Stoneshard - Current Progress

Ink Stains Games brings us this progress update for their turn-based RPG Stoneshard where they outline some new features coming to the game with its next big early access update. By the looks of it, we should expect some new story content, two new skill trees, a spellcasting overhaul, new enemy types, and more.

Check it out:

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!