In the first part I ended with a list: heavier waves with something to react to in every wave, a boss that feels like a boss, and less that only works in Ravensklif. This is what we built in the week after, up to our co-op session on Sunday 11 October, and what we thought of it.
Twelve waves, each with its own trouble
Ravensklif went from twenty waves to twelve, and every wave now brings one thing to react to: saboteurs, war drums on the hill, scaling ladders, the first flyers, a battering ram, a shaman's banner, orcs that hunt the heroes, a flight of dragons, a storm, and finally Grukhar himself. New routes open along the way: the Blackfen marsh from wave 3, the Forest Trail from wave 8. Night falls in wave 5.
These events are no longer built into Ravensklif alone. Every map can now use them, which was one of the promises from part 1.
A front that may fall
The horde used to walk straight up to the castle walls. Now the bridges and the ford each have a wooden gate with a watchtower: a first line on the far side of the river. It can fall, and when it does you fall back to the walls. In front of the line lies a forefield where the Builder gets free wood for a maze, as long as the way to the gate stays open.
Enemies you learn to read
Every enemy type now has its own fixed health, so you learn what a goblin or a shieldbearer can take. From wave 5 in co-op the orcs come as elites, bigger and tougher, with red eyes. And then there are the Irontooth Captains. Near a captain the horde hits your walls harder, his war cry throws heroes back, and when he falls his group falters and he leaves a war chest with gold, a runestone and cards for the hero who opens it.
The towers grow with you
My own corner changed a lot too. Ballistas and mortars now have ten levels. At level 4 you choose a form, such as rapid fire, a heavy bolt or a long bow. At level 7 you lay a rune over it: iron, fire or ice. Runestones from the war chests buy new forms and runes in the Rune Forge.
A night you can see in
Night falls in wave 5, and our first night was simply too dark to play in. We moved the moon and gave the field more light. On the evening after the session the sky got a second pass: black, with stars and a bright moon, while the field stays almost as light as the evening.
Sunday: was it fun?
On Sunday we played Ravensklif with three players, each on their own PC, from wave 1 to wave 12. We built the game ourselves, so we are biased. Still, afterwards I wrote down: "The variety of special units was good, the goblins were fun."
Plenty was not fun yet:
- We ignored the drummers.
- The shamans planted their banner at the spawn and stayed there.
- Minibosses died before we even noticed them.
- The flyers never attacked the Keep, so wave 4 hung on "5 enemies left".
- With four ways in, the heroes did not know where to stand.
The flyers and the dark night were fixed that same evening. The rest became the plan for this week.
What's next
After the session we decided on one front per wave with signal fires, ranks you can tell apart at a glance, drummers and shamans you cannot ignore, a real assassin among the goblins, and Grukhar as an end boss with moves you have to dodge. More about that next time.
How we make this
Screenshots come from development builds, and everything shown is still being tuned. We use AI in several places: for code, for concept art and some 3D models (which we rig and animate ourselves), and for voices and sound. This post was drafted with AI help and checked against our own notes.
About me
I'm Tim, one of the three developers at Three Crown Interactive. I've been playing games for 35 years, from the Nintendo to the PS5, though the PC has always been my favourite. In my working life I often built things on the side, to improve processes or produce reports. Now I get to use that in a completely different way. On The Last Bastion I work on the Builder, the towers, pathing (how the horde finds its way) and the co-op network.