Celebrate Earth Day with Earth Appreciation Festival 2024!
Hello, everyone!
To answer the most burning question, yes, we will soon give you a sneak peek of what's coming in the next major update for Timberborn. Please stay tuned!
In the meantime, however, here's something extra. The Earth Appreciation Festival, our annual Steam sale, has returned to celebrate Earth Day on April 22. That's today!
Earth Appreciation Festival 2024
Until April 29, check out the double-themed event we're co-organizing with Stray Fawn Studios (The Wandering Village) and Slug Disco (Empires of the Undergrowth). Across 130+ awesome games, we're exploring both nature-focused titles and games set in the eco-dystopian future.
Earth Appreciation Festival highlights the issues of todayâs world. Be it climate change (Frostpunk 1&2), lack of sustainability (RimWorld), diseases (Dying Light 2), nuclear threat (The Descendant), rapid industrialization (Workers & Resources), expansion of AI (Talos Principle 2), and social inequalities (Cyberpunk 2077), the games in the event ask the question of âwhat if we donât actâ and present startling visions of the future.
The nature-focused games contrast that by reminding us of Earthâs beauty - both present (Ranch Simulator), past (Anno 1800), or even ancient (Prehistoric Kingdom). The included titles celebrate the variety of life as we see it (Eco) and as we imagine it (Universe Sandbox), offering a different perspective (Wolfquest) and inspiring the player to protect the environment, often turning that into the gameâs objective (Terra Nil).
There's also an entire section dedicated to upcoming titles! Some of our favourites include the fellow post-apocalyptic city builder Endzone 2, the fervent dream of all Diorama enjoyers Tiny Glade, and the title that shares our game's main premise, Green Again.
So go, grab a discount, fill up your wishlist, plant a tree, hug your cat, and celebrate World Earth Day with us! And if you don't own the beaver city builder yet, get Timberborn 20% off!
Instagram giveaway
If you'd rather grab the game for free, now it's your time! We've just launched our Instagram channel, and to kick things off, we're running a little giveaway with five copies of Timberborn for grabs. You'll find all the details in this post. The giveaway ends on April 24, 23.59 CEST.
Even if you do not need extra Timberborn copies, if you're on Instagram, we invite you to follow us! You won't miss out on our more vertical updates, and you'll help us a lot with these humble beginnings.
Thanks, and until next time!
New Steam bundles available
Hi everyone,
April is a busy month, and that also applies to game releases. That's why we've formed two new bundles with fellow creators of the hot new city-building titles. The bundles are available only for a limited time!
Laysara: Summit Kingdom - the game released yesterday, where you grow your settlements high up in the mountains.
The Wandering Village - the title where all the building happens on the back of a majestic dinosaur-like beast.
Go ahead, pick your poison!
Winners of the Build-a-Map Contest #3 - Badwater Edition
Hello everyone!
Youâve outdone yourselves, again. Our third map-building contest turned out to be the most popular yet, with over 400 entries submitted! The competition has never been tougher, and once the dust settled after our studio members cast their votes, the results at the top were very close.
Weâve seen you tackle the badwater theme in many different ways. Whether it was about clever badtide preparations, splitting a map into contrasting halves, building badwater-filled volcanoes, or something entirely different - lots of fun (yet often deadly) challenges were made!
Below are the winning entries and honorable mentions in all three categories. In addition to eternal glory in the in-game credits and on our Discord, the winners receive 1000 EUR each, as well as a Timberborn T-shirt and mug of choice. The swag also goes to those honorably mentioned. Congratulations to you all, and a big thank you to all participants!
It's a diorama-esque map where you start out with very little land, so using it properly will be key to survival. After the initial challenge, you will need to do some careful thinking on how and where to redirect water and badwater to irrigate the land, which could be tricky considering the settlement is located below every liquid source on the map. Try not to get flooded!
Honorable mention - Surrounded! (128x128) by CkiCeluila
As the title suggests, your beavers start out surrounded - stranded on a small island in the middle of a badwater lake. The challenge is to escape, reach the additional water sources, and use the contaminated lake to your advantage. In a crafty beaverâs eye, it's free real estate, ready to become a reservoir of clean water that will sustain a large colony.
