Hello everyone!

In today’s devlog, we’d like to share some details about the character selection system.
As some of you may not know, Verren isn’t the main character of our game. He only comes under your control in the Prologue. In the main game, however, he is an employer and a mentor figure to your character.



We plan to introduce an option to create your own mercenary, but at the moment the game lacks systems necessary for implementing a fully working character generator. Instead, we added an option to choose from four preset characters. Each of them has their own appearance, portrait, starting inventory, starting attributes, some special dialogue options and also a unique perk, unavailable to other characters.

An important thing about preset characters is that they have affinities, governing which skills are initially unlocked. For instance, Jorgrim is good with melee weapons and can start leveling swords, axes and maces from the get go. But to learn starting skills of the pyromancy and geomancy trees, he’ll have to find a corresponding treatise first.

We intend to expand this system at the same time as working on the character generator. According to our plans, some heroes will have access to unique content, which can’t be discovered when playing as other characters. For now this type of content is represented with unique starting equipment. For example, Arna starts the game with a family cuirass and sword, which can’t be obtained in any other way. We also plan to expand the character selection as we add more skill trees.

Some may ask: but what about classes? How do they fit into this system? Yes, at first we did consider adding classes, but as the development went on, it became quite clear that it would be completely redundant. Class abilities came in conflict with our vision for character development, and they weren’t really working with all possible archetypes, forcing you to play in a very specific manner. We wanted to avoid that. Class abilities also turned out to be fairly generic and boring when compared to common skill trees. As a result it was decided to transfer the best ideas into the existing skill trees and get rid of the rest.

Now let us present you with the backstories and affinities for each character:



Affinity: Axes, Swords, Maces, Shields
Unique trait: Berserker Frenzy (increased Weapon Damage and Crit Efficiency for 10 turns after every kill)

Bio:

Not so long ago people of Aldor would shake in their boots the moment someone mentioned Tyr the One-eyed, a legendary leader of Fjall brigands. Tyr's band was infamous for their audacious raids on the northern border - even well armed troops of the local lords suffered defeat after defeat from these ferocious dwarfs. Jorgrim was one of them, the best warrior in the band, he hadn't lost a single battle in his life.

Yet as time went by, the One-eyed's brutality towards captured settlements became too unsettling even for his own underlings. Jorgrim was the one who despised unnecessary cruelty the most: he always held a belief that violence against the weak and defenseless is unworthy of a true warrior.

It's unknown when Tyr crossed the final line, but eventually Jorgrim's patience ran short and the brigand leader's scalp found its place in the dwarf's long list of trophies. Left without guidance, the band fell apart: some dwarfs returned to Fjall, while others, including Jorgrim, decided to go south and try their luck as mercenaries.



Affinity: Swords, Maces, Shields, Greatswords
Unique trait: Vow of the Feat (every enemy within your vision range decreases Cooldowns Duration and Abilities Energy Cost)

Bio:

Few noble houses of Aldor can boast history as impressive as of the House of der Vyrne. By law, the title of a knight can only be passed down to a man, so it's not hard to imagine the chagrin of Arna's father, when after years of fruitless attempts his long awaited heir turned out to be a girl.

To save his house, Arna's father decided to invoke an ancient custom of the northern foothills: Arna was to be raised as a boy. Her entire childhood and youth were dedicated to rigorous training and serving as a page to one of the noble families. When she reached adulthood, Arna was knighted. Over multiple tournaments, she managed to earn herself a reputation as a skilled warrior.

Unfortunately Arna never had a knack for the most important skill to an aldorian noble - scheming. Soon after her father's death, Arna lost her fief, her title and her inheritance - the House of der Vyrne ceased to exist. Shaken by these events, Arna gave an oath to redeem herself by a heroic deed and embarked on an endless journey into the lands of Aldor.



Affinity: Ranged Combat, Axes, Maces, Daggers
Unique trait: Sharp Eye (every tile between you and your enemy increases Crit Chance)
Bio:

Dirwin spent most of his life in loyal service to the late king, relentlessly patrolling the hunting grounds of his Majesty. He had great aim, knew the forest as the back of his hand and very few poachers, orcs and monsters survived their encounter with the royal ranger. Over his years of service, Dirwin eradicated countless dangers lurking in the woods, making one notch after another on his bow.

