Hello hello,

Less than three weeks until Northgard hits early access and we’re working hard to get everything done. We’ve got stacks of last minute UI tweaks to finish off and make the game more intuitive and easier to read as well as some balancing and bug fixing to do. The most interesting news however is that the clans have taken shape and we’re releasing more info about their buffs! This week we’ll take a look at the clan of the Stag, Eikthyrnir.

The clan of the Stage are famous in the Norse world and the stories sung about them have followed them to Northgard. Noble and even handed the Eikthyrnir place great stock in their reputation and appearance of wealth and good fortune, however their most prized possession is their land…

It’s not wonder that this clan starts the game with extra supplies and buffs for fame linked to territory. Their goal will usually involve rapid expansion with the aim of becoming the Kings of Northgard and securing a fame based victory. To aid them in their quest they rely on the happiness of their clan members and the buildings which give them cultural strength, boosting morale and increasing productivity.



With every piece of land they acquire they receive extra fame, so they should probably use this to their advantage and expand rapidly towards strategic locations that will make them even more renowned. They could also use their ability to construct quickly and consolidate their hold on the economy of Northgard… It’s up to you to find the strategy that you like the most, all the while keeping an eye on your neighbours.

Some other victory conditions are related to the fame based victory and could also help you on your path... Reclaiming Yggdrasil from the fell beasts that have made their home around it would certainly help, but the resources needed for such a feat might not be easy to come by…

Next week we’ll take a look at the final clan that will be available at the beginning of the Early Access and take a much more detailed look at the different special areas on the map and how they can act as unique victory conditions themselves.

I’ve also been responding to the questions that have been popping up about the nature of the gameplay and its similarity to the Cultures and Settlers (early games) series. So feel free to read through some of the discussions here on the hub and find out a bit more.

As usual, don’t hesitate to ask if you want to know something and if I have the answer we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

We’re getting excited here!

The Shiro team!

Hello hello,

Less than three weeks until Northgard hits early access and we’re working hard to get everything done. We’ve got stacks of last minute UI tweaks to finish off and make the game more intuitive and easier to read as well as some balancing and bug fixing to do. The most interesting news however is that the clans have taken shape and we’re releasing more info about their buffs! This week we’ll take a look at the clan of the Stag, Eikthyrnir.

The clan of the Stage are famous in the Norse world and the stories sung about them have followed them to Northgard. Noble and even handed the Eikthyrnir place great stock in their reputation and appearance of wealth and good fortune, however their most prized possession is their land…

It’s not wonder that this clan starts the game with extra supplies and buffs for fame linked to territory. Their goal will usually involve rapid expansion with the aim of becoming the Kings of Northgard and securing a fame based victory. To aid them in their quest they rely on the happiness of their clan members and the buildings which give them cultural strength, boosting morale and increasing productivity.



With every piece of land they acquire they receive extra fame, so they should probably use this to their advantage and expand rapidly towards strategic locations that will make them even more renowned. They could also use their ability to construct quickly and consolidate their hold on the economy of Northgard… It’s up to you to find the strategy that you like the most, all the while keeping an eye on your neighbours.

Some other victory conditions are related to the fame based victory and could also help you on your path... Reclaiming Yggdrasil from the fell beasts that have made their home around it would certainly help, but the resources needed for such a feat might not be easy to come by…

Next week we’ll take a look at the final clan that will be available at the beginning of the Early Access and take a much more detailed look at the different special areas on the map and how they can act as unique victory conditions themselves.

I’ve also been responding to the questions that have been popping up about the nature of the gameplay and its similarity to the Cultures and Settlers (early games) series. So feel free to read through some of the discussions here on the hub and find out a bit more.

As usual, don’t hesitate to ask if you want to know something and if I have the answer we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

We’re getting excited here!

The Shiro team!

Hey all!

As promised last week, some very cool news for you here. We’ve got the Early Access release date. If all goes according to plan we’ll be releasing Northgard for you to play on the 22nd of February 2017. So in a little less than a month! So what’s the plan? And more importantly what will you be getting your hands on for the early access?

