Aug 19, 2019
Stoneshard - Wayfinder


Hello!

There was a period of silence recently, but for a good reason – we are very busy adding and calibrating new skills. There’re still some tweaks to be done, so in meanwhile we decided to show another important aspect – equipment. So let's not protract the introduction any longer and jump right to the interesting stuff.


Press F for Fashion

All this time our game’s setting was smoothly drifting towards a rather realistic and gritty low fantasy – which of course affected the equipment. Over the past weeks we have added a huge number of new items (100+!) – and most of the old ones you’ve encountered during your Prologue runs were reworked from scratch. Now we try to rely mostly on historical sources for references and inspiration: specialized literature, museum exhibits or some historical re-enactment. Of course, there are exceptions too – this is especially true for various legendary and set items, which will feature a more fantasy-ish design.



Chestpieces are, of course, the most important part of your armor. We gave up the idea of independent light, medium and heavy armor rosters, and instead decided to take a more logical approach, redistributing all armor by the defense level in a single roster. Thus, the high-level Royal Ranger’s Gambeson won’t protect your better than some starter tier heavy armor – it will be superior to the rest of the light armor but won’t match even mediocre chain mails or brigandines.



In addition, different armor will differently protect against various types of damage – for example, chain mail is very resistant to slashing blows, but is almost useless against spears; while plate armor offers well-balanced protection against most physical weapons. But be wary: plate armor is incredibly expensive, so maintaining it in good condition will cost a pretty penny too.

There are some other disadvantages as well: hostile pyromancers and electromancers will possess much more danger to you. Heavy secondary equipment will also have some drawbacks: visoreal helmets reduce visibility (though you’ll be able to lift the visor up), the sabatons are significantly noisier, and plate gloves make fencing a bit more difficult.



The same applies for weapons. Swords, for instance: home-made blades and cheap falchions will be your starting point, but in the endgame you’ll have a possibility to wield some mighty arming swords. We’ve also created a whole bunch of so-called Exotic items – equipment of non-Aldor origin in other words. The idea is to encourage world exploration: randomly met elven merchant may offer you some famous Jibean scimitars, and a group of dwarven hirelings may be armed with some well-crafted nordic swords. Such items are usually slightly superior to their Aldor counterparts stat-wise.



And now something for all you shield-lovers – shields initial roaster is represented by unpretentious wooden samples, but at high levels there will be more choices: from elaborate bucklers and heater shields to pavises and kalkans.


Could you guess the magic schools these staves belong to?

And, of course, mages. At the game’s start their equipment progression isn’t very diverse; however, everything changes during endgame, when you will be able to purchase more expensive garments. A wizard dressed in his Circle’s mantle and wielding an appropriate staff will receive a significant boost to his school’s spell power.


From left to right: apprentice, arcanist, pyromancer, electromancer, geomancer, psimancer, cryomancer

That’s all for today! Well, not quite: here comes this sweet little GIF, demonstrating swords skill rotation in action (WIP). By the way, what weapons skills would you like to see next? Let us know in the comment section!



See you soon!

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

Follow us on Steam so you won't miss any updates from us!
Also you can follow us on:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/625960/Stoneshard/
Jul 20, 2019
Stoneshard - Wayfinder


Hello!

In this devlog we will talk about the health system changes – since the Prologue’s release, we’ve made lots of fundamental changes.

Almost from the very start, the health system was one of the main features of Stoneshard. Its main purpose isn’t about realism and difficulty for the sake of realism and difficulty, but to help you immerse in your character. It's one thing to watch your hero being a potion-consuming damage sponge, and the other – to watch your hero getting gameplay-affecting injuries, while also suffering from pain and nasty side effects. We wanted even survival outside the battle to require well-considered and thought-out decisions, since it drastically changes the general gamefeel.

In the Prologue, the injury system was almost entirely based on randomness. You took damage; the injury chance depended on its amount; after receiving a trauma there was a chance for it to worsen or stabilize. Such an approach left little of planning – you could only stock up as many consumables as possible, and hope you wouldn’t need them too often.

