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

[Zep Zepo]

Figuring out the UI ....slowly...but man, could have been better.

Zep--

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...rld-roguelike-rpg-with-tactical/posts/2382368

Devlog: Consumables & Valuables
Posted by Ink Stains Games (Creator)

Hello!

In today's devlog we will talk about items: food, consumables, valuables and their impact on the economy.

Let's start with the most delicious part: food. Cooking system isn’t that far away, so we’ve added many new types of food, almost all of which have their own properties, rarity and value. The meat is very nourishing and slows hunger accumulation after being consumed; fruits quench thirst and increase immunity; vegetables also strengthen your immunity and often have special effects. For example, garlic will slightly increase your resistance to unholy damage, and leek will slightly increase the speed of detoxification.

Dishes are separate subcategory of food. They usually greatly satisfy hunger, occupy less inventory space and spoil more slowly (or don’t spoil at all when it comes to pickled and smoked products) or have powerful special effects. For now, you can only buy them from merchants, but in the future we will add the ability to cook them by yourself.

Some types of food are highly valued for their healing properties and rarity. Usually, they have an elven origin: figs, ginger, citruses and dragon fruits will be difficult to find anywhere except from stocks of rarely encountered elven traders.

Alcohol deserves a special mention. Since the war was raging around not so long ago, there is not much quality alcohol left and therefore it’s highly values. You will have a choice: to keep alcohol for yourseld to relieve pain and keep morale high enough, or to sell it for additional income. The more exquisite the alcohol is, the weaker are its side effects: drinking country moonshine is… well, very different from consuming brandy or rare elven icy wines.

By the way: we finally added the ability to merge used consumables with each other. Now, if you have two half full bottles, their contents can be poured into one, freeing up a place in the inventory.

And now, the valuables. We want them to become the main engine of the in-game economy: it will be much more profitable for the player to seek various rarities than to collect rusty junk sold for a penny. First, they take up much less space than massive armor and weapons. Secondly, it’s way more profitable: almost all merchants are interested in valuables and are willing to pay pretty well for them.

Different locations will have different sets of valuables you may encounter. In the crypts you can profit from the plundering of sarcophagi - perhaps, among the decayed bones you may find some old jewelry. In the brigand hideouts you may find a lot of different stuff, including rare goods from the plundered elven caravans: porcelain, silks, ivory and spices. And in the abandoned mines it’s possible to find gems and precious ingots.

And to carry all that loot far enough, do not forget to get a roomy bag in advance. And, perhaps, equip some good armor: with such a load you can easily get into a brigand ambush.

That's all for today, see you soon!

======

Also you can follow us on:

• Discord
• Twitter
• Facebook

 

[Rahdulan]

Tried the free alpha on Steam and I liked it, but there's not enough random generation in that brief snippet we get so when you die you will essentially be running the same area over and over again with very minor variations. I'll also always question tying story to a roguelike in any significant degree because devs cannot realistically manufacture enough of it to be interesting enough yet present in every run. Both of those could just be related to re-playing a small confined area and not indicative of the game at large, though. Some stuff like expanded injuries and treatments thereof are great. Nothing like some simulationism when you're just far away from the explosion to not get actually injured, but still close enough to get dizzy from the blast.

 

[Agame]

I'll also always question tying story to a roguelike in any significant degree because devs cannot realistically manufacture enough of it to be interesting enough yet present in every run.

Caves of Qud handles this well imo, there are a few "special" locations on the map that link into the plot, but you can very easily ignore them and just go off and do your own thing for a particular characters entire life span.

 

[Zep Zepo]

I hate the inventory Tetris.

Zep--

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...rld-roguelike-rpg-with-tactical/posts/2394178

Devlog: Bounties & The Crypt
Posted by Ink Stains Games (Creator)

Hello!

This devlog is a bit late and therefore kind of off-schedule, as we were busy polishing our today's topic of discussion – bounty system and the associated dungeon, the Crypt.

First, let's clarify the terminology. In our game there’ll be two types of missions: quests and bounties.

First category includes all quests with a scripted storyline and various special content. They are unique and can be completed only once per walkthrough. These tasks include both main plotline missions and various secondary story arcs.

Please keep in mind all English texts are WIP and hadn't been yet professionaly translated and proofread.

