Firefly Studios

Stronghold Crusader 2

By in Firefly News, Stronghold Crusader 2 Comments Off on Stronghold & Chill – Game Design

Stronghold & Chill – Game Design

Stronghold & Chill’ returns this week as Aaron from Firefly introduces a new member of the team in the form of Game Designer and occasional programmer Stephen! Our series of informal developer interviews introduces you to the people behind your favourite castle-building series, taking you behind the scenes at Firefly Studios’ London office. From Lead Designer Simon Bradbury and Producer Paul all the way through to our Junior Programmers and Senior Artists watch as we play a little Stronghold and discuss the making of the original castle sim.

In today’s episode Aaron asks Stephen how he managed to enter the games industry as a designer, his favourite memory working on the series and even tries to tease out a little Stronghold Next info! See what you can gleam from his response and enjoy another episode introducing a new team member to our growing YouTube community!

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Stronghold & Chill – UI Design

This week we premiere a brand new series! ‘Stronghold & Chill’ is a rebranding of our ‘Meet The Team’ series from earlier this year, designed to introduce you properly to the people behind the games. These long-form developer interviews focus on the designers, artists, coders and everyone else who works hard to bring your favourite castle building series to life. From Lead Designers and Producers to QA and even our evil marketing people, over the course of the next year we’ll be getting under the skin of the Stronghold creators discussing their personal experiences at Firefly and of course favourite things about the original castle sim! Continue reading

By in Stronghold 2, Stronghold Crusader 2, Stronghold Crusader HD, Stronghold HD, Stronghold Legends Comments Off on Top 5 Custom Maps

Top 5 Custom Maps

This week Aaron guides you through another edition of Firefly Studio’s favourite Stronghold user made maps! We travel from the sandy beaches of Crusader 2’s Westeros to Avatar’s Earth Kingdom in Stronghold 2: Steam Edition, leaving a trail of sieges and battles in our wake. Treading new paths in some hidden jewels from the Steam Workshop, these are some of the best maps that Firefly recommends for all those who have battled through every title of the Stronghold series:

1. Legend of Green Man
2. Oasis Duel
3. Earth Kingdom, Avatar
4. Fair Trade
5. Westeros Central

By in Firefly News, Space Colony, Stronghold 2, Stronghold Crusader 2, Stronghold Legends Comments Off on Top 7 Custom Maps

Top 7 Custom Maps

Have YOU already beaten Stronghold Crusader 2 or one of the new and improved Steam Editions of Stronghold 2, Stronghold Legends and Space Colony? Are YOU sitting there right now thinking “I know and love these games. If only I had a few extra maps to try out!” while staring at the wall waiting for Stronghold Next to come out? Well it’s safe to say that with this week’s video your prayers have been answered.

Today Nick runs us through seven of our favourite custom maps currently available to download and play in seconds on Steam Workshop, assuming you’re not still running a 56k modem and waiting for your parents to get off the phone line… We picked seven of the best Stronghold community maps from the Workshop pages for our games, even throwing in an enjoyable Space Colony scenario for you Stig fans out there!

Credits to Sir Gareth the Ganjagrinder, Sebastien Le Hardi, acv55555, -V-, MooSSiah, Amir P, Impaa and Spinnx!

By in Firefly News, Stronghold Crusader 2, Stronghold HD Comments Off on Stronghold Tournament (In a Castle!)

Stronghold Tournament (In a Castle!)

Last month we journeyed to Trifels in southern Germany, a reconstructed medieval castle near the small town of Annweiler. Why? For a Stronghold tournament of course! 36 of Germany’s finest went head-to-head playing Stronghold HD and Stronghold Crusader 2 both against the AI and competitively to decide once and for all who is the greatest lord! Our very own German Community Manager Pascal takes us on a journey up to an elevation of 1,600 ft. His travels take us to this impressive medieval citadel and through the tournament itself, while also explaining a little of the history behind Trifels. The significance of this place for Stronghold and in particular the Crusader series is something special, making it the perfect site for digital siege warfare. Continue reading

By in Firefly News, Stronghold 2, Stronghold Crusader 2, Stronghold Crusader HD, Stronghold HD, Stronghold Legends Comments Off on Top 5 Community Strongholds

Top 5 Community Strongholds

To celebrate the recent release of Stronghold 2: Steam Edition and the game’s new Steam Workshop support we have picked our top five community strongholds! From impenetrable designs and castles plucked from the pages of your favourite fantasy novel to faithful recreations of historic castles and entire cities, the Stronghold community does not disappoint.

For 15 years maps, castles and landscapes have been created in our various map editors that we never thought possible. Players have created entire functioning cities, faithfully recreated battlefields from Game of Thrones, challenged fellow players with near perfect defences and more. Here we collect our picks for the most varied designs, all of which still technically fall into the category of ‘castle’!

Credits to Xetas, SUBINDXSUBIN, Cra, TheLoudOne and SergiuHellDragoonHQ! Continue reading

By in Stronghold Crusader 2 Comments Off on Humble Jumbo Bundle 7

Humble Jumbo Bundle 7

Pay what you want or beat the average and get more than seven awesome titles in the latest Humble Bundle!

Firefly have joined forces with our friends at Humble to bring you Stronghold Crusader 2 (and many other excellent games) at their lowest ever price! It’s completely up to you how much you pay and where your money goes. You can send it all to the hard working developers, awesome charities or all-around great human beings at Humble as a tip for their great work. The important thing here is that YOU can get CHEAP VIDEOGAMES.

The Bundle ends in two weeks. So don’t miss out!

By in Stronghold Crusader 2 Comments Off on Steam Free Weekend

Steam Free Weekend

The full Stronghold Crusader 2 base game is currently FREE to download and play this weekend on Steam and the game is also 80% off until Monday. Every player with a Steam account now has access to the single player campaigns, multiplayer and all secondary modes such as free build! Continue reading

By in Stronghold Crusader 2 Comments Off on New DLC, Maps & Optimisations

New DLC, Maps & Optimisations

Due to popular demand we have released the Delivering Justice and Freedom Fighters mini-campaigns on Steam! Formerly a pre-order exclusive and made available later as part of the game’s Ultimate Edition, we have released these mini-DLCs so that all players can complete their Stronghold Crusader 2 collection. Achievement hunters, completionists and Stronghold veterans can now pick up each DLC for $0.99, £0.99 or €0.99. Continue reading

By in Stronghold Crusader 2 Comments Off on Out Now on GOG

Out Now on GOG

Don’t like DRM? Good news! Firefly have partnered with GOG to release Stronghold Crusader 2 DRM-free, with added support for the online gaming platform GOG Galaxy allowing you to enjoy multiplayer with friends. Today the game finally releases DRM-free on GOG with a new trailer, as well as promotional discounts of 66% off the base game and 50% off all DLC for the next five days.

Continue reading