Hello!

New devlog is out, and it’s all about an interesting and important class system. Also check our updated logo on a header above.

In Stoneshard classes are implemented quite unusually. Archetype system takes it’s place, instead of set of classes, which in combination with the character's race determines its class. This feature was added in order to emphasize cultural differences between different races and make gameplay more diverse.

Four Archetypes (Warrior, Rogue, Ranger and Sorcerer) and 3 playable races (Humans, Elves and Dwarves) are coming, so simple arithmetic gives us 12 possible combinations. In future we will introduce the devlog with more info about all the races.


⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Here goes a complete table of planned classes and combinations.

Each class has two unique perks, available from the start – one passive and one active. By the way, Archetypes(along with the classes) are not restricting your character. They just make the gameplay style you chose easier, but require nothing : no gear or level-up restrictions (feel free to use a two-handed axe to cast a spell).

Designing and developing class perks we kept in mind, that they should be playable with any build. That’s why even Ranger’s class perks don’t force you to use ranged weapons, take two swords and aim for the head.

In addition, classes differ in two ways: starting inventory and basic characteristics. For example, Shadows, mysterious assassins from faraway Jade Kingdoms stand out with highest Agility and always start with exotic outfit: eastern incenses, elven coffee and exquisite jewelry. While Berserk’s Strength is balanced with Agility, in their backpack you can find Classic Ribeye, Mead from the closest craft pub and tons of dubious herbal infusions.


⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Berserks do love meat, axes and unorthodox medicine.

It’s time to stop, no need in supersaturating text with letters. Class topic is waiting for elucidation next week. See you next Monday!

Hello!

New devlog is out, and it’s all about an interesting and important class system. Also check our updated logo on a header above.

In Stoneshard classes are implemented quite unusually. Archetype system takes it’s place, instead of set of classes, which in combination with the character's race determines its class. This feature was added in order to emphasize cultural differences between different races and make gameplay more diverse.

Four Archetypes (Warrior, Rogue, Ranger and Sorcerer) and 3 playable races (Humans, Elves and Dwarves) are coming, so simple arithmetic gives us 12 possible combinations. In future we will introduce the devlog with more info about all the races.


⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Here goes a complete table of planned classes and combinations.

Each class has two unique perks, available from the start – one passive and one active. By the way, Archetypes(along with the classes) are not restricting your character. They just make the gameplay style you chose easier, but require nothing : no gear or level-up restrictions (feel free to use a two-handed axe to cast a spell).

Designing and developing class perks we kept in mind, that they should be playable with any build. That’s why even Ranger’s class perks don’t force you to use ranged weapons, take two swords and aim for the head.

In addition, classes differ in two ways: starting inventory and basic characteristics. For example, Shadows, mysterious assassins from faraway Jade Kingdoms stand out with highest Agility and always start with exotic outfit: eastern incenses, elven coffee and exquisite jewelry. While Berserk’s Strength is balanced with Agility, in their backpack you can find Classic Ribeye, Mead from the closest craft pub and tons of dubious herbal infusions.


⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Berserks do love meat, axes and unorthodox medicine.

It’s time to stop, no need in supersaturating text with letters. Class topic is waiting for elucidation next week. See you next Monday!

Hello everyone!

Monday is here, devlog incoming.So many topics to reveal, but today we have something special for you, the most important one. Here comes the attribute system — bread and butter for any true RPG.

Stoneshard attribute system is good, old and tested, no innovations, everyone chooses for themselves if it’s good or bad . All attributes (about 27 of them) are divided in two categories – Primary and Secondary. The main difference between those is, that Secondary attributes directly depend on Primary ones. In other words, Secondary attributes are upgraded only alongside with particular Primary ones.

From terminology we proceed to examples. Primary Attributes in quantity of 5 are listed here:

• Strength
  
• Agility
  
• Perception
  
• Intellect
  
• Willpower

A little sneak peek at our new character menu.

Quite a standard set. Let’s sort out the way they affect secondary character attributes.

• Strength – topmost important stat for melee oriented characters. Affects maximum health, melee and critical damage, block chance and physical debuff resistance. Strength facilitates lock breaking also.
  
