Why treasure chests still fascinate us
Treasure chests hold a special place in the collective imagination. I am not talking about pirate chests with skulls and yellowed maps — I mean real European chests: those sturdy oak-and-iron boxes where medieval kings kept crowns, scrolls, relics, and gold coins.
In Europe from the 12th through the 15th centuries, a royal chest was not a simple container. It was a symbol of power. The Hastings Coffer, dating to around 1200 and preserved at St Mary and St Leonard church in Hastings, England, is one of the oldest known examples. Carved from a single oak trunk with hand-forged hardware, it was built to survive theft, fire, and floods. Basically, it was the safe of its day.
What hooked me from the start, when I began sketching ideas for Royal Chest, is that medieval chests always come with a promise: something valuable is inside. That expectation — that curiosity about what is hiding behind a locked lid — is exactly the feeling I wanted to capture in a puzzle game.
Real symbolism: crowns, shields, and jewels
Medieval iconography is a visually rich field. Crowns were not all the same: an open crown with fleur points indicated lesser nobility, while a closed crown with arches signaled full sovereignty. Heraldic shields used a strict color system: gold stood for generosity, blue for loyalty, red for military courage.
For Royal Chest's 48 levels I adapted that symbolism without trying to write a history textbook. The game pieces include golden crowns, blue shields, red swords, purple chalices, and gems in a range of colors. Each element has a distinctive silhouette so the player can identify it quickly, even with peripheral vision.
That said, I took creative liberties. The jewels in the game are larger and more saturated than the real ones because they need to work well on small phone screens. A real ruby from the English crown is about 4 centimeters across. In the game, it takes up almost a third of the screen.
Why a chest and not a box?
People asked me this question more than once during development. The answer is simple: a chest has a lid, and a lid can open. That creates a dramatic beat a generic box simply cannot deliver. When you match three golden chests in level 17, the chests open and release a flash of gold light. If they were cardboard boxes, the effect would be completely different.
On top of that, the medieval chest has a very particular visual texture. Wood planks with visible grain, rusted iron hinges, big round nails. All of that creates a rich surface that translates beautifully into 2D sprites. A smooth box would be boring to look at and boring to animate.
The color palette: gold, purple, and stone
Color was one of the most deliberate decisions in the project. I wanted three dominant colors that shouted "medieval" without becoming Halloween clichés full of pumpkins and bats.
Gold (#C9A84C in the final palette) is used for the most common chests and high-scoring pieces. Purple (#6B3FA0) shows up on special chests and bonuses. And stone gray (#8B8B8B) forms the base of the castle walls and the floors where pieces sit.
I tested 23 palette variations before settling on this one. Version 14 had an emerald green that was beautiful but caused confusion for people with deuteranopia (a form of color blindness). Version 21 was too dark, and on low-brightness screens the pieces were hard to tell apart. The final palette passed WCAG AA contrast checks on all the main pairings.
Historical references across the 48 levels
Every Royal Chest level is named after a real type of chest or medieval artifact. You do not need to know that to enjoy the game, but it is there for anyone who wants to dig deeper.
| Historical type | Origin | Royal Chest equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Dugout trunk | Scandinavia, 10th century | Basic chest (levels 1–12) |
| Iron-banded coffer | France, 12th century | Reinforced chest (levels 13–24) |
| Wedding chest (cassone) | Italy, 14th century | Decorated chest (levels 25–36) |
| Reliquary chest | England, 13th century | Golden chest (levels 37–48) |
| Ivory casket | Al-Andalus, 11th century | Special chest (bonus) |
Level 33, for example, is called "Florentine Cassone" and is inspired by the great Italian wedding chests of the Trecento. Those chests were painted with mythological scenes and used to transport the bride's dowry. In the game, that level has a layout that feels like a decorated hall, with pieces arranged like objects on a ceremonial table.
Level 42 is based on the Pamplona Casket, a real 11th-century ivory-and-wood piece held by the Museum of Navarre. That level is one of the hardest in the game, with a layout that forces you to think three or four moves ahead.
Look, I am not a historian. I am a game developer who loves medieval aesthetics. But I believe these real references give the game a layer of depth that players feel even if they cannot name exactly what they are sensing. It is the difference between a generic toy castle and one with real architectural detail: the second always feels more "authentic," even when you cannot explain why.