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Hey everyone!
It’s been about two months since we released Islantiles, and first of all: thank you for playing, sharing feedback, and supporting the game since launch. We’ve been closely following your reports, suggestions, and discussions, and today we’re happy to release a patch focused on two things:
We’ve gone through a number of systems and mechanics to improve overall game flow, fairness, and decision-making. The goal of these changes is to make runs feel smoother, reduce frustrating edge cases, and create a more balanced experience across the board.
With the last few Hotfixes (often without patch notes) we fixed most of the bugs we knew about. This patch now includes the remaining bug fixes and general improvements, we know about. We’ve addressed several issues reported by the community, cleaned up smaller inconsistencies, and fixed a variety of problems that could negatively affect gameplay.
This patch includes:
Balance adjustments to improve overall gameplay feel and progression
Bug fixes for reported gameplay and technical issues
General polish and stability improvements
Various smaller fixes and quality-of-life improvements
We’ll post the full patch notes below so you can see all the detailed changes.
Thank you again for your support, patience, and feedback. It has helped us a lot in shaping this update, and we hope the changes make Islantiles an even better experience.
As always, if you run into issues or have feedback after the patch, let us know! We’re listening.
See you in Islantiles! Daniel & Daniel
Increased Coins gained for easier Islands, giving more chances to come back when having a harder run
Reduced the thresholds needed for Chieftain difficulty: Island 1: 5500 -> 5500 Island 2: 8500 -> 8500 Island 3: 12,500 -> 12,500 Island 4: 18,000 -> 18,000 Island 5: 30,000 -> 25,000 Island 6: 50,000 -> 45,000 Island 7: 100,000 -> 90,000 Island 8: 200,000 -> 180,000
Reduced the thresholds needed for Prince difficulty: Island 1: 5500 -> 5500 Island 2: 8500 -> 8500 Island 3: 12,500 -> 12,500 Island 4: 20,000 -> 20,000 Island 5: 40,000 -> 35,000 Island 6: 75,000 -> 70,000 Island 7: 150,000 -> 125,000 Island 8: 400,000 -> 300,000
Afterwork - Increases Productivity from 3 → 3.5 per Hammer
Healthy Diet - Increases Productivity gain from 0.04 → 0.05
Shrimp Farming - Increases Productivity from 1.7 → 2
Strip Mining - Increases Productivity from 1.5 → 1.8
Thirst for Knowledge - Increases Productivity from 1.2 → 1.5
University - Increases Productivity from 2.5 → 3
Thrift - Increases Productivity from 2 → 2.5
Master Guild - Increases Productivity from 1.8 → 2
Conservation - Increases Productivity from 3 → 4
Early Bird - Increases Actions from 4 → 5
Arts & Craft - Increases luxuries gained from 5 in spring to 2 in each season
Milita - Increases luxuries gained from 5 in summer to 2 in each season
Fuel Production - Increases luxuries gained from 5 in fall to 2 in each season
Distillation - Increases luxuries gain from 5 in winter to 2 in each season
Pioneers - Increases Productivity gain from 1 → 1.5
Trade Agreements - Increases resources gained from 5 → 6
Mindfulness - Increases Productivity gain from 1 → 1.3
Monarchy - Increases Productivity per Tier 3 card from 1.2 → 1.5
Cultural Exchange - Spawn 1 → 2 schools when visiting a trade route
Artistic Metalwork - Increases Productivity per Tier 2 card from 1.2 → 1.5
Culture Clubs Increases Productivity gain from 1.3 → 1.6
Gold Rush Increases Productivity gain from 1.2 → 1.6
Idolatry Increases Productivity gain from 1.5 → 2
Mountaineer Increases Productivity gain from 0.08 → 0.18
Thimblerig Increases Productivity gain from 1.5 → 2
Spyglass Increases Productivity gain from 0.1 → 0.18
Labor Union Increases Productivity gain from 0.08 → 0.2
Promotion Increases Productivity gain from 1 → 2
Civs now show how they are unlocked
Fixed a bug where the King of the Crowns Achievement was not triggering as expected
Fixed a bug where the Merchant King Achievement was not triggering as expected
Fixed a bug where the Grandmaster of Emptiness Achievement was not triggering as expected
Fixed a bug where Luxury tutorials would trigger when playing Realm of the First Light resulting in weird Luxury Infos being shown
Fixed a bug where Luxury tutorials would trigger when playing Realm of the First Light resulting in broken shops
Fixed a bunch of localization issues, making mechanics easier to understand especially in english
Fixed Altruism not effecting gains Technologies
Fixed some typos
Are you ready to settle countless islands? We're excited to finally release the full version of Islantiles.