Since then, the health system has gone through many iterations, changing drastically during the process. Let’s start with the recently added health tab, showing all aspects of your character’s health:



Each body part now has its own health pool, decreasing upon receiving damage. If the bodypart condition falls to half or less, you will receive an injury that reduces some stats. Upon reaching 25%, this injury will turn into a wound with increased effect, and upon reaching 0% you will receive a maim with a special property. Maimed head makes it impossible to cast spells, and maimed hand means you can’t wield weapons with it anymore. Maims still can be reverted though, but it’s much harder.

Attacks now also inflict damage not only to your health pool in general, but also damage specific body parts. The damaged body parts, in turn, reduce the Health Threshold – the stat responsible for the maximum limit of your current health. Thus, a character with multiple injuries won’t be able to restore health to the maximum, even after using some healing potion – first he will have to treat all damaged body parts. Also, being low on health increases the maximum Pain Limit – so being badly battered means you’ll suffer from stronger pain as well. Because of these changes, injuries, health points and pain began to work as a coherent and consistent system.



Passive injury healing now depends on any healing your character receives, including natural regeneration. If your character has restored health to the maximum threshold, all the excess healing will be evenly distributed between all damaged body parts. This makes it possible to survive, even if you run out of medicines – for example, by huddling in a safe corner to rest and recover. Also this change Vitality builds more viable, since boosted Health Restoration and Received Healing stats allows to heal injuries much faster.

The bleeding mechanic was also reworked. First of all, it isn’t some abstract status effect caused by skills anymore – now bleeding is tied to body parts. If your injured limb takes some damage, there’s a chance it’ll start bleeding – thanks to this, bandages aren’t situational vampire dungeon consumables anymore.



Some aspects of the health system are still to be implemented (like maladies), but most part of it is already working the way we like it.

That’s all for today. Stay tuned!

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

By the way, we've recently created a Steam page for our development studio. Follow us so you won't miss any updates from us!
Also you can follow us on:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/625960/Stoneshard/
Jun 29, 2019
Stoneshard - Wayfinder


Hello!

Finally, we’ve polished our first abilities branch well enough, so this devlog will be completely devoted to the mighty fire magic – Pyromancy. Beware though: many heavy GIFs!

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

First we’d like to tell you how the ability system has changed in general in a recent year. As you remember, the Prologue used a so-called Tier-system – all ability branches were divided into 4 tiers, with each including one active and one passive ability. By investing a single SP you could unlock both skills at once.


Before & Now

However, the feedback was mixed, so it became clear for us it wasn’t our best idea: many players wanted more flexible system of levelling. Perhaps the old system would be just great if we were making short-sessional dungeon-crawler of some sort... But we aren’t, therefore we decided to take a more traditional approach.

Thanks to this, we made trees more diverse and interesting, since we were no longer strictly limited by rigid linear progression of exactly 8 abilities. Now each Sorcery branch contains 14 abilities – 7 active and 7 passive ones. Weapon and Utility abilities branches have fewer abilities: around 8-10.

And now let us explain the design philosophy behind the abilities branches – especially magical ones. There were lots of heated arguments over the general vision, but in the end we concluded that we should aim to make all magic branches as tactically different as possible. After all, it’s very boring if every magic school uses the same pattern of 2 AoEs, 2 nukes and some occasional debuffs, or something like that. So we tried to diversify magic branches in terms of intended playstyle.



For instance, Pyromancy is all about powerful AoE-spells, dealing tremendous damage when used at the right time in right combinations. If you love killing crowds of enemies with just several skillful casts, look no further – this’s the branch for you.

So, the most interesting part – the actual abilities! Also, unbelievable truth: we managed to do just great without even a single fireball.

