Welcome back to Behind the Journey, where we peel back the curtain and let you in on how some of Club Penguin Journey’s most magical parties come to life.
This time, we’re diving deep into Medieval Party 2025. We’ll start with the rooms and items, talk about the royal mascot Dot the Duke, and then explore the mysterious Witch’s Tale, the story that brought the Infinite Tower back bigger and better than ever before.
WARNING: Infinite Tower Story Spoilers Ahead
Rooms and Items: Building the Medieval Party
The Medieval Party gave us a chance to reimagine the island with new rooms full of charm and secrets.
We aimed to make the rooms feel alive, immersive, and full of surprises. We also want the items to be exciting and a fun goal to strive towards as you climb the tower!
Here is some of the custom work done by our designers on these rooms and items:
Meet the Mascots: Dot the Duke
No Medieval Party would be complete without a royal visitor. This year, we introduced Dot the Duchess.
Dot is elegant, witty, and a little bit sassy. We wanted Dot to feel both regal and approachable, a leader who inspires fellow penguins but also joins in on the fun!
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Dot appearance without a twist. This time, the island’s disguise master arrived in full duke attire! Check out some of the concept work and progress photos:
Infinite Tower: The Witch’s Tale
Very early in planning, we knew we wanted to go further than before with Infinite Tower. For its original execution in 2024, many ideas had to be left out; otherwise, we would still be working on it today.
One of the biggest ideas that carried into the second iteration was giving the tower a feeling that it is not just one upward-extending structure but that it branches out, growing the further up you go, almost like a tree.
For this, we decided to open exits in all directions and introduce the new outskirts, the bridge, or as we commonly called it, the exterior room. Below is the first draft alongside an overhaul to the user interface.
As seen originally, exterior rooms were meant to be far more dynamic, with stairs moving you up and down and a deeper immersion connecting to other rooms. Although this looked great on paper, drawing many variants for different directions quickly ramped up the work. So we simplified the approach with a few tile and decoration variants to keep rooms fresh the second time around.
The other big change was shifting from isolated challenges to uniting the whole experience. Now enemies appear in more than just battle rooms and treasure is intertwined in every room. We wanted the tower to stand out from Ye Knight’s Quest, so this time it has more of an RPG rogue-like feeling, with a health bar and a deck of artifacts you can build during your run.
Artifacts are the biggest game changer. They make each run feel different. You’re no longer bound to one gameplay style and can try out different combinations and synergies. As a bonus, the artifacts you use in battle can be taken out of the tower as items. Who doesn’t love that?
Not to forget the Tower Champion Armor. This armor set was designed as an award for brave heroes venturing into the tower. The more experience you gain, the more parts of the armor you unlock, similar to Card Jitsu belts. With the full set, you’ll be able to channel the tower’s power to produce dreams — and anvils too?
Here is the initial concept of this legendary armor set, but hey, where’s the helmet?
This concept was made to capture the dazzling but dangerous feeling of the exterior rooms. It also became the Party Quests background and possibly a nice wallpaper too.
Oh hey, the tower armor is here too!
If you’ve been snooping around those secret passageways, you might have learned the tale of the witch that caused it all. Her tale is up to you to investigate and decide whether to aid.
We felt the tower was leaving too many unanswered questions, so the story of how it came together finally unveils. Taking inspiration from a character of ye olde Medieval Party 2013, we decided to explore Garianna’s potential in Club Penguin Journey and expand upon her character.
This concept art was made to encompass the story and her evolution over time. While the piece itself didn’t make it as a final artwork, some of these sketches served as a starting point for the notes you find in the tower.
Garianna was introduced during Club Penguin’s Medieval Party 2013, where her spellbook allowed penguins to transform into fairies, unicorn puffles, dragons, and more. Her appearances are few but memorable.
The biggest inspiration for including her now actually comes from the official Club Penguin Magazine. In Issue 35, a comic named Gary’s Quest shows her transformation spell going awry, unleashing Scorn the Dragon King. She reaches out to Gary the Gadget Guy, who brings all his ancestors using a time machine to banish Scorn.
Though little is known about Garianna, the comic shows she acts recklessly in the name of her goals and likes to startle her green, sunglasses-wearing, propellered assistant with spells. After unleashing Scorn, she is “just, like, super sorry for letting him loose.” This alongside the fact that her spellbook was discovered on another island by Rockhopper makes her story intriguingly mysterious.
Gary’s Quest also shows her living space as the 2012 Medieval Party’s Lighthouse, a room filled with star patterns, a quill mapping constellations, and an epic orrery. She must have had quite the fascination with the night sky.
Near the top left, you can interact with her telescope, showing a fascinating green sky with unknown planets and a magenta comet streaking past. That comet eventually hit Club Penguin’s island, sparking the Superhero Party. This sky inspired our team to have Garianna build the tower, trying to reach it.
So, we have Garianna trapped in her relentless ascent to the cosmos. But who will be there to pull her down and ground her? That’s where Jester comes in. They do not play a traditional jester’s role but act more as Garianna’s assistant, carrying her things, bringing potion ingredients, and protecting her from perceived threats. None of those are typical jester traits, so why do they do them?
Designed as somewhere between friend and knight, Jester cares deeply for Garianna but lacks the means to keep her safe physically. In another time, the story might be theirs — gaining courage to scale the tower themselves and confront Garianna — but for now, they act as a helpful resource, letting you purchase items and artifacts to brave the tower’s heights.
We hope you enjoy their story. At Club Penguin Journey, we want to keep reaching new heights and accomplish great things using this beloved childhood game. Sometimes ambition can get the better of us. In some ways, the Witch’s Tale reflects CPJ’s own journey.
Other Concept Pieces
Wrapping Up…
From castle halls to starry nights spent in the Infinite Tower, Medieval Party 2025 was one of our most ambitious pieces yet. Whether you spent your time exploring cozy rooms, collecting armor, or piecing together the mysteries of Garianna, we hope you found something magical in every corner.
We can’t wait to keep building on it and improving the experience in the years to come, refining its mechanics, and making every climb feel fresh again.
Thanks for adventuring with us. We’ll see you soon!
And until then… waddle on!
The Club Penguin Journey Team
