Sumer

Released: Feb 15, 2017
Platforms: WindowsmacOS
Last updated: 06 Sep 2026, 21:31 GMT

Updates & announcements

20 posts

09 Aug 2019Developer post
Online Multiplayer enters public testing!
Hello Sumerians! It’s taken a whole heck of a lot longer than we anticipated, but the promised day is drawing near: online multiplayer for Steam is nearly complete. We will, barring the unforeseen, release it at the end of the summer. That will let us mark the end of our time in
02 Jan 2018Developer post
"New Blood" Update Live!
NEW BLOOD Update Patch 0.34.1 Introducing Dipid (Pink) and Kir (Yellow) , the newest additions to the Nobles of Sumer! Audio Six new Harvest tracks have been added to the game, replacing the music during the main phase. As you build up the board the music will now change to refle
NEW BLOOD Update Patch 0.34.1 Introducing Dipid (Pink) and Kir (Yellow) , the newest additions to the Nobles of Sumer! Audio

Six new Harvest tracks have been added to the game, replacing the music during the main phase. As you build up the board the music will now change to reflect the growth of your civilization!
Added player specific sounds effects that play when goats hit the score UI.
Increased the volume of some of Gugalanna's voice lines.
Balance

Golden Ram Update: The Golden Ram now doubles the points you would get from goats at the end of the game: 2 points for every three goats.
Staff of Anu Update: The Staff of Anu now grants you an additional resource in each ritual at the start of the year. This adds a dummy resource to both rituals (currently displayed by a clay) that counts only for majority.
The Staff of Anu and Golden Ram are now slightly more common in Four and Six year games.
Removed the chance for extra clay pits to appear in the Two year game auctions.
Breeding Pens may now appear in the 2nd auction of Four year games.
Goat Farms now cap out at 99 goats.
Controls

Sumer now recognizes Nintendo Switch controllers!
Taking over an AI will now show your control type.
Tapping the fallthrough input very quickly now lets you fall through the floor.
Slightly increased fallthrough input buffer time.
Improved precision of landing while falling quickly.
Can now control Credits using UP and DOWN.
General

Various performance improvements.
Menu

Added “Unjoin” control instructions to player homes on character select menu.
Removed ability to pause while sun is setting at end of the day.
Fixed a typo in the credits.
Visual

Favor tablets now explode when Favor hits the score UI.
UI discs for sleeping were remastered and are more noticeable and smooth.
Favor tablets now scale correctly when hitting Year Update .
Auction heads now jiggle when at max overbid.
Improved fonts for character names.
Widened background and added border to fix screen resolution issues.
Fixed borders on bread icons to match others.
Fixed font for “return to main menu” text on stats screen.
Replaced down joystick icon with a clearer version.
Added fix to screen resolution issue that could lead to a black screen under certain fullscreen conditions.
Added a “saving” icon.
Goat growth will no longer display when pausing.
Original post
02 Jan 2018Developer post
"New Blood" Update Live!
NEW BLOOD Update Patch 0.34.1 Introducing Dipid (Pink) and Kir (Yellow) , the newest additions to the Nobles of Sumer! Audio Six new Harvest tracks have been added to the game, replacing the music during the main phase. As you build up the board the music will now change to refle
NEW BLOOD Update Patch 0.34.1 Introducing Dipid (Pink) and Kir (Yellow) , the newest additions to the Nobles of Sumer! Audio

Six new Harvest tracks have been added to the game, replacing the music during the main phase. As you build up the board the music will now change to reflect the growth of your civilization!
Added player specific sounds effects that play when goats hit the score UI.
Increased the volume of some of Gugalanna's voice lines.
Balance

Golden Ram Update: The Golden Ram now doubles the points you would get from goats at the end of the game: 2 points for every three goats.
Staff of Anu Update: The Staff of Anu now grants you an additional resource in each ritual at the start of the year. This adds a dummy resource to both rituals (currently displayed by a clay) that counts only for majority.
The Staff of Anu and Golden Ram are now slightly more common in Four and Six year games.
Removed the chance for extra clay pits to appear in the Two year game auctions.
Breeding Pens may now appear in the 2nd auction of Four year games.
Goat Farms now cap out at 99 goats.
Controls