After King Etbert's death, the Royal Rangers disobeyed the Council's orders and refused to participate in the fratricidal war. As a punishment, the unit was disbanded, so Dirwin took his weapons and headed back into the woods.

During the war he continued to do what he always did: fulfill contracts and bounties, hunt dangerous monsters and help peasants. Common folks rightfully consider him their stalwart protector.



Affinity: Staves, Daggers, Geomancy, Pyromancy
Unique trait: Arcane Lore (each learned spell increases Magic Power)
Bio:

Since ancient times there is a strong belief in Aldor, that women and magic don't go well together and can only bode ill. Lectors of the Academy fully shared this prejudice, rarely eager to accept women for magic training. However, Jonna's talent for magic was so great, that they decided to make an exception.

After completing her training with flying colors, Jonna became a court sorceress to one of the aldorian nobles. Unfortunately her lord had a rather foul temper, something Jonna wouldn't put up with. One morning servants discovered their master's body burned to a crisp. The sorceress' sudden escape didn't leave much room for interpretation.

If it wasn't for the war breaking out, Jonna would have likely been caught and burned at the stake, but in the chaos of the Strife she managed to elude the chase by joining a mercenary band.

------------

Just Jonna picking some field herbs.
That’s all for now. Until next time!

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Hello everyone!

Ink Stains Games here! We’d like to wish all of you Happy Holidays and to present you the long awaited update for the Prologue as a Christmas gift.

The original Prologue was published in May 2018. At the time it was more of a proof of concept, designed to demonstrate Kickstarter backers our vision of the future game. A lot of time has passed since then, most systems of the game have changed beyond recognition. And at some point the Prologue grew so outdated that updating it became a priority.

Now the Prologue is mechanically equal to the main game and we hope it will make it easier to wait for the February release :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/869760/Stoneshard_Prologue/

The list of changes is too expansive to be presented in detail – after all, this update includes a year and a half of hard work. The Prologue’s structure remains the same, but if we are to list the most important changes, here is what you should expect from this update:

• An improved tutorial with detailed advice on main game mechanics.
  
• Vampires were swapped with Proselytes – a new group of enemies with their own set of abilities.
  
• A reworked boss fight, which now consists of two consecutive phases instead of two parallel outcomes.
  
• A reworked health, injury and needs system. The old Prologue had it functioning based on RNG. Now it’s a transparent, deterministic process which you can assess at any time.
  
• More weapons, equipment and all kinds of items.
  
• Abilities from the closed beta are now available in the Prologue.
  
• Destructible environment. Press CTRL to attack environmental objects!
  
• Reworked Dual Wielding system.
  
• Lots of QoL improvements: better controls, more hotkeys, item comparison, inventory auto-sorting, pop-up hints and more. Though keep in mind that the game is designed primarily for mouse controls.
  
• Most of the game art was reworked.
  
• Dialogues and lore notes were rewritten to better clarify the opening events of the story. New voice-overs for the characters.
  
• Lots of changed and added mechanics (reworked Attributes, for instance).
  
• A reworked UI.
  
• Fullscreen support for 1366х768, 1440х900, 1600х900, 1680х1050, 1920х1080 and 1920х1200 resolutions.
  
• Added an event log.
  
• “Last Hope” and “At What Cost?” achievements were replaced by “The Bitter Beginning” and “Eternal Hunger” achievements. The rest of the achievements were updated to fit with the content changes.
  
• Enemies learned how to open doors.

It’s worth to remember that many of the planned mechanics are still missing. On February 6 the game is just being released for Early Access, during which we plan to continue developing it for another couple of years, gradually implementing our vision.

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


Stealth mode was temporarily removed from the game. It will return during Early Access after being reworked. Same for the unavailable skill trees.

Unfortunately you can’t. For now we can’t say for certain when the game will be available for these platforms.

