Stoneshard News

Hello everyone!

It’s been a while since our last devlog, but we are finally ready to tell you about many new additions which we’ve been working on. Over the next few devlogs we’ll detail most of the new content introduced by the “Way Forward” update, which will be released on September 24th. For now let’s begin with new enemies and reworked dungeon generation.

[h3]Overall System[/h3]



The dungeon generation algorithm was rebuilt from the ground up in order to avoid the annoyance of persistent generation bugs. Now the game is capable of creating much more sophisticated and complex structures, as well as fine-tune dungeons based on many parameters. This will come in handy when we begin expanding the global map and improving the dungeon respawning system.

[h3]New Rooms[/h3]



New dungeons will welcome you with a large variety of unique templates - other than the usual square rooms, dungeons will also contain rooms of uncommon forms and sizes. Twisted corridors, decorated halls, roomy passageways, collapsed walls - you’ll be able to encounter all of this and more while exploring crypts, catacombs, and bastions. This addition brought significant variety into tactical situations created by the game.

In the future we plan to further develop this concept by adding even more new rooms, including rooms with puzzles, special traps, and so on.

[h3]Secret Rooms[/h3]



The dungeon generator can now create long-forgotten treasure rooms, the entrances to which are initially concealed from your character. Those aren’t easy to find, but the result is well worth the effort - observant characters will be rewarded with sizable loot and unique items.

In order to discover a secret passageway, you’ll have to make use of your Perception attribute - the higher it is, the higher the chance to notice that there’s something funny about that particular wall... You can also use the “Examine Surroundings” ability, which is now able to spot more than just traps.

[h3]Boss Rooms[/h3]



Dungeon bosses are no longer cooped in tiny closets with a chest in the middle. Now they’ll be encountered in special rooms with enough space for maneuver and more valuable loot. For instance, necromancers can be encountered in special tombs, where they conduct their unholy rituals, or next to altar circles.

[h3]Skeleton Variety[/h3]



The Undead faction received reinforcements. The skeletons, not unlike the existing bandits, will have different variants based on their dungeon difficulty. In the beginning of the game your opposition will consist of skeletons in rags, but in more dangerous dungeons you’ll have to fight well-armored and well-armed foes.

The skeletons fight with ultimate determination. Even in the most unfair fights they will hold their ground and never retreat.

[h3]Ghasts[/h3]

Necromancy is a heavy burden. Upon acquiring the forbidden knowledge, weak-willed warlocks often quickly lose their sanity. Once the madness settles in, they transform into ghasts - a macabre shell of their former self, guided by a deranged obsession with death in all its forms.

Necromancers often turn ghasts into their servants, using them as commanders of sorts for their undead army - while skeletons and restless keep enemies busy, ghasts use their spells to support and direct them in combat.

[h3]The Restless Dead[/h3]



The restless are favored by beginner necromancers, since it’s much easier to resurrect a fresh corpse rather than time-yellowed old bones. Due to their relatively recent death, the restless’ consciousness is much less fragmented, so it takes considerably less energy from a warlock to sustain them.

However, the restless’ most significant advantage is their incredible resilience. It’s not easy to kill something which is already dead, as rotting flesh, sustained with dark magic, is capable of surviving even the most grievous wounds. Thanks to their passive ability “Abominable Vitality”, each time a restless receives a killing blow, they have a chance to avoid death, losing a body part and completely replenishing their health in the process.

In order to ultimately put a restless in the ground, you’ll have to either bring their health down to zero a few times or deliver as many heavy injuries as possible.

That’s all for now. Until next time!

Hello everyone!

The work on changes to the AI and dungeon generation is well underway, and we'll soon publish a devlog with some details on our progress. In the meantime, here’s a small interim patch to keep you from getting bored - it expands the roster of available equipment and brings a number of fixes and improvements.

[h2]New Items:[/h2]

• 2 new daggers: Commoner’s Dagger and Elven Stiletto
• 5 new axes: Exquisite Tabar, Heavy Aldorian Axe, Aldwynnian Axe, Gilded Axe, and Lordly Axe
• 1 new mace: Elven Flail
• 4 new chest pieces: Dwarven Armor, Light Brigandine, Elven Brigandine, and Skadian Yushman
• 8 new helmets: Barbute (4 variants) and Cervelliere (4 variants)
  
• 3 new pieces of footwear: Town Shoes, Duelist Boots, and Splint Boots
• 3 new mage sets (mantle + cowl): Cryomancer, Electromancer, and Chronomancer
• 4 new amulets: Gold Medallion, Jibean Pendant, Amber Amulet, Lazurite Amulet
• 1 new cape: Jousting Cloak

[h2]Miscellaneous:[/h2]

• Traders can now sell many items which were previously excluded from their stock.
  
• Added log messages for critical shots.
  
• Added a warning about the progress not being saved on exit when leaving the game.
  
• Reduced the effectiveness of roasted mushrooms.
  
• Numerous fixes across all localizations.
  
• Fixed the item dupe exploit with some of the containers in Osbrook.
  
• Fixed the incorrect block power calculation.
  