Honorable mention - Mixing Bowl (128x128) by totrider
The start might look fairly peaceful, but you will have to consider which barriers to break and where to dam up so that your settlement doesnât become the titular mixing bowl itself. Multiple clean water sources are available, but reaching them to reap the benefits won't be easy. Separate the mixed liquids before you can make full use of the majority of the map.
Honorable mention - The Evil Twin (69x69) by Le_Vanda
You start tucked away in the corner with the only clean water source in the form of a waterfall. Past a small lake, the water drops into a river of badwater. Youâll need to figure out the best way to redirect the badwater and recover the land around you. Careful land management will be required due to limited space and big elevation differences.
This mapâs name comes from a split between an area with clean waterfalls and its evil badwater half. While in the early game, you can enjoy the peaceful "heaven", getting any significant amounts of metal wonât be possible without venturing into "hell". While a similar concept was used in many maps across the contest, our team liked EnlaApaâs execution best.
Honorable mention - Hadean (196x196) by Flor3nce2456
There's a mega-project bound to happen in the form of a giant reservoir in the center. You will need to build around the crater while ridding the landscape of corruption. Similarly, while there were many examples of volcanoes and craters in the contest, none really matched this very detailed creation.
Honorable mention - Eddic Ashes (155x155) by GinFuyou
A mix of water and badwater flows from the pillar-esque landmark in the center, allowing for flexible redirection or optimising its flow according to your needs. Be wary, however, as some advanced water engineering will be required to avoid disastrous badtides
Honorable mention - Fetid Pools (128x196) by Whiskey267dm0ZaMCQ1K
Here, we have a bunch of plateaus, with the starting point being an oasis. With other safe spots looming in the distance, you will need to bridge your way to other clean water sources and push out the toxic liquid. Just remember that the floor is⌠badwater.
This map echoes our previous competition theme, and outside of badwater, it introduces large elevation shifts throughout. You begin with access to a large coastline and some flat ground, but access to clean water is limited. Clearing up the contamination will probably be the first thing on your list. However, you will also need to pay attention to a nasty surprise next to the starting area. Act quickly and destroy the barriers, or your beavers might start seeing red!
Honorable mention - Bad Ocean (256x256) by FustigateM
As the title suggests, your beaver settlers are in for a dangerous beach party. While at first, this may not seem like the perfect vacation spot, with enough tenacity, you could potentially clean it all up and return the ocean to its rightful blue colour. Before you reach the great red holes, though, take care of your immediate surroundings so that the badtides donât ruin your fun.
Honorable mention - Canyon Depths (256x256) by Infinite_Grinch
Incredibly detailed - and filled with stumps and barriers that need to be cleared - Canyon Depths puts you in the center of a crater-like canyon surrounded by badwater. You will have to decide in which direction to expand, as there are various pockets of clean water available. Even the pretty oasis under a waterfall will stop being a safe haven when it starts reeking of contamination.
Honorable mention - Diatomic (256x256) by Skizz112
Diatomic drops your colony in the middle of a huge area where water and badwater rivers are in the near vicinity, with the two craters giving testament to hoomanityâs past actions. Use the flow to your advantage, just be careful not cross the streams. Thankfully, lots of redirect options are available, giving this large map a nice replayability boost.
How to play on these maps
To play on any of the maps above, you will simply need to download an archive off Mod.io and unpack it to your Maps folder. You can find a short guide on how to do this here.
And what if the above selection isn't enough to keep you busy? Well, you can find all 413 submissions - as well as hundreds of other maps AND many crazy mods for the game - on our Mod.io hub.
Build-a-Map Contest #3 - Badwater Edition
Hello everyone!
Now that youâve had a chance to play with Update 5 - Badwater (and since weâve already made some important changes to the main feature), itâs time to kick off our third official Build-a-Map Contest!
The three winners will receive 1000 EUR each and a T-shirt + mug of choice from the Timberborn Merch Store, not to mention the eternal glory in the in-game credits and on our Discord. Authors of the nine honorable mentions (three per category) also get the T-shirt + mug combo.