Don’t worry, your progress remains. The achievements were changed, not removed, so you automatically get their changed versions.

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

Merry Christmas and good luck finding your way out of the dungeon!

Hello everyone!

In this devlog we’ll tell you what to expect from the updated Prologue which we plan to release this year.

Since the release of the Prologue in May 2018 almost every aspect of the game has changed so much, that the current Prologue will rather confuse newcomers than introduce them to the game. Therefore we decided to put an effort into updating its systems and mechanics so that they’ll better reflect the state of the main game.

It’s worth mentioning that the Prologue will remain free and will also be included in the main game, where it will serve as a tutorial and an introduction to the story. It means that you can complete it both as a standalone version as well as a part of the main game. Your actions in the Prologue will not have any effect on your main game so don’t worry about transferring progress. The only thing to keep in mind is that if you finish the Prologue beforehand, you’ll be able to skip it in the main game and go straight to creating your character.



The Prologue’s structure will remain almost exactly the same. You’ll still find yourself in a dungeon, escape, complete a tutorial floor and then fight your way through two procedurally generated floors to challenge the final boss. We’ve also introduced quite a number of changes to the tutorial. For instance - more visible and descriptive popups, explaining game’s mechanics. We hope that it will provide a better introduction to the game.

As for game systems and mechanics, everything is now up to date with the current build of the main game. Reworked UI, relevant stats and abilities, new health and injury system, more transparent display of hunger and thirst, better dungeon generation, destructible objects and enemies opening doors – it will all be included in the updated Prologue.



Content wise there are many noticeable changes, especially for those who didn’t take part in the closed beta test. Since the release of the original Prologue we’ve added a huge number of new equipment and also changed most of the old stuff, so you’ll see lots of new items. We’ve also changed starting enemies. Now instead of vampires you’ll fight against a cult of Proselytes, boasting fresh new enemy types and abilities. Other than that, all dialogues were rewritten to better accommodate story and setting changes.



And finally, the boss fight. It’s safe to say that it has been improved the most. First of all, the Cursed Chapel was completely remade in accordance with our increased quality standards. Second, we’ve added a few tweaks to the fight with the statues. For instance half the spells is tied to one statue, while the other is to the second one. Respectively, by destroying one of the statues, you’ll prevent the Archon from casting blood bolts and puddles or stop him from summoning and healing zombies.



Third, the battle with the reborn Archon which used to be an optional secret, is now a mandatory second phase of the fight. The Archon himself was naturally changed as well, now possessing quite a few new abilities. You should be able to beat him by strategically exploiting his weaknesses. What are those? You’ll have to find out yourself.

That’s it for now. We’ll announce a date for the Prologue very soon, so stay tuned.
Until next time!

======

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Hello everyone!

After an extensive closed beta-test, quality-assurance as well as the reevaluation of the development roadmap, we want to announce important news - Early Access launch of Stoneshard is being moved to February 6, 2020.

This decision was not easy to make. We wanted you to go explore the lands of Aldor as soon as possible. The current quality of the game at this milestone is up to our standards, however we couldn’t implement some of the important mechanics that we think are crucial to the first public build yet.

Even though the game in its current state is fun to play, we saw areas where we could make improvements in regards to replayability of ingame content, it ends too fast - we wanted to make the core loop more thorough and that’s what we are working on currently.

Right now in the beta there are three categories of enemies (not types), ten skill trees and fully developed first settlement called Osbrook, including its environment, contract system, two types of dungeons and lots of unique equipment.

With more time to improve our systems, February will introduce several new and updated features:

1. The foundation for Caravan mechanics and several possible followers.
   
2. Expansion of the map and an additional new settlement.
   
3. Stoneshard: Prologue, updated and connected with the main game, providing players with proper tutorials to our systems and allowing you to get accustomed to the world of Stoneshard.
   
