Greetings heroes of the realm! We’ve got some news to share with you: we’re working hard on the next updates of Stolen Realm, which will be released as soon as next week, and we can now give you a sneak peek at one of the biggest new features that will be implemented soon. We’re very excited to announce that Stolen Realm is getting a new character class: the Monk!
If you play TTRPG games like Dungeons & Dragons you’ll be familiar with the archetype: a character class based on hand-to-hand combat and high mobility, usually very tough thanks to a lot of resistances. Our Monk draws from this inspiration, but as we always strive to do, we’ve given it our own twist to make it stand out from the crowd.
So, what are Monks about? To sum it up, they are powerful martial artists with the ability to move enemies around, pulling them and knocking them back with their special skills. The active Monk skills focus on taking control of the board, so to speak, dominating the battle positionally. Thanks to their high mobility, they can charge across the battlefield and dash between enemies to help their companions wherever they are, creating havoc around the whole map.
A Monk using an AoE attack against a group of enemies
Thanks to this, the Monk is meant to support other characters’ special powers, complementing them and creating awesome tactical synergies. For example, your Monk could start a battle by kicking an enemy into a fire barrel to use the explosion to thin down a crowd of enemies before they get to charge your team. Next turn the Monk would cooperate with the Warriors of the team, pulling the toughest enemies into their Slams to weaken them. Then in the heat of battle the party’s Healer gets pinned down by an enemy, just when some other hero is about to succumb to their injuries – but lo and behold, here comes the Monk, charging across the battlefield with a fearsome warcry, to kick the monster away so the Healer can run to aid the wounded without fear of opportunity attacks…
As you can see, Monks synergizes very well with the rest of the team, creating an extra layer of tactical depth thanks to their ability to support other characters and make their skills shine. Their movement skills, paired with passives that increase damage based on how much you have moved, can create some crazy damage combos; and the tricks you can pull off when cooperating with other players are just amazing. We can’t wait to see the tactical shenanigans you come up with when you get your hands on the Monk!
Mind you, just as it happens with all other character classes in the game, Monks are not meant to be a cookie-cutter character that forces you to comply with a strict build. You can go full Monk, of course – there is a lot of customization in the pure class. But you can also take skills from other skill trees, creating your own, completely unique build. Maybe your version of a Monk dips into the Fire tree or the Shadow tree to create something truly unique to your playstyle. And of course, perhaps all you really care about is punching your enemies to death with all new fist weapons – all options will be viable!
Charging an enemy across the battlefield
As it always happens when you’re designing new mechanics, some just don’t pass the cut and are left on the design table. For instance, at first we thought of a bunch of passive skills for the Monk, based on its fantasy archetype: passive bonuses that you unlock for renouncing the use of weapons and armor. The idea was for it to be modular – perhaps you renounce the use of weapons to get certain bonuses, but keep armor on for extra toughness. In the end we decided against it, because we wanted to keep all the builds equally flexible: if you have to renounce weapons and armor you can’t multiclass efficiently Monk and Warrior, for example; and thus, Monk would have been the only class that needs players to fully commit to it, upsetting the balance of the class system.
So, what do you think about the introduction of Monks in the game? What do you expect from them, tactically speaking? We’re still in the process of refining (and of course balancing) this new class, so your feedback is very welcome at this stage! You can leave us your comments here in the comments section of this forum, or join our Discord server where you can chat with other players of the game and reach out to the development team directly. This Saturday (May 28th), from 9:30 am to 10:30 am PST, we'll be streaming our game on steam. Afterward at 10:30 am we’ll be available for an informal Q&A about this new feature and the game as a whole – we’re looking forward to seeing you on Stolen Realm’s Discord server!
Have a nice week, and good luck on the battlefield, heroes!
New Monk Class: Developer Preview
Come watch us play the brand new Monk class which will release next week! Afterward you can meet us on discord for a Q&A session.
Topaz Sword no longer has a hidden 100% chance to cast Chain Lightning on striking. It now has a 10% chance to cast shock. Changed the damage type from Physical to Lightning
Golden Cross and Sun Stuff no longer deal damage to you when hitting allies with return damage
Dark God's Scepter changed from melee to ranged.
