KickStarter Stoneshard - open world roguelike RPG - now available on Early Access

[cyborgboy95]

 

[Abu Antar]

 

[Abu Antar]

Devlog: City of Gold Release Date & The Latest News

Hello everyone!

Let’s start with the release date: as many of you might already know, the City of Gold update was moved to November due to a number of reasons. And today we’re ready to announce its exact release date -
November 18
. This date is final, so make sure to set up a reminder!

Now to the latest news. We’re currently working on bringing the city to life, setting up NPCs and implementing side quests, many of which will have multiple paths and long-term consequences. Even though we would be happy to give you details, it’s not possible without getting into spoilers, so we’ll let you discover the secrets of Brynn streets by yourself.

Here’s a teaser just to get you started. And in return we’ll tell you about many other things that will be added with the City of Gold:

We haven't yet finished setting up NPCs, so you can expect the end result to be much more lively.

Spoiler

NEW ENEMIES

The bestiary of Stoneshard will see many new additions: other than mid-tier Proselytes (this topic deserves its own devlog), there’ll be a few other dangers to watch out for when exploring the world.

Deathstingers

“Deathstingers are the scourge of the local woods. A large enough swarm of these sizeable insects can make short work of pretty much anything or anyone”


Deathstingers are large and very aggressive insects that form swarms around their hives in certain points of interest. Their primary strength lies in numbers - until a Deathstinger hive is destroyed, it will periodically spawn new swarms, maintaining their number.

But even a single Deathstinger swarm can cause a lot of grief: these things are hard to hit, and even successful strikes don’t deal much damage. On top of that, the less Health a swarm has, the higher its chance to dodge future attacks, although its own attacks will deal less damage as well.

Crawlers

“Crawlers make their burrows in deep woods, where they hunt small wildlife. Other predators do their best to stay away - crawlers' blood and bites are venomous, and their ability to almost instantaneously heal their fragile carapaces turns any encounter with them into a battle of attrition”


Needless to say, we had no choice but to introduce giant spiders into the game - therefore, meet Crawlers. You’ll be able to encounter them in the woods, but fortunately for you they won’t stray far from their burrows. Crawlers are dangerous predators for quite a number of reasons.

First of all, they are capable of spitting liquid webs, immobilizing and weakening their victims. Just as with Mancatchers’ nets, it will be possible to untangle yourself from them by skipping turns.

Crawlers’ huge size makes them rather frail - to compensate for this shortcoming, they have an ability to quickly regenerate any damage done to their chitinous carapace. Each turn Crawlers restore some of their Armor Durability, which also grants them additional Resistances. At the same time, they don’t have much Health, so the best weapon for hunting Crawlers is something with good Armor Damage and Penetration.

And finally, their blood is corrosive. Fighting Crawlers in melee will get you sprayed with it, dealing Caustic and Poison damage. This damage is also increased by each Injury or Bleed affecting a Crawler.

Harpies

“Initially, harpies inhabited only the ridges of Aldorian foothills, but now they can be encountered across the entire realm. Their habits haven’t changed in the slightest though: these perpetually ravenous beasts are still the source of constant nuisance, attacking livestock and lonely travelers”


Harpies are enormous scavenger birds that can be found across most of Aldor. Hunting them requires a strategic approach: make sure that you bring a net or two with you or have a way to quickly cripple their wings - Harpies get significant combat bonuses while they are in the air.

Upon spotting their prey, Harpies swiftly close in to intercept it, so archers and mages will have a hard time keeping their distance - until a Harpy’s wings are injured, their mobility skill has no cooldown.
Harpies usually attempt to intimidate and confuse their victim with deafening screeches, then surround it from all sides, trying to peck out the eyes. Harpies’ heinous stench also doesn’t make fighting them any easier, causing coughing and the urge to throw up.

Despite all that, Harpies are incredibly cowardly: when threatened by defeat, they immediately try to take off and fly away a few turns after beginning their retreat, leaving you without valuable feathers and other trophies.

NEW THROWABLES

No one expects you to face new dangers without new tools, so we added a few bombs with different effects.

