SECOND VILLAGE STRONGHOLD KINGDOMS SERIES

Could you explain in more detail how Stronghold 3 will try to recapture the magic of the original game? GS: We've already discussed how Firefly has noted that Stronghold 2 wasn't as well received as the first game due to some of its more-complicated (and more micromanagement-heavy) systems for economics and building structures. We have gritty, messy combat, but as a player you also have to worry about making sure everyone has enough apples to eat and that your stretching rack is sited correctly. In other strategy games set in the medieval period it tends to all be about combat. Nothing else truly focuses on all aspects of castle life like we do, about building a thriving castle community alongside the military aspects of the game. I would say that we're still the only game in town (or rather the village) when it comes to castle games. You can also attack at night, if you're a sneaky, dishonest jerk. I reckon a Stronghold fan could probably travel back in time and easily build a decent castle. Stronghold actually teaches you about the best way to build castles-where to put the tar pits, how far the walls should be placed, the best way to funnel the enemy into a small area where you can easily pick them off with a few arrows, etc. SB: I think that we're definitely more than just a tower defense game. What lessons has the studio picked up from such games? How will Stronghold 3 offer a different experience? Times have changed, and there are now many, many other strategy games on many different platforms that are all about defending towers. GS: There was a time when the Stronghold games were more or less the only games in town when it came to games that focused on castle sieges. I mean, we still have sleepless nights, but just not as many as before. For Stronghold 3, we're using a third-party engine, which means we can make sure we nail the gameplay, rather than having sleepless nights about shaders and pathfinding. Because we were so busy making sure the engine worked, we weren't able to concentrate on finely tuning the gameplay to make it as enjoyable as possible. At the time, it was almost the done thing for developers to make their own engine, so we decided we should do the same thing…which was a mistake. We know we made some mistakes, and we're aiming to rectify them with Stronghold 3.Īnother thing we learned from the sequel was the folly of trying to build our own engine. With this game we're trying hard to make something that has the spirit of the original. It may sound slightly cocky, but I think we got a lot of things right in the first game but then suffered sequelitis for the second game and tried to cram too many things in, which upset the fans. SB: One thing we kept hearing from the fans-particularly after Stronghold 2-was to make a game that was more like the original. GS: What are the most important lessons that Firefly has taken from the development processes, and reception, of previous games in the series?

SECOND VILLAGE STRONGHOLD KINGDOMS SERIES

I think it's great that we're returning to the world of Stronghold, and I reckon that fans of the series will be delighted to become immersed in that rich medieval setting all over again. The Wolf has returned with his faithful dastardly followers, and he plans to take over the kingdom. He has spent the last 10 years plotting bitter revenge in the East. The Wolf, for example, survived the fall from the tower and the sword through his chest. In many ways it's a direct sequel to Stronghold 1 it features plenty of references to the original, and many familiar characters make their return. Simon Bradbury: We've made several games in the past few years based in the Stronghold world-such as Legends and Crusader Extreme-but this really is the big meaty new Stronghold for a while. Please give us an overview of the new game and what it will offer.

GameSpot: It has been a long time coming, but we're happy to hear that Stronghold 3 is now nearing completion.

Stronghold 3 aims to recapture what made the original such a hit. We catch up with Stronghold 3's designer, Simon Bradbury, and quiz him on what the team has in store for the latest entry in the Stronghold series. Free-form building placement, disease warfare, and a day/night cycle are all in the works as well. But that's not to say the team is stuck in the past. In this case, that means going back to the original Stronghold and seeing what it was that made this castle-building, real-time strategy game so great. With Stronghold 3, developer Firefly Studios is going back to basics.

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