Zoria: Age of Shattering News

👋Hello adventurers!

Let's talk more about one of the crucial mechanics in Zoria: Age of Shattering; The Outpost.

As we already know, The Outpost is a place where you rest, craft, recruit or rid of de-buffs, to name just a few. But let's get into the details!



Relevant to this article are two aspects of exploration and combat:

Fatigue: is a stat that increases with time spent out in the wilds and is also affected by how many encounters a follower has fought through. The more fatigue a character accumulates, the less effective that character gets, with stats decreasing a little at first and significantly as fatigue gets too high levels.
Supplies: The resting mechanic is the best way to recover followers' health and clear certain effects.

Supplies: Resting out in the field takes time and requires supplies, as followers can’t go around hungry. Supplies can be found during exploration but can also be obtained through cooking. It is advised to take enough supplies from the Outpost when leaving for an adventure.

One aspect of the game we haven’t talked a lot about is the base and base management: The Outpost and all the outpost systems. Because exploration, questing, and combat are just a part of the game, what truly differentiates Zoria: Age of Shattering from other CRPG titles is how base and character management is integrated into the game.



Characters:

The player is not limited to a set of companions that will follow throughout the game, as it is usually the case, but is free to recruit many, either from the world, through quests, or from different locations within the game. The only limit to the player is the party size, but the Barracks inside the outpost act as a home to all the followers that are not in the current party.



Every time the player leaves the Outpost, he is free to choose whatever party composition he wants, limited only to what followers are available at that point. This means players can have a party suited to their playstyle or to the places they want to visit – dark dungeons full of traps where Thieves can come in handy or long-forgotten ruins where Mages or Lancers can make exploration easier.

The only constant in the party is the Captain; all the other characters can be switched in or out of the party every time the player returns to the Outpost.

The Barracks:

The heart of the Follower Management system is the place where you can equip your troops with the newest weapons you crafted, the most powerful potions, and special items found in the dungeons they conquered. You can also see on this screen your Follower’s level, stats, status, and the abilities they have unlocked.



The Burrow:

All that adventuring and fighting will increase troops' fatigue, and with fatigue increasing, everything else goes down, including Follower stats and combat efficiency. The best way to recover your troops is to send them to the “Moon Flower” BURROW for some rest… actually it’s the only way. This means not all your followers will be available all the time; some will need a longer stay than others, depending on their Fatigue level and wounds received during their time adventuring.
Besides its strictly functional role, the Moon Flower Burrow’s manager, Madame Sybilla is an… exotic character with some interesting stories and quests.



The Inn:

The Lucky Dog Inn serves many purposes in the Outpost, being as much a utility building as it is a quest hub and a place to meet interesting characters.
The utility aspect of the Inn refers to cooking, as the Inn is the place where all the cooking takes place in the Outpost. Sure, cooking can also be done on the road, but sometimes it’s preferable to do that in the Outpost where all the materials gathered are stored.
Another very important factor related to the Inn is recruiting. Since recruiting is done in more than one way, and some quests, depending on the outcome, can offer the option to recruit a character, the Inn is not the only way to expand a player’s roster of followers, but it can still be quite an effective one.



The Black Cauldron:

As is the case with cooking, alchemy can also be performed on the road for a quick healing potion to get out of trouble but having access to all the materials gathered is, most of the time, the better option.



The Blacksmith:

Crafting can only be performed in the Outpost, and the Blacksmith is the place to do that. Being part of the Outpost facilities, crafting is accessible through the Blacksmith and uses the Outpost inventory, where all the materials accumulated during the player’s adventures are located.
As with most of the buildings in the Outpost, the Blacksmith can be upgraded, providing access to more recipes or other bonuses.



Storage:

The game has two inventories: the party’s inventory and the Outpost’s inventory. As is usually the case, the party’s inventory is limited.
On the other hand, the Outpost's inventory is not limited, allowing for the accumulation of large quantities of materials necessary to craft, equip and supply a large roster of followers. Because of this, most crafting will take place at the Outpost, with alchemy and cooking being accessible in the field but relying only on the materials gathered in that sortie.

Building Upgrades:

Many of the buildings in the Outpost can be upgraded, bringing all sorts of bonuses to the player, from faster healing to better weapons and armor available for crafting. Each building has its specific upgrade levels and requirements that can be related to either resources or specific quests.

