Experimentation
The Forge exists to try things that don’t fit into ordinary roadmaps. We give ourselves room to explore groundbreaking mechanics, architectures and formats — even when the outcome is uncertain.
The Forge
At The Forge, we don’t just talk about the future of Linux gaming — we build it. This is Ghost Citadel’s experimental lab, where ambitious ideas meet open-source technology to create new interactive experiences.
As the pace of change accelerates, The Forge keeps us sharp: a place to renew our business, test wild concepts, and prove what’s possible on Linux and ARM before anyone else. We actively seek partnerships with industry visionaries and developers to turn both our own concepts and external ideas into working prototypes.
Key Principles
Collaboration
We work with open-source communities, independent developers and domain experts. The best ideas rarely stay inside one company, so The Forge is built as a shared workbench, not a closed lab.
Market Fit
Every experiment is tied to a real question: who is this for, what value does it create, and can the technology scale into something sustainable?
Excellence
We care about execution as much as ideas. Tight controls, readable pixels, clean code and thoughtful UX are part of the experiment, not an afterthought.
Impact
We aim for projects that change how people play, learn and connect — not just tech demos, but stepping stones to real products and new ways of thinking.
Areas of Expertise
1. Advanced Linux Gaming Frameworks
We prototype frameworks and tools optimised for SteamOS, Steam Deck, PinePhone, WebAssembly and Android-based Linux environments.
Depending on the use case, we mix Python, C and Rust to build high-performance, memory-safe components. Our open systems design keeps these frameworks transparent, secure and adaptable as hardware evolves.
2. AI in Games & Immersive Worlds
We use AI to make worlds feel alive: adaptive storylines that respond to player choices, NPCs with believable behaviour, and systems that learn from how people actually play.
With deep learning, behavioural models and natural language processing, we craft personalised experiences while keeping everything efficient enough for mobile Linux hardware and in-browser WASM builds.
We also explore lightweight open-world techniques in engines such as Unreal, Unity and Godot, focusing on how to stream large spaces into devices with tight CPU, GPU and memory budgets.
3. Hardware Engineering
Several of our core people have extensive experience with Linux phones and secure hardware — from low-level bootloaders to device hardening for NGOs.
This lets The Forge design solutions that respect the realities of real devices: erratic networks, thermal limits, odd drivers and all the quirks that never show up in emulators.
4. Next-Gen Visual Fidelity
We experiment with Vulkan, WebGL and modern rendering pipelines to balance visual richness with low-latency responsiveness.
The goal is not just pretty screenshots, but readable, performant visuals that hold up on handhelds, laptops and browsers without cooking the battery.
5. Innovation Mindset
Ghost Citadel’s ability to respond quickly to an ever-changing world is what makes us a reliable partner. Our “Thinking Edge” philosophy means we treat innovation as a habit across every discipline — design, code, art, analytics and operations.
The Forge Vision
“To be the proving ground where creative energy, open-source power and bold ambition align to craft gaming experiences no one thought possible.”
How We Work
Open Collaboration
We know we don’t have all the answers or resources inside our own walls. The Forge is built to work with others — studios, startups, researchers and communities — in ways that serve both our strategic needs and theirs.
Smart Design
We favour modular, composable architectures. Systems coming out of The Forge are designed to be reused, extended and integrated into many different projects instead of living as one-off prototypes.
Fast Iteration
Ideas are only real once they touch players. We use short prototyping cycles to get concepts running on target hardware quickly, gather real feedback, and either evolve them or kill them before they waste time.
How The Forge Delivers Value
Staying Ahead of the Curve
Constant experimentation keeps our ideas, frameworks and techniques at the edge of what’s possible in Linux and ARM gaming — long before they hit production.
Accessible Technology
By building on open-source principles, we create transparent technologies that partners and developers can inspect, adapt and build upon instead of treating them as black boxes.
Built for Growth
Modular, open systems make it easier for our work to be adopted across multiple teams and products. The Forge favours patterns that scale rather than one-off clever hacks.
Partnering with Startups & Visionaries
The Forge also looks outward. Some of the most interesting ideas live inside small teams who move faster than large organisations ever can.
Systematic Scouting
We take a systematic approach to understanding what we need internally and where external collaborations can help. That means tracking new tooling, attending events and staying close to the Linux, ARM and open-source scenes where the next wave is already forming.
Removing Friction
Our innovation operations focus on making it easy to work with Ghost Citadel: clear points of contact, fast technical evaluation, and lightweight agreements that get us experimenting together instead of stuck in process.
Mutual Benefit
For smaller companies and independent creators, we can act as an early customer, a testbed and an amplifier — bringing real use cases, real hardware and real players. In return, we gain access to fresh perspectives and technologies that sharpen our own work.