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

[Fedora Master]

It's all gonna work out guys, this is totally a real game with real devs who know what they're doing.

If only the devs wouldn't refuse to expand their team. Imagine how far the development of the game could be by now! But I guess if you rake in millions of USD you don't want to share the money and so it's still just the five guys who started the kickstarter campaign in 2017.

I don't think more people would help. It's their overall autistic approach to things. "Noooo we gotta get the pixels on this berry bush just right!!"

 

[The Wall]

There is some TOP Quality Russian Autism sprinkled all over development of this game. You should see HOW Lead Dev communicates with Steam Plebs on Forums. It's fucking glorious, deserves its own thread

Here is but small taste of this Russian's awesomeness:

Originally posted by Phaeron Seherekh:
I remember when the dev said they couldn't implement exit saves, does anyone else remember that? I'd say that old remark in hindsight is illuminating enough on how the dev views A honesty/clarity towards the community and B the save system in general.

Still doesn't beat another game dev saying that encrypting the hell out of the files so modding/save editing/similar are difficult was done so their work wouldn't be stolen, as if that is how things work.

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I really don't know why people are so fond of conspiracies.

Yes, when we said it was impossible, it's not because we were dishonest, it's because at that point it was impossible without reworking the very basics of the game. People were thinking something like save on exit could have been added overnight by changing "saveonexit = false" to "true", and that wasn't the case because of how world generation and data storage worked back then.

It changed in City of Gold, an update that took 8 or 9 months, approximately 6-7 of which were spent on reworking said basics to make that happen. Considering how this 9-month development cycle was the beginning of all those "why no updates, I'm literally losing my mind" type of posts and comments, I think you would understand why undertaking it right after the Early Access launch would have been a very bad idea. Hence why it was impossible at the time to add save on exit - we just couldn't afford to start a very lengthy development sequence when people were begging for new content.

It's semantics. When I say it's impossible to, say, turn Stoneshard into MMORPG or add 100k lines of dialogue to every NPC in the game it's not because the laws of our reality physically prevent us from doing so, it's because it's not a valid possibility to consider with our current resources, experience and time constraints.
Last edited by Wayfinder; 4 May @ 6:11pm

Originally posted by Cinus:
So few items and new skills after so many years? Good that we have Wartale now.

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I too would have preferred if you played Wartales instead of writing these comments.
Wayfinder

He even has account here on Codex that goes by the same name. Guy fucking deepthroats Steam lemmings on daily basis. For that thing alone, Hero Dev I salute You!

 

[The Wall]

He does have Ukranian flag and Kickstarter page used to say Saint Petersburg. He never openly supported Ukraine in The War, which makes him probably only dev with ukranian flag who didn't do so. They all moved from Russia ~6 months ago and have publicly stated to work on this game full time. Dunno what to say, it's fun ride

 

[prodigydancer]

I'm definitely going to play this after full release. Normally I'm not into pixel art games but this one is surprisingly good. Kudos to the developers!

 

[prodigydancer]

Come on. I heard Grimoire was released last friday, so I'm fairly positive about Stoneshard now.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Imagine confusing fraudulent behavior with autism and then being happy about it.

 

[whydoibother]

I'm definitely going to play this after full release.

Its definitely going be fully released one day.

 

[Tygrende]

I'm definitely going to play this after full release.

Its definitely going be fully released one day.

I'm afraid it's gonna end up like Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones. Half or so of the planned content will be implemented, money will run out and they will call it a day.

 

[whydoibother]

I'm definitely going to play this after full release.

Its definitely going be fully released one day.

I'm afraid it's gonna end up like Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones. Half or so of the planned content will be implemented, money will run out and they will call it a day.

Better than it ending up as Chronicles of Elyria or something like that.

 

[Takamori]

Well see you guys in 2025 for the actual character creator release

 

[normie]

View attachment 36279

Caravan update

Spoiler

 

[Serus]

Come on. I heard Grimoire was released last friday, so I'm fairly positive about Stoneshard now.