  
• Agility – Strength antonym. While Strength allows you to be Grognak the Barbarian, agility makes you Boris the Bullet Dodger. It increases evasion chance, counterattack chance, block, critical hit chance, handling skills, stealth and also it lowers the chance of critical failure. In addition it affects the chance of some actions success, for example, lowers the trap triggering chance. A fine list, Jack of all Trades favorite Attribute.
  
  
• Perception – Eangers and prudent characters ally. Accuracy, zone of visibility, ranged attacks damage, critical chance, overall attentiveness, along with tinkering skills and stealth are affected by this attribute. A perceptive character is never an easy mark.
  
  
• Intellect – Mages main attribute. Mana pool and regeneration, spell power, miracle chance, attentiveness and tinkering skills are improved by this attribute. It is still unfinished so we won’t spoil the surprise, revealing everything.
  
  
• Willpower for dessert – the last, but not on importance for a Sorcerer. Do not fear power… Fear those who wield it well. It enhances mana pool, mana regeneration and spell power, in addition, it lowers your fumble chance and boosts mental and magic debuff resistance.

A good example what happens when you max Agility, while being in pain (and naked) as Berserk.

Some attribute points are gained each level, spend them wisely. There are a bunch of other ways to increase attributes, for example with enchanted gear, some skills and even with a specific potion.

Our game-design philosophy main goal is to give a player as much freedom (regarding character development) as we can, and we proudly can announce, that this devlog is the beginning of a whole series of diaries on this topic (doesn’t mean that they will go one by one).

That’s all folks. See you in the next devlog!

Hello everyone!

Monday is here, devlog incoming.So many topics to reveal, but today we have something special for you, the most important one. Here comes the attribute system — bread and butter for any true RPG.

Stoneshard attribute system is good, old and tested, no innovations, everyone chooses for themselves if it’s good or bad . All attributes (about 27 of them) are divided in two categories – Primary and Secondary. The main difference between those is, that Secondary attributes directly depend on Primary ones. In other words, Secondary attributes are upgraded only alongside with particular Primary ones.

From terminology we proceed to examples. Primary Attributes in quantity of 5 are listed here:

• Strength
  
• Agility
  
• Perception
  
• Intellect
  
• Willpower

A little sneak peek at our new character menu.

Quite a standard set. Let’s sort out the way they affect secondary character attributes.

• Strength – topmost important stat for melee oriented characters. Affects maximum health, melee and critical damage, block chance and physical debuff resistance. Strength facilitates lock breaking also.
  
  
• Agility – Strength antonym. While Strength allows you to be Grognak the Barbarian, agility makes you Boris the Bullet Dodger. It increases evasion chance, counterattack chance, block, critical hit chance, handling skills, stealth and also it lowers the chance of critical failure. In addition it affects the chance of some actions success, for example, lowers the trap triggering chance. A fine list, Jack of all Trades favorite Attribute.
  
  
• Perception – Eangers and prudent characters ally. Accuracy, zone of visibility, ranged attacks damage, critical chance, overall attentiveness, along with tinkering skills and stealth are affected by this attribute. A perceptive character is never an easy mark.
  
  
• Intellect – Mages main attribute. Mana pool and regeneration, spell power, miracle chance, attentiveness and tinkering skills are improved by this attribute. It is still unfinished so we won’t spoil the surprise, revealing everything.
  
  
• Willpower for dessert – the last, but not on importance for a Sorcerer. Do not fear power… Fear those who wield it well. It enhances mana pool, mana regeneration and spell power, in addition, it lowers your fumble chance and boosts mental and magic debuff resistance.

A good example what happens when you max Agility, while being in pain (and naked) as Berserk.

Some attribute points are gained each level, spend them wisely. There are a bunch of other ways to increase attributes, for example with enchanted gear, some skills and even with a specific potion.

Our game-design philosophy main goal is to give a player as much freedom (regarding character development) as we can, and we proudly can announce, that this devlog is the beginning of a whole series of diaries on this topic (doesn’t mean that they will go one by one).

That’s all folks. See you in the next devlog!

Greetings!

In case you’ve read our previous devlog, you can remember, that in that diary we promised to shed light on a Psyche system. Stoneshard is a game, which makes the hero experience different severe situations, thereat, a special system of mental health simulation takes its place. Here comes an in-depth guide.