â˘ď¸ Badwater Edition â˘ď¸
The idea is simple: create an original, playable, and pretty map that encourages players to interact with badwater. By that, we mean both badwater sources with preexisting badwater rivers and lakes, and the badtides coming over time. It's up to you to decide what you focus on - the only formal requirement is that the map needs to feature at least one badwater source. How you approach the theme, how difficult you make the map etc. itâs for you to decide.
As usual, there are three map categories:
128x128 and lower
129x129 through 255x255
256x256 and higher
with similar prizes in each category. Each winner gets 1000 EUR and merch, and three honorable mentions in each category get the merch.
To participate in the contest, you must upload the map on Mod.io by March 14, 2024, and tag it with the âBuild-a-Map Contest 3â tag.
Weâll announce the winners by March 28, 2024. We canât wait to see what youâll come up with!
đĽ Important noteđĽ
Before participating, please be sure to read the updated documents:
And if you still have questions, the best place to discuss the contest, exchange ideas etc. is our Discord server - look for the dedicated contest category.
Patch notes 2024-02-08 (Main branch)
Hi everyone!
It seems you liked what we did to badtides and the gameâs difficulty last week - that's great!
In today's update - just imported to the main branch from the experimental branch - weâve got one extra badwater-related tweak, as well as a few smaller changes we wanted to push out.
Balance
Decontamination Pod now cures beavers twice as fast.
Misc.
For debugging purposes, save files now store the information about the mapâs name and type (whether itâs official or custom).
Bug fixes
Fixed a bug with the main menuâs bottom breaking on the UI set to the maximum scale.
Fixed a bug with the game autosaving while the Load game menu was opened, and then crashing when the player attempted to load the oldest, just-replaced autosave.
Fixed a bug that made it impossible to have a temperate weather season of maximum duration.
Fixed a bug with slightly incorrect irrigation ranges.
Fixed a bug caused by scrolling through the toolbar while a building with an open dropdown list was selected. The building would become unselected but the dropdown list would hover in the void and crash the game when clicked, probably out of embarrassment.
Patch notes 2024-02-06 (Experimental)
Hi everyone!
It seems you liked what we did to badtides and the gameâs difficulty last week - that's great! In todayâs experimental build, weâve got one extra badwater-related tweak, as well as a few smaller changes we wanted to push out.
Balance
Decontamination Pod now cures beavers twice as fast.
Misc.
For debugging purposes, save files now store the information about the mapâs name and type (whether itâs official or custom).
Bug fixes
Fixed a bug with the main menuâs bottom breaking on the UI set to the maximum scale.
Fixed a bug with the game autosaving while the Load game menu was opened, and then crashing when the player attempted to load the oldest, just-replaced autosave.
Fixed a bug that made it impossible to have a temperate weather season of maximum duration.
Fixed a bug with slightly incorrect irrigation ranges.
Fixed a bug caused by scrolling through the toolbar while a building with an open dropdown list was selected. The building would become unselected but the dropdown list would hover in the void and crash the game when clicked, probably out of embarrassment.
Patch notes 2024-02-02 (Main branch)
Hello, everyone!
Update 5 - Badwater has been live for exactly two weeks, and it has attracted more players than any previous Timberborn update. We are overwhelmed by your support and committed more than ever to making the game better. Thank you!
Todayâs patch addresses some of the preliminary feedback we received during this two-week period. Yesterday, we confirmed these tweaks didn't break the game. Now, they are live on the main branch for everyone, so hopefully, they'll make your weekend badwater baths more fun.
(The experimental branch was also updated to match today's game version.)
Patch notes 2024-02-02
It is now easier to customize your game using any of the built-in difficulty levels as a preset. You can also switch droughts and badtides on and off with simple checkboxes, without having to decipher the meaning behind the more advanced parameters.
Subsequent badtides now increase in intensity in a more gradual manner on easy and normal difficulties. The easy mode is now also easier throughout, while the hard mode is harder. We are hoping that these changes will accommodate a wider range of playstyles.
Difficulty settings
Added the new Customize button to easy, normal, and hard difficulties on the difficulty selection screen. Click it to start a custom game with all settings preset to match the chosen difficultyâs default values.
