Instead of copying each devlog I see published *somewhere else* into a separate thread, I will create a single thread to post them from now on. This way, the game subforum will look much cleaner, imo...

And... here goes the first one:

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Devlog: Survival

Hello everyone!

Over the last couple months, we’ve received a lot of feedback and justified criticism about drastically increased travel times and long distances between Points of Interest.

We’d like to assure you that the current version of the global map is far from final. In addition to obvious tweaks to distances between locations, which will happen in the next major update along with the saves wipe, we also plan to implement a number of systems and mechanics focused on making the open world exploration less time-consuming and tedious. One of these additions is the Survival tree that will soon be introduced to the game.

The main purpose of this ability tree is to help your character weather the hardships of mercenary life, giving them a better chance of surviving the wilderness without a sizable stash of supplies. It’s worth mentioning that over the course of development Survival and Medicine ability trees were merged together, allowing us to remove unnecessary fluff and fully focus on the synergy between some of their skills.

Let’s start with the ability tree’s overall structure. It consists of 6 active and 5 passive skills:

Survival skills are acquired in the usual manner - first, you need to unlock them by finding a corresponding treatise or improving relevant Attributes, then you purchase whatever you need with Ability Points. There is a caveat though: the first tier of Survival is unlocked for every character by default.

On top of that, Survival skills have much lower Attribute requirements than other ability trees: in order to unlock the second tier, you’ll only need to invest 3 Stat Points into relevant Attributes, and the third tier becomes available right after you spend 5 SP.

Active Abilities

“Skinning” was moved to the Survival tree where it belongs, and you’ll need to spend an Ability Point before you can use it. At the same time, we greatly increased the price of most pelts, making hunting so much more profitable.

With the exception of these tweaks, the skill remains the same - the chance to harvest a pelt still relies on the damage type you kill a creature with.

“Campfire” allows you to start a fire at any suitable location. To do so, you’ll need four sticks - a new item that is aplenty in the woods. This campfire has the same functionality as the ones you find when exploring the world: it can be used for cooking, drying your clothes, and to empower some of the ability tree’s skills.

The campfires you make only exist for a limited amount of time: they go out after 6 in-game hours.
It’s the only skill in the ability tree that doesn’t need to be purchased with Ability Points - all characters start with “Campfire” already learned.

“Make a Halt” allows you to combine a pelt, a length of rope, and some straw to craft a new single-use consumable - a sleeping bag. Sleeping bags give you an option to sleep and save your progress in suitable locations far enough from dungeons, settlements, and points of interest.

Sleeping this way is rather uncomfortable and doesn’t provide the benefits of resting in an actual bed: you’ll suffer a penalty to Health Restoration, won’t replenish Morale and Sanity, and won’t receive the Vigor effect. Additionally, there’s always a distinct possibility of being ambushed by brigands or wild animals that can stumble onto you while you're asleep…

Investing into this skill is completely optional, and it is possible to purchase sleeping bags from some traders. Still, being able to craft them yourself will save you money and inventory space - it’s fairly easy to find the required items while exploring, and the materials themselves don’t take as much space as an actual sleeping bag.

“Cauterize Wounds” is great for emergencies: this skill allows you to instantly stop all Bleedings, suffering some Pain and slightly damaging affected body parts in the process. Using this skill will also temporarily increase your Bleed Resistance. This bonus becomes stronger and has a longer duration if there’s a lit campfire nearby.

“First Aid'' teaches your character the procedures necessary to set a dislocated limb or clean a wound without outside help. This skill stabilizes all your Injuries, but raises Pain and reduces Morale.
If there’s a lit campfire nearby, this skill slightly improves the condition of Injured body parts.

“Will to Survive” replenishes a small amount of Health and removes all physical and mental debuffs. This skill also affects persistent Conditions (effects caused by Hunger, Thirst, Pain, Injuries, etc), removing them for 10 turns.

If there’s a lit campfire nearby, using this skill additionally replenishes some Health for every removed negative effect.

Passive Abilities

“Pathfinder” improves the “Examine Surroundings” basic skill, granting it new functionality.
Firstly, when used on the surface, it allows you to spot tracks left by beasts and other enemy types, making it much easier to locate them on the map tile.

Secondly, “Examine Surrounding” lets your character to closely listen to what’s happening around them, displaying hidden creatures as question marks in a large radius. This skill works in dungeons as well, allowing you to better prepare for dangers that lurk behind closed doors.

And finally, “Pathfinder” greatly increases your character’s passive chance to hear nearby creatures.

Passive bonus: +1 Vision

“Huntmaster” significantly improves the chance to successfully harvest a pelt. In addition to this bonus, it allows your character to extract rare ingredients that can later be sold at a high price (in the future they will have alchemical uses). Right now there are three rare ingredients: Bear Fat, Crawler Eyes, and Harpy Stomachs.

“Huntmaster” also grants your attacks +15% Weapon Damage and 10% Crit Chance when fighting beasts. As a side note, the Ancient Troll counts as a beast.

Passive bonus: +3% Accuracy

“Adaptability” is a skill for those who want to shrug off anything that life throws at them. It passively improves the rate at which you recover from Pain and Intoxication, decreases the duration of Poisonings, Bad Trips, and Drug Aftermaths, while also removing Restoration penalties when using a sleeping bag. Other than that, “Adaptability” improves your Morale when resting near lit campfires.

Passive bonus: +10% Fortitude and 10% Intoxication Resistance

“Austerity” makes your character less reliant on food and water, raising the thresholds for negative Conditions caused by Hunger, Thirst, and Pain by 10% (these Conditions will activate only upon reaching 35% / 60% / 85% thresholds rather than 25% / 50% / 75% ).

This skill also decreases Hunger and Thirst gain by 20% and makes resting near campfires more beneficial, granting Healing Efficiency and restoring Sanity.

Passive bonus: +15% Pain Resistance

“Ever Vigilant” is perhaps the most “combat-oriented” skill of the Survival tree. Once learned, it lowers the Accuracy of enemy attacks by 5% and halves their Crit Chance (this is particularly useful when hunting bears).

It also halves the chance of ambush when using a sleeping bag, doubles the chance of evading a trap instead of activating it, and reduces the Vision penalty while in the Rest Mode.

Passive bonus: +5% Dodge Chance

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That’s all for now. As mentioned above, the Survival tree will be added with the next intermediate patch, so you’ll soon have a chance to test it out for yourself!

Devlog: The Current State of Affairs

Hello everyone!

Today we’d like to tell you about the circumstances affecting our studio and the future development of Stoneshard. It’s been almost a month since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, and it had a rather negative impact on the lives of our team. Let’s start with the most important part.

A significant portion of our team (our game designer, one of the coders, the promo artist) are Ukrainian citizens. The war caught everyone off guard: while some managed to quickly leave the war zone, others got stuck or simply didn’t want to abandon their homes. Right now these team members are in relative safety, but there are still issues with accessing the Internet and setting up a proper work space. There also wasn’t enough time to backup everything, so we lost some assets, although it shouldn’t set the development back too much.

Other than that, there are financial problems: as many of you already know, certain DRMed store no longer makes transactions with Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarus banks (surely neither does GOG, but not mentioned here...). Naturally, it affected our team as well, preventing us from receiving income. At the moment, we still have enough resources, but if we don't find a solution to this issue, we won’t have enough money to continue outsourcing the specialists who’ve been helping us with the game - this might noticeably slow down the rate of updates, even if temporarily.

As for the Russian members of our team, most of them are currently busy with moving to other countries, which will require some time. However, the overall situation is more or less stable, and we most definitely won’t stop working on the game. For now everyone contributes as much as the circumstances allow, but once the most pressing issues are resolved, we’ll continue developing Stoneshard’s at the usual pace.

Now let’s talk about more distant plans. Before the war, we already began working on an interim content update that was supposed to add interiors to key buildings on the Mint Square in Brynn. After that, we wanted to implement some of the long-planned city quests, and then - to start working on the next major update, “Rags to riches”, which was meant to introduce random encounters, a functioning Caravan, tweaks to contracts and the economy, and more.

The Mint Square interim update is already partially complete, so it will be released relatively soon. The rest of the original plan will have to be readjusted - we’ll make sure to share the details and post an updated roadmap once everything is said and done. All we can say for now is that some features will likely be added in a different order and that major updates might end up divided into smaller ones.

In conclusion, we’d like to say that your support and sympathy are extremely important to us right now. We love and appreciate our community, and we hope that this sentiment is mutual. Stay safe!

Devlog: Current Progress


Hello everyone!