Fire Barrage



Fire Barrage is the only non-AoE pyromantic ability. It consequentially launches three firebolts at the target, each dealing some minor damage. However bolts do increased damage, if the target is already on fire – so if you’re lucky to have your target set aflame by the first bolt, the other two will deal much more damage. Or maybe you’d set the target on fire with some other spell. It’s up to you, really.

Hellbreath (aka Firewave – RIP 2018-2019)



Prologue’s not so silent workhorse, the Firewave, has been reworked. This spell still deals decent area damage, but the shape of the zone was changed. We’ve also improved it with an interesting property: each target damaged by Hellbreath reduces active cooldowns of other pyromantic spells by 1 (including Hellbreath itself). An irreplaceable spell for keeping your spell rotation always ready for action.

Flame Ring



Doomsday weapon of some sort. This spell sets all neighboring cells aflame– along with the enemies, of course. Enemies affected by Flame Ring also have their Fire Resistance significantly reduced. You need to use this spell wisely – the pyromancers aren’t fully immune to fire, so an unthoughtful cast could lock you between the raging flames and cut off all possible retreat routes.

Melting Ray



This spell releases a fiery ray into the target tile, igniting and damaging everything on its trajectory. At the end point the beam explodes –the more targets were hit during the ray phase, the more damage the explosion would cause.

Incineration



Incineration is quite an interesting spell. It allows you to extinguish the selected enemy ... and then use the released thermal energy to cause an explosion of terrible power. The longer the extinguished burning lasted, the stronger the explosion – and the higher the chance that it will set aflame all affected enemies.

Magma Rain



Fiery rain covers the chosen area, leaving a magma puddle afterwards. Each turn enemies caught in the magma take minor damage and have their Fire Resistance slowly reduced – with a chance to be set aflame.

Inferno



Finally, the apex spell of Pyromancy – a terrifying Inferno. It creates a fire storm in the large area, dealing great damage each turn – what’s even better, the more enemies are trapped within Inferno, the hotter are the flames.

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

And, of course, some passive abilities insight:

  • Feed the Flames – if the enemy’s on fire, each Fire Barrage’s bolt increases burning duration for 1 turn.
  • Flame Saturation – restores some energy each time an enemy is set aflame within the vision range.
  • Scorch – causes Hellbreath to debuff Fire Resistance of all damaged targets.
  • Excess Heat – each enemy killed with Pyromancy restores some energy.
  • Safe Distance - increases casting range of pyromantic spells by 1 tile.
  • Baptism of Fire – taking fire damage reduces the duration of all active pyromantic cooldowns.
  • Pyromania – increases Magic Power and Crit Chance for every burning enemy in sight (yes, casts can also become critical).

Well, that’s all for today. Can’t wait to show you the other branches and some other progress we’ve made. So stay tuned, and until the next time!

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

Also you can follow us on:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/625960/Stoneshard/
FINAL FANTASY VIII - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Dave Irwin)

They just keep coming don’t they? A lot of games were announced at E3 2019, things that we didn’t know about, as well as stuff that’s previously announced, or expansions to already released games. Now, to the casual outsider, what we’re doing might seem absolutely nuts, but we thought we’d put together an alphabetical list of all the PC games that have been confirmed to appear at this year’s E3 show. With well over a hundred of them now in the books, the next year or so looks packed.

(more…)

Stoneshard - B E L O U S O V


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!
https://youtu.be/VTeNIyVCsPo

https://store.steampowered.com/app/625960/Stoneshard
Stoneshard - B E L O U S O V


We at Hypetrain Digital have exciting news for both Police Stories and Stoneshard coming your way!

Next Monday, JUNE 10 5:30 pm PT (Tuesday, 11 June 2:30 am CEST), we will announce the exact release dates for both games and also a new gameplay footage! Tune and be the first to learn all the details!

Feel like you could've forgotten some aspects of these games? We're glad to help you with a quick rundown!



