviews with an 95% "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating. [/p]
• [p]Most importantly: your feedback has been invaluable, and we’ve already implemented changes for the Early Access release on September 10th.[/p]
• [p]Most of you wishlisted the game! If you do not want to miss out on our release benefits for next week, make sure to add Star Birds to your wishlist![/p]

[p][/p][h2]One Last Weekend to Play the Demo[/h2][p]That said, the demo has now become quite outdated compared to the current build of the game. To make sure the Early Access release shines as it should, we have decided to allocate all of our resources during the past weeks towards improving the main game, rather than updating the demo.[/p][p]This means we'll be disabling the demo from the Steam Store after this weekend. You can still enjoy the demo until Monday, September 8th, 10:00 AM CEST.[/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink] [/p][h2]How We Used Your Demo Feedback[/h2][p]Community feedback is essential for a small indie studio like us. From balancing adjustments and quality of life improvements to your feature requests, we've taken your input seriously and incorporated it into our ongoing development of Star Birds.[/p][p]One major advantage of Early Access, which we were already able to put to good use with Dorfromantik, is that we can evaluate your feedback during the game's production and incorporate it into the ongoing development. We therefore always welcome constructive feedback in the Community Hub or on our social media channels. Thank you![/p][p]If you’d like to dive deeper into how player feedback shaped the Early Access version, check out our detailed post here:[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h3]Wishlist Star Birds & Join Our Newsletter[/h3][p]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 at toukana.com/starbirds.

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[p][/p][p][/p][p]We’ve been heading back from Gamescom, and what an unforgettable experience it has been! Exhibiting Star Birds at the Indie Arena Booth was a true highlight for us. Five jam-packed days, filled with excitement, energy, and countless amazing encounters.[/p][p][/p][h3]Star Birds at Gamescom – What an Incredible Week![/h3][p]From Wednesday morning at 9 until Sunday evening at 8, our 13 demo stations were constantly filled. We were overwhelmed by your curiosity and enthusiasm for our new game. Meeting so many of you—whether you’ve been following us for a while or discovered us for the first time—was truly heartwarming.[/p][p]By the end of the fair, every last Star Birds tote bag was gone, all holo-stickers vanished, and every piece of merch had found a new home. What we brought back instead: countless impressions, heartfelt conversations, and memories we’ll never forget.[/p][p]We were there in full force with both teams, Toukana and kurzgesagt, and it was such a joy to spend this time together. We couldn’t have wished for a better collaboration at the booth.[/p][p][/p][h3]Gamescom Award: Best Merch[/h3][p]We’re beyond excited to share that we won the Gamescom Award for Best Merch! At our booth, visitors got the chance to play Star Birds and then try their luck at our custom-built Gumball Machine. With every turn, players received a capsule that revealed a surprise prize.[/p][p]A huge shoutout goes to Maximilian Haas (IG: boringbear_art), who designed and built the incredible Gumball Machine, complete with a looming asteroid on top. 🤩[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Thank You! You Made Gamescom Unforgettable[/h3][p]A big thank you to the press and industry folks who stopped by to play Star Birds. And above all, thank you—the players. To those who already knew us and shared kind words, and to those who boldly launched into space with us for the very first time: you made this Gamescom truly special.[/p][p]Gamescom is over, but Star Birds is just getting started. Back at home—tired but inspired—we're getting everything ready for the Early Access Release on September 10. See you in space! 🚀[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]About[/h3][p]Gamescom is the world’s largest consumer gaming event, held annually in Cologne, Germany, since 2009. It serves as a platform for game developers, publishers, and hardware manufacturers to showcase their latest products to both industry professionals and the public. Millions of visitors attend to experience game demos, esports tournaments, panel discussions, and community events.

Thanks to our friends from Indie Arena Booth for having us![/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p] [/p][h3]Wishlist Star Birds & Join Our Newsletter[/h3][p]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 at toukana.com/starbirds. [/p][p][/p]

[h3]
Star Birds Early Access launches September 10th 🚀🐦[/h3][p]The flock is almost ready for takeoff! After months of building, tweaking, polishing, and planning, we’re thrilled to say that Star Birds will launch into Early Access very soon.
To make sure the journey starts smoothly, we’re adjusting our flight plan just a little: instead of September 4th, the launch will now be on September 10th, 2025.[/p][p]
Why the change?
Last week at Gamescom we had an intense but wonderful time with there was a HUGE surprise announement: Team Cherry announced the release date for the long-awaited Silksong, and we don’t want to collide beak-on with such a massive hype-supernova. Both games deserve their moment to shine and we wish Team Cherry an amzing success!

And honestly, we’re super excited to play Silksong ourselves, too! 🎮✨
[/p][p]These past weeks have been and are still incredibly exciting (and a little hectic) for our team, as we’re juggling lots of things behind the scenes and quickly reworking our release plans. Your feedback and suggestions really helped us make this call, so thank you for your passion, patience, and support - it means the world to us. 💜[/p][p]We can’t wait to finally share the Early Access version of Star Birds with you on September 10th!


[/p][h3]Wishlist Star Birds & Join Our Newsletter[/h3][p]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 at toukana.com/starbirds
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