Below the Stone - A Pixelart Caving Roguelike about Dwarves
Created by Strollart Studios
A hand-drawn pixel art roguelike about dwarves, mining, and resource gathering.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Kickstarter Devlog 6: TMG, New features, & Preparing for PAX, ~ Oh my!
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Jul 17, 2022 at 03:22:15 PM
TooManyGames, Pax West, and a new demo???
Another month, and another big dev update to get to you guys. We have a lot of fun things that happened between the previous update and now, and we'd like to share some of it in this update!
(6 minute read below)
After attending the amazing OTK Expo, and later the TooManyGames Expo, we had many new Below the Stone fans join our community, as well as met many new awesome game devs who are on a similar journey as us! We got recognized by so many of the folks who were there at TooManyGames expo, since we got into the OTK expo. (I have to give a HUGE thank Tips Out from OTK, the WePlay staff, as well as the entire OTK team for giving us the opportunity!) We ended up winning Third Place(!!!) at OTK, which came with a lot of recognition for Below the Stone! We came SO CLOSE to winning the prize money at 2nd place, which we hope is a good review of the game by everyone watching the event!
After being part of the OTK expo, we ended up winning Second Place at TMG, which came with a prize pool! Many people came over to congratulate us, and the entire time I was thinking of all the fans that helped get us here. It isn't an easy thing being a game developer, its a lot of stress, deadlines, and seemingly never ending work, but when I think of all the fans who love what we do, it makes it all worth it!
2nd place prize money! Helped pay for some of our expo costs for TMG~
We met up with The Newton Mystery developers earlier in the show and talked about the OTK Expo, and learned that we both won awards at TMG! Placing directly next to one another was an awesome experience, and they totally deserve it for their amazing game!
What a cute couple~
We also learned they were running a Kickstarter alongside the event. You can support their Kickstarter here at this link! I already pitched in, and hope you guys do too!
We recently added character customization after TMG, and wanted to get your guys opinions on if there are any beard types or hair styles you'd like to see in the game! Please feel free to write any suggestions in the comments, or on our Discord server.
We also added new enemy attacks to the game. More variety of attacks from the enemies we already have add a lot to the diversity of combat. Here are some examples:
We also added a new descent event, where when you are calling to escape the caves, you will need to battle one last wave of enemies. Here is some video:
Beyond what you see here, we are also planning on adding our first boss to the game, as well as floor liquids (such as water, lava, acid pools, and more) And more enemy variety and general polish.
We will also be filling out the Bestiary of the game, giving additional lore and side quests to complete as you descend into the mines of Below the Stone!
Preparing for PAX West in Seattle, Wa!
We're also announcing our intent on going to PAX West in Seattle this year! Last time was an awesome event, and this time we hope to bring an even more awesome demo. Apogee says their booth will be next to the Pokémon booth this year! We are VASTLY looking forward to seeing many of you in-person there!
Feel free to stop by and chat, as I will be there all four days of the event!
Demo News!
We are also intending on releasing a demo for all our Kickstarter backers in the coming week or two. There have been a few delays, which we will announce the reasons to shortly in more detail. Right now we are focusing entirely on adding new features to test and try out this time around. Remember to check your emails from Backerkit!
Thank you so much for supporting us, and helping us go to events like TMG and OTK! I hope to write again very soon about PAX, and add more devlogs here!
Thank you all for your time, and enjoy your weekends!
Remember to follow us on Discord and Twitter for more live updates!
- Mike @ Strollart; Below the Stone
Below the Stone to be featured at the TooManyGames Expo in PA! (24th-26th of June)
almost 4 years ago
– Sat, Jun 25, 2022 at 01:08:08 AM
Below the Stone will be open -- LIVE at TooManyGames!
For those who aren't up to date yet on the East Coast USA -- Below the Stone is going to be featured at TooManyGames this year!
If you're in the area, please visit the Indie Showcase section of TMG this year to see us with a LIVE DEMO of Below the Stone! I'm thinking we've got a good shot at winning one of the top 3 in the Showcase this year, which will include prize money and a support contact with Screenwave Media, the same guys who work with Angry Video Game Nerd, and brought you Eagle Island Twist, Angry Video Game Nerd I & II!
We are planning on releasing this exclusive demo to all our Beta Testers following the show this year. We want to make sure people who join us at TooManyGames get a first chance to play before we release it to all our Beta Tester fans at home! Keep an eye on your emails from Backerkit sometimenext week!
Picture at PAX East 2022
We can't wait to be at the show, and give you guys an inside look at what it was like to present here in Oaks, PA! TooManyGames isn't quite as big as events like PAX, but for us East Coasters, it is a large event featuring 15,000 visitors from previous years.
Picture of Day 1 at PAX East 2022
We hope many of you guys come to see us there this year, and we will hopefully welcome hundreds of new fans to our community!