Nistrian Flame Flask

“The recipe for Nistrian flame, the flasks of which occasionally find their way to Aldor, still remains a secret despite the efforts of many talented scholars. Alas, no one has yet invented an alternative that burns at least half as well”

Deathstinger Jar

“The only reason why this deadly weapon is barely ever used is that any attempt to encase a swarm of enraged insects in a fragile container is incredibly dangerous”

Spider Blood Flask

“Certain alchemical procedures can prevent crawler blood from curdling, allowing it to be stored in glass containers for prolonged periods of time. This creates many new possibilities ranging from using it in further alchemical experiments to throwing it in combat”

BODIES OF WATER

And finally, the first look at rivers and lakes:

Bodies of water have a whole lot of mechanics tied to them, ranging from the basic option to fill a waterskin to swimming, combat, and special interactions with some abilities.
When your character is in shallow water, moving to another tile takes two turns. The distance of dashes is affected as well.

Upon entering deep water, the character begins to swim. The main thing to keep in mind is that swimming requires Energy - each traversed water tile will consume some of it. If Energy reaches zero, your character will drown, dying instantly. Swimming Energy Cost is affected by many factors: certain active effects, Injuries, and also whether you have heavy armor equipped.

On top of that, you can’t use weapons when in deep water - all attacks will count as unarmed, stats like Block and Counter chances will be disabled, and taking damage will burn Energy.

The same rules will apply to your enemies too. Some of them will be unable to swim at all, actively trying to avoid entering deep water.

Once we get closer to implementing Alchemy and cooking, we also plan to add a fishing system, but for now it’s way too soon to get into any details.

================================

That’s all for now. Until the next devlog!

 

[Sykar]

So when will we get an update in relation to new skill sets? Would love to see more than geomancy and pyromancy for example for casters.

 

[Salvo]

The date is final guys! Not like the previous 3! It's coming out this time I swear

 

[Abu Antar]

All Events > Stoneshard Events >

Devlog: Changes to the Leveling System

Hello everyone!

In today’s devlog we’ll tell you about changes to the leveling system that will be introduced with the City of Gold update.

ATTRIBUTES

As we observed choices made by players when building their characters, we found out the following things:

• Players rarely spread points between multiple Attributes - both stat points gained upon leveling up are usually invested into a single Attribute to receive a more noticeable increase in power.
  
• Primary Attributes affect too many secondary stats: it’s difficult to keep track of them for most players, and leveling usually comes down to focusing on 1 or 2 build-defining stats.
  
• Some primary Attributes are way too important for certain archetypes while being pretty much ignored by others.

That’s why we decided to revise our old Attributes system:

• All Attributes are now
  capped at 30 points
  .
  
• Each Attribute governs only
  two secondary stats
  .
  
• You only gain
  one stat point
  upon leveling up, but its impact is now much more noticeable.
  
• Each primary Attribute now also has
  thresholds
  - upon reaching them your character will receive a powerful bonus to 3 additional stats. Each Attribute has 4 thresholds that you can reach - 15, 20, 25, and 30 points.
  
  We noticed that many players enjoy investing into Perception for much-desired Bonus Range breakpoints - it’s one of the reasons why we’re introducing a similar twist to other Attributes, making leveling more engaging and providing players with goals to pursue.
  
• The bonuses to characters’ starting Attributes were reduced.

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All these changes will require you to put more thought into building your characters - many important stats are only increased upon reaching an Attribute threshold, so you’ll have a lot of things to consider: shall you put your precious SP into Vitality to gain bonus Health? Perhaps it’s more worthwhile to invest into Perception for Accuracy and Crit Chance? Or maybe the best course of action is to continue pushing Strength, hoping that its bonus Damage will offset the characters’ shortcomings? The decision is yours to make.

LEARNING ABILITIES

We closely monitor our community’s feedback, and it’s apparent that many players consider the existing treatise system to be way too restrictive and irritating. Unsurprisingly, many people try to circumvent it by resetting traders’ stock or even by editing save files. It’s not the most desirable outcome, so that’s why we’re also making important changes to another key mechanic - how Abilities are learned.

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This example is WIP and is subject to change. To better understand the context make sure to read the final paragraph of the list below.

• We’ve
  reworked the structure
  of every Ability tree in the game. They now look cleaner and should provide better indication about which tier each Ability belongs to.
  
  
• Most Ability trees now have significantly
  more starting paths
  . This should make early combat more fun and reduce the frequency of situations when players are forced to stockpile points because they run out of Abilities to invest them into.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Some Ability trees have a
  new type of link - a node
  . Nodes indicate that in order to unlock Abilities below them, you’ll first have to unlock every Ability linked to them.
  
  This change will reduce highly prominent power spikes that are detrimental to the overall balance - you will no longer be able to quickly cherry-pick active abilities while ignoring everything else. Before the rework, the deadly combo of “Incineration” and “Melting Ray” could be unlocked just after putting 2 points into Pyromancy, but now you’ll have to learn all 8 prerequisite Abilities before you gain access to it. To sum it up, expect mages to become less overpowered.
  
