28 Aug 2026Developer post

Blacksmith Master News Roundup at the Hooded Horse August Publisher Sale

The Blacksmith Master dev team has had a busy couple of months, with two new updates released recently. These updates focus on balance, player control over the shop, and a staff menu overhaul. If you have missed any recent Blacksmith Master news, check out the full roundup below.

12 Aug 2026Developer post

Update #15: Staff menu overhaul

Hello everyone! Here is another monthly update for Blacksmith Master which I hope you'll love :) It's one of the highest requested features - improved staff menu which enables list view and multi-edit. When you activate list view, you're able to see much more detailed info regard

23 Jul 2026Developer post

Update #14: Back from parental leave :)

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you know that I’m alive but still surviving on 4 hours asleep per night for 4 months already since our twins were born :) Raising two babies at once turned out to be much harder than I expected. I’m finally able to work at least a bit every day so

23 Feb 2026Developer post

Update #13: Staff Management Improvements

Hello everyone! I have finally finished a new update that I wanted to do for a long time :) Before I get into details, I just wanted to write again here that I will be taking a small break next month because my wife and me are expecting twins, so I will have my hands full outside

Hello everyone! I have finally finished a new update that I wanted to do for a long time :) Before I get into details, I just wanted to write again here that I will be taking a small break next month because my wife and me are expecting twins, so I will have my hands full outside of game development :) I am moving very steadily towards v1.0 but there are a couple of more big updates I want to do to address your feedback and suggestions!

Happiness system

The first thing I want to talk about is the new happiness system which brings deeper staff management. Depending on 5 different factors, your staff will either be angry with you as a manager or super excited to work on the workshop.

If mood is not so good, there is a chance some of your workers quit on their own because they are unhappy. If it's really severe, they will also have their positive trait disabled.

On the other hand, if they are happy and motivated to work, they will level up faster and even have their negative trait disabled.

The aspects that determine their happiness are:

Working hours: Longer working hours affect happiness negatively of course, but bring more revenue
Salary bonus: You can decide to reward your workers more for their time at the workshop
Job security: If you fire workers too often, it will make others feel insecure about their job and their happiness will go down
Seating options: Instead of having just one bench, you now have many options to make their resting time much more comfortable
Food and drinks: You can provide your workers with meals and drinks which will cost you extra money, but make their working hours much more tolerable

Here is a picture of different food and drinks you can offer:

Worker logic

I've made a bunch of improvements to how workers decide what to do. Most prominently (and highly requested), assistants will now prioritize chests better. Instead of just going to the nearest chest, taking whichever items are there and then distributing them, they will evaluate every chest better and prioritize chests with more items.

Progression

I've read many messages about progression being too slow in late game so I balanced that now. I will think more how to improve progression even further because I know there are still some criticism around the new system.

That is it for this update! I can't wait to start working on siege machines for the next one, but as always, please write your thoughts on Steam or Discord so I can address any feedback you have for this update :)

Until next time,
~Luka

Original post

08 Dec 2025Developer post

Update #12: Performance Improvements

Hello everyone! Over the past two weeks, I’ve been doing intensive performance optimizations, and I’m happy to say I've roughly doubled the game's FPS, reduced build size 2 times (from 2Gb to 1.1Gb) and reduced VRAM usage by roughly 50% (from 3.75Gb to 1.9Gb). In some late-game s

24 Nov 2025Developer post

Nominate Blacksmith Master for the Steam Awards!

Hello everyone, The 2025 Steam Awards have begun! Nominations are open, and I’m hoping you’ll consider nominating Blacksmith Master in the Sit Back and Relax category. The competition this year is incredible, and there are so many great games that deserve recognition in this cate

Hello everyone,

The 2025 Steam Awards have begun! Nominations are open, and I’m hoping you’ll consider nominating Blacksmith Master in the Sit Back and Relax category.

The competition this year is incredible, and there are so many great games that deserve recognition in this category. But your nomination can help spread the word about Blacksmith Master and introduce new players to an experience that’s truly relaxing and satisfying to play.

The Workshop as a Place to Settle In

Blacksmith Master is, at its core, the quiet pleasure of a process unfolding. A medieval smithy that begins as four walls and a furnace, gradually becoming a small ecosystem where metal, wood, and flame follow a rhythm you come to understand almost instinctively.

Whether you’re crafting weapons, decorating your smithy, or simply watching your blacksmiths work, the game encourages a steady, relaxing flow - no timers, no rush, just creativity and progression at your own pace.

