Hello, everyone!
The big day has come. After over four years in Early Access, Timberborn 1.0 is live!
It was a long, sometimes bumpy road, but today, we are proud to give you the full version of our beaver city builder. With seven major updates and the 1.0 mega-update, Timberborn is a better, bigger, deeper, and prettier game. It is a dream come true for us, and it exceeds anything we hoped for when we started working on it eight years ago.
We wouldn’t get here without our players’ overwhelming support during the Early Access journey. For all your feedback, for all your contributions to the community, and for every hour you spent in the game - we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You’re simply the best.
Now, whether you’re a returning player or just picking Timberborn up, you’re in for a treat. Here’s the 1.0 update in a nutshell:
New interactive objects added to the world, including Unstable Cores, Water Seeps, Reserve Storage, Aquifers, Thorns, Geothermal Fields, and Badtide Drains.
Automation: over 20 new buildings that allow you to automate your settlement’s operations: Sensors, Relays, Timers, and many more!
New unconventional maps - Oasis, Pressure, Spillage - and updates to the rest of the roster, including Waterfalls rework.
Highly requested new buildings: Spiral Stairs, Gates, Clutches, Banners.
Upgraded modding pipeline - modding the game has never been easier!
Steam Achievements for ultimate bragging rights.
Visual overhaul, reworked tutorial, building duplication, and other quality-of-life tweaks.
We hope beavering away in Timberborn 1.0 will give you as much joy as we had working on it. Just remember to stay hydrated!
~Team Timberborn
Note: Update 7 saves should be compatible with Timberborn 1.0, but with all the changes we’ve made, we strongly recommend starting a fresh settlement. Here’s to the new adventure!
Timberborn 1.0 makes the post-apocalyptic wasteland much more varied, thanks to the many new objects found on the maps. Map creators can use these tools to make beavers’ lives even harder prepare more meaningful challenges, and encourage unusual strategies.
New object: Water Seep. Like Water Sources, these 2x2 objects spill out water… but only until it reaches a height of 0.8 tiles. This might sound simple, but it allows creating new wetlands-style maps with shallow, still water bodies that enable cultivation, but dry out fast and won’t sustain too many pumps.
New map object: Badwater Seep. Same as above, but for badwater.
New map object: Badtide Drain. This rusty pipe can be placed on flat terrain or integrated into the side of a cliff. It discharges badwater, but only during badtides. Map creators are kindly requested not to place them directly above the starting locations.
New object: Unstable Core. This remnant of human civilization lies dormant somewhere on the map… until it doesn’t. After it activates and the warning triggers, your beavers must hurry - they can’t disable it, they can only try to mitigate the effects. As the explosion radius is up to 5 tiles, consequences may be dire.
New object: Geothermal Field. For a beaver, the smell of sulfur means only one thing - there’s geothermal energy ready to be tapped. All you need is…
New building: Geothermal Engine (50x Log, 30x Plank; 160 SP). Build it down on the Field, and enjoy your renewable energy courtesy of Mother Earth.
New object: Aquifer. What looks like a small crack in the earth can become a new source of water during temperate weather. It needs some help, though.
New building: Aquifer Drill (40x Plank, 25x Gear, 15x Metal Block; 400 SP). This one should come in handy! Build it over an Aquifer, hook it up to the power network, and spice water will flow.
New object: Ancient Aquifer Drill. Sometimes, an old drill will already be in place on top of an Aquifer. Some power and elbow grease, and it will work like new!
New objects: Reserve Warehouses, Tanks, and Piles. Your generation of beavers is not the first to roam the wasteland, and let’s face it, not everyone makes it. You can now find all types of resources scattered around - and even reuse that storage if needed.
New objects: Small, Medium, and Large Relics. Despite Ma’ Ngonel’s claims, human knowledge is not that useless. Find the relics, and enjoy some free Science Points!
New object: Thorns. These natural - yet dangerous - obstacles are now found in the wasteland, cutting some areas off. Your beavers can demolish them, but it’s a lengthy process that results in injuries. Maybe it’s time to send the asteroid bots.
New object: Natural Dam. Similar to regular Dams (duh), these objects block water only to half a tile, allowing some to spill over.
In Timberborn 1.0, you can automate your settlements’ operations. On a basic level, you could simply open and close your floodgates based on the water level in your reservoirs and maybe set off some fireworks when the badtide ends. Take it a step further and pause your Lumber Mills when you are running low on logs. Go crazy and build a fully automated utopia run by arrays of relays, gates, and valves - just make sure you hook them up correctly. Your beavers’ lives depend on it. You can see the automation in action in last week’s surprise reveal video.
