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''Stonehearth'' is a 2018
city-building game A city-building game, or town-building game, is a genre of simulation video game where players act as the overall planner and leader of a city or town, looking down on it from above, and being responsible for its growth and management strategy. ...
developed by
Radiant Entertainment Radiant Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Los Altos, California. Founded by twin brothers Tom and Tony Cannon in 2011, the company has developed ''Stonehearth'', a city-building game, which was released in July ...
. After an
early access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release development cycles, such as pre-alph ...
phase beginning in 2015, the game was released for Microsoft Windows and
macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...
on July 25, 2018. A tentative port for
Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which i ...
was canceled, along with several "stretch goals" from its
crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance. In 2015, over was rais ...
campaign.


Gameplay

''Stonehearth'' features a
procedurally-generated In computing, procedural generation is a method of creating data algorithmically as opposed to manually, typically through a combination of human-generated assets and algorithms coupled with computer-generated randomness and processing power. I ...
world where players manage a colony of people called "Hearthlings". Players are tasked with caring for their hearthlings including, feeding, sheltering, and defending them from the dangers like orcs and skeletons. When creating a new world players go through several series of selections. Players must first select from 3 different kingdoms, or types, of Hearthlings: The Ascendancy, Rayya's Children, and the Northern Alliance. Each kingdom has its own style of play as The Ascendancy is a basic, beginner-oriented type with a focus on Carpentry and easier access to building while Rayya's Children focus more on trade and the Northern Alliance focus on mining and Masonry. Next, the player selects a region/biome to play in. There are three base biomes: Temperate, Desert, and Artic; each biome aligning with the theme and are "favored" by of the kingdoms listed respectively. Temperate is a mostly forested environment with a balance of resources. Desert is, as it implies, a deserted region with occasional rocky mounds and water presents itself as a more flat and open environment for easier expansion. Artic is a snowy, mountainous region that has plenty of ore and stone. After that the play decides the difficulty which include peaceful, normal, and hard. Peaceful means that there will be no enemy invasion of the player's camp although enemies may be found scattered throughout the wilderness. Normal and hard are quite similar in the sense of occasional invasions and enemy patrols although hard experiences both of these with more frequency and with stronger enemies. After establishing the general makeup of the playthrough, the player must now select a starting roster of 5 hearthlings. Every hearthling is random and the player can choose to randomize all or some individual hearthlings again. Each haearthling has three statistics (Mind, Body, Spirit) which are randomly given a score or value ranging from 1-6. Mind represents how fast a hearthling will gain experience and limits their distractibility. Body represents the stamina and health of the hearthling. Spirit represents the friendliness and comradery (seen in effect during invasions) of a hearthling. After finalizing their roster, the player selects one of 5 starting packages, each with their own play-style orientation. Lastly, the player must choose where on the map they will settle. Players are presented with a world which is determined by a random or entered seed. For the best chance of success the player must selected a map with a balance of the 3 main resource sources in the game: Tree & Plants, Wildlife, and Minerals. These resources are shown with their frequency level.


Development

''Stonehearth'' was developed by Radiant Entertainment, a company founded by Tom and Tony Cannon, co-founders of the
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eSports event
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. Described as a "passion project" by Tom Cannon, the brothers spent two years making a prototype before creating a
Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, K ...
campaign to fund the creation in 2013. Asking for $120,000, the campaign ended with $751,920 and 22,844 backers. After the success of the Kickstarter, the development team was expanded with friends of the brothers after pitching the idea to them. Tom Cannon credits
Maxis Maxis is an American video game developer and a division of Electronic Arts (EA). The studio was founded in 1987 by Will Wright and Jeff Braun, and acquired by EA in 1997. Maxis is best known for its simulation games, including '' The S ...
' ''Sim'' games and ''
Dwarf Fortress ''Dwarf Fortress'' (officially called ''Slaves to Armok: God of Blood Chapter II: Dwarf Fortress'') is a construction and management simulation and roguelike indie video game created by Bay 12 Games. Available as freeware and in development sinc ...
'' as inspiration for the city-building mechanics, while the class system was inspired by ''
Final Fantasy Tactics is a 1997 tactical role-playing game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. Released in Japan in June 1997 and in the United States in January 1998 by Sony Computer Entertainment, it is the first game of the ...
'' and '' Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together''. On June 3, 2015, the game was released on
Steam Early Access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release development cycles, such as pre-alp ...
. Development on the game ended in 2018 with several promised features from the Kickstarter left unimplemented., even though the game Kickstarter surpassed the original goal.


Reception

Reviewing the early access build of the game, Brendan Caldwell from
Rock, Paper, Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' (also rendered ''Rock, Paper, Shotgun''; short ''RPS'') is a UK-based website for reporting on video games, primarily for PC. Originally launched on 13 July 2007 as an independent site, ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' was acquir ...
criticized the pacing, saying that the “build, defend, grow” cycle of the game distracts from the creative side of the game. Caldwell also critiqued the limitations on what to make in the game beyond houses and garrisons. Paul Tamburro from
Game Revolution ''GameRevolution'' (formerly ''Game-Revolution'') is a gaming website created in 1996. Based in Berkeley, California, the site includes reviews, previews, a gaming download area, cheats, and a merchandise store, as well as webcomics, screensh ...
raised the issue of repetitiveness in the game, also criticizing the pace by calling it lackadaisical. Lena LeRey, writing at
Indiegames.com ''Game Developer'', known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021, is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine '' Game ...
, acknowledged that the early access release was buggy, but still full of promise. At ''
PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...
'', Christoper Livingston said that he found himself engrossed in the town building elements of the
alpha build A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...
, but said that he would "probably wait for the beta before
etting Etting (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Ettinge'') is a commune in the Moselle department of the Grand Est administrative region in north-eastern France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in W ...
too invested".


References


External links

* {{Official website 2018 video games Cancelled Linux games City-building games MacOS games Multiplayer and single-player video games Simulation video games Video games developed in the United States Windows games