Stoneshard – March Update Progress

Ink Stains Games’ challenging turn-based RPG Stoneshard is currently going through Steam Early Access, with a new content update scheduled to go live later this month. And if you’d like a sample of what to expect from this so-called “Trollslayer” update, you should check out this Steam announcement. Here are the text bits:

Hello everyone!

This devlog is dedicated to revealing some of the progress we’ve made with the first major content update «Trollslayer», which will be released around the end of March. As we’ve already mentioned, there are plans to include some previously unannounced things into this update. As for now, let’s go through some of the features we are currently working on:

Additional flora and fauna

To make the world of Aldor feel more alive, we’ve added two new animals to the game: saigas and bisons, which can be encountered in the steppes and in the fields accordingly.

Penny buns have been added to the forests, fleawort and henbane now grow in the fields and by the roadsides, mushrooms and potatoes can be cooked at campsites. The meat system has also been changed, it’s now divided into four types: tough, fatty, sinewy, and tender. Each meat type can be acquired from certain animals. In the future we plan to make the hunting system significantly more complex, but it definitely won’t be a part of the March update.

New dungeon type – Catacombs

Proselytes have received their own dungeon type – Catacombs. Abandoned churches, monasteries, and other ruins inhabited by the vampiric cults can now be encountered around the world. At the same time there’s work being done on rehauling our dungeon generation algorithm in order to create more complex and structurally engaging levels. The work is still in progress, so no pictures of the interiors for now.

New skill trees – Athletics and Combat Mastery

Right now we are in the middle of implementing two new utility skill trees, each containing 14 and 13 skills accordingly. Initially they were planned to be much smaller – 8-10 skills each, but during the development it was decided to add additional branches.

Combat Mastery will be a great addition to the characters focusing on using weapons. It’s designed to enhance this playstyle, introducing 7 versatile combat and tactical maneuvers.

Athletics is built around mobility and controlling the battlefield, so it can be utilized by pretty much every character

Once all the skills are fully implemented and balanced, we’ll publish a separate devlog where we’ll present them in greater detail.

Expanded dialogues

We plan to slightly expand the dialogue system for the key characters such as merchants, elders, craftsmen, etc. Naturally there is no role-playing depth of classical RPGs to be expected here, our role system is simply not designed for that. However you’ll be able to learn more about certain characters, find out their opinions on different topics, and, perhaps, get some leads on various locations and quests…