The simplest automation setup could involve a single condition that turns a building on or off. As an example, a Depth Sensor activates when the water level rises above a chosen threshold. Then, you select a pausable building, such as a Water Pump, click “Automate”, and select that Depth Sensor. As long as the Sensor stays active, the Water Pump works. When the water level falls below the threshold, the Depth Sensor becomes inactive, and the Water Pump pauses, freeing up its worker again. And that’s the gist of it! Further buildings allow you to build increasingly elaborate setups that work in beautiful, mechanical harmony.
New feature: Automation. Most of the new buildings are found in this new category on the toolbar.
New building: Lever (1x Plank, 2x Gear; 50 SP). Flipped manually - either via the building panel or a pinnable UI element - this is the most basic way of sending a signal. For example, you could use a single Lever to turn on multiple Lumber Mills at once.
Added new key bindings (unassigned by default) that you can use to activate pinned Levers.
New building: Relay (1x Plank, 1x Gear; 80 SP). Performs simple logical operations on its input signals (NOT, OR, AND, XOR, Passthrough). This way, for example, you can make Pumps turn on only when there is sufficient water depth AND your tanks are getting empty.
New building: Flow Sensor (6x Plank, 4x Gear; 100 SP). Checks the water flow speed below its sensor.
New building: Depth Sensor (4x Gear, 8x Scrap Metal; 200 SP). Checks the water depth below its sensor.
New building: Contamination Sensor (8x Gear, 8x Metal Block; 400 SP). Similar to the one above, this one checks the water contamination level below the sensor.
New building: Chronometer (8x Plank, 6x Gear; 150 SP). Sends a signal based on the time of day. This includes a custom range as well as whether it’s work time or leisure time.
New building: Weather Station (10x Gear, 8x Treated Plank; 300 SP). You may have it send a signal when a particular season (or seasons) is in progress.
New building: Power Meter (10x Gear, 6x Metal Block; 600 SP). Monitors power network parameters - supply, demand, surplus energy, and the charge percentage of connected batteries.
New building: Population Counter (FT cost: 2x Plank, 2x Gear, 1x Paper; IT cost: 2x Plank, 2x Gear, 1x Metal Part; 200 SP). Checks the district or global population of a certain type (like a number of bots, unemployed beavers, contaminated kits etc.).
New building: Resource Counter (FT cost: 4x Plank, 4x Gear, 1x Paper; IT cost: 4x Plank, 4x Gear, 1x Metal Part; 250 SP). Checks the quantity or fill percentage of a particular good in the district it’s connected to. Meet the criteria, and the signal is sent.
New building: Science Counter (FT cost: 6x Plank, 4x Scrap Metal, 6x Paper; IT cost: 6x Plank, 4x Scrap Metal, 6x Metal Part; 300 SP). This one is pretty self-explanatory.
New building: Indicator (2x Scrap Metal, 1x Pine Resin; 400 SP). A large cuboid that lights up. Use it to make certain information (as in: certain input signals being active) easier to notice. In addition to being visible in the game world, you can also pin it in the UI, and even make it add journal entries or show a warning when switched on.
New building: Speaker (4x Plank, 2x Gear, 4x Metal Block; 500 SP). You may have it play music (or anything, really - you can add custom sounds, even some that would make Gary Oldman laugh until he cries). Music will play when the input signal is active - either once or continuously. You may also make it play within the game world, around the speaker, or make it heard globally.
New building: Firework Launcher (1x Gear, 2x Treated Plank; 700 SP). If you needed a visually pleasing reward for your automation shenanigans, here’s one! The Firework Launcher is now in the game, allowing you to shoot fireworks of customizable style and frequency.
New building: Detonator (1x Metal Block, 1x Explosives, 1x Extract; 1400 SP). And if you are really into explosions, hook up the Detonators to your Dynamite. As soon as the input signal comes through, your beavers will start blastin’.
New building: Timer (1x Treated Plank, 1x Metal Block; 600 SP. With the Timer, you can modify other signals, for example, by delaying them or triggering an oscillation signal instead. The Timer can be set to reset at a certain condition.
New building: Memory (1x Metal Block, 1x Extract; 100 SP). Now we’re talking! With Memory modules, you can create the most advanced automation setups - for example, a Memory can switch on when one signal comes through and then reset after receiving another.
New building: HTTP Lever (2x Gear, 2x Scrap Metal; 5000 SP). It's like a Lever but can be switched on and off or recolored via API. Either you or your programmer friend will find a good use for it. The high science cost is only paid once and unlocks the building for all your future settlements.
New building: HTTP Adapter (2x Gear, 4x Scrap Metal; 7500 SP). Exposes the on and off state of in-game signals via API and makes webhook calls. Or, in hooman-speak, with a moderate amount of tinkering, it can light up your IRL light bulb when your beavers are low on water. The science cost is also paid only once for all your settlements.