And bounties are procedurally generated repeatable quests. Their structure always remains unchanged, but the place and the participants will change. Bounties are offered mainly by village elders, and usually revolve around solving their settlement’s problems. This is one of the best ways to make quick money and improve your relationship with a settlement or a faction.

Some of the bounty-related relics.

As for now, all bounties can be divided into four conditional categories:

• Headhunts. To eliminate a threat, sometimes it’s enough to deal with its leader, an elite enemy who may give you a lot of trouble. By the way, elite mobs are also generated procedurally, but we’ll talk about it some another time.
• Rescue. Locals often fall into various dangerous situations. Your job is to get them out of the mess.
• Search. Lost relics, stolen artifacts, treasure hunts - you will have a chance to take part in all of this. By the way, nothing prevents you from breaking the contract and leaving the found valuables for yourself…
• Interaction. In such bounties you’re required to find a certain place and make a number of special actions to achieve… a needed outcome. Sounds pretty abstract, but, well, that’s how it works.

In the future we plan to diversify bounties by adding some new variations and categories. For example, our to-do list contains monster hunts involving some extremely rare and dangerous enemies.

Troll concept. Don't feed him.

It’s worth mentioning that bounties are very dependent on global map situation. For example, if orcs or brigands chose an abandoned fort for their own camp in the settlement’s vicinity, sooner or later they will start to create problems for this settlement – so at some point villagers will offer a bounty on them.

Also, unlike quests, bounties completion time is limited and thus is discussed in advance. Not completing the bounty in time won’t only worsen your reputation, but may also have serious consequences for a bounty-giver.

For instance, if you won’t disrupt the necromantic ritual in the crypt nearby in time, the undead may become significantly stronger in this region, so they’ll make even more trouble in the future. So take your bounties seriously and don’t be greedy – if you aren’t sure you’ll be able to complete them, don’t give people false hope and let them hire some other mercenary.

Nothing like pillaging someone's grandgrandfather's tomb!

In alpha all bounties are focused on Crypts – our new dungeon type. Technically, the Crypt isn’t 100% new – we’ve demonstrated it a long time ago. However, during last month it was completely revamped from scratch to better fit the changed lore and also test our new approach to dungeon procedural generation.

Most crypts in Aldor have hundred-years history and reflect local burial customs. Those who could afford it were buried in impressive stone sarcophagi. Common folks could usually count on an ordinary wooden coffin. Many dead people are also buried with different valuables – as it’s believed that it may help the deceased in their afterlives.

So a trip to the crypt offers not only an oppotrtunity to die from the undead hands, but also a chance to make a fortune… if you’re lucky enough. Anyway, nobody will check the bodies of people who died several ages ago, so that’s probably fine.

Well.... I guess... I'm here?

And as a small bonus – here goes our in-game map item, which shows a small fragment of the global map. Bu the way, this is where the alpha will take place.

This is all for today. See you later!

======

Your daily reminder that we've also got:

• Discord
• Twitter
• Facebook

 

[Murk]

Still lookin' pretty darn good.

 

[Gerrard]

The art is fucking fantastic

I just hope the rest of the game lives up to it.

 

[Mazisky]

This is one of the few games i am pretty hyped for

 

[Grauken]

Don't jinx it

 

[Modron]

Don't jinx it

Only Makaab has that kind of power.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Wayfinder
I had this stuff on steam wishlist for a while, but saw the codex thread just now.

Glad to see that this will be Tb and takes inspiration from Nethack et all.

Not sure how the gameplay turns out, but the art looks amazing.

 

[Murk]

I liked the gameplay from the demo well enough, was just itching to try more skills and more items out.

It's god a good flow to it, runs smooth and quick if you want or you can take your time (true of any rogue like, but the fluidity of how things play is very nice here and not at all stuttering and choppy).

 

[Reinhardt]

Don't jinx it

Only Makabb has that kind of power.

fixed

 

[The Wall]

Incline has release date! Skipping Early Access?! Weird ok...

November 7th, 2019 @ $14.99

Through pain, blood and broken bones — prevail and become a legend deciding the fate of Aldor! Stoneshard is coming to Steam on November 7th for $14.99!
(price may differ depending on the region)

To accompany the announcement we’ve also made a new trailer. Take a look!

 

[Wayfinder]

Hi guys, finally I've remembered my password here (which is definitely an incline).

Seems like I need to clarify things: we're still going Early Access. The announcement was made by our publisher, so don't know why they decided to skip this part.

