- ❗Update Required - 3 October 2025
We want to let you know about an important update.A recently identified security vulnerability within Unity has been spotted, and while there is currently no evidence of impact on users, we’re taking all relevant steps to ensure you’re on the latest and safest version of the game.To keep you safe, we’ve released a new patch that addresses the issue. Please update your game as soon as possible to stay protected.You can read more about it here:https://unity.com/security/sept-2025-01As always, our priority will be on keeping our games as safe and enjoyable for everyone.
- Celebrating Women’s Day with Balancing Monkey Games! - 1 March 2024
Hey peeps! We're proud to be participating in the 2024 Women’s Day Sale, organised by WINGS, which funds indie games by women and gender diverse teams. As part of this sale, Before We Leave is a whole 75% off until 12th March! Grab it for a mate, grab it for your neighbour, shout it from the rooftops: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1073910/Before_We_Leave But back to International Women’s Day. Two years ago, for IWD 2022, we published a blog post featuring words from each of the women here at Balancing Monkey Games. We’ve since hired two more women - Nina, our QA Analyst, and myself - so we thought we’d update things this year! Read on to hear our thoughts and feelings about the industry, and how video games have impacted our lives. Nina (QA Analyst) My first game related memory actually isn’t of playing a game - it's of eating an ice block. As a child, there was an ice block compan…
- Before We Leave Patch Notes v.1.0346 - 4 May 2023
Hey Peeps! Just a small patch today for you. We have added a button on the Games main menu which will take you to the Steam Store page of our new game, Beyond These Stars, where you can Wishlist and learn more about it! We've also changed the Discord link the loading screen, as the link has changed. Thank you for your continued feedback and support! If you encounter any other issues with Before We Leave, please report them here. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1073910/Before_We_Leave/ We also recommend you take shelter in our Discord server with the Before We Leave community and discuss all things Before We Leave!
- Introducing our next game, Beyond These Stars - 15 February 2023
Kia ora everyone! I have some big announcements to make today folks! Let me dive right in. INTRODUCING OUR SECOND GAME You might know it as Project Charlie, now you can know its real name - Beyond These Stars! It's a sci fi/fantasy city-building game where you build their civilization on the back of Kewa, a majestic Space Whale that travels the stars. Work in harmony with Kewa, or try to enforce your will - each decision will have consequences that only you are responsible for. Travel across the cosmos where you’ll find new planets to build outposts on and encounter other mysterious beings out in the depths of space. If this sounds quite different to Before We Leave, it is - but there are plenty of things in Beyond These Stars that will feel familiar to you if you've played Before We Leave. It will be launching in Early Access - we don't have a date yet but we'll let you know as soon…
- Into the Clouds - 26 January 2023
Hey everyone, We're back after our summer holidays! We're feeling refreshed and ready for what is probably going to be a busy year. Project Charlie is still in Alpha, but it's coming along nicely! It's hard to believe we've been working on it for a year already. Isaac the Code Wizard Our lovely lead programmer and technical artist Isaac wrote a dev blog delving into the work he's been doing recently - you can read the full post over on our website, but let me post some excerpts of it here for you all. "Last year was a blast. Finishing work on Before We Leave was bittersweet. Part of me misses working on it, but it’s been so refreshing to work on a new project, especially being a part of the development from the beginning.I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished in the first year of development. Before we went on break, our senior artist Tom and I worked on improving how the playable…
- BASE BUILDER FEST - Before We Leave is 65% off! - 24 January 2023
Kia ora and hello Peeps! We're proud to be apart of Steam's Base Builder Fest! Before We Leave is 65% off at the moment - if you've been wanting a sweet low price before trying it out, now's your chance. Also I'd recommend looking at the Base Builder Fest in general. There are some supremely cool games in there for some great prices. Last but not least - there's going to be another dev blog later this week, so stay tuned 👀 Cheers! - Emily, Community Manager
- Save up to 65% in the Steam Winter Sale! - 22 December 2022
Season's Greetings Peeps! Before We Leave is currently 65% off during the Steam Winter Sale! The 36 track OST is also on sale at 50% off! Sale ends 5th of January!
