Lord of the S'mores news

0.2.0: Scouts go home, the HQ grows, and a camp at dusk

2026-10-31T00:00:00Z

Scouts no longer die. A scout who drops to zero health is knocked out and taken off the field. A bus comes at noon to collect them. Send them to the medic and they rest for a day, then come back the same scout, with their badges and perks. Anyone still on the bus at dusk goes home for good. The run ends when no scout is left standing.

Every night comes with a forecast. A card under the clock says how many raiders the dens will send and whether the camp is READY, SHAKY or OUTMATCHED, with the first thing holding it back. A night plan suggests a few moves before dusk, each showing the grade it would lift.

Den raids are events now. A raiding party takes a while and the den fights back, but a den raided by day sends only half its raiders that night. The first raid each day can also pay popcorn, carried home on the scouts' backs.

The HQ grows in three levels, and its level decides what the camp can build: shelters and campfires first, then the wall and the workshops, then the training buildings. Each level needs scouts with the Architecture badge and a material found out in the world.

The Troop tab on the HQ board shows every scout as a card. Open one to see their perks, needs, bed, and how much damage they deal, with what is adding to it. Five rows of pips show how well each scout fits each job.

Alphas arrive once the ordinary raid is beaten, and every one of them has its own look. The Desert has a new animal, the warthog, and a new alpha, THE TUSKER, which guards its front: hit it from the side or from behind.

The camp looks different. Buildings, trees and scouts cast shadows that move with the sun. The workshops, walls and towers have new art, and every scout rolls their own look from five skin tones, eight hair colors and nineteen hairstyles.

The maps go further. Scouts plant seeds themselves. A new resource, fur, comes from the animals that carry it. Poison lasts and stacks. The Tundra is cold enough at night to chill a scout who strays too far from a fire.

No more difficulty settings. Every run plays the game as it is balanced. Once you beat your first alpha, the Pact lets you take on harder conditions for a run.

A new main menu: a camp at dusk on the map you played last, with the scouts round the fire and the menu pinned to a notice board. The game can also be played with a controller or on a Steam Deck.

This build went to the playtesters.

The game has a new name

2026-10-26T00:00:00Z

Troop Master is now called Lord of the S'mores. Another company already holds the name Troop Master, so the game needed its own before it goes on Steam. Nothing else about it changes: a troop of Wilderness Scouts, a camp to build by day, and a long night to hold it.

In the game, the menu and the window carry the new name, and the scouts and the guided first day now call you their Troop Leader. The next playtest build starts fresh: saved runs, progress and settings from Troop Master don't carry over.

On this site, every page and the press kit use the new name. If you signed up for the email list, you don't need to do anything.

The site is up

2026-10-14T00:00:00Z

Troop Master now has a website. It's a survival game about a troop of Wilderness Scouts camped somewhere they should not be: a colony sim by day, a tower defense by night.

There's an email list on every page. Sign up and you'll get one email when there's something to play: a demo, a store page, a release date. Nothing else.

Next up is version 0.2.0, the biggest update yet. It goes to the playtesters first, and a post about it will go up here.

0.1.5: A new first day, and prizes for beating an alpha

2026-08-08T00:00:00Z

The first day is now a real tutorial. It follows one scout through the camp's first jobs, unlocks the rest of the troop when it's time to prepare for the night, and ends with a small practice raid. The world holds still while you learn: no roaming animals except birds, clear weather, nothing interrupting the lessons. Day 2 wakes everything up. Leave the birds alone.

Every alpha you defeat leaves one prize. Its heart, which one scout eats for a permanent trait. A trophy, which stands on a pedestal and helps every scout who sleeps in that quarter of the camp. Or, rarest of all, its cub, which joins the camp for good, helps out by day, fights like a small echo of its parent at night, and grows up as the run goes on. The scout who lands the killing blow also earns a title for life.

Raid nights pay at dawn. Raiders no longer drop food in the dark. Instead the camp collects food at dawn for every raider the troop brought down, so fighting well is what pays.

The Popcorn Shop got eight new upgrades and a respec button that hands back everything you've spent. The HQ and Storage also have new art, standing together as one building that shows its damage as it takes it.

This build went to the playtesters.

0.1.4: The evidence, and four bosses you have to find

2026-08-01T00:00:00Z

The evidence collection roughly doubled. Troop 13's paperwork is now sorted into more case files, and four of them belong to a single map each. Their notes only turn up there, so finishing the collection means playing all four maps.

Finishing a case file can change the game. A banner tells you when it has.

Four new bosses, one per map. They aren't in the regular rotation. You unlock each one by completing that map's case file, and it shows up on the next boss night. You'll have to find them yourself.

The morning camp sign gives a hint. On a boss day it tells you which animal is coming that night. The boss is chosen at dawn and saved with the run, so the hint is always right and reloading won't change it.

The traveling trader has a name: the Hooded Haggler.

This build went to the playtesters.

0.1.3: Water, ice, and days that play differently

2026-07-31T00:00:00Z

Water works differently on every map. Tundra lakes are frozen around the edge: scouts can walk on the ice, but it can break, and a scout who falls in through the middle needs someone to pull them out. The Desert has no lakes at all, so cacti are the only water. Jungle lakes are ringed with vines that a scout has to cut through first, though the vines don't slow the animals down.

Some days have a condition that lasts all day. Each map has one kind and one cruel, and a banner announces it at dawn:

Forest: Mast Year (extra wood and seeds) or Beetle Bloom (half of all chopping swings come up empty)
Jungle: Fruit Fall (food drops near camp all day) or Swelter (a third of the raw food spoils)
Desert: Desert Rain (the cacti refill and pools form on the sand) or Scorcher (no water, and everyone tires faster)
Tundra: Thaw (no cold, and the fires burn longer) or Deep Freeze (every lake freezes solid)

The day's condition is saved, so reloading won't change it.

Scouts off the screen get a marker at the edge of the view. It turns red when that scout needs help, and clicking it takes you there.

This build went to the playtesters.