Sumer now recognizes Nintendo Switch controllers!
Taking over an AI will now show your control type.
Tapping the fallthrough input very quickly now lets you fall through the floor.
Slightly increased fallthrough input buffer time.
Improved precision of landing while falling quickly.
Can now control Credits using UP and DOWN.
General

Various performance improvements.
Menu

Added “Unjoin” control instructions to player homes on character select menu.
Removed ability to pause while sun is setting at end of the day.
Fixed a typo in the credits.
Visual

Favor tablets now explode when Favor hits the score UI.
UI discs for sleeping were remastered and are more noticeable and smooth.
Favor tablets now scale correctly when hitting Year Update .
Auction heads now jiggle when at max overbid.
Improved fonts for character names.
Widened background and added border to fix screen resolution issues.
Fixed borders on bread icons to match others.
Fixed font for “return to main menu” text on stats screen.
Replaced down joystick icon with a clearer version.
Added fix to screen resolution issue that could lead to a black screen under certain fullscreen conditions.
Added a “saving” icon.
Goat growth will no longer display when pausing.
Original post
09 Nov 2017Developer post
PAX Unplugged Attendance!
Hello Sumerians, We’re excited to announce that next week Studio Wumpus will exhibiting Sumer at a board game convention! We’ll be at PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, PA from November 16th to 19th. PAX Unplugged is brand new this year! The convention features the best of non-digita
09 Nov 2017Developer post
PAX Unplugged Attendance!
Hello Sumerians, We’re excited to announce that next week Studio Wumpus will exhibiting Sumer at a board game convention! We’ll be at PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, PA from November 16th to 19th. PAX Unplugged is brand new this year! The convention features the best of non-digita
04 Sep 2017Developer post
Beta build updated
Hey there, Sumerians! In order to fix a rare issue caused when trying to adjust the resolution of your game (discussed here: Textures not rendering? ) we've added a new build to the beta channel. This build also features a few things we're experimenting with, as well as a few fix
Hey there, Sumerians! In order to fix a rare issue caused when trying to adjust the resolution of your game (discussed here: Textures not rendering?) we've added a new build to the beta channel. This build also features a few things we're experimenting with, as well as a few fixes. While none of this is official as of yet, we wanted to share them as if they were patch notes: Audio

Added player specific sounds effects that play when goats hit the score UI
Increased the volume of some of Gugalanna's voice lines
Balance

The Staff of Anu and Golden Ram are now slightly more common in Four and Six year games.
Removed the chance for extra clay pits to appear in the Two year game auctions.
Breeding Pens may now appear in the 2nd auction of Four year games.
Menu

Fixed a typo in the credits
You can access the Beta by Right clicking on Sumer in your Library and selecting Properties. Under the "Betas" tab use the drop down menu for Select the beta and choose 'beta - not stable'.
Original post
04 Sep 2017Developer post
Beta build updated
Hey there, Sumerians! In order to fix a rare issue caused when trying to adjust the resolution of your game (discussed here: Textures not rendering? ) we've added a new build to the beta channel. This build also features a few things we're experimenting with, as well as a few fix
Hey there, Sumerians! In order to fix a rare issue caused when trying to adjust the resolution of your game (discussed here: Textures not rendering?) we've added a new build to the beta channel. This build also features a few things we're experimenting with, as well as a few fixes. While none of this is official as of yet, we wanted to share them as if they were patch notes: Audio

Added player specific sounds effects that play when goats hit the score UI
Increased the volume of some of Gugalanna's voice lines
Balance

The Staff of Anu and Golden Ram are now slightly more common in Four and Six year games.
Removed the chance for extra clay pits to appear in the Two year game auctions.
Breeding Pens may now appear in the 2nd auction of Four year games.
Menu