Bug Fixes
Fixed issue that sometimes caused you not be able to activate quests
Fixed some issues that caused player to not be able to end their turn
Fixed some issues that caused increasing lag over time while playing
Fixed issue where Bioluminescence wasn't properly applied to the Ghost Shroom patch loot table
Fixed issue where ground effects that affect movement would still affect your movement after restarting the battle
Fixed issue that could causes crashes on certain Water Temple maps
Fixed issue where one team could act while the other team isn't finished acting yet
Fixed issue where you could sometimes move while acting
Fixed issue with shift+left click to quick sell not functioning
Dev Diary #1: Simultaneous turns
Hello and welcome to the first entry of the dev diary for Stolen Realm! We’ve been hard at work for months after the Early Access release to expand the base of the game (and we've got somequiterelevantupdates to prove it!); but now that the dust has settled and we feel we’re heading in the right direction, we wanted to open our metaphorical doors a little bit to share with you the development process of the game – and sometimes how’s our daily work as indie developers. For this first entry we want to discuss how we came up with one of the basic pillars of Stolen Realm: its unique blend of the depth of turn-based strategy games and the white-knuckle ride of action-RPG.
Stolen Realm is our passion project, borne of our love of turn-based games, but it’s also our answer to a problem we stumbled upon very soon in the design process: we wanted to do a TBS game, and one we could play with our friends because we love shared gaming sessions; but most of these turn-based games are usually designed for single player experiences. They also run into issues when you start adding multiplayer options, such as a massive downtime between turns during combat.
This particular problem meant we found it very difficult to get into a lot of turn-based games, especially since many titles required you to start the game together rather than just jump in and out with a character. So we realized that, for our game, we needed to find a way to conduct drop-in sessions with your friends at any given time without feeling slowed down by too many players, which is how many action-RPG games tend to work. It had to be fast-paced as well – but without sacrificing a satisfyingly deep tactical combat system with a lot of strategic options. There was another challenge attached to this: when to lock people together, and when to let them free roam making up their own adventures on the go.
A battle balanced for just one player
Just like any other game, we had our own deep well of inspirations and ideas that we researched and looked at the pros and cons of before we jumped into development of Stolen Realm. We loved that concept enough that we felt that we had to bring that mechanic to the world of deep tactical combat, considering that this would allow us to make a tactical turn-based game with fast paced gameplay vs long, drawn out rounds with multiple players in the game. As for other inspirations, we looked at games we love from both genres and took the best elements. For turn-based we’re inspired by Divinity Original Sin 2, Pillars of Eternity, Baldur’s Gate 1-3 and on the action RPG side we’re heavily inspired by Diablo 2, Path of Exile and others. We also draw a bit from the exploration mechanics from Slay the Spire.
It honestly just worked right out of the box a lot better than we thought. We were worried that it would downplay the importance of the strategy layer and everyone wouldn’t play off each other, but it ended up resulting in more strategic gameplay. When the fight is straightforward, everyone kind of moves forward and the battle progresses quickly. When you need a more strategic move, everyone kind of talks about it and then you have the full freedom of every team member executing their moves in any order, which actually creates a more synergistic strategy.
There were certain mechanics we gave up to make it work a little better. Heroes don’t get a lot of action points, although you can build your character towards a lot of free actions. And there wasn’t much we could do with a hero getting more turns than another, but we think the benefits outweigh any sacrifices we had to make.
This battle, significantly more difficult, is balanced for a full party
But what was exactly the solution we found? It’s what we call “simultaneous turns” – probably the most defining feature of the game. You can really have 20 enemies that all move together and execute their turns at the same time. As an example, if you have 20 enemies in say for example Divinity 2, that usually results in long down time while you wait for everyone to take their turn. This also meant that the AI for Stolen Realm had to be tuned for performance and avoid any clashes for the mechanic to function successfully. Another big part is quick story decisions that play a big role in how the team places, as well as bringing everyone together in the game’s narrative.
Let’s talk about the simultaneous turn system first. Basically, if you’re on the same team, everyone gets to trigger their actions all at once. The resolution for this is just like a real time battle, although due to a small number of action points per turn, there is still a high degree of turn-based combat feeling to the game. With regards to the adaptive AI, at the start of their turn, they sequentially map out what they are going to do next. This calculation takes less than a second, but it allows each enemy to know what the other is planning on doing, so they don't make mistakes such as trying to move to the same hex as each other. Once this is completed, they all execute their actions in real time, so the end result is the enemies act and move at the same time, effectively giving us the same great strategic feel without the absurd wait times.
