KickStarter Stoneshard - open world roguelike RPG - now available on Early Access

[thesecret1]

thesecret1

Ah, yes, when they said they'd update the roadmap shortly, I should've known they actually meant Q1 2026. These are Stoneshard devs, after all.

 

[Hallgar]

thesecret1

Ah, yes, when they said they'd update the roadmap shortly, I should've known they actually meant Q1 2026. These are Stoneshard devs, after all.

This reply by the devs is kind of dumb and smart at the same time:

It's dumb, because it would literally take them 5 minutes to put together and release a new roadmap.

It's smart, because after their announcement to switch from releasing big updates every other year to smaller ones after every few months, they know people will be expecting the new content sooner.

So, it's best to drag out the release of the new roadmap as long as possible, otherwise they'll have to do deal with the complaints of their paying customers again (le horror!).

 

[Lagole Gon]

Huh, it's weird I never heard of this game. Looks pretty cool.
What is it like? Looks like Battle Brothers for people who don't like the BB tacti-puzzle gameplay.
But the art direction makes me think of that turboedgy taiwanese smut game.

Worth a buy?

 

[Yosharian]

Huh, it's weird I never heard of this game. Looks pretty cool.
What is it like? Looks like Battle Brothers for people who don't like the BB tacti-puzzle gameplay.
But the art direction makes me think of that turboedgy taiwanese smut game.

Worth a buy?

Still feels kinda unfinished to me.

 

[Litmanen]

Huh, it's weird I never heard of this game. Looks pretty cool.
What is it like? Looks like Battle Brothers for people who don't like the BB tacti-puzzle gameplay.
But the art direction makes me think of that turboedgy taiwanese smut game.

Worth a buy?

Still feels kinda unfinished to me.

Yeah.. I mean... it's in Early Access...

 

[thesecret1]

Huh, it's weird I never heard of this game. Looks pretty cool.
What is it like? Looks like Battle Brothers for people who don't like the BB tacti-puzzle gameplay.
But the art direction makes me think of that turboedgy taiwanese smut game.

Worth a buy?

It's good, but far from done (at least content-wise). They have a free demo you can try and see if it's your thing.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Huh, it's weird I never heard of this game. Looks pretty cool.
What is it like? Looks like Battle Brothers for people who don't like the BB tacti-puzzle gameplay.
But the art direction makes me think of that turboedgy taiwanese smut game.

Worth a buy?

Only if you can stand crossing huge cities empty of content and empty maps in turn-based mode, step by step...
I can't believe the devs think their tech demo of a game is even playable.

 

[normie]

Content Patch 0.9.2.0 - Changelog

Hello everyone!

Meet patch 0.9.2.0, bringing a wealth of new content focused on Brigands and their Bastions, along with various fixes and improvements. There's also one previously unannounced surprise that we'll reveal below…

ADDITIONS

Important: due to changes to the Bastion generation algorithm, all previously saved Bastions have been reset. This means that if you have a save in a Brigand Dungeon, loading it will spawn you outside.

• Added 3 new Bastion Contracts: “Underground Workshops”, “Stolen Shipment”, “Hostage Rescue”.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Added 3 new Bastion Conditions: “Iron Discipline”, “Hefty Stockpiles”, and “Revelry”.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Added numerous new room templates to the Bastions.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Added one new Catacomb Condition: “Rite of Ascension”.
• Overhauled the Brigand faction to make their tier progression more gradual and visually distinguishable. Many old Brigands received new abilities, stats, and sprites.
• Added 13 new Brigand types, including 3 Mini-Bosses.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Added 11 new Brigand abilities (7 of which are connected to one of the Bastion Conditions).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Reworked each character’s unique perk:
  • 
  • Dirwin - “Ranger's Grit”:
    
    Starts the game with "Make a Halt" already learned.
    
    Grants "Butchering" 20% chance to harvest pelts, regardless of the damage type used to kill the animal. Increases this chance by 1% and grants +1% Experience Gain (up to +20%) for each Hunting Ground visited for the first time.
    
    Grants 1 Ability Point and 1 Stat Point for every 3 Ability Points invested into the "Survival" tree.
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Jorgrim - “Blood and Glory”:
    
    Allows "Butchering" to harvest various trophies from Mini-Bosses.
    
    
    
    
    
    Delivering a trophy while turning in a contract grants additional +10% Reward and +10% Reputation. Also grants 1 Stat Point and +2% Weapon Damage for every 3 trophies delivered for the first time (up to 5 times).
    
    Killing enemies grants +5% Experience Gain for 60 turns (the effect stacks up to 10 times).
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Arna - “Vow of the Feat”
    
    Each enemy within Vision increases the rate of "Heroism", "Optimism", and "Prudence" activation by 20% (up to 100%) and grants +5% chance to trigger "Second Wind".
    
