How Magic Media Delivered End-to-End Game Co-Development for Coloniser

Coloniser pushes the boundaries of large scale strategy gaming. It is a competitive MMORTS set on the hostile planet of Hastaris where players crash land, survive, expand, negotiate, and fight for dominance in matches that can last up to ninety days. To achieve this scale with consistent performance, Cantos Games turned to Magic Media as their dedicated game co-development partner.

This partnership proved how effective game co-development can be when engineering, design, and art teams work as one. It brought every discipline together into a coordinated workflow, from systems design and worldbuilding to animation, UX, and visual production. That same structure is at the core of Magic Media’s Game Co-Development services, built for long running and high complexity projects.

A Co-Development Vision Built for a Persistent MMORTS

Coloniser demanded a studio capable of stepping directly into every discipline. Its real-time systems, long duration matches, and persistent world logic needed strong backend engineering, scalable art teams, and a development workflow built to support continuous progression.

Magic Media worked across design, engineering, art, and frontend systems, building a development workflow shaped for large and persistent games. This meant aligning tools, processes, and production pacing so every team could move together and support the real-time systems that drive Coloniser’s long running matches, guided by the same structure discussed in our co-development workflow.

Solving the Core Technical and Design Challenges

Coloniser pushed into a space most strategy games never attempt. Long duration sessions, constant real-time data flow, player progression over weeks, and high player counts all required custom engineering and close co-development between both teams.

High Player Count Networking and Real-Time Stability

With sessions supporting up to 32 players, Coloniser operates far beyond typical RTS networking demands. Stability was essential. Our engineers optimized network efficiency and evaluated multiple multiplayer solutions before committing to Photon Fusion. This level of multiplayer problem solving aligns with the principles discussed in how co-development builds better games.

Balancing Long Duration Matches and Fair Progression

Matches lasting 30 to 90 days demand systems that stay stable and meaningful across weeks of gameplay. Coloniser needed progression that rewarded early commitment, supported ongoing strategic depth, and still allowed new players to enter the match without feeling shut out. Designing for that scale meant shaping resources, pacing, and balance in a way that stayed fair from day one to the final push.

Persistent Infrastructure Built for Long Running Sessions

Magic Media built AWS hosted infrastructure and a custom server scheduler to support Coloniser’s persistent world. The backend handled player states, world logic, diplomacy, economy flow, and combat outcomes across long running sessions, ensuring consistent performance under continuous real-time activity. Every system was designed to stay accurate and stable from the first day of a match to the last.

To keep the experience reliable at this scale, the infrastructure had to operate smoothly under constant load and adapt to ongoing player activity. This foundation supports the rest of Coloniser’s systems and allows the game to maintain its long running session structure without disruption.

Art and Visual Production

Magic Media delivered a wide range of visual content to shape the identity of Coloniser, including:

• • Concept art for characters, structures, and environments
• • 3D characters and buildings
• • Biomes, terrain elements, and set dressing
• • Materials, shaders, and animation support

Gameplay, Frontend, and Systems Development

Magic Media supported core RTS gameplay systems central to Coloniser’s experience:

• • Camera and navigation
• • AI combat behavior
• • Grid building
• • Resource management and economy systems
• • Diplomacy systems
• • Map creation, biomes, and terrain sculpting

Backend Engineering

Magic Media developed the backend logic and infrastructure needed to maintain long running multiplayer stability, ensuring accurate state management and reliable performance throughout extended matches.

UX, UI, and Player Experience

Magic Media delivered UI and player facing features essential to clarity and long term usability, including menus, HUDs, settings interfaces, world maps, and broader environment readability improvements.

Results

Cantos Games praised Magic Media’s end-to-end execution across engineering, art, UX, systems design, and gameplay development. They highlighted how seamlessly all disciplines integrated into a cohesive whole, allowing complex systems to function reliably inside a long running MMORTS structure. The co-development approach kept production aligned, reduced technical risk, and strengthened every stage of the project’s growth.

Coloniser continues to evolve through community feedback, balance adjustments, and ongoing content updates. The scalable foundation built through co-development gives Cantos Games the flexibility to expand the experience without disrupting stability or long term progression. This project stands as a strong example of how the right co-development partner can elevate both the creative vision and the technical execution behind an ambitious strategy game.

Learn more about the studio behind Coloniser at Cantos Games.