  
• At the same time, the
  opening tiers are much more flexible
  - the new system will provide you with more opportunities to grab a few starting Abilities to round up your build, but if you plan to gain access to high-level Abilities, you’ll need to actually invest.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• With the exception of the first tier, Abilities now have
  Attribute requirements
  as an alternative to learning them from treatises. Still, we don’t want the system to be too restrictive, so the requirements are fairly adaptable: as a general rule, you’ll have to invest a certain amount of points into a combined sum of relevant Attributes in any combination you want. For instance, if an Ability requires 6 points invested into Strength or Agility, you can unlock it by putting all 6 points into either Strength or Agility, by putting 2 points into Strength and 4 into Agility, and so on.
  
  To put it simply, you have a choice between unlocking Abilities on your own by fulfilling their Attribute requirements and searching for a treatise if you want to unlock them earlier or plan to forego Attribute requirements entirely (in case they aren’t supported by your build)
  
  
• In addition to treatises,
  starting Abilities can also be unlocked by trainers
  - for a price, of course. Most trainers are Osbrook and Mannshire NPCs whom you’re already familiar with, which means that you’ll be able to unlock all Ability trees (except for magic and Dual Wielding, the trainers for which are located in Brynn) right from the beginning without specifically looking for a relevant treatise.
  
  
• These changes will elevate treatises back to their intended place as rare and valuable loot. In addition to that,
  treatises are no longer sold by village merchants
  - you’ll have to search for them in dungeons, points of interest, or buy them from designated traders in Brynn. The Mannshire scribe’s stock was also reduced: instead of selling every single book in Aldor, he’ll only have a small selection of tomes that survived the siege.
  
  
• Many passives (as well as some active Abilities) were
  massively reworked
  to increase their usefulness and versatility, making them a better fit for the reworked Ability trees, so don’t be too swift to judge the presented changes.

===============================

Until the next devlog!

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[Abu Antar]

 

[Raghar]

All Events > Stoneshard Events >

Devlog: Changes to the Leveling System

Aka how we killed the game.

(Meanwhile, players are still awaiting character generator. It's been 3 years and counting.)

 

[HeyCheckOutHowHardICanPee]

it’s apparent that many players consider the existing treatise system to be way too restrictive and irritating.

So their solution to this was to make the stat and skill system too restrictive and irritating as well?

 

[Fedora Master]

Dead game

 

[Teut Busnet]

Aka how we killed the game.

(Meanwhile, players are still awaiting character generator. It's been 3 years and counting.)

Ok, you have implemented 50% of the abilities a player can choose from when building his Character. Do you:


a) finish the other half, so you can then fine tune and balance them afterwards, knowing how they will all affect each other, what is OP, what is fun, etc

b) fiddle around with what's already there for two years while ignoring often requested features and watch your STEAM ratings drop to under 60%

 

[Cyberarmy]

WTF, this was looking promising...

 

[Alienman]

Aka how we killed the game.

How come you say this? Not followed the development for a while.

 

[jackofshadows]

inb4 update postponement

 

[Tygrende]

• 
  
  
  
• Some Ability trees have a
  new type of link - a node. Nodes indicate that in order to unlock Abilities below them, you’ll first have to unlock every Ability linked to them.

I don't like this in particular. Just about any solution would be better than forcing people to take multiple abilities they don't want for the sake of getting what they actually want.

 

[cyborgboy95]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/625960/view/3078767482782696187

Devlog: Rumor System & Artifacts​

Hello everyone!

The City of Gold is almost here! Before its release on November 18th, we plan to publish one more devlog with a summary of the update’s most important changes and additions. Today, however, we’d like to tell you about two previously unannounced systems.

Spoiler

Rumor System

Rumors are closely tied to the new global map. As you may recall from its designated devlog, the global map will be initially concealed in the fog of war that you need to clear by exploring the world.
The same principle applies to Points of Interest, the location of which will be hidden until you stumble upon them yourself or learn about them from rumors.

Rumors are scraps of the latest news, gossip, and other interesting information, mostly exaggerated and sometimes not matching the reality at all. This mechanic is already partially present in the game: most NPCs can be chatted up to learn their thoughts about recent events, although this feature currently doesn’t have any gameplay applications.