To celebrate the launch, Islantiles is available with a 20% release discount, and is featured alongside our debut title Keep Keepers in the Thunderrock Innovations Bundle. You’ll also find additional bundles with other great games worth checking out if you’re looking to expand your library.
If you’ve already tried Islantiles before, there is loads of new content: experiment with new technologies, challenge yourself on higher difficulty levels, and explore entirely new playstyles with additional buildings and civilizations! If you’re new, now is the perfect time to start building.
Enjoying your time in Islantiles? Join us on Discord to share your experience or talk to us directly. You can also send feedback anymtime using the ingame feedback feature :)
Start your island journey now.
Daniel & Daniel Thunderrock Innovations
We’re excited to announce that tonight from 21:30 to 22:30 (CEST), we’ll be joining Writing Bull live on Twitch to present Islantiles and talk about the development. Watch here: Please note: The stream will be held in German. We’d love to see you there! Come hang out, watch the Showcase and join the stream live with us and Writing Bull! See you tonight! Daniel & Daniel
The wait is finally over.
Islantiles will officially launch on May 4th.
After a long period of development, iteration, and refinement, Islantiles is ready to be experienced in its full form. Built around strategic tile placement and deck-building mechanics, the game challenges you to shape evolving strategies, optimize your decisions, and discover new ways to adapt with every run.
The full version of Islantiles will include over 100 different technologies, a bunch of new cards, 6 different difficulties unlocking more and more content as well as 4 different civilizations, that will alter the way you play the game. This means more points of interest, more building cards, more mechanics and a lot more fun. We can't wait to show you.
Release Date: May 4th Release Discount: 20% Platform: Steam
Add Islantiles to your wishlist and be ready to start building when it launches.
More details, updates, and final previews will be shared as we approach release. Want to talk to us directly? As questions or give feedback? Join us on Discord! Daniel & Daniel
Hey everyone, we just pushed a small hotfix to address a few priority issues. Thank you for your continued feedback!
Gameplay Fixes
Softlock Resolved: Fixed a bug where Community and Bard cards could cause the game to freeze, preventing players from playing further cards or ending their turn.
Localization & UI
Japanese Font Support: Fixed an issue where Japanese characters would overlap in certain menus, improving readability.
Cheers, Daniel & Daniel
We’ve just released a new demo update for Islantiles, bringing expanded strategic depth, major UI improvements, and broader accessibility for players around the world.
Here’s what’s new:
In addition to English and German the Islantiles demo now supports:
Spanish
Polish
French
Portuguese
Japanese
Simplified Chinese
More players can now experience the demo in their native language, with fully integrated localization across the interface. Korean will follow soon.
We’ve added a few more technologies to the available technology pool. This expands strategic diversity, opens new synergy paths, and enables more varied build archetypes. Expect deeper decision-making, more unlocks and more distinct runs.
The shop has received a complete visual redesign:
Improved clarity and readability
Better usability and navigation
Cleaner, more cohesive presentation
The purchasing flow is now smoother and more intuitive.
Once you’ve selected five technologies, you can now purchase additional technology slots, which can be found on the left side of the screen.
This allows for even more multiplier combinations, higher scaling potential and greater late-game depth
Build ceilings have been raised for players who want to push optimization further.
