King Of The Castle News

That’s right! King of the Castle is OUT NOW on Steam. It’s been a long road, and we can’t wait for you to see what we’ve added in this, our biggest update EVER, on launch day! This update includes Dynasty Events, new Laws, new customizations, Twitch Drop exclusive outfits, and more!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The latest update, named “Lomadiah” after the streamer who’s been with us from the very beginning of development, adds a King’s ransom of new content and features. See for yourself:

[h2]King of the Castle v1.0 “Lomadiah” includes[/h2]

[h3]A new kind of story - Dynasty Events![/h3]

• Now your decisions in one reign can have consequences for the next, creating an ongoing story of an evolving Kingdom!
  
• Including Scheme reactivity! Did the Chiefs bring about Ragnarok? Did the Barons blow up the Palace? Now your next Monarch will have to deal with the aftermath…
  
• New inventions, such as the Guillotine, the Printing Press and even the Sandwich, will change the fabric of your Kingdom forever.
  

[h3]New Laws of the Land[/h3]

• Three new Laws of the Land have been added to the game, adding new ways for Monarchs to subvert the democratic process.
  
• Royal Gamble - Feeling lucky? Wager a hefty chunk of your Treasury on one choice passing.
  
• Call for Unity - Gain Stability if your Nobles vote as a majority on one option.
  
• Stop the Count - Speed up the timer and auto-close the voting, to really galvanize your Nobles.
  

[h3]New customizations![/h3]

• For release we’re adding 72 new outfits for the Monarchs and across all Regions!
  
• Capes, harps, skulls, scepters, giant axes, fancy dresses and more - exclusive for players who purchase King of the Castle!
  
• A further 25 outfits have been added to the random generation pool for non-premium Nobles.
  

[h3]Twitch Drop exclusives[/h3]

• A further exclusive 12 outfits have been added, which can be exclusively acquired through Twitch Drops!
  
• Watch King of the Castle on Twitch to receive drops of special outfits. You can unlock Twitch drops even if you don't open a copy of King of the Castle.
  
• The first two, released today, are for the Golden Armour outfits for the Monarch! We'll be releasing more in the coming weeks.
  

[h3]New ‘Whims of Wizards’ Event chains[/h3]

• Discover more about Celest Ath’s most mysterious denizens, the wizards, with our new ‘Whims of Wizards’ content drop!
  
• Featuring two BUMPER-LENGTH new event chains, ‘New Apprentices’ and ‘Creepy Trees.’
  
• Find out what happens when wizards’ ambitions clash with the decrees of the Monarch.
  

[h3]Quality of life tweaks[/h3]

• A new ‘Randomize’ button has been added to the customization screen to allow you to quickly cycle through outfit variations!
  
• A visual overhaul of kotc.app ready for launch
  
• A new UI element has been added so that Monarchs can more easily track their own Ambitions.
  
• A search bar has been added to the Noble List, so Monarchs of large games can find individual Nobles much more quickly.
  
• The arrests and executions of Nobles are now displayed in-game.
  
• Event generation now prioritizes regions that haven’t had events in game yet, ensuring a more even spread of stories across all regions in-game.
  
• Voting and Laws of the Land UI has been improved, with active Laws displayed in Votes.
  

We’ve added the following content to the game:

• A total of 71 new Events - including 23 new solo Events, 2 new Event chains all about WIZARDS, and 5 Dynasty chains.
  
• New Dynasty Event Chains - The Printing Press, The Guillotine, New Baby, Vanity Project, and The Monk’s Book.
  
• Scheme Reactivity Events - deal with the aftermaths of Ragnarok, Prophecy, Hornblower, Propaganda, Gunpowder, Fervour, Monopoly and Blood Ritual.
  
• New Solo Events: Rogue Golem, Deer Park, Thieves’ Guild, Shark Beach, Meteor Strike, The Stone Maiden, Restless Dead, Escaped Experiment, Prison Labour, Swords into Ploughshares, Wreck in Contested Waters, Misdeed Mixup, Fireside Chats, Embarrassment, Arms Shortage, and A Tasty Innovation.
  
• Monarchs can now marry Oreid, the mysterious captain from Kirth!
  