The version that we’re releasing into early access is what we consider to be the core of the game. You’ll have the free play mode against the AI, with several victory conditions, the impact of winter, three different clans and all the Norse mythological creatures you can possibly want to fight or befriend. We’re happy with the balance of the game that we’ll be showing you but we’re counting on your help to take it from good to “oh my”.

Once the core game is out there will still be more to come. The features that we’ll be adding to the game over the next few months include, but aren’t limited to:

• Multiplayer mode.
  
• A story based campaign mode.
  
• Two new clans and the buildings and features that come with them.
  
• Changes to the diplomacy system.
  
• More victory conditions.
  
• More neutral factions (creatures you can convince to join your cause).
  
• Tweaks and upgrades to the combat system (if you think we need them).
  
• Extra language support (much later in the EA).
  
• Extra platform support (Mac/Linux) again, closer to leaving EA.

This is what we consider to be the minimum of features that we’ll add to the game. We’ve already made solid progress on a lot of these, but we’d prefer to get your feedback on the core game before we throw more energy at features that all rely on having a solid experience right from the start.

Of course all of this will be spaced out over the next few months, we’d like to see a full release by mid year, but you know how it is with early access, we’re going to be taking into account your feedback and that will heavily influence the development time.

In any case we’ll be communicating regularly on the progress of the game here and via Twitter and such. So you’ll have plenty of patch logs, updates and new information. Not to mention that we’ll be pushing any critical bug-fixes as fast as we can find and fix them.

So stay tuned for more information and please, don’t hesitate to ask questions in the comments or start a discussion thread!

The Shiro team.

Hey all!

As promised last week, some very cool news for you here. We’ve got the Early Access release date. If all goes according to plan we’ll be releasing Northgard for you to play on the 22nd of February 2017. So in a little less than a month! So what’s the plan? And more importantly what will you be getting your hands on for the early access?

The version that we’re releasing into early access is what we consider to be the core of the game. You’ll have the free play mode against the AI, with several victory conditions, the impact of winter, three different clans and all the Norse mythological creatures you can possibly want to fight or befriend. We’re happy with the balance of the game that we’ll be showing you but we’re counting on your help to take it from good to “oh my”.

Once the core game is out there will still be more to come. The features that we’ll be adding to the game over the next few months include, but aren’t limited to:

• Multiplayer mode.
  
• A story based campaign mode.
  
• Two new clans and the buildings and features that come with them.
  
• Changes to the diplomacy system.
  
• More victory conditions.
  
• More neutral factions (creatures you can convince to join your cause).
  
• Tweaks and upgrades to the combat system (if you think we need them).
  
• Extra language support (much later in the EA).
  
• Extra platform support (Mac/Linux) again, closer to leaving EA.

This is what we consider to be the minimum of features that we’ll add to the game. We’ve already made solid progress on a lot of these, but we’d prefer to get your feedback on the core game before we throw more energy at features that all rely on having a solid experience right from the start.

Of course all of this will be spaced out over the next few months, we’d like to see a full release by mid year, but you know how it is with early access, we’re going to be taking into account your feedback and that will heavily influence the development time.

In any case we’ll be communicating regularly on the progress of the game here and via Twitter and such. So you’ll have plenty of patch logs, updates and new information. Not to mention that we’ll be pushing any critical bug-fixes as fast as we can find and fix them.

So stay tuned for more information and please, don’t hesitate to ask questions in the comments or start a discussion thread!

The Shiro team.

Hello & Happy New Year everyone!

We hope that you all had some time off during the festive season and that the time with your families and friends kept you from getting too impatient for another update! In any case, wait no more here it is!

We’ve got a stack of information to get to you, but we’re trying to space it out over a few posts so today we’re going to take a look at the particular traits of one of the clans and how those traits impact on its ability to fulfil certain victory conditions.

Fenrir, the clan of the Wolf, aggressive, protective of their freedom and more than a little reckless. They’re one of the 3 clans that we’ll have ready for the early access in the next few months. Their traits relate principally to combat and strength and will probably orientate anyone who chooses to play them towards aggressive expansion and the good old, don’t stop until the last village burns, approach.