It’s been a while since our last devlog, so we’d like to share some details about what we’ve been working on.

In the previous entry we mentioned a plan to release an interim patch with the Mint Square’s missing interiors and NPCs. There’s been some adjustments since then: first of all, we decided to add new content not only to the Mint Square but also to the Docks.

Secondly, there were some tweaks to the timeline, so these additions will be a part of the next major update, which we haven’t yet chosen a name for. This update will also include some of the features that were originally planned for Rags to Riches and Wizard’s Fate. Here’s a list of things we’re working on right now:

- Next stage of the main quest - it will wrap up the introduction sequence and will prepare players for the sandbox part of the game. After that, the main story will be put on hold until we finish implementing all the remaining mechanics and content.

- New magic school, Electromancy, that has potential to deal high damage while offering some decent crowd control.

- New utility tree, Magic Mastery - a worthwhile addition to any magic-focused build.

- Fatigue System and supplementary magic mechanics that will require mages to be more thoughtful about positioning and the way they spend their resources (including financial ones).

- Second tier of Proselytes: ten new dangerous enemies that come with roughly 20 new active and passive abilities.

- Several carefully designed Points of Interest, each of them boasting its own backstory.

- Caravan stop, which will provide you with a place to save your progress and store your items. As for global map traveling, we plan to add this functionality in one of the subsequent major updates.

- Folios, a new type of valuable loot that will give you an opportunity to learn more about the game’s world as well as gain some experience points.

- New content for the Mint Square (the Cathedral, the University, a bank, a printing house, the Golden Grain Inn, Azure Thread Tradehouse) and the Docks (the Alchemical Emporium of Curious Goods, a dockside store, the Close Harbor Tavern, and a bathhouse) that we already mentioned.

- Something cool and unexpected that will be revealed alongside the announcement of the update’s release date.


The ongoing war still causes certain financial and organizational issues, so we can’t guarantee that everything mentioned in this devlog will be a part of the next major update, but we’ll do our best to make it happen nonetheless. We’ll tell you more details about the new additions in future devlogs, so stay tuned and follow the news!

The update’s release date will be revealed in a separate announcement once we complete the bulk of the work on new content. And after the update is out, we’ll also revise our Development Roadmap and publish an up-to-date version.

That’s all for now. Until next time!

Devlog: New Proselytes


Hello everyone!

This post is the first one in the series of devlogs where we tell you about new content that will be a part of the upcoming major update. Today, we’ll share the details about high tier Proselytes - new dangerous enemy types which you’ll be able to encounter in Catacomb dungeons.

Proselytes are a disturbing, mysterious vampire cult that only recently became prominent in Aldor - they are definitely on the fantasy side of things when compared to the rest of the setting. While working on them, we decided not to focus too much on realism and the restrictions of the world we created, instead fully embracing the opportunity to make new enemies memorable and unique.

Here they are, left to right… (see attached image)

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Let’s start with the Proselytes whom you might run into while exploring both low and high level Catacombs.

Martyr

“The sight of martyrs' agony only strengthens other Proselytes' loyalty to the Court. How deep into madness does one need to descend to volunteer for something like this?..”

Martyrs are stationary foes whose main task is to support other cultists. Their “Neverending Torment” passive causes Martyrs to lose Health each turn as long as there’s both an enemy and an ally within their Vision, while “Willing Sacrifice” transforms some of the damage they take into healing for their allies.

As a result, it might be a good idea to prioritize Martyrs in combat. There is one thing to keep in mind though - killing them doesn’t immediately end your troubles. Even upon taking fatal damage, a Martyr continues hanging from the stake, replacing their abilities with the “Blessed in Death” passive that grants significant buffs to the rest of the Proselytes. The solution here is simple - you’ll just need to finish the job and topple the stake propping up the corpse.

Bell-Ringer

“Echoing through the pitch darkness of underground tunnels, the otherworldly cluttering of his bell can send even the most reckless hotheads fleeing in terror."

The Bell-Ringer is yet another cultist whose main task is supporting other Proselytes. Aside from the standard Proselyte bag of tricks, he also has two unique active abilities: “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “Unholy Anthems”. The first ability generates a huge amount of noise, attracting cultists from distant rooms and chipping away at your character’s sanity, increasing the damage they receive. The second one grants a random buff to every Proselyte in a large radius.

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Let’s have a look at the next tier of Proselytes:

Fiend

“This Proselyte is a perfect soldier: inhumanly strong, ferocious, and feeling no pain, fear, or mercy.”

Fiends retained their ability to handle weapons, so they act as infantry of sorts. Armed with axes and crude clubs, they have access to some Weaponry skills. On top of all that, they also have two new passives: “Witness His Might” and “Anthems of Bloodshed”.

“Witness His Might” increases Fiends’ damage and Health for each unique Proselyte type within their Vision, and allows their attacks to gradually decrease your character’s resistance to damage. “Anthems of Bloodshed” grants them a guaranteed critical hit with bonus Bleeding Chance on every 6th attack that also buffs nearby cultists upon landing.

Impaler

“Impalers are unmatched in their ability to track down and capture those poor souls who unknowingly wander into the catacombs. The victims that survive the hunt either join the cult or serve as sacrifices for the Court.”

Impalers’ main task is to wear your character down and quite literally bleed them dry. To aid them in this task, they have access to a number of abilities: “Impaling Lunge”, “Lacerate”, “Net Throw”, and “Sudden Lunge”. Other than that, Impalers’ “Blood Scent” buffs their Crit and Counter Chances as well as their damage for each Bleeding affecting enemies and allies within Vision.

Murkstalker

“The horrific murkstalkers resemble underground bats not only in appearance but also in their behaviour, taking full advantage of the catacombs' impenetrable shadows.”

Murkstalkers are among the most devious Catacomb creatures - defeating them won’t be an easy task. Their main strength lies in mobility and being unpredictable: “Murkwalk” allows them to teleport over large distances, and “Embrace the Murk” grants them a short dash and invisibility. While invisible, they regain some of their strength and receive a stacking bonus to stats, which they can unleash at the right moment by rushing your character down with a devastating “Murkstrike”.

An invisible Murkstalker can only be revealed by standing on an adjacent tile, so it might be a good idea to bring a net or some other means of Immobilization when facing them - those will prevent any attempts to retreat into the Murk.

Girrud

“Girruds are too far gone in their disturbing metamorphosis, giving off the impression that their repugnant tongues have a mind of their own.”

This Proselyte’s main weapon is his incredibly long tongue, skillfully utilized through the following three active abilities: “Tongue Pull” allows him to drag the target a bit closer, “Tongue Push” creates a two tile distance, while “Tongue Leech” has a chance to Immobilize and Drain a large amount of Health.

Yagram

“This bestial cultist's mind is clouded with unbridled rage - there is very little human left in it.”

Yagrams are an embodiment of rage and brute force, posing danger to allies and enemies alike. They are capable of multiple AoE attacks: “Swipe” lets them knock nearby targets into walls and other props, while “Earthshaking Strike” Stuns and Dazes anyone who happens to stand in front of a Yagram.

Additionally, every attack delivered to or by Yagrams fuels their hidden rage stat. Upon reaching a critical level, it activates the “Bestial Rage” passive that increases both their damage dealt and damage received. While in this state, Yagrams abandon all common sense, causing their attacks to frequently hit random targets instead of your character - with enough luck, this can be used to your advantage.

Saggul

“Sagguls still bear the mark of the Crimson Plague, although for them it's a blessing rather than a curse.”

Sagguls are twisted, ugly mutants that act as ranged units for the Proselytes. In combat, they rely on “Blood Spit”, creating puddles of liquid that damage your character and heal other cultists. When forced into melee, they can still fight back with “Blister Burst”, dealing damage and creating blood puddles on every nearby tile.

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And finally, minibosses:

Wormbearer

“Wormbearers are the grotesque embodiment of the Court cults: the host suffers from its parasites, while the parasites suffer for their host.”

Clumsy and hard to kill, Wormbearers rely on giant worms that they can summon on any tile within Vision by spending a bit of Health. They are also willing to make use of any dead bodies lying nearby, destroying them with their “Wormfood” ability to summon a few worms on random adjacent tiles. The resulting number of worms depends on the size of the affected corpse.

A single worm isn’t all that dangerous, but a whole swarm of them can be rather difficult to deal with - their “Feed the Host” passive converts some of the damage dealt to the enemy into Health for the Wormbearer, allowing more and more worms to be summoned.

Anmarrak

“The only thing keeping this vaguely human-shaped product of vile rituals alive is its blind faith in the Court.”