While these buildings can be helpful without automation, they’re made to make the best use of the new feature.
Left to right: Gate, Clutch, Fill Valve, Throttling Valve
New building: Gate (6x Plank, 4x Gear, 4x Scrap Metal; 200 SP). You can now cut off parts of the settlement - either at will or using automation. Is badwater about to hit our town? Oh, we'd better close that shortcut path leading through the river. Want to limit access to the attractions to after-work hours only? Sure, that will finally make the beaver bean counters happy!
New building: Clutch (2x Gear, 6x Metal Block; 400 SP). We may not have cars in the game, but with this little thing, you can easily connect or disconnect a part of your power network. The Clutch can be engaged or disengaged manually or using an input signal from one of the automation buildings.
New building: Fill Valve (5x Plank, 5x Metal Block; 300 SP). Automatically maintains downstream water level. The water level regulation logic replicates the old Sluice, and when plugged into a Contamination Sensor, performs all of its functions.
New building: Throttling Valve (5x Treated Plank, 5x Metal Block; 500 SP). Limits limiting flow rate, which is something that was impossible pre-1.0 with any of the existing structures. When it’s not automated, you may simply regulate its water flow limit (where 0 means “fully closed”). When automated, you can control the allowed flow rate when the input signal is off and when it’s on, as well as how quickly it adapts to changing states.
Removed building: Sluice. Since Fill Valve and Throttling Valve can do everything that Sluice could and much more, Sluice is no longer available in the game. Sluices already placed in existing save games remain in place to ease the transition.
Updated building: Floodgate. Without automation, a Floodgate’s behavior doesn’t change. But automate it, and you will be able to set the desired height based on whether the input signal is on or off. This gives Floodgates some of the capabilities previously reserved for Sluices.
Updated building: Badwater Dome. You can now automate the Badwater Dome to close and open automatically.
The tooltip for goods now lists three counters: Storage (such as goods in warehouses), Outputs (such as produce in Farmhouses), and Inputs (such as ingredients in Bakeries). Storage and Outputs are included in the main counters in the top bar because those are the goods available for whoever needs them. Inputs can optionally be included in Resource Counter measurements in some advanced setups.
Added the "Tick once" key binding, defaulting to [.], which advances the game's time by one tick. Use it to analyze complex automation setups.
Everyone likes making settlements their own, and automation is another step towards that, so we think this deserves a separate section.
Automation buildings share a common element: a clearly visible light. And that light’s color can be changed. Click the paintbrush icon in the upper right corner of a building’s panel to pick from a few default colors or enter the RGB code for something entirely custom.
Color customization is especially important in the case of Indicators - they have even more prominent lights and can be pinned in the UI.
Light color can now also be changed for buildings whose color isn't controlled by the assigned worker type. This applies to Gates, Tubeway Stations, Control Towers, Lanterns, Decorative Clocks, Numbercrunchers, Zipline Stations, Pylons and Beams.
We felt that the metal production chain on the Iron Teeth side could use an update, especially since Folktails have already had their unique good in the form of Paper.
New building: Metalsmith (30x Plank, 10x Scrap Metal; 150 SP; Iron Teeth only). Produces 1x Metal Part from 1x Scrap Metal. Consumes Logs as fuel.
For the Iron Teeth, the Scavenger Flag is now unlocked right from the start.
Updated Explosives Factory’s cost from 30x Plank, 30x Gear, 30x Metal Block to 30x Plank, 30x Gear, 60x Metal Part.
Updated Oil Press’ cost from 20x Log, 20x Plank, 20x Gear to 40x Log, 10x Metal Part.
Updated Hydroponic Garden’s cost from 20x Plank, 10x Gear, 5x Metal Block to 20x Plank, 10x Gear, 5x Metal Part.
Updated Numbercruncher’s cost from 30x Plank, 100x Gear, 25x Metal Block to 30x Plank, 100x Gear, 50x Metal Part.
Updated Charging Station’s cost from 5x Plank, 15x Gear, 5x Metal Block to 5x Plank, 15x Gear, 10x Metal Part.
Updated Steam Engine’s cost from 20x Log, 25x Gear, 20x Metal Block to 20x Log, 25x Gear, 40x Metal Part.
Updated Exercise Plaza’s cost from 50x Log, 50x Plank, 10x Metal Block to 50x Log, 50x Plank, 20x Metal Part.
Updated Brazier’s cost from 12x Plank 2x Metal Block to 12x Plank, 4x Scrap Metal.
Updated Beaver Bust’s cost from 5x Metal Block to 4x Scrap Metal, 2x Metal Part.
Updated Metal Fence’s cost from 3x Metal Block to 6x Metal Part.
Updated Flame of Unity’s cost from 300x Plank, 50x Metal Block to 300x Plank, 100x Metal Part.
