Cloud Castles is an action strategy role-playing game that checks player’s real-time strategy-making skills and tactics. Players must collect one or all 8 fantasy creatures and deploy them in one of 7 battle arenas spread across Elisus. Designed and developed by Digital Insight Games (DIG), Cloud Castles is connected to the blockchain, facilitating ownership of assets. 

What’s Cloud Castles and how to play the game?

Cloud Castles is a new play to earn game that blends strategy with fantasy role-playing. It's set in a world where two ancient civilizations have clashed massively. In this game, players become powerful wizards who can bring stone statues and creatures to life using magic from the land. This adds a unique and interesting twist to the game.

Players start by collecting creatures, which they must evolve to create strong armies capable of winning battles. The creatures and statues in the game are enhanced by wizards using magic that is drawn from the land itself, making each creature's development unique.

The game is set in the Elisus universe, which features various arenas. Each arena has its own heroes or wizards, and players must strategically deploy their creatures and tactically manage them during battles. Success in these battles also depends on adapting to the local and regional conditions specific to each arena.

At the beginning of the game, each player is given starter creatures. These creatures start with limited power and abilities, but through training and battling, players can enhance their creatures' capabilities. Over time, players can also acquire new and more powerful creatures.

"Cloud Castles" offers two gameplay modes: Player vs Environment (PvE), where players compete against the game's challenges, and Player vs Player (PvP), where they can test their skills against other players. This dual-mode approach allows players to continuously develop their strategic skills and expand their collection of magical creatures and statues.

Creatures and Statues of Elisus

All creatures in the game are essentially vessels that animate through magic. Once activated, these creatures will engage their enemies automatically. However, players have the ability to control their placement on the battlefield and strategically manage their abilities. Mastering the game requires players to learn about each creature's specific capabilities, including their strengths and elemental attributes, which is key to making tactical decisions during battles.

The eight characters are;

  1. Titan: A fire element mysterious human-like creature known for its brutality. 
  2. Ancient Warden: Compacting several rainforests into a being, it’s a ground creature of Earth element. 
  3. Naga: Electricity element’s grounded majestic creatures with fearsome skills and appearance. 
  4. Turtle Drake: An ancient creature with ice elements shaped like a reptile. 
  5. Elf Rogue: Considered the guardians of the natural world, an Elf Rogue comes from the Sun element trained to survive in the wild. 
  6. Ogre: An ice element creature known for its brute strength and unyielding nature. 
  7. Arachne: Earth element’s arachnoid, coming from the bloodline of several dark characters. 
  8. Living Armor: Another creation from the electricity element, even though abandoned by all, this creature is built to last.

After knowing this, the players must use the creature’s capabilities according to their position, which can be one out of three, including Statue (inactive), Alive, and Powered. 

To win a battle in the game, players must either eliminate the opposing creatures or destroy the opponent's base, which is their power source. However, when creatures are eliminated, they don't disappear; they turn into an inactive stone state and remain on the battlefield, as the magic that animated them fades away.

Winning battles in the game involves more than just selecting the strongest creature. It requires careful consideration of team composition, effective management of resources, and strategic planning.

Gameplay Parameters, Affinity Appearance, and More

Every creature on Elisus is defined into three parameters;

  • Innate: It’s the never-changing attribute of a creature. For instance, an ogre cannot change their character and will continue to remain an ogre. Similarly, their attack types are also fixed. 
  • Intrinsic: Creature attributes under this category can be improved over time and as they evolve with magic. This includes their speed, attack damage, etc.
  • Extrinsic: Every creature has fitted artifacts, which provide additional strength or abilities. Extrinsic elements are those which provide the creatures with these capabilities. 

Based on these three categories, the creatures in Elisus are defined by several parameters, as shown in the image below. 

Six affinities, each creature has one

In the game, creatures are connected to the battlefield terrain through affinities such as Earth, Water, Fire, Ice, Sun, and Moon. Each affinity type influences how a creature interacts with the terrain, enhancing its abilities in specific environments. For example, a creature with an Earth affinity might gain advantages in certain battlefield conditions. Players need to understand these interactions to strategize effectively, as each affinity type can be resistant or vulnerable to another.

Additionally, players can acquire new creatures either by using magic to command them or by purchasing them from other players. All assets, including creatures, are owned by the players and are recorded on the blockchain, ensuring transparency and ownership.

Engaging in battles not only provides experience but also enhances a creature’s strength and capabilities. As creatures grow stronger, they unlock new abilities and improve their performance parameters. Players must decide which characters to develop and evolve based on their battle strategies and future game plans.

Augmentation in Cloud Castles involves enhancing a creature's abilities and artifacts, but these improvements are not one-size-fits-all. For example, while an increase in health can be applied to any creature, augmentations such as flight speed boosts are specific to creatures that inherently possess the ability to fly. This selective approach to augmentation demands that players strategically match enhancements with their creatures' unique traits.

Assets Players Can Possess and What Difference They Make

Assets encompass a variety of elements that players manage and utilize throughout the game. These include creatures, artifacts, augmentation potions, Essence, and other similar components. Here’s a breakdown of these key assets:

  1. Creatures and Artifacts: These are the primary assets players interact with. Creatures are the beings players command in battles, while artifacts are special items that boost a player’s powers.
  2. Augmentation Potions: These potions are used to enhance the abilities of creatures, such as increasing their strength or speed. However, each potion is specific to certain attributes and creature types.
  3. Essence: This is a unique form of magic that can permanently improve a creature's capabilities. But using Essence comes with risks; it doesn’t always work as expected and may not always enhance the creature in the desired way.
  4. Castles: Upon joining the game, players are given their own castle, which acts as their personal sanctuary. These castles can be expanded and developed over time, providing a home base for players.
  5. Additional In-game Assets: Players can also acquire other in-game properties like isles, fortresses, and skylands, each offering strategic advantages and expansion opportunities within the game world.

Cloud Castles Marketplace and its Dynamics

Essentially, players have several options for expanding their collection of assets in Cloud Castles. The Command Store is a key location for this, where new creatures are invented or designed. When a new creature's design is ordered, the store ceases the production of older models. This means that once a creature is no longer produced, it can only be purchased from other players who own it.

Additionally, there is an Auction House, a dynamic marketplace where players can directly sell and purchase assets from each other. For more common needs, the Commodities/Resources store offers everyday items like keys, which players can buy and sell. These diverse marketplaces enhance the strategic options available to players, allowing them to tailor their assets and strategies in various ways.

$DIG Tokenomics

Cloud Castle’s monetary strength comes from the transactions in the $DIG token. Players can use this token to participate in proposal voting to buy NFTs in the form of land, avatars, creatures, cosmetics, artifacts, and chests. 

Moreover, players who own land bought with $DIG tokens can sell and rent it in the open market based on the prices set by the market forces. Where owning land can generate money when rented, Skylands are assets that reward owners with $DIG taken from the community treasury. 

Cloud Castles utilizes the DIG blockchain and the Avalanche subnet for its operations, providing a fast, secure, and environmentally sustainable platform

The latest update from the Cloud Castles team, dated March 13, 2024, informs the community that progress is being made behind the scenes. Although specific details about the game's roadmap and launch timeline remain under wraps, the developers are nearing important milestones.