Stay tuned for the upcoming updates, we'll make a devlog explaining what will be included in the initial release and how we plan to develop the game during the Early Access phase.

Cheers.

 

[Infinitron]

The announcement were made by our publisher, so don't know why they decided to skip this part.

Is the Early Access on November 7th or is that the actual final release date?

 

[Wayfinder]

The announcement were made by our publisher, so don't know why they decided to skip this part.

Is the Early Access on November 7th or is that the actual final release date?

7th of November is Early Access release date, that's right.

 

[The Wall]

Hi guys, finally I've remembered my password here (which is definitely an incline).

Seems like I need to clarify things: we're still going Early Access. The announcement were made by our publisher, so don't know why they decided to skip this part.

Stay tuned for the upcoming updates, we'll make a devlog explaining what will be included in the initial release and how we plan to develop the game during the Early Access phase.

Cheers.

Just checked same news on your Kickstarter page from my Prestigious Kickstarters bookmark folder and it seems you still control your Kickstarter page cause there it says plainly: Early Access

Love from Slav to Slav and gamer to gamer for not being afraid to make complex, robust yet fun RPGs in day when RPG is after 8 years and 8 billion sold Skyrim copies again becoming dirty word, decided by marketing shamans. Don't worry, this time next year, I'm sure you'll be swimming in gold!

 

[The Wall]

I guess this is best place on Internet to ask this question since dev brought his account from the dead: Only thing I don't get about game is whether you'll be able to freely traverse world and it's essentially open world roguelike RPG Skyrim with overworld map on which you can choose to fast travel to already discovered or marked towns, forts, castles, caves, brothels etc. or does it work like Fallout 1/2, Pillars 1/2 etc. where true travel between locations can be done only on overworld map?

Hope my morning INT was high enough for dev to grasp jist of my question! Also how can I give you money NOW, or do I have to wait 'till November the 7th?

 

[Wayfinder]

I guess this is best place on Internet to ask this question since dev brought his account from the dead: Only thing I don't get about game is whether you'll be able to freely traverse world and it's essentially open world roguelike RPG Skyrim with overworld map on which you can choose to fast travel to already discovered or marked towns, forts, castles, caves, brothels etc. or does it work like Fallout 1/2, Pillars 1/2 etc. where true travel between locations can be done only on overworld map?

Hope my morning INT was high enough for dev to grasp jist of my question! Also how can I give you money NOW, or do I have to wait 'till November the 7th?

I'm more active on Steam Discussions, but nevermind Also thank you for your support (and all other people who kept this thread alive with updates).

Well, the world's global map is basically a grid of many location tiles. You can roam between them in any direction. Fast travel is tied to your caravan (you can't access it in any other way) and is very limited: you can only traverse between settlements and special campsite locations. So normally you're still required to do some walking to the points of interest from there.

We won't do any pre-orders, so you'd wait until November

P.S. Is there any way to turn off automatic emojis? These are kinda atrocious...

 

[Black]

P.S. Is there any way to turn off automatic emojis? These are kinda atrocious...

Reported.

 

[The Wall]

Only true alternative to gobbo is

Your game alonside Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones, Realms Beyond, Iron Oath & Vagrus is among my most anticipated. These devs are Keepers of the Incline Flame. Only ones who actually innovate inside RPG genre

Also why all Codex basic smilies have sexual undertone while lookin directly at my soul?! Can't maintain eye contact with them for longer then 3 sec.

P.S. When can we expect next update? I picked these jpgs that fell of the truck, are they from next update, mayhaps?

Stuff that fell of truck

 

[Wayfinder]

P.S. When can we expect next update? I picked these jpgs that fell of the truck, are they from next update, mayhaps?

Can't say exacly, hopefully this week. Yes, we're currently working on adding new skills, and it takes lots of time to properly implement and debug their mechanics and visuals.

Also, here're some other skill trees:

Spoiler

 

[Wayfinder]

And here're some more upcoming skill trees for you:

Maces | Daggers | Greatswords

There won't be any level/stat requirements for learning skills. Instead you'll need to find a corresponding treatise to unlock needed skills first, and then invest SPs to learn them (granted you've unlocked at least one connected skill).

Different classes will have different initially unlocked skills, thus giving you an initial direction to develop your character. However, such direction isn't mandatory, and you still can turn your warrior into Chronomancer, for instance - though more likely it will take more time and money than going predetermined "sword and board" archetype.