Castle yard economy: the scribe's popularity book at 100

About this game

Developer: Firefly Studios · Publisher: Firefly Studios · Platform: PC (Steam) · Art style: Realistic 3D · Screen type: HUD & Gameplay UI

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What to study

Stronghold's HUD keeps its feudal fiction: the spreadsheet is a book a man is holding. Popularity, housing and headcount are inked on his pages (100 and rising, 48/48 housed), the tax ledger sits in a rail beside him with its own steppers, and the modern RTS furniture - minimap, speed controls, seven-icon dock, resource tabs - frames the yard without breaking the conceit. The top bar even prices your rank: Knight, 187 of 300 honour to the next one. Frame at about 0:48 in the Skirmish Trailer (Steam), a scene-change survivor (v0_0017 at 48.2s) inspected at full resolution in this run.

Patterns

How the screen is arranged.

top-bar bottom-dock side-panel

Components

Parts on screen.

Tabs Minimap Resource bar Clock Stepper

Screen inventory

• the yard: blacksmith's forge smoking at centre, stables and a statue to the left, the keep wall and tower to the right, peasants and men-at-arms crossing between jobs
• top bar: hamburger and profile icons, Rank 7 Knight, an honour plaque at 187/300, four parchment resource tabs, and hard numbers at the right - 409, 228 and 2,349 gold
• a Day 25 / 24:37 clock floats over the building under construction at top centre - build time is diegetic text in the world, not a sidebar
• bottom-left, the minimap with blue and red holdings and a three-button speed control rail; bottom centre, a seven-icon dock in a wrought-iron frame
• bottom-right, the series' signature: a hooded scribe holding an open book - popularity 100 with a green up arrow, 48/48, a 7 - beside a tax-and-rations ledger with +/- steppers and TOTAL +2

Top 3 colors

#1c190b 24%#3c3018 22%#4c4422 15%

Top three palette colors by share. The remaining colors make up the rest.

Source and credit

© Firefly Studios, Stronghold 4 screenshot: Stronghold 4 - Skirmish Trailer and Story Trailer videos (Steam), shown for design study and commentary. PlayCraft is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Firefly Studios.

Source tier 2 (publisher-released) · screenshot: Steam store page · Steam page

Source details

Fetched 2026-10-21. verified 2026-10-22: scene-change survivor v0_0017.png (48.2s) inspected visually at full resolution in this run; keeper file castle-yard-hud.png is a byte copy of that survivor

no published policy found (checked 2026-10-22); fair-use study use, takedown honored within 48h

Rights holders: see Copyright & takedown.