4. Revisitable dungeons and contracts in earlier settlements.
   
5. First real boss of the game that will test your build and character in glorious battle.
   
6. Updated and polished gameplay mechanics - fully realised dual-wielding and stealth.
   
7. Additional unique encounters in the world, making exploration more interesting and rewarding.
   
8. Additional skill trees, making playstyle and development of your character more personal
   
9. Additional content - new equipment, enemies and more.

These important updates will allow us to expand upon them and provide much more smooth experience for world progression.

We want to deliver you almost all core features when it hits Early Access, so that we can continue to collect feedback and improve upon our vision with our community involved until full release.

It is in our best hopes that the extension to February 2020 will help us to provide you with an enjoyable experience with Stoneshard.

Thank you for your patience,
Ink Stains Games.

Greetings everyone!

Over the last month we’ve got lots of news to share. Since September 20th we’ve been conducting a Closed Beta Test. Thanks to our testers, we’ve collected a lot of feedback and fixed many bugs. Therefore, this devlog is split in two parts: we’ll present weapons and weapon abilities for those, who haven’t seen beta version gameplay, and then we’ll get to our future plans for the game.

Overall there are 13 types of weaponry planned for the game: swords, axes, maces, daggers, greatswords, greataxes, greatmauls, spears, bows, crossbows, staffs and shields. In turn-based games the majority of weapons functions in a similar manner, so we tried our best to bring as much variety to stats, crit effects and abilities as possible. Specifics go as follows:


Click for fullscreen

At the moment we’ve implemented 8 skill trees out of planned 12. Skill trees more or less share the same structure: one-handed weapons have 8 abilities – 4 actives and 4 passives. Two handed weapons have slightly more abilities, 10 of them overall. It’s been designed this way to compensate for more narrow build paths. While a player with an one-handed sword can also learn shields (or dual-wield with any other one-handed weapon), two-hander warrior has fewer options.

The same principle applies to daggers – they are more effective when dual wielded, so their skill tree also has 2 extra abilities. Other than that, we’ve combined bow and crossbow abilities into a single large skill tree. This will provide archers with an extensive and engaging leveling path and will allow them to use two weapon types.

Now let’s have a closer look at the abilities in question. We are striving for a reasonably realistic setting, so weapon skill trees are mechanically and conceptually more limited than magic. Though each skill tree is built around distinct mechanics and implies special skill rotations which you discover as you invest your skill points. Unfortunately, abilities are quite numerous and we wouldn’t want to stretch out this devlog, so we’ll skip passives and have a quick look at active abilities, supplementing it all with gifs, showing complete skill rotations for each skill tree. Please keep in mind that character is overpowered to make GIFs shorter and more entertaining to watch.



Swords are distinguished by their versatility and mobility.

Onrush – a swift dash towards the enemy.
Keeping Distance – a defensive maneuver with an attack on retreat.
Cleaving Strike – a mighty AoE attack, which increases you Counter Chance.
Fencer’s Stance – a powerful buff to Block and Counter chances, which stacks on successful attacks.



Axes are focused around crippling enemies with injuries.

Mutilating Lunge lets you open a fight with an injury.
Cut Through does bonus damage to armored and wounded enemies.
Massacre increases Bleed Chance and Bodypart Damage with each strike.
Execution deals tremendous damage to injured foes.



Maces are the best crowd weapon as most of their abilities are focused around Dazing and Stunning your opponents.

Onslaught allows you to burn enemy’s Energy, Knock them back, move one tile forward and then apply Daze.
Armor Break does significant damage to Armor, especially if the target is Stunned or Dazed and also increases further damage taken by the enemy.
Finish Off does bonus damage for each remaining turn of Stun or Daze affecting the enemy and also puts their abilities on cooldown.
Hammer and Anvil does bonus Armor Damage with a chance to Daze – as with the rest of the weapon buffs, it’s stacked by delivering attacks.

Clarification: Stun forces enemies to skip their turn. Daze is comparable to “silence” effect, preventing enemies from using abilities.



Dagger abilities were designed to rely on skillful execution to compensate for their low damage.