Extreme conditions demand Heroic responses.

Each character has two mental indicators – Sanity and Morale. Sanity displays character’s mental health, how adequately he perceives. Morale is all about the character’s spirit, responding for alacrity to withstand all perils. Morale and Sanity are affected by different events.

For example, by dealing a critical strike or killing a hostile, you will increase character’s Morale. Similarly, starvation, thirst, injuries and low HP, on the contrary will cause a character to lose determination. Same rules apply for Sanity: dwelling in darkness, uncanny monsters, head injuries, intense pain and high intoxication will decrease it dramatically. Increasing it is much more complicated – Sanity restoration is available strictly on the surface, being safe and sound.


No, this isn't the political compass.

Proceeding to the most interesting section – Mental conditions. Conditions provide various unique effects, obtained by the character, depending on the current Sanity and Morale ratio. Each combination grants access to a special pool of Conditions, as illustrated above.

Each Condition demands a trigger – certain circumstances, that your hero must encounter, to activate a Condition. For example, to become Optimistic you need your Sanity and Morale level to be over 50, and HP level over 85%. While the conditions are fulfilled, the chance to become Optimistic will inevitably increase each turn. Also various Conditions work different: some require special conditions to be maintained, and other pass away automatically after several turns.

To illustrate it, we would like to provide a few descriptions:





It's a nice day outside to be Optimistic.

That’s all folks. See you in the next devlog!

Greetings!

In case you’ve read our previous devlog, you can remember, that in that diary we promised to shed light on a Psyche system. Stoneshard is a game, which makes the hero experience different severe situations, thereat, a special system of mental health simulation takes its place. Here comes an in-depth guide.


Extreme conditions demand Heroic responses.

Each character has two mental indicators – Sanity and Morale. Sanity displays character’s mental health, how adequately he perceives. Morale is all about the character’s spirit, responding for alacrity to withstand all perils. Morale and Sanity are affected by different events.

For example, by dealing a critical strike or killing a hostile, you will increase character’s Morale. Similarly, starvation, thirst, injuries and low HP, on the contrary will cause a character to lose determination. Same rules apply for Sanity: dwelling in darkness, uncanny monsters, head injuries, intense pain and high intoxication will decrease it dramatically. Increasing it is much more complicated – Sanity restoration is available strictly on the surface, being safe and sound.


No, this isn't the political compass.

Proceeding to the most interesting section – Mental conditions. Conditions provide various unique effects, obtained by the character, depending on the current Sanity and Morale ratio. Each combination grants access to a special pool of Conditions, as illustrated above.

Each Condition demands a trigger – certain circumstances, that your hero must encounter, to activate a Condition. For example, to become Optimistic you need your Sanity and Morale level to be over 50, and HP level over 85%. While the conditions are fulfilled, the chance to become Optimistic will inevitably increase each turn. Also various Conditions work different: some require special conditions to be maintained, and other pass away automatically after several turns.

To illustrate it, we would like to provide a few descriptions:





It's a nice day outside to be Optimistic.

That’s all folks. See you in the next devlog!

Hello everyone!

There wasn’t any news from us recently, but that doesn’t mean we halted the development. In this devdiary we’d like to tell you about our health system. In the past devlogs we mentioned intoxication and pain systems, but didn’t go into details. Today we’re going to change this.

Stoneshard is a game with a deep focus on character management. Medicine plays very important role here. Besides the traditional HP system you’ll need to manage hunger, thirst, pain, intoxication and injuries. Let’s start with pain.



Pain is a parameter showing how much suffering the incoming damage brings. Usually greater damage causes greater pain, but it isn’t always the case. Sometimes even non-life-threatening impacts can cause large amounts of pain – this is especially true when speaking about thermal and chemical burns, injuries and some types of magic.

Pain has different levels which have various effects on your hero. If the pain level is too high your character will have difficulties with concentration and self-control. He may even die from the pain shock. So it’s considered wise to always have some anesthetics in your inventory: flasks of ether, strong alcohol and drugs are a great way to lower the pain. Beware of pushbacks though – bad trips are really dangerous.