An Anmarrak is a miniboss with a unique style of combat. Upon spotting an enemy, it burrows its tentacle arm into the ground, receiving a massive boost to various resistances, while losing its ability to move around and attack directly. The tentacle arm then resurfaces near the enemy and begins striking them. Moving away from the tentacle or killing it forces the Anmarrak to reposition it or spawn a new one.

The key to defeating the seemingly invulnerable Anmarrak is to methodically slay its tentacles: thanks to its “One Body” passive, any damage received by these two entities is split between them, permanently increasing with every destroyed tentacle.

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That’s all for now. We hope you enjoyed reading about these upcoming additions to the game’s bestiary! Make sure to stay tuned: in the next few devlogs, we’ll tell you more about new Ability Trees and changes to the Magic System.

Until next time!

Devlog: Electromancy

Hello everyone!

Let’s start with some context. Unlike other archetypes, mages have been neglected in terms of new content for quite a while. There are multiple reasons for this: before new magic could be added, we had to introduce a number of additional mechanics first, which wasn’t possible while the focus was on building more important and global systems. It also didn’t help that developing new magic requires much more resources than weaponry and utility trees. But now the time has come, and we finally can give magic the attention it deserves. Therefore, meet Electromancy!

We envisioned Electromancy as something in between Pyromancy and Geomancy: it’s capable of dealing high damage to multiple targets while providing ample opportunities for weakening your foes and manipulating their positioning.

The key mechanic of Electromancy is the so-called Resonance, which can be applied by the ability tree’s first two spells. This effect in particular distinguishes Electromancy’s AoE spells from those of pyromancy - they target specific targets rather than set areas, allowing you to affect enemies standing on opposite sides of the battlefield. Let’s have a better look at each spell’s function and the overall structure of the ability tree:

Just like every other magic school, Electromancy includes 14 abilities: 7 actives and 7 passives.

Active Abilities

Jolt

The main Electromancy spell that acts as a foundation for the entire ability tree. It allows you to zap your target with a bolt of electricity, dealing a bit of damage and applying it with the effect of “Resonance”, which reduces Shock, Control, and Movement Resistances while also increasing Cooldowns Duration. It’s a simple spell, but its importance shouldn’t be understated - most high tier Electromancy abilities require at least one Resonating target before they can be used.

The varied debuffs applied by Resonance make “Jolt” a great addition even to melee builds, especially if they use one and two-handed maces, spears or just rely on Stuns, Dazes, Immobilization, and Knocking enemies back.

Impulse

“Impulse” is especially useful to hybrid characters - or when enemies catch you off guard and creep too close for comfort. It deals Shock Damage to adjacent enemies with a chance to Knock them back, applying Stagger if they remain in place.

Additionally, it has a chance to apply each affected target with the effect of “Impulse” - essentially, it’s a stronger version of Resonance which debuffs the same stats. Other than that, “Impulse” deals some damage every turn with a chance to Knock enemies back, reducing the possibility of them closing the distance again.

Short Circuit

This spell is one of the main offensive tools available to an apprentice electromancer. It does some damage to all Resonating enemies within Vision - the damage scales with the number of Resonating targets. The spell also has a chance to Daze each affected target.

If two Resonating targets are adjacent, “Short Circuit” deals double damage to them.

Static Field

“Static Field” is an AoE spell with an interesting twist. The center of its zone of effect isn’t a targeted tile, but rather all Resonating enemies - each of them receives a harmful aura of sorts. Each turn, “Static Field” deals Shock Damage to its main target (and everyone adjacent to it) with a chance to Immobilize. If the main target moves to a different tile, “Static Field” moves with it. And since damage from multiple instances of “Static Field” adds up, this spell becomes especially deadly when its targets are huddled up.

Ball Lightning

Casting this spell creates a ball lightning on a targeted tile, which deals damage to anything within a two tile radius with a chance to pull targets towards it. Enemies adjacent to the ball lightning receive slightly more damage, and if you somehow push them into it (or if the ball lightning pulls them in by itself), they receive double damage.

Unlike the previously described spells, “Ball Lightning” doesn’t require Resonating enemies to be used, but its duration is increased by a couple turns for each Resonance within Vision.

Chain Lightning

Obviously, we had no other choice but to include this spell into Electromancy. “Chain Lightning” deals a large amount of damage to a targeted enemy and then jumps towards a nearby Resonating target, damaging it as well. The number of additional targets is limited only by the number of Resonating enemies, although they can be damaged only once per cast.

On top of its main effect, “Chain Lightning” reduces the ability tree’s active Cooldowns by a couple turns per each affected target. It also has a chance to apply Stagger.

Tempest

And finally, “Tempest” - the ultimate Electromancy spell. Casting it summons lightning strikes that hit three random enemies within Vision, instantly finishing them off if their Health is lower than 20% (but not if it’s higher than a certain flat number). The spell hits Resonating targets first.

Each lightning strike removes Resonance with a chance to transform it into Stun - the Stun Chance scales with the number of remaining Resonance turns. The bonuses for removing Resonance don’t end here: each successfully Stunned enemy summons an additional lightning to strike one of the survivors.

Passive Abilities

Residual Charge

Allows Electromancy spells to enchant your weapon for a few turns, adding Shock Damage to your physical attacks and letting them reduce Shock Resistance on hit.

Additionally, natural lightning strikes that occur within Vision grant your character a long-lasting bonus to Electromancy Power.

Potential Difference

Grants “Impulse” a chance to deal double damage to any target it Knocks back and a chance to Immobilize these targets.

Unlimited Power

Grants different bonuses depending on your character’s current energy: each remaining percent of their Max Energy grants a small bonus to Electromancy Power, and each missing percent - a bonus to Energy Restoration.

Conductivity

“Conductivity” allows “Static Field” to drain energy from enemies and transfer it to your character, which is invaluable for maintaining your reserves.

Resonance Cascade

Casting Electromancy spells has a chance to activate Resonance on a random non-Resonating target within Vision. If there’s no valid target, it has a chance to prolong Resonance duration on a random enemy.

Chain Reaction

“Chain Reaction” reduces Shock Resistance of every target struck by Electromancy spells - the power of this effect depends on the number of Resonating targets.

Recharge

This passive grants bonus Energy Restoration for each Resonating enemy - killing them reduces Cooldowns Duration and spells’ Energy Cost.

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That’s all for now - we hope you liked what you saw! Make sure to stay tuned: in the next devlog we’ll announce the next major update’s title and release date. We might also tell you a few things about changes to the magic system and reveal a new ability tree, Magic Mastery.

Until next time!

Devlog: Fatigue and Magic System


Hello everyone!

We’d like to begin today’s devlog by making an important announcement. The upcoming major update, titled as “Forgotten Lore”, will be released this year on August 5th. (would it be to much to also release it on that date on GOG??)

It will include the following:
The long-awaited surprise that we promised some time ago - a new boss! Similarly to the Ancient Troll hunt, this quest can be acquired in a location of questionable repute after you reach a high enough level.
A new quest, “Gwynnel’s Answers”, which will conclude the opening sequence of the main story and send you off to explore the open world.

A quick reminder - for the time being, this quest will be the end of the main questline. We plan to focus on the overarching plot only after we finish implementing the necessary systems and mechanics.
New magic school, Electromancy, which will allow you to master dangerous and unpredictable lightning spells.
New utility tree - Magic Mastery. We’ll tell you more about it in the next devlog.
Several new points of interest.
A large portion of the remaining Brynn buildings: the printing house, the House of the Azure Thread, the Bank of Brynn, the Golden Grain Inn, the Cathedral, the University, the Close Harbor Tavern, the Alchemical Emporium of Curious Goods, and a dockside store.
New enemies: 13 new types of Proselytes (including two minibosses), as well as Gulons and Young Trolls.
New mechanic: Fatigue. More details below.
New magic mechanic, Backfire, and a few additional magic stats. More details below.
New loot type: Folios. These texts provide information on various aspects of the game’s lore. Reading them also grants some Experience.
Caravan Stop that can be used for resting and storing your items. Caravan travels will be added in subsequent major updates.
New biome, seashore.
New items.

As you may see, one of the largest Stoneshard updates is almost upon us. To ease the wait, we’d like to share more details about two new systems that will be added in “Forgotten Lore” - Fatigue and Backfire.

FATIGUE

Fatigue is one of the few remaining survival mechanics that we plan to implement. It has a number of important gameplay functions:

Create an additional layer of planning and character management.
Increase the importance of sleeping (right now it’s only used for saving the game).
Boost the value of certain consumables such as stimulants and exquisite foods.