The following polish changes and features have been added to the game:

• New NPCs - Brzzkt the Wizard, updated Northern Warrior, updated Foreign Mercenary
  
• Improvements to how the Regions are described in the Game Setup page
  
• Chain Events (i.e. Stories that run on from one another) now have a Season break between to allow for better pacing and more non-chain Events to generate
  
• Building Auctions now take into account Region’s Schemes
  
• The Options menu can be accessed from the Pause menu in game
  
• Vsync options for the game (find these in the Options menu)
  
• Vote and building timers pause when the Pause menu is open
  
• Map can now zoom when hovering over banners and only zooms when scrolling on screen
  
• Visual improvements to the map, updating shader and introducing clouds
  
• New UI animations for items in the Customization screen
  
• Customizations now move up when there’s no colour options to better see all customizations
  
• Improved shield visuals in both Customization and in-game
  
• New background and sizes for the voting screen to improve contrast and readability
  
• New region specific premium nameplates for premium Nobles
  
• Improvements to the premium nameplate animations
  
• Kingdom now has a banner displayed inside of stat changes
  
• UI animations for stat changes, choices and within voting
  
• Button styling update for the Overview
  
• Steam rich presence that displays Monarch name and number of Nobles
  
• Twitch Extension updated visually and include regnal numbers
  
• 14 new achievements
  
• Upping the minimum treasury for starting a new Dynasty Game to 1500
  
• Updates to and new tutorials throughout the game based on feedback from our players
  
• A host of balance tweaks to Events and Schemes throughout the game
  

And we’ve resolved the following bugs:

• Issue with reconnecting to games in kotc.app have been resolved
  
• Issues with votes reappearing in kotc.app have been resolved
  
• Optimisations for games with 3k+ Nobles to reduce hanging on voting and successor voting screens
  
• Bugfixes for overlapping region textures, leading to Regions displaying incorrect colours
  
• Bugfixes for failed customisation loads, leading to ‘blank’ shields
  
• Fixes for framerate issues
  
• 100% challenges now correctly sized
  
• Default challenges fixed, stopping bugs with certain challenge results
  
• Correct track plays at the end of the game
  
• Overflow fixes for names in the Continue screen and Noble Join screen
  
• Join code overflow fixed
  
• Ordering of Regions in UI fixed
  
• New mask crown with cowl customisation to stop clipping objects
  

Wow - that’s a BIG update, and we’d like to thank our wonderful community for making it possible. It’s been a long road to 1.0, and we’re so excited to see the game out there in the world!

Tell your friends! Hit your socials! This is a game that can be played by 4 people or 4000, and we’re relying on YOUR word of mouth to help us build this community to its true potential.

But first… Buy the game, play it with your gaming group, and if you have any feedback - or are looking to get a game going - join the Discord below! May the Ninth’s blessings be with you all!

At first glance, King Of The Castle might look similar to other medieval political sims; something like Reigns or Yes, Your Grace, where you ascend the throne, rule a kingdom, and make decisions that will impact your gold reserves, military strength, or alliances. That political manoeuvring is intact in King Of The Castle, but this time up to 24 of your friends (or thousands of Twitch viewers) can join your campaign, hopping into the shoes of nobles from various regions. All of them have different goals, all of them can vote on certain decisions, and all of them have the potential to support or backstab the all-powerful monarch: you.

Read more

Not long now - King of the Castle is out TOMORROW! Have you wishlisted yet?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839880/King_Of_The_Castle/

Later in today’s update, we’re going to talk about the different religions of your Kingdom. But first of all, I’m aware that we’re getting a bunch of new eyeballs on this page this week, so I wanted to go through exactly how this game is played.

In King of the Castle, one player is the Monarch and multiple other players form their council of Nobles.

Monarchs host Party Games for 3-24 Nobles who join on browsers for free, or use Twitch Mode, where an unlimited number of followers play as Nobles directly in chat.





King of the Castle is a multiplayer game, first and foremost. It can be played by 4 to 4000 people (though realistically, there's no upper limit!).

If you want to play a game - with your D&D group, board game club, friend circle or local chapter of monks - it literally couldn’t be easier.

Only one person - the Monarch - needs to actually own the game. Everyone else can join FOR FREE via browser (so make sure there’s Wi-Fi in the monastery) at kotc.app and needs to be able to see the Monarch’s screen.

We’ve found that Discord is perfect for this, but any video call software should work! We have our very own Discord where you can use the looking-for-game channel and type @looking for game ping to find others to play with. Come join us here:



Alternatively, you can jump on Twitch and find someone streaming the game. If you own the game, you can join with your unique customised character, who will be more likely to star in ongoing storylines!

Now we’ve gone over the basics, let’s dive deeper into the lore of the Kingdom. Have you heard the good word… The word about the Ninth?



This time, we’re talking about the different religions of Celest Ath!

[h2]i. The Ninth God[/h2]

The majority religion within the Kingdom is semi-monotheistic and worships the Ninth God. Their doctrine teaches that once upon a time, there were eight gods, who created a flawed world full of sinful people. Then the Ninth God willed Himself into existence and banished or destroyed the other eight, punishing them for the faults in their creation.