Fixed a typo in the credits
You can access the Beta by Right clicking on Sumer in your Library and selecting Properties. Under the "Betas" tab use the drop down menu for Select the beta and choose 'beta - not stable'.
Original post
25 Aug 2017Developer post
"Her Divine Voice" Update now Live!
Greetings Sumerians! We’re pleased to report that Update 0.30.01, “Her Divine Voice”, is now live on the main channel. Patch Notes below: Audio Added new voice over lines for Inanna. This is a complete replacement of temporary VO. Huge thanks go out to Auður for being the voice o
Greetings Sumerians! We’re pleased to report that Update 0.30.01, “Her Divine Voice”, is now live on the main channel. Patch Notes below: Audio

Added new voice over lines for Inanna.
This is a complete replacement of temporary VO. Huge thanks go out to Auður for being the voice of Inanna for so long. We’re proud to have Nanna Gunnars joining the team and demanding sacrifice!

Added a track that will play while two or more players are overbidding.
A pause menu track will now play while the game is paused!
Balance

Added an “instant statue scoring” variant to the variants menu.
We felt like there wasn't enough incentive to fight statue heavy players in the auction late game and we hope this encourages all players to statues valuable at all points in the game.

Updated ritual pairings
We want rituals drawn during any given year to vary from each other, giving players the option to choose how they want to invest their actions and resources. We are also working on fine tuning year pacing. Some rituals will no longer be able to appear if there are only 2 potteries or 2 breweries. This is to prevent rituals that require a ton of one resource from clogging up the progress of the year.

Bid rushing from the onset will now extend an auction round: If two or more players begin bidding at the start of the auction and have not stopped increasing their bid since the auction will continue, even after the timer has finished, until one player stops bidding.
Controls

If an input device is connected and is not paired with a player then a “Press [INPUT] to join” message will prompt players to take over AI.
Improved mouse controls for profile selection menu
Menus

Graphics now gives the option to pick an aspect ratio and screen resolution
Reshuffled some menu options’ placements (eg-moved Subtitles to Audio)
Improved legibility of menu text font
Top level menu has been aligned to the Ziggurat floors
Simplified some text and option formatting
Menu carrots now display in the color of the player that paused
The “Interact” room on Ziggurat Menu now has character highlight
Player homes on Ziggurat menu now prompt to select player. Standing in front of a home will also prompt you to pick a name
We’ve updated our credits with some amazing people!
Hint thought bubbles are now on by default and can be turned off in
Gameplay menu under Options
Text on several auction cards have received improvements
Tutorial

Fixed rare issues with minimizing the game during tutorial select menu
Visual

Big Head mode has received some visual improvements
Changed the victory pose to be more exalted
Minor fixes to background goat behavior
Resource icons on workshops now darken when the shop is used.
Watermarks matching the pentagon and circle tokens have been added to rooms during room placement
Online Multiplayer

Did a whole bunch of invisible work getting this closer to being ready for public release.
Original post
25 Aug 2017Developer post
"Her Divine Voice" Update now Live!
Greetings Sumerians! We’re pleased to report that Update 0.30.01, “Her Divine Voice”, is now live on the main channel. Patch Notes below: Audio Added new voice over lines for Inanna. This is a complete replacement of temporary VO. Huge thanks go out to Auður for being the voice o
Greetings Sumerians! We’re pleased to report that Update 0.30.01, “Her Divine Voice”, is now live on the main channel. Patch Notes below: Audio

Added new voice over lines for Inanna.
This is a complete replacement of temporary VO. Huge thanks go out to Auður for being the voice of Inanna for so long. We’re proud to have Nanna Gunnars joining the team and demanding sacrifice!

Added a track that will play while two or more players are overbidding.
A pause menu track will now play while the game is paused!
Balance

Added an “instant statue scoring” variant to the variants menu.
We felt like there wasn't enough incentive to fight statue heavy players in the auction late game and we hope this encourages all players to statues valuable at all points in the game.

Updated ritual pairings
We want rituals drawn during any given year to vary from each other, giving players the option to choose how they want to invest their actions and resources. We are also working on fine tuning year pacing. Some rituals will no longer be able to appear if there are only 2 potteries or 2 breweries. This is to prevent rituals that require a ton of one resource from clogging up the progress of the year.

