This week we’re back with another episode of the ‘Inspirations Behind Stronghold‘, delving into the medieval history behind some of the world’s most famous castles and how they inspired the Stronghold series. We travel from Scotland to Spain visiting commanding keeps and majestic castles as we go, showing how the likes of the Tower of London and Wartburg were translated to our final in-game challenges. Then we dive into Stronghold 2: Steam Edition to see exactly how these real world fortresses helped inform our own designs and intricate A.I defenses.

From Stronghold HD to Stronghold Next this YouTube exclusive episode of our Community Spotlight series brings with it another testing community map, that Game of Thrones x Stronghold Kingdoms crossover you’ve all been waiting for and a look at one of the best strategy YouTubers around, Lionheartx10!

We also answer a boatload of fan questions from whether Stronghold Next will feature naval combat to what games our developers play in the studio. Want to be featured in a future episode? Then make sure you head over the the Stronghold Facebook Group and submit your question there!

• CREATOR – lionheartx10
• VIDEO – ‘Stronghold Kingdoms‘ by Adrianonline1
• MAP – ‘Ciervo’s Island Siege‘ by Ciervo

Once again thanks to the Stronghold community on YouTube, Facebook and elsewhere for making such awesome maps, music and videos. We are huge fans of your work at the studio and remember as long as you keep making it, we’ll keep ‘spotlighting’ it!

This week on ‘Stronghold & Chill’ we interview resident 3D Artist Andreas Lostromos about his work on Stronghold Next, Stronghold Crusader 2 and MetaMorph: Dungeon Creatures. Learn more about the different aspects of 3D animation, modelling and art that make up the overall visual style of our medieval castle series, as well as how to become one in the first place! Whether you’re aiming to learn what music Firefly devs listen to while creating our titles or simply looking for some career advice, ‘Stronghold & Chill’ has you covered. This ongoing series bring the developers at Firefly and its community closer together, so make sure you’re subscribed to us on YouTube to catch each new episode!

Stronghold’s characters have always been a mainstay in the castle sim series and one of our most beloved aspects of the games. Whether it’s The Rat, Pig, Snake or Wolf, you know your Stronghold session is bound to be full of boisterous personalities and over the top dialogue. So have you ever wondered how these individuals were conjured into the virtual worlds of our medieval RTS games? Or why?! Then let Aaron take you on a game dev adventure giving context to the figurative medieval children of Firefly co-founders Simon Bradbury and Eric Ouellette!

Looking for new info on Stronghold Next? Maybe an excellent Crusader 2 skirmish map? What about a heavy metal remix of one of the classic jams from the Stronghold soundtrack? Well have we got good news for you, all that and more in this brand new YouTube-exclusive episode of the ‘Community Spotlight’!

• MAP – ‘Volcanic Island‘ by BiturExpress
• VIDEO – ‘Stronghold Goes Metal – Castle Jam Cover‘ by Aneurysm
• CREATOR – GamerZakh

As always we highlight some gems from you guys in the Stronghold community whilst answering some lingering questions about all our titles, from the ‘OG’s of the series all the way to our newest chapter: Stronghold Next. If you would like to feature in an upcoming episode make sure you click the link below to sign up to the Official Stronghold Facebook Group where we will ask for submissions!