But that was because of the genius of a mighty Neanderthal. Are Ukrainians Neanderthals? I doubt it.

 

[Fedora Master]

"High chance" =/= "Guaranteed chance"

 

[ERYFKRAD]

"High chance" =/= "Guaranteed chance"

t. Xcom

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[goregasm]

Sucks. Game always looked interesting to me, held off on buying it because it's unfinished, seems as though not much has changed on that front, aside from introducing some pretty big bugs.

 

[normie]

I'm building another swordshield Arna - lots of dodging, lots of counters, lots of dashing, lots of bleeding, lots of stancing, lots of tactics
tried a sledgehammer Velmir but it felt like 1dimensional ass
the Mannshire difficulty bump is real this time, but it might just be that the first task of rooting out banditry has two dick-ass dagger guys outside the stronghold and I have no abilities to shut their shit down come contact - I can't be arsed to trap them, and I can't be arsed to net them
shouting works lol

pieces of cloth, leather and metal to fix your shit are a great qol addition

 

[normie]

this is hell (as it was vs as it is now)

 

[ItsChon]

this is hell (as it was vs as it is now)

Eh, looks actually horrible, but I didn't play test the first skill. Honestly seems very possible that it was changed because it wasn't very good, versus them actively trying to simplify the skill.

 

[normie]

this is hell (as it was vs as it is now)

Eh, looks actually horrible, but I didn't play test the first skill. Honestly seems very possible that it was changed because it wasn't very good, versus them actively trying to simplify the skill.

I appreciated the way it was. Felt very good and synergistic with other investment ie to make the most of it as it was, you'd have invested into block skills to proc the growing benefits, into dodge to proc dodges to get more dodging etc. Offensive Tactic was the offensive equivalent and functioned the same, and now malfunctions the same.
While the benefits now are upfront, it's countersynergistic with skill uses overall, because skill use reduces stacks and there's no way to grow stacks. So when I got Evasiveness on top of Defensive Tactics, I felt like a real boy. I used Raise Shield and life got better. Now it gets worse.

But it gets way worse. The whole thing's become counterproductive to everything else when before it superpowered weapon stances.

 

[ItsChon]

this is hell (as it was vs as it is now)

Eh, looks actually horrible, but I didn't play test the first skill. Honestly seems very possible that it was changed because it wasn't very good, versus them actively trying to simplify the skill.

I appreciated the way it was. Felt very good and synergistic with other investment ie to make the most of it as it was, you'd have invested into block skills to proc the growing benefits, into dodge to proc dodges to get more dodging etc. Offensive Tactic was the offensive equivalent and functioned the same, and now malfunctions the same.
While the benefits now are upfront, it's countersynergistic with skill uses overall, because skill use reduces stacks and there's no way to grow stacks. So when I got Evasiveness on top of Defensive Tactics, I felt like a real boy. I used Raise Shield and life got better. Now it gets worse.

But it gets way worse. The whole thing's become counterproductive to everything else when before it superpowered weapon stances.

Going by your explanation, it sounds like a damning indictment. That being said, did fights even last long enough for you to make use of it? And isn't it possible that new strategies/synergies might be available after the skill rework that you just haven't discovered yet? Don't mean to doubt your credibility, just playing devils advocate to get an understanding of the situation.

 

[normie]

this is hell (as it was vs as it is now)

Eh, looks actually horrible, but I didn't play test the first skill. Honestly seems very possible that it was changed because it wasn't very good, versus them actively trying to simplify the skill.

I appreciated the way it was. Felt very good and synergistic with other investment ie to make the most of it as it was, you'd have invested into block skills to proc the growing benefits, into dodge to proc dodges to get more dodging etc. Offensive Tactic was the offensive equivalent and functioned the same, and now malfunctions the same.
While the benefits now are upfront, it's countersynergistic with skill uses overall, because skill use reduces stacks and there's no way to grow stacks. So when I got Evasiveness on top of Defensive Tactics, I felt like a real boy. I used Raise Shield and life got better. Now it gets worse.

