The Year In Review 2022

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Wow, what a year! So much happened that it took us a while to piece it together. We announced new titles, ported games and DLCs, released updates, and launched a game across 4 different platforms. We gave talks, took part in panels, wrote blog posts, and appeared on podcasts. We raised money for charity, ran 5km as a studio, and got very muddy in the process. We grew in size hugely, both with the number of projects we are working on, and the number of Aurochs in our herd. 

It’s been an incredible journey thank you for joining us on it. Let’s take a dive into 2022 at Auroch Digital to look back at all the things we achieved this year. 

January 

We started the year off with the launch of our free Mars Horizon update Daring Expeditions on all platforms. 🚀This update included new flags, plenty of Spacepedia updates and new dangerous missions, including the Philae / Rosetta Mission. This is an ESA cornerstone mission to chase, go into orbit around, and land on a comet. Watch our stream of this update here. 

Next up, for January was the release of our latest podcast season. If you are an avid listener of our podcast you’ll know this was our 7th season which which covered topics such as: 

Lastly, we ended the month with the announcement of our port of the Megaquarium DLC Freshwater Frenzy coming to consoles! We were delighted to share with everyone that we were bringing it to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox later in the year. 

Our giant free Mars horizon dlc Daring expeditions

February 

With January being such a launch heavy month, February seemed so much quieter with our podcast season ending, but with some amazing topics still being covered, including a special Ogre double bill to get everyone prepped for a special surprise later in the year... 

March 

Finally, at the start of March, Megaquarium DLC Freshwater Frenzy launched onto everyone’s consoles after an unexpected delay in February. As always, we thank the community for being so patient and understanding with us ♥ We know it was worth the wait! 

Next up in March, Some of our devs wanted to share why it is important to #BreakTheBias surrounding the games industry on International Woman’s Day. We wanted to #BreakTheBias on: 

Next up in this jam packed month was a big Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator celebration of our partnership with Moor Beer in Bristol. Working with a real-life brewery to make our game was a dream come true and getting to visit them was a real highlight. 

What better way to round off such a busy month than with our very own steam festival, Steam Simfest: Hobby Edition from March 28 – April 4 🎮🔨 

We hosted and organise the whole festival, including and incredible line up of panels, talks, and lets plays from huge studios and publishers. We also took part in lots of panels and let’s plays ourselves including 

April 

With April, came warmer weather and more lockdown restrictions lifting. This meant our team were starting to attend more events in person to give talks and join panels. The first one of this year was at W.A.S.D Live where we gave two talks 

Following this we were featured in Nintendo Life indie spotlight for Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator showcasing our latest trailer for the game.  

To finish off April we were proud to announce that we had won the “The Queens Award for Enterprise for International Trade” as a part of the wider Sumo Group!  

May 

After announcing our Moor Beer partnership back in March, we just had to take some of the team down to visit the brewery so that they can see life imitating art? Art imitating life? Either way, they all enjoyed it and we learnt so much from the visit too. Check out Moor Beer and make sure to visit their taproom if you’re in the area, we had a brilliant time! 

While we have been busy working on our games, Jess took a moment to chat about the importance of mental health and wellbeing within games too. This is an important pillar to us as a studio, the well being of our staff and our players is always key.  

Towards the end of May we dropped a big surprise for Steve Jackson Ogre fans. A massive PC update for Ogre Steam users and we announced and released our port of Ogre on Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch on the same day! It was very busy and exciting. 

June 

Talking of surprises, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun was revealed as part of the Warhammer Skulls showcase as our next game launch in 2023! The fan reaction was spectacular and there was loads of hype for our game across socials. This game is very close to our hearts as a studio full of Warhammer fans. In particular our Studio director Tomas, who spoke about what the game and franchise means to him in this blog post.  

But we weren’t finished there, we had one more awesome announcement for our players. 

Next we announced another brilliant partnership for Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator, this time with Next Glass, the leading global provider of software, eCommerce solutions, content, and experiences in the beverage alcohol industry. This allowed us to include BeerAdvocate, Hop Culture, and Untappd in our game. 

We took part in Next Fest following this announcement, with a brand new demo for players to try. During the festival we did 2 streams with our partners and were joined by Kenny Gould from Hop culture, as well as Justin Hawke, Head Brewer and owner of Moor Beer Company. 

But that wasn’t all, the end of June involved celebrating Juneteenth, pets in our game and meeting up with the wider Sumo Group. June was a busy month! 

July 

Our surprises didn’t stop coming with regards to Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator. We did the unexpected and launched our very own limited edition Auroch Digit-ale Beer with Moor Beer! This beer recipe was created in the game so you could brew your own beer and then enjoy it in real life. 

In the heatwaves, Nina, our Operations Director did a talk at Develop called "Signing your Game and what to avoid” and we couldn’t be prouder of her.  

We did need to cool down though... 

Auroch Digital takes on tough mudder, the muddy victors

August 

So we decided to do Tough Mudder for the Grand Appeal, specifically raising money for Sunflower Ward which Auroch Digital is a patron of. We worked hard, supported eachother, got wet, got very muddy and we raised over £3,500 for the ward. At least all that mud helped us cool down. 

Just intime for us to announce the launch date of Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator and introduce you to the team you meet in story mode; Jeff, Pat, Mei, Rosa, and Kristoff. 

September 

September was a huge month for us, we launched Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator! We had been working so hard on the game, for so long, that it felt amazing to finally see it in players hands.  

