Kerf: Sawmill Tycoon

Kerf: Sawmill Tycoon is a first-person sawmill simulation where you fell trees, operate the machines, make products and sell them yourself. You start with an axe and a single clearing at the foot of a waterfall, then build up your sawmill and earn money through hands-on work.

Run the sawmill

You fell trees and cut their trunks into logs, then haul the logs to the yard and process them through a chain of machines. Sawing, chopping and lacquering all require you to operate the equipment; your steadiness affects the results. The game has no idle timers, and you can upgrade the sawmill level by level.

The valley has ten species of wood. Some are nearby, while the best grows farther away; reputation opens access to those areas, not money. You cannot sell logs raw, so you make products such as planks, firewood, chips, pellets, bark, fertilizer and furniture. You build and lacquer furniture yourself, with three grades of craftsmanship.

Fill customer orders

Customers come to your yard with orders for a specific product made from a specific type of wood. You load the goods into a crate, carry it to the counter and complete the sale face to face.

You can connect a Twitch or Kick channel so viewers who type in chat appear as customers in the sawmill, with their nicknames above their heads and messages in speech bubbles.

Hire a crew

When orders outnumber the work you can handle, you can hire people for the machines and the counter. You pay them each morning, and they keep working while you are out in the woods. You can hand the work over to your crew or continue doing it yourself.

Care for the forest

The forest does not regrow on its own. You dig out stumps, plant saplings and make fertilizer from your offcuts. If you cut trees without replanting, the valley will eventually run out of wood.

The valley and its pace

You have a truck and can work across a valley with a town, a river and a waterfall. A day-and-night cycle shapes the work, which has no combat, failure states or time pressure.