Smelters and Metal Blocks are still used for the more advanced buildings.
Some Timberborn maps, both built-in and created by our talented players, are centered around a specific challenge rather than the regular sandbox gameplay. With the newly added map objects, we expect that to become even more common. To accommodate that trend, we’ve added a new map category - the Unconventional maps - with three shining new examples. We’ve also updated the existing maps.
Added new map category: Unconventional maps. This category includes the three new maps as well as Beaverome and Diorama.
New map: Pressure - unlike existing maps, all water and badwater sources here flow underground. Plugging up one outlet could have consequences elsewhere. There are also multiple Unstable Cores, so you have to tackle the additional timed dangers on top of the regular droughts and badtides!
New map: Oasis. Your beavers start in a solitary green refuge in the middle of the wasteland. Fortunately, with some clever beaver engineering, you can access the Aquifers scattered around the map and bring life back to the entire area.
New map: Spillage. This slope is full of small, irrigated enclaves. However, dangers abound in the region - should you not be careful, those areas will become anything but hospitable.
Revised Waterfalls to make it more beginner-friendly, modern, and on par with other built-in maps.
Added Water Seeps to: Lakes, Craters, and Helix Mountain.
Added Geothermal Fields to: Canyon, Mountain Range, Thousand Islands, and Beaverome.
Added Relics to: Cliffside, Craters, Meander, Mountain Range, and Thousand Islands.
Added Thorns to: Helix Mountain and Mountain Range.
Added Natural Dams to: Lakes.
Added Badtide Drains to: Oasis, Canyon, Meander, and Craters.
Craters: Increased the upper Badwater Sources' strength.
Craters: Made small fixes to terrain.
Lakes: Moved Ruins closer to the starting location.
Moved Blockages closer to the starting locations on the beginner-friendly maps.
Following an embarrassing accident involving a speeding beaver, we removed that single living tree that somehow survived in the desert on Lakes.
Moved the misplaced trees on the Meander map.
Updated all map thumbnails now that we have the fancy new skyboxes in the game.
The new objects are now available in the map editor. We’ve also made some changes to how the toolbar works, and added the feature that all map creators have been asking for.
Added Undo and Redo support to the map editor, accessed using buttons and your usual keyboard shortcuts. This also works with map thumbnails and descriptions. If only Ol’ Kazko was still around to see it.
Added the ability to set up delayed activation of Water Sources and Badwater Sources (and Water Seeps).
Grouped map editor objects into new categories.
Ah, yes, the legendary design that eluded beaver engineers for years has finally made it into the game! The Spiral Stairs make it much easier to create compact routes connecting different levels of terrain and structures.
New building: Spiral Stairs (1x Log, 4x Treated Planks; 350 SP to unlock). It finally happened!
Renamed Wooden Stairs to Stairs.
When we made it possible to paint beavers’ tails and saw how much our players liked that feature, the banners were bound to happen next. If you enjoy customizing your settlement, you may now put up banners of two types. Pick from a few faction-specific designs or use any custom image you want. Just make it safe for work, that’s all the beavers do!
New building: Pole Banner (4x Log, 4x Plank, 1x Extract; 700 SP). Add your unique design and decorate your settlement. Using motivational posters is encouraged.
New building: Square Banner (2x Log, 4x Plank, 1x Extract; 700 SP). The square version can be used for even grander designs. This one is for you, pixel art fans.
We agree that at later stages of the game, placing multiple identical workshops or warehouses gets tedious. Lo and behold - it’s now much easier! You can copy a building’s settings - for example, the chosen recipe - onto another existing building of the same type. Or, you can order the construction of a new building that will be set up the same way right away.
Added the Copy settings tool, found in the top left corner of the building panel. The default key binding is V - this has replaced the Save camera position key binding.
Added the Duplicate tool, found in the top left corner of the building panel. The default key binding is B.
Both key bindings also work when the cursor is hovering over a building.
A 1.0 release can’t be complete without tweaking the graphics across the board.
Increased the game world’s brightness and contrast.
Updated the skyboxes. The sunny day’s sky is now indeed blue, and we now have clouds and stars in the game!
Added water and waterfall transparency to the game, enabled on Medium, High, and Ultra quality presets. Water Quality has its own setting, too.
Added glare to water and badwater.
Contours of underwater objects now quiver slightly.
Wet beavers' fur is now visibly wet.
Tweaked water particles and water visuals in tanks.
Tweaked the terrain’s gradient.
Improved visuals for leaves on crops and trees.
Revised lighting distances for all buildings.
Wood Workshops for both factions now use fewer different materials (visually, this is not a balance change).
Added bloom to the game - you may toggle it off and on (see below). By default, Bloom is enabled on Medium graphic preset and above.