Stoneshard is an immersive hybrid of roguelike and RPG. In it you travel through procedurally generated world of Aldor as an opportunistic adventurer with his caravan. On your journey you will manage your own needs and those of your followers, fight relentless enemies while trying to preserve your own life and sanity. All while creating your own unique hero and shaping the fate of the whole country.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/625960/Stoneshard/



Police Stories is a top-down tactical shooter, in which you play as on-duty police officers — John Rimes and Rick Jones. Create a unique loadout out of multiple equipment choices and carefully coordinate your actions with your partner to fulfill your task. Just remember that you don't have permission to shoot on sight — less-lethal approach is preferred.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/539470/Police_Stories/

In order to not get lost in all the news coming from E3 — subscribe to HypeTrain Digital publisher page and our Twitter and Facebook. We will make sure you don't miss any important bits of information from us!
Stoneshard - Wayfinder


Hello!

This devlog isn’t dedicated to some specific topic – instead we’ll tell about many things we had worked on during the last month. Some stuff has not yet been fully completed and thus is left behind the scenes, so for now let's focus on more or less complete aspects.

NPC Schedule

This seemingly small and not very important feature took us a decent amount of time and efforts – but it was crucial to make settlements more alive and believable. Previously, we used a much simplified variant of NPCs daily routine: at a certain time they just left their workplaces to go home.



Now their daily routine is much more varied and rich: for example, in Osbrook, the first village the player encounters, local artisans like to have a good drink before going to bed – so after finishing their work they close their shops and first go to the tavern, then go home.



We’ve also introduced interiors for the whole village – now you can enter any house or even barn. Most artisans will be waiting for you inside, and not on the street like before – if their craft allows working outside, of course.

Road System



Another important improvement, designed to give integrity to the game world and ease navigation. No more sudden crypts in the middle of a forest or castles completely isolated from the outside world – most of the settlements and dungeons are now automatically connected by road network. Because of this, you’ll need to actually make an effort to get lost – if you keep the road, you are guaranteed to come across something sooner or later.



Of course, some places in the world will remain isolated – so, if you decide to abandon the road and delve deeper into the wilderness, there’s a good chance you may stumble upon a mysterious hut or some uncharted cave.

Content

In addition, we are working on adding lots of new content: encounters, new weapons and skills. It’s too early to talk about it in detail, but here’s sneak peek at some of this new stuff:




Hopefully, by the next time we'll be ready to show off one of the most exciting parts of our game: skills. So until then!

======

Also you can follow us on:
Apr 24, 2019
Stoneshard - Wayfinder


Hello!

In this post we will continue to reveal the lore of Stoneshard. If in the past devlog we told about the different factions of Aldor humans, this will be about other races: elves, dwarves and orcs. Though they won’t be factions you can maintain relationships with in the full game (because of fewness and remoteness of the dwarves and elves, and total hostility of the orcs), they’re still an important part of our setting. It is worth recalling that elves and dwarves will also be playable races alongside with humans.


"If you stumble upon a dwarf who isn’t willing to start a fistfight right off the bat, look at him more closely. My best guess - he's probably dead for a couple of weeks."
- Jurg the Innkeeper’s favorite joke



Once the Fjall mountains were a birthplace of a prospering dwarven kingdom, famous for its skillful craftsmen and stonemasons. Dwarves carved many cities in the rocks and connected them by a network of mountain roads – truly a miracle, considering Fjall’s harsh climate and difficult terrain.

However, Fjall crumbled to dust – and the dwarves were forced to leave their mountain vaults in search of a better life on the surface. Little is known about the last days of the once great kingdom, but in the dwarven sagas one often hears the mention of the Exodus, the Extinct Flame and the Great Famine –whatever that means.

Descended from the mountains to the frozen wastelands, those who survived Exodus quickly became savages. Spacious stone passages were replaced by huts and dugouts, skillful jewels – by hides and furs, and the famous smelting halls – with bonfires and primitive furnaces. Ancestors heritage was almost completely forgotten – as well as the spirit of unity once inherent in their folk. Forced to compete in order to survive, the dwarves divided into many fiercely warring tribes. The most numerous ones are Draggar and Ska’ar.