    Each received level improves the effects of positive Psyche states by 3%. Additionally, reduces the cooldown between their activation by 50%.
    
    Killing dangerous enemies grants additional Experience depending on the character's level.
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Jonna - “Magical Erudition”
    
    Grants +5% Power of the corresponding School and +5% Miracle Potency for each unique magic treatise in the Inventory.
    
    Grants -1% Backfire Chance for each magic treatise read for the first time. Grants +1% Experience Gain for each Ability Point invested into Sorcery trees.
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Velmir - “With Great Vengeance”
    
    Killing Mini-Bosses replenishes Morale and Sanity.
    
    If there's a Boss or Mini-Boss within Vision, applies all enemies within Vision with +1.5% Damage Taken for each Mini-Boss killed for the first time (up to +30%). Grants +1.5% Experience Gain for each Mini-Boss killed for the first time.
    
    Grants +10% Reputation Gain and 2 Stat Points for each killed Boss.
• Added 55 new weapons and armor pieces, 17 of them unique.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Added new rare hunting trophies: Gulon Liver, Wolf Tongue, Moose Kidney, Troll Gland, and Boar Tusks.
• Added three new dishes: Taiga Rassolnik, Gulon Liver in Apples, and Glazed Wolf Tongue.
• Replaced Giant Rats with Rat Swarms.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Added wild bird nests with lootable Eggs.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Added Rats to certain locations as small neutral animals (similar to Crabs)
• Added Seaweeds to beaches, which can replace vegetables in certain cooking recipes.
• Added a new plant - Lavender
• Added Owls to the woods
• Added new Caravan Camp animations to Leif and Verren.

CHARACTER PACK


And now for the promised surprise: we're excited to present a free Character Pack, adding three new playable heroes - each with their own unique perk, starting equipment, and lines!

• 
• Mahir of Jacinth. A follower of the ancient teachings that interpret the Path to Truth quite literally, Mahir draws strength from long journeys and the relentless pursuit of self-improvement.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Leosthenes of Nistra. Trained from childhood to serve as an Agemon, a bodyguard to the Great Despot, Leosthenes knows better than anyone that traditional warfare and magic are far from mutually exclusive.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Hilda of Fjall. This seasoned huntress and shipwreck survivor relies not only on her own prowess but also on the blessings of the spirits, which she appeases with regular offerings.

We hope these new heroes and the mechanics they bring will add a bit of novelty to your adventures before the proper implementation of Custom Characters

BALANCE

• Significantly increased the duration of most dishes’ effects.
• Increased the amount of Experience granted for killing most enemies.
• Adjusted some cooking recipes to allow for more flexibility.
• Added a new stat, Abilities Energy Cost, that acts as a base coefficient, while Skills Energy Cost and Spells Energy Cost serve as its modifiers
• Expanded the range of the Backfire Chance stat: it can now go into negative values, allowing it to properly reduce the base Backfire Chance of spells.
• Caltrops now do more damage when thrown and will no longer break when hitting the target directly.
• The “Miasmas” Condition: reduced the base Intoxication Gain (independent of the Dangeon’s danger level) by 20%.
• Adjusted the Supply and Demand system to track each Commodity type individually. In practical terms, buying or selling grain will no longer affect the prices of coal, for example.
• Ranged enemies will now drop their remaining ammunition if they have any left upon death.
• Reduced the negative impact of Followers and installed Caravan Upgrades on Fodder Consumption.
• Reduced the base price of Fodder.
• Reduced the amount of Fodder received from most ingredients.
• Reduced the base repopulation time for Distant Dungeon by 4 days.
• “Cleaving Strike”: increased the base Bleed Chance.
• “Onrush”: increased the base Weapon Damage bonus.
• “Mutilating Lunge”: increased the base Bleed Chance.
• “Cut Through”: increased the base Weapon Damage and Armor Penetration bonuses.
• “Onslaught”: reduced the base Daze Chance.
• “Armor Break”: increased the base Daze Chance.
• “Arcane Lore”: reduced the bonuses by half.
• “Will to Survive”: reduced the scaling of the Damage Taken bonus by half.
• “No Time to Linger”: no longer allows “Sudden Lunge” to be used without spending a turn, instead granting it a significant Weapon Damage bonus and greatly reducing its Energy Cost and Cooldown Duration.
• “Impaling Lunge”, “Precise Hits”: the effects are now also activated if the target is affected by “Net”.
• Changed and fine-tuned the stats of many items.

QOL

• Improved camera handling while edge panning and moving it with MMB. Holding MMB no longer resets when hovering over UI elements, and edge panning now allows for smoother, more precise camera movement instead of being limited to cardinal directions and diagonals. Additionally, edge panning now works with the Global Map.