After the CoG update, talking with some characters will actually provide you with valuable information, usually hinting at nearby POIs, which will then be marked on the global map. Different types of Points of Interest will have their own rumors associated with them: you’ll be able to learn about nearby camps, hunting grounds, monster dens, unique locations, distant dungeons, and so on.

Keep in mind that sometimes NPCs will request payment for valuable rumors, so make sure to bring your gold purse when fishing for information. If you fail to learn anything useful on your first attempt, don’t be discouraged - you’ll be able to try again in a few days.

Artifacts

Let’s talk about artifacts, a new type of loot with special properties. Artifacts are powerful relics of both recent and ancient past, some of them even dating back to antiquity. They’re usually imbued with mystical properties and can greatly benefit your character if you’re willing to sacrifice inventory space to carry them around.

Artifacts function as unique items: each of them can only be acquired once per playthrough. You’ll be able to find them in distant dungeons - dangerous locations situated far from settlements. These distant dungeons don’t have contracts associated with them, so you’ll have to either find them on your own or rely on rumors.

In the future, we might introduce additional means of acquiring artifacts: you’ll be able to find some of them in special locations, and others - in secret rooms or during quests. But for now, here are some of the artifacts you’ll have a chance to encounter in this update:

Casket with St Wald Relics

“St Wald, one of the first Aldorian saints, left his mark in history as a great preacher and an implacable enemy of heretics and the wicked. His relics are said to possess miraculous properties, capable of warding off the evil eye and cleansing malicious curses”


Effect:
grants +30% Unholy Resistance and immunity to the “Curse” effect.

Codex of the Triple Hand Order

“This hefty tome is written in the Order's notorious code which no one has yet managed to crack. It's rumored that this book was blessed by all three Hands of the Host, and that it contains the full history of the Order and every mystery of creation they were privy to…”


Effect:
killing undead or Proselyte enemies has 25% chance to grant “Blessing” for 100 turns.

Nikos of Arpheon's Astrolabe

“Nikos of Arpheon was perhaps the greatest seafarer known to the world. He was the first one to make a successful voyage around the Continent about a century ago. Even in the eye of Southern storms or amid icebergs of the North, Nikos's unparalleled skill as a navigator allowed him to always keep his ship on the chosen course”


Effect:
can be used on the surface during night time once per day. Upon activation, grants the effect of “Clear Vision” for 2880 turns, boosting Crit Chance, Accuracy, Vision, and Bonus Range.

Blessed Aquamanile

“A bronze jug in the form of a lion, expertly crafted on the Bronze Isles by an unknown master. Somehow this aquamanile found its way to Aldor, where it was blessed by the Archtheurgist of the High Hieron himself to serve as an eternal source of water to those dying of thirst - whenever emptied, it miraculously refills itself”


Effect:
can be used once per day. Upon activation, sates 50% Thirst and also replenishes 25% Health and 15% Condition to each body part.

=============

That’s all for now. Until the next devlog!

 

[Wayfinder]

Ok, you have implemented 50% of the abilities a player can choose from when building his Character. Do you:


a) finish the other half, so you can then fine tune and balance them afterwards, knowing how they will all affect each other, what is OP, what is fun, etc

b) fiddle around with what's already there for two years while ignoring often requested features and watch your STEAM ratings drop to under 60%

In reality a) would rather sound like "finish the other half of the abilities in an initially flawed form, while realizing they still have to be redone in a very different way, so it would take even more time to rework them later". Is it really that difficult to grasp that ability progression doesn't exist in a vacuum and can't be just "fine tuned afterwards"? It's one of the core systems of any RPG, tightly connected with other game-defining stuff like player power scaling, enemy power scaling, content distribution and so on, and so on. Delaying the much needed rework before "finishing everything else" basically means you'll also need to revisit and rework said "everything else".

I don't like this in particular. Just about any solution would be better than forcing people to take multiple abilities they don't want for the sake of getting what they actually want.

Except it already worked liked that with the endgame abilities locked behind several other abilities you need to learn first. That's how ability skill trees work in general, it's hardly a novel concept in role-playing games.

If you want some good stuff you need to invest, yes, and considering most abilities are designed to heavily synergize with one another taking a few passives along the way is hardly a heavy toll for that.