It’s not just the bloom you can toggle! You can now control the quality of various elements of the game and switch off some of the more controversial or performance-heavy effects.
Added anti-aliasing selection to the graphics settings. By default, MSAA is used on Windows, and SMAA is used on macOS. If you choose MSAA on macOS, a warning is displayed.
Added a brightness slider to the graphics settings.
In the settings, you can now adjust the speed of camera rotation with a mouse.
Increased the camera’s default zoom-out limit and added an “Unlimited” checkbox to the settings.
Input speed sliders in the settings now use values between 0% and 300%, with the default being 100% instead of 40%, which should make more sense for 60% of the population.
It only took us four years (more, actually) to add the animation to beavers’ deaths! But since we hope you won’t need to watch it too often, we’ve also expanded the idle animations’ list and more.
Added the death animation for beavers.
Added new idle animations for beavers - kits and adults alike.
Added shower animations.
Water spilling through dams and floodgates is now displayed at its actual height limit.
Made minor tweaks to the visuals of some building particles.
Smoke particles now properly respond to environmental lighting. Praise the sun!
Made some minor tweaks to plants’ textures.
By implementing moving plant life, we also aim to enhance the game’s visuals and make the world more vibrant - but since it's a significant change, it deserves a separate section.
Added ents to the game.
Added swaying movement to all in-game plants - from crops to hedges to trees. You may notice that on a very windy day, the swaying becomes slightly more noticeable.
We’re updating models for the most important buildings any beaver, in-game or not, knows.
Updated models for Dams and Levees. They’re now less box-y and more beaver-y.
It was high time to give the tutorial a critical look. While Timberborn is a sandbox and discovering what works and what doesn’t is a huge part of the fun, the basics could be explained better - in a less linear way, while also covering more aspects of the game.
Reworked the tutorial system to use independent tutorial paths rather than shoving them all into one linear sequence. This also makes it easier to add extra paths down the road.
Rewritten and updated existing tutorial paths.
Added many new tutorial paths, for example to introduce the well-being system, working hours, the layer tool, Vertical architecture, and more.
Added the tutorial checkbox to the New game screen (only for Folktails).
Notifications and alerts also received an important quality pass.
Moved the notifications (“22-2 Rotsack was born” etc.) up on the left side of the screen and made them collapsible.
Tweaked the visuals for the alerts (“Beaver is Injured (3)” etc.), giving them a lighter, more modern style which takes less screen space.
Opening the well-being panel from an alert now has an extra visual effect.
Added a small notification at the start of the game.
By removing the rubble that you don’t give a dam about, we’re reducing clutter on the screen and, since that rubble is no longer there, the game’s performance improves a bit. It also makes sense not to eat food that has sat at the bottom of the lake for weeks. We’re also fixing an issue that sometimes occurred in the early game.
Unpicked Rubble now disappears after 15 days. The disintegration progress is displayed on the newly added progress bar in the Rubble’s panel.
Rubble can now be brought by builders to District Centers and Builders' Huts, and stored there in small amounts. This solves the early game soft locks happening when there are no warehouses to store a good, and no Logs to build them.
…are gone! You can see the difference in this curiously shaped setup pictured above.
Removed the waterfall flow limitations, allowing water to move more naturally and without simulation restrictions. No more odd-looking waterfalls.
It’s not much, but it’s honest work.
Shrub is now unlocked by default.
The Wind Gauge and the Bell now have their own needs attached.
On the toolbar, moved the Bench and the Hammock behind decorations that fulfill needs.
On the toolbar, moved the Bulletin Pole to the end of the decorations that fulfill needs.
Now that we have Chronometers in the game, we’ve renamed Iron Teeth’s Clock to Decorative Clock.
Stream Gauge is now found in Decorations.
Releasing the full version of the game is not just about gameplay tweaks! To celebrate the 1.0 release, we added a cinematic intro to the game. While the in-game version doesn’t use voice-over, the one we have up on YouTube, dubbed the Lore Trailer, does! It is narrated by Shaun Dooley (Elden Ring, Netflix's Witcher series). Watch it above.
Added intro to the game.
The 1.0 release deserved the addition of Steam Achievements - some of them simple, some not. We hope you have lots of fun hunting and discovering them all. Good luck!
Added support for Steam Achievements.
Added 59 Steam Achievements to unlock.
We’ve got quite a few UI-related tweaks.
The game now displays anticipated energy output for Water Wheels while in the preview mode. Guessing games end here.
Injury probability is now displayed in building descriptions.
Editable text fields in the map editor’s UI are now consistently sized and have a neat frame.
Updated the view toggles (such as the water visibility toggle) to better communicate if a particular view is toggled on or off.
Goods are now ordered based on when they usually appear in the game instead of alphabetically. Also, badwater now has its own category on the top toolbar.
