Castlebound devs explain a unique Unity technique behind its Paper Mario-like visuals

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A decade ago, indie developer Ogre Pixel released a mobile game called Warcher Defenders, a tiny retro-style action RPG about defending a castle from waves of enemies. That has served as the inspiration behind the studio's latest game, Castlebound.

"For Castlebound, we took the enemy waves idea from Warcher Defenders and took it to the next level by allowing the heroes to move around the entire screen with auto-scrolling levels, while also making it a solo or co-op experience for up to four players," says Ogre Pixel director Steve Durán.

Another level-up is in the visuals. Whereas Warcher Defenders used pixel art, Castlebound takes a more hand-drawn illustrative approach reminiscent of a children's storybook. That said, the aesthetic still draws inspiration from Warcher Defenders, as the main character, Lenora, is an archer like the mobile game's first playable character. As a co-op game, it also offers other playable heroes designed around different gameplay styles, including Vargus the Mage (also Lenora's wise grandfather), Galahad the Knight, and Quinn the Slingshooter.

Castlebound's charming art is designed to be easy to read

According to Durán, the decision behind this charming art style was that it was also "easy to read for the action gameplay. It does have design advantages because having the heroes represented with 2D sprites and a sticker-esque outline makes all the action to be easily identifiable."

It's also reminiscent of the paper cutouts of the characters in Paper Mario, which gives it license to use a limited set of animations rather than the painstakingly smooth, hand-drawn animations of Hollow Knight.

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Similar to Paper Mario is how these obviously flat characters are presented in 3D world, or at least the illusion of one. "Something interesting about the Castlebound’s art style is that all the assets made by our artists are flat sprites exported as PNGs," Durán explains. "The 3D look comes from a configuration we have inside Unity, the game engine we used."

He credits the studio's lead programmer, Marco Elizondo, for using Unity to create 3D scenes that the sprites can be added to, as well as teaching the studio's artists how to create these scenarios with 2D assets and scene configurations.

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"Another important tool we worked with are illuminations settings to change environments between day, noon, and night," Durán adds. Sometimes, a lighting change is all you need to make a level feel different, while 3D effects like shadows also add depth.

There's also variety to the enemy designs, which gradually expand beyond the initial medieval fantasy tropes of wizards, dragons, and - true to the studio's name - ogres. Durán confirms that players can also expect to encounter enemies inspired by ancient Egyptian culture, such as mummies, pyramids and sphinxes, as well as from horror culture, such as vampires, werewolves, and mermen. "We also have a secret area that we don’t want to spoil, but it does have some kind of cosmic vibes," he teases.

Side projects kept Castlebound fresh

During Castlebound's development, the Mexico-based studio has also been busy with other smaller projects, releasing titles on Steam during its two-year development, including the cosy hidden object game Hidden Around The World and the GBA-inspired adventure Black Tower Enigma this year alone.

"Castlebound has definitely been for us a bigger development endeavour because we have been iterating a lot of its development features like art, gameplay, and game balance," says Durán. "Moving into different projects has helped us feel 'fresh' during all this time."

Although still a relatively small game, with a roguelite loop that keeps each run feeling dynamic and different, a last-minute Kickstarter campaign has also enabled extra features, including a new volcano area, a secret final boss, and animated cutscenes. Together, they create a more substantial package that will help Castlebound stand out in a busy holiday release schedule.

Castlebound releases on 12 November for PC, Nintendo Switch 2, and Nintendo Switch, and you can download a free demo on Steam.