Notes from the workbench.

Patch notes for the games, the reasoning behind design decisions, and the occasional studio post. Newest first.

Greater boons, a shrine skill tree, and a game you can play on a phone

Nine greater boons to win in Challenge Mode, the shrine becomes one skill tree, touch controls designed for thumbs, new fireball and force push effects, and a Warden you can read.

Pendulums, traps that rest, and phone buttons that look like the PC's

Swinging blades in the corridors, spike traps that stand down once a room is cleared, props that stop arrows at their real height, and a mobile HUD rebuilt on the desktop's carved plaques.

How we start a game: The Rot Hunters, day one

Before a single design decision, the second game got a repository, two deploy environments and a landing page. Why we build the road before the house.

Boons as crystal balls, two new boons, and a face for the title

Boons now sit in the world as glass orbs you walk up to and claim. Chronomancy and Thorn join the roster, the shrine learns new upgrades, and the menus get a proper typeface.

Every attack aims where you look: the September combat pass

Two weeks of combat work: aiming, blocking and guard strain, executions inside combos, corpses that stay dead, a leaderboard podium and a back button that finally goes back.

Why Wardenfall's ads will only ever live on menus

Two banners, both on screens where nothing is being played, and a written promise about what will never appear over a fight.

Challenge mode: four curses and one clock

What you do after the credits. Stackable curses, randomized rosters, a Warden cameo, and a stashed account so your main save is never at risk.

What “finishable by design” actually means

The three rules the studio is built on, and what each of them cost Wardenfall in cut features.