Hunger and thirst doesn’t work very differently from any other game with these survival elements. They have different levels of severity too, and on the highest levels death is almost inevitable. It’s worth mentioning hunger and thirst gain speed depends on your activity. Physical activity (e.g. combat) fastens hunger rates, while eating and casting spells makes your throat dry. Pronouncing spell words is usually a tiresome process, you know.



And finally injuries. In our game the body of your character is divided on several parts: head, torso, legs and both arms. When receiving a critical hit there is a chance some body part of your character will get injured. Different activities have different risks: for example traps usually injure your legs and torso, while breaking doors down is pretty unsafe for your hands.

The heavier the damage was, the more severe the injury is going to be. The severity affects the active debuff: light head trauma will slightly reduce your character’s Perception, while heavy head trauma makes regenerating mana and casting spells impossible. Light injuries can occasionally heal on their own, but medium and heavy traumas require special treatment. In that case you’ll need to use some splints or a healing salves to stabilize the injury – then your body will eventually heal it.


That’s all for today. In our next devlog we’ll dicuss my personally favorite thing – the Psyche system.

Have a nice day!

Hello everyone!

There wasn’t any news from us recently, but that doesn’t mean we halted the development. In this devdiary we’d like to tell you about our health system. In the past devlogs we mentioned intoxication and pain systems, but didn’t go into details. Today we’re going to change this.

Stoneshard is a game with a deep focus on character management. Medicine plays very important role here. Besides the traditional HP system you’ll need to manage hunger, thirst, pain, intoxication and injuries. Let’s start with pain.



Pain is a parameter showing how much suffering the incoming damage brings. Usually greater damage causes greater pain, but it isn’t always the case. Sometimes even non-life-threatening impacts can cause large amounts of pain – this is especially true when speaking about thermal and chemical burns, injuries and some types of magic.

Pain has different levels which have various effects on your hero. If the pain level is too high your character will have difficulties with concentration and self-control. He may even die from the pain shock. So it’s considered wise to always have some anesthetics in your inventory: flasks of ether, strong alcohol and drugs are a great way to lower the pain. Beware of pushbacks though – bad trips are really dangerous.



Hunger and thirst doesn’t work very differently from any other game with these survival elements. They have different levels of severity too, and on the highest levels death is almost inevitable. It’s worth mentioning hunger and thirst gain speed depends on your activity. Physical activity (e.g. combat) fastens hunger rates, while eating and casting spells makes your throat dry. Pronouncing spell words is usually a tiresome process, you know.



And finally injuries. In our game the body of your character is divided on several parts: head, torso, legs and both arms. When receiving a critical hit there is a chance some body part of your character will get injured. Different activities have different risks: for example traps usually injure your legs and torso, while breaking doors down is pretty unsafe for your hands.

The heavier the damage was, the more severe the injury is going to be. The severity affects the active debuff: light head trauma will slightly reduce your character’s Perception, while heavy head trauma makes regenerating mana and casting spells impossible. Light injuries can occasionally heal on their own, but medium and heavy traumas require special treatment. In that case you’ll need to use some splints or a healing salves to stabilize the injury – then your body will eventually heal it.


That’s all for today. In our next devlog we’ll dicuss my personally favorite thing – the Psyche system.

Have a nice day!

Hello everyone!

Today I’m going to tell you about many interesting new features. In this diary you’ll find some details about weapons properties, differences between damage types and also durability system.

Let’s start with weapons. There are 13 planned types of weaponry in Stoneshard. You’ll be able to equip whichever you like, as there won’t be any class restrictions. Aside from obvious differences (like daggers deal less damage than two-handed greatmauls etc.) each weapon type has its own unique critical hit mechanics.




Also, different weapons may have different damage types. For example, swords and axes deal slashing damage, while maces and staves deal blunt damage, and bows, crossbows and daggers have piercing attacks. Damage mechanics are worth discussing as well: it’s one of the core systems of our combat. To begin with, there are 17 different damage types, which belong to three branches: Physical, Magical and Natural.

Physical damage can be dealt with weapons and related skills. There are 4 types of Physical damage: Slashing, Piercing, Blunt and Tearing. Physical damage can be absorbed by Armor.

Magical damage, as you must have guessed, forms the basis of various spells. Also it can be dealt with usual attacks, if you were lucky enough to find suitable enchanted weapon. In total, you can master 7 types of magical damage: Arcane, Aether, Blessed, Eldritch, Chrono, Metamorphic and Psionic. Magical damage pierces Armor with ease, but can be lowered with specific resistances.

