Firefly Studios is asking YOU - the Stronghold fans - to submit your screams, grunts, shrieks, hollers and groans to be featured in the final game. Unable to source actors and record audio in person, our hope is that enough players will be willing to warm up their vocal chords and scream into a microphone for the chance to themselves perish in-game.
While in the past we have invited fans to vote on weapon designs, armour and even which deceased animals can be thrown by trebuchet, submitting screams is new for us! The current global pandemic is presenting developers of all shapes and sizes with unique challenges, but we're hoping players will enjoy letting it all out and bursting a few ear drums in the process.
You can take part by joining the #screams-of-stronghold channel on the official Stronghold Discord server (link above), where you can find out more about the submission process and technical requirements to make their screams useable in-game.
Now that Stronghold: Warlords is deep into development and approaching launch later this year, we thought it would be a great time to reveal 100 small but interesting facts about our upcoming castle sim. Taking the form of a new rapid-fire Q&A, today Firefly's community team answers as many Stronghold fan questions as possible in under 20 minutes!
Tackling these 100 questions are Natasha and Nick, who take them all on in quickfire fashion. Covering everything from core mechanics and design to a possible beta version and even the game's final price, we attempt to provide as much information as possible at this stage in development. While we can't answer every question for a variety of reasons, be they design, technical or otherwise, we can be open and transparent about the development process about each new title. So if your request or question wasn't answered today rest assured it will be in later videos or even future entries in the Stronghold series.
During the last year we've released countless trailers, gameplay videos and development diaries, with the goal remaining to keep you informed and entertained. Each update brings with it a flood of new requests and questions, so if you don't find the answer you're looking for in today's video then worry not! Simply head on over to our official Stronghold Discord (link above) and put it in our 'Warlords-Questions' channel.
Today we're has revealing three new siege weapons coming to Stronghold: Warlords! Ranging from classic Siege Towers to new-to-the-series fortification destroyers like the Korean Hwacha and Chinese winged rockets, our latest entry in the series will allow you to infiltrate, decimate and obliterate castle walls however you choose.
For this game we're seeking to balance explosive siege weapons inspired by Chinese, Korean and Mongolian history with fan favourites recreated from past Stronghold games. Players will use gunpowder weaponry to protect their castle walls and eliminate enemy forces, but also rely on series classics to win the day.
From the humble fire lance to the deadly Hwacha, with more siege weapons to be revealed closer to launch, these weapons of war changed the course of military history. While these new tools will be balanced against other units and gunpowder-less siege weapons, players will also have options to enable stronger castle walls as a means of further tweaking the game balance.
In today’s video Firefly Studios developers Matt and Paul walk us through the last three months of production, covering everything from campaigns to code. These two senior members of the team were kind enough to take some time out of their day to reflect on recent builds, design decisions and advances toward release. This is followed up by a lengthy FAQ featuring the ten of the most commonly asked community questions covering a possible beta demo, graphical improvements, easter eggs and more!
Rest assured we will continue release more Stronghold: Warlords video updates over the coming weeks and months, while taking into account new social distancing guidelines. With development diaries, interviews and new trailers currently being crafted, we’ll continue to keep you up to date on the latest units, siege engines and buildings being added to game.
Warlords is our next mainline Stronghold title, a new strategy and simulation castle builder taking the series into the Far East for the very first time. Stronghold: Warlords will feature historical campaigns, unique strategy genre innovations and as always a memorable cast of characters. The game is currently available for wishlist and is on course for release later this year.
We’ve just launched Combat 2.0, a brand new update for our co-op city builder Romans: Age of Caesar! This new update not only adds exciting and unique tactical powers, but also a completely redesigned Empire Map to secure make your impending domination over nearby lands. With key game revisions and balances added to the mix, Romans: Age of Caesar is growing into a thrilling multiplayer adventure spanning ancient Rome and beyond.
Watch as Natasha and Ben delve into exactly what this major new update brings to our alpha players, allowing alliances to survey their lands, trade routes and military advances more effectively than ever. On the barbarian battlefields they also discuss our brand new Troop Deployment System as well as Sabotage, an intriguing tactical power now available for your sieges and skirmishes. Both open up a curious range of unique ways to battle and will be a breath of fresh air for veteran Romans testers.
Combat 2.0 is just one of our planned updates coming to Romans: Age of Caesar over the course of the alpha. Every day we take on important community feedback and implement changes wherever we can, so if you’d like to help us make Romans the best city builder it can be then sign up today!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5CI9ch7b0U Welcome to Stronghold Sessions, our new series on Firefly Studios' YouTube! These videos will be a selection of extended, unedited interviews taken from our '20 Years of Stronghold' documentary released alongside our initial Stronghold: Warlords announcement.
First up is Firefly co-founder and Lead Designer Simon Bradbury, a key architect on every Stronghold title to date. Here we discuss the early beginnings of Firefly Studios, development stories from the Stronghold series and even where Simon sees the games heading in the future after Stronghold: Warlords releases later this year.
