Kingdom is a 2D sidescrolling strategy/ resource management hybrid with a minimalist feel wrapped in a modern pixel art aesthetic. Play the role of a king or queen atop their horse and enter a procedurally generated realm primed to sustain a kingdom, then toss gold to peasants and turn them into your loyal subjects in order to make your kingdom flourish. Protect your domain at night from the greedy creatures looking to steal your coins and crown, and explore the nearby, mysterious forests to discover curious and cryptic artifacts to aid your kingdom.
Kingdom was developed by the two-man team of Thomas van den Berg and Marco Bancale (noio and Licorice). Kingdom is an expanded, standalone version of a Flash game by noio. The game was renamed Kingdom: Classic after the announcement of Kingdom: New Lands. The expansion released August 2016 and addressed some of the repetitive aspects critics found on the game’s original release and added new lands to explore. Kingdom Two Crowns evolves the micro strategy game with a new cooperative play experience and a campaign mode.
This timeline is an oversimplification of the development process of Kingdom at most. Please also read the DevLog of Thomas van den Berg on Steam for much more precise information.
Flash (2012 – 2013)
06.2012
Beta
- visuals / sound
- no camera movement in spawn zone
- sound effect when coin drop or pick up
- gameplay
- monster cutscene
- no end, if the player is killed game has to be restarted
- sun moves in 4 steps (morning, midday, afternoon, night)
- no sprint, just walking
- tutorial like pointers on what to do
- money
- everything costs 1 coin
- no way to make money once it’s spent
- archers are stealing money
- monsters
- only one type of monster, dies after one shot with an arrow
- if a monster with coin dies the coin is being destroyed
- monster don’t kill not recruited humans
- npcs
- archers and farmers don’t drop coins
- no hammers (builders)
- farmers word as farmers and builders
- farms don’t have to be built
- other
- no menu
10.2013
- visuals / audio
- background music
- volume adjustment
- lots of small animations
- gameplay
- day number announcements on screen
- money
- coins can be picked up
- 2 coin drops per day form town hall
- coin sack flashes up when empty
- coin no longer destroyed when a monster that is holding it is killed
- npcs
- humans spawn randomly
- no animation when archers drop money
- other
- menu
- upgraded tutorial (controls)
- end screen comes up
- game can be restarted
Release
iOS (2013 – 2014)
12.2013
First Commit
05.2014
Last Commit
Unity (2014 – now)
06.2014
First Commit
07.2014
Basics Established
- suicide deer
- walking only
- 4 step day system
- can walk on an invisible collider
10.2014
Random World Generation
08.2015
- visuals / audio
- places where money can be spent will emit glow particles
- fog at night
- seasons change faster
- greed portals look different
- gameplay
- archer towers are built from small trees
- no vagrant camps, vagrants just spawn randomly
- no additional steed
- citizens will not run towards available tools
- reward chest spawns only after town-hall upgrade
- activated statues simply gains the tool (no blue fires)
- able to build stone upgrades without activating board
- money
- stone look-outs cost two coins instead of three
- first wall upgrade costs two coins instead of three
- vagrants don’t run after money
- scythes cost only 1 coin and are available on the first upgrade
- statues take smaller offerings (3 coins)
- chest is tinted red while spewing gold, then disappears
- other
- simpler menu
Gamescom
09.2015
EGX
11.2015
Beta/Steam V1.1.0
04.2016
Classic V1.2.0
- gameplay
- recruit vagrants
- upgrade your camp (camp/ town-hall/ castle)
- after the third upgrade, scythes become available
- to upgrade to stone, spend gold at the triangular signpost
- walls and out-looks have four upgrade tiers
- with the castle, buy shields to create knights
- knights carry gold which acts as health
- once all the portals are destroyed, the game is won.
- money
- spend a gold-piece to light the fire
- recruit two vagrants, one gold each
- spend two gold-pieces on a bow, three on a hammer
- spend a gold-piece to convert an earth-mound into a small wall
- spend gold to remove trees to expand your territory
- enemies
- on Blood Moons the Greed attack only from one side
- the night following a Blood Moon will be without a Greed wave
- spend gold at an outer wall to send knights on attacks
- after a portal is destroyed, a counter-attack is immediately launched
- the Greed will attack the player, causing them to drop gold
- if the player is attacked and they have no gold, their crown will fall
- other
- a black steed may be found which has greater stamina
08.2016
- adds five playable islands
- merchant no longer provides supplies, but gold
- adds the banker
- buildable teleporters
- not all upgrades are available on every island
- adds four base steeds with varying stamina amounts
- four special steeds (Great Stag, Warhorse, Bear, Unicorn)
- when portals are destroyed, the counterattack is delayed
- spending gold at the outer wall sends only one knight at a time