We sent out awesome packs to content creators and enjoyed seeing people with our beer , wearing our custom aprons, and brewing the recipe we sent them. We also had some special aprons made for furry friends. 

We also took Brewmaster on the road and took the game, plus a load of badges, to EGX!  

the Auroch Digital team visiting Sunflower Ward at Bristol Children’s hospital. Featuring previous patient mae, and isaac one of the play assistants in the ward

October 

We wanted to keep giving the community more Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator greatness, so just before our console launch, we had Garrett Oliver, the renowned real life Brewmaster, play our game and drink our beer on the official Xbox On channel.  

That wasn’t all, the Brewmaster gifts kept coming, next up we also treated everyone to some special in-game posters from our some friends of the Studio. You could now put in posters from all these awesome games into your brewing space: Silt, Shadows of Doubt, Core Keeper, Fights in Tight Spaces, The Colonists, Kenshi, Megaquarium, Wildermyth, Warborn, Kitaria Fables, Wobbledogs, Loddlenaut, Snake Pass, Zool Redimensioned, Hundred Days - Winemaking Simulator, Unpacking. 

Remember Tough Mudder that we ran back in August? We were invited to go a visit the Sunflower Ward to give them the donations we had raised and met some amazing children including Mae. 

November 

After such a busy year, we started to wind down in November. It gave us time to tell people more about our Studio. Check out this article to learn 5 things about Auroch Digital, which tells you that we are 

  • 🎲 Never bored of board games 🎲

  • 👩‍🚀 We have friends in high spaces 👩‍🚀 

  • 🏡 We may be based in Bristol, but operate from everywhere 🏡

  • 🌎 We are experts in real-world ideas 🌎

  • 🐕 Plus we are a studio of animal lovers 🐈

We also had two of our producers give a great insight into neurodiversity and the games industry, which shows how as a studio we are always working to become more inclusive.  

To finish off the month, our beloved Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun was featured in an article about exciting shooters for 2023!  

December 

Even though it seems like things have been quiet during December for Auroch Digital, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. We have loads of awesome projects going on behind the scenes and we are working very hard on lots of games and events. Some you know about, but quite a lot you don’t! 

We can’t wait to share these with you in 2023, it is going to be our biggest and best year ever. 

Thanks to our publishers, developers, and partners who we’ve worked with on some amazing projects in 2022. Thanks so much as well to all our players and community for supporting us throughout the year, playing our games, and talking with us on socials and in Discord. 

Make sure to join our community to be the first to hear about our next exciting announcements.  You can find us on: 

And if you like the sound of working at Auroch Digital make sure to check out our jobs page to see what we are currently hiring for. 

On to a brilliant 2023

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Auroch Digital

Marketing and Community Managment for Auroch Digital in Bristol, UK.

Neurodiversity and the Games Industry

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Producer Hannah Corcoran and Senior Producer Mark Inman of Auroch Digital share their insights into how the games industry can best support its neurodiverse teams.

Here at Auroch, we know that it takes all kinds of people to make games, and that the very best games are created in an environment of kindness, inclusivity and authenticity. That’s why when Auroch Digital started out in 2010, our founders were passionate about creating a studio where everyone could bring their whole selves to work every day to do what they love: make awesome games.

A lot can happen in 12 years; and in that time, we’ve become a studio of almost 100 people and have worked on a bunch of games we’re incredibly proud of – including Mars Horizon, Megaquarium and – most recently – Brewmaster: the beer brewing simulator. It’s not just our headcount that’s increased in recent years – there’s been a huge lift in conversations around Neurodiversity in the games industry. We’ve been delighted to hear the voices of our neurodivergent games industry peers sharing their experiences and even advising how companies can best support their neurodivergent teams.

Our Senior Producer Mark Inman and Associate Producer Hannah Corcoran are just two people contributing to the wider conversation and driven by their own experiences have pulled together a resource centre around neurodiversity in the games industry and how we can all make changes to work better, together.

Meet Hannah:
“My neurodiversity is an integral part of me. I've been diagnosed with OCD and have battled with it since I was a small child. I also have ADHD, and so does my partner! Neurodiversity has surrounded me my whole life as I have neurodiverse close family members and friends, including Autism, dyslexia, and dyspraxia. On top of this, I have a BSc in Psychology and an MSc in Psychological Research Methods, I'm a trained Mental Health First Aider, and a Neurodiversity Consultant!”

 

Meet Mark:
“I’m passionate about ensuring neurodiversity is a part of everyday conversation in the games industry. Studio Director Tomas Rawlings has really driven the studios’ approach to neurodiversity in a bid to make it a more welcoming environment for all, where anyone can have open and honest conversations without it ever becoming uncomfortable. Through active, mutual support, we’ve become better at normalising conversations and better integrating support tools.”

 

So, let’s get into it!

What does neurodiversity mean?

  • Neurodiversity (noun): The diversity or variation of cognitive functioning in people.

    Put simply, neurodiversity means the different ways brains can work and how they interpret information – not all humans are the same and not all humans think in identical ways. Just as we all have different interests, skills and motivations, we also all have totally different brains.

  • Neurodiverse (adjective): Describes the diversity and variation of cognitive functioning in people.
    Most people are neurotypical, which means that the brain functions and processes information in a way that is deemed ‘usual’ by society, but it’s estimated that more than 15% (that’s one in seven!) of the population is neurodivergent.