Added the Drought and Badtide checkboxes to the custom difficulty. Pair that with the above, and you can quickly start a new game on a selected difficulty level without droughts and/or badtides if your heart desires.
Balance
The first badtide triggered on a new game on easy and normal difficulty now always lasts only a day. That gives new players a taste of what badtides are before striking with full force.
The length of a drought or a badtide is now adjusted based on how many times that particular event has struck the settlement already. This should result in a smoother learning curve, since the first badtides will now be noticeably shorter than the droughts the player has already known for a while.
At the start of a badtide, the contamination of water sources starts at 50% and gradually increases to 100% over 12 hours. Similarly, the contamination starts decreasing 12 hours before the badtide ends - when temperate weather returns, the contamination is at 50%, and then instantly drops to 0%.
Reparameterized droughts and badtides to make the easy difficulty more approachable, and hard - more challenging. This includes changes to the seasonsâ duration as well as to the handicap multiplier and length.
Plants affected by badwater contamination now survive between 0.2 and 0.3 days (up from 0.1 and 0.15).
Reduced food and water consumption on easy difficulty to 40% of the default values (down from 60%).
Updated building: Herbalist. Cost lowered to 10 Planks, 20 Gears (down from 20 Planks, 5 Gears i 5 Treated Planks). By removing the need for Treated Planks, curing the contamination should be as easy (or as difficult) as it is for the Iron Teeth.
Updated good: Medicine. Recipe updated to 2 Dandelions, 2 Berries, 1 Paper (up from 1 Dandelion, 1 Berry). This is to counterbalance the change above.
Maps
Updated map: Waterfalls. This beginner-friendly map is now even more beginner-friendly thanks to the complimentary blockages and some other minor layout tweaks. While at it, we removed that weird 1x1 hole.
Misc.
Added the Whatâs new window to the main menu for an extra compact (and localized) list of the features found in the most recent major update. In hindsight, we should have called it Update 5 - Badwater & Flippable Buildings, judging by the number of players asking us why we removed the Mirrored Lodge. ;)
Updated the warning popping up when trying to load a pre-U5 save on the game already updated to Update 5. It now mentions the ability to downgrade the game to an older major version to finish the playthrough without the changes. Hereâs how you do that.
(NEW!) Updated the tutorial by moving the "Build the Inventor's Hut" step before the "Build Lodges" step.
Added the Pause button to Agora (ex-Temple) since it now consumes resources.
Bug fixes
Zero-length droughts or badtides are no longer possible on the non-customized easy difficulty. (You can still set them to zero duration in custom settings - or just use the new checkboxes to switch them off completely). This change only applies to games started after todayâs patch.
Fixed the Large Water Pumpâs collider to make it easier to select an object below the pipe.
Fixed low FPS when editing old maps.
Fixed a crash related to the demolishing tool.
Fixed a crash caused by deleting the map you were working on. Why would you even do that, though?
Patch notes 2024-02-01 (Experimental)
Hello, everyone!
Update 5 - Badwater has been live for exactly two weeks, and it has attracted more players than any previous Timberborn update. We are overwhelmed by your support and committed more than ever to making the game better. Thank you!
Todayâs experimental patch addresses some of the preliminary feedback we received during this two-week period.
It is now easier to customize your game using any of the built-in difficulty levels as a preset. You can also switch droughts and badtides on and off with simple checkboxes, without having to decipher the meaning behind the more advanced parameters.
Subsequent badtides now increase in intensity in a more gradual manner on easy and normal difficulties. The easy mode is now also easier throughout, while the hard mode is harder. We are hoping that these changes will accommodate a wider range of playstyles.
Need a refresher on how to play on the Experimental Branch and access todayâs patch earlier? Follow the instructions found here, and let us know what you think of the changes.
Difficulty settings
Added the new Customize button to easy, normal, and hard difficulties on the difficulty selection screen. Click it to start a custom game with all settings preset to match the chosen difficultyâs default values.
Added the Drought and Badtide checkboxes to the custom difficulty. Pair that with the above, and you can quickly start a new game on a selected difficulty level without droughts and/or badtides if your heart desires.