Double Lunge allows to deliver two strikes with high Bleed Chance.
Deadly Trick switches places with an enemy, burns their Energy and grants you 100% Dodge Chance for the next turn.
Gaping Wound applies an effect, which makes enemies bleed when they use their abilities.
Coup De Grace deals bonus damage to wounded and bleeding enemies.
And finally, Painful Stabs is a stacking buff to Bleed and Crit chances.



Greatsword is a powerful and self-reliant weapon. Inability to wield it with a secondary weapon or a shield is compensated by high damage output and a wide variety of abilities.

Feint Swing lets you trick an enemy with high Block or Dodge, delivering a guaranteed strike with slightly lower damage.
Heroic Charge allows you to instantly close the distance to an enemy, dealing bonus damage for each tile traveled.
Feast of Steel lowers you damage but increases your Crit Chance to 100%, granting AoE cleave for your attacks.
Parry increases Block Chance and Block Power with each blocked attack. It also allows you to perform a guaranteed Counter on block.
And finally, Arc Cleave strikes up to five adjacent enemies with high Bleed Chance – an indispensable skill for when you find yourself surrounded.



Staffs mostly serve as a support weapon. This idea is reflected in their skill tree, mostly built around mobility and crowd control.

Hail of Blows delivers three blows with special properties: Energy Drain, Daze Chance and Knockback Chance.
Step Aside! charges towards a target with a chance to Knock all adjacent enemies back on arrival.
Unwavering Stance decrease Damage Taken and increases Fortitude and Block Chance.
And Peacemaker Dazes all adjacent enemies and lets you retreat a tile back without triggering Attacks of Opportunity.



A fairly extensive skill tree which consists of 14 abilities – just like skill trees for magic.

First ability, Taking Aim, increases damage and Accuracy, compensating for the inherently low Accuracy of ranged weapons.
Distracting Shot is essential for archer’s survival, allowing you to retreat two tiles while shooting a parting arrow at an enemy with lower damage and Accuracy.
Long-Range Shot increases firing distance and grants bonus damage for each tile between you and your target.
Piercing Shot deals damage to all targets standing in the way of an arrow and causes Bleeding. Headshot always targets the head (unexpected, isn’t it?) and has bonus Bodypart Damage.
Suppression is a stacking buff which adds Knockback Chance to your arrows.
Hunter’s Mark is well suited for lonely, resilient targets as it increases damage to them with every subsequent shot.


Yep, double shields are an option. Though probably not very viable.

Not a weapon per se, but they sure deserve a mention.

Raise Shield provides high Block Chance against incoming blows and arrows for a few turns.
Shield Bash deals small damage with a chance to Daze.
Breakthrough strikes three adjacent enemies with a shield, dealing damage and Knocking them back.
And finally, Defensive Stance will decrease Damage Taken and raise Counter Chance when your character is hit.

CURRENT PLANS

At the moment we've released the final (or semifinal) patch for the Closed Beta, so now we're giving the Prologue a makeover. Don’t expect radical changes, but some things will actually be very different – and we are not talking about all these new mechanics which appeared in the game over the last year and a half.

We plan to complete it in a few weeks. At the same time, we also plan to update some of the existing mechanics... But it’s a story for another time.
For now, here’s a teaser for the updated main menu:


See you soon!

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

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Here’s a message from our partners at HypeTrain Digital - their top-selling survival title, The Wild Eight, is coming out of Early Access later today!

To celebrate, The Wild Eight 1.0 will be sold with a -15% discount for a week, until Oct 10th.

DESOLATE owners will get an extra promotional offer - an 30% off Coupon for The Wild Eight!

Act now, while the offer lasts!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/526160/The_Wild_Eight/

Here’s what’s awaits both new and old players in the The Wild Eight 1.0:

• The conclusion to The Wild Eight's story - continue the main questline to uncover the mystery of the Dark Matter
  
  
• Discover new side-quests and locations in an all-new biome, filled with exciting creatures and resources
  
  
• Find and make use of the new ranged weapons and equipment;
  
  
• Stability improvements & optimization fixes

Want to give some extra love to the creators of The Wild Eight - and get some awesome stuff in return? We've got just the option!