  • Neurodivergence (noun): Cognitive functioning which is not considered "typical".
    Makes sense then, that given the games industry continues to grow year-on-year, that a 2021 report found that 18% (that’s one in five) of UK games industry workers are neurodivergent, meaning there is a higher prevalence of neurodiversity in the UK games industry than in the general UK population!

  • Neurodivergent (adjective): Describes people who have a neurodivergence.

What can neurodiversity look like?

You might be wondering ‘what does it mean to be neurodivergent?’… well, there isn’t just one way to be! Neurodivergence cannot and is not defined as being one thing – it can include a range of conditions that effect everyone in entirely different ways, including:

  • Affects behaviour – those with ADHD can seem restless, may have trouble concentrating and may act on impulse.

  • Affects communication and experience of the world around them – Autism is a spectrum and everyone with it is completely different in the levels of support they may or may not need.

  • Can affect learning, such as reading and writing, and has differing levels of severity for everyone on the spectrum.

  • Affects movement and co-ordination, such as fine motor skills like writing and using small objects.

It's common to find that neurodivergent individuals may experience more than one of these conditions, known as comorbidity, and it’s important to remember that not everyone may experience these conditions in the same way.

Neurodiversity and the Games Industry

As mentioned earlier, there’s a pretty high percentage of neurodivergent folks who find themselves working in the games industry. Despite these big numbers, there’s been very little official research into why a neurodivergent brain might be drawn to a career in games.

One thought is that video games as an activity provides continuous, external reinforcement, which caters beautifully to the neurodiverse brain! On top of this, games help neurodiverse folks embrace making mistakes, allowing space for self-compassion and for growth. It’s also been observed that video games are a safe space to help build communication skills through regular interaction with the gaming community. One study found that 41.4% of adolescents and children with autism spend their free time playing video games, compared to 18% of their neurotypical peers (Mazurek, Shattuck, Wagner, and Cooper 2013) - so it’s not hard to see how a love for playing games could develop into a valid career opportunity for them in adulthood!

It's assumed that the games as a career seem to suit neurodiverse brains for a plethora of reasons, and there are many strengths that come with being neurodiverse – many of which make neurodivergent people a perfect fit for the industry.

For example, Hannah’s role as a Producer sees her working with a myriad of teams every single day, with no two days ever looking similar. She has the responsibility of meeting to strict deadlines and more often than not, problems to solve. Common traits of someone with ADHD can be ‘hyperfocus’, ‘flexibility’, ‘eye for detail’ and ‘motivated by short term deadlines’ – don’t these sound like desirable personality traits you’d see on a job advert for a Producer?

Another example could be in Code and Programming roles. Oftentimes, these teams will be doing lots of repetitive action with a need for attention to detail – both of which can be strengths for someone with Autism.

What can I do to support my neurodivergent teams?

Despite such a high number of neurodiverse brains working in our industry, there’s little to no advice for managers and leads on how to best support their neurodivergent teams and even less in the way of toolkits and advice centres. Below are some easy ways you can support your team:

  • Whilst the responsibility to support neurodiverse staff sits with the employer, there are limits and it’s good to establish those boundaries early on. Identify with your team a sensible approach to working, understanding their ways of working or establishing reasonable expectations – such as additional support needed or time for tasks to be completed. In leading a team, you must be able to support everyone – not just individuals. With this in mind, it’s important you reach an understanding of the level of support they might need going forward.

  • Never underestimate the power of early conversations! The best time to talk to a team member about neurodiversity is during the interview stage by explaining your company’s approach to supporting neurodiversity without putting any pressure on the candidate to come forward and share. Framing your neurodiversity strategy as part of onboarding will make it feel like general information and may make dialogue later down the line easier.

  • It’s best not to let undisclosed neurodiversity linger, talking it through thoroughly will help you both understand what support is needed and how your team member can work at their best. Regular check-ins with your team to ensure they’re comfortable and feel safe to raise any issues is key in making a happier environment for everyone.

  • Across most neurodiversity, being able to manage time in a more granulated way can make it much easier for neurodivergent team members to manage their time and meet deadlines. It’s easy for large time tasks to feel overwhelming, so being open to supporting your team in breaking up their tasks into bitesize chunks will make a big difference.

  • Not all brains can process a wall of text or hear every instruction all at once. Find out from your team how much detail is enough and work with them on delivering instruction – it might not always be possible to cut a dense document down but including a bullet point summary can help. Opening the door to conversation around preferred communication will mean everyone is able to do their best work.

  • This is probably the broadest area and where a manager will need to show their best flexibility. Establishing the communication preferences of your team early on will make for the smoothest experience. For example: How do they best disseminate instruction/direction? What is their preferred way to interject/contribute to a debate or meeting? What tools/processes do they need to be able to track information personally? Knowing this early means they are not left feeling excluded or overwhelmed in meetings or team events

  • Exposure to certain sensory stimuli can be incredibly difficult for some neurodiverse people, and you should be prepared to take steps to support wherever possible. Whilst best to avoid these triggers, it’s not always possible. If you also cannot work to mitigate/reduce these triggers, it is good practice to ensure you give teams as much notice as possible of potential sensory triggering in the run up to it happening – for example, showing a trailer during a presentation. Remember: avoid, mitigate, notify!

  • It can be almost impossible to remain focused when you have low levels of certainty that your task list or plan for the day may go off the rails. With this in mind, avoid getting into the habit of changing your teams’ day-to-day work and try to limit unexpected meetings with little to no notice. We know the games industry loves a curveball, and not every change of plan can be avoided – but should unavoidable disruption rear its head, have a plan to work with your team to reassure them that the impact is not something they have control over. Also, avoid the use of hotdesking for neurodiverse employees.