Provided you guys enjoy the video there will be plenty more Stronghold Session interviews down the line. So if you're interested in hearing more extended interviews from our Firefly developers, including topics like art and production, then make sure you subscribe to Firefly Studios on YouTube with notifications turned on to catch the latest episodes as they release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3z_cmfTfF0 We're back with more raw gameplay of Stronghold: Warlords, our upcoming RTS castle sim! Today's video showcases of our first full mission taken from the Chinese portion of our main single-player campaign, featuring legendary figure Qin Shi Huang and infamous rebel warlord Lao Ai.
So sit back and relax as Lao Ai's fort is decimated by player-controlled warlord attacks, Hwachas, Fire Oxen, classic Catapults and more in a devastating display of gunpowder-fuelled destruction! Combining our first ever use of gunpowder in the Stronghold series with some incredible historic weaponry and the new warlords system, this new demo should give you a flavour of things to come.
The demo also features new production chains and economy mechanics unique to Vietnam, China, Mongolia and Japan and firsts for the Stronghold series as a whole. Adding a fresh layer of resource and management gameplay has been a core goal since the start of development. So expect even more sim gameplay in the final release, as we continue to blend our two beloved genres of real time strategy and simulation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeWC83jAJLk It gives us great pleasure to reveal that our upcoming ‘castle sim’ Stronghold: Warlords will include a bonus economic campaign! Available at launch and featuring Warlord’s very own version of the Scribe, this six mission campaign will feature feudal events, weather and unique objectives.
Stronghold: Warlords will feature several single player game modes, with the main story split between our combat-heavy military campaign and the more city-builder focused bonus campaign. The full four-part historical military campaign will be set across ancient Vietnam, China, Japan and Mongolia, with players balancing between castle besieging and economic gameplay to succeed over 24 missions.
Alongside this there will be a new ‘Path of Peace’ bonus campaign centered around castle building, resource gathering and reacting to feudal events. With the ability to boost or crush a player’s popularity, events will change fortunes with the coming of monsoon rains, lightning storms, bandit attacks, wildfires, festivals, typhoons and more!
Players will have to make the most of Warlords’ new castle sim mechanics to battle against thinning food supplies, accidental gunpowder explosions, local bandits and revolt from their own peasants. Temples must be built to produce Spirit, Hovels created to house castle dwellers, farms to feed and tailors to clothe them. In addition players will be able to show their true colours with feudal entertainment and torture devices available to instill love or fear in the hearts of their subjects. If all else fails tax, torture or treat peasants to adjust their mood accordingly!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DujbdkMBuUI From the moment we deployed that very first Trebuchet nearly 20 years ago to today's rampaging Fire Ox in Stronghold: Warlords, our castle sim series has a long history of siege warfare. So assemble your Laddermen and load up your Catapults, because today we bring you our first episode in a brand new series called ‘The Siege Engines of Stronghold’. We're kicking things off with a mixture of classic fan favourite castle conquerors and brand new tower topplers, diving in with humble Laddermen, trusty Mantlets, classic Catapults and chaotic Fire Oxen!
Based on the historical sieges of ancient China, ranging from Tian Dan’s 3rd century BC assault on the city of Jimo through to the Siege of De’an in 1132 AD, the Fire Ox has an interesting history. With incendiary fabrics attached to its tail and spears at its side, this living weapon was an unexpected force to be reckoned with. Capable of decimating enemy siege lines before they knew what hit them, the Fire Ox was an unorthodox but effective tactical solution to a common siege scenario. Alongside series classics like the Mantlet, Laddermen and Catapult, the Fire Ox rounds out this first set of siege weapons to be revealed for the latest entry in our series.
Players will be able to use virtual gunpowder in their castle defences, economy buildings and siege weapons, which will all use this new resource type in different ways. Fire Oxen, Fire Lancers, gunpowder traps and more will build on the series’ love of fire to give players completely new options for blowing apart rival castles in story mode, skirmish or online against friends. As Nick announces in the video, this is merely the first of several episodes in our new Siege Engines mini-series. So make sure you Wishlist for future instalments covering the revered Trebuchet and more!
Nearly in its 20th year, the Stronghold series has a few consistent staples we wouldn't dream of changing. One of these is a history of memorable songs and full soundtracks composed by Robert L. Euvino!
From fan favourite hits like 'Castle Jam' in Stronghold 1 to soulful desert ballads such as 'Breathe' from Stronghold Crusader 2, music has been a highlight of every Stronghold game to date. Fans have grown accustomed to besieging set to had hard hitting orchestral clashes and castle building to the tune of peaceful lutes and idyllic violins, so we're pleased to announce that Stronghold: Warlords will once again deliver. The game will feature an all-new soundtrack and return to the modular 'Oud' musical system from the original Stronghold Crusader, providing a more seamless musical experience during gameplay.
So rest easy as Rob will indeed be returning to score the landscapes of Warlords, with music suited to the many ways you'll be governing over your lands with military force and cunning diplomacy. To celebrate we have put together a collection of early ambient compositions that Rob has created for the game so far. These are intended as mood setters to give you a small taste of the instruments, influences and styles you will be hearing in the final soundtrack.
We'll have much more on the audio side later down the line for Warlords, with video deep dives into the creation of the sound effects and full soundtrack planned. For now please enjoy this early preview of the music of Warlords!