The Wild Eight Supporter Pack is reserved for the biggest fans of The Wild Eight, and includes:

• The Wild Eight Digital Artbook
  
  
• The WIld Eight Original Soundtrack
  
  
• The Wild Eight Exclusive In-Game Content: Animal Hat Pack

Message from the HypeTrain team!
We’d like to thank each and every one of our fans and Kickstarter backers - without them, this journey wouldn’t be possible! You helped us shape our game along every step of the way - providing valuable feedback on bugs and errors in Early Access, sharing your thoughts on the game’s balance and content, and just giving our team enough motivation for us to pull ourselves towards Version 1.0!

It’s been a long, tough road - but it’s just a single step in the game’s history. The PS4 and Xbox One versions are currently in the works, and we’ll be able to share more info about them very soon.
But after that - what awaits The Wild Eight in the future? Only time will tell.

Hello!

We are glad to announce that the Closed Beta will begin in just two days – on Saturday, September 21st (1:00pm EST)

Closed Beta is only available to Kickstarter/HumbleBundle backers with Caravaneer (and above) pledges. If you’re eligible, don’t forget to check your mail on Saturday - there you’ll find a game key to activate. And if you’ve previously participated in the Alpha Test, you’ll just need to download an update to start playing.

Beta isn’t going to be under a non-disclosure agreement, so feel free to stream, record videos and spread the word!

Now a few facts about Beta content. What’s new?

• 10 fully accessible skill branches: Swords, Axes, Maces, Daggers, Two-handed Swords, Staves, Ranged Weapons, Shields, Pyromancy and Geomancy (102 abilities in total)
  
• 200+ equipment items
  
• A new dungeon type, the Ruined Bastion, and 2 new bounties to complete
  
• Major expansion of brigand roster
  
• Revamped pain and injury system
  
• Revamped ranged combat
  
• Expanded and partially revised stat system
  
• Save system! Visit local inn to save the game
  
• Unlock the most powerful skills by buying, finding and reading corresponding treatises
  
• Improved map navigation – thanks to the road system
  
• Interiors for Osbrook houses
  
• Log
  
• Support of most common resolutions
  
• Lots of UX and QoL improvements, such as revised hovers, item comparison and more
  
• Improved optimization

See you in Osbrook on Saturday!
 

Greetings everyone!

Today we would like to share some exciting news with you: our friends at Mighty Morgan has released their first game Police Stories!



Police Stories is a top-down tactical shooter in which you play as on-duty police officers. It allows you to create a unique loadout from multiple equipment choices. Shooting first is not an option, they say, as you need to carefully coordinate actions with your partner to complete the mission.

• The Surrender System - Apprehend the suspects without resorting to violence and gain more points.
  
• Complex Tactical Gameplay - Use tactical equipment, such as under-the-door cameras, door blast charges and issue commands to your fellow partner Rick to overcome the odds.
  
• Different each new run - Randomly placed criminals, hostages and evidence make every run feel unique.

Support our fellow indie developers and join the crime hunt!

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

Greetings everyone!

Our monthly devlog has arrived. As was promised, we present the second magic skill tree – Geomancy. In fact, the development progress over the last month was rather substantial (overall we have finished or have nearly finished a dozen of skill trees), so it doesn't all fit in a single devlog. As a result, we settled on presenting one of the more interesting skill trees.



To be frank, creating Geomancy wasn't easy. Each skill has gone through at least a couple of reworks and many of them now differ greatly from the original intent. Nevertheless, the skill tree benefited greatly as a result. As we see it, we have achieved our goal – to make an interesting and visually impressive magic school, backed up by some unique mechanics.
The main idea behind geomancy is that most spells of this school require a conductor, a runic boulder which has many uses. All in all the skill tree ended up fairly versatile: there are buffs, disables, an extremely effective single target spell and some powerful AoE effects.

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

Runic Boulder



A foundation for the entirety of the skill tree. A caster raises a boulder from the ground, knocking back adjacent enemies and dealing some magic damage. Runic boulders don't have a cooldown, so they can be raised in a quick succession though only three can exist simultaneously.

