Game Developer Deep Dives are an ongoing series with the goal of shedding light on specific design, art, or technical features within a video game in order to show how seemingly simple, fundamental design decisions aren’t really that simple at all.
Earlier installments cover topics such as creating a game manual that accommodates multiple learning styles with director of The Banished Vault Nic Tringali, how Mimimi games crafted the save scum-friendly save system in Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, and the technical work and creative nuances behind Slime Rancher 2‘s new weather system and the experiential impact that developers Monomi Park designed for players.
In this edition, Mechanistry comms manager Michal Amielanczyk reveals the marketing strategy that helped Timberborn‘s popularity soar with only two years in early access.
My name is Michal Amielanczyk, and I’m the comms manager at Mechanistry, the studio behind the beaver city builder Timberborn. Last year, I joined our game’s co-director, Kamil Dawidow, to tell you how we designed Timberborn’s water physics system. Today, I’m here to discuss the marketing strategy that helped us reach one million sales within two years and hit the highest post-launch player peak with our most recent content patch.
And here’s the game’s trailer so that you have a better understanding of how beavers and city-building mix in the game.
Getting the world to hear about Timberborn for the first time
We went public with the game (and with the studio, since it’s Mechanistry’s first project) in October 2019 by launching the Steam page, social media channels, and opening the game