Natural damage unites those types of damage, typically dealt by the forces of nature itself. Some of them though are frequently used for conjuration and weapon enhancement. So, there are 6 types of natural damage: Fiery, Frost, Electric, Poison, Acidic and Blast. Natural damage can be nullified only by specific resistances as well.


Slashing, blunt and piercing damages in action

Each damage type also has a special effect. The more powerful your attack gets, the more likely that special effect will be applied. For instance, blunt attacks can ignore a portion of target’s Defense, electric damage – additionally chain to the nearest enemy, aether – temporarily blind everyone in a small zone, metamorphic – permanently decrease target’s attributes by painfully transmuting part of its body into gold.

Some damage types are also much more painful than others. For example, acidic and fiery damage deals three times more pain than piercing damage, which should be always taken into consideration when engaging toxic slugs or burning monsters in melee.



The next important feature is equipment durability, which decreases from active usage. Low durability means low stats – nearly broken item is roughly half as effective. Weapons will degrade from successful and fumbled hits, armor and shields wear out from absorbed damage, and boots fray from movement. The speed of deterioration is also affected by equipment material and received damage type. Fiery attacks burn out wooden shields and clothes quite fast, and attacking ooze slimes corrodes melee weapons.

It will be impossible to completely break an item though, so you shouldn’t worry about your favorite legendary sword – any item could be repaired to 100% durability again.

Stay tuned!

Hello everyone!

Today I’m going to tell you about many interesting new features. In this diary you’ll find some details about weapons properties, differences between damage types and also durability system.

Let’s start with weapons. There are 13 planned types of weaponry in Stoneshard. You’ll be able to equip whichever you like, as there won’t be any class restrictions. Aside from obvious differences (like daggers deal less damage than two-handed greatmauls etc.) each weapon type has its own unique critical hit mechanics.




Also, different weapons may have different damage types. For example, swords and axes deal slashing damage, while maces and staves deal blunt damage, and bows, crossbows and daggers have piercing attacks. Damage mechanics are worth discussing as well: it’s one of the core systems of our combat. To begin with, there are 17 different damage types, which belong to three branches: Physical, Magical and Natural.

Physical damage can be dealt with weapons and related skills. There are 4 types of Physical damage: Slashing, Piercing, Blunt and Tearing. Physical damage can be absorbed by Armor.

Magical damage, as you must have guessed, forms the basis of various spells. Also it can be dealt with usual attacks, if you were lucky enough to find suitable enchanted weapon. In total, you can master 7 types of magical damage: Arcane, Aether, Blessed, Eldritch, Chrono, Metamorphic and Psionic. Magical damage pierces Armor with ease, but can be lowered with specific resistances.

Natural damage unites those types of damage, typically dealt by the forces of nature itself. Some of them though are frequently used for conjuration and weapon enhancement. So, there are 6 types of natural damage: Fiery, Frost, Electric, Poison, Acidic and Blast. Natural damage can be nullified only by specific resistances as well.


Slashing, blunt and piercing damages in action

Each damage type also has a special effect. The more powerful your attack gets, the more likely that special effect will be applied. For instance, blunt attacks can ignore a portion of target’s Defense, electric damage – additionally chain to the nearest enemy, aether – temporarily blind everyone in a small zone, metamorphic – permanently decrease target’s attributes by painfully transmuting part of its body into gold.

Some damage types are also much more painful than others. For example, acidic and fiery damage deals three times more pain than piercing damage, which should be always taken into consideration when engaging toxic slugs or burning monsters in melee.



The next important feature is equipment durability, which decreases from active usage. Low durability means low stats – nearly broken item is roughly half as effective. Weapons will degrade from successful and fumbled hits, armor and shields wear out from absorbed damage, and boots fray from movement. The speed of deterioration is also affected by equipment material and received damage type. Fiery attacks burn out wooden shields and clothes quite fast, and attacking ooze slimes corrodes melee weapons.

It will be impossible to completely break an item though, so you shouldn’t worry about your favorite legendary sword – any item could be repaired to 100% durability again.

Stay tuned!