Draggar dwarves have earned notoriety for their passion for pillage and raids – alongside with other dwarven tribes, northern Aldor suffers the most from it. But because of this, they’re also known as dauntless and ferocious warriors. Aldorean nobility gladly hires them to their service – for a decent fee, the Draggarians will fight fiercely even against their own former brethren.

Ska’ar dwarves are more peaceful. They spend most of their lives on the high seas, tracking down all sorts of sea monsters and leviathans. Gathered meat and blubber is enough to survive even the longest winters, and skins and bones are used to make surprisingly durable weapons – some Ska’ar masters wares can compete even with their steel counterparts.

In Aldor dwarves could be met, but very rarely – small communities of dwarven folk can be found only in several northern settlements. These villages are also a common meeting points for Fjall traders and hirelings, who often stop by to exchange pillaged loot for human materials and supplies.


"You better be eating that damn soup, Bertie, or else I'm calling the orcs!"
- Unknown peasant mother



In ancient times the entire territory of Aldor was densely covered with a thicket. For centuries people conquered forest lands inch by inch for their settlements, fields and pastures. However, there were those who resisted the new ways, sparing neither themselves nor the newcomers. These tribes, known as the Forest Folk, were numerous once, but now only three of them remained - and one of them is the orcs.

Orcs are the most powerful, hardy and mysterious inhabitants of the Aldorean woods. If you ask any peasant whom he fears the most, the answer most likely will be “orcs”. Common folk, forest patrols and unruly children - everyone fears the orcs alike due to their unfathomable mysticism, disgusting rituals and inhuman cruelty.

Perhaps they would not have caused such terror, if at least it was known what makes them tick and what gods do they worship. However, it remains a complete mystery, and their actions seem to be absolutely devoid of any logic, moved only by meaningless violence – which makes them even more frightening.

Though orcs remained a serious threat to the people of Aldor for many years, they did not show themselves too actively. Devastating raids and forays happened from time to time, but rather rarely – most of the time orcs seemed to be unwilling to leave their native forests. However, everything changed in the last year, when a certain shaman managed to unite orcish tribes and declare the Sacred Warpath. Aldor, completely devastated by civil war, had troubles organizing resistance during the first months of the incursion, so orcs managed to won back over the centuries of persecution, laying waste to many peaceful settlements.

In six months the orc advance was finally stopped. But as long as the grandees of the Council and the Magistrate vied with each other in bragging about their merits in saving Aldor from orcs, the border guards are preparing for the worst: as the soldiers say, “it’s not us who stopped them; they just stopped attacking.” Who knows – perhaps after this sudden respite, Aldor will have to face an even more ferocious onslaught. There’re rumors of some weird, chaotic piles of branches, animal bones and human bodies found in the forests all across Aldor – so orcs must be really getting ready for something...


"Damn, I’m dying to see those pointy-eared bastards finally invading our good ol’ Aldor. Would be a bloody good reason to hang all those hagglers…"
- Some Brynn citizen expressing famous southern hospitality toward local elven merchants



If the traveler thinks of setting off in the direction of the rising sun, crossing the mountains, and then the eastern steppes and deserts, sooner or later he will find himself in the Jacinth Kingdoms – the great elven empire, occupying endless expanses.

Few people have visited Aldor – however, those very few who can boast of such an adventure, tell of many small kingdoms and principalities united under the rule of a single despot. Desert oasis cities, quaint temples-fortresses far to the east, and even steppe elves nomadic caravans – Jacinth is manifold.

Thanks to the undivided power over the most of the known world, Jacinth managed to accumulate untold riches - some of which he lets on for further expansion. Some princes became elven vassals voluntarily; some were bribed by generous gifts. The fate of the most stubborn was unenviable – so far no one has been able to hold back the might of a thousand elven armies.