The world around you reinforces this atmosphere. The warm light on cooling ingots, the measured ring of hammer on metal, the low crackle of a furnace that feels like it has been burning long before you arrived and will continue long after you step away.

You can pursue efficiency, refine your layout, and expand your forge into something ambitious. Or you can let the workshop breathe, observing the small movements and slow stories that emerge as your staff carry out their craft. Both approaches are valid, and both sit comfortably within the intended shape of Blacksmith Master.

Several updates have arrived along the way, each one molding the game’s foundation and building out the systems that support the workshop you run today.

Here's a look at the last two recent updates:

Sharpening the Foundations

Update #11 focused on strengthening the early game. Difficulty settings let you choose how much structure or challenge you want.

While custom item prices give you direct control over demand and profit. Early progression was cleaned up so key systems unlock in a more logical order, and rare merchant offers were added to create small opportunities during tougher runs.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2292800/view/605298816304808004

Ducat Minting

Update #10 introduced the Ducat Minting system, a new layer of production that lets you turn copper, silver, or gold ingots into royal currency used for upgrades across the kingdom.

Five minting machines create different amounts of ducats based on the ingots you feed into them, and the new racks give the workshop a dedicated space to store your output.

Since minting increases the strain on ore supply, mine and forest rest areas were adjusted to support more workers and higher yields.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2292800/view/514096230384534758?l=english
And of course, there is much more planned. :)

If Blacksmith Master has been a place where you have found that kind of quiet momentum, I would appreciate your nomination for the Sit Back and Relax Award. No matter the result, I’m grateful for every single vote and for the ongoing support I’ve received from you while working on Blacksmith Master.

Thank you for supporting the game and for spending time in this workshop we have built.

– Luka

Original post

18 Nov 2025Developer post

Update #11 - Game difficulty and custom prices

Hello everyone! Another update for Blacksmith Master is ready for you to try :) Since the past few updates focused on new content, I've decided to take a step back and see how I can improve core gameplay, especially in the early game. One of the main complaints is that the econom

Hello everyone! Another update for Blacksmith Master is ready for you to try :)

Since the past few updates focused on new content, I've decided to take a step back and see how I can improve core gameplay, especially in the early game.

One of the main complaints is that the economy is way too chaotic, some things take way too much time, and some are way too easy. Most players have too much money that they can't spend.

Steam Reviews: Your Feedback Matters

If you like this update or feel the game is heading in a good direction, I’d really appreciate a review on Steam. It helps the game a lot, and I really do read all of them. Your feedback is what pushes these updates forward and helps me figure out what to adjust, add, or rethink next. Thanks again for all the support so far — it keeps me going.

Difficulty Settings

To address this, the first change is the addition of game difficulty settings:

All existing save files are considered as "relaxed" game difficulty, and you can change that any time you want in the settings menu. With increased difficulty, a couple of things change, mainly item prices, the maximum level for workers, and other economy parameters. An interesting change is about the maximum staff level, because in relaxed mode, you can make all workers have maximum stats eventually, but in normal and hard modes, their maximum level is lower, so some stats cannot be maximized. Because of that, you have to manage them better to see what to prioritize and match with their traits.

Custom item prices

The second change that I introduced is custom item prices. You can decide if you want to sell items for a lower price and increase demand, or increase the price and sell fewer. If you increase the price by 10%, demand will drop by double of that, so it will drop by 20%.

The opposite applies if you lower the price, demand will increase by double. It's entirely up to you to make a decision on how to run the business and maximize profit :) With lower prices, you sell more, but also need to produce more and pay more salaries. On the other hand, you can sell fewer products and pay lower salaries, so you can focus on other things.

There is also an option to change prices in bulk so you don't have to click too much :)

Early progression

There were many illogical things when I thought more about them, like, for example, the ability to unlock smelting before you unlock assistants, which makes smelting useless. Because of that, I made the staff menu unlocked from the very beginning and rearranged some stuff to make a bigger impact in the early game. Staff and general tutorials are now merged into 1 tutorial, which is still optional at the beginning of a new game.

Special merchant offers

Finally, I've introduced rare and even more rare merchant offers which reward you more if you finish them :) It's meant to be a slight relief in hard game mode, so it's easier to survive.

That is it for this update. I hope you like the direction I'm taking. As always, please leave feedback on Discord or Steam forums, since I read everything, and it helps me decide what to work on next. If you like the game, also consider leaving a positive review, which helps me a lot!

Until next time,
~Luka

Join the Blacksmith Master Community

Become part of the Blacksmith Master community. Join us on Discord to chat with other players, share your builds, and see what others are forging. You can also follow discussions and updates on Reddit.

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