Making the Correct Game Is Key

Toukana Interactive and Dorfromantik

Toukana Interactive began in 2020 with four founders who had studied game development in Berlin. Their goal was to make a game that could fund future projects—not to become an overnight hit.

Before choosing Dorfromantik, the team built around eight prototypes. Dorfromantik stood out because its tile-placement gameplay, quests, and game-over condition already suggested a complete game loop. Some competing prototypes had fun mechanics but no clear direction for a full game.

The first version was made during a Ludum Dare game jam and shared online. The team developed it into an Early Access release in roughly 10–12 months.

Dorfromantik is a relaxing tile-placement game in which players build a pastoral landscape and complete quests by arranging matching terrain edges into groups. The rules evolved during development: tile rotation was added, quest targets became easier to read, and lakes and oceans provided more flexible “joker” connections. The core idea stayed intact.

Its distinctive visual style drew on rural folk and expressionist paintings rather than only other indie games. The developers combined hand-painted textures, shader-based outlines, and a stylized tree-mesh technique.

The game performed far beyond the team’s expectations. Steam Next Fest helped build interest before release, while strong player engagement, leaderboards, streamers, YouTubers, and Steam recommendations helped sustain its momentum after launch.

Performance became a major challenge as players built larger worlds. GPU instancing reduced the number of draw calls, while the Switch version also needed lower-polygon tree models, less decorative clutter, and other visual adjustments. The developers’ advice from the experience was to account for target hardware early and use measures such as instancing and simpler models where appropriate.

The full 1.0 release also did well, supported by active Early Access updates, awards, and a prominent Steam feature. The studio learned that successful projects may receive a Steam representative and can discuss available featuring opportunities with them.

The Board-Game Adaptation

Board-game authors Lucas and Mel adapted a prototype of their own into a Dorfromantik board game. They made it cooperative to preserve the video game’s relaxed, shared experience.

The board game combines accessible tile-placement puzzles with a repeatable campaign that introduces additional rules and depth over time. It performed unusually well even before award recognition, then received a further boost from its Spiel des Jahres nomination and win.

Toukana estimates that the board game accounts for roughly a fifth of its income in the long run, while stressing that its success is not a guarantee for other adaptations. The developers believe that preserving the digital game’s distinctive look helped the board game stand out on shelves.

Star Birds

Toukana partnered with Kurzgesagt after meeting them at Gamescom. The collaboration began with a free prototyping phase inspired in part by Kurzgesagt videos, including one about asteroid mining.

Star Birds is a colorful, relatively relaxed space and factory-building game. Players build infrastructure on asteroids, connect pipes and buildings, and manage ships that transport resources between asteroids and a space station. Its systems include a large resource economy and staged quests that introduce new resources and buildings.

The bird characters serve as a crew on a journey through star systems. The game includes a story campaign, cutscenes, and dialogue. The developers planned to add another star system and continue the story during Early Access.

The team chose not to make the game loseable or impose general time pressure. Instead, its challenge is a logistics and spatial puzzle: fitting systems together so production and transport work efficiently.

The score rewards both completing resource quests and building a balanced, effective economy that delivers a useful mix of resources. It is not time-based, in keeping with the game’s relaxed approach.

Kurzgesagt contributed brand guidance, research, writing, many 2D assets, animations, and marketing reach. Toukana led game design, development, technical work, and the 3D game visuals.

The developers said Star Birds took longer to develop than Dorfromantik because it was more complex, with two connected gameplay layers and many unresolved design questions. Early Access lets them respond to player feedback. Reported concerns included unclear instructions, technical issues, and a desire for more content.

Development and Marketing Lessons

• Prototype several ideas, then judge them not only by whether their core mechanic is fun, but also by whether the concept is feasible and has a clear, marketable direction.
• Iterate rather than locking every design decision at the start. But eventually settle on solutions: keeping a project vague for too long can be as harmful as committing too early.
• Seek a balance between familiarity and originality. A game should offer something distinctive while still being understandable to players; screenshots or short clips should give people a quick sense of what they do in it.
• Appeal can come from more than polished visuals. A compelling player fantasy, setting, feel, or recognizable gameplay can also draw players in. Decide early what kind of experience the game is meant to offer.
• Visibility is a central challenge in a crowded market. The discussion identified Steam featuring and creator coverage as major routes to attention, with press, awards, and word of mouth often providing a slower path.
• A small team can preserve a good working dynamic and keep costs manageable. Toukana hired cautiously, beginning with community and marketing support before expanding development staff.
• The team deliberately moved Star Birds’ launch date after Silksong announced its release date, reasoning that a major release could dominate press and creator coverage.

People, Games, and Sources Featured

People and organizations: Jonas Tyroller (host); Timo Falcke and Zwi Zausch of Toukana Interactive; Toukana co-founders including Zantro and Luca; board-game authors Lucas and Mel; Pegasus Spiele; Kurzgesagt.

Toukana games: Dorfromantik, Star Birds, and the earlier VR game Visual Spaceport.

Other games discussed or referenced: Humankind, Carcassonne, Spore, Factorio, Islanders, Outer Wilds, Mega Bonk, Vampire Survivors, and a game title transcribed uncertainly as “Pedal Pedal Pedal.” The team also mentioned prototypes about desert hoverboarding and a jumping fish.

Platforms, events, and industry sources: Steam, Steam Next Fest, itch.io, Ludum Dare, Gamescom, Unity, HTW Berlin, the German Developer Award, the German Game Award, and Spiel des Jahres.