We standardized water sources' strength units. Don’t be surprised that a water source with strength 1 now has the same strength as a source with strength 2 used to have.
The game now displays a warning when trying to place a building in a way that would result in a flooded entrance.
The game now displays a warning when trying to place a partially underground building with not enough room below.
The game now displays a warning for non-functional pumps, for example if you place dynamite underneath, limiting the pipe’s length.
The Load/Save screens now support the long-forgotten art of double-clicking.
Added several new keybindings.
Added missing tooltips to in-game buttons.
Status icons displayed in the world are now always consistently updated at the same time, reducing visual noise. As a bonus, this improved performance a bit.
Updated icons for Forester and Gravity Battery.
The “Prioritize by haulers” checkbox is now displayed during the construction stage. Also, we’ve moved it up a bit.
On the wonder launch screen, the Big Numbers are now separated with spaces every three digits.
Following an extensive quality check, we’ve made many other changes to the in-game text across the UI, aimed at increasing its consistency and clarity.
These adjustments range from small tweaks to larger changes. For example, “energy” is now “power”, we consistently use the word “goods” instead of “resources”, Windmills are called Wind Turbines, your beavers suffer from Chipped Teeth (rather than Broken Teeth), and so on.
Ding-dong-whoosh!
Added the snooze button sound toggle to the Bell.
Added some missing ambient sounds to the mechanical buildings.
Terrain Block now costs (and produces) 4 Dirt, down from 6.
Dirt unit now weighs 7, up from 5.
Demolishing crops is now faster. Go crazy with these hammers!
Added Water to Steam Engine’s recipe (0.3 units per hour). Now that we’ve added “Steam” to the building’s name (see below), it makes perfect sense.
Lowered logs' usage in Steam Engines to 0.1/h.
Increased the starting adult beaver count to 9 on all difficulty levels.
Decontamination Pods now consume 50 HP, down from 100 HP, and heal the beavers twice as fast.
Improved loading times by about 25%.
Slightly improved performance when lots of light sources are on the screen.
Reduced the number of micro stutters.
Reduced memory usage by over 1 GB on 256x256 maps.
Fixed a major memory leak that caused RAM usage to keep increasing when loading saved games multiple times in the same session.
Added support for Steam’s virtual keyboard - have at it, Steam Deck gamers.
With 1.0, we’re upgrading the mod creation pipeline. It’s much easier to create mods - whether you’re a veteran modder or a newbie who wants to try their hand at modding. Mods should also be more resilient to changes in the base game and other mods. We’ll cover that across a few sections. If you’ve ever wanted to add a crazy new building or translate the game into Pig Latin, read on!
We’ve added a new way to start your modding journey. This one is as simple as it gets… and we feel that the pastry-lovers among Folktails will be satisfied.
Added the Create Mod button to the in-game mod manager. Choose one of the predefined templates, enter the name, and voilà - your first mod is ready to be used and tweaked further. The available templates are:
Example building. Using Blueberry Jam as a tasty example, this template showcases adding a new building to the game together with a new food production chain.
Translation. This helps you translate the game to the language of your choice.
Tails and banners. Use it to add templates for images used by Detailer and Banners.
Empty. Guess what, this one simply waits to be filled with your own ideas.
The Mod manager layout was adjusted to fit this feature. As a result, the Upload button should be less likely to be missed.
We’ve finished what we started in Update 7, taking steps towards unifying how specifications and prefabs are defined.
JSON files, a.k.a. Blueprints, are now used to specify virtually every in-game object, such as buildings, characters, or natural resources. We use Blueprints internally, which means you get the same powers as our development team, with easy access to every tweakable parameter.
They work with the regular JSON files merging process that we introduced, along with the native mod support. This means modifying a building is as simple as modifying a Blueprint. Changing basic building stats can now be done in a one-line JSON.
You can now see the Blueprint of any in-game object by selecting it in dev mode and clicking the Show Blueprint button.
A JSON file is considered a Blueprint only if it has the .blueprint.json extension.
Added #delete keyword for JSON merging operations, which allows you to remove existing properties from it (for example, built-in Specs from Blueprints).
The #append JSON keyword now ignores duplicates.
The Blueprints directory was removed. All assets contained were moved to the Resources directory.
Our Unity modding tools were updated to support the new Blueprint approach, along with some general improvements.
The modding documentation was rewritten and moved to our modding tools repository Wiki: https://github.com/mechanistry/timberborn-modding/wiki
Modding tools now import additional assets from the game’s build: all Blueprints, localizations, UI styles and views, and our Unity Editor tools.
One of these tools is the Blueprint Editor, which is our custom inspector for editing Blueprints in Unity. As almost every prefab is now a JSON file, you can edit it using Notepad or your IDE of choice, but we strongly recommend Blueprint Editor for tweaking things like colliders and block objects, or adding new Specs to your Blueprint.