Fatigue works similarly to other Health mechanics: it can range from 0 to 100% and is generated by a variety of actions:

Traversing tiles
Attacking
Blocking and dodging
Using skills (Fatigue Gain is 2%* of their Energy Cost) and casting spells (Fatigue Gain is 4%* of their Energy Cost)
* - these are rough numbers that are subject to change

The rate of Fatigue Gain is tied to a couple other stats: first of all, there’s Fatigue Resistance, which can be both negative and positive. Secondly, Max Energy also plays a big role - the higher it is, the longer it will be before your character gets tired.

When your character’s Fatigue reaches 25%, 50%, and 75%, they’ll receive increasingly powerful debuffs to their Fumble Chance, Energy Restoration, and Cooldowns Duration.

In addition to all that, Fatigue also gradually lowers your Max Energy Threshold. It’s a new stat that works similarly to Max Health Threshold, albeit with one important difference: Max Energy Threshold only limits the amount of Energy that can be replenished through Restoration, so it’s possible to exceed it with certain consumables, abilities, and effects.

Overall, Fatigue is balanced in such a way that it doesn’t become a source of frequent annoyance while still carrying enough impact to not be ignored: as long as you make smart use of the available resources, an average dungeon run shouldn’t raise it by more than 25-30%.

There are many ways to combat Fatigue:
The effect of Vigor, which is acquired after a good night’s sleep or by using some consumables (such as Elven Mud). It reduces Fatigue Gain and gradually lowers already existing Fatigue.
Many exquisite foods, which can be bought in Brynn taverns and grocery shops, can either alleviate Fatigue or reduce Fatigue Gain.
Some stimulant drugs might help you stay awake longer than usual: Nikkaf has a noticeable effect on Fatigue Gain, and Al’qud slowly reduces Fatigue every turn.
Rest Mode can provide a moment of respite after a fight.
And finally, the most obvious method - sleeping. Each hour of sleep significantly lowers Fatigue, which makes Bedrolls and distant camps all the more important when embarking on a long journey. Resting in more expensive taverns also has a greater restorative effect.

As you may imagine, Sleeping received a major overhaul. Just like in real life, your character will no longer be able to sleep for weeks on end thanks to a new mechanic, maximum sleep duration, which comes into play every time you decide to take a nap.

Every two hours of staying awake increase the maximum sleep duration by one hour, capping at 8 possible hours of sleep. Each 10% Fatigue additionally increases this number by one hour. This means that after 16 hours of activity you’ll be able to sleep for 8 hours, and if your character is also exhausted, they’ll be able to stay in bed for up to 18 hours.

Naturally, we anticipated the situation where you might need to save your progress while the character isn’t tired enough to sleep - the Sleeping UI now has a “Rest” button, which gives an option to save the game without skipping time.

CHANGES TO MAGIC

Let’s move onto the second part of this devlog: changes to the Magic System. They were made due to several reasons:
There’s a dissonance between the depiction of mages in the lore and their actual gameplay. In our setting, magic was haphazardly put together from scraps of ancient knowledge, which fell into obscurity during the local version of the Dark Ages. Magic is mostly limited to battlefield use, and no one understands its true nature or how it actually works. As a result, mages can’t do much else apart from mechanically memorizing the few surviving spells from their preferred magic schools and then simply reciting them without any alterations.

From time to time, extraordinary minds find ways to modify or improve upon the existing spells, but any kind of deviation from the established tradition is extremely dangerous and often leads to injuries, madness, or agonizing death.

On top of all that, mages have to use their own body and mind as a conduit for energies - this kind of stress is extremely unhealthy for any practitioner of magic. Take Jonna, for instance - despite her haggard looks, she isn’t even in her thirties…
In the current version of the game, magic gameplay lacks the tactical depth of melee builds and requires significantly less resources. Mages hardly interact with the Health system, don’t spend gold on consumables and repairs, and barely ever have to think about their positioning. Magic builds only have to worry about Energy and Magic Power, which greatly reduces their variety.

To fix this issue, we decided to add a new mechanic, Backfire, and a few new stats that go along with it:
Backfire Damage
Backfire Chance
Miracle Chance
Miracle Potency

Backfire occurs in situations when a mage fails to cast a spell by mumbling the magic formula, performing a wrong gesture, or just losing concentration. When something like this happens, they take a bit of damage - the exact amount depends on a separate stat, Backfire Damage. Additionally, miscasting a spell drains Sanity and generates more Fatigue than usual.

The base Backfire Chance is 20%, but it can be higher depending on the complexity of a spell you try to cast: it’s much easier to make a mistake while summoning “Inferno” than when casting “Fire Barrage”. Backfire Chance can be reduced with special gear, certain abilities, by using Stardust, or by leveling Agility.

Backfire Damage is a percentage of Energy used to cast a spell that is dealt as damage if it Backfires. For example, if Backfire Damage is 50%, miscasting a 20 Energy spell will deal you 10 damage of the corresponding type. By default, Backfire Damage is 0%, but it grows by 20% with each cast. Remaining on the same tile lowers Backfire Damage by 10%, and skipping a turn reduces it by another 10%, reflecting the fact that mages need time to recover their concentration.

This way mages still have a lot of tools to work with while finally gaining more opportunities for meaningful decisions: as long as you don’t go out of your way to kite enemies and make occasional pauses between spells, it’s possible to keep Backfire Damage at zero, receiving no damage even if you miscast. Alternatively, nothing really prevents you from using spells every turn while actively maneuvering around the battlefield - although in this case you may want to acquire some Magic and Nature Resistances or make liberal use of Stardust.

Miracle Chance and Miracle Potency are magical alternatives to Crit Chance and Crit Efficiency: their addition to the game will improve the variety of mage-related gear, raise the importance of Perception to magic builds, and remove the silliness of being able to cast more critical spells by equipping physical weaponry with high Crit Chance.

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That’s all for now. In the next devlog, we’ll tell you more about Magic Mastery and its interactions with Fatigue and new magic mechanics.

Until next time!

Devlog: Magic Mastery

Hello everyone!

In today’s devlog, we’ll tell you more about the second ability tree, Magic Mastery, which will be a part of the next major update - “Forgotten Lore”, to be released on August 5th.

Magic Mastery is designed to be a highly impactful support tree, useful to any mage build. As a result, its abilities are mostly focused on two things: increasing the effectiveness and safety of your own spells and countering enemy magic.

To better understand our design choices, we highly recommend you to check out the previous devlog - it contains important details about the upcoming changes to the Magic System.

OVERALL STRUCTURE

Magic Mastery consists of 12 abilities: 6 actives and 6 passives. The ability tree can be roughly divided into two paths: the left one mostly targets pure mage builds, while the abilities on the right have a lot to offer to hybrid characters.

Active Abilities

Seal of Finesse

Activates an effect that lowers Fumble and Backfire Chances, reduces Cooldowns Duration, and speeds up the decay of Backfire Damage. When used, this spell also vents a large amount of already existing Backfire Damage.

The Seal works similarly to Weaponry stances: the number of the effect’s stacks increases with every passing turn, but decreases when your character moves to another tile.

Seal of Power

Activates an effect that grants major bonuses to Magic Power, Weapon Damage and a bit of Bonus Range. But that’s not all: whenever your character uses a specialized spell, the effect transforms into the Seal of a corresponding Magic School with its own unique bonuses and has its duration slightly prolonged.

For instance, Seal of Pyromancy grants Pyromancy Power, a fiery enchantment for your weapons, and a boost to Crit and Miracle Chances. In addition to Electromantic Power and Shock Damage on strike, Seal of Electromancy reduces Backfire and Fumble Chances. Seal of Geomancy comes with a bonus to Geomantic Power and Block Chance as well as faster Backfire Damage decay and lower Damage Taken.

Seal of Insight

This Seal reveals a few places of power in a small area around the caster. When the character occupies an empowered tile, they gain Magic Power, Miracle Chance, Energy Restoration and have their Spells’ Energy Cost reduced. The effect persists as long as the character remains in place, growing in power with each passing turn and getting weaker with each cast spell.

This means that if you plan to cast a lot of spells within a short period of time, it might be a good idea to make use of places of power along with Seal of Finesse. This tactic comes with a price though - you’ll have to sacrifice your mobility for it to work.

Seal of Cleansing

This spell allows you to remove all magical and physical effects, both positive and negative ones, from the main target and everyone adjacent to it. Additionally, the spell extinguishes burning tiles, clears puddles of acid, unholy blood, and magma, and also removes runes and other magical entities. Each removed effect or object replenishes a small amount of energy to the caster and reduces their active Cooldowns.