These summoned entities have three possible functions:

• Support. Each runic boulder within your range of vision grants a single tier of Runic Empowerment to the character, increasing magic power and energy regeneration. It also reduces received damage and your cooldowns.
  
• Positioning. Boulders can strategically shape the battlefield, serving as obstacles wherever required. However this option should be used with care. If the boulder is destroyed, a sudden severance of the link with it will stun the caster for three entire turns.
  
• Magic. Boulders are used as a resource for some of the more powerful geomancy spells . However maintaining the buff or blocking an enemy can sometimes prove more strategically sound than an opportunity for direct damage. The choice is yours.

Stone Armor



This spell is useful for a variety of builds. It can serve well to a mage (to boost their limited survivability) or to help a warrior who decides to dabble in magic. In addition to greatly raising the resistances to all types of damage, Stone Armor also explodes at the end of its duration, delivering the more damage the more attacks it absorbs. A great finishing move for a large fight.

Stone armor's duration is directly linked to the tier of Runic Empowerment. Raising new boulders prolongs this spell automatically.

Petrification



A fairly effective AoE disable which has a chance to turn all enemies within its area of effect into stone for few turns. The damage dealt to petrified enemies is greatly reduced which makes Petrification more suitable for creating an opportunity to escape and catch your breath than to finish the enemy off immediately. In addition, nearby petrified enemies grant you a benefit of increasing the power of other geomancy spells.

Stone Spikes



This spell destroys a targeted runic boulder, summoning stone spikes on its adjacent tiles. Affected enemies receive decent physical damage with a chance of knockback. The spikes formed on the emptied tiles remain there for 20 turns, allowing you to block off large areas. However, you shouldn't rely on this effect too much – it doesn’t take long for a strong enemy to bash through spikes.

Earthquake



A very effective AoE debuff & disable, this spell synergises well with many other skills and even entire skill trees. It destroys a targeted boulder, creating an earthquake which slightly damages everyone within its area. Earthquake also burns energy of the affected targets each turn with a chance to stun while lowering stun and knockback resistances.

Boulder Throw



This is perhaps my personal favourite method to initiate a fight. Or to effectively end it. This spell rips a targeted boulder from the ground and launches it at the enemy, delivering significant blunt and arcane damage. The enemy has a high chance to be knocked back and stunned. The power of this spell is affected by the distance – the further the throw, the more damage the boulder inflicts.

Runic Explosion



Destroys a boulder, provoking an immensely powerful magic explosion within a large area. Surviving enemies have a high chance to be stunned and knocked backed by the resulting blast wave. Caster'll also restore some energy per each enemy killed by the explosion.

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

Now lets get to the second part – passive abilities:

• Rune of Enfeeblement – reduces physical and stun resistances for enemies adjacent to runic boulders.
  
• Rune of Binding – raising a boulder slightly decreases energy cost of the skills used during the next turn.
  
• Rune of Absorption – reduces geomancy spells' cooldowns by 1 for each enemy hit by Stone spikes.
  
• Rune of Fortification – increases base duration for Stone armor, increases blunt damage delivered by stone spikes as well as improves maximum durability of runic boulders and stone spikes
  
• Rune of Destabilization – enemies affected by Earthquake take increased damage and have a higher fumble chance.
  
• Rune of Cycle – reduces geomancy spells' cooldowns for each enemy affected by Runic explosion.
  
• Rune of Sustention – killing an enemy restores durability of runic boulders. Also reduces energy cost for skills used during the next turn.

That's all for now. Expect news about the start of closed beta very soon. As for now, here is a gif demonstrating a certain other skill tree:



Until the next time!

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

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Special thanks to @WatcherOfArabia for translating this devlog

Hello everyone!

Recently Verren, the protagonist of the Prologue and the one who employs you in the main game, started sending peculiar letters to everyone who accepted the contract.

He may sound grumpy but he is trying to prepare you for the quest ahead by sharing his numerous stories and other valuable information. He also intends to give you his heirloom ring with his last letter.

Maybe it’ll aid you on your journey… and there’s only one way to know how!