  • The one thing employers can absolutely get right is providing the appropriate hardware/software to ensure team members are able to perform at their best. There is a wide variety of tools available, from footrests to aid balance, to noise cancelling headphones, to screen filters, to fidget toys, to supportive software! It’s important for an employer to stay on top of emerging tech, so the onus isn’t always on the individual to bring suggestions to the table

These are just some of the ways you can adapt your ways of working to suit everyone but remember: not all brains are wired the same way and what works for one neurodiverse brain might not suit another. It’s all about patience, adaptability and honesty.

Supporting Neurodiversity in the Games Industry

The estimated percentage of neurodivergent individuals working in the games industry is higher than that of the general population in the UK – so how can you find your dream role in games if you are neurodiverse?

  1. Research: When looking for roles in games, research various studios and whether they’re upfront abut their approach to neurodiversity at work – are they supporting causes like UKIE’s #RaiseTheGame or partnering with Into Games? Both of these are great resources for studios to upskill themselves in working with neurodiverse teams and may be a good indicator of their knowledge level in neurodiversity.

  2. Be open and honest: If you’re starting to have conversations with a studio about your career there, it’s important to be open and honest about your neurodiversity during this time. Many people with a neurodivergence find it useful to create a “Spiky Profile” – which is a visual graph to explain the differences of ability associated with your neurodivergence, capturing what makes you such a valuable individual, and what areas you need support in.

  3. Keep the conversation going: Wherever you can and feel safe to do so, keep conversations about your experience open. Be sure to manage expectations with your manager and be honest about what could make your experience better, whether that be time management support, adapted work hours, quieter desk space, communication preferences, simplified instructions or ways to mitigate sensory triggers.

As for companies, there are tonnes of ways you can make your studio space – both virtual and remotely – more accessible.

  1. Check your communications: Do you have a website with fancy graphics and lots of moving parts? It might look great but maybe take time to consider how it could look to someone who struggles to process a lot of moving imagery or someone who may struggle to navigate it. Think about how the text on your site might be read by someone with dyslexia – is it easy to read and clear? Are you using jargon upfront and making it hard to find your careers page?

  2. Make physical spaces more accessible: Having a bustling office may seem like a great idea, but for someone with neurodiversity it might be a very overwhelming space – especially if their desk is in an area of high-traffic.

  3. Create safe virtual spaces: A teams meeting with 15 people on might be necessary, but consider recording all calls so people can easily access and process the information at a later date without the pressure of a live audience.

  4. Keep the conversation going: Yep, it’s vital that team members and workplaces alike keep this conversation going. You could create anonymous forums for people to post their questions, thoughts and suggestions on changes that could be made to better the employee experience.

Research: It goes without saying that the advice given here is not a fix all solution – everyone is different and things are constantly evolving. Stay up to date, in the know and proactive in your learning around neurodiversity.

Auroch Digital and Neurodiversity

Here at Auroch, we’re very proud to have built a culture where our people can be honest with us and share how they’re feeling. Through the years, we’ve learnt that flexible thinking is the best way to create a workplace fit for everyone and we’re always making changes and improvements in any way we can.

We’re always learning, but through communication and patience, we’re on the right path to becoming a home for everyone.

A huge thank you to Hannah and Mark for their hard work and commitment on this guide – we’re so proud to have you on our team and of all the positive changes you make in the industry. As a final note, the two have pulled together some useful resources that we can all take the time to read and act on:

Hannah Corcoran is an Associate Producer at Auroch Digital and is always happy to talk about brains and video games. You can catch her on Twitter at @hazelrune – her inbox is always open!
Mark Inman is a Senior Producer at Auroch Digital and is available on Twitter at @Fortress_Inman.

Interested in finding out more about a role at Auroch Digital? Why not check out the Careers Page and see if there’s a fit for you!

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Auroch Digital

Marketing and Community Managment for Auroch Digital in Bristol, UK.

We raised over £3,500 for the Sunflower Ward at Bristol children’s Hospital 🌻

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At Auroch Digital we are proud patrons for the Sunflower Ward at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children. We recently ran Tough Mudder as a studio and raised £3,825 for the ward through The Grand Appeal!

Tough Mudder was a big challenge for us, many of us had not done anything like this before but we really pulled together as a team and helped each other. Some of the obstacles we conquered together included ice baths we dunked ourselves into, slippery, muddy hills we pulled each other over, and even running through electric shock wires.

Our proud Auroch digital tough mudder team after passing the finish line

Visiting The Sunflower Ward 🌻 

To celebrate their fundraising for The Grand Appeal, the Auroch Digital team were invited to visit the ward and its patients. It was great to see first-hand the ward we are working to support and to see the impact that raising funds has had – it made all the mud, sweat, and tears of Tough Mudder worth it! 

We also got to meet the wonderful Mae, one of Sunflower Ward’s patients. She showed us around the ward and told us about her favourite games. She is an especially big fan of the Untitled Goose Game – it was lovely to meet you Mae! 

Some of the auroch digital team outside the hospital holding a giant cheque. They are joined by Mae, one of the patients on the ward, and Isaac, one of the Play Assistants from the ward.

Some of the donated items the sunflower ward have recieved so far

You know how we all like to come home and play a few games? These kids are exactly the same. After they have had procedures done, being able to socialise with other young people brings them happiness in such a difficult time. Playing games in a team, laughing with friends, and being creative are all things Sunflower ward helps these kids to do.