An enemy turn with our simultaneous turn system
Balancing is one of the hardest things as a game developer. Having said that, we’ve taken great lengths to ensure that you don't need to play with extra characters that you don't feel obligated to take with you. Most turn-based games don't have this mechanic: a lot of them are just meant to be played with a full party, and this puts you at a disadvantage if you don't. Action RPGS on the other hand generally scale up in difficulty whenever more people join the game, and this is what we wanted. Effectively, you get to choose the party size, and the game adapts even if it’s a party of 1.
In order to ensure every aspect of the game worked harmoniously with each other, we had the core philosophy of making a great turn based RPG without waiting times from the beginning, which made it easier to add everything around that core gameplay design. There are still many design choices that are made along the way, but we always try to keep as much strategy without causing a large wait.
Thank you for reading today’s dev diary! Remember to check out Stolen Realm on Steam, add us to your wishlists and we’ll catch you again in the near future with some more information. You can also drop by our Discord channel to say hello, meet other fellow heroes of the realm, and give us your feedback about the game!
v0.17 Patch Notes - End Game, Quest Modifiers and Tiered Loot
If you think you’ve won every battle and defeated every enemy, if you feel like there are no challenges left and you can now put your arms to rest… you are wrong, heroes of the realm, for peace is not everlasting and the struggle never ends! We’re excited to announce a new update (yeah, two in a row, we’re on a roll!) that, among many other things, brings end-game content for an endless challenge that will test the mettle of your band of heroes.
Basically, in addition to increasing the difficulty level as high as you want, after you complete all the main story quest all maps will roll with modifiers that greatly increase the difficulty – but also bring you bigger rewards as well. Let’s see a few examples of these modifiers. Lethal Life will make you lose a percentage of your HP per turn in battle – you’ll have to be really quick defeating your enemies! Abominable Allies, on the other hand, will make you face two bosses instead of one.
That’s not all in this update. We’ve also added a Tier system for loot; from now on, items will be capped at level 30, but now the higher quest levels can drop new tiers of items: Levels 30-40, Tier 1; Levels 40-50, Tier 2; and Levels 50-60, Tier 3. There are a few quality-of-life additions, like the ability to hover over enemy modifiers to see what they do, link items from shops and stash, and rename your character in the Character Select menu. There are also a bunch of balancing changes and bugfixes. Check out the full patch notes below!
FEATURES
Added a Tier system where loot from level 30+ quests can roll special modifiers that increase their effectiveness
Added a battle modifier system that takes effect after the main story quests are completed. These modifiers make battles harder in various ways, but increase your rewards.
Various performance optimizations
You can now hover over enemy modifiers in the examine window to see specially what they do
You can now link items from shops and stash
You can now rename your character in the character select menu via the ellipse menu
Added a static party gold display
GENERAL CHANGES
Item levels are now capped at 30
Reduced the amount of damage barrels deal by 20%
Special vendor features (Respec, Materials, Gabling) now travel with you as you progress through Acts
Damage Reduction is now capped at 50%
Life steal is now less effective at higher levels
Life steal is now longer affected by Healing Received bonuses
Extra attacks from Marksman's Cap, Dwarven Handaxe, Last Word, and Winged Axe now perform a complete attack and are only triggered on basic attacks similar to Quick Hands
There are now separate stashes for Softcore and Hardcore items
Quest Select window now has a static quest info panel
Camera panning is now locked to the level view
SKILL CHANGES
Changed Quick Hands double attack chance to 100% instead of 33%, but now can only activate once per turn
Frost, Fire, Thunder Borne now reduce their respective elemental resistance by 10% down from 15%
Purge now removes 20% of the target's max mana and restores 20% of the caster's max mana
Bloodlet, Kindling, Conduit, and Steal Action now apply exhaustion
BUG FIXES
Fixed issue where Smoke Bomb would also get applied to enemies
Fixed issue where Thunder Wrath would target barrels and crates
Fixed issue where Purge wasn't taking as much mana as it should
Fixed issue where Purge could steal more mana than the target had
Fixed issue where you sometimes couldn't send item to others after splitting them