Recently, as the peace in Aldor is becoming more and more fragile, Jacinth is apparently very willing to do anything to us this moment of weakness to get the local lands in its sphere of influence. Elven mounted scouts are more and more often being spotted on the borders, and elven goods have recently flooded the markets – which is unusual at the very least for a war-torn country. Evil tongues claim there’re reasons behind this – as they say, the Magistrate nobles are ready to do anything to enlist the elven support to win the civil war.

In Aldor itself elves are not uncommon, especially in large cities, where they are often make successful merchants, jewelers or mercenaries. The largest diaspora resides in Brynn, where one can found an entire elvish quarter. Those elves who reside in Aldor are very similar to humans in terms of culture, but they are still treated with suspicion and open hostility – which is greatly facilitated by the spreading rumors of their Jacinth collaboration.

======

Also you can follow us on:


https://store.steampowered.com/app/625960/Stoneshard/
Apr 6, 2019
Stoneshard - Wayfinder


Hello!

While more large-scale features are still under development, we’ve decided to start a series of posts dedicated to the Stoneshard setting to finally share some bits of lore with our community.

Since the start of development, the game’s lore changed several times, until we come to the variant suiting everyone. If at first we planned to show a rather typical high-fantasy sword-and-sorcery world, we distanced from this initial concept the more and more as the development went on. Maybe some of remember something about the Last King, an undead army and other things – at the moment everything from the list was either scrapped or completely reworked.

As a result, we came to a rather mundane medieval world, where the influence of the magical and otherworldly is rather small, and Aldor is a small once-kingdom, stuck in a civil war between three rivalling factions. In the game you’ll have to constantly balance between them, because gaining allies in one particular faction will always mean making some enemies in the other ones.


"Loyal to the end"

The Council is a group of the most influential Aldor feudals, united around the Regent-Queen and her young son Verne – allegedly the legal heir.

Inora, King Etbert's last wife, married him several months before his untimely death. This marriage was a complete surprise for the whole court - even the nosiest gossipers were surprised by the news. The sudden death of the monarch, soon to follow, became the basis for the rumor that Inora had killed her husband – and her son Verne, born after the Etbert’s death, doesn’t have even a single drop of royal blood in his veins.

Nevertheless, there were plenty of people who believed the Queen. Thanks to her natural cunning and diplomacy, she managed to find many influential allies among nobles – who formed the Council later.

The backbone of the Council consists of two seemingly opposing groups. The first is the Etbert’s old guard – the loyalists who held important posts during his reign. They see Verne as the legitimate successor of the dynasty, which they faithfully served all their lives. The second group consists of those who fell into disgrace during the King Etbert’s rule. For them supporting Inora is a reliable way to regain lost influence and reintegrate into the court life.

However, all of them pursue the common goal: to put down the insurrection and destroy the rebels; restore the crown’s power throughout Aldor; and raise Queen to the throne.


"Free man's wealth is a tyrant's demise"

The Great Magistrate is a union of city councils, rebellious aristocrats, as well as artisan and merchant guilds – all fighting for their independence from the royal court.

The roots of Great Magistrate formation lie in the long-standing conflict of King Etbert and the city of Brynn. Having come to power, Etbert deprived Brynn of its free city status. This autocratic move earned him enemies among Brynn’s influential families. And all these years they only waited for the right moment to restore trampled justice.

After the king died and the Inora laid claims to the throne, the Brynn’s city council unanimously voted to quit Aldor, if it would be ruled by an impostor. Surely, the burghers were somewhat deceitful – they weren’t going to tolerate any more power over themselves, and Verne’s unclear origin was just a good excuse. Many neighboring settlements, tired of feudal oppression, followed their example. This union was called the Great Magistrate – since any decisions are discussed by representatives of all the member settlements.

Thanks to the rich treasury and the wide use of mercenaries, the Magistrate fought with the Council on an equal footing, not yielding even an inch of its land. The obtained status quo was finally consolidated after the outbreak of the Crimson Plague – frightened by the unprecedented illness, the parties declared a truce to curb the epidemic.

