Welcome to the Grindstone

[Shane]

Welcome back everyone who has supported the studio (and new faces)
Everything is looking good for The Grindstone to have a February release.

[Euphoniac]

That's a pleasant surprise, you're really productive. Assuming there aren't any time pressure elements and there isn't any permanently missable stuff, I'm inclined to try out one of your "no story games" this time. :)

[Shane]

LOL! i gotta be honest. I made this one for me. Because I can kill and do quests and just zone out after a long day at work.
yeah no time pressure elements- just open world with towns full of people who have quests to give you.
nothing is missable, you just come back to it when you feel like it.

and at the moment this game is pretty dang big.
( i guess most of mine tend to be at this point though haha)

[Shane]

I'm also surprised you found this already :D

[Euphoniac]

That's great to hear, and bigger is usually better. If you as the developer want to play the game (since you created it "for yourself"), that makes it even more likely that other people will enjoy it as well.

Yeah, I discovered the game by chance. Steam's search functions are getting worse by the day. You can't search for anything properly unless you're logged into your account (via client or browser), and even then weird new filters are in place as a default setting regardless of your account's settings. Long story short, I wanted to remind myself of the order in which your games were released, and then I saw an unfamiliar, yet already very welcome additional entry. :)

[Shane]

steam has been doing some weird stuff- thankfully for me so far, it hasn't impacted my business as people continue to regularly buy full price copies of my work
but i am also curious about how the landscape will continue to change as more developers continue to dump games into the market.

Good games and developers will continue to stand above the rest- as it should be.

So business as usual for myself- just keep trying to make good games that are fun to play.

The issue i have with this game- is there's no ending... so idk when to feel "done" and just release it.. the benefit is i can continue adding content for the weeks to come as I see fit
to keep expanding the world.

good for players haha

[Euphoniac]

One man's constant struggle against the usual (business) world's insanity, so yeah, business as usual. :D

If you implement a boss that can only (realistically) be beaten when the party is at maximum level equipped with the best gear, someone whose defeat will evoke a "this is as good as it can get" feeling, that will probably serve as a good ending for most players in this kind of game.

[Shane]

ooh fair point! yes I will most certainly put in a few of those :)
why be level 140 if there's nothing to challenge you? hahaha

So a FYI i was originally looking at a feb 13th launch, but I'm probably going to push it back to the end of Feb just so i can screen for bugs and anything else weird.
I took the extra time for Seventh Star and thankfully that launched relatively clean-

so instead of biting my nails while everyone plays waiting for something to break- I can sit back and not worry LOL!!!

[Shane]

Things are coming along nicely.
Targeting Feb 23rd for Launch.
Will update as we get closer.

[Euphoniac]

Is the 23rd of February (which is one hour from now in my time zone) still the targeted release date? I understand if you need more time; I'm just asking so that I can be "mentally prepared". :)

[Shane]

I'm going to need a few more days! doing all I can, but I also don't want the players to be the ones to find all the bugs lol.
i'd rather that be me!

I should mention- the play time on this should be pretty massive.
my playtime is about 25 hours and I don't even farm/grind the way everyone tends to- i'm just going from point A-Z
I've played it about 4 times now and really enjoyed it

the option of different class combos really adds to the replayability hehehe

[Euphoniac]

Yay, the game has been released. :)

I won't be among the first players, though. In order to bridge the gap, I finally started a "Verdungo" playthrough, thinking that it would be structurally similar to "The Grindstone". As expected, I'm not a fan of class-specific and mutually exclusive content, but "Verdungo" is still a fun game, even more so now that I don't care about missables anymore and simply follow my doctrine to achieve everything as soon as possible, even if it means destroying everything in my path. :D

Thus, I hope "The Grindstone" will be a major improvement compared to "Verdungo". By the way, you're "just going from A-Z"? Since I don't have a death wish, I will grind the stones until I'm nearly invincible. ;)

[Cuddlefish]

Congrats on the release. I have been looking for it. But like Euphoniac I will finish the game I am on at the moment - Angel Made. Quite enjoying it

[arrow]

ou aller apres avoir fait jordanie svp

[Shane]

Anvil, which is north of Jordan.
Get the JOrdan Princess to move to Anvil to become the Queen of Anvil

You should also visit Black Rock (dark elves) which is accessible from Midport

Then Cathule (west from southport)

finally ---> the boat docks by the farm on the first island will take you to the Lake of Omen

---> Bahamuts Cave---> Hell

GG

[arrow]

ok merci