Stoneshard News

Hello everyone!

In today’s devlog we’ll tell you about the first of the two new ability trees, which will be added to the game with the Equipment Update II – two-handed maces!



Let’s start with the general structure of the ability tree:



Just like ability trees of other two-handed weapons, 2h maces have 10 abilities: 5 Actives and 5 Passives. Their overall theme is controlling the battlefield with Stuns, Dazes, Knockbacks, Debuffs while dealing large amounts of damage with powerful, but slow strikes.

Let’s have a closer look.

[h2]Active Abilities[/h2]



Mighty Swing – the first of the two opening Active abilities is a buff which grants bonus Weapon, Armor, and Bodypart Damage, as well as extra Stun Chance for the next turn.
Other than that, it also synergizes with the rest of 2h mace abilities: if “Mighty Swing” is active when you activate them, they receive additional properties.



Unstoppable Force - the second opening Ability. It performs a strike on three adjacent tiles with a large bonus to Knockback Chance and Armor Damage.
Additionally, for each enemy you successfully Knock back, it reduces Skills Energy Cost for the next few turns.

If “Mighty Swing” is active, successfully Knocking enemies back also puts their abilities on Cooldown for a few turns.



Skull Crusher lets you perform a one tile dash and swing at the enemy’s head with bonus Stun Chance and Bodypart Damage

If “Mighty Swing” is active, this skill also burns the percentage of the target’s Energy equal to the percentage of its missing Health.



Slaughter - a stance-based skill, customary to all Weapon ability trees. It grants bonus Crit and Knockback Chance, reduces Skills Energy Cost, and increases Armor Penetration with each stack of its effect. On top of that, every 3rd attack has 100% chance to Daze.

If “Mighty Swing” is active, using this ability will deliver a strike to a random adjacent enemy.



Forceful Slam - the final Active ability, which can be used to either start a fight or finish off a stunned enemy.

First, “Forceful Slam” marks a tile, skipping a turn. If the next turn this tile is occupied by an enemy, the character will deliver a strike with a significant bonus to Crit Chance and deal bonus damage (scaling with the target’s Max Health) for each remaining turn of Daze, Immobilization, or Stun affecting the target.

If “Mighty Swing” is active, this skill also weakens the enemy occupying the marked tile, applying them with extra Damage Taken and reducing their Control and Move Resistances.

[h2]Passive Abilities[/h2]

• Blow after Blow - killing enemies with 2h mace attacks and abilities grants the effect of “Mighty Swing” for the next turn and a bonus to Energy Restoration for the next few turns.
  
• Unbalance - Knocking enemies back with 2h mace attacks and abilities applies them with extra Fumble Chance and reduces their Control Resistance and Dodge Chance for the next few turns.
  
• Bonebreaker - attacks against enemies without Armor or with their Armor Durability lower than 50% gain bonus Bodypart Damage. Attacks against enemies with their Armor Durability higher than 50% gain bonus Armor Damage.
  
• Severe Concussion - Stunning, Dazing, or Immobilizing enemies with 2h mace attacks applies them with a debuff to Move Resistance and increases their Fumble Chance for a few turns.
  
• Revel in Battle - killing enemies while under the effect of “Slaughter” replenishes 20% Max Energy. Killing enemies while under the effect of both “Slaughter” and “Mighty Swing” additionally reduces the ability tree’s active Cooldowns by a few turns.

That’s all for now. Until the next time!

Hello everyone!

In today’s devlog we’ll tell you about some new features of the Equipment Update II, planned for this December (and which ended up containing more than just new equipment).

[h2]Harvesting meat and pelts[/h2]

Since the game was first released, pelts had been dropping with a random chance. It was meant to imply that sometimes pelts are way too damaged, and that there was no use harvesting them. However, this mechanic wasn’t well-explained - unsurprisingly, it was only confusing players when they weren’t getting any loot after killing an animal.

To resolve this issue (and to increase immersion), we’ve added a new mechanic - skinning. Killing an animal is now just a first step: in order to get pelts, meat, antlers etc, you’ll need to harvest them. To do so, you’ll need something sharp in your inventory: a dagger, an axe, or at least a sword.

For the time being, skinning is implemented as a basic skill with 100% efficiency, but once Survival skill tree is in place, you’ll need to spend some Ability Points to learn how to do it properly.



The way an animal is killed is an important factor. You’ll get the best outcome with piercing weaponry, which won’t damage pelts too much. If you score a kill by primarily using Piercing Damage, the chance to get a pelt will be the highest.

On the other hand, Slashing damage types fare much worse, as cuts won’t do any good to a pelt’s condition. As for using Pyromancy, you can imagine the outcome... Naturally, the market adjusts accordingly: since harvesting pelts is harder now, their value has been greatly improved.



Certain damage types can also affect the harvested meat. Animals killed with Fire Damage get well-cooked in the process, while Poison, Caustic, or Cursed Damage might cause the meat to spoil.

[h2]Traps[/h2]

In addition to skinning, we’ve also implemented more dungeon traps. Let’s start with pressure plates, which, for the time being, will have two variants:



The first one is a fire trap. It will ignite the floor and deal heavy damage once triggered.
The second one has a twist: it creates a cloud of poisonous gas, slowly filling the surrounding area. Staying in this cloud will deal Poison Damage with a chance to cause violent coughing, which reduces Accuracy, increases Fumble Chance, and generates lots of noise.