Again, thank you all for supporting us here on Kickstarter, it really is due to you that we are able to bring Below the Stone to events like this one. It reminds us that we're not just making our own dream game, we are working on a game that many others view as THEIR dream game to play too!
Thank you to all of you!~
- Mike @ Strollart; Below the Stone
Update: OTK Games Expo x Below the Stone
almost 4 years ago
– Wed, Jun 08, 2022 at 05:12:13 AM
Huge update for Below the Stone tomorrow evening!
Thanks to many of you whom supported our game, we are going to be featured as a part of the OTK Games Expo, hosted by Asmongold! I'll be doing a live interview with Asmon around 11:30am/12:30pm PT for anyone who plans on watching and who wants to learn some behind the scenes of Below the Stone. Make sure to take part in chat, and join us in what will be an awesome moment in Below the Stone history.
Thank you all for your support, and I hope this update sees you all well! We will be posting a larger Dev-log update soon for everyone this month -- as well as give updates on TooManyGames, which we will be attending later this month as well in Philadelphia.
See you all very soon!
- Mike @ Strollart; Below the Stone
(minor update) fixed discord invite link button.
almost 4 years ago
– Fri, May 13, 2022 at 12:53:38 AM
Very minEr update, hehe, get it?
We did share our new discord invite link here a long time ago, but did not update the button. So if any of you couldn't find where to get the invite, it should be easier for you now.
That's all I had for you. We want to make sure our backers have many options for keeping up with our development. Our primary social media is not Kickstarter, so it is easier for all of us to connect either on Discord or Twitter. Our Website also has a live Twitter feed as well.
Kickstarter Devlog 5: BETA DEMO AVAILABLE + PAX EAST Experience!
almost 4 years ago
– Sat, Apr 30, 2022 at 03:34:33 AM
PAX East 2022 truly outdid PAX West 2021.
A huge update from the Below the Stone team! PAX, Demos to play, and more!
(4 minute read below)
It feels great to finally be back in my own bed, and show everything that has happened at PAX East 2022 in Boston this year. A lot of pictures were taken of the Below the Stone & Apogee booth, and many stories to tell -- So instead of delaying, let me show you what PAX East was like!
'Day Zero' PAX East prep
Here is the first inside look at the convention. Day 0 of PAX East was walking up to the booth space with Apogee as our publisher, and finding all booth materials dropped off. We began by setting up banners, tables, then monitors, Razor equipment and chairs. It was a ton of fun to get to take part in the process of building the booth and working with more than a dozen others with Apogee to make it happen!
The convention hall in Boston became more and more busy, cranes and ladders pushing by to build their own booths as well. Opening up dozens of Razor keyboards, mice, Razorblade laptops, Razor headsets. It felt like Groundhog Day and Christmas morning wrapped in one. Below the Stone had a great setup thanks to Apogee finding us on Kickstarter!
After many years of work, the first two developers of Below the Stone met! Myself (Mike) on the left, and Andrew on the right. We put a lot of work into making this little guy in the middle come to life, so it was great to finally come together for a big show like this in Boston! The next day would be when players and convention-goers would enter. So we had a big day ahead of us.
One last look at the city from my hotel room before the big day. I thought about everyone at home that made this happen. Many of you who are reading this are the ones who motivated us to continue our work on the game and put us in this spot. I went to bed and awaited for what was to come the next day -- new fans, media, journalists. It was a lot to think about and kept me up late.
One last early-arrival look at the booth while it was empty. We were optimistic about what was to come, but nervous for new people to try the game. Although what came both relieved us and surprised us.
Each PAX has a media hour where early press comes in to test the games, and we already had our seats filled! Andrew can be seen in the video taking notes while people played. From here things only continue to get busier!
As the week end on it got busier and busier. Saturday being the busiest day, where we had a line roughly 1 hour 20 minutes long (due to it being a 30 minute demo with 3 seats). So we needed to start giving people at the back of the line cards for the game in case they didn't get a chance to play there at the show.
A picture of me with Dan Muñoz -- great interview!
We had many interviews (Including this one with Albert with Microsoft!) Below the Stone was given a great amount of coverage at the show, and as PAX EAST closes, we'll see many for start to trickle out.
Pax East was an amazing experience, from having part of the team meet up for the first time, to the interviews, to seeing and thank many of you who supported us there at the show! We hope to see you again next year and also at PAX West this year!
DEMO IS NOW AVAILABLE!
For those who supported out Beta Tester level here on Kickstarter, please check your emails! We just posted the Below the Stone PAX East demo for you to play at home!
I wanted to send this earlier, but we needed to make adjustments to fix the experience for people at home compared to what the event experience was (Such as a demo timer). I cannot wait to see what screenshots you take!
I make sure to write it in every update