The clan system in Northgard works by giving each clan their specific advantage, that is usually linked to a certain play style because of the victory conditions of the game. Claiming a domination victory and the Warlord title is easier if your warriors have an advantage fright from the start. Of course storming your foes homelands and razing their Town Hall will always take careful planning and a daring attack, but Fenrir will give you the edge if that’s how you want to play.



Each clan has it’s associated weakness and Fenrir is no exception, your warriors may be strong but your gatherers are just plain old peasants, so when winter inevitably comes you’re going to have a hard time. An advantage in battle is nothing without a solid supply line to feed your bloodthirsty warriors.

This of course begs the question, what are your enemies doing? Are they plotting to steal your land and carry off your family? Or are they forging trade alliances and building their wealth in order to outshine you and steal the title of the Great Merchant of Northgard?

We’ll look more closely at the other victory conditions and the traits that each clan will use to wrest the crown of Northgard from their enemies hands next soon, but suffice to say that there are numerous ways that you can win the game, and you’ll have to think carefully about more than just your own strategy.

In the meantime we’re working hard on balancing the game so that when you eventually get to play during the early access, it feels like something that a professional studio created. From that point on we’ll be relying heavily on your feedback to help us make it perfect, but you know that we’re not going to sell you something that feels rushed.

With the last updates we’ve been focusing on the impact that winter has on the overall gameplay. The game is called Northgard for a reason and we want you to feel like you’re a pioneering Viking warrior fighting every minute for your survival in a bitterly cold land. We’re getting close and we’ll keep you posted.

A quick note on the release date. You’ll get that news very soon, we can’t say more right now, but very soon...

Thanks for the support, we can’t wait to show you more.

Hello & Happy New Year everyone!

We hope that you all had some time off during the festive season and that the time with your families and friends kept you from getting too impatient for another update! In any case, wait no more here it is!

We’ve got a stack of information to get to you, but we’re trying to space it out over a few posts so today we’re going to take a look at the particular traits of one of the clans and how those traits impact on its ability to fulfil certain victory conditions.

Fenrir, the clan of the Wolf, aggressive, protective of their freedom and more than a little reckless. They’re one of the 3 clans that we’ll have ready for the early access in the next few months. Their traits relate principally to combat and strength and will probably orientate anyone who chooses to play them towards aggressive expansion and the good old, don’t stop until the last village burns, approach.

The clan system in Northgard works by giving each clan their specific advantage, that is usually linked to a certain play style because of the victory conditions of the game. Claiming a domination victory and the Warlord title is easier if your warriors have an advantage fright from the start. Of course storming your foes homelands and razing their Town Hall will always take careful planning and a daring attack, but Fenrir will give you the edge if that’s how you want to play.



Each clan has it’s associated weakness and Fenrir is no exception, your warriors may be strong but your gatherers are just plain old peasants, so when winter inevitably comes you’re going to have a hard time. An advantage in battle is nothing without a solid supply line to feed your bloodthirsty warriors.

This of course begs the question, what are your enemies doing? Are they plotting to steal your land and carry off your family? Or are they forging trade alliances and building their wealth in order to outshine you and steal the title of the Great Merchant of Northgard?

We’ll look more closely at the other victory conditions and the traits that each clan will use to wrest the crown of Northgard from their enemies hands next soon, but suffice to say that there are numerous ways that you can win the game, and you’ll have to think carefully about more than just your own strategy.

In the meantime we’re working hard on balancing the game so that when you eventually get to play during the early access, it feels like something that a professional studio created. From that point on we’ll be relying heavily on your feedback to help us make it perfect, but you know that we’re not going to sell you something that feels rushed.

With the last updates we’ve been focusing on the impact that winter has on the overall gameplay. The game is called Northgard for a reason and we want you to feel like you’re a pioneering Viking warrior fighting every minute for your survival in a bitterly cold land. We’re getting close and we’ll keep you posted.

A quick note on the release date. You’ll get that news very soon, we can’t say more right now, but very soon...

Thanks for the support, we can’t wait to show you more.

Hey there all!

Welcome to the very first of what will hopefully be many updates on the progress of the game! We’ve been hard at work getting our vikings ready for the planned early access release in Q1 of next year, so communication has been a little light (read nonexistent), but that should change from now on! So, without any further ado, let’s take a look at what’s been going on at Shiro HQ.