Play is so important for patients of the ward, it brings them joy, a sense of normality, and it helps with recovery.

The money we’ve donated is already being put to good use, here are some of the items the ward has bought so far.

What is The Sunflower Ward? 🌻 

We have been patrons for The Sunflower Ward since November 2021, read more about why we became patrons here. 

 The Sunflower ward is the neurorehabilitation ward at Bristol Royal Hospital for children. They see patients for both short- and long-term rehabilitation programs. Their admissions come from across the Southwest region and are made up of referrals, planned admissions, and transfers from other wards. There are eight beds made up of four cubicles and a four bedded bay. Patients are seen from ages 0 to 16+. 

The Grand Appeal is the dedicated charity for Bristol Children’s Hospital. The charity works  alongside  doctors,  nurses  and  specialist staff  to  ensure  that  every  sick child  has  access  to  the  best possible  care,  when  they  need it  most by funding everything from accommodation for families, state-of-the-art equipment, medical research and art, music and play therapies. 

All smiles inside the sunflower ward with the Auroch Team, Mae, and Isaac.

How can you help? 🏥 

If you’d like to support the Sunflower Ward as well there are loads of things you can do: 

  • 🍰 Raise money for donations - Take part in a fundraising event, or organise your own! These can be bake-offs, marathons, or other sponsored activities. The money you raise can go on donations for the ward. For ideas and events you can join check out the official charity for Bristol Children’s Hospital - The Grand Appeal.  

  • 🎮Host a charity Stream – Streaming is another great way to raise money for the hospital. Check out this page to sign up and for more info:  www.grandappeal.org.uk/streaming    

  • 🔊 Raise Awareness - Share any posts you see about the ward, including ours! Raising awareness of the important work they do and how people can help makes a big difference. 

  • 🐦 Follow them on socials to stay up to date - Follow The Grand Appeal (Twitter and Facebook) on socials so you can stay up to date with their work, help raise awareness, and get involved with events as they come up. 

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Jemima Crow

Brewmaster: Beer Brewing is out now on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch! 🍻

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Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator is out now on
PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch! 🍻

Today is the day, Brewers!

Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator is out now on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch! And of course, on PC too! Click the buttons below to be taken to the store pages.

There’s also currently a 10% launch discount on all consoles* right now 🍻
*(on PlayStation, this discount is for PlayStation PLUS users only)

 
 

A huge thank you to our console brewers for being so patient, we at Auroch Digital, alongside our publisher Fireshine Games, have been working so hard on brewing the console version just right and we are so happy it's ready to serve!

💡 PlayStation and Xbox players - make sure you head into your options and set your Brewing Tips too "All Tips" in the General tab! This will give new brewers the best experience to learn the game 🥳 This setting should already be enabled for Switch players.

🍻 Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator is the first-ever realistic beer brewing experience. From perfecting authentic, chemistry-driven brewing techniques to naming, bottling, labelling, and customising brewing spaces – you can refine your craft to create the beers of your dreams! Use a wide variety of ingredients and equipment in the story-led Brewmaster mode or the sandbox Creative Mode to hone your skills and become the ultimate brewer!

🎮 Developed by Auroch Digital and published by Fireshine Games, Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator launches today on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 & 5 and Xbox One & Series X|S.

🍺 Auroch Digital and Fireshine Games are so excited to see the community experience Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator. We hope that everyone enjoys the game and keeps it lager than life!

If you're interested in a key for review or other content, please get in touch with us on - marketing@aurochdigital.com 🍻

💕 Celebrating your favourite indies!

Customise your brewing space with some of your favourite indie games with our new update on PC, and already available on Xbox and PlayStation.

We've been working with some of our peers in the industry to get posters of their game in Brewmaster, so you can represent some of your favourite indies in-game.

There are posters of Megaquarium, Wildermyth, Kenshi, Silt, Fights in Tight Spaces, Shadows of Doubt, Hundred Days - Winemaking Simulator, Kitaria Fables, Core Keeper, Wobbledogs, The Colonists, Snake Pass, Loddlenaut, Warborn, and Unpacking.

Please note: These cosmetics are available on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation.

Catch up with Garrett & XboxOn 🍻

Watch the VOD here! 👀

Yesterday, real life Brewmaster, Garrett Oliver, played our game over on the XboxOn Twitch channel. There were some really great moments including when Sam didn’t use the right malt for the task at hand, and even though Henry did in his run through, Garrett still preferred Sam’s beer overall!

Make sure you catch up with the stream here if you missed it! We loved seeing the XboxOn team try our real-life Auroch Digitale, brewed to life by our partners Moor Beer. It was so great to hear all about Garrett’s history with brewing, from when he lived in the UK to what he’s up to now - did you know Garrett’s a Knight?!

Thanks for reviewing Brewmaster 📝

And a massive thank you to our PC players for reviewing the game on Steam, we really appreciate it! We’ve already got over 300 reviews, which is amazing! As a smaller game developer we can’t stress how much they mean to us and how important they are.

Click here to learn more about why reviews are important and to get more information on how to leave a review.

If you've played Brewmaster on PC, spill your thoughts, we'd love to hear what you think about Brewmaster!

And for our console players please leave a review for us once you've played it, our blog post explains how to do it for Xbox, and PlayStation.

How and where to report bugs 🐛

If you encounter any bugs while playing Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator on Nintendo Switch, Xbox, or PlayStation, it helps us out loads if you report it in the proper way.