But it gets way worse. The whole thing's become counterproductive to everything else when before it superpowered weapon stances.

Going by your explanation, it sounds like a damning indictment. That being said, did fights even last long enough for you to make use of it? And isn't it possible that new strategies/synergies might be available after the skill rework that you just haven't discovered yet? Don't mean to doubt your credibility, just playing devils advocate to get an understanding of the situation.

The rework is not that extensive. Passives are gone, lots of things marginally gimped but functionally the same, with the tactics thoroughly gimped.

T4 dungeons are chock full of tough-asses, and getting the synergy going on my pet build was the shift from cheesing encounters to firing on all cylinders. The wilderness gets wild at higher levels and you're fighting legions on every square of the travel map, it could feel like.
And you'd dive into the thick of it and have enemies wail at you to build the Tactic stack up. You'd liberally use abilities to either reposition and or build up your weapon stance stacks. It gelled.
What it's done is remove the synergy to almost make it a sequestered weapon skill tree of its own that doesn't gel with weapon ability use from dedicated weapon skill trees. It's either Tactic time or Stance - if you use basic attacks, you lose Stance stacks. If you use weapon abilities to build Stance stacks, your Tactic ticks down. Hell, using a Stance loses you a Tactic stack. Now you'd use a Tactic once you've spent your other abilities, and then proceed to only use basic attacks to keep the stacks from ticking down. Or you know, not have other abilities and fire it up from the start to use basic attacks.

 

[Darth Canoli]

From the get go, there was something off from their game design philosophy, more on the attrition side.
So I'm not surprised they finally ruin the whole thing with an unnecessary feature, probably not the last one either.

I have more hopes for Low magic age than this and i don't have much hope for LMA...

 

[Abu Antar]

All Events > Stoneshard Events >

Devlog: Current Progress

Hello everyone!

The work on Rags to Riches continues as planned, and it’s already evident that it’ll be the largest update yet. Right now our hands are full with implementing a whole bunch of different mechanics: Caravan Upgrades, improved Dungeon Generation, reworked Contracts, Cooking, better pathfinding for enemies. Some time is also being spent on conceptualizing new features that will be introduced to the game after RtR. And if all goes well, we’ll soon release a couple more devlogs highlighting the Caravan System and Cooking, which are close to being finished.

But since everything else still requires more time in the oven, we decided to release yet another interim update that will include some of the content originally intended for Rags to Riches. So, what can you expect from the 0.8.2.0 content patch arriving in the next few weeks?

NEW ENEMIES
It’s been a while since the Undead faction received an update. We want to amend this by adding 9 new basic enemies: high level Accursed and Ancient Ghasts, Putrid Restless, and 6 new types of Wraiths.

A large portion of the Undead-specific abilities was reworked and redistributed between the existing and new creatures. Our goal was to put a stronger emphasis on the interactions between the faction’s elite, Ghasts and Necromancers, and ordinary walking corpses, the latter serving as a disposable resource.

As an example, take a look at “Curse of Decay” and “Curse of Agony” (former “Curse” and “Curse of Weakness”):

New bosses. For quite some time, low level Necromancer minibosses had a chance to spawn even in high tier dungeons. It will be changed in this content patch by finally introducing powerful tier 3 Necromancers to Brynn Crypts. Distant dungeons will have their own mage miniboss too - Wraithbinder, who, as you may guess from his name, specializes in summoning Wraiths. Additionally, distant dungeons will have a chance to spawn the Revenant as a miniboss - long-dead commander of the Order, resurrected by unholy magic.

