Hello Shadowstoners…
It’s been three months of Shadowstone playtests, and in that time we’ve pored over your feedback, bug reports, and looked through tons of data. We're even on Patch 0.7.0 now!
Here’s what we’ve learned so far, and what’s coming, straight from the Shadowstone development team.
Kara, Game Design Lead
If you put our very first external playtest build next to the one released today, I think you’d find a night and day difference in experience. There’s been controls updates, new systems, player scaling, new monsters, new bosses, and so much more!
From this...
To this!
If I can take a second to wax poetic: I’m so proud of the whole Shadowstone team for just how far the game has come since we started building it! And I’m so glad y’all are here playing it! Here’s a few of our biggest changes since we’ve started walking this path, many of them driven directly by you, our players:
Multi-hero scaling
Our very first go was only balanced at four heroes! And man, did you guys learn that the hard way, so we added scaling for parties of two and three heroes.
New bosses
When we first opened playtests, we subbed in our Sunderfolk bosses as placeholders. Slowly but surely, we’ve moved over to bosses that fit the darker theme of Shadowstone. Just last patch, we finally got our third boss in for testing. And, of course, we’ve been constantly iterating these encounters based on your experiences! Keep reading to see Neo’s updates on bosses and enemies.
Failures / lives
Very early on y’all were loud and clear about one thing: one life was not enough to live! We dug into our failure condition, our death system, and even bandied about broader system-wide effects that might help alleviate the sting of an unfair defeat.
Ultimately we decided to start slow: double the party’s life by going from one to two, and reduce the penalty of death to give players a fighting chance to recover. These system changes were happening at the same time Corruption was being introduced, and while we wanted failure and death to feel more fair, we still wanted to make sure there were consequences. So we tied death to a big Corruption increase, a more party-focused effect that felt more in-line with co-operative play and still felt meaningful without being overly punishing. Of course, I’m still watching player feedback around these changes like a hawk. Or, given that it’s death, perhaps like a vulture. 😈
Corruption
Last patch’s big system swing! While other parts of the game were getting easier (failure, bosses), we knew we wanted to add back on some pressure. Jerrick will dig into the Corruption System a little further down in the blog. We’re still monitoring the effects and improving the narrative around this system, so keep the feedback coming.
Choice weighting
Choices are no longer purely random! The game now loosely recognizes patterns of play and tries to tilt some of the hero kit choices within a run more in your favor.
Movement changes
While internally many of us preferred the “hover” pathing original to the game, last patch we released a new movement exploration. And externally y’all reported loving the new “shortest” pathing! So we admitted maybe we were biased, and are using the “shortest” pathing as default now.
Runes
We knew we wanted Runes in Shadowstone so that players had permanent abilities they could play around with outside of Spells. It’s been thrilling to see what Runes you gravitate toward, and we’re already cooking up what Runes to add next.
There’s still more to come based on player feedback: an update to where we display Runes and how they’re tooltipped, unique names for each Rune, a brand new Rune upgrades reward type, and a wider pool of higher rarity Runes are all on our plans for the future!
Thank you for playing Shadowstone! As fun as it is to make games, it’s even better to see them played.
Jerrick, Game Design Lead
Corruption System
Corruption as a system was born out of us observing and responding to a certain player behavior: stalling. Prior to Corruption it was common in internal and external play for the party to rack up extraneous turns to build up buffs and/or their passives. While this was an effective strategy, it lacks interaction, as there existed no cost or response from the game while executing it.
This player behavior actually revealed a larger gap in the “temporal cause and effect” within our game’s design. Corruption was then created to address this, providing a source of time pressure that adds depth and engagement to the party’s strategic and moment-to-moment choices. For both players who have played prior to the system or new players coming into the game, we hope that the pressure from Corruption serves as a positive source of friction that makes each decision and victory that much more meaningful!
Some of the raw Train of Thought™ as we were initially exploring what a pressure system needs to accomplish. Start at the top left and follow the tracks!
The initial high-level pitch spec for Corruption given to the dev team:
Bargains
Bargains were the natural next-step after making the Corruption System. Corruption follows a straightforward “number goes up” paradigm and we wanted to explore/showcase different ways for the party to influence that Corruption number outside of its natural incrementation.
As we discussed internally on what that player-driven influence could look like, it came up very excitedly from a number of devs that they would love to be able to take on Corruption for powerful boons. So we started with Bargain Runes since that was the most straightforward structure and after some development were able to introduce Bargains as a content space that nested under the Corruption System!
