Description
PlayFortress is a new type of castle building game designed around the way medieval castles were constructed. The player controls a number of characters such as the Master Mason, who was responsible for designing the castle, hiring the workers; managing the resources and overseeing the construction of the castle. The Engineer is used to terraform the landscape (earthworks, moats and castle mottes), whilst the Lord manages the overall objectives (the castle economy).
The inspiration for the game was to attempt something new with the castle building genre, to create a game focuses upon how castles were constructed during the medieval era.
Early Access Version
The following features are currently implemented in the Early Access version:
Castle Editing (Master Mason Mode)
- Place down castle pieces such as keeps, free-standing towers, drum towers and gatehouses
- Connect towers to castle pieces
- Connect forebuildings to castle pieces
- Add/remove floors
- Manipulate castle pieces (change size, rotate, scale edges).
- Walls
- Connect walls to castle pieces
- Connect ends of walls together
- Bend walls to create curved sections
- Customise castle pieces
- Change crenelllation styles
- Change roof types
- Change gatehouse entrance types
- Paint mode for changing castle styles (type of stone)
- Attachments for adding windows, doors, arrow loops, shields and banners
- Buildings
- Various buildings are available such as the Master Mason Lodge, carpenter hut, blacksmith, market houses and scenery objects such as statues and market stalls.
All castle geometry pieces, walls and buildings can be placed on uneven ground ensuring castles can be built upon slopes and mounds (castle mottes).
Work In Progress
More features will be added later, some of these features are currently work in progress and can be seen at the end of the PlayFortress trailer video including:
- Building Systems mode for customising (town/settlement) buildings
- Engineer mode for terraforming landscape
- Lord mode where the castle can be viewed as it is constructed
How the full version is planned to differ from the Early Access version
There are several features that we already have in development including:
- Engineer Mode that will introduce terraforming of landscape (e.g. for moats).
- Buildings system that supports changing a building’s size (width and number of floors) and the building’s appearance
- Lord Mode that shows the buildings as they are being built.
New features are planned for the Creative (freebuild) mode such as stairs, buttresses and defensive spurs, further content is also planned (more types of crenellations, roofs, arrow loops and so on).
Planned game play modes
- Freebuild (creative).
- Semi-Freebuild with basic resource management.
- Strategy (single mission and campaign mode).
- Manage resources such as stone, wood and workers (resources are either mined or purchased).
- Place castle structures and watch them build. Assign workers to control the building rate. Demolish buildings (this occurs a penalty).
- Carry out earthworks: flatten areas, create moats etc.
- Place buildings to influence the AI controlled non-player characters i.e. villagers and workers (it is necessary to attract workers to build the economy).
- Manage the construction over a number of game years, ensure the castle is protected during winter months (when it’s not possible to build).
Missions are complete when a castle is built that fulfills a number of objectives, typically these are: the castle’s defensive capability; the size of the economy built; and the castle’s grandeur (these vary for each mission).
More information will be posted on our Steam store page , within our Steam store page forums and on this website.
Email questions to feedback@playfortress.com and we'll try to include them in an FAQ