Now the Ninth God is striving to fix the mistakes of His predecessors, and it is only through worship that we can persuade Him not to destroy us all and start again. Those who worship Him and live a good life will be taken to the Thereafter - the world He will make after ours is destroyed, which will finally be perfect. Non-believers face oblivion, while especially evil souls will be condemned to join the other gods in one of the Seven Hells.

It is orthodoxy that the Hells are ruled by the Seventh God, who the Ninth merely banished rather than destroyed, and are populated by demons and devils who serve as the Seventh’s servants. These servile demons are believed to be fragments of the Fifth God, sprouting from cinders after the Fifth was burned.

Though the Monarch does not lead the Church of the Ninth, they are considered to have a divine right to rule, deriving their earthly power from the Ninth God Himself.

The Church of the Ninth is led by an Archbishop, who resides in the Capital City, within St. Bertrand’s Cathedral. Functionally the Archbishop’s role is similar to that of a Pope - he is considered to be a vessel for the will of the Ninth, and is hugely powerful in his own way.

The Church of the Ninth also maintains an active Inquisition, which actively roots out heresy and ‘devil-worship.’ It is led by a High Inquisitor, who is subordinate within the Church only to the Archbishop himself. The Inquisitors love to burn people alive for witchcraft or heresy, and they are (reputably) impossible to bribe. As a result, even Nobles live in fear of attracting the Inquisitors’ attention - especially the Counts of the East, who have one or two things to hide.

[h2]ii. The Old Gods of the North[/h2]

The North is considered a ‘pagan’ country - they don’t deny the existence of the Ninth, only His suitability for worship. Instead, they worship a pantheon of dozens of squabbling ‘old gods’. A priest of the Northern religion is known as a ‘godspeaker’.



The Church is engaged in a perpetual campaign to introduce Ninthism to the North, sending legions of missionaries to the furthest reaches and highest mountains. Most of them end up hanging from a tree or inside a winter wolf’s stomach, but they have been having some gradual success, and more and more Northerners have begun converting thanks to the Church’s efforts. This is a great worry to the Chiefs, who have kept Ninthism at bay for centuries and sacrificed a lot to secure special protections for their faith in the laws of the Kingdom.

The foremost deity among Northerners is Morgana, the Witch of Three, the Mother of Mountains, the Ageless Crone. She appears in the form of an old woman, a young maiden, or a mother with baby, or sometimes all at once. She also often appears in the form of an owl, a raven, or a goose.

There are dozens of other gods, most notably:

• Valtor, the Lord of Battle, the Twice-Killed, the Flayer of Stars.
  
• Knelquiss, the Trickster King, the Dancer-in-the-Flame, the Oathbreaker.
  
• Odheld, the Drunken Vessel, the Honey-blooded Prince, the Hornblower.
  
• Chalith, the Harvester, the Flesh-Feaster, the Lady of Red Banquets.
  
• Grahala, the Forged Maiden, the Iron Exile, the Smithqueen.
  
• Skurinorn, the Locked Casket, the Poison Augur, the Guardian of Runes.
  

[h2]iii. The Deposed Gods[/h2]

The Deposed Gods are the Eight Gods who were defeated by the Ninth in a terrible war after He willed Himself into existence to save the world from its creators. This moment was known as the Ninth’s Triumph.

Worshippers of the Ninth refer to the period of the Eight Gods’ hegemony as the Cursed Age. The game’s calendar starts at 948 - the Kingdom is counting from year 0, where the Cursed Age ended and the Ninth God was finally victorious.



The official teachings of the Ninth Church is that the Eight were each defeated in different ways:

• The First vanished upon the Ninth’s arrival, and was never seen again;
  
• The Second was exiled after most of his power was stolen by the Ninth, and now wanders the world as a sad and powerless creature;
  
• The Third was drowned in the darkest depths of the ocean, where her ghost still lingers;
  
• The Fourth was eaten by the Ninth and the Sixth in a grand banquet;
  
• The Fifth was burned to ash, which scattered across the world, causing demons to spring from the land which flocked to serve the Seventh;
  
• The Sixth who had thought herself allied with the Ninth in his war, helped him devour the Fourth - but the Ninth fed her a poisoned seed, causing flowers to blossom within her and kill her;
  
• The Seventh was banished to the Hells, along with all his demonic followers, where he still plots the Ninth’s downfall to this day;
  
• The Eighth was torn into eight pieces and buried deep beneath the earth.
  

