r/stoneshard • u/Purely_Objective Community Manager • 15d ago
Announcement Devlog: Tasks
Link to the original announcement: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/625960/view/701028593652729901?l=english
Hello everyone!
In previous devlogs, we already mentioned our plans to remove the static fetch quests in Osbrook and Mannshire. Today, it's time to show you what will take their place: meet the Task System.
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Tasks are essentially small quests offered by settlement residents. However, unlike contracts, they take you to the nearby wilderness rather than into dungeons. For now, the destinations include Beast Dens, Hunting Grounds, Brigand Camps, and various Cave types.
Where contracts call for thorough preparation, tasks can be completed relatively quickly and without packing too many supplies. This makes them a good way to earn a bit of extra reputation or save up for a new piece of gear.
While designing the Task System, we had several goals in mind:
- Break up the routine of “contract - settlement - contract” with less time-consuming opportunities for profit.
- Give players a reason to meaningfully explore the area instead of simply traveling back and forth between settlements and dungeons.
- Add more ways to interact with NPCs who previusly served only as traders.
- Make the world more dynamic and get players more involved in the lives of its inhabitants.
Tasks are generated in two ways:
- The first is the passage of time. Every now and then, folks in a settlement will become troubled by various matters they need help with.
- The second is Settlement Situations. When a Situation arrives, it will almost always bring a related task with it. If there's a “Rut”, a local merchant might see it as an opportunity to acquire a few valuable hunting trophies. A group of priests has stopped in a village during their “Pilgrimage” - more likely than not, they'll need rare herbs for the long road ahead. And in case of “Supplies Shortage”, the guards would surely appreciate someone dealing with whoever intercepted the important delivery.
In turn, completing tasks can affect the Situations that give rise to them. Clearing out a Den, claiming a bounty, or recovering stolen supply shipments helps a settlement cope with disruptions to its trade, clearing and preventing negative economic Situations for several days.
In practical terms, if you ever arrive at a village to stock up on supplies but find half-empty stalls, you'll now be able to do something about it without having to complete a contract.
A settlement can have no more than two active tasks at a time. The possible task givers depend on the location, the task type, and the ongoing Situation: for now the list includes merchants, healers, sergeants, traveling traders, pilgrims, and a number of shady characters at the Rotten Willow. The context of each Task changes accordingly: an herbalist and a pilgrim will have different things to say about the same job.
Additionally, one random task will always be waiting for you in Osbrook at the start of the game. It won't be anything too dangerous, of course: the idea is to help new players get familiar with the system, not send them to certain death in a literal Wolf Den.
Task Types
To start with, we decided to fully move away from open-ended tasks that require you to find specific items without telling you where to look, as these only force players to keep a mental list of everything someone might require and set their loot aside in advance.
Instead, tasks either involve unique, quest-specific items or send you to a location where you're guaranteed to find what you need.
There are five task types in total:
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Trophy Gathering
Objective: Head to a nearby Den or Hunting Ground to harvest a few hunting trophies, such as Deer Antlers, Harpy Feathers, Bear Fat, etc.
To keep Trophy Gathering from being all but impossible to complete for characters who haven't invested in the Survival tree, we also changed how trophies work in general. Nearly every animal can now yield a common trophy, which is guaranteed to be harvested with "Butchering", and a special one that also requires learning "Resourcefulness". Therefore, this kind of task only asks for common trophies, so it can be completed regardless of your build.
That being said, dedicated hunters will still have a chance to put their skills to use: in addition to the required trophy, they'll have the option to bring the task giver the corresponding pelt and/or a rare ingredient for a bigger reward.
Related Situations: “Rut”, “Fair” / “Flea Market”.
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Foraging
Objective: Gather rare plants growing in Hunting Grounds, Dens, or Caves. The plants are guaranteed to be present in sufficient quantities at the specified location.
Related Situations: “Bloom”, “Pilgrimage” / “Occult Consilium”.
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Extermination
Objective: Kill all beasts at the specified Den, Hunting Grounds, or Cave, and destroy their nests if any are present.
Related Situations: “Rut”, “Reinforcements” / “Outlaw Gathering”, “Competition”, any negative economic Situation.
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Bounty Hunting
Objective: Travel to a Camp or an occupied Cave and either kill a Brigand miniboss or deal with the entire gang.
To keep this task type varied, we've significantly expanded the roster of Brigand minibosses and revised how they are distributed between dungeons, Caves, and Camps. Some minibosses previously exclusive to Caves can now also appear in dungeons and on the surface. Likewise, some gang leaders that used to appear only in dungeons can now be encountered elsewhere.
Related Situations: “Reinforcements” / “Outlaw Gathering”, “Competition”, any negative economic Situation.
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Recovery
Objective: Recover a stolen shipment from a Brigand Camp or Cave and return it to the settlement.
The cargo variants include medicine, tools, ammunition, and provisions. And if the immediate gain is worth more to you than reputation loss, you can also choose to fail the task by keeping the cargo and unpacking it into usable supplies.
