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Ghosthold devlog: building a kingdom from souls

A topic by MiszterSoul created 5 days ago Views: 638 Replies: 3
Viewing posts 1 to 3

Hi! I’m developing Ghosthold, a single-player side-scrolling kingdom builder where the fragments that keep you alive are also the currency you spend to awaken souls.

The settlement grows around one central fire. The challenge is deciding how much of yourself to spend on building before night brings enemies to the walls. The game is still in development for Windows and Linux.

I’ve just shared a short teaser showing the settlement, battles, weather and biomes, along with the first gameplay video.

Teaser:

Gameplay:

Project page: https://misztersoul.itch.io/ghosthold

(+1)

Spending your own soul fragments as the currency is a really neat twist, it makes every build feel like a small sacrifice instead of just a cost. One thing I noticed on your project page: the screenshots are lovely, but they mostly show the settlement at rest, so I couldn't see the spend-souls-or-survive-the-night tension that the post describes. A shot of a night fight, or the moment you choose between building and awakening someone, might sell the core idea faster. Did you pick the soul-as-currency mechanic first, or did it grow out of the fire-centered settlement?

Thanks for your question! :)

Using soul fragments as currency was actually the core mechanic from the beginning. The campfire and the settlement built around it came later.

I still need to work on the enemies to make them more challenging and powerful, so as you said, you'll really fear losing your souls.

The core gameplay, enemies, and other systems are already implemented, but they still need some polishing and balancing.

And yes, I want to make the decisions more emotionally meaningful, so players really have to think about whether to spend their souls on another building or awaken someone new. I'll think more about how to make those choices matter and share updates as I develop the mechanics further!

I've been working on the art lately, but I've just gotten back to gameplay optimizations. There's still a lot to finalize!

(+1)

Looks like you played a lot of Kingdowns games in the past. I like the look of it and am curious how this turns out.

This might become a very interestering game :)