Common folk remember the fates of the Eight with an old schoolyard rhyme -

“Eight dark Gods, lords of hellfire,
Three would live and five expire;
The First, the coward, fled and vanished,
The Seventh, the rebel, beaten and banished;
The Second wanders, now depowered;
The Third was drowned, the Fourth devoured;
The Fifth burned while the Sixth bloomed;
And the Eighth, asunder, lies entombed.”

[h2]iv. Ashmedean Religion[/h2]

The Ashmedeans worship Kaldovaga, the Machine God, the Negligent One, the Worldsmith, who built the world from spare parts lying around his workshop, then put it on a high shelf and forgot about it.

They believe that the world is slowly falling apart, and Kaldovaga will only repair it if humanity worships him in a great enough quantity to attract His attention once again. In Ashmedean society, all priests double as blacksmiths and engineers, and the building of bridges or forging of swords is as much a holy ritual as it is a craft.

The Ashmedean Empire makes frequent use of golems, constructs built of clay or iron which can tirelessly perform simple tasks, manual labour, or combat. Golems are built in church-factories by priests of Kaldovaga.



Now that you're feeling suitably spiritually nourished, it's time to talk about one last feature we're introducing in v1.0: The new Voting Screen!



We've had some great feedback about readability in this screen. The text was simply too small, especially when watching someone else's screen!

This new update aims to solve this; Firstly, the Vote Setup screen now spaces out votes properly and widens them, increasing text size, and our Laws have been redesigned to better show off all the options at your disposal.



Votes themselves have a new lighter, higher contrast background, and also display any active Laws set by the Monarch, This will help unsuspecting victims of Laws like Reverse Voting or the new Call For Unity not get caught out.



We hope you're excited for this and the other features we've been previewing in our previous blog posts. Read this one for the most exciting new additions we've added in the past month or two!

Tomorrow we're finally out, and with it will come a Launch Day blog post to remember - Packed to the gills with new features, bugfixes and Events.

If you're interested in hopping on a game to check out KOTC, why not watch some of our launch day streams? See our schedule over the next few days below:



See you tomorrow for your coronation...

The time for your coronation is nigh - We have six days until King of the Castle comes out on Steam!

So what do you get for $4.99? A lot of game! Read on to find out...

But first, if you haven't wishlisted King of the Castle yet, please do. That way you'll be the first to find out when we release.

You're also giving us a full suit of plate armour with which we can wage mortal combat with the deadly Steam algorithm. Metaphorically.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839880/King_Of_The_Castle

Thank you! Right, let's get down to brass tacks. What's inside your Kingdom?

[h2]King of the Castle Launch Stats[/h2]



And that's mentioning less than 30% of the new features, changes and fixes we're adding for our very special 1.0 version!

But more on them later, because it's time for another dip into the lore of our game...

[h2]World Geography[/h2]


[h3]The Kingdom[/h3]

The main focus of every player’s game is the Kingdom, which has no specific name. The Kingdom changes from playthrough to playthrough, and will consist of 3 different regions selected at game start. Over the course of the game, the Kingdom will change to reflect the player’s decisions, and the Kingdom can entirely transform over the course of a player’s Dynasty.

The Kingdom can be considered equivalent in size to both France and Germany slammed together - ~1,000,000 square km or ~600,000 square miles. It’s bigger than Texas but much smaller than the entire United States.

The Kingdom and the Frozen Wastes occupy the continent known as North Ithos. The Ashmedean Empire, Tavallin and (further south) the Endless Plains occupy the continent of South Ithos. Across the Ghost Sea lies the continent of Elrusia.

The Kingdom is very cold in the North and the East, much warmer in the South, and temperate everywhere else.


[h3]Bordering Nations[/h3]

To the north, the Kingdom borders an expansive territory of uninhabitable ice and tundra, known as the Frozen Wastes. The Wastes are notoriously dangerous - they are populated with barbarian tribes, ice giants, winter wolves, polar bears, and wyverns. The most likely thing to kill you, though, is the brutal weather.

To the south-west, the Kingdom borders the Ashmedean Empire, a vast, powerful and ancient Empire that views the Kingdom as an irritating upstart in world affairs. Nine hundred years ago, starting from the central city-state of Ashmede, the Empire expanded outwards and conquered several much larger countries, seeming unstoppable. A mountain range known as the Daggertops forms a natural border between the Empire and the Kingdom, preventing the Kingdom from being conquered in similar fashion.

The current Emperor Shemorath II is weak, cruel and irrational. As a result the Empire has largely fallen under control of a few powerful Generals. Nowadays, the Empire is a decaying relic of its former glory, more concerned with endless internal squabbling than conquering others… although it’s still terrifyingly powerful when roused to anger.