- One Last Update for 2022 - 13 December 2022
Things are grinding to a halt at the office as our Christmas holidays inch closer towards us - our last day in the office for 2022 is the 16th December, and we’ll be returning on Tuesday the 10th in 2023. It has been a huge year for us at Balancing Monkey Games, though it might not look like that outwardly. We’re all looking forward to a well deserved break so we can prepare ourselves for what is looking like an absolutely massive year. Firstly, please just... look at this. What an amazing screenshot. We're making a good looking game y'all. I'd love to know what catches your eye in this scene 👀 https://assets.website-files.com/5fbdb6fba7195896124485e1/6397b8ca2d9b8a4108d2bfd5_picturesque.png Secondly, our producer and social media guru Sarah is finishing out the year with one last blog post: “Life as Producer at Balancing Monkey continues to become more and more exciting. I may not be…
- Designing and Directing - 7 December 2022
Hey Gang! I have two developer blogs to share with you today: Tom, our Lead Artist and Kiwi humour expert wrote about his process designing buildings for Project Charlie (the Before We Leave sequel). Here’s an excerpt from his post: One of my jobs is to design the buildings for our next game: This means talking to Sam and the team about what properties/functions the building will have and designing it appropriately. You might find when looking at the drawings how accurate they are in terms of perspective - this is because I will go back and forth building it in a 3D programme (Maya) so I can create something that looks great from all angles, as well as fit onto a group of hexagon tiles (the tiles can make it a challenge to design sometimes as it is an odd shape). https://assets.website-files.com/5fbdb6fba7195896124485e1/638e80b40bb5eab027bb5b16_Metal_Smelter02_copy.jpg Once the 3D draft…
- Before We Leave Sequel Dev Blog #1 - 23 November 2022
Hey gang! It's your community manager Emily here 👋 Our creative director Sam wrote a dev blog about our new project, and I wanted to share it with you here. Enjoy
- Save up to 65% in the Steam Autumn Sale! - 22 November 2022
Greetings peeps! Before We Leave is currently 65% off during the Steam Autumn Sale! The 36 track OST is also on sale at 50% off! Check out more of our on sale games here! Sale ends November 29th
- Save 10% with the Mega Management Bundle! - 3 November 2022
Greetings peeps! Before We Leave and a bunch of other great games are 10% off with the Mega Management Bundle! Grab these discounts before they leave! https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/28552/Mega_Management_Bundle/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1073910/Before_We_Leave/
- Before We Leave patch v1.0340 - 3 November 2022
Hey Peeps! We have a few fixes this patch to make your gaming experience that little bit better. Patch Notes "Missing Entry" in French changed to "Entrée manquante" In French, when a player gets a new Discovery notification, the title wasn’t translated Fixed issue with the building placement highlighting - valid placements for the Desalination Plant near inland water were not being highlighted Tooltip for the Remove button on a Smart Shipping resource was incorrect - always changed to talk about Cotton Spaceships that have not been launched yet are no longer listed in the Smart Shipping spaceship UI Middle-clicking on a building rapidly should no longer cause a drop in performance If you start the Tutorial and save your game after building 3 roads but no Huts, you’re no longer blocked on reloading Performance improved when opening the Island summary dialog on heavily populated Islands O…
- We're working on the sequel to Before We Leave! - 18 October 2022
Hi everyone! We're working on a new game! Some of you already know this, or have guessed (well done) but it's very exciting to officially tell you all. INTRODUCING PROJECT CHARLIE https://assets.website-files.com/5fbdb6fba7195896124485e1/6335026b9ba7346716ae0f44_bts%20concept.png Our new game (aka Project Charlie, for now) is a city builder set on the back of a giant whale who is flying through space. The sequel to Before We Leave, it will add new elements of discovery, and a poignant story, lightly told. Alongside our in-house team, the artists and sound designers that created Before We Leave are hard at work on the project, to create a relaxing and atmospheric experience. PROJECT CHARLIE FAQ What is a "Project Charlie"? It's the code name for our new game! How long have you been developing the new game for? We began phasing between Before We Leave and our new game in January 2022. As…
- Before We Leave news - We're going to PAXAus! - 8 September 2022
