Timberborn has been in Early Access for over three years now, and yet, 2024 saw two of our most significant updates ever! We’ve already shown you a little bit of what’s coming next, but before we jump into [strike]the Tubeway[/strike] 2025, let’s look back at the eventful past twelve months.
We even brought a little infographic with some interesting Timberborn numbers. Have a look!
And now, let’s go over a few important milestones of the year.
January 18, 2024: Update 5 - Badwater released
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Update 5 - Badwater Feature Trailer
We kicked things off by releasing our most successful update ever. In this content patch, we implemented badwater, the second fluid to flow across the maps in addition to the regular water. With it, we added the new dangerous in-game season, the badtide. To give the player tools to fight (or use) badwater, we introduced several faction-specific structures, such as Contamination Barrier or Badwater Discharge, and the new resource, Extract. We added multiple new decorations and attractions, including the massive Wind Tunnels and Dance Halls, and reworked all maps. Rounding things up were the long overdue quality-of-life tweaks, such as customizable key bindings and flippable buildings.
February 15, 2024: Build-a-Map Contest 3
Badwater Ridge by jokimty, the winning entry in the "Large" category of Build-a-Map Contest 3
Matching the strong performance of Update 5, our most popular Build-a-Map contest went live on Mod.io a month later. Badwater sparked the players' creativity, resulting in over 400 quality submissions! Checking them all was a huge undertaking, and the results of the internal voting were extremely close, but in the end, both the team and the players liked the final selection. For the list of three winning entries and nine runner-ups, check out the winner announcement from March.
April 22, 2024: Earth Appreciation Festival
Front page for Earth Appreciation Festival 2024
For the third year in a row, for World’s Earth Day, we joined our friends from Stray Fawn (The Wandering Village) and Slug Disco (Empires of the Undergrowth) to co-organize a very special Steam sale. For this dual-themed event, we gathered over 100 post-apocalyptic and nature-focused games, bringing attention to issues such as pollution and climate change while also showcasing our planet’s beauty. Among the involved games were gems such as Frostpunk, Rain World, Terra Nil, Eco, Ranch Simulator, Farm Together, and Dying Light 2.
May 17, 2024: Update 6 Preview
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The first Update 6 video preview and its slightly cursed thumbnail
We continued working on Update 6 and it was becoming huge, so this time around, we tried something new. We created a sneak peek video covering one of the upcoming features, the wonders. The players were happy to get an early look at the end-game goals… while offering valuable feedback on the Earth Recultivator’s curious shape. Encouraged by the preview’s popularity, we followed up with another one a month later. This time, we revealed that Timberborn would soon get official mod support with the Steam Workshop integration.
June 25, 2024: Update 6 Experiments
Isn't that hypnotic to watch?
The new update’s experimental period began, proving one of the most important in the game’s history. With the surprise inclusion of 3D water physics - which our programmers had been working on for almost a year straight and which almost didn’t make it into the game - we knew Timberborn would be changing significantly. We were also opening the game to easier modding, and we still remembered how we needed to rebalance badwater after the release of Update 5. The feedback from the experimental branch players was crucial here. Thank you for that!
August 5-9, 2024: Mechanistry’s Annual Meet-up
There's nothing like seeing each other face-to-face.
Mechanistry is an all-remote studio, but every summer, we all gather for a week to see each other face-to-face and discuss the game’s future. This year’s meet-up was held in Warsaw, and you could already see some of its consequences come to light earlier this month. As for the rest… that will need to remain a secret for now. Also yes, if you remember similar meet-up photos from the past two years, the team does like motorsports very much.
October 10, 2024: Update 6 - Wonders of Water released
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Update 6 - Wonders of Water Feature Trailer
We had wanted to see real 3D water physics - and aqueducts - in Timberborn for a long time, and we were very proud to make it happen in Update 6. Complimenting the new water physics was the expanded in-game verticality in the form of Overhangs and Vertical Power Shafts, and a dip into in-game automation - the Sluices. With the launchable wonders added, the game finally had tangible end-game goals. There were also many other nice-to-haves we squeezed into Update 6: a new map (Cliffside), customizable beaver tails, construction stages (and guidelines), extra animations, three additional in-game languages, and… oh, right, the official mod support!
November 29, 2024: More and more player-made content!
The most popular Timberborn mod of all time? Oh, it's a ladder.
Speaking of mods, we love how they took off. Over 1700 player-made creations are now live on Timberborn Workshop, with more added daily. We’ve seen all kinds of add-ons being made, ranging from quality-of-life tweaks to new buildings to entire new playable factions. It’s great to see how creative the Timberborn community is! And that includes other media too, such as the jaw-dropping 3D-printed creations shared by u/AgentHarm on Timberborn’s subreddit. And let’s not forget our latest Build-a-Map Contest that wrapped up yesterday with about 350 entries.
December 19, 2024: Update 7 Preview
Coming soon to beaver settlements near you - 3D terrain and more!
Timberborn players are just the best, so we wanted to give back - hence the Update 7 First Look article we published earlier this month. We were very happy to see your enthusiasm after we revealed the 3D terrain is coming and that the beavers will soon get access to the new transport method, the Tubeways. Now, our work on the update continues, and we can’t wait to hear what you say after it lands on the experimental branch. That, however, is the story for the next year.
From all of us at Mechanistry - we wish you a happy and prosperous 2025! ????