At the same time, certain traps will be available to players as well.



For instance, claw traps can now be disarmed, stored in the inventory, and then placed.



Caltrops are light enough to be thrown right in front of the approaching enemies.



Nets will help dealing with particularly agile foes (although they won’t help much against ghosts, for obvious reasons).



And finally - smoke bombs, which function similarly to poison traps, capable of ruining the day for enemy archers: the smoke obscures vision, triggers coughing, and deals a small amount of Poison Damage.

That’s all for now. Until the next devlog!

Hello, mercenaries!

This December’s Equipment Update II is almost around the corner: expect a few more devlogs about its new features and content in the following weeks.

As the work on the update continues at full speed, we’d like to ask you to nominate our game for the “Best Game You Suck At” award - it probably won’t be too far from the truth. After all, “the game that rewards persistence, and is not for the faint of heart” is a perfect description for Stoneshard, and we’ll greatly appreciate your support!

That’s all for now. Make sure to stay tuned: there'll be a new devlog tomorrow!

Hello everyone!

In this devlog we’ll tell you about a new, previously unannounced mechanic, which will be added with the Content Update II, planned for this December. This mechanic is...

Throwing items! Initially, we didn’t plan to add this feature during this stage in development, however it ended up necessary for the implementation of certain new consumables, so we had to adjust on the fly. So how does it work and what can you do with it?



For the most part, throwing is used for dealing extra damage to enemies. It’s worth mentioning that any item in the game can be thrown. The resulting distance, the amount and type of damage depend on a thrown item’s weight and material. For instance, if you lob heavy stuff such as moose antlers at someone’s head, you’ll deal heavy damage as long as they are not too far away. A pine cone, on the other hand, is only good for attracting attention.

Additionally, certain items have unique properties:

• By throwing a potion at your enemy, you can apply its effect for a quarter of its base duration.
  
• Clay and glass items shatter into pieces, dealing piercing damage.
  
  
  
  
• Breaking a bottle of alcohol or oil on an enemy greatly increases their flammability. On top of that, foul liquids getting into their eyes will make it hard to concentrate on combat...
  
• Highly flammable items (made from cloth or paper) will burn in fire. Pyromancers, watch your flames!
  
  
  
  
• A heavy enough item can trigger a claw trap or a pressure plate.
  
• The amount of noise generated by a thrown item depends on its weight and material. The sound of breaking glass will attract much more attention than a tumbling acorn.
  
• It’s no easy task to restore a thrown tomato to its original form. Only throw tomatoes you don’t need!
  
• The same holds true for ale mugs - it’s hard to throw them without spilling their contents.
  
• And so on...
  

[h2]Weapons[/h2]



Weapon-throwing is a completely different thing. Instead of weight and material, it takes a different factor into account - a weapon balance, which combines item weight and its aerodynamic properties. The better the balance, the further and more precise a throw will be, and the more damage it will deal upon connecting.

Most daggers and light axes can be easily thrown, offering you a significant edge in combat. Certain spears (not halberds) are slightly worse in this regard. When it comes to swords, maces, and two-handed weapons, they don’t fly far, and they don’t deal significant damage, as these weapon types aren’t well-suited for throwing. It’s also not always a good idea to overuse this mechanic even with a suitable weapon - doing so will quickly drain its durability.



Naturally, your character stats are factored in as well: the damage for throwing any item is influenced by Perception, Strength, and Agility, the distance is decided by Strength, and the hit chance (including the Crit Hit chance) depends on Perception and Agility.

Keep in mind that throwing is meant to be only a supplementary combat mechanic and not a play style, so we don’t plan on introducing a dedicated skill tree for it. It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to beat the game by throwing axes and daggers, although you can still give it a try.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for future devlogs - we still have a few more surprises up our sleeve!

• Added Japanese localization.
• Fixed the error in the hit detection algorithm, which hadn’t been correctly factoring in Dodge Chance when calculating hit chance for arrows.
• Fixed archers being resurrected with a ranged weapon after dying with a melee weapon.
• Fixed “Blaze” granting double reduction for active Cooldowns.
• Fixed dogs being able to open doors.
• Fixed the bug causing Reputation gain each time you take a free beer from Brukk.
• Praying at shrines now immediately restores some Morale and Sanity.
• “Deafening Roar” is now put on cooldown when the fight begins.
• Snakes can no longer poison when missing their attacks.
• Fixed the issue with changes to cursed items' stats not being correctly displayed.
• Fixed the issue with two or more Ghasts casting “Binding Sigil” simultaneously.
• Increased prices of most consumables.
• Decreased prices of all treatises.
• «Anticipation»: Applies the target with [-10 > -5]% Dodge Chance [10 > 4] after landing a shot and grants [5 > 7.5]% Accuracy for [10 > 4] turns when missing.
• «Flame Saturation»: [Replenishes 5% Max Energy > Grants -20% Spells Energy Cost for 2 turns] each time an enemy within Vision is ignited.