June 22, 2010

Double NP Weekend!

Double NP Weekend

This weekend, we’ll have our first special event in Skystone with double Nidarian Points awarded when completing a Co-op Trailblazing match!  Join us this Friday, June 25th starting at 9AM Nidarian/Pacific, and rack up double NP in matches over the weekend lasting until Monday, June 28th at 9AM Nidarian/Pacific.  See you in Nidaria!

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April 27, 2010

Weapon Armory is Open!

The Weapon Armory in Nidaria has opened its doors today, where you can buy and equip new weapons to replace your standard-issue blasters, beaks, and grapple arms.  You’ll still be able to get by with your normal weapons and stats, but if you’re looking for a new look or an extra edge in battle, these new weapons will help give you a boost.

Weapon Armory Outside

The Weapon Armory is located on the Main Dock of Nidaria, near Admiral Stanton’s usual post.

Weapon Armory Inside

Once inside, you’ll meet Travis, the designer and craftsman of these new weapons, many of which are on display.  To shop for some new weapons, talk to Travis to start browsing.

Weapon Levels

Instead of relying on your character’s level to determine which weapons you can equip, all players now have a new Weapon Mastery Level.  Everyone starts out at Level 1, so only the Level 1 Weapons can be equipped from the start (your standard-issue weapons are treated as Level 0).  To increase your Weapon Mastery Level, you must equip a weapon of your current level to earn weapon experience.  Once you reach Weapon Mastery Level 2, you’ll be able to equip Level 2 Weapons, which offer different styles and higher stat boosts than the previous level.  You won’t be able to level up your Weapon Mastery any higher unless you equip the next level of weapons, so make sure to upgrade when you can.

Purchase Preview

Each weapon in the Armory looks different, and gives three different boosts to your stats.  Higher-level weapons offer stronger boosts, and each weapon may balance the stats a little differently: One may have a high boost for Attack and a low amount of Luck and Defense, while another may have a high boost for Defense and medium boost of Health.  Each Class also has their own selection of weapons — Ferrics will stick to arm-mounted blades and claws, Aeronauts have various designs of blasters and jetpacks, and Crags will have different types of grapple arms.

New Stats Screen

The Stats Screen in the menu has also received a redesign to help keep track of your equipped weapon and your Weapon Mastery progress.  You can view the weapons on your character here, as well as see how much weapon experience you need to increase your Mastery.  All of the stats have been moved to the right edge, so you can see your overall current stats, your equipped weapon and its stat boosts, and your Spectra Circuit and its boost (if you’re a Nidarian Guard member).  If you want to change the weapon you have equipped, you can click the button on your Stats Screen (as long as you’re not on the ground), or visit Travis in the Armory.

Equip Weapon

You can preview each of your purchased weapons from the equip screen, as well as see their stat boosts and how they will affect your stats.  You can also switch back to your standard-issue weapons from this screen.We’ve released 53 weapons for each class today, for a total of 162 possible weapons to equip in Remnants of Skystone!  To check out the new Weapon Armory and all of the weapons in stock, join us in Nidaria at http://www.kongregate.com/skystone

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March 22, 2010

Remnants of Skystone Launches!

We’re happy to announce that Remnants of Skystone has launched today!  Come join us in a Steampunk world of 2D platforming gameplay, massive maps, and co-op multiplayer action, exclusively on the Kongregate website:  http://www.kongregate.com/skystone

A huge thanks to everyone at Kongregate for the support, especially getting ready for release, and we can’t thank all of our alpha and beta testers enough for all of the hard work they’ve put into helping us.

Full Float

Hope to see you all in Nidaria!

Play now:   http://www.kongregate.com/skystone

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March 16, 2010

Second Stress Test on Thursday!

We’re doing a second stress test, where we try to get a lot of players on at once to see how well the game and servers hold up.  This time, we’ll be checking if our fixes from the previous stress test are helping out, and also focusing on co-op gameplay to make sure it can handle lots of co-op matches at once.  We’ll have a special repeatable quest running during this test as well, rewarding players with Brass and an exclusive poster for your Float!

The stress test with be this Thursday, March 18th at 1-4PM PDT/Nidarian Time (that’s GMT-7).  If you already have access to the game, stop by during that time-frame to help us test as we get ready for launch!

Update: The special quest won’t be repeatable, but you will still be able to pick it up any time between 1-4PM Nidarian on Thursday!

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December 22, 2009

Massive Update

It’s been months in the making, but today we are finally updating the Skystone Beta with a ton of new additions!  There are lots of changes across the game, so we’ll try to highlight the biggest new features in this post:

Nidarian Guard

Nidarian Guard

This major expansion includes the recently-announced Nidarian Guard, which players can join via subscription to gain access to a number of exclusive features.  Nidarian Guard members can take part in new weekly Co-op Trailblazing for members, including new Mimics and challenging bosses, as well as learning two new moves for each class.  The Spectra Circuit is also unlocked for Nidarian Guard members, who can earn Circuit Points and collect Ores and Geodes in order to gain permanent stat boosts on their characters.  Guard members will also have access to a variety of exclusive Daily Quests, which are also new to Skystone.

Daily Quests

Dailies

Daily Quests offer a number of activities and missions that will change on a daily basis, earning rewards each time the Daily has been completed.  The majority of Dailies are exclusive to Nidarian Guard members, though a couple will be available to non-subscribers as well to try.