  • 💡 Always check our FAQs first just in case your question has been answered or your bug has already been noted as something we're working on

We have a whole section in our official Discord where community members can give advice if you're stuck on a particular recipe, and we also have a very efficient bug reporting system via this reporting form.

👋🏻 Get involved with the community on our Discord or Twitter channels!

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Auroch Digital

Marketing and Community Managment for Auroch Digital in Bristol, UK.

🍺 Brooklyn Brewery’s Garrett Oliver to Stream Brewmaster! 🍺

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We are thrilled to announce that Brooklyn Brewery’s legendary Brewmaster Garrett Oliver will be streaming Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator live with XboxOn ahead of the game’s console release!

📅 Wednesday 26th October
🕝 4:00pm BST
🔗 https://www.twitch.tv/xboxon

🎮 The XboxOn team and Garrett will put themselves in the home brewery and see how they fare at creating their ideal blend. With a whole host of ingredients and utensils in the game, we cannot wait to see what they come up with! 

😋 In addition to creating some fantastic beers in-game, the presenters will be enjoying some of the recently brewed ‘Auroch Digitale - Brewmaster American Pale Ale’, thanks to our partners at Moor Beer.

😁 A Great Opening Round! 😁

With the game having launched a few weeks ago on PC, Brewmaster has received ‘Very Positive’ reviews from PC players. We cannot wait for console players to get settled into the brewing space!

A massive thank you to our PC players for reviewing the game on Steam, we really appreciate it! We’ve already got over 300 reviews, and as a smaller game developer we can’t stress how much they mean to us and how important they are. They make us do really big smiles 😁

If you've played Brewmaster on PC, spill your thoughts, we'd love to hear what you think about Brewmaster!

🤝🏻 Join the Community 🤝🏻

Our Discord is where you’ll find out more information on the game and be able to share your successes with the community. It’s good for what ales ya!

  • 💡 Always check our FAQs first just in case your question has been answered or your bug has already been noted as something we're working on

We have a whole section in our official Discord where community members can give advice if you're stuck on a particular recipe, and we also have a very efficient bug reporting system via this reporting form.

🍻 About Brewmaster 🍻

Discover, learn and master the art of homebrewing in the ultimate celebration of craft beer. From perfecting authentic, chemistry-driven brewing techniques to naming, bottling and labelling - refine your craft to become the ultimate Brewmaster in the first ever realistic beer brewing experience.

With all the tricks of the trade and the best equipment at your disposal, follow a recipe, or experiment with a huge variety of real-world ingredients to hone your skills. Enter friendly competitions, earn beer tokens, and upgrade your equipment to become an even better brewer.

Choose to experience the story-led Brewmaster mode or throw yourself into Creative Mode, a sandbox with everything unlocked.

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Auroch Digital

Marketing and Community Managment for Auroch Digital in Bristol, UK.

Brewmaster console release date announced 🍻

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Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator will be pouring onto Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch on 

⭐ 27th October 2022! ⭐ 

We’re thrilled to announce that Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator will be coming to PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch on October 27th 2022! 

Thank you so much to our console brewers for being so patient, we at Auroch Digital, alongside our publisher Fireshine Games, have been working so hard on brewing the console version just right and we are so glad we are able to share this release date with you.  

Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator is the first realistic brewing simulator, with authentic, chemistry-driven brewing techniques, to bottling and labelling your very own beers. 

📝 Thanks for reviewing Brewmaster 📝

And a massive thank you to our PC players for reviewing the game on Steam, we really appreciate it! We’ve already got over 300 reviews, which is amazing, as a smaller game developer we can’t stress how much they mean to us and how important they are.

Click here to learn more about why reviews are important and to get more information on how to leave a review.

If you've played Brewmaster on PC, spill your thoughts, we'd love to hear what you think about Brewmaster!

And for our console players please leave a review for us once you've played it, our blog post explains how to do it for Xbox, and PlayStation.

🐛 Where & how to report your bugs 🐛

If you encounter any bugs while playing Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator on Nintendo Switch, Xbox, or PlayStation, it helps us out loads if you report it in the proper way.

  • 💡 Always check our FAQs first just in case your question has been answered or your bug has already been noted as something we're working on

We have a whole section in our official Discord where community members can give advice if you're stuck on a particular recipe, and we also have a very efficient bug reporting system via this reporting form.

🍻 About Brewmaster 🍻 

Discover, learn and master the art of homebrewing in the ultimate celebration of craft beer. From perfecting authentic, chemistry-driven brewing techniques to naming, bottling and labelling - refine your craft to become the ultimate Brewmaster in the first ever realistic beer brewing experience. 
 
With all the tricks of the trade and the best equipment at your disposal, follow a recipe, or experiment with a huge variety of real-world ingredients to hone your skills. Enter friendly competitions, earn beer tokens, and upgrade your equipment to become an even better brewer. 
 
Choose to experience the story-led Brewmaster mode or throw yourself into Creative Mode, a sandbox with everything unlocked. 

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Auroch Digital

Marketing and Community Managment for Auroch Digital in Bristol, UK.

Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator Out Now on PC 🍺

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🌾 This title has been fermented, processed, and bottled 🎉

We would now like to welcome you to taste this Brewmaster concoction and experience the crisp enjoyment of creating your own beverages and brewing spaces as of today on PC 😋.