Missions:

With a large roster of characters comes the unavoidable problem of favorite characters. When unavailable or unsuitable for a certain dungeon, they have to rely on lower-level or badly geared followers. Also, with many followers crafting and the availability of materials are vital. To answer both of these issues is the task of the Missions system.
The player can send followers that are idle in the Outpost on certain Missions, missions that, if successful, award the player with materials, recipes, items, gold, and experience for the followers. Some followers can also return wounded or fatigued from the missions, requiring recovery time in the Burrow, so it’s wise to choose wisely the missions and the characters.




This is just a brief description of the systems that make up the base and follower management aspect of the game.

We will be back with more dev diaries soon!

Cheers,
Team Zoria

Hey everyone!

[h3]We're excited to announce our collaboration with RPG STORIES! [/h3]



RPG Stories is a 3D Virtual Tabletop featuring a massive World Builder that provides you with 3D Assets, Heroes, and Monsters for all kinds of RPGs; Fantasy, Modern, and Sci-fi, to create your quests AND play online with your party. Everything you need, all-in-one software!

Check out their Kickstarter campaign; it ends in five days!



As a part of our collaboration, models from Zoria will be available in RPG Stories, so you will be able to create your own tabletop RPG game in Zorias setting!

Here is an example of a session you can create!

We're super excited about this collaboration and can't wait to see the outcome!

Follow RPG Stories on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2105600/RPG_Stories/

Cheers,
Team Zoria

Hey adventurers!

As we released a new demo a couple of days ago and a Kickstarter campaign, we want to introduce you to a few locations you will visit while exploring the Kingdom of Nulbarak.



The garrison at the Lonely Tower is beheld as a tyrant in these lands, and the villagers wish to be rid of them. This will work greatly in our favor, should we be able to exploit this.



However, be prepared; the path to the garrison is not easy; some sort of magical barrier protects it! The soldiers guard the secret closely, and nobody outside the barrier’s borders seems to know anything about it.



The turmoil in the lands of Nulbarak grows, aided in some measure by us. That is not to say we caused any new degree of conflict but merely helped the villagers stand up to the tyrannical regime of the Elionian soldiers. We have stood on the side of the common folk of Nulbarak, helping them cut off the supplies going to the soldiers and culminating with an assault of the garrison on the fledgling militia of Nulbarak.



Here you can prepare for the journey on the paths of Nulbarak. Recruit your followers, and prepare the necessary potions in the Wizard Tent using your crafting skills. Remember to spend your ability points! Each of your followers has a separate amount.



Through sweat and blood we have recovered a strange badge from the soldiers of the garrison. It appears to protect them from the harmful effects of the barrier surrounding the Lonely Tower, granting them safe passage. Our leading scientist, Reija, has managed to replicate the workings of the strange device and create similar items for our men. Though the technology is something way beyond our times, we now possess the means to get closer to our goal.

We want to leave this one as a mystery. Find your way to the Lonely Tower and discover what mysteries it contains!

Of course, there is more, but we don't want to show you everything! But as a hint, we can say there are places you can visit only with specific characters in your team!



Play the demo, and learn what secrets the Kingdom of Nulbarak protects!



Until the next time!

Team Zoria

Hello adventurers! 👋

[h3][h2]We're happy to inform you that Zoria: Age of Shattering is participating in TactiCon 2022![/h2][/h3]

The event started yesterday, and ends on the 26th of September!

TactiCon is a digital convention hosted on Steam celebrating strategy video games, it highlights the brilliant and creative minds who develop strategy games and gathers the players who love them.

This event is not only about sales, but you can participate in many live panels on exciting topics and check on new demos of upcoming games! 🔥


Check them out on the TactiCon's main page (click on the above graphic)!

We're honored to be able to be a part of this fantastic convention ❤️

Cheers,

Team Zoria

Hello adventurers!👋

Today we want to talk about some stats, armor, and attack types in Zoria. There are a lot of mechanics in the game that we believe we should cover, so you get the idea of what to expect when you jump into the world of Zoria. It's going to be a pretty long diary today, so grab your favorite beverage, snacks and enjoy the guide!

Main Stats
These stats directly influence the character’s various attributes (health, damage) and the power of a character’s abilities.

• Stamina: directly affects the character’s health. Especially important early game and the single greatest contributor to player survivability.
  

• Strength: especially important for melee characters, directly affects Melee Attack Power and increases the Energy pool for Lancer class and Captain. It also increases block power for characters wearing a Shield.
  

