Castle Story | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Developer(s) | Sauropod Studio |
Publisher(s) | Sauropod Studio |
Composer(s) | Josh Whelchel, Mattias Häggstrom Gerdt and Vibe Avenue |
Engine | Unity [1] |
Platform(s) | Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows |
Release | 17 August 2017 |
Genre(s) | Sandbox |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Castle Story is a sandbox and real-time strategy game developed by Sauropod Studio. Funded through crowdfunding website Kickstarter in 2012, the game launched in September 2013 in early access, and was fully released in August 2017.
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by
adding to it. (September 2019) |
In Castle Story, the player is in control of workers called "Bricktrons" which can be directed to gather resources, build castles and fight enemies. [2] The aim is to build a castle that can withstand attacks from creatures and other players. [2] The game takes place on massive floating islands. [2]
Castle Story was the debut game developed by Sauropod Studio, an indie game developer based in Montreal, Canada. [3] The game was first announced in December 2011; around this time, Sauropod was a team of two people. [4] [5] Sauropod Studio was formally founded as a company on 24 April 2012 by François Alain ( general director), Germain Couet (artistic director), and Benoît Alain (lead programmer and chief technical officer). [6] A crowdfunding campaign was launched through the website Kickstarter on 27 July 2012, seeking US$80,000. [7] This goal was reached and exceeded within five hours of the campaign's launch. [7] [8] The campaign concluded after one month, with a total of $700,000 pledged. [9] Sauropod credited Markus Persson, the creator of the game Minecraft who publicly approved of the game, with leading the Kickstarter campaign to the success it had. [10] Beta versions of the game were later shared with backers who had pledged $15 or more. [9] Castle Story was made publicly available as a paid early access game through the digital distribution platform Steam on 23 September 2013. [11] The game was fully released on 17 August 2017 for Linux, macOS and Microsoft Windows, with Sauropod shifting to bugfixes and developing post-launch content. [12][ unreliable source?]
Following onto the release of Castle Story, Sauropod began production on a second game, Mirador. [3] This game had a troubled development, frequently shuffling the designer position. [3] A Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign seeking $60,000 did not manage to get funded halfway and Sauropod failed to find a publisher to finance the game. [3] Instead, the Canadian Media Fund invested $900,000. [3] As Mirador drew closer to release, it came to the studio's employees attention that the money the studio had would not suffice to keep it running until the end of 2019. [3] The game was eventually released on 26 July 2019 without prior early access availability. [3] The idea of using early access was considered but ultimately rejected as the studio did not plan to support the game greatly post-launch. [3] Sauropod's management assured its employees that the majority would move on to the studio's next project. [3] However, on 23 September 2019, it was reported that, due to the foregoing money mismanagement, Sauropod had laid off all of its 20 employees. [3] François Alain and Couet stated in October 2019 that Sauropod was still active, despite having laid off all staff. [13]