Bid rushing from the onset will now extend an auction round: If two or more players begin bidding at the start of the auction and have not stopped increasing their bid since the auction will continue, even after the timer has finished, until one player stops bidding.
Controls

If an input device is connected and is not paired with a player then a “Press [INPUT] to join” message will prompt players to take over AI.
Improved mouse controls for profile selection menu
Menus

Graphics now gives the option to pick an aspect ratio and screen resolution
Reshuffled some menu options’ placements (eg-moved Subtitles to Audio)
Improved legibility of menu text font
Top level menu has been aligned to the Ziggurat floors
Simplified some text and option formatting
Menu carrots now display in the color of the player that paused
The “Interact” room on Ziggurat Menu now has character highlight
Player homes on Ziggurat menu now prompt to select player. Standing in front of a home will also prompt you to pick a name
We’ve updated our credits with some amazing people!
Hint thought bubbles are now on by default and can be turned off in
Gameplay menu under Options
Text on several auction cards have received improvements
Tutorial

Fixed rare issues with minimizing the game during tutorial select menu
Visual

Big Head mode has received some visual improvements
Changed the victory pose to be more exalted
Minor fixes to background goat behavior
Resource icons on workshops now darken when the shop is used.
Watermarks matching the pentagon and circle tokens have been added to rooms during room placement
Online Multiplayer

Did a whole bunch of invisible work getting this closer to being ready for public release.
Original post
18 Aug 2017Developer post
PLAY NYC this weekend, Patch 0.28.1 to follow
Happy Friday, Sumerians! It’s been a long while since we last posted but we finally have a chain of announcements on the way. The first of which is that this weekend we’ll be showing at Play NYC, New York City’s first video game convention! Tickets are still available and can be
18 Aug 2017Developer post
PLAY NYC this weekend, Patch 0.28.1 to follow
Happy Friday, Sumerians! It’s been a long while since we last posted but we finally have a chain of announcements on the way. The first of which is that this weekend we’ll be showing at Play NYC, New York City’s first video game convention! Tickets are still available and can be
31 May 2017Developer post
Indie Picnic E3 Announcement!
Hello Sumerians! We’re ramping up for a Sumerian summer of development and shows! Sumer goes to Japan! We’re excited to share that last week we showed Sumer at BitSummit in Kyoto, Japan. Kickstarter just announced its expansion to Japan and selected Sumer as one of four games to
31 May 2017Developer post
Indie Picnic E3 Announcement!
Hello Sumerians! We’re ramping up for a Sumerian summer of development and shows! Sumer goes to Japan! We’re excited to share that last week we showed Sumer at BitSummit in Kyoto, Japan. Kickstarter just announced its expansion to Japan and selected Sumer as one of four games to
20 Apr 2017Developer post
Hotfix - Patch 0.27.1
Hey Sumerians! We pushed a hotfix to the build last night and just want to share what's new. In addition to fixing a bug that prevented some players from getting into games we have added music to the room placement mode and final judgment at the end of the game. This music is sti
20 Apr 2017Developer post
Hotfix - Patch 0.27.1
Hey Sumerians! We pushed a hotfix to the build last night and just want to share what's new. In addition to fixing a bug that prevented some players from getting into games we have added music to the room placement mode and final judgment at the end of the game. This music is sti
09 Apr 2017Developer post
Gaming for Pixels Stream Today!
Hey Sumerians! We’re helping out with the pilot run of a gaming marathon called Gaming for Pixels, a fundraising initiative to help stop violence against women. As part of our support we’ll be streaming today, Sunday, April 9th! We’ve selected a handful of games that are either b
09 Apr 2017Developer post
Gaming for Pixels Stream Today!
Hey Sumerians! We’re helping out with the pilot run of a gaming marathon called Gaming for Pixels, a fundraising initiative to help stop violence against women. As part of our support we’ll be streaming today, Sunday, April 9th! We’ve selected a handful of games that are either b
04 Apr 2017Developer post
Patch 0.25.1 Notes
Hey Sumerians! We just pushed some fixes to our launch build including a few balance tweaks to the new rituals and improvements to the full screen mode. You can also now change the graphics quality in the options menu. We'll be keeping up with your feedback as we continue to work
Hey Sumerians! We just pushed some fixes to our launch build including a few balance tweaks to the new rituals and improvements to the full screen mode. You can also now change the graphics quality in the options menu. We'll be keeping up with your feedback as we continue to work on online play and will be putting out periodic patches as the game continues to evolve. Good worship! Studio Wumpus Patch 0.25.1 Notes AI