STABILITY

• Fixed the crash caused by activating the “Sleep” effect while moving items into the Caravan Storage.
• Fixed the rare crash caused by “Defiled Remains”.
• Fixed the softlock caused by Girruds dying on the same turn as using “Tongue Pull”.
• Fixed the Esc key softlock caused by removing a currently active mode's icon from the hotbar.

FIXES

• Distant Dungeons will now close one day after being cleared instead of immediately after arriving at the Caravan Camp or a Settlement.
• Fixed the bug that caused the Well of Souls to stop spawning Wraiths indefinitely after summoning three of them at the same time.
• Fixed Life Drain triggering twice when reflecting damage.
• Fixed Contract-related debuffs with indefinite duration (such as the “Curse of Decay” applied by the Grimoire) being removed from the character after receiving a similar but finite debuff from a basic enemy.
• Improved the system for spawning contract items (such as Anatomical Diagrams) in Dungeons, allowing them to be more evenly distributed rather than appearing mostly on the first floor.
• Fixed the bug where the Expiration Time of Cabbage would reset after splitting it into parts.
• Fixed one of the Craftsmen at the St Wald's Bridge repairing incorrect item types.
• Fixed the hover of Leeches displaying incorrect stats.
• Fixed the incorrect positioning of pop-up hints on certain screen resolutions.
• “Unstoppable Force”: fixed the interaction with “Keep Them Coming” to allow the activation of “Mighty Swing”.
• Restored the missing Orient Quiver and Reinforced Bolt Quiver.
• Fixed the issue with Charge skills' targeting around multi-tiled enemies.
• Fixed the money exploit in the Brynn Bank.
• Fixed some dishes missing their intended Crit Efficiency bonus.
• Fixed the incorrect categorization of “Seal of Finesse”.
• Fixed the bug allowing the Manticore to sometimes occupy the same tile as a Runic Boulder.
• Fixed the issue preventing some unique items from spawning.
• Fixed Bran missing his Damage Dealt stat.
• Fixed the possibility of activating positive drug effects while affected by “Aftermath”.
• Fixed the bug preventing rain in some locations.
• Fixed the momentary “blinking” effect displayed by every Crowbar in the inventory when prying open locks (now it will be displayed only by the actively used ones).

AI

• Enemies are now capable of using abilities while in smoke.
• Fixed animals ignoring thrown items.
• Animals in settlements will no longer flee if the player disturbs the order there.
• The Brynn Hospital Patients will now longer flee if the player disturbs the order there.
• Fixed fleeing Wolves incorrectly switching their AI state when affected by “Howl”.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Renamed most Skeletons to better reflect the Order's hierarchy. Added new descriptions to some of them as well.
• Wigmar now has his own special Contract dialogues, descriptions, and certain other phrases related to them.
• Changed the visuals of equipped cloaks.
• Updated the icons of several effects.

STONESHARD DEMO

We'd also like to announce the end of support for Stoneshard: Prologue as a standalone title. Starting today, a free demo version with the same content is available on Stoneshard’s store page, still offering everyone a chance to try the game out before purchase.

Those of you who have already added Stoneshard: Prologue to their library can continue playing it, but it will no longer receive updates and will be removed from the Steam Store in the near future.

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

Until next time!

 

[PlayerEmers]

Interesting changes to characters + new ones. Experience changes too. Dev wants people to level fast with all those changes but I wonder if they made changes to level scaling.
You will find robber barons out in the open early but your gear will probably still be shit. More reassons to hug map borders all the time (one of the biggests problems in the game and it still feels unadressed)

 

[Hallgar]

 

[Hallgar]

Most requested feature of the past few years: A character creator

Stoneshard devs:

 

[Catacombs]

Watch: Character creation will be paid DLC.

 

[Salvo]

Watch: Character creation will be paid DLC.

It would be so ludiscrously jewish that I couldn't help but be impressed, should they do that

 

[mediocrepoet]

Watch: Character creation will be paid DLC.

It would be so ludiscrously jewish that I couldn't help but be impressed, should they do that

Only if that's what you want to see as the new industry standard because if people went for it, you know bigger companies are putting it in new games and doing cost benefit analyses to see if they can profitably retrofit older games with that.

 

[Takamori]

I don't think he is retarded to nuke his credit unless he wanna just cash out and never return to the game after releasing the character creator. But at the same time he probably very aware this feature release will be when the game will get most of its sales and have high chances to touch the mainstream eyes.

 

[Cohesion]

I don't think he is retarded to nuke his credit unless he wanna just cash out and never return to the game after releasing the character creator. But at the same time he probably very aware this feature release will be when the game will get most of its sales and have high chances to touch the mainstream eyes.

Dude is Russian but I don't know whether he is ((an alien)) or a slav.

 

[normie]

Devlog: New Roadmap

Hello everyone!