If the caster targets themselves with the Seal or is affected by its AoE, they gain Miracle Chance and reduced Damage Taken for each removed positive effect and are applied with reduced damage Resistances for each removed negative effect.

Using the Seal on magical creatures, such as the Undead and Wraiths, temporarily increases the damage they receive.

Seal of Reflection

This powerful defensive buff not only increases your character’s Resistances to all types of damage but also reflects* half the damage received from melee attacks. And most importantly, while under the effect of the Seal, all spells aimed at your character will be redirected to a random target within Vision (if there is one).

* - there were some tweaks to the Damage Reflection mechanic: the damage will now be reflected before Protection or Resistances are applied, which greatly increases the effectiveness of this stat.

Seal of Shackles

The ultimate Magic Mastery spell applies a powerful Seal that significantly reduces the target’s Energy Restoration and increases its Skills’ Energy Cost, Cooldowns Duration, and Fumble Chance.

While under the effect of the Seal, enemies can’t use spells, and each ability that comes off cooldown will burn their Energy (scaling with its Energy Cost) and deal Arcane Damage for the same amount.

Passive Abilities

Precise Movements

Investing Ability Points into specialized Magic Schools reduces Backfire Chance of their spells.

Remaining on the same tile gradually lowers Backfire Chance.

Dissipation

Each point of received Magic or Nature Damage replenishes one point of Energy and grants a small stacking bonus to Magic and Nature Resistances.

Body and Spirit

Spellcasting generates 20% less Fatigue. By 20% reduces Sanity loss from Backfired spells.

Lingering Incantations

Increases the duration of all magical effects - this includes Areas of Effect created by magic, such as magma or ball lightning.

Thaumaturgy

Grants all spells a bonus to Miracle Chance and Miracle Power. Performing a Miracle provides a stacking reduction to Backfire Chance and Backfire Damage.

Arcane Lore

Grants a small bonus to Magic Power for each learned magical ability*, including Magic Mastery actives and passives.

* - In the current version of the game, this effect exists as Jonna’s starting trait. It will be changed in “Forgotten Lore”: Jonna will receive Magic Power for reading magical treatises, and each learned magical ability will permanently increase her Experience Gain. This is the first of many changes to the preset characters’ starting traits that will arrive with the fully fledged Trait System and Character Creator.

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That’s all for now: we hope you liked these new abilities and will soon make them a part of your newly created characters’ builds. Make sure to follow the news, it won’t be long until the update is released!

0.8 “Forgotten Lore”! Not here on GOG just yet, but looking forward to it. Here's the write-up form elsewhere..

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IMPORTANT: this is a major update that includes changes to the global map generation, so it requires you to start a new game. If you want to continue your old playthrough, it can be done by rolling back to the previous version in the game’s Steam options

MAIN ADDITIONS

- New boss
…and a quest that goes with it. You can receive it in a location of questionable repute after reaching level 14.

- New magic school: Electromancy.

- New ability tree: Magic Mastery.

- New enemies
13 high level Proselytes.

- Brynn content
Added the House of the Azure Thread, the Bank, the Golden Grain Inn, the Cathedral, the University, the Printing House, the Alchemical Emporium of Curious Goods, a dockside store, the Close Harbor Tavern, and the Fence’s hideout - each new location has its own characters and gameplay function.

- Next stage of the main quest: “Gwynnel’s Answers”.
It will wrap up the introduction sequence and prepare you for the sandbox part of the game.

- Stationary Caravan Camp
It comes with access to a sizable storage. This location becomes available after arriving to Brynn and completing “Gwynnel’s Answers”

- New system: Fatigue
Using abilities and performing various actions will now generate Fatigue, which lowers your character’s Max Energy. Fatigue can be kept at bay with regular sleep, quality food, and some consumables.

- Changes to the Sleep System
The character can now only sleep for a limited amount of time that depends on how long they spend awake and their Fatigue.

- Changes to the Magic System
Added several new magic-related stats and a Backfire mechanic that causes reckless mages to take damage from their own spells.

- New loot type: Folios
11 unique books that provide information about the game’s lore and grant some experience when read for the first time.

- New items
1 new sword, 7 new necklaces (including a unique one), 3 new artifacts, 12 new valuables, crabs, crab meat, and shells.

- New Points of Interest.

- New biom: Seashore.

- 4 new achievements.

GAMEPLAY AND CONTENT

- New camp types.
- Changes to some of the existing Proselyte abilities.
- Added a few unique interactions with Brynn guards.
- Changed Jonna’s starting Affinities: instead of Daggers and Dual Wielding she now has access to Electromancy and Magic mastery. Also changed her starting inventory and unique trait.
- Added an option to fill various vessels with water.
- Added a system that lets time pass in locations even if the character isn’t present there.
- It’s now possible to read signs and comment on certain important items.
- Damage Reflection now returns damage before the application of Protection and Resistances.
- Added Armor Penetration to the majority of spells.
- Armor Penetration gained from Perception now also applies to spells.
- Changes to the Curses mechanic. Removed Curses of Goldhoarder and Loudmouth from the game.
- Starting from 2 stacks, the effect of Wetness will increase Backfire Chance for Electromancy spells.
- Some merchants are now willing to purchase artifacts.
- The Witch’s Hat will have a few things to say about your Miraculous and Backfired spells.
-- Hunger and Thirst gain from using abilities now scales with their Energy cost.
- Walking through shallow waters will now slowly drench the character until a certain threshold.
- Walking through shallow waters now takes 2 turns instead of 1.
- Changed some of the existing interiors and Points of Interest.
- Removed thyme from the Herbalist’s request.
- Reading treatises now awards you with experience.

BALANCE

- Reduced the distances between settlements and dungeons.
- Greatly reduced experience and loot gains in the Prologue to be more in line with the Adventure Mode’s gameplay.
- Reduced spawn rates for the Brigands and Wolves you meet in the wilderness.
- Max Health no longer increases with level.
- Major buffs to most 5+ lvl enemies to improve scaling of mid and late game content.
- Increased the difficulty of Brynn and distant dungeons.
- Reduced the impact of Willpower on Cooldowns Duration and Abilities Energy Cost.
- Numerous tweaks to the Survival tree.
- Buffed the bedroll: removed the chance of Body Aches after using it and reduced its price. Investing a point into “Make a Halt” will now completely offset most of the bedroll’s downsides and grant it additional bonuses.
- Increased base damage of all maces. Reduced base damage of most two-handed weapons (with the exception of spears and staves).
- Nerfed bonuses granted by “Dash”. Buffed “Adrenaline Rush”.
- Reduced bonuses from “Runic Empowerment”. “Rune of Fortifying” now allows adjacent boulders to quicken the decay of Backfire Damage.
- Swapped Crit Chance and Fumble Chance for Miracle Chance and Backfire Chance on magic abilities and equipment.
- Reduced the starting Block Power Recovery by 10%.
- Shields now grant less Block Power
- Rest Mode no longer replenishes Morale.
- Changes to dual wielding penalties: reduced the penalty to Abilities Energy cost and Cooldowns Duration and added a penalty to Backfire Chance.
- Increased Immunity gain from vegetables, fruit, and certain other foods.
- Immunity now has a 25% stronger effect on Intoxication decay.
- Greatly increased the duration of most drugs. The duration of an Aftermath is now equal to half the base duration of a drug.
- Reduced the chance to vomit from Hornet Honey’s Aftermath.
- Reduced the Ancient Troll’s Health and some Resistances.
- While in jail, the character will only be fed gruel.
- Enemies will now be less eager to occupy burning tiles.
- Most effects that used to increase Fumble Chance now also increase Backfire Chance.
- Added new effects to exquisite foods.

ECONOMY AND PROGRESSION

- Removed the option to choose your reward after killing the Ancient Troll - it was a placeholder that was only meant to exist while the Troll was the only boss in the game. Now you’ll be rewarded with gold and a unique cloak.

The unique items, which were previously awarded for completing this quest, were relocated to distant dungeons and high level secret rooms.
- Changed the repair cost formula: the base cost was reduced, but it now increases with an item’s level. Starting with level 24, the cost will be the same as it was before the update.
- Reduced Durability loss from both delivering and taking hits.
- Increased Brynn bailiffs’ stock size.
- Reduced the initial level range of the equipment sold by Brynn bailiffs.
- Bailiffs will no longer sell magic gear - it was moved to Renod Kann’s Alchemical Emporium of Curious Goods.
- Increased the impact of Brynn reputation on the level range of sold items.
- Doubled the chance of receiving unique items from distant dungeons' final chests.
- Raised the selling price of pelts to be roughly equal to common loot in terms of value per cell.
- NPCs will now purchase treatises at a better price.
- The Brynn quartermaster now sells lockpicks.
- Brigands now have a chance to drop high value rings and necklaces.
- Increased the price of most valuables.