Balance
The first badtide triggered on a new game on easy and normal difficulty now always lasts only a day. That gives new players a taste of what badtides are before striking with full force.
The length of a drought or a badtide is now adjusted based on how many times that particular event has struck the settlement already. This should result in a smoother learning curve, since the first badtides will now be noticeably shorter than the droughts the player has already known for a while.
After the start and by the end of a badtide, the contamination of water sources now increases and decreases gradually. When temperate weather returns, the contamination is down to 50%.
Reparameterized droughts and badtides to make the easy difficulty more approachable, and hard - more challenging. This includes changes to the seasonsâ duration as well as to the handicap multiplier and length.
Plants affected by badwater contamination now survive between 0.2 and 0.3 days (up from 0.1 and 0.15).
Reduced food and water consumption on easy difficulty to 40% of the default values (down from 60%).
Updated building: Herbalist. Cost lowered to 10 Planks, 20 Gears (down from 20 Planks, 5 Gears i 5 Treated Planks). By removing the need for Treated Planks, curing the contamination should be as easy (or as difficult) as it is for the Iron Teeth.
Updated good: Medicine. Recipe updated to 2 Dandelions, 2 Berries, 1 Paper (up from 1 Dandelion, 1 Berry). This is to counterbalance the change above.
Maps
Updated map: Waterfalls. This beginner-friendly map is now even more beginner-friendly thanks to the complimentary blockages and some other minor layout tweaks. While at it, we removed that weird 1x1 hole.
Misc.
Added the Whatâs new window to the main menu for an extra compact (and soon-to-be localized) list of the features found in the most recent major update. In hindsight, we should have called it Update 5 - Badwater & Flippable Buildings, judging by the number of players asking us why we removed the Mirrored Lodge. ;)
Updated the warning popping up when trying to load a pre-U5 save on the game already updated to Update 5. It now mentions the ability to downgrade the game to an older major version to finish the playthrough without the changes. Hereâs how you do that.
Added the Pause button to Agora (ex-Temple) since it now consumes resources.
Bug fixes
Zero-length droughts or badtides are no longer possible on the easy difficulty. This change only applies to games started after todayâs patch.
Fixed the Large Water Pumpâs collider to make it easier to select an object below the pipe.
Fixed low FPS when editing old maps.
Fixed a crash related to the demolishing tool.
Fixed a crash caused by deleting the map you were working on. Why would you even do that, though?
Patch notes 2024-01-29 (main branch)
Hello, everyone!
Update 5 - Badwater is live, and this first round of tweaks is now live on the main branch.
Thank you for the massive feedback on the new features - please keep it coming! To help us understand your voice better, please make your feedback as specific as possible.
Misc.
Made several minor performance optimizations.
Added tooltips to the Discord and Merch Store buttons in the main menu so that you know better where they take you.
Bugs
Fixed a bug with the settlement list displayed on the Load game screen losing its chronological order. This should also fix the "Continue" button loading an incorrect save.
Fixed a bug with icons displayed in incorrect quality on flipped buildings.
Fixed a bug with map thumbnail overlaysâ quality affected by the graphical settings.
Fixed a bug with drought/badtide warnings and pop-ups appearing and scaring you for no reason when the seasonâs duration was set to zero (either randomly or on purpose, via the custom mode settings).
Fixed a rare crash.
Patch notes 2024-01-23 (experimental)
Hello, everyone!
Update 5 - Badwater is live, and today, we've got the first round of tweaks, ready for testing on the experimental branch.
Thank you for the massive feedback on the new features - please keep it coming! To help us understand your voice better, please make your feedback as specific as possible.
Misc.
Made several minor performance optimizations.
Added tooltips to the Discord and Merch Store buttons in the main menu so that you know better where they take you.
Bugs
Fixed a bug with the settlement list displayed on the Load game screen losing its chronological order.
Fixed a bug with icons displayed in incorrect quality on flipped buildings. This should also fix the "Continue" button loading an incorrect save.
Fixed a bug with map thumbnail overlaysâ quality affected by the graphical settings.
Fixed a bug with drought/badtide warnings and pop-ups appearing and scaring you for no reason when the seasonâs duration was set to zero (either randomly or on purpose, via the custom mode settings).