• Fixed the incorrect durability loss when blocking attacks.
  
• Fixed the collision between a cell and a door in Mannshire prison.
  
• Fixed visual effects displaying above enemies while they are in the fog of war.
  
• Mobs no longer display speech messages while they are petrified, stunned, or asleep.
  
• Added new equipment sounds.
  
• Fixed the incorrect “Blood Oath” log message.
  
• Fixed pathfinding when clicking on a NPC to start a dialogue.
  
• Fixed the fleawort usage with an open backpack.
  
• Fixed the possibility of dropping items on the ground when dragging them outside of the trade menu.
  
• The fog of war is now being properly calculated when using “Onslaught”.
  
• Fixed the possibility of decapitating targets by using “Mighty Kick” and other non-weapon skills.
  
• Fixed the possibility of reloading while stunned.
  
• Fixed the absence of psionic damage on items.
  

Hello everyone!

In this devlog we’d like to share our progress on the “Way Forward” update. It will be released in the end of summer or in the beginning of autumn and will be the largest and the most complex update we’ve delivered so far - it will include a massive rework of the AI and dungeon generation.

The large amount of time required to develop this update is linked to a significant number of systems, closely connected to the rework. Even if these systems will only be fully implemented at a later date, they already require a proper foundation which we have to lay down. Additionally, AI rework itself requires lots of testing and tweaking, so it’s hard to predict the exact amount of time needed to achieve acceptable results.

However, this rework is essential to finally start adding not just quantity to the game, but also quality. It will allow us to experiment with the behaviour of different enemy factions, add new enemy types, and introduce unique abilities to the existing enemies. With any luck, some of the new enemy types will be added with the “Way Forward” update.

At the moment the basic structure of our new AI is still being conceptualized and prototyped, but we can already share the list of targets we plan to reach:

• Create a more complex ecosystem. This will include the manual tweaking of the relations between different animal types instead of crudely splitting them depending on their ration. We plan to add some specific behaviour patterns as well. For instance, deer will flee from loud noises (instead of running towards them), carnivores will be territorial (which will allow avoiding their aggression if you make a timely retreat from their territory). There will also be a herd/pack simulation added among other things.
  
  A concept scheme for the reworked relations between different animal types
  
  
• Improve pathfinding and positioning. In the current version of the game mobs simply follow the shortest route to their enemy. We’d like to give them an ability to walk around traps and dangerous AoE zones when it’s possible, avoid tiles with solid objects behind them if the player makes an active use of Knockback, and keep their distance when using magic or ranged weaponry.
  
• Add a more context-dependent system for using abilities instead of the existing system, which is based on chance and just one or two conditions per action.
  
• Grant enemies some additional options: retreat or swap positions in certain situations, call allies for help, properly react to arrow fire and spells, correctly prioritize targets.
  
• Introduce a more transparent awareness system, which will become a basis for the upcoming stealth system.
  
• Rework the NPC system, which will allow adding random NPC encounters to the game, making the exploration much more varied.

The variety aspect also pertains to the dungeon generation rework. The existing dungeons are nothing more than a few dozen square rooms, connected with a web of hallways. We are currently working on adding lots of unique rooms to the dungeon generator, removing the mandatory hallways in certain situations, as well as trying out different approaches for generating different dungeon types.

Once we achieve all this, we’ll be able to start introducing new dungeon types to the game, populating them with new enemies (the product of the reworked AI), which in turn means the beginning of the long-awaited expansion of the game’s world.

We’ve already finished working on the prototype for the updated dungeon generation. We are pleased with the result, so it’s currently being added to the game. Still, it will take quite a while to fully flesh the system out, so for now here are some concepts for the new rooms which we plan to add to the game:



That’s all for now, thank you for your attention.
See you in a few weeks!

- “Pikeman's Stance” cancels in the Rest Mode.
- Enemies no longer move between locations if they are Immobilized.
- Fixed weapon critical effects not applying to offhand critical strikes.
- When delivering items to complete a task, items in your inventory have higher priority than equipped ones.
- Ancient Troll no longer attacks while Petrified.
- Decreased hunger and thirst gain from the Gnawmaw curse.
- “Parry” and “Piercing Shot” now work correctly.
- “Feint Swing” now correctly decreases Fumble Chance instead of increasing it.
- Weapon Damage stat no longer affects unarmed strikes.
- Bonus Range now applies correctly in the Attack Mode.
- Fixed crossbow unloading crashing the game on some occasions.
- “Anticipation” and “Precision” now work correctly with crossbows.
- Fixed “War Cry” duration.
- Fixed “Sudden Lunge” cooldown reset.
- Fixed immediate decrease of charge skills cooldowns upon usage.
- Fixed “Shoot to Kill” Crit Chance calculation and “Anticipation” duration.
- Fixed “Hunter’s Mark” working incorrectly.
- Fixed “Adrenaline Rush” bonus duration calculation.
- Fixed “Flurry of Blows” not working correctly when used by enemies.
- Fixed some Osbrook’s containers not being properly saved.
- Osbrook Mill location was redesigned.