Nevertheless, the Ashmedeans remember the days when they could have conquered the world, and maintain a proud military tradition (even if the army these days is corrupt and despised by the commonfolk). They will always be a threat to the Kingdom - if a stronger Emperor ever ascends to the throne and turns his eye north, the resultant war could be devastating.

Also to the south-east, the Kingdom borders Tavallin, a new kingdom that only reclaimed its independence from the Ashmedean Empire a half-century ago. Tavallin, lacking the military might of its neighbours and constantly fearing invasion, relies on spies and intrigue to get ahead. The Tavallinese despise the Ashmedeans, and the feeling is mutual - but the Tavallinese also fear the Kingdom, and their spies permeate every Region, constantly rooting out secrets that can be turned to Tavallin’s advantage.


[h3]Across the Sea[/h3]

Across the Ghost Sea from the Kingdom is the vast continent of Elrusia, bigger than South Ithos and North Ithos put together. The majority of Elrusia is taken up by the wild, untamed lands of Valamyr and the great deserts of Aatesh.

However, a number of smaller, more urbanised nations cluster on the eastern coastline of Elrusia, trading (and warring) with the Kingdom. These include the Republic of Kirth, a technologically-advanced republic that boasts plentiful gunpowder and despises Monarchs; Danea, a tiny and insignificant city-state with a democratic government; and several others.

Just off the eastern coast of Elrusia lies the Isle of Saal, a cheerfully lawless island about the size of Iceland, with a mostly-deserved reputation as a haven for pirates and brigands of all kinds.

Far to the east from the Kingdom is an even larger and more mysterious continent, known as the Vastness of Chur. The ocean that separates it from the Kingdom is known as the Eastern Sea.

[h3]1.0 Feature Reveal - Improved Event Generation![/h3]



That list above is far from everything we're adding to King of the Castle for launch!

We'll be revealing more on March 2nd but there's one change we couldn't wait to share: Our New Event Generation System!

It might not seem as exciting something like Events that carry over multiple Dynasties, new Laws of the Land, a ton of new content, or a heap of new outfits... But we just happen to already be going all that anyway!.

What these changes have done is has fundamentally altered the way King of the Castle feels compared to our previous builds, and solidly for the better.

Here's what's happening in 1.0 with this new system:

• Events have more variety - by introducing a system that spaces our 'Event Chains' (Events that directly related to one another), a greater variety of Events can be generated in a game. In testing this has dramatically reduced the number of repeated Events and increased the chance of seeing rarer Events, including those related to Schemes or Ambitions; A double win.
  
• Events are more evenly spread - If your Region doesn't get an Event generated in a Season, the game increases the likelihood of that happening next Season. This was a tough one to balance, but has now lead to even more variety in stories and an equal look-in for all Regions.
  
• Events have even more reactivity - A huge number of new 'Misdeeds' have been painstakingly added to the game. These track choices across multiple stories, making games even more reactive to your decisions and your Noble's votes.
  
• Events react to past Events - Special Events and vote options now show up in a Dynasty Games that are determined by how the last game ended. This has helped make Dynasty Games feel more responsive to past choices, especially with the Dynasty Event system we're introducing.
  
• The game is even more balanced - Testing, analytics and watching a lot of streams have given us some great insights into the game's balance. 1.0 has had a major re-balance of a number of Events and Schemes to give a better feel to the game. Games are tighter, less predictable and have less Regions left behind by low performing Schemes.
  
• A ton of new Events! - We added new Events throughout the game. Some are new Dynasty Events, others full Chain Events (like the Whims of Wizards Event Chains) and a host of standard, one-off Events. Some of these are targeted at resolving balance issues, but are chiefly there to add narrative flavour, variety and interesting scenarios to navigate!
  

We'll be sharing more updates on 1.0 on our Discord, including showing off the brand new customisations for Regions and exclusive Twitch Drop outfits. See you there!

Here ye, here ye! 🎺

We have a regal giveaway ready for our loyal subjects to enter right now!

Up for grabs for one very lucky winner will be a limited edition King of the Castle goody box, filled with all the things a true monarch would need to bring their kingdom to a Golden Age!

[h2]Enter the Giveaway here![/h2]

Good luck to all of you who enter! Make sure you wishlist the game too as part of the giveaway! We recently announced our price point of $4.99, a pauper’s pittance when compared with the 870,000 total words in the game.



Can we also take the moment to remind you that you’ve got just 1 week before King of the Castle is out!






To stay up to date with King of the Castle, wishlist the game on Steam, like it on Facebook, follow on Twitter, and join the Community Discord

[h3]Wishlist King Of The Castle now![/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839880/King_Of_The_Castle/