First of all, part of the reason that things have been so quiet around these parts is that our lovely intern left us to go galavanting around the US somewhere. She did a great job and we wish her all the best with anything that she might be scheming! Now we’ve gotten our hands on a new and altogether different communications animal… He’s big fan of the old Settlers games and probably the only person to have more game time logged in Northgard than the devs. My name is Steve aka @indiecatapult, and I’ll be lurking in the Shiro office leading up to launch trying to get you guys the latest information from the devs, anyway back behind the fourth wall.

This post is a little roundup of everything that we’ve brewed up for you, over the next few months I’ll be updating you on as much as I possibly can on the finer points that I bring up here, not to mention all of the random changes that inevitably happen when you make a game.

Since the reveal trailer was released for Gamescom way back in August we’ve added a bunch of new characters to the game, along with their specialist buildings. These are going to help you in your quest to become King of Northgard, whether that be through making your vikings happy or helping with food supply during the harsh winters. We’ve also added a bunch of new special tiles. These are areas on the map that bring you some kind of advantage when you discover, colonise or hold against your foes.

The UI is one of the most critical aspects of any strategy game and we have been working really hard to make sure that it does its job properly. A great UI should just disappear in the scenery of the game, it should be so obvious and logical that you hardly know it’s there. We think we’re on the right track, but we’ll be waiting for your feedback during the early access.

Some of the bigger changes to the game are based on the core mechanics of the upgrade systems and the victory conditions of the game. We won’t say too much for the moment, but we will tell you that the whole thing has really rebalanced the game and we’ve been having a bunch of fun with the updates!

Last but not least there are some very nice new features relating to the combat system and how you control your warriors… It’s a lot easier than before, but even more rewarding because of the way that you gain access to the new content.

So that’ll do for now, we wouldn’t want to spoil the fun for you when you first get your hands on the game, besides if we spill all the beans at once we’ll have nothing to share but cat pictures until the launch.

See you soon!

Hey there all!

Welcome to the very first of what will hopefully be many updates on the progress of the game! We’ve been hard at work getting our vikings ready for the planned early access release in Q1 of next year, so communication has been a little light (read nonexistent), but that should change from now on! So, without any further ado, let’s take a look at what’s been going on at Shiro HQ.

First of all, part of the reason that things have been so quiet around these parts is that our lovely intern left us to go galavanting around the US somewhere. She did a great job and we wish her all the best with anything that she might be scheming! Now we’ve gotten our hands on a new and altogether different communications animal… He’s big fan of the old Settlers games and probably the only person to have more game time logged in Northgard than the devs. My name is Steve aka @indiecatapult, and I’ll be lurking in the Shiro office leading up to launch trying to get you guys the latest information from the devs, anyway back behind the fourth wall.

This post is a little roundup of everything that we’ve brewed up for you, over the next few months I’ll be updating you on as much as I possibly can on the finer points that I bring up here, not to mention all of the random changes that inevitably happen when you make a game.

Since the reveal trailer was released for Gamescom way back in August we’ve added a bunch of new characters to the game, along with their specialist buildings. These are going to help you in your quest to become King of Northgard, whether that be through making your vikings happy or helping with food supply during the harsh winters. We’ve also added a bunch of new special tiles. These are areas on the map that bring you some kind of advantage when you discover, colonise or hold against your foes.

The UI is one of the most critical aspects of any strategy game and we have been working really hard to make sure that it does its job properly. A great UI should just disappear in the scenery of the game, it should be so obvious and logical that you hardly know it’s there. We think we’re on the right track, but we’ll be waiting for your feedback during the early access.

Some of the bigger changes to the game are based on the core mechanics of the upgrade systems and the victory conditions of the game. We won’t say too much for the moment, but we will tell you that the whole thing has really rebalanced the game and we’ve been having a bunch of fun with the updates!

Last but not least there are some very nice new features relating to the combat system and how you control your warriors… It’s a lot easier than before, but even more rewarding because of the way that you gain access to the new content.

So that’ll do for now, we wouldn’t want to spoil the fun for you when you first get your hands on the game, besides if we spill all the beans at once we’ll have nothing to share but cat pictures until the launch.

See you soon!