  • 👋🏻 Get involved with the community on our Discord or Twitter channels

🍻 Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator is the first-ever realistic beer brewing experience. From perfecting authentic, chemistry-driven brewing techniques to naming, bottling, labelling, and customising brewing spaces – you can refine your craft to create the beers of your dreams! Use a wide variety of ingredients and equipment in the story-led Brewmaster mode or the sandbox Creative Mode to hone your skills and become the ultimate brewer!

🎮 Developed by Auroch Digital and published by Fireshine Games, Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator launches today on Steam. Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 & 5 and Xbox One & Series X|S versions will be released soon.

🍺 Auroch Digital and Fireshine Games are so excited to see the community experience Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator. We hope that everyone enjoys the game and keeps it lager than life!

If you're interested in a key for review or other content, please get in touch with us on - marketing@aurochdigital.com 🍻

👋🏻 Launch Day Streams from Our Community of Brewers!👋🏻

👀 Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator will be livestreamed by a variety of content creators today and we can't wait to see what the community creates! Check out Brewmaster's page on Twitch to see who is getting started on their brewing journey.

Spud, Batkitto’s dog, looks super cute in their apron - as does Sizzsarz’s daughter, Evie!

🖼️ Share Your Success! 🖼️

Are there any beers you’ve crafted which you’re particularly proud of? If so, we would love to see what you’ve made! 

We encourage you to share your creations with the community over on our Discord or via our social channels (@AurochDigital). Our favourite beers or brewing spaces will be reposted so everyone can enjoy your wonderful concoctions and brewing spaces!

🌟 Review Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator 🌟

Once you have brewed and bottled your lovely beverages, please remember to leave us a review as it helps small developers like us!

Fun fact - 90% of all consumers will look at reviews before they buy something online. So Steam uses review numbers as a way to see which game to promote.

For more information on how to leave a review, visit the link below. We would love to hear what you think about the game!

Click here to learn more about why reviews are important and to get more information on how to leave a review. Spill your thoughts, we'd love to hear what you think about the game!

🍻 Our Budding Brewer Partners 🍻

🤝 Throughout the game’s development, we have worked in partnership with some companies based in the brewing industry; Moor Beer and Next Glass.

🍺 Moor Beer

🤝🏻The partnership will see Moor Beer Company featured as the sponsor of a special in-game challenge, where players who successfully brew a winning beer will be rewarded with an unlockable cosmetic to show off their accomplishment. Moor Beer glasses will also appear in-game which players can use to serve up their creations.

Read Moor about our partnership here.

👉🏻 Next Glass

Next Glass have provided three of their brands to be included in Brewmaster, read more about our partnership here.

📝 Beer Advocate

👀 Founded in 1996, Beer Advocate is the go-to beer resource for millions of consumers each month. The benchmark for beer reviews, one of the largest and oldest online beer communities, and host of world-class beer fests. Beer Advocate will sponsor a competition, provide a themed job, and will have a glass for you to unlock and display in your brewing space.

📰 Hop Culture

🌾 Hop Culture was started to provide independent craft beer journalism and help shine a spotlight on local craftsmen. Born as an online magazine, it has since grown to include festivals, brewery collaborations, and regular merch drops. In Brewmaster, Hop Culture will also sponsor a competition and provide a job. You’ll be able to unlock Hop Culture glasses, using the logo and artwork, as well as framed posters (based on real life posters) to decorate your brewing space.

🤳🏻 Untappd

📱 Untappd is an app for beer enthusiasts to discover, share, rate, and explore nearby bars, breweries, and beers. Untappd also hosts festivals, promotions, and giveaways to help brands promote their beers. What we are especially excited about in working with Untappd is that in the game it will provide you with ratings for you brewed “guest beers” with local breweries featured in the game. You’ll also be able to unlock an Untappd glass for your brewing space too!

🎥 We recently sat down with Kenny Gould, Founder of Hop Culture, and Justin Hawke, Head Brewer and Owner of Moor Beer Company, to talk about how beer, brewing, and technology work together. Check out the archived stream below! ⬇

We can’t wait for you to start brewing your own beers in Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator!

Make sure you follow us on our socials, check out our Discord,
and show us what you’re making in-game 🍻

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Auroch Digital

Marketing and Community Managment for Auroch Digital in Bristol, UK.

What IS Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator? 🤔

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Before we launch Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator for Steam on September 29th and later in 2022 for PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, Matt (Lead Designer) and Peter (Lead Producer) wanted to give you a brief overview of what to expect in the game. We hope you find it useful before you steep your first grains! 🌾

Hello everyone, 

We’re both very excited for you to get your hands on Brewmaster. 

Development on the game started in June 2019 and from then we’ve had a clear idea of what we want to make. We thought we’d lay out what we’re aiming for with Brewmaster, so you can make up your own mind before purchasing if it sounds like something you’d be keen on playing. 

 What IS Brewmaster? ✔️

At its very core, Brewmaster is freeform brewing chemistry: it allows you to create beer using an authentic simulation of real brewing, with all the experimentation (and, occasionally, “happy little accidents”) that come up in homebrewing. 

It’s faithful to the craft of beer, and to the skills required in the hobby: creativity, patience, and an inquisitive mind. 

But we’re also lowering the barrier to entry for a hobby that can be seen by non-brewers as quite daunting to get into. If you’ve never consumed a beer in your life, or have no knowledge of brewing, Brewmaster will get you making beers and on the road to improving your skills with an in-depth tutorial where, by the end, you’ll have learned the fundamentals of real-world brewing. After that a lengthy Brewmaster Mode lets you master every aspect of beer whilst engaging with a story, completing jobs, and entering competitions. 