FIXES

- Numerous fixes to map generation.
- Fixed the bug causing major categories of damage Resistance (Physical, Magic, Nature) to not be taken into account when attacking enemies.
- Fixed the bug with the incorrect “Wetness” duration when entering deep waters.
- Fixed the bug preventing the loss of Block Power when blocking Nature and Magic damage.
- Reduced the frequency of the character and NPCs’ speech popups.
- Fixed the bug causing damage to enemies’ Armor to be applied twice.

Devlog: Dungeon Generation (originally posted on Jan 20 somewhere...)


Hello everyone!

It’s been a while since the last devlog, so we’re here to tell you about the current state of affairs and our plans for the near future.

Let’s just say the workflow has been less than ideal - the Ukrainian part of our team experiences blackouts and disrupted internet access due to the constant shelling of the country’s infrastructure, and the part of the team that formerly resided in Russia needs time to adjust in a new place. Nevertheless, we’re still determined to continue working on Stoneshard.

The main focus right now is on the next major update, “Rags to Riches”, which will both introduce and expand upon a number of key gameplay systems, namely the Caravan, the dungeon generator, and the economy.

Unfortunately, we’re in no position to announce even approximate release dates, definitely not within the next few months. But it doesn’t mean there won’t be any new content until then - we plan to release a few small patches, mostly focusing on fixing bugs, implementing some long-awaited QoL improvements, tweaking the existing ability trees, and fleshing out certain minor mechanics that we kept on the back burner. This approach will keep the game from getting stale while simultaneously giving us an opportunity to clear the accumulated backlog and resolve some technical issues.

For instance, in the near future we’ll release a hotfix that will improve the Drunkenness mechanic and add a few hundred new speech lines - both for the main character and the enemies - to cover a much larger number of scenarios.

Now back to Rags to Riches and the progress we’ve made so far. Many of you may remember that the dungeon generator was already reworked in the “Way Forward” update. But even though the result was much better than the original iteration, the last couple of years brought us enough experience and feedback to realize that we can do better. After all, dungeon-delving is one of the most prominent mechanics in the game, so any improvements to it will serve the betterment of the experience in general.

The dungeon generation rework is meant to achieve the following:

-Move away from the boring and predictable dungeon structure that consists almost entirely of small rooms separated by doors.
-Get rid of single-tile doors and hallways, as they promote the repetitive tactics of funneling enemies into the same choke points over and over again. New rooms will have a more engaging design, giving you more reasons to reposition and interact with the surroundings.
-Add more distinguishing features to each dungeon type: the Bastion should differ from the Crypts - and the Crypts from the Catacombs - not only in terms of decorations but also their overall layout.
-Make dungeons and room structure more logical and believable: upon entering a room, you should be able to get a basic idea about its function.
-Make dungeons’ visuals consistent with their difficulty and loot quality: high level dungeons will boast richer decor and additional room types that you won’t be able to encounter early in the game.
-Add dungeon modifiers that will shake up the established routine and make you adjust your usual preparations - we’ll share more details in future devlogs.
-Change enemy spawns to make fights more fair and interesting.

While our game designers are busy conceptualizing the Contracts rework (and all the new mechanics that come along with it), our artist and level designers are working on gradually transitioning the Crypts to the new generation ruleset - of all the dungeon types, it needed a facelift the most. See the attached images for some of the results.

The next step is to use the Crypts as a testing ground for the entirety of the reworked system, which includes new contacts, modifiers, and certain other additions - after that, we’ll make the necessary adjustments and apply it to the remaining dungeon types as well.

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

Devlog: Settlement Outskirts & New Bags


Hello everyone!

The last couple of months our team has been working on lots of new content: the long-awaited Caravan, the previously highlighted rework of the Dungeon Generator, and dungeon and settlement modifiers that will be a part of the upcoming Contract System rework - speaking of which, today we’d like to elaborate on some of its elements, namely Outskirts locations.

Outskirts are a new type of Points of Interest that will be introduced to the game with the next major update, “Rags to Riches”. Located a few tiles away from settlements, they still act as their continuation of sorts

Their main purpose is to add more variety to the basic contract loop and facilitate early game exploration. Most Outskirts will usually offer you the following things:

- A spot to save your progress.
- Access to one or more traders and craftsmen who will sell vital consumables, fix your gear, etc.
- A chance to interact with new NPCs who can offer you contracts or give rewards for their completion.

It’s fair to say that granting alternative access to contracts and rewards is perhaps the Outskirts’ most important function. After “Rags to Riches”, village Elders won’t be the only ones in the contract business, the following three new NPC types - Officials, Captains, and Couriers - will be able to participate as well.

Their main difference from Elders lies in the rewards they will offer:

- Captains won’t pay as much, instead providing extra Reputation with settlements you complete contracts for.
- Officials will split the Reputation boost between all settlements of their faction (for instance, completing Osbrook contracts will slightly improve your standing with both Brynn and Mannshire).
- Couriers won’t actually hand out quests, instead giving rewards for completing contracts that require you retrieving certain items. Bringing those directly to a Courier will earn you extra gold.

Additionally, contract rewards can be received from any of these NPCs regardless of your initial quest giver, thus breaking the routine of walking the same roads over and over again. So instead of having to stick to the “settlement-dungeon-settlement” route, you’ll be able to receive a contract in a village, clear out its dungeon, get your reward in a nearby Outskirt, grab a new contract there, sell your loot and replenish supplies (optionally), then head straight to the next dungeon.


All Outskirts can be roughly split between these three categories:

- Military Camps and Outposts. This is where you’ll find Captains and, most likely, someone to fix your gear and sell you medicine and ammunition.
- Trade Posts and Production Sites. Their main role is selling special goods that can be transported to other settlements via the Caravan and sold at a profit. An example of such a site would be the Osbrook Mill or the Mannshire Winery, which many of you are already familiar with. This is where you may also encounter Officials, who are tasked with overseeing the production.
- Homesteads and Roadside Inns. These locations will offer a hearty meal, a place to catch some shut-eye, and a chance to meet a Courier, should the need arise.

To better illustrate the system, here are some of the new Outskirts:

Osbrook - Roadside Tower
Not wanting to be caught off guard if the Council suddenly breaches the truce, the Magistrate took it upon themselves to restore the web of outposts and signal towers that now covers the entirety of the Brynn March.

Osbrook - Drunken Woodsman Inn
The Drunken Woodsman is a safe haven for any hunter whose trade brings them close to Osbrook.

Mannshire - New Orchard
The war gave the best cidery in Aldor little time to react: its previous owners couldn’t save neither themselves nor the flourishing gardens, taking the ancient recipe of their specialty beverage to the grave. But not all hope is lost: the new proprietors of the New Orchard are determined to do everything in their power to restore this place to its former glory.

Mannshire - Southern Outpost
This encampment was originally established by Duke di Berro during his brazen counterattack against the Council army. It’s not nearly as large as it used to be, but it still plays an important role in bringing order to the Magistrate-controlled lands.

It’s worth mentioning that the existence of Brynn contracts and dungeons is only temporary (in the future there’ll be an entirely new way of gaining city Reputation), so it won’t have Outskirts in the gameplay sense of the word. At the same time, you can expect a certain other location to receive its share of Outskirts POIs…

New Backpacks

Let’s move onto the next addition planned for “Rags to Riches” - a wide selection of new bags and their overall rework.

Right now the game features just one backpack type that offers as many slots as it occupies in the inventory - this was done to prevent exploits associated with carrying multiple backpacks.

In “Rags to Riches”, all bags and backpacks will become much more capacious. As a tradeoff, you’ll have to equip them first before storing any items, and they’ll have to be emptied before you can place them in the inventory. These combined tweaks allowed us to create a bunch of new backpack configurations:


Medium Backpack grew in capacity and received sizable side pouches.

Small Backpack isn’t particularly roomy, but it’ll be much easier to obtain than other bag types.

Field Surgeon Bandolier - a solid choice for anyone who wants to carry lots of meds and other consumables.

Herbalist Satchel allows you to not really worry about precious inventory space while transporting large amounts of potion flasks and other vessels or gathering important herbs.

Hunting Backpack is meant to easily fit a few pelts and can be used to comfortably carry a bedroll.