If anything, it creates more build variety because of new branched starts and easier multiclassing.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Char creation when

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[Teut Busnet]

Ok, you have implemented 50% of the abilities a player can choose from when building his Character. Do you:


a) finish the other half, so you can then fine tune and balance them afterwards, knowing how they will all affect each other, what is OP, what is fun, etc

b) fiddle around with what's already there for two years while ignoring often requested features and watch your STEAM ratings drop to under 60%

In reality a) would rather sound like "finish the other half of the abilities in an initially flawed form, while realizing they still have to be redone in a very different way, so it would take even more time to rework them later". Is it really that difficult to grasp that ability progression doesn't exist in a vacuum and can't be just "fine tuned afterwards"? It's one of the core systems of any RPG, tightly connected with other game-defining stuff like player power scaling, enemy power scaling, content distribution and so on, and so on. Delaying the much needed rework before "finishing everything else" basically means you'll also need to revisit and rework said "everything else".

I don't like this in particular. Just about any solution would be better than forcing people to take multiple abilities they don't want for the sake of getting what they actually want.

Except it already worked liked that with the endgame abilities locked behind several other abilities you need to learn first. That's how ability skill trees work in general, it's hardly a novel concept in role-playing games.

If you want some good stuff you need to invest, yes, and considering most abilities are designed to heavily synergize with one another taking a few passives along the way is hardly a heavy toll for that.

If anything, it creates more build variety because of new branched starts and easier multiclassing.

Your 'Prologue' came out in June of 2018.

What I find 'difficult to grasp' is that you would need over three fucking years to create half of a 'not flawed' - and not even very substantial - skill tree.

Were you responsible for handing out car permits in the USSR?

 

[Tygrende]

Except it already worked liked that with the endgame abilities locked behind several other abilities you need to learn first. That's how ability skill trees work in general, it's hardly a novel concept in role-playing games.

If you want some good stuff you need to invest, yes, and considering most abilities are designed to heavily synergize with one another taking a few passives along the way is hardly a heavy toll for that.

If anything, it creates more build variety because of new branched starts and easier multiclassing.

No, it didn't work like that before, the scale was different. It wasn't necessary to pick 4 different skills of the same tier to just unlock the next one.

If anything, it has strong potential to cause less build variety - more builds will end up samey because they are forced to pick the same abilities to unlock other abilities. I will abstain from judging the actual implementation until I actually see it in-game though. It's not like I have any reason to believe it's coming any time soon.

 

[jackofshadows]

If anything, it creates more build variety because of new branched starts and easier multiclassing.

Are you taking your audience for morons or something? It literally goes the other way around. Both in terms of build variety and multiclassing.

 

[Wayfinder]

Your 'Prologue' came out in June of 2018.

What I find 'difficult to grasp' is that you would need over three fucking years to create half of a 'not flawed' - and not even very substantial - skill tree.

Were you responsible for handing out car permits in the USSR?

Maybe when you'll find out that skills were far from being the only priority and Prologue was merely a proof of concept prototype it'll get easier for you to grasp it as well. Like, you can download the old Prologue and see what (everything) was changed and was added since then. Should really help.
But yeah, how dare the devs take feedback to revise and improve something.

No, it didn't work like that before, the scale was different. It wasn't necessary to pick 4 different skills of the same tier to just unlock the next one.

If anything, it has strong potential to cause less build variety - more builds will end up samey because they are forced to pick the same abilities to unlock other abilities. I will abstain from judging the actual implementation until I actually see it in-game though. It's not like I have any reason to believe it's coming any time soon.

You are not required to pick 4 different skills in every single tree to progress further. The GIF in the devlog is just an example of a skill tree that has the whole first tier noded - because the Massacre is one of the best stances in the game and the Execution is the best non-magical single-target nuke. But that's not how every branch works. Check out other screenshots, the only other skill trees that does that are 2-handed maces and 2-handed axes for the similar reasons. All other branches are much more freeform which makes dabbling in them for non-specialized characters easier.

Here's the Pyromancy, for example, to demonstrate:

Yes, getting Inferno requires you to master almost everything else (which is lore-friendly and balanced considering the immense power of this spell), but you have more options at the start and getting to a certain tier III spell isn't locked behind all other previous tiers.
In the current build you need to learn Fire Barrage and Blaze before unlocking, say, Ring of Fire or some pyromantic passive as a melee or hybrid char; now it has more entry points which actually increases the number of possible combinations. After all, character building in Stoneshard rather comes from combining several skill trees than having various ways to level up a single one.

Are you taking your audience for morons or something? It literally goes the other way around. Both in terms of build variety and multiclassing.

Read the devlog and check the screenshots again, it's definitely not my issue.

Char creation when

Literally the next thing we'll start working on after the global map alongside with new magic.