The developers of the browser-based strategy game LandLords are seeking 3.1 million rubles to complete the game
We continue our series of publications about games seeking investments or a publisher. Today, the team from St. Petersburg, TeZee.art, shares about their project. They are developing a vibrant web version of "The Settlers"—the LandLords project.
Maria Prakhova, the game's artist, talks about the project.
Maria Prakhova
About the Team
In the TeZee.art studio, there are just two of us—a programmer and an artist, each with 12 years of professional expertise:
- Aleksei Ozerov is responsible for the project's architectural and technical aspects;
- Masha Prakhova handles the visuals, design, and community.
We share our roles depending on our soft skills and additional competencies. Since March 2025, an intern, Semyon Kopylov, has been assisting us in the role of manual QA.
To learn more about our studio:
- our website;
- the non-commercial project Paletta.
Our professional background includes projects such as:
Our debut game project as a studio, LandLords, has been in development for a year (since June 2024) and is currently in the beta stage. Development has been funded with personal resources up to this point.
About the Project
LandLords is a game-service, a browser-based turn-based multiplayer strategy created on the Phaser engine.
LandLords is already playable:
The core gameplay part is ready. For a full release, we need to finish the AI and tutorial, which we plan to complete in the next 2-3 months.
Future plans include expanding mechanics and game experience through extensions, as well as adding meta gameplay, character customization, cosmetic packs, achievements, collections, and even story missions!
At our current development pace, the first extensions and cosmetics will be released by mid-2026.
About the Gameplay/Mechanics
We based our game on a popular board strategy: players take turns rolling dice, collecting resources, and building structures. The main objective is to be the first to reach the required number of victory points by any means available in the game.
The main feature of our game is that it is browser-based and multiplayer. It can be played on any device. It can also easily be turned into a mobile version or a client for Steam.
Another key aspect is the visual style: no neural networks are used; all the art and animations are handcrafted. Notably, our project won the "IGROPROM-25" award for "Best 2D Graphics."
The structure of the game makes it very flexible and easy to expand and add to. Even at the core gameplay level, it has high replayability due to random map generation and a wide variety of strategies. From the start, we allow players to customize their game settings.
Unlike competitors, we want to add meta elements, which will offer more fun, motivation for players, and attract a new audience.
About the Target Audience
The original board game Settlers of Catan (better known in Russia as "The Settlers") has been around for 30 years and has a huge fan base worldwide. Our direct competitors and references existing online:
Based on public data from these games, Colonist.io alone averages 5,000 online players, with 170,000 games daily.
Our audience analysis showed that in similar competitive games, the primary audience is men aged 20-50 (70%). By adding meta elements and shifting focus away from winning each match, we aim to attract a larger female audience.
About the Project's Business Model
In our business model, we are currently looking at competitors: browser release, stores, and possibly Steam.
Our priority is exploring a free-to-play monetization model with IAP or a subscription model. For instance, the starting subscription in Colonist.io is $8.
The aforementioned opportunities for expansion, cosmetics, achievements, and customization are perfectly suited for this model!
About the Metrics
Our game is not yet showcased on the VK store, although it is available to the public. Since there is no AI yet, we need at least one other player to start a game. For this reason, we have not yet begun active promotion or metric collection.
We are actively developing the game's community on VK and recently created a Discord.
Who We Are Looking For
We are looking for a publisher for a long-term and reliable partnership, as the game has huge development potential!
We are considering a co-financing model, where the publisher takes on the marketing and distribution aspects and helps us finish development and polish the product.
The minimum funds required for completion and initial release are 3,160,000 rubles over the next six months of development (until January 2026):
- 60,000 rubles — sound design (contract project work);
- 10,000 rubles/month — infrastructure maintenance (servers, hosting);
- the rest — average monthly salaries for project specialists, assuming all promotion, marketing, and distribution are handled by the publisher.
The numbers indicated in the pitch document may change based on agreements reached.
We are open to dialogue and counter offers!
Contact Information
- Telegram — @TeploeZvuchanie (Masha);
- Telegram — @i13luck (Aleksei);
- Discord — tezee.art;
- Email — i@13luck.ru.