Fixed issue that caused Move Object to keep on getting reapplied to the skill bar
Fixed issue where Fickle Flame would effects character menu stats
Fixed issue with weapon enchant visual effects not displaying correctly
Fixed issue where pressing escape wouldn't close the crafting window
Fixed issue where the Gathering goal would sometimes move when you try to harvest
Fixed issue where fishing wouldn't pause correctly when the escape menu is opened
Fixed issue with fishing becoming easier/harder based on frame rate
Hotfix 16.10: Difficulty Changes and Cutscene Bug Fixes
General Changes
Enemy modifiers are once again increased with difficulty
Experience modifiers are now removed from difficulties
Bug Fixes
Fixed issue that allowed you to start the opening cutscene in another town causing players to be teleported off the map
Fixed issue with artifacts remaining after skipping cutscene
Hotfix 16.9: Multi-player Battle Start Bug Fix
Bug Fixes
Fixed issue that caused the player to not be able to interact with battle when accepting a battle ready check while the battle event window is still open
Patch 0.16.8 - Crafting & Professions
Greetings heroes of the realm! We’re quite excited with today’s major content update, which brings crafting along with several other features that will add new strategic layers to the game. To begin with, from now on you can modify your gear and weapons, and add special powers that will be described in (very cool) prefixes and suffixes. For example: a Hallowed Longbow of the Titan would give your arrows the highest bonus damage possible, as well as increasing the power of your heals. And of course it sounds epic as hell which is always a bonus!
Jokes aside, this offers an extra layer of customization: with this option every character will be even more unique, with special gear that adapts to their skills and abilities, reflecting better your playstyle. This update also implements potion crafting at the consumable shops. We’re also adding two new profession nodes, Gathering and Fishing, each with their own mini-games; with these two professions you will get the materials you need for crafting your gear and potions.
While these are the main features of this update, there’s much more to it – lots of quality-of-life additions and balance fixes, not to mention some good bug-squashing. Check out the full patch notes below!
FEATURES
You can now mod your gear and weapons using materials at the equipment shops, adding prefixes and suffixes that describe their new powers
Added Gathering and Fishing profession nodes each with their own mini-games
You can now craft potions at the consumable shops
Terrain objects now fade when they are obstructing the view from a character or your selected hex
Added crate types that block LOS
You can now stack/split item stacks
Added more potion types
Added more item modifiers
GENERAL CHANGES
Consumables now cost no AP but have a cooldown
Removed the link to Difficulties and Enemy Modifiers
Increased chance of obtaining Legendary (4% > 8%) and Mythic (1% > 2%) items from gambling
Changed Act 2 merchant Noor to sell materials instead of reforging items
Made resource nodes more plentiful but only have 1 charge per node
Increased item stack cap from 99 to 999
Inventory filters are now cleared when switching from 'buy' to 'sell' functions (and vice versa) in a shop
SKILL CHANGES
Changed Dark Ritual to cost 1 AP instead of 0 AP
BUG FIXES
Fixed issue where Blind wasn't affected by range modifiers
Fixed issue where Soul Fracture was only lowering targets Max Health and Max Mana by 10% instead of 20%
Fixed issue where Skull Mace was marked as a wand
Fixed issue where you could cast Immolate on yourself and allies
Fixed issue where Soft Step would make it so you couldn't pick up potions
Fixed issue that could cause a long load time the first time you open a shop
Fixed issue where text popups were unclear and difficulty to read
Fixed issue where you could use potions when its not your turn
Fixed issue where the node map would reflect off water in Water Temple maps
Fixed issue where Thunder Wrath would target barrels and crates
Fixed issue where if you clicked on a shrine hex to move there, you would be unable to end your turn
Hotfix 15.8: More Battle Related Fixes
Pushing out another fix for some possible causes for players to experience unexpected behavior both starting and finishing a battle.
Bug Fixes -Fixed issue that could cause black screen on battle entry in both single player and multi player modes. -Fixed issue that could cause the battle to never end after defeating all the enemies.
Hotfix 15.7: Black Screen Entering Battle Fix
Pushing out a fix for some possible causes for players to experience a black screen upon entering battle.
Bug Fixes -Fixed various networking issues that could cause a black screen upon entering battle.