• Agility: increases Ranged Attack Power for Ranger. Increases Melee Attack Power for Thief. Increases Melee Attack Power for Lancer, Kingsman, Battle Cleric, and Captain to a smaller degree. Increases Energy pool for Ranger, Thief, and Kingsman. Increases Crit Chance with values depending on the class. Increases Armor.
  

• Intellect: Increases Spell Power. Increases Magic Armor. Increases Crit Chance for magic abilities. Increases Mana pool for Wizard, Necromancer, Priest, Battle Cleric, Bard.
  

• Armor: reduces the amount of damage received from physical abilities and effects.
  

• Magic Armor: reduces the amount of damage received from magic abilities and effects.
  

Secondary Stats:

• Initiative: it influences the character’s place in the combat queue at the start and where it will be placed in the queue once that character’s turn is finished. A character with a high Initiative value will be placed higher in the combat queue once its turn is completed than a character with a low Initiative value.
  

• Hit Chance: chance to hit with an ability. It is directly influenced by the level difference between the character and the enemy. The higher the level of an enemy compared to the character, the lower the Hit Chance.
  

• Crit Chance: Critical chance is influenced by the dominant stat for that class – Agility or Intellect.
  

Elemental Resistances:
All magic effects belong to a type of elemental magic.

• Fire Magic

• Water Magic

• Nature Magic

• Arcane Magic

• Death Magic

• Light Magic

Light and Death Magic are in direct opposition, with Death Magic wielders being especially weak to Light Magic and Light Magic wielders especially weak to Death Magic abilities.
Enemies weak to Fire Magic are equally weak to physical Fire effects, like the Fire Arrow Ranger ability.
Elemental resistances mitigate a percent of the incoming damage from that specific element. Gear pieces with elemental resistance have values representing their elemental resistance. Depending on the level, these values translate to different percentages of elemental resistance, making a low-level gear piece more effective in elemental protection for the appropriate level character.

Effects:
These effects are placed on the character by various abilities and can be temporary (only during combat) or permanent (must be removed by resting, using a potion, or in the Outpost). Each effect influences the player’s stats differently:

• Sunder: can be applied by physical abilities. Decreases the player Armor and can stack multiple effects.
  

• Wound: can be applied by physical abilities. Decreases the player Initiative while active.
  

• Bleed: can be applied by physical abilities. Deals damage over time to the character until removed.
  

• Stun: can be applied by any kind of ability. Locks the character in the current position in the combat queue for its duration.
  

• Poison: can be applied by Nature abilities. Decreases Hit Chance.
  

• Disease: can be applied by Nature abilities. DecreasesAgilityandIntellect.
  

• Curse: can be applied by Death abilities. Decreases Strength and Magic Armor.
  

These effects do not show on the Character Stat sheet but in the abilities description for each ability that places a certain effect. Some enemies can be immune to certain types of effects, making the abilities that place those effects less effective. This immunity will be shown in the Compendium entry for each enemy.

Stats influence on abilities:
The power of each ability of a certain class is affected by the main stat. Because of this, different builds for a class can benefit from a different main stat.

As an example, below are some of the Kingsman’s abilities and the stats affecting their power:

• Strength: Basic Attack, Vanquish thy Foe, Avenger Strike, Bash of Wrath.
  

• Agility: Shield Wall, King's Resolve, Deflect, Hold the Line, Avatar of Protection.
  

• Intellect: Magic Absorption, King's Fire.
  

Fatigue: is a special stat central to the Fatigue and Outpost recovery mechanic. We will introduce more details on this mechanic in a dedicated post later.

Together with the Stats update, we are also introducing new stats to armor and weapons.

• Durability: all weapons and armor now have certain durability that decreases with each combat. Once a gear item’s durability reaches 0, that item is no longer usable and does not contribute to the character’s stats.
  

Armor Types:

• Light Armor: worn by Wizard, Necromancer, and Priest classes.
  

• Medium Armor: worn by Ranger, Thief, Bard classes, and the Captain.
  

• Hardened Armor: worn by the Ranger, Kingsman, Lancer, Battle Cleric classes, and the Captain.
  

• Heavy Armor: worn by the Kingsman and Lancer classes.
  

Weapon Damage and Spell Damage:

• All weapons now have a weapon damage stat. This damage is added to the base attack of the character using that weapon.
  

• Specific caster weapons, like the staff, have a Spell Damage stat instead of Weapon Damage.
  

Stay tuned for future updates, as there is much more we want to present to you!

Cheers,
Team Zoria