Hey everyone,

Happy 2026! We've been a little quiet whilst we prepared for this announcement, but now it's time to share the news...


From 23rd February you're invited to play a brand new version of the Let's Build a Dungeon demo. It will include updates to Campaign Mode and a first look at both Creative Mode and Just Build Mode.

We want to say a huge thank you to everyone that played the first version of our demo and completed the feedback form. The feedback you submitted helped us to make a lot of changes and improvements and we're incredibly grateful. We'd also like to thank our beta testers for reviewing an early version of the demo, we couldn't do this release without your help! (You can still join the list for potential future beta testing slots over on our website.[letsbuildadungeon.com])

There's less than two weeks to wait for the new demo to drop, and we'll be back with a full overview of everything that's new once the demo goes live on February 23rd. Until then, if you have any questions please drop them below and we'll do our best to answer. And if there are any of your favourite content creators that you'd like to see play the new demo, please let us know who we should try and reach out to. We love seeing new people play the game so would be fun to hear your suggestions!

We also have a big favour to ask. If there's any way you can support us on the first day of Next Fest by playing on Day 1, it would be a big help. The Next Fest algorithm (supposedly) uses the number of people playing to decide what to share more widely, and we'd really like to try and get Let's Build a Dungeon in front of some new faces!

Before we go, here's a preview of the new in-game menu art we've been putting together for this demo update. We're adding custom illustrations to each mode, so our artist Ryan put together a bunch of options for us to work through. Here's a look at a couple of the early sketches for Just Build Mode:

And here's a comparison of the concept sketch we picked as our favourite, next to the final in-menu image that you'll see in the demo.

We hope you're looking forward to trying out the new demo and playing Creative Mode and Just Build Mode for the first time. We're both excited and nervous to hear what you think.

Thanks as always for your ongoing support and we'll be back on February 23rd with a full overview of the new demo. Please leave any questions or content creators suggestions below and we look forward to sharing the next update in less than two weeks!

Thanks,
Springloaded

Happy holidays from everyone here at Springloaded!

2025 has absolutely flown by, and we're already looking forward to what 2026 will bring. Thank you for your continued support this year - whether that's been wishlisting Let's Build a Dungeon, joining our livestreams or chatting to us on Discord, it's really meant a lot. We're excited for the new year and looking forward to seeing how Let's Build a Dungeon is going to take shape as we work towards release. (more on that shortly)

We have a lot to share to catch you up on what we've been working on, so keep reading for:

• 1. Release Update
  
• 2. January Livestream
  
• 3. ASUS ROG Dev Accelerator & Testing
  
• 4. Design Insights
  
• 5. Exclusive Art Drop
  
• 6. 2025 Wrapped

First things first, we want to share a quick update with you about our release plans for Let's Build a Dungeon. Originally we'd been hoping to release during 2025, but we recently made the decision to give ourselves some more breathing room and instead target a 2026 launch. We wanted to officially share the news with you before the year is out along with some insight into the decision.

Whilst we don't have a confirmed release date yet, we'll share the details as soon as we can. The last thing we want to do is to announce a date and then have to change it, so we're being cautious to make sure we can accomplish everything we want to achieve in the remaining time. Our recent livestreams show a small portion of the progress we've been making, and we feel proud of what we've achieved so far, but we need some more time to really deliver on everything we have planned.

We know it can be frustrating not knowing when a game will release, but we're grateful to you for sticking with us as we figure this all out. We're committed to doing what's best for Let's Build a Dungeon, this community and our team, and we're SUPER excited about what 2026 is going to bring. You can still check out the demo for a while longer, and please let us know if you have any feedback using the in-game submission form, as every response helps us to make the game the best it can be.

https://psteamproxy.yuanyoumao.com/app/3340480/Lets_Build_a_Dungeon_Demo/

We've confirmed the date for our first dev livestream of 2026 and hope you can join us! Our game Director James will be taking to Twitch to show an up to date look at the latest build, so make sure you don't miss it. You can set a reminder on Twitch using the link below.

When: Friday 23rd January, 9am SGT / Thursday 22nd January, 5pm PST / 8pm EST
Where: Springloaded Twitch Channel [www.twitch.tv]

As well as continuing to develop the core features of Let's Build a Dungeon, we've begun switching focus to some serious testing of everything we've created so far.

There are a few ways we're doing this, including our team of closed beta players who we're grateful to have supporting us, and testing the build across a variety of hardware. Beta wise, you can sign up to join the waiting list on our website[letsbuildadungeon.com], and we're grateful to everyone who has done so already. We'll be opening up more slots in the new year, so thanks for your patience!

Our testing-timeline stars aligned last month too, as we were invited to join the ASUS ROG Dev Accelerator Program, which is an indie focused initiative that supports small studios with access to hardware. It also means that our studio is now part of the larger ROG network of developers working to bring their games to players across the world, which is super exciting.

We're proud to be part of the initiative, and getting to test Let's Build a Dungeon handheld on a ROG Ally X for the first time has been both very helpful when it comes to debugging and UI design, but also crazy fun.

We attended our last in-person event of the year earlier this month too, teaming up with the Singapore Games Association to be a part of their booth at Singapore Comic Con. Getting to watch new players explore Let's Build a Dungeon for the first time in person is always invaluable to us, so getting to do that in our home city was a great way to end our event schedule for the year.


In an earlier developer diary we introduced you to Plumose Village and some of the characters you might find there. But we didn't mention the secrets of the Rat King's underground lair...

In Campaign Mode, you'll be tasked with choosing pillar classes for your visiting virtual players. If you decide to progress along the Combat pillar, your players will eventually come face to face with a hidden boss of Plumose known affectionately as the Rat King. (You can also experience this first hand by playing your own game through Play Mode.)

If you've already checked out the Let's Build a Dungeon Steam demo, you may have noticed that the Seed Exchange Basement is overrun with rats... and that's no coincidence. The source of the infestation is hidden deep within an underground maze of dungeons and caves, coordinated by the goblin in charge; the Rat King. There's a story to uncover about the origins of the King and questions to be asked about what happens if he's to be overthrown, but that's for you to explore in-game so no more spoilers!


A quick update on our mission to come up with a host of fake store listings inspired by games we love to appear in Let's Build a Dungeon. In Campaign Mode, you'll track the performance of any games your studio releases on GameLink: a virtual storefront that is definitely, 100% legally distinct from any other real world digital storefronts that sell video games... And you'll also see other game populating the storefront.

Here are some of the latest parody titles we've added, let us know if you recognise any of them. We'd also love to hear your suggestions for what we should add next, so please drop a comment below or please let us know over on Discord what you'd like to see when scrolling GameLink!


And that's a wrap on 2025!

We've really enjoyed sharing more of Let's Build a Dungeon with you this year, and we're ending the year feeling grateful for all the support we've had here on Steam. We're interested in hearing any suggestions of things you'd like to see from us, including video ideas, stream ideas or anything that you'd like to see as we head into the new year. For now, we'll leave you with some interesting numbers to round off 2025.

We have big plans for 2026 including the release of Let's Build a Dungeon, so here's to making it a year to remember. Wishing you all the best for the festive season and we'll see you in the new year!

Thanks as always for your continued support and for making 2025 a great year for our small studio, we'll be back with more updates soon.

Team Springloaded