Treasure Seeker Backpack will greatly improve your carrying capacity, although its bulky frame will do no favors to your agility and finesse.

On top of all that, it will also be possible to store single cell treasure items in common Purses.

And finally, here’s a teaser for the much-anticipated Armor ability tree that we’re currently working on as well:

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That’s all for now. Until next time!

Devlog: Armored Combat and the Equipment III Update Announcement

Hello everyone!

In today’s devlog we’ll take a look at the new ability tree - the long awaited Armored Combat. We also have a surprise announcement to make.

Initially, we planned to add Armored Combat with the next major update, “Rags to Riches”. But since there’s still a lot of work to be done, and it’ll be a while before “Rags to Riches” is released, we decided to make this one ability tree a part of the previously unannounced Equipment Update III, which will introduce many new pieces of armor for mages and hybrid builds.

On top of all that, Equipment III will feature various tweaks to half the existing abilities. There was a lot of negative feedback regarding Ranged Weapons, Warfare (former Combat Mastery), and Shields, so these ability trees in particular were changed the most. There’ll also be certain QoL improvements, such as reworked skill hovers and a better system for skills classification. The exact details will be revealed in the patch notes.

We aim to release the Equipment Update III on May 16th. Please take note that this interim update won’t feature new bags, reworked Dungeons, the Caravan, and everything else that was explicitly presented as a part of “Rags to Riches”. The exact date for the latter will be announced a short time before its release. Another thing worth mentioning: the Equipment Update III will be compatible with your current save files.

Now let’s move onto the new ability tree. Armored Combat consists of 8 skills, spread evenly between actives and passives.

While conceptualizing Armored Combat, one of our goals was to make it useful to all armor types, both heavy and light.

As a result, its skills are designed to dynamically change depending on the equipped armor. This mechanic bears some resemblance to the one used by Shields, although the differences between armor types’ effects are significantly more noticeable.

Light armor adds bonus Dodge Chance to the skills’ effects or otherwise improves the effectiveness of evasion. It also allows using Armored Combat skills more frequently.
The main drawback of heavy armor is its hefty penalties to Max Energy, so its changes to the ability tree’s skills are focused on counteracting them in one manner or another.
Medium armor offers a compromise between Energy efficiency and Protection. For the most part, it doesn’t require any bonuses to be effective, and wearing it usually won’t modify Armored Combat skills in any way.


ACTIVE ABILITIES

“Brace for Impact!”

Grants bonus Dodge Chance and Block Chance until the next turn. While the effect is active, all received strikes receive major penalties to Accuracy, Fumble Chance, Armor Penetration and can’t crit.

Light body armor halves the skill’s Cooldown Duration and Energy Cost, and heavy armor doubles its Cooldown Duration.

This skill is useful for situations when your enemy is preparing to deliver a highly damaging or debilitating strike - “Brace for Impact!” will allow you to either negate it entirely or at least greatly reduce its effectiveness.

“Flexible Defense”

Delivers a strike to three adjacent tiles with a penalty to Weapon Damage but a large bonus to Stagger Chance. Additionally, all enemies within the skill’s area of effect receive a debuff to Weapon Damage, Fumble Chance, and Accuracy for three turns.

Light body armor prolongs the debuff’s duration to six turns, and heavy body armor replenishes 5% Max Energy for each enemy within the skill’s AoE.

Although this skill works well with all armor types, its synergy with high Dodge Chance makes it exceptionally useful to lightly armored builds.

“Unyielding Defense”

Allows to reposition to an adjacent tile, then activates an effect that grants a bonus to Control Resistance, Block Power Recovery, all body parts’ Protection, as well as Block Chance or Dodge Chance (depending on which one is higher). Receiving enemy strikes grants an extra stack of the effect.

This skill isn’t considered a stance, so it can be used together with Weaponry stances. Other than that, it provides an option to safely reposition when surrounded by enemies, as moving with abilities doesn’t trigger Attacks of Opportunity.

“Battering Ram”

“Battering Ram” performs a charge towards a target, dealing Crushing Damage to it with a chance to apply Stagger.

Light body armor halves the skill’s Cooldown, increases its Range, and allows it to grant bonus Weapon Damage for a few turns that scales with Dodge Chance. Heavy armor reduces the skill’s Range and switches the Stagger Chance to Stun Chance for a greater impact.

This skill is meant to be an alternative to “Dash” from Athletics, offering extra means of closing distance with enemies, especially if your weapon of choice doesn’t have access to charges.

PASSIVE ABILITIES

“Self-Repairs”

Reduces the rate of Durability loss (for weapons too) by 15%, increases the effectiveness of Repair Kits, and allows to dismantle armor into fragments that can be used for patching up your other armor.

Additionally, this passive grants a bonus to Bleed Resistance and Fortitude for each equipped piece of armor with more than 80% Durability.

Different fragment types replenish different amounts of Durability depending on an item’s level. For instance, a piece of cloth scrounged from a peasant shirt won’t be very effective when used for repairing an expensive mantle.

“Hard Target”

Reduces Armor Penetration of all attacks against the character.

Ranged attacks against the character also grant a bonus to Dodge Chance for a few turns while simultaneously reducing the attacker’s Accuracy. The effect triggers twice if the enemy manages to land a shot.

“Battle-Hardiness”

Using stance skills and maneuvers reduces Damage Taken until the next turn.

Light body armor also grants bonus Dodge Chance and Counter Chance for a few turns for each traveled tile (this includes tiles traversed with charges and maneuvers), and heavy body armor reduces Skills Energy Cost for each turn spent on the same tile.

“Custom Adjustments”

Each piece of equipped armor grants a special bonus depending on its type.

Light armor grants additional Protection to the respective body parts. Medium armor grants Bleed Resistance to the respective body parts. Heavy armor increases Max Energy and Energy Restoration.

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That’s all for now. Until next time!

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 in the attached image 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.


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That’s all for now. Until next time!

Devlog: Caravan Upgrades - Part I


Hello everyone!

This is the first post in the series of devlogs dedicated to the new features of the upcoming update, “Rags to Riches”, the release date of which will be revealed in the final entry. Today’s topic is the update’s most important addition and the last major system to be introduced to the game: the much-anticipated Caravan.

We’d like to begin by explaining our reasoning behind the system and what we plan to achieve with it. One of the most frequent player suggestions is to add some sort of permanent dwelling, a purchasable and customizable house in a village or city. However, Stoneshard is a game about a mercenary, a character who’s always on the move in search of contracts and glory, so anchoring them to a single location would go against the main theme. At the same time, we aren’t averse to the concept of home in a broader sense - and that’s where the Caravan System comes into play by adding a customizable mobile camp.

The Caravan’s main purpose is to allow for easier exploration, making it possible to travel large distances across the global map - with a few limitations.

Firstly, the Caravan can travel only to empty map tiles. You won’t be able to set up a camp right next to villages, dungeons, hunting grounds, or Point of Interest. Your destination must also not be shrouded in the fog of war - at the very least, you’ll need a rough outline of the terrain, obtainable through the use of paper maps.
Secondly, moving the Caravan will require a special resource, Fodder, the spending rate of which will scale with the distance and difficulty of your chosen route.
Thirdly, each journey will be followed by a cooldown, as both Verren and the horses will need some time to rest.

In general, the optimal strategy is to park the Caravan in a spot between multiple locations you want to visit (settlements, dungeons, Points of Interest, etc), conclude your business there, then return to the Caravan, which by that time should be ready for another journey.

At the moment, we’re still experimenting with the cooldown duration - currently the base value is a day and a half, which can be shortened to half a day through a series of upgrades.

This topic will be further expanded upon in a separate devlog about the Caravan travels and all the mechanics that come with them.

Now let’s talk about customization - this part of the Caravan System is represented by a dedicated upgrade tree. In total, there are 24 possible upgrades, not including the basic ones - all of them can be unlocked within a single playthrough. As for their effects, there’s quite a lot of variation: some upgrades will change your Caravan’s stats, others - introduce new options or modify pre-existing ones. Each upgrade will also change your camp’s appearance by adding new furniture and gear or altering some elements that are already there.

Upgrades can be accessed by interacting with Verren’s Ledger at the Caravan camp. Before you can go through with them, you’ll first need to have all the prerequisites in either your Inventory or the Caravan Storage: this includes unique items (purchasable from corresponding traders) and additional materials.

All upgrades can be thematically split into four categories: “Provision”, “Restoration”, “Traveling”, and “Communication”. This devlog only covers the first one, which revolves around introducing additional utility to your camp:

Provision


Firepit

Requirements: basic upgrade (available from the start).
Effect: adds a firepit to the camp that can be used to roast food and salt meat.