Introducing a new treasure building: The Sacrificial Altar.
It allows players to destroy Cards to gain greater deck control.
This adds a powerful deck-thinning mechanic and enables higher precision strategies.
Various balance tweaks have been implemented to improve gameplay pacing, strategic viability, and overall flow.
Hey everyone!
We’re excited to announce that we’ll are going live with a Community Stream right here on Steam! Join us as we hang out with the community, showcase new updates, answer your questions, and give you a closer look at what we’ve been working on.
Whether you want to chat, learn more about the game, or simply chill with the devs, we’d love to see you there. Don’t forget to hit “Follow” so you get notified when we go live!
See you soon! Daniel & Daniel
Hi everyone!
Another week another update! This should be the biggest update so far and we are incredibly excited to share our changes that were heavily inspired by recent player feedback. We especially focused on the feedback from new settlers setting sail for the first time, but the changes should be a big win for everyone.
Until now, settling an island happened the moment you reached the required wealth score. While simple, this often made the game feel too easy for new players, and many ended up finishing their run in spring, without having the chance to explore the technologies they had just unlocked. Resulting in frustated players in the later islands, when the game got a lot harder, since they didn’t understand how to use their techs.
We have completely redesigned this system:
Instead of instantly winning, you now earn Bronze / Silver / Gold medals based on your score. If you achieve at least Bronze before the end of winter, the island is considered settled and you’ll head to the next one. If you fail to reach Bronze, the run ends.
Reaching Silver or Gold grants bonus gold, and getting Gold before winter rewards you with even more gold. This new system creates a more rewarding pacing, gives players more time to experiment, makes progression feel more meaningful and enable players to enjoy the scenery of the different seasons 🙂.
What makes Islantiles compulsive is that technologies fundamentally change the way you play. They open up new strategies, change how you interact with the board, shape how you craft your deck and define how to best use your resources. This makes every run feel unique.
Our initial set of technologies covered a broad spectrum of possibilities, but one mechanic we didn't yet alter with technologies is how you place your cards. So, we added a set of new technologies that directly influence how, where and when you place cards.
These new techs are easy to understand for new players, immediately demonstrate how technologies can transform your experience and are seriously fun to play with.
So don’t hold back, try them out! They’re absolutely worth it.
Once again, we listened to your feedback and added a few highly requested improvements:
Disable Clouds: You can now turn off clouds in the menu. This helps a lot when zoomed out, ensuring nothing blocks your view of the island.
Hide Schools & Temples: Schools and Temples can now be temporarily hidden, letting you see the island clearly while deciding on your next upgrade.
These small tweaks should make exploring and planning a little smoother. We still have a few more suggestions in the backlog and will continue to work on them, so don't worry if we haven't implemented your suggestion yet.
We also fixed a handful of rare bugs reported via the feedback system and Discord.
If you encounter anything else, please let us know we truly appreciate every report.
Thanks for following our development journey and as always, thank you for your feedback!
If you want to support us, please write a positive review and tell your friends about the game.
Want to talk to us? Come join our Discord:
See you on the next island!
Daniel and Daniel
Hey everyone!
We’re excited to announce that we’ll are going live with a Community Stream right here on Steam! Join us as we hang out with the community, showcase new updates, answer your questions, and give you a closer look at what we’ve been working on.
Whether you want to chat, learn more about the game, or simply chill with the devs, we’d love to see you there. Don’t forget to hit “Follow” so you get notified when we go live!
See you soon! Daniel & Daniel
We worked hard this past week, and we’re excited to bring you a truly impactful patch!
Choose your path across the ocean with our new Island Selection feature! Pick between Safe, Balanced, and Risky islands. Each offering unique rewards and shaping your strategic journey.
Islands now provide gold based on difficulty, and some will even contain Temples and Schools where you can upgrade your cards. What route will you take to reach the final island? We’d love to hear about your strategies!
We’ve listened closely to your feedback and fine-tuned the difficulty curve to make the game more enjoyable for both newcomers and veterans.