HelloWorld and OverwritesExample samples were expanded to cover more cases.
Timbermesh files won't pull their meshes into the AssetBundle anymore (unless you explicitly ask them to, using the checkbox in their inspector).
Modding tools` graphic settings match the game's settings now.
Modding tools` packages were adjusted to match the game’s packages.
FBX Exporter is now installed by default.
Added multiple new tags to Steam Workshop. The tags are selectable in the mod uploader.
Added the object debugging panel, letting you inspect values stored by singletons and components of the selected entity. This feature is available in the Debug mode.
The macOS warning about Rosetta being off was no longer needed and removed, as Harmony officially started supporting Apple Silicon processors.
BaseComponent no longer inherits from MonoBehaviour, so keep in mind that for Awake, Start, or Update methods to work, your class must now implement the appropriate interface (for example, IAwakableComponent).
Crash screens in modded and dev mode games now display the exception stack trace.
Mods with duplicate names now include the root folder name in the mod manager.
The obsolete StartMod method was removed from the IModStarter interface.
Fixed a crash occurring upon loading a save with entities missing some components added by mods.
The game no longer crashes when clicking on an object with a collider that isn’t an entity.
The workshop_data.json file is now being updated before uploading it to Steam Workshop.
We have changed how mods' enabled state is stored. This change will reset your local settings. All installed mods will be enabled again.
Creating mods with new game modes (difficulty presets) is now easier. Two examples already available in the Workshop are the Apocalyptic and the Utopian modes.
Mods with asset bundle names that end with an OS suffix but also contain a dot are now correctly associated with that OS.
Unity Engine was updated to version 6000.3.6f1.
It is now possible to draw L-shaped setups of Paths, Tubeways, Power Shafts, Fences, and Hedges with a single mouse drag.
The game now shows a pop-up if any issues were detected during the loading phase - for example, if the save included buildings from missing mods or an older version of the game.
The difficulty selection now uses a vertical design. This is particularly helpful when using custom difficulty modes, which are now easier to create as a mod (see the Modding section above).
The game now displays multiple tips on the loading screen. Yes, it took us a while.
Added the “Unique building action” key binding (default: U). Use it to activate the unique feature of the currently selected building - for example, to launch a Wonder.
Saplings spawned by plants marked for demolition are now also marked as such.
On maps where it’s not possible to place a particular building, it will not show up on the toolbar (for example, you won’t see the Geothermal Engine on a map with zero Geothermal Fields).
Cleaned up the measurement units usage across the UI, as well as how they're written. For example, the game now uses metres (m), previously used only by Ziplines, as the measurement unit for both depth and distance. Similarly, Stream Gauge uses m³/s to measure the water flow.
When switching between buildings in the construction mode, they are now all rotated in the same direction.
Hydroponic Gardens no longer reset their visual state if their output has not been removed yet.
Tubeway Station can now be connected to Tubeways in front of it.
If you have a huge number of buttons on the toolbar, for example because of the mods you have installed, they will now wrap neatly.
Added new beaver names, courtesy of our Golden Log Awards 2025 winners.
When renaming a beaver, a bot, or a district, the text field is now prepopulated with the old name.
Renamed Engine to Steam Engine now that there’s also Geothermal Engine in the mix.
Updated and slightly re-ordered in-game credits to thank our players and partners.
Tree stumps are now deleted immediately after marking them for demolition.
Updated icons for the "Unspecified recipe" and "Unspecified goods" warnings.
Large Water Wheels now allow building overhangs right above them.
Smelter’s chimney is now shorter, making it possible to use Platforms as smoking racks.
Dormant Dynamite has slightly lower performance overhead.
The in-game day is now longer by 0.8 real-life seconds. While this may look cosmetic, it means that 1 in-game hour is now exactly 32 ticks, and 1 in-game day is now exactly 768 ticks, without any fractions.
Added prettier icons for worker counters in the top bar and in building descriptions.
Removed the colon from dropdowns and switches. *insert anatomical joke*
Brought back the "It is too far from a district and cannot be reached" warning when placing a building.
Unified the layer tool's in-game capitalization to "Layer tool".
Made some small tweaks to the Polish localization.
Fixed Terrain Blocks not returning goods when destroyed.
Fixed the map description field breaking when the scroll bar appeared.
UI click sounds are no longer played multiple times after clicking a single button.
Fixed some rare cases of tooltip flickering.
Fixed the Floor model occasionally disappearing when switching between layers.
Fixed the stuttering animation of Gravity Batteries.
Wind Gauge now correctly displays the “Flooded” status when completely submerged. Kind of makes sense.
