dailynewsnblog
In Becastled, we noticed a problem that emerged as players became more familiar with the game. They would find a strategy that worked on almost any level, and once they did, there was much less reason to use different buildings, units, or approaches.
When we started working on the Traits and Some Magic DLC, we wanted to change that.
That’s why one of the central additions in the DLC is a system of more than 40 traits. The goal isn’t simply to make you stronger. It’s to encourage you to build your strategy around the circumstances of each individual run.
One out of Three
Every few days and after a Blood Moon, you can choose one of three traits.
They are divided into three rarities: Common, Uncommon, and Rare. After a Blood Moon, the chance of seeing rarer options increases.
The simplest traits might provide a small economic boost or increase your unit’s health. But the ones we find most interesting offer a much stronger effect in exchange for a meaningful restriction.
Master of the Bow, for example, forces you to use only archers but significantly increases their damage.
Manifest Destiny reduces mood but allows you to acquire several upcoming zones for free.
Glass Cannon reduces your unit’s health while increasing their damage.
Then the combinations start to come into play. Glass Cannon can be combined with Blood Money and Master of the Bow to create archers capable of dealing huge amounts of damage.
Another run might go in a completely different direction. You could have incredibly powerful archers but no walls at all. Or your units might end up with so much health that they become extremely difficult to kill.
What’s important to us is that players respond to what they get instead of repeating the same strategy every time.
Why not Every Bonus is Purely a Bonus
We deliberately made some traits come with trade-offs.
If every choice only provides a positive effect, then all three options are essentially correct. We thought it would be much more interesting for the player to ask: Do I really want this powerful bonus if it also means accepting a serious restriction?
Is it worth spending resources on it right now? Can my existing strategy handle the new limitation? Will I have to rethink my army?
Those are the kinds of decisions that can create memorable runs. When an unusual combination of traits works, we want you to feel that it happened because of the choices you made, rather than because you simply collected a series of automatic upgrades.
We balanced the system through internal playtests and formulas in Google Sheets. With more than 40 traits, there are plenty of possible combinations, so we had to look not only at individual values but also at what happens when different effects start working together.
Mages: Lots of Damage, Little Room for Error
Traits and Some Magic also adds two new unit types: Mages and Clerics. Both can be recruited from the new Mage School.
From the beginning, Mages were designed around high risk and high potential impact. They’re easy to kill, but if used correctly, they can deal a huge amount of damage. Their area damage is especially useful against groups of enemies. A well-positioned Mage can take out many opponents in only a few attacks. The trade-off is their vulnerability. Walls can be a good place to position Mages, or they can stay behind other units where enemies have a harder time reaching them.
Clerics Can Help Keep your Army Alive
Clerics are fragile too, but instead of dealing damage, they provide healing.
One of the problems we wanted to address with Clerics was the constant loss of units, particularly during boss fights. Clerics give players a way to keep units alive longer and should be particularly useful for anyone trying to complete the game without losing a single unit.
I particularly like their synergy with Swordsmen. Together, they can form a very strong line of units, but that doesn’t make your army invulnerable. Enemy archers and certain other units can kill Clerics fairly quickly if you leave them exposed. So the new unit isn’t simply another option to add to your army. Its position on the battlefield becomes part of the decision.
How we Built More Than 40 Traits with a Small Team
One of the biggest constraints during the development of Traits and Some Magic was time, as well as the number of people working on the project. Some features we initially planned for the DLC had to be postponed.
That made it important for us to build the trait system in a way that didn’t require constant programmer involvement whenever we wanted to create new content.
As a result, designers can create new traits without developers having to implement each one. This saved us a significant amount of time and allowed the team to iterate on new options and test them more quickly during internal playtests.
We also experimented with another system, part of which still exists in the project. It allowed players to select modifiers before starting a game, with no limit on how many modifiers could be active.
Players could combine conditions to create almost impossible runs with numerous restrictions or, in the opposite direction, remove mechanics they didn’t want to use, such as mood or the unit limit.
We didn’t have time to complete this feature for the DLC, so it isn’t part of Traits and Some Magic. But the experiment reflects the direction we were thinking about during development: we wanted to give you more reasons to change the way you normally play.
Traits do that directly during a run. Sometimes they reinforce what you’re already doing. Sometimes they ask you to take a risk. And sometimes they can force you to abandon a strategy that previously seemed universal.
That’s exactly what we wanted them to do.
Traits and Some Magic is available now for Becastled. We can’t wait to see what strategies you come up with using the new traits, Mages, and Clerics.
Becastled
Pingle Studio
$24.99
Build a castle by day and defend it by night. Becastled combines cozy city-building with thrilling tower defense strategy. Lead the Sun Kingdom in its final stand against the Moon beasts and bring an end to the ancient conflict between light and darkness!
Rule over your own fantasy realm. Build a mighty keep, lay roads, gather resources, and grow a thriving settlement that will feed and shelter your people. Keep your subjects happy with taverns and decorations, and your economy strong with markets and workshops � all to support an army ready to fight at your command.
The countdown to war begins at dawn. There’s not a moment to waste. Raise walls, station archers on the battlements, and mount ballistas and trebuchets atop your towers. Shape the terrain to your advantage, crafting layered defenses to withstand any assault.
The siege horns blare at sunset. How long will your fortress endure the night?
BUILD A CASTLE BY DAY
Transform a humble village into a thriving medieval city. Build farms and markets to keep your people fed and prosperous, and secure a steady flow of wood and iron. Raise walls and watchtowers, fortify the gates, and prepare your defenses for the siege to come. Adorn the streets with decorations to lift morale before the night falls. Develop a fantasy bastion where life flourishes under the sun!
KEEP YOUR PEOPLE HAPPY
Satisfied subjects work harder and fight with greater courage. Sawmills may sour the air, but lively taverns lift every spirit. Strike the right balance between comfort and function to keep your kingdom strong through each long night.
DEFEND AGAINST A SIEGE AT NIGHT
As daylight fades, the Moon beasts grow bolder. They�ll strike with battering rams, siege towers, and raging dragons. Defy their might with layered walls and iron gates. Rain fire upon them with catapults and disciplined archers. Hold the line until dawn � no matter the cost.
TRAIN AN UNSTOPPABLE ARMY
Forge sturdy weapons and armor to ready your warriors for the siege. Advance from simple infantry to powerful siege engines � mount ballistas and trebuchets atop your towers. Archers, swordsmen, and pikemen will fight to their last breath if trained and equipped well. But if the walls fall, every villager must rise to defend their home.
SHAPE THE LAND TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
Hills, rivers, and forests are your natural defenses. Choose your keep�s location wisely � it can set you on the path to an unbreakable stronghold. But be aware, as seasons change, these allies can betray you. A river may serve as a moat in summer, only to freeze in winter and become a bridge for your enemies. Each season brings unique weather effects that affect both defense and production. To survive the winter, you�ll need to stockpile enough supplies while the sun still shines.
BUILD, DEFEND, EXPAND, REPEAT
A thriving economy powers a stronger army. Expand your domain, claim new lands, and mine precious Sunstone to build and protect your people. But beware � stretch your borders too thin, and you�ll leave your realm exposed.
As your settlement grows, you will push back the forces of the night. But will you have the strength to end the ancient war between the Sunfolk and the creatures of the Moon?