Kia ora everyone! We haven't done a news update since May (what?!) so it's such a treat to be writing t you all again. Things are going nicely at the studio, and while we're quietly working on our next project we do have some Before We Leave news for you! PAXAus Yep, we’re going international as a team for the first time to the one and only PAXAus in early October! We’ll be showing off Before We Leave, and if you’re lucky, you might see a small something from our new project (don’t worry, we’ll be sharing info here too) 👀 Twitch Steam Hiatus As we delve deeper into the development of our new game, the Twitch stream has entered hibernation. It’ll be back when we have cool stuff to share with you all! Wrapping Up Before We Leave After over 4 years of development, 2 PC launches and 3 console launches, development of Before We Leave is wrapping up in earnest. It’s nice to call our game don…
- Save 65% during the Team17 Summer Sale - 23 June 2022
Greetings peeps! We've got some awesome news to share with you today - Before We Leave is currently 65% off during the Team17 Summer Sale! Rediscover what was lost, and nurture your reborn civilisation in Before We Leave, a city building game set in a cozy corner of the universe! Grow, gather and manage resources to help your settlements thrive, and share goods between the hexagonal lands and planets around you. Relax and expand the fabric of your growing societies and create a solar system of happy planets at your own pace. Not everything will go your way, though - use your wits and research solutions to overcome the challenges that your ancestors once faced. If that doesn't take your fancy, be sure to check out all the hot discounts across other Team17 titles! The sale ends July 7th at 6pm GMT. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1073910/Before_We_Leave/ That's not all though! Check ou…
- Save 50% during the Team17 Publisher Sale - 12 May 2022
Greetings peeps! We've got some awesome news to share with you today - Before We Leave is currently 50% off during the Team17 Publisher Sale! Rediscover what was lost, and nurture your reborn civilisation in Before We Leave, a city building game set in a cozy corner of the universe! Grow, gather and manage resources to help your settlements thrive, and share goods between the hexagonal lands and planets around you. Relax and expand the fabric of your growing societies and create a solar system of happy planets at your own pace. Not everything will go your way, though - use your wits and research solutions to overcome the challenges that your ancestors once faced. If that doesn't take your fancy, be sure to check out all the MAJOR discounts across other Team17 titles! The sale ends May 19th at 6pm GMT. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1073910/Before_We_Leave/ That's not all though! Che…
- Before We Leave news - A Quick Update! - 3 May 2022
Hi everyone! I have a couple of small, fun things to tell you today - Wasteland Patch We released a major patch for the Wasteland Update last week - you can find the patch notes here. Massive thanks to everyone who reported their feedback, bugs and other issues directly to us or via the Team17 webform
- Before We Leave Wasteland Patch Notes v1.0336 - 28 April 2022
Greetings Peeps! We come today with news of a new Patch which just launched on Steam for Before We Leave. Thank you for your patience so far! Check them out below: Patch Notes: Storage Hub next to a Deep Mine only stores the appropriate single resource In a game with Starting Pollution set, tiles won't instantly turn to Toxic on settling on a new Island Only show the "Port is nearly full" notification if the Port is actually nearly full (it used to also count resources that were on their way to the island on Ships, but had not yet arrived - which was confusing) In a game that has Smart Shipping enabled, loading hints about the old Shipping Lanes no longer shows Removed text from Research Institute technology description about not needing Libraries on all islands, as you don't need that now Fixed a bug when generating a new game with Starting Pollution, that was setting pollution values…
- Before We Leave Hotfix v1.0330 - 1 April 2022
Greetings Peeps We come today with news of a Hotfix which just launched on Steam for Before We Leave. It contains the below fixes. User save data does not appear in the 'Load game' menu when accessing Steam Cloud data on different machines No End User License Agreement is displayed upon attempting to progress past the boot flow for the first time If you encounter any other issues with Before We Leave, please report them here. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1073910/Before_We_Leave/ We also recommend you take shelter in our Discord server with the Before We Leave community and discuss all things Before We Leave!