Cooking Spot

Requirements: Huge Cauldron, Coal Chunk (х4), Ladle (х1)
Effect: installs a cauldron on top of the camp’s firepit, allowing you to cook complex dishes.
Cooking at the camp replenishes a certain amount of Morale depending on the recipe’s rarity.

Special Spices

Requirements: Spice Box, Spearmint (х2), Rhubarb (х2), Ginger (х2), Leek (х2), Garlic (х2)
Effect: food spoils 75% slower while inside the Caravan Storage.
Cooking at the camp replenishes a certain amount of Sanity depending on the recipe’s rarity.

Workbench

Requirements: Toolbox, Nails (х2)
Effect: adds a Workbench to the camp that can be interacted with to craft moderately complex consumables.

Alchemy Station

Requirements: Alchemical Apparatus, Hourglass (х1), Coal Chunk (х1), Flask (х3)
Effect: adds an alchemical apparatus to the camp that can be used to brew potions (after Alchemy is fully implemented) and create some medical consumables (in “Rags to Riches”).

Foraging Supplies

Requirements: Foraging Supplies, Shovel (х1), Sickle (х1)
Effect: adds a foraging table to the camp, allowing Verren and Followers to capitalize on nature’s bounty while you’re busy adventuring. Once per day, it will generate a certain amount of herbs, berries, and mushrooms, their type depending on the currently occupied biome. Some of the gathered herbs can then be turned into Fodder to fuel your future travels, while mushrooms and berries can be used for cooking.

Mobile Coop

Requirements: Cage with Chickens, Bucket (х1), Sack of Grain (х1)
Effect: adds a few chickens to the camp. Once per day, they’ll lay eggs that can be used for cooking. There’s also an option to slaughter chickens for meat, but it’ll take some time for them to respawn - in the meantime, you’ll have to do without a steady supply of fresh eggs.


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As you might have already noticed, some of the upgrades are closely linked to Cooking and Crafting - the former will be the focus of our next devlog. And while you wait, here’s a small teaser of things to come:


Until next time!

Devlog: Cooking


Hello everyone!

Today the topic is Cooking, a mechanic that will play a significant role in both your adventures and the Caravan System.

Important note: the effects, prices, and availability of most existing foods will be rebalanced in Rags to Riches. The numbers you see on the screenshots are also subject to change.

Cooking can be split in two parts: Basic Actions and the cooking of dishes.

Basic Actions include Roasting and Meat Salting. Roasting is basically the Cooking of the current version of the game. In Rags to Riches it’ll be performed through a separate menu with an option to roast multiple ingredients at once rather than going through them one by one.

Salting requires any type of meat and a few handfuls of Salt. Once preserved, meat loses some of its nutritional value but can be stored indefinitely, which is quite convenient during prolonged expeditions or when you want to preserve the spoils of your hunt for later.

The preparation of actual dishes is more complex. First of all, you’ll need a recipe. Some basic recipes will be available to all characters from the beginning. The rest will have to be found, bought, or earned through high Reputation in settlements. For instance, reaching Respect in Osbrook will make it possible to purchase the secret of preparing Osbrook Bread Bowl Stew, in Mannshire - Mannshire Fair Salad, in Brynn - Harpy Omelette à la Brynn. For now, we’ve created 37 different recipes, but their total number might grow by the time Rags to Riches is out.

So, you’ve got the recipe, what’s next?

Firstly, you’ll need an open fire - any fireplace or campfire will do. Then you’ll have to place a pot on top of it. Tavern fireplaces and some campsites already have pots pre-installed, but you’ll need to bring one for any fires you start yourself. Although, not every recipe requires a pot - for instance, Hunter-Style Drumsticks or Meat Skewer can be cooked without it.

In order to prepare soups and some deserts (such as Fruit Soup or Flapjacks), you’ll need to fill your pot with water or milk. This can be done simply by pouring liquid from other vessels into it.

Once this part is over, you can start adding the ingredients. Most recipes allow a certain level of deviation: sometimes, they can be interpreted quite liberally - if you cook a Vegetable Salad, any “Vegetable” type ingredient will do. Other recipes might require a specific item, such as Garlic, Onion, or Leek. Keep in mind that the end result will always look the same and have the same effects regardless of the exact ingredients used - this is done for the sake of straightforwardness and more consistent visuals.

Still, there’s a caveat: some recipes have a place for optional Additives that will imbue dishes with extra effects. For example, Salt will double your dish’s expiration time, Butter will give it a bonus to Hunger Resistance, and more exotic variants (such as Jibean Spices, Nistrian Condiments, and Skadian Herbs) will provide a sizeable boost to Morale, Sanity, or Immunity.

All in all, dishes will differ not only in the amount of Hunger they sate but also many other aspects: they might reduce Fatigue, improve Morale, Sanity, or Immunity, grant bonus Experience Gain, increase some Resistances, and so on. On top of that, “Satiety” (the effect granted for overfilling your Hunger meter) will receive an additional stack and some other bonuses if you gain it by consuming an advanced dish.

Once you’re done cooking, food can be eaten directly from the pot. But if you want to leave it for later, you’ll need a suitable vessel. Obviously, soups require a deep bowl, but everything else can be placed on any plate (gold plates will work as well!). It’ll also be possible to place some dishes directly into your Inventory, such as loafs of Garlic Cheese Bread.


That’s all for now. Stay tuned for the next devlog, which will be focused on the second branch of the Caravan Upgrades!

Devlog: Caravan Upgrades - Part II


Hello everyone!

In today’s devlog, we’ll continue exploring the Caravan Upgrade System, which brings us to the second part of the upgrade tree - “Restoration”.

True to its name, the “Restoration” path is dedicated to maximizing the efficacy of resting at the Caravan. It comes with 6 upgrades that are focused on either improving the quality of your Character’s sleep or introducing more utility to the Camp.

We’d like to remind you that Caravan Upgrades are completely separate from the Leveling System and don’t require Ability Points - all upgrades are unlocked exclusively by purchasing prerequisite items.

Restoration

Straw Bed

Requirements: basic upgrade (available from the start)
Effect: adds a sleeping spot to the Caravan Camp

Small Tent

Requirements: Canvas Roll, Rope, Spool of Thread (х2), Straw (х3)
Effect: sleeping at the Caravan Camp grants “Vigor”
Sleeping at the Caravan reduces Fatigue 100% more effectively

Roomy Tent

Requirements: Hardy Tent Cloth, Rope (х2), Spool of Thread (х4), Straw (х5)
Effect: sleeping at the Caravan Camp grants two stacks of “Vigor”

Shrine

This upgrade adjusts to your Character’s race and religion: Humans will be able to set up a “Praying Spot”, Elves - a “Meditation Spot”, and Dwarves - an “Offering Spot”.

Shrine: Praying Spot

Requirements: Hieronite Altar, Ritual Candles, Altar Bell
Effect: allows your Character to pray at the Caravan Camp to receive “Blessing”

Shrine: Meditation Spot

Requirements: Meditation Table, Incense, Censer
Effect: allows your Character to meditate at the Caravan Camp to receive “Peace of Mind”

Shrine: Offering Spot

Requirements: Lesser Runic Stone, Skull, Candle-End
Effect: allows your Character to call upon their Ancestors to receive “Ancestors' Gaze” - the effect lasts indefinitely, scales with enemies killed, and is removed upon reaching low Health

Training Area

Requirements: Straw Dummy, Straw (х4), Bolt of Cloth
Effect: installs two training dummies at the Caravan Camp (basic and armored variants), which can be used to test your Character’s damage and try out new abilities. Dummies can be moved around within a designated area

Soothing Incenses

Requirements: Incense Burner, Incense (х2), Censer
Effect: sleeping at the Caravan restores Psyche 100% more effectively
Sleeping at the Caravan removes negative Psyche effects and resets the progress towards them

Herbal Remedies

Requirements: Apothecary Box, Mindwort (х2), Thyme (х2), Burnet (х2)
Effect: sleeping at the Caravan restores Health and body parts’ Condition 50% more effectively (100% if also unlocked the “Foraging Supplies” upgrade).
Each hour of sleep at the Caravan replenishes 1% Immunity (1.5% if also unlocked the “Foraging Supplies” upgrade)

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That’s all for now. In the next devlog, we’ll tell you more about the Crafting System for consumable items, which is yet another mechanic that’ll be introduced to the game with the Rags to Riches update. Until next time!