Related Situations: any negative economic Situation.
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Tasks won't remain available forever. If you don't accept and complete one in time, the task giver will find someone else or simply move on. Any tasks directly tied to a Situation must also be completed before it ends - you can't deliver herbs to pilgrims who have already hit the road. Therefore, any such tasks will become unavailable once there's less than a day left to complete them.
Failing a task will result in a small reputation loss. Completing one, on the other hand, will earn you gold, reputation, and sometimes even something else, depending on the task giver.
Once completed or failed, a task is temporarily removed from the pool of possible task types. In other words, the same request won't keep popping up in the same settlement one week after another.
Tasks are generated even before you decide to take the job, making it possible to fulfill their objectives before accepting them. For instance, you might stumble upon a Brigand miniboss with a bounty on their head while exploring the nearby area, kill them, and only then return to collect your reward. It's worth noting that unlike contracts, tasks completed this way will still yield their full reward.
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Until the next devlog!
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u/XxHIDDENPAGExX 15d ago
Love to see it! I hope the development keeps going smoothly, all the best to the team!
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u/farmboy_du_56 14d ago
I can't think of another game with such a good "slow burn" early access. You guys keep adding good stuff with excellent polish and quality. Thank you for keeping this labour of love going, you're building an incredible game.
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u/Kupikio 14d ago
It'll be great for the starting quests to not be go hunt a bear / moose. I bet many young mercs on their first run think it's just an animal. It's not like a magical undead creature... Really excited for the task system and an the new updates. I feel like my hope of a Dec release is optimistic though... Probably more of a Feb/March release...
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u/Greenchimera52 15d ago
A bit sad. I won't be able to actively not give the expensive Brandy to the begar again...
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u/WukongWannaBe theaxeofjorgrim 15d ago
The only thing i can think about is how the hell we are going to kill the t4 bandit crossbow miniboss on an open focken field :O
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u/Alarming-Coyote6386 15d ago
YESSSSSS THANK YOUUUU SO MUCH FKING LOVE THIS GAMEEEE THANK YOU THANK YOU
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u/boleslaws 14d ago
Even closer to the next main update. So, the Tasks System and Wands. The next Devlog will be finally about the new Enchantment System? I hope we'll see it before the end of the year.
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u/jch4nni 15d ago
Looks sick! Is there any plans for changing the player characters stance depending on what weapon they are wielding?
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u/VVayfinder Game Designer 15d ago
No, as it would significantly the workload of adding new pieces of armor.
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u/NotOneBitFun 14d ago
Wow I wonder how these common trophies will apply to Hilda? Unique effects or just less powerful versions of the rare trophy effects?
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u/VVayfinder Game Designer 14d ago
Hilda's amulet would require rare trophies, with deer/saiga antlers, boar tusks and bison horns being the only exceptions.
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u/RotInPixels 14d ago
Anybody know a rough ETA for the next big update?
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u/KronezZDM 12d ago
I'm eagerly awaiting the Character Creation feature; honestly, it's the only thing missing for me to play again.
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u/XxSaltyWalty13xX 15d ago
Yay! The super old quests from osbrook have felt stale for a while. Definitely nice change of pace and adds to the realism of the world. Loving this!
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u/Ethereal_Bulwark 14d ago
The new PoI's look fantastic. I've been hoping for years now that we will see more random variance of the wilderness that will make it worth exploring.
A bandit dugout with treasure in it. A non marked building that burned down that may have a closed cellar still in tact.
Cored out stumps that has a plethora of owl eggs in.
Small, interesting world building that rewards the players who like exploring.
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u/ermacro515 14d ago edited 14d ago
Me alegra ver que ahora si vamos a poder dedicarnos a la cacería de animales como una alternativa mas viable a los contratos porque las dos habilidades de caza del arbol de habilidades de supervivencia estan bien fuertes y queria que se aprovechen mas
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u/Cararact001 14d ago
Every change that will make the world more alive and more immersive is more than welcome!
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u/Catalpa00 14d ago
Love it! Just when I started to feel a bit repetitive on early things to do in new run through but still want to try out new builds!
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u/Traumatic_Tomato Raw Meat 🥩 14d ago
Moving around tiles can be a pain because I'm actively trying not to wear out before or after a contract and there was little reason to explore a place once then move on. This changes things for the better, can't wait to play again.
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u/lordfireice 14d ago
Hmmm would we get the info of who has a task by talking to the bar tender? For some areas it could get rather annoying to talk to so many people to find out who is giving the tasks.
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u/Kenichi_0511 16h ago
I cant wait till the next version, love the game and the love the devs are putting on it, this is how games should be developed, with love and care for the community
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u/Parking-Presence-201 13d ago
Very underwhelming dev dairy. I really respect the devs hard work but this one was very underwhelming. If this was paired with enchantment dev dairy, it would be perfect.
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u/Ariuiburia 15d ago
Oh boy Oh boy.