Stonehearth

Stonehearth is a 2018 city-building game developed by Radiant Entertainment. After an early access phase beginning in 2015, the game was released for Microsoft Windows and macOS on July 25, 2018. A tentative port for Linux was canceled, along with several "stretch goals" from its crowdfunding campaign.[1]

Stonehearth
Developer(s)Radiant Entertainment
Publisher(s)Radiant Entertainment
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, macOS
ReleaseJuly 25, 2018
Genre(s)City-building
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay

Stonehearth features a procedurally-generated[2] 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.

Development

Stonehearth was developed by Radiant Entertainment, a company founded by Tom and Tony Cannon, co-founders of the fighting game eSports event Evolution Championship Series.[3] Described as a "passion project" by Tom Cannon, the brothers spent two years making a prototype before creating a Kickstarter campaign to fund the creation in 2013. Asking for $120,000, the campaign ended with $751,920 and 22,844 backers.[2][4] After the success of the Kickstarter, the development team was expanded with friends of the brothers after pitching the idea to them.[2]

Tom Cannon credits Maxis' Sim games and Dwarf Fortress as inspiration for the city-building mechanics, while the class system was inspired by Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together.[5]

On June 3, 2015, the game was released on Steam Early Access.[2]

Development on the game ended in 2018 with several promised features from the Kickstarter left unimplemented.,[1] even though the game Kickstarter surpassed the original goal.

Reception

Reviewing the early access build of the game, Brendan Caldwell from Rock, Paper, Shotgun 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.[6] Paul Tamburro from Game Revolution raised the issue of repetitiveness in the game, also criticizing the pace by calling it lackadaisical.[7]

Lena LeRey, writing at Indiegames.com, acknowledged that the early access release was buggy, but still full of promise.[8] At PC Gamer, Christoper Livingston said that he found himself engrossed in the town building elements of the alpha build, but said that he would "probably wait for the beta before [getting] too invested".[9]

References
  1. Wood, Austin (July 6, 2018). "Stonehearth's development will end this month, without meeting all its Kickstarter stretch goals". PC Gamer. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  2. Fillari, Alessandro (June 3, 2015). "Stonehearth is out now on Steam Early Access". Destructoid. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  3. Evan Narcisse (April 30, 2013). "They Changed Fighting Games, Now They're Making Something New". Kotaku. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  4. Radiant Entertainment (April 29, 2013). "Stonehearth". Kickstarter. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  5. Clouther, Andrew (May 23, 2013). "Interview: Talking Stonehearth with co-creator Tom Cannon". GameZone. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  6. Caldwell, Brendan (July 11, 2016). "Premature Evaluation: Stonehearth". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Gamer Network. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  7. Tamburro, Pau (June 22, 2015). "Stonehearth Early Access Review". Game Revolution. Crave Online. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  8. LeRay, Lena (June 10, 2015). "Early Access Pick: Stonehearth is rough yet, but full of promise". Indiegames.com. UBM plc. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  9. Christopher Livingston (June 1, 2015). "Stonehearth: the townbuilding game with an unfortunate name". PC Gamer. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
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