High level Restless will gain a new ability, “Death Grip”, designed to make them more of a threat during mid and late game - it has a chance to Immobilize the character and is even more dangerous when combined with the curses applied by Undead mages. Then there’s a cloud of foul miasma surrounding the Putred Restless - the effect is somewhat similar to Harpies’ “Unbearable Stench” but stronger.

Proselytes will receive two new minibosses, since their high level dungeons also lacked variety in that department. Very soon, the cult will be joined by the Brander - a versatile miniboss with a focus on debuffs and using fallen allies to his advantage - and the Juggernaut, whose strategy is to disable the opponent, then demolish them with devastating strikes.

MAPS
Another important feature that will be included with the upcoming content patch is reimagined paper maps. Many of you may remember them being briefly present in the game when it just launched in EA. And now paper maps are finally making a return - combined with the Rumor System and hints about POIs’ location, their new purpose is to make the exploration easier and more enjoyable.

The mechanic itself is very simple: interacting with paper maps will allow your character to fill up the blanks on their Global Map, painting it with rough outlines of the terrain, roads, dungeons, and certain POIs that you are yet to discover. Camps, hunting grounds, abandoned carts, shrines, and other similar locations can’t be revealed this way and will need to be found through exploration or rumors.

Keep in mind: all paper maps had been created before Aldor was ravaged by the war. Consequently, many locations won’t look the same way as they are drawn on maps: Catacombs, for instance, will be depicted as perfectly intact chapels and monasteries rather than caved-in ruins. Any Points of Interest that didn’t exist before the war (such as the Siege Camp) or weren’t known to a cartographer (such as the Witch’s Hut) also won’t be present on paper maps.

Some paper maps will be purchasable from Elders after you reach Benevolence with their settlement, and you’ll receive a map of the Osbrook region after your first conversation with Verren. Finally, there’ll be maps depicting distant, sparsely-populated corners of the Brynn March, which will be obtainable as random loot in high level dungeons.

WILL TO FIGHT
Will to Fight and a chance for enemies to flee are relatively old mechanics, first added with the Way Forward update. However, for a number of reasons, we weren’t particularly happy with how they turned out. This is why we decided to rework them by making the following adjustments:

- First of all, enemies’ Will to Fight will now be visible when inspecting them, providing you with a rough idea about how close they are to giving up and fleeing.

- Fleeing enemies will no longer try to repeatedly reengage the character only to start running away again.

- The overall system also became more deterministic. Instead of the chance to flee, affected by specific conditions, there will now be a depletable Will to Fight bar. The number of conditions influencing it was greatly expanded too: in addition to receiving damage, critical hits and Injuries, enemies’ Will to Fight can be swayed by the presence of nearby allies, them dying or fleeing, certain negative and positive effects, the player character’s equipment, and so on. We’ll share more details in the patch notes.

- At the same time, some conditions will actually give your opponents an advantage: if your character is Injured, Bleeding, or low on Health, the surrounding enemies’ Will to Fight will receive a boost, making them less likely to retreat.

- It’s a well-known issue that enemies can’t be chased after they flee to another map tile. Essentially, it all stems from the limitations imposed by the game’s engine - GMS can’t process events that happen outside the room or map tile occupied by the player character.

Our original plan was to fix it in this very patch by adding a system that would emulate the transition of enemies between map tiles. But after some deliberation, we decided it would be a better approach to combine the system with the existing mechanic that allows enemies to follow the player character between locations. On top of that, we want to lay down the groundwork for future Random Encounters, which will also require NPC routes to be simulated on the world map. Unfortunately, this kind of major rework would make the update incompatible with existing saves, so the chase mechanic has to be postponed until Rags to Riches.

STATISTICS
This small but fun feature will allow you to quickly review your character's exploits. Here you'll find details about the most important aspects of your ongoing playthrough: from the time spent dungeon-crawling to the number of desecrated graves and the amount of money you spent on drugs.

That’s all for now. Until next time!

 

[Alienman]

Someone resurrect me from death when the game fully releases.