Four games tuned by hand, each in its own code, was an invitation to mistakes. Kastle Studio is the bench where everything the engine and the games have is seen, tuned and measured: creatures, effects, numbers, and what a change does to every matchup before it goes in.
Kastle holds everything our games have in common, from the 3D world to lockstep multiplayer, and none of their rules. In sixteen days it gained 235 effects, 164 creatures, Warcraft III orders and abilities, a network that survives drops and a lint that hunts desyncs before they happen.
Custom Hero Survival: 122 Abilities, a Ledger and a Tavern
DESIGNPOST #20
The fourth game rebuilds Custom Hero Survival Z2.6 rule by rule, with a ledger that cites the script line behind every decision. In fifteen days, the map's 122 abilities, the shops, the bets, the chat commands and a tavern full of heroes behind the menus.
Line Tower: the Maze That Gave Birth to the Engine
DESIGNPOST #19
On October 9, a protected map of 34 thousand lines was read inside out and became Line Tower. The same day, so the third game would not start from scratch, the core of Castle Survivors became Kastle, the house engine.
Castle Survivors: Seventeen Worlds, Co-op and the Road to Steam
PROGRESSPOST #18
From the original island to seventeen worlds, from one language to five, from prototype to a Steam test build in one command. Castle Survivors' second week, with a tutorial, Quick Match, Workshop mods, accessibility and a hardened network.
Castle Survivors: a Castle, an Island and Ninety Weapons
DESIGNPOST #17
The house's second game was born on October 6 and within two days had an island, a castle that grows, ninety weapons faithful to Tower Survivors 1.91, bosses with mechanics of their own and multiplayer. How it was put together, from the headless simulation to a sky with sun and moon.
Castle Arena: a Map Editor, the 15th Arena and the Arena HUD
PROGRESSPOST #16
After the fog of war, Castle Arena gained a map editor with the plan and the 3D scenery in one window, Moss River as its 15th arena, troops and creatures from new packs, a HUD style after Dota 2 and TFT, and Castle Fight's rules read straight from the map's script.
The devlog went quiet for two weeks because the workshop grew. Between October 2 and 25, Castle Arena gained three siblings and an engine they share. This series of nine posts tells what was built, game by game.
The clouds are gone. Fog of war now works like in classic RTS games, with black where you have never looked, a dim veil over explored ground and live sight from your troops.
The economy got tighter, the AI learned to upgrade early, damage now varies from hit to hit and the battlefield nearly tripled. All of it is still in the lab, waiting for one joint rebalance.
Four races got new 3D models and buildings, battles got a soundtrack and a voiced herald, and every troop now marches 1.5x faster. A look at two days of work on how the game looks and sounds.
Team battles are now truly online, from 2v2 to 4v4, with a person in every seat. How eight computers stay in the same match, what happens when someone drops, and what testing with eight windows open caught.
A candid receipt of the first three days: commits, lines of code, factions, troops, tests and screenshots, all counted from the project itself. Plus what's still missing.
Castle Arena has fourteen factions and six arenas. This is the story of the update that gave every faction its complete ability kit, and of teaching the AI how to weigh it.
Why melee soldiers used to walk in place behind their friends, how 13 movement rules were put to the test, and what happened when some troops took to the air.
Six arenas, a sky that changes through the match, storms, rare events and skittish wildlife. Plus the compact HUD, your own coat of arms and the accessibility options.
How Castle Arena plays online through Steam: two computers run the same battle and trade only orders. Plus reconnection, spectators, replays and Highlights.
Five short lessons and a proving battle, each one a real match. How the training teaches without walls of text, why its hints fade as you improve, and why multiplayer only recommends it.
The Balance Lab: Thousands of Matches Before One Number Changes
BALANCEPOST #3
How we balance Castle Arena. An automated judge that pits the AI against itself thousands of times, the stalemate problem it uncovered, and why we diagnose before we touch a single number.
Income every seven seconds, a tax that grows with your earnings, lumber that comes back from your barracks and a single Rescue per match. How the economy works, and why we built it this way.