Today, we are excited to present the updated 2025 Roadmap for Stoneshard. But before diving into the details, we'd like to take a brief look back at the development of “Rags to Riches”.

“Rags to Riches” was a major success for our team. That update brought the highest number of players since the game's Early Access launch, received a wealth of positive feedback, and showed a significant increase in engagement compared to previous releases. We are incredibly grateful for this warm reception and hope that future content will continue to meet your expectations.

However, as many of you may remember, the development of “Rags to Riches” proved to be long and arduous. While the complexity of the new features played a major role in it, we also had to devote significant effort to extensive reworks of many existing systems to ensure the seamless integration of all the planned content.

It wasn't uncommon for the development of one system to necessitate changes in several others, sometimes to the point of adding new systems altogether. Splitting these changes and additions across multiple updates or postponing them wasn't really an option, as certain core elements like the Caravan, reworked Contracts, Dungeons, the World Map, and numerous smaller but technically crucial features are all deeply interconnected. This quickly turned into a true Gordian knot of conditions and dependencies. Untangling it took a great deal of time, ultimately leading to the substantial delay of that patch compared to previous ones.

Fortunately, now that we have added one of the last truly large and comprehensive systems - the Caravan - we hope to release future updates more regularly. Unlike “Rags to Riches”, the remaining mechanics and content follow a fairly modular structure.

To sum it up, we aim for smaller but more frequent patches. Our new Roadmap reflects this change as well, moving away from massive, standalone updates in favor of parallel content development, which will be divided into smaller releases (don't worry - they'll still have names).

Because of this, the “Venom in the Waters” update, which was previously planned as the next major patch, has been postponed. Some of its features have been redistributed into other content blocks, since such a heavily thematic patch would have taken an unreasonably long time to develop.

So, what's next for Stoneshard?

• The next order of business is Caves. This new location type is designed to add variety to world exploration - unlike usual Dungeons, Caves won't be strictly tied to one faction, will boast more diverse visuals, and can be home to a wide range of enemies and dangers, including unique ones.
  
  It's worth noting that Caves won't be used for Contracts. Instead, they will play a key role in the reworked Task System, which we plan to introduce in one of the future patches.
• The rest of the planned features include a new school of spatial magic - Arcanistics, new quests, more Caravan Events, and the elimination of gaps in gear progression that emerged after transitioning to the tier-based system.
• We also plan to revamp the Psyche System, reworking both the existing Psyche States and the core mechanic as a whole. Our main goal is to make the entirety of it much more interactive and immersive.
• And finally, something many of you have long been waiting for: we are officially beginning work on the Character Creator. We have plenty of ideas and concepts for how this system should function (the recent overhaul of Character Traits should serve as a small teaser for the direction we're taking). Combined with the Trait System, this will be an incredibly complex and resource-intensive task, making it difficult to predict an exact timeline - all we can say is that it will be released once we're certain it's ready.

That's all for now. Once again, we want to thank all of you for your support and trust. Stay tuned, and we'll see you soon in the world of Aldor!

 

[Sweeper]

>Ruins existing character traits
>Character creator no longer has a priority of any kind

 

[Cryomancer]

Why some developers HATE character creators? Every game with characters without character creator would be exponentially better with a character creator. Yes, even shit games. VtMB 2 is as shit as it can be. If you where not forced to play as Phyre, would be less shit. Same for Forspoken. Would be less shit if you had the possibility to create your own character.

 

[Takamori]

This fucking dev

 

[Darth Canoli]

This game is garbage with good graphics.

They have no business trying to make a simili-RPG they should make a mobile farm game instead.

 

[Tyranicon]

At the very least a basic chargen should've been the first priority.

At this point the game will probably have a simulationist depiction of fishing before chargen.

 

[Wayfinder]

I performed a feat of remembering my long forgotten password specifically to say that for a forum focused on old RPGs you guys seem to be strangely unable to read.

CHAR CREATOR IS CURRENTLY IN THE WORKS. It's stated directly in the post AND the roadmap itself.

 

[Sweeper]

I performed a feat of remembering my long forgotten password specifically to say that for a forum focused on old RPGs you guys seem to be strangely unable to read.

CHAR CREATOR IS CURRENTLY IN THE WORKS. It's stated directly in the post AND the roadmap itself.

Sir, this is a combatfag RPG forum. None of us know how to read.

 

[newageofpower]

I performed a feat of remembering my long forgotten password specifically to say that for a forum focused on old RPGs you guys seem to be strangely unable to read.

CHAR CREATOR IS CURRENTLY IN THE WORKS. It's stated directly in the post AND the roadmap itself.

Brah, it's 2025.

As one of your early supporters, I recall conversing with a developer on steam, who stated Character Creator would be implemented "soon".

You can understand if we're a little pessimistic today. Please prove us wrong.