''Chris Taylor's Kings and Castles'' was a

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to pla ...

(RTS)

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

that was in development by

Gas Powered Games Wargaming Seattle, formerly known as Gas Powered Games, was a video game developer located in Redmond, Washington. The development studio was started in May 1998 by Chris Taylor and several other ex-Cavedog Entertainment employees. In 2013 they ...

. Development of the game was announced on 15 February 2010 via press release, then put on hold indefinitely in 2013, and ultimately was cancelled when the company was closed in 2018.

Gameplay

Although specific gameplay details are few, the game represented a departure from Gas Powered Games prior RTS series, '' Supreme Commander'', given a new setting in a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama ...

universe. This was similar to the transition made by '' Total Annihilation: Kingdoms'' after the original ''

Total Annihilation ''Total Annihilation'' is a real-time strategy video game created by Cavedog Entertainment, a sub-division of Humongous Entertainment, and was released on September 26, 1997 by GT Interactive for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. Two expansion packs ...

'' (both running on the same engine, the latter designed by Chris Taylor).

Plot

According to Gas Powered Games' presentations on the game, the plot of the

single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usuall ...

campaign would have been woven across three separate kings/kingdoms into one overarching storyline. Specific plot details never surfaced.

Marketing and development

The game was extensively marketed in 2010 via a variety of social media channels, including an official video blog, company

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

page, game Facebook page, and official

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account (@GasPoweredGames). Gas Powered Games CEO Chris Taylor has promoted the game and provided details through interviews and industry events. The game was put on hold pending the completion of Gas Powered Games role in the development of ''

Age of Empires Online ''Age of Empires Online'' is a multiplayer online real-time strategy game developed by Robot Entertainment and Gas Powered Games, which released on August 16, 2011. Based upon the gameplay of the ''Age of Empires'' series, it was originally develo ...

''. However, even after the completion and release of ''Age of Empires Online'', it was still on hold indefinitely until the game was cancelled when the company was shuttered in July 2018.

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://web.archive.org/web/20100218083825/http://gaspowered.com:80/kingsandcastles/ Cancelled Windows games Cancelled Xbox 360 games Fantasy video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Real-time strategy video games Video games developed in the United States Video games set in castles