Taking advantage of the resulting respite, the Magistrate only grew in power, rebuilding everything destroyed by war and sending ambassadors abroad. By the way, this gives the Council another significant reason to call Magistrate followers traitors – as they say, the Magistrate’s ties with Jacinth elves are much closer than is required for commerce.


"Purge the immoderate"

The Gray Army is a folk uprising that has taken on an enormous scale recently. The composition of the Gray Army is quite dissimilar – the majority are peasants and artisans, but there are other groups as well: former brigands, clerics-in-doubt, broke feudal lords and Magistrate or Council armies deserters.

For several years, the common people meekly endured all the war: they fought under the banners of the Council and the Magistrate, paid wartime taxes, watched lawlessness and violence, suffered from hunger and disease, and died – by thousands. However, the longer the war went on, the louder the grumbling became.

These moods were skillfully used by Nir – a man of unknown origin, and therefore even more mysterious and frightening. A former monk; runaway slave; criminal on the run; feudal lord, who lost his mind after losing his title – there are so many rumors regarding his possible past, the safest bet is not to believe any of them.

The philosophy of the movement is quite confusing and controversial – mainly because only Nir himself grasps it fully. The rest only has to interpret the scattered fragments of his statements – the so-called Words. The Gray Army considers immoderation and incontinence in all its manifestations to be the most important cause of all evil. Nir believes that the ability to find and keep a fine line is paramount, and only in this way people can protect themselves from corruption.

Due to the multiplicity and desperate courage, the Gray Army managed to occupy numerous territories, having won several settlements from the Council and the Magistrate. Now the Army is looking forward to the end of the truce – to finally finish off all those who deny their dogmas.

=====

That's all for today. Stay tuned for the next update about some game mechanics in two weeks!


Also you can follow us on:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/625960/Stoneshard/
Stoneshard - Wayfinder


Hello!

For the past month and a half we were very silent since we were busy preparing, releasing and supporting closed alpha test. Because of this we didn’t have enough time to develop new features, and thus there was nothing to tell you about. Today we’ve released the last patch for alpha version, which means we’re back into action again! Therefore, today's devdiary is an filler one - we'll talk about alpha test results and plans for the future.

In general, we’re pleased with how the alpha test went. Despite the limited content, every 10th player spent 10+ hours playing the game, and we’ve also collected lots of suggestions and ideas - that we’ll try to consider during further development. Soon we’ll also send another devpoll to our alpha testers in order to get a detailed feedback on all the aspects we're interested in.



As many had noticed, we’ve changed the release date from the Q1 2019 to 2019 in general. As it turned out, we’re bad at making predictions – it’s quite hard to keep up with the deadlines while constantly experimenting and tweaking things – and without such tweaks it’s hard to make such a large-scale game work well enough. Therefore, for now, we prefer not to give any exact dates, but to focus on the development. We still intend to go Early Access before the end of the year, and a specific date will be announced only when we feel the first public build is almost complete.

The next step in our plan is the transition to the closed beta, which we intend to launch in a few months, late spring or summer. It is unclear how much we’ll be able to fit in a few months, but the minimum roadmap looks like this:

  • Transferring to a new engine’s version and then fixing related bugs and crashes
  • Adding at least half of the abilities for the most part of planned skill branches
  • Adding all the non-yet implemented types of weapons and equipment
  • Complete rework of the dual weapon combat mechanics
  • Finalization of the ranged combat
  • Some new dungeons
  • Additional content
  • Many minor improvements and fixes that take too long to list (such as barter system for trade, for instance)



We may also have time to add a new settlement and a number of new game systems, but it isn’t set in stone, so the list above is currently the most realistic.

That's all. In the near future, expect regular devlogs on a variety of topics - including, for example, some details about game’s lore. Also, take a look at our new key art, featuring some of the game's key characters:


Click for Full HD!

See you later!

======

Also you can follow us on:
...