It’s also a very chill game. The vibe we’ve gone for is cosy and positive, and with the characters from the in-game community of homebrewers, we’ve really tried to reflect the diverse and independent spirit of homebrewing. Have a listen to Iron & Wine’s Naked As We Came - we hope it feels like how that song feels. 

What ISN’T Brewmaster?  ❌

First, this isn’t a cheaply-made throwaway experience. A lot of love has gone into Brewmaster, with lots of attention paid to the visuals, the simulation, the amount of content, and so on. 

Second, it’s not tedious and po-faced (it’s not a chemistry exam or, forbid the thought, an edutainment game!), but it’s also not slapstick or a game with “kerrr-azy" physics. It’s a more deliberately paced, relaxed experience. 

And on that subject, it’s also not a business management game. You’re not running a massive brewery and pumping out millions of hectolitres in a harsh and competitive landscape where your livelihood is under threat; you’re enjoying a hobby which, later in the game, might get you some attention from independent craft breweries and a hearty pat on the back from the local community. 

 From both of us, and the whole team at Auroch, we hope this sounds like something that’s right for you. If it is, please support us by purchasing the game and, if you’ve the inclination, leave us a review letting us know your thoughts! 

Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator will launch on September 29th on Steam, with the PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch versions launching at a later date in 2022. Add the game to your wishlist on Steam here. We can’t wait for you all to experience it! 😊

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Peter Willington

Brewmaster PC release date announced 🍻 - console versions coming soon

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Grab your hops, grab your yeast... 🌾 

Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator is ready to serve on PC from⭐ 29th September 2022 ⭐

We’re super excited to announce that Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator will be pouring onto PC on September 29th 2022! We at Auroch Digital, alongside our publisher Fireshine Games, have been working so hard on this game and we are so stoked to announce a release date so we can share it with you! 

Due to some last-minute hiccups, we're sad to say that the PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch versions of Brewmaster have seen a short delay. We'll have a new date for consoles soon, and really appreciate you sticking with us while we get things pitcher perfect.

Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator is the first realistic brewing simulator, with authentic, chemistry-driven brewing techniques, to bottling and labelling your very own beers. You’ll be able to become the ultimate Brewmaster from September 29th 2022 on PC and at a later date on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. 

You may have seen IGN reveal our release date as part of their Awesome Indies Showcase over Gamescom 👀 How cool is that?!

Cosy up by the fire and wait only a little while longer until you can get your hands on the game for yourself (there’s no way to speed up time IRL like you can in game, unfortunately!) 

If you’re on Steam, make sure you’ve wishlisted the game, and follow it too for updates. Following gives you immediate notifications of cool things that we're getting up to; like betas, player surveys, when we're on sale, and other awesome updates, and it also helps us see just how many of you are super engaged with what we're putting out ahead of the Brewmaster launch!

If you’re new here, or just want a tasty reminder of what’s to come, check out our trailer below: 

About Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator 

Discover, learn and master the art of homebrewing in the ultimate celebration of craft beer. From perfecting authentic, chemistry-driven brewing techniques to naming, bottling and labelling - refine your craft to become the ultimate Brewmaster in the first ever realistic beer brewing experience. With all the tricks of the trade and the best equipment at your disposal, follow a recipe, or experiment with a huge variety of real-world ingredients to hone your skills. Enter friendly competitions, earn beer tokens, and upgrade your equipment to become an even better brewer. 

Choose to experience the story-led Brewmaster mode or throw yourself into Creative Mode, a sandbox with everything unlocked. 

Brewmaster will be coming to PC on September 29th 2022, while the PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch versions are coming soon. Join us in Discord and come and chat to us, share your excitement with other brewers, and count down the days!

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Auroch Digital

Marketing and Community Managment for Auroch Digital in Bristol, UK.

Auroch Takes on Tough Mudder

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Auroch Digital is raising money for the Sunflower Ward, Bristol Royal Hospital 🌻 Donate here!

On the 20th of August, the Auroch team will be taking part in Tough Mudder to raise money for the Sunflower Ward, a children's ward in Bristol Royal Hospital for children which we are patrons of. We will be decked out in The Grand Appeal T-Shirts as well, this is the official Bristol Children's Hospital Charity so keep an eye out for us if you are there!

The Sunflower ward is the neurorehabilitation ward at Bristol Royal Hospital for children. They see patients for both short- and long-term rehabilitation programmes. Their admissions come from across the Southwest region and are made up of referrals, planned admissions, and transfers from other wards. There are 8 beds made up of 4 cubicles and a 4 bedded bay. Patients are seen from ages 0 to 16 plus. 

Tough Mudder is not your typical 5K run. It features 13 obstacles using teamwork as their main feature. Most of these obstacles contain mud, water or sometimes both. We are not expecting to come back with clean clothes. Below are some of the obstacles we will be running…

We have been training via runs round the studio, 30-day core workouts, dance sessions and yoga!  This may not help us but doesn’t this sound exciting?  

We did a blog here on how we became patrons of the Sunflower ward and why play is so important.  We can’t wait to help more children like we did, Jayden!  Health play assistant Isaac, who is based on the Sunflower ward, keeps us up to date on how our funds support the children and we couldn’t be prouder.

If you want to donate, feel free to support us here! 

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Auroch Digital

Marketing and Community Managment for Auroch Digital in Bristol, UK.