Fixed a bug that prevented Carousel from being built if its base would be surrounded by terrain or other buildings.
Fixed a small visual glitch on Inventor.
Fixed the lag occurring upon placing the Dirt Excavator.
Fixed the incorrect toolbar spacing in the map editor.
Fixed incorrect capitalization in building descriptions.
Larger Suspension Bridge variants now correctly use the new flavor.
Fixed exploded beavers sometimes being teleported to another dimension.
Fixed a bug with sluices not opening.
Fixed the console not scrolling.
Removed the water “curtains” visible with the transparent mode turned on.
The building destruction sound no longer plays when exploding terrain. If you were able to hear that, congratulations.
Contamination now spreads across the terrain in a less blocky fashion.
Re-aligned the asymmetrical window in the Minilodge.
Fixed a bug with the scroll position not resetting correctly in the Save Map pop-up.
Goods icons are now correctly aligned in the goods selection pop-up.
Stranded beavers should no longer block unfinished Stairs, Tubeways, and Ziplines from being completed.
Fixed Folktails' tunnel construction visuals lagging behind.
Foresters and farmers no longer take forever to remove and replace plants.
Covering a large area with buildings - for example, placing down a lot of dynamite - no longer automatically removes the rubble beneath.
Underground buildings, such as the Badwater Rig, now have the same depth as the sources they cover.
Fixed issues with terrain selection and highlighting.
Fixed the incorrect text in the settlement deletion pop-up.
Fixed misaligned map description for maps with single-line descriptions.
The game no longer auto-saves when the player quits after a load with backward compatibility issues.
Rubble no longer shows unreachable status when it is moved, but remains in range.
Fixed rounding for distance to district.
Fixed occasional light flickering when lots of light sources are on the screen.
Beavers building a wonder no longer turn into ghosts after loading the game.
Power Shafts no longer emit looping sounds when inactive.
Beavers should no longer get stuck under stairs or inside buildings.
When using the layer tool, lights for hidden buildings are now correctly disabled.
Mouse dragging speed is now consistent between Windows and macOS.
Edge scrolling now works correctly for all screen edges on macOS devices with a camera notch.
Fixed a small gap in the Pile.
Fixed Power Shafts not connecting - visually - to the Bot Assembler.
Power Shaft connectors are now positioned correctly.
On the lower graphic settings, trees no longer get white edges at the bottom.
The game no longer gets heavily confused if you rotate the camera while placing draggable buildings, such as Paths.
A district's range is no longer drawn over Slopes.
Fixed a bug with tooltips not being positioned properly for one frame.
Clicking a currently selected object on a dropdown list now collapses the list.
It is no longer possible to play the game with the Steam overlay open.
The progress bar for healthy plants now looks correct in all languages.
Fixed a multithreading bug related to the water sources’ current strength.
Cleaned up the incorrect ordering in some buildings’ panels.
Replaced the "Default worker type for new buildings" label in District Centers with a shorter one that fits in one line.
Fixed a bug causing power consumers to report power demand after game load until unpausing, even if they did not need power.
Fully charged batteries no longer consume surplus power, which means that the remaining batteries can now charge faster.
Fixed a bug that resulted in batteries not working in the first tick after game load or after new buildings were added to, or removed from, the power network.
Fixed some buildings not animating immediately after loading a game.
Water and building animations should now smoothly adjust when you change in-game speed.
Lumberjacks are now slightly less eager. If the tree they were about to cut becomes unmarked for cutting, they will obey that order and give up.
Looong building names should no longer overlap with the buildings’ power requirements.
Fixed range previews being visible when placing certain buildings (such as a Beehive) while the buildings were not.
Network highlighting for finished mechanical buildings and shafts now excludes construction sites.
Fixed a small visual glitch with how the district connection - the green line - is displayed at the District Center’s entrance.
Fluid Dump's particles are no longer visible under terrain after loading a save.
It is no longer possible to place an Impermeable Floor on one of the Campfire's tiles.
The goggles of the Iron Teeth wonder's workers have the correct blue color and no longer emit light. Worry not, a pilot is cool as heck no matter what.
Fixed a crash caused by entering some dangerous characters in settlement names.
Fixed a crash upon loading caused by modded animated buildings found in the savefile (read: when loading a modded game without mods).
Fixed a crash caused by trying to route a zipline in a way that could result in a fatal collision with the Gravity Battery’s cable.
Fixed a crash in the map editor when you tried to update a really old map.
The game no longer crashes if you linger too much when choosing your settlement’s name.
Fixed a crash when using certain digits in district names.
Fixed a crash caused by deleting a storage while some beaver was thinking about it.
Fixed a crash caused by trying to connect two districts without a District Crossing in between.
Fixed a crash caused by deleting cut trees that didn't have all logs picked up yet.