Beginners now have more room to breathe and learn their first technologies.
Pros can look forward to tougher challenges, especially on Difficulty 3, which has been significantly intensified.
Thanks for all your input and support. Keep the feedback coming, and enjoy the new patch!
Thanks for following our development journey and as always, thank you for your feedback!If you want to support us, please write a positive review and tell your friends about the game.Want to talk to us? Come join our Discord: Until next time, Daniel and DanielNow, that we released the Demo, we watched a lot of Streams and Videos and got a bunch of feedback.
In this update, we focused heavily on balance, clarity, and overall user experience. Here’s a breakdown of what changed:
Technology costs have been significantly reduced from 3–12 down to 3–7.
The tech 'Library' has been adjusted accordingly to maintain consistency and balance.
Various localization texts have been refined to make them clearer and easier to understand.
Tier 2 and Tier 3 cards now generate fewer Goods. We know Players hate nerfs and we are very careful nerfing things, however we needed to do this change for the following reasons.
Why this change?
These cards were strengthening decks too dramatically in the early game, even outperforming early-game technologies.
They produced so many Goods that Goods-focused technologies couldn’t compete neither early nor late game.
Because of their relative power, Tier 1 cards often felt like blockers rather than meaningful parts of the deck.
Goal: Tier 2 and Tier 3 cards should still feel like upgrades and meaningful progress, but without overshadowing Tier 1 cards and early game Technologies.
Hovering over a card now displays its Sell Value, making it easier to make informed decisions during gameplay.
Added new icons for Swamp, Trinkets, and Jeweler.
Default icon sizes on 4K displays have been increased for better visual readability.
A new discard animation has been added for improved visual feedback during card removal.
Schools have been simplified based on community feedback. Many players found their function unclear, so we redesigned them:
Schools now clearly show four possible cards to choose from.
This makes the system more intuitive and strategic.
We plan for a system, where players can choose their next islands while considering risks & rewards. While this system will need some work, we made the first steps to make islands more diverse.
Islands now have a chance to spawn tempels & schools.
For now we added a system that will prevent runs from having too much or too little luck.
Thanks for following our development journey and as always, thank you for your feedback!
If you want to support us, please write a positive review and tell your friends about the game.
Want to talk to us? Come join our Discord: https://discord.gg/n24hXgwhaW Talk to you soon,
Daniel and Daniel
Hey everyone!
The Islantiles demo is out NOW. Set sail and lead your civilization to glory.
The demo provides a lot of content for you to experience:
- 25+ build defining technologies including a few special points of interest
- The first three difficulty levels
- The Crownlands, the first of several upcoming civilizations
There will be regular demo updates over the coming months. Your feedback is invaluable and plays a key role in the development of Islantiles, with the full version coming in Q1 2026.
Steam's visibility heavily depends on your support on the steam page. As a small indie studio, wishlists, follows and especially reviews are extremely helpful for us. If you enjoy the demo, please consider leaving an early review directly on the Islantiles demo page.
Thank you for your ongoing support
Daniel & Daniel
Hey everyone!
Over the past weeks, we’ve collected a lot of feedback from you and we’re incredibly happy to see how well the game has been received so far! Many of you have shared stories about your favorite runs, unique strategies, and creative ways of building your islands.
However, we also noticed one recurring theme in the feedback: the Technology System. Some players found it hard to fully understand how technologies interact and influence gameplay. Since this system is the core foundation of the game’s replayability, we took your feedback to heart and made several improvements to make it more intuitive and rewarding.
Here’s what’s new
Previously, new players started with a small amount of gold but many felt overwhelmed by it. They often spent all of it after the first island without considering the long-term consequences. This led to players unlocking 3-4 technologies very early, without having time to really understand how they work. By removing the start gold, progression now feels more natural and encourages players to learn the tech system step by step.
A common challenge for new players was understanding what each technology actually did and how to trigger it. We’ve now added Technology Prediction Icons that appear when placing buildings. These icons show which technologies will be triggered, based on the building card played and the tile being built on. This helps players quickly learn what to look out for when purchasing and using technologies.