We’re definitely exploring additional Bargain Runes, Bargain Types, and other forms of player-influence over Corruption for the future, so if you have any ideas, please send them our way~
The initial high-level pitch spec for Bargains given to the dev team:
Rituals
Rituals came about as we noticed a disparity with the dev team around some folks having vastly different experiences regarding enjoyability and difficulty with their play sessions. We dug into it, excluding out-of-game factors like target audience match and genre experience, and nailed down the in-game factor of some devs focusing on Party Synergy vs. Individual Power.
After this finding, we further identified that the game did not currently directly reward or encourage overt collaboration between Heroes’ kits, so we sought out making a system that could create an avenue toward “group synergy” as a viable strategy for play.
We’re in the very early stages of this system but we still wanted to share it with the community, so that you can get an inside view of how this system and its content evolves over time, alongside gathering any early feedback from you to know if we’re on the right track to making Rituals a compelling system for the game!
The initial high-level pitch spec for Rituals given to the dev team:
Neo, Game Design
Gatekeeper
As the final boss of the act, the Gatekeeper stands directly between you and your escape. Feedback from our playtesters highlighted that the encounter felt overly punishing unless players relied on highly specific, optimized builds. To address this, we’ve iterated on the Gatekeeper's design and mechanics to reduce frustrating complexity while preserving what makes the fight unique.
Specifically, we have removed the randomized spell actions and Biome Hazard spawns, which were creating too much visual and mechanical noise. By trimming the clutter and focusing on what makes the fight fun, we've ensured the Gatekeeper retains its mechanical depth while remaining a fair, engaging threat in entirely new ways.
Apostate [Twin Apostates]
When designing our bosses, we want them to tell a story through their mechanics, not just their visuals. To achieve this, The Twin Apostates have been reworked to deeply emphasize their bond as sisters. Now, their connection dictates the flow of battle: when one sister is harmed, the other will temporarily power up to seek revenge.
If you manage to defeat one of them, the surviving sister will enter a fit of rage, leveling up to become significantly more powerful.
How you balance and tackle this deadly duo is entirely up to you!
Note: This mechanical rework also allowed us to squash a large number of bugs previously reported for this encounter, making the entire fight much smoother.
Ooze, Frostling, and Hermit Crab
It’s time to welcome some new faces to our monster families! The Frozen, Coast, and Fungal Biomes are each receiving a brand-new creature to round out their respective rosters.
The introduction of the Frostling also brings a brand-new mechanic to the game. Monsters designated as Throwable can now be interacted with directly by the player.
Instead of just pushing them away, you can grab them and hurl them across the board! Use them as improvised projectiles or clear them out of your path—the choice is yours.
Julia, UI Design
We’ve cleaned and streamlined the interface across Shadowstone. Key screens such as Combat, Map, and Upgrade selections have been redesigned to improve experiences, reduce visual clutter, and help players access important information faster. We’ve also updated visual assets to better align with the game’s gothic alchemy aesthetic.
Xavier, Game Design
Rogue
Can’t have a roguelite without Rogue, amirite?
Rogue is slinking their way to Shadowstone in the next patch!
The Rogue is a single-target damage dealer who excels with set-up from their team. They’ve received a new passive that allows them to deal extra damage and generate Dodge for themselves if they attack a target with a debuff, or if the Rogue has a buff; just like a traditional Rogue, they always want to attack with an advantage!
Rogue also introduces a new way to interact with Status Effects: Theft. Through different spell cards, Rogue can steal buffs from any other character, as well as copy their own buffs onto an ally. Use them to disrupt the enemy’s plan or help share the love across your team. Start thinking of Buffs as money, and any good Rogue must make bank!
Smart set-up from other heroes will help unleash the incredibly high damage potential of the Rogue, but a Rogue going it alone might end up going broke. Take the Rogue into the dungeon; we can’t wait to hear about your heist!
Be on the lookout for another Hero lurking in the shadows…
There are lots of ways to be a Rogue… You can focus on stealing, manipulating and riches, but another might decide to focus on… Assassination…
Stay tuned for the next blog update, and don't forget to download the latest Shadowstone 0.7.0 patch to try out all of these changes yourself!
Want to give feedback directly to us, and join some upcoming playtest sessions? Join our Discord and get ready for a new wave of pain joyous fun!
The Secret Door Team