Minor tweaks to the lowest level of AI to make it more friendly to new players.
Audio

Added improved Gugalanna lines.
Balance

Prevented some rituals from pairing.
Controls

Fixed bug preventing mouse players from picking a profile. Fixed bug preventing mouse players from picking up placed buildings.
Menu Options

Full screen will now set your resolution to your monitor size.
You can now change graphics quality in the Graphics menu.
Tutorial

Fixed a bug that causes the slumber reward tracker to glitch.
Visual

Loading Screens only show controls for now.
Clarified controls of post-game menu.
Small visual tweaks to character select screen.
Corrected error in mouse control cheat sheet.
Added a visual safety precaution to prevent especially wide screens from showing outside the game.
Carrots work properly on the Variants menu.
Original post
04 Apr 2017Developer post
Patch 0.25.1 Notes
Hey Sumerians! We just pushed some fixes to our launch build including a few balance tweaks to the new rituals and improvements to the full screen mode. You can also now change the graphics quality in the options menu. We'll be keeping up with your feedback as we continue to work
Hey Sumerians! We just pushed some fixes to our launch build including a few balance tweaks to the new rituals and improvements to the full screen mode. You can also now change the graphics quality in the options menu. We'll be keeping up with your feedback as we continue to work on online play and will be putting out periodic patches as the game continues to evolve. Good worship! Studio Wumpus Patch 0.25.1 Notes AI

Minor tweaks to the lowest level of AI to make it more friendly to new players.
Audio

Added improved Gugalanna lines.
Balance

Prevented some rituals from pairing.
Controls

Fixed bug preventing mouse players from picking a profile. Fixed bug preventing mouse players from picking up placed buildings.
Menu Options

Full screen will now set your resolution to your monitor size.
You can now change graphics quality in the Graphics menu.
Tutorial

Fixed a bug that causes the slumber reward tracker to glitch.
Visual

Loading Screens only show controls for now.
Clarified controls of post-game menu.
Small visual tweaks to character select screen.
Corrected error in mouse control cheat sheet.
Added a visual safety precaution to prevent especially wide screens from showing outside the game.
Carrots work properly on the Variants menu.
Original post
15 Feb 2017Developer post
Welcome to Sumer’s Early Access!!
We’re really excited to share Sumer with you. The game has gone through a lot of iteration since we first started it in grad school and its thrilling how close we are to the end. You can expect periodic updates of Sumer over the coming months, but the real magic will be going on

Sumer

Updates & announcements

Online Multiplayer enters public testing!

"New Blood" Update Live!

"New Blood" Update Live!

PAX Unplugged Attendance!

PAX Unplugged Giveaway

Stay Tuned!

PAX Unplugged Attendance!

PAX Unplugged Giveaway

Stay Tuned!

Beta build updated

Beta build updated

"Her Divine Voice" Update now Live!

"Her Divine Voice" Update now Live!

PLAY NYC this weekend, Patch 0.28.1 to follow

PLAY NYC this weekend, Patch 0.28.1 to follow

Indie Picnic E3 Announcement!

Sumer goes to Japan!

Sumer @ E3

Indie Picnic E3 Announcement!

Sumer goes to Japan!

Sumer @ E3

Hotfix - Patch 0.27.1

Hotfix - Patch 0.27.1

Gaming for Pixels Stream Today!

Gaming for Pixels Stream Today!

Patch 0.25.1 Notes

Patch 0.25.1 Notes

Welcome to Sumer’s Early Access!!