The makers of Threes!, the indie puzzle game where you combine numbers in order to create bigger numbers, are currently working on a much more approachable strategy title headed to the PlayStation 4 and other platforms soon.

Threes! is a minimalist game that's easy to pick up but difficult to master, and the three-man team behind it is currently working on Close Castles, a similarly minimalist title that aims to make real-time strategy games a lot more enjoyable.

The trio ventured to describe its mission on the PlayStation Blog, stating that real-time strategy games are "miserable pain engines designed to give players the worst possible experience," which is not that far from the truth.

Strategy games, especially highly competitive ones such as Starcraft 2, tend to be very, very stressful, keeping you on the edge of your seat for the duration of the match, and even demanding ungodly dexterity on your part, at times being excruciating experiences that go on for more than an hour per match.

A shift in how strategy games are designed

Minimalist games have a broad appeal due to their universal nature, as there aren't many different units, abilities and build orders you need to have crystal clear in your mind before embarking on a gaming journey.

In addition to this, they also don't tend to span large periods of time, making them ideal candidates for when you want to unwind.

The bad thing about real-time strategy games, as opposed to turn-based ones, is the fact that they are very demanding and stressful, and the makers of Close Castles aim to solve this problem by having bouts only take around three minutes each.

The game is also built to work with a controller, with interactions described to be as simple as moving the cursor around the field, pressing buttons to build structures. Close Castles is designed with local multiplayer in mind, so both players can see the entire board at all times, much like in a game of chess.

Simplicity at its finest

The premise of Close Castles is one that does justice to the entire minimalist theme: two rivals have built their castles too close to each other, and now they have to build their kingdoms and send out brave troops to tear down the enemy's structures.

In addition to the simple interactions and short game round duration, the game also features some adorable visuals, with cute, cartoonish buildings and denizens, easing some of the tension involved in playing strategy games.

Close Castles, the competitive city builder / fighting game, is expected to come out sometime in 2015, but for the time being the developer has not made any definitive announcements regarding platforms.