Sporedusted Daily Quests

Otto von Tesla has a special type of Daily Quest to offer to Guard members, where monstrous Mimics called Golembombers are patrolling the ground, and can’t be attacked by normal means.  These Dailies require the player to cloak themselves in Sporedust, disguised from aggressive Mimics while they sneak across the land, taking out the Golembombers with stealth.On top of the Nidarian Guard and new Daily Quests, we’ve toiled away to have another surprise addition in our massive update:

World 3: Ridgeback Highlands

Ridgeback Highlands

The third world is finally here, where players can travel into the land of the Crags!  After revealing the lands and heritage of the Aeronauts and the Ferrics, it felt too empty by leaving out the lore of the Crags, so we’ve completed the puzzle with the Ridgeback Highlands.  This world is the largest of the bunch, and offers up a whopping 18 new Mimic breeds, as well as 10 new Missions, three new sub-areas, and a handful of new characters to meet across the land.  The challenge is also higher in this area, with more aggressive Mimics, a new type of Mission, and new environmental hazards to navigate on your way.  Both members and non-members will have access to the third world, continuing the story of the Nidarians reclaiming the ground and their search for Skystone Remnants.

And much more!

Players will also notice a bunch of other changes across the game — ranging from the new premium currency called Brass, to checkpoints giving you health, to your Skill Meter being reserved for Nidarian Guard attacks (and getting unlimited jets and climbing in the process).  For more information on what has changed, you can check out the change log on the forums.  Current beta testers should already have access to the new expansion, and we’ll be letting in waves of new testers soon!

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July 07, 2009

Beta Update (version 0.7.01)

We have a small update to the Remnants of Skystone Beta this week, with a number of bug-fixes and some new furniture hitting the store in Nidaria.

The Vertigo line of furniture gives a velvety, moody feel to your Floats:

Vertigo Furniture

In similar fashion, the Rustic Bar furniture gives a more natural look to your bar or lounge:

Rustic Bar

Some bugs when using machinery and gardening have also been fixed, as well some issues with furniture.  We’ve also added new Extermination Duties, with both Stiltskin and Pidgebomber duties available to earn the first Deluxe Silver trophies for these Mimics.  Beta testers will be able to find the newest version on Kongregate today, and if you haven’t gained access yet we’ll be letting more testers in shortly.

The full change log can also be found here.

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June 29, 2009

Beta Update (version 0.7)

Now that we’ve reached the Beta stage and are updating the game with new content regularly, we decided to use the development blog to keep players up-to-date on the latest changes to the game, as well as letting others know what’s in store when we finally launch.

This week, we’re updating Remnants of Skystone to version 0.7, which centers primarily around Floats.  The biggest change is the new “Float of the Week” voting, where each player gets a pool of votes to award towards others’ Floats when visiting.  If you really like someone’s Float, you can give up to 3 votes from your pool of 50 for the week.  You can keep awarding votes until you run out, and you can remove some of your previous votes if you find a new place that you think deserves them instead.  At the end of the week, the top three players with the most votes will be awarded plaques to hang on their wall, and the First Place winner will be featured as “Float of the Week” from the Rankings Board and from players’ maps.  Also, each player will also get 1 Nidarian Point for every vote they cast at the end of the week, as well as a new pool of votes for the next week.

Float of the Week

Along with the new interface for casting votes, we’ve also adjusted the “Changing Floors” interface to move between Float floors quickly.  Along the side of the screen, numbered tabs will appear for each floor in the Float.  You can click on a tab to jump to that floor, and a tab will be colored green if other players are hanging out on that floor.

We’ve also added the rest of the bronze Extermination Duty missions for Admiral Stanton, so every enemy now has a mission and trophy for this level.  Maps have also been improved, with clusters and floats being able to sort by ranking, and floats able to sort by activity now.  You can also hit enter to search at the bottom of the map, instead of clicking the Search button.

For anyone interested in moving their Float to a new cluster, we now keep track of your original cluster — so even if it’s locked, you’ll be able to return later if you change your mind.

We’ve also launched a new line of furniture at the Furniture Outlet:  The Brass Lounge debuts with a variety of hardwood bar counters, tables, couches, and more.  This new line was designed to be modular, so players can create bars that stretch across an entire room, or create a mini bar in the corner.  Seating is also modular, letting players create their own type of couches, booths, and seating that wraps around walls and corners.

Brass Lounge 1

No lounge would be complete without food and drink, so we’ve added a few types of bottles, glasses, and snacks to the store as well, as well as a shiny brass cash register to ring up your patrons.

Brass Lounge 2

We’ve also added a handful of new quests for a variety of NPCs.  Be on the look-out for new quests from Lana Westwood, Rook Maxwell, Chief MacGregor, Admiral Stanton, Madam Bristlecone, Captain Meelie, Wystan, Otto von Tesla, and Hawthorn!All current beta testers should find the update on Kongregate today.  For everyone else that signed up for beta testing but haven’t gained access, we’ll be letting in more testers soon!

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March 31, 2009

Flipline on Twitter

We’ve been busy working on the new quest system for Skystone, and a handful of other updates and features for the Beta version of the game.  While we don’t have any major posts on the blog, you can get a glimpse into our day-to-day updates by following us on Twitter.  We’ll look for a good widget for the blog, but in the meantime you can follow these links:

Matt on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/flipline_matt

Tony on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/capital555

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