The new Technology Prediction system also inspired us to rework the Scoring Animation. You’ll now have a clearer overview of how your Technology cards contribute to your score, making building placements even more satisfying and informative.
To make results easier to understand, we’ve added a tooltip to the scoring indicator. It now displays the Goods and Productivity you achieved in each season, giving you a better sense of how your performance evolved over time.
Buildings now feature detailed tooltips that not only show the Goods and Productivity they generate, but also list which technologies were triggered and what effects they had. This makes it easier than ever to understand how your builds and technologies work together.
We made one additional change that should make deck building feel more relevant. We have significantly enhanced the visuals for tier II and III cards, enabling you to distinguish them instantly. Additionally the shiny new cards give a better sense of progression, when you start replacing your deck with the stronger cards.
These changes should make the Technology System much more transparent and satisfying to explore without losing any of its depth or replayability.
As always, thank you for playing, sharing feedback, and helping us make the game better every week. Keep building, keep experimenting, and let us know what you think of the new updates!
– Daniel & Daniel
Daniel & Daniel from Thunderrock Innovations here again! We’re excited by the response to the Islantiles (Demo) Playtest! So many of you have signed up, sailed out, and shared fantastic feedback with us already.
And because your adventures are just getting started, we’ve got some good news:
Instead of wrapping up on September 14, 2025 at 19:00 CET, we’ll be keeping the playtest running until September 21, 2025 at 19:00 CET.
That means two more weeks to explore islands, fine-tune your strategies, and uncover those satisfying deck-building combos.
Your feedback has been incredible from bug reports to clever optimization ideas. Extending the playtest gives us (and you!) more time to test balance changes, polish features, and prepare the game for its next big steps.
We’ll be rolling out small updates during the extension, so keep your eyes open for tweaks and surprises. As always, the best way to help is by sharing your thoughts with us:
Drop feedback in our Discord
Hello aspiring island architects,
Daniel & Daniel from Thunderrock Innovations here! We’re absolutely excited to announce that registration is now open for the Islantiles (Demo) Playtest!
Playtest Period
Starts: Today at 19:00 CET
Ends: September 14, 2025 at 19:00 CET
Limited Slots – Rolling Access We’ll be opening up the playtest in waves to keep things running smoothly:
The first 200 players will set sail today. So don’t wait, sign up right away!
Additional batches of testers will be invited gradually throughout the playtest period, so if you don’t get in immediately, stay tuned your turn might be just around the corner.
Invite a Friend Every playtester will receive the ability to invite one friend via Steam. Exploring new islands is always better with company!
You'll get access to an early version of the demo, featuring the first look at our cozy roguelite city-puzzler with deck-building mechanics.
Expect frequent updates, balancing tweaks, and new tech. Your feedback will help shape the game.
Islantiles marries calm, relaxing gameplay with deep strategic possibilities. You’ll:
Settle beautiful islands.
Create and upgrade your deck.
Use powerful technologie combos.
Enjoy a quiet, thoughtful experience with no combat, no timer stress, and no citizen micromanagement. Just satisfying city-building and deck synergy
This playtest is your chance to help us fine-tune our vision. Whether you're optimizing placements, discovering new synergies, or simply soaking in the cozy vibes: We’d love your input.
Register now
Wishlist and Follow
Invite a friend to join you in exploring early builds.
Jump into our Discord: https://discord.gg/n24hXgwhaW
Chat with us, ask questions, post observations, and share your best combos.
Have fun,
Daniel & Daniel
About
This page aggregates Steam news feeds, patch notes, and developer announcements for Islantiles, sourced from official Steam community posts.
Major updates, balance changes, and seasonal events often correlate with player-count spikes — cross-reference announcements here with the live charts on the main Islantiles statistics page.
Articles link back to Steam for full changelogs. SteamScope refreshes news entries as new posts are published to the game's Steam hub.