I wanted to release Elfgineer last Christmas. What reached Steam in December 2025 was a demo, because the full game wasn’t ready. This Christmas it comes out.
It’s an automation game set in Santa’s workshop, with artwork by my friend Gabi. It’s inspired by Factorio, but smaller and cozier: the idea is that you can enjoy it in minutes rather than hours.
On October 19, I made an updated version of the demo public for Steam Next Fest. You can download it free and play on Windows, Linux or macOS.
A factory at the North Pole
The elves are ill, so you’re the one Elfgineer left to build the factory and keep the toys coming.
You place machines, connect belts and turn raw materials into toys. Then you add another machine, one line runs short of material and you start rearranging the connections, while you research new recipes and expand the workshop.
The full game is still in development; the demo covers the beginning of the campaign plus the seven-minute version of Christmas Crunch.
Where it was last year
I recorded this devlog about the game’s visual makeover in November 2025, fifteen days into the 90 days I’d given myself to make my first commercial game. It shows Gabi’s new art direction and the machines and recipes I was adding; the short above is from the same month.
Testing before Next Fest
Before making this version public, I tested builds downloaded from a private Steam branch. That’s where a bug turned up: what happened if you moved a completed save to another computer? The factory loaded, but Christmas Crunch stayed locked, because challenge access was stored in a separate settings file that stayed behind on the old computer.
Now loading a completed save restores challenge access as well. The fix was checked on a clean profile and after a restart, and loading an earlier save doesn’t take that access away. Then the fixed build went through the same private branch, and I tested it on Windows, Linux and macOS before making it public.
You can play it now
I shared it on X too. If you enjoy factory games, give the demo a go and tell me what you think.
I’d like to know where you get stuck, what’s unclear and what makes you want to keep building. If something breaks, tell me what you were doing and which operating system you’re on, and send a screenshot or the save file if you can.
The demo is free, and you can wishlist the full game. See you this Christmas.