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7 Days Until Release + Early Access Trailer

Hello everyone!

We’re here to remind you only 7 days left until Stoneshard launches in Early Access on the 6th of February! For those of you still wondering, the price tag will be $15 for the US / 15€ for the EU.

To celebrate this, we’ve just released our launch trailer. Check it out!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In the coming week prepare for more news and updates, including our Early Access FAQ, development roadmap and other interesting things.

Cheers!

Devlog: Tweaks Changes


Hello everyone!

This devlog is dedicated to a variety of small tweaks and improvements, which have accumulated over the last few weeks.

[h3]Cooking[/h3]
Casual cooking is the best way to ease your mind after slaughtering the whole bunch of bandits.

Ever since the old Prologue, many players have been complaining that there are no uses for raw meat. In fact, we do have a fairly complex cooking and ingredient system planned, but implementing it is a very complex task, so it won’t be coming any time soon. Nevertheless, there is already a need for some option to cook meat acquired from hunting - that’s why we’ve added a small placeholder system, which will allow roasting it. To do it, you will need to find a campfire or an oven, start a fire, and cook raw meat through the context menu. Simple, fast, filling.

[h3]Expanded Map and More Dungeons[/h3]


With the addition of a new village (we’ll tell you more about it in the next devlog), the necessity of expanding the map became rather apparent. As a result, the map is now almost twice as large. Every village is also surrounded with its own dungeons, which are repopulated with enemies after a certain amount of time.

[h3]New Items[/h3]



The amount of available equipment has been increased with the addition of new, regular gear, as well as some special, unique items. Unique items can only be acquired in a single copy and are often gained in a very specific way - during certain encounters or as a rare drop after killing an appropriate miniboss. These are not legendary items, so they don’t have any unique properties, but they are generally better than the alternatives of the same level. All preset characters also start the game with two unique items, unobtainable in any other way.

[h3]Purses & Bags[/h3]



During the closed beta, many players complained that inventory space is too limited and is too fast to get cluttered with gold. We’ve fixed this problem with the addition of purses - special containers, which can only hold crowns. A purse only takes up two inventory spaces, while being able to hold up to 2000 coins, saving lots of space.

Backpacks are equipped in the cloak slot, adding 12 extra spaces, which increases your inventory capacity by almost 25%. Why just 12 spaces? Because that’s the exact amount of space taken up by a backpack if you put it in your inventory. We wanted to avoid the situations when players fill their inventories with many backpacks to maximize their inventory capacity. In our game the small inventory size is vital for balance and is an important tactical element, meant to encourage players to plan and optimize their equipment.

We don’t plan to add item stacks, as they interfere with the sense of size for each individual item. However, we plan to add more bag types for different items, such as tubes for storing scrolls, alchemy pouches for potions and ingredients and so on.

[h3]Geomancy Tweaks[/h3]

Geomancy is the most unique magic school in the game at the moment. However, it had many problems: it was fairly independent from gear, and it could become an absolute weapon from level one if used correctly.

Our task was to fix it without affecting other well-loved abilities. As a result, Runic Boulder, the cornerstone of the skill tree, was the only ability which got significantly rebalanced. Its problems included overly strong bonuses, lack of cooldowns, and no adverse effects of using the spell. These factors resulted in preventive boulder spam before each battle instead of placing boulders tactically.



To fix this, we’ve rebalanced the effect of Runic Empowerment, making it less versatile. We’ve also added a small 2 turns cooldown between raising boulders, as well as introduced energy cost for maintaining them. Each boulder now drains 2 energy points per turn. If your character’s energy runs out, the summoned boulders crumble. On top of this, boulders crumble if the caster loses sight of them, so it’s no longer possible to lure enemies into rooms with pre-casted boulders.

Little QoL-improvement. Now you don't need to re-cast boulders to get rid of them.

Some other geomancy spells also had their numbers tweaked: for instance, stone spikes and stone armor durations have been reduced. To compensate for that, energy costs for all geomancy spells are lower as well - it’s now possible to create more complicated spell combinations without running out of energy. Thanks to these combined changes, geomancy now feels way more tactical, while still being very powerful in skilled hands, remaining just as fun to use as before.

That’s all for now. Until next time!

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Devlog: Character Selection



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:

[h3]Jorgrim, the Reaver[/h3]


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.


[h3]Arna, the Maiden Knight[/h3]


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.


[h3]Dirwin, the Woodward[/h3]


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.


[h3]Jonna, the Runaway Sorceress[/h3]


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.


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Just Jonna picking some field herbs.

That’s all for now. Until next time!

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Remastered Prologue is Here!


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.

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[h2]Frequently asked questions[/h2]

[h3]Where did the stealth and some other skill trees from the old Prologue go?[/h3]
Stealth mode was temporarily removed from the game. It will return during Early Access after being reworked. Same for the unavailable skill trees.

[h3]Can I launch the game on Mac or Linux?[/h3]
Unfortunately you can’t. For now we can’t say for certain when the game will be available for these platforms.

[h3]What happens if I’ve already got the achievements in the old Prologue?[/h3]
Don’t worry, your progress remains. The achievements were changed, not removed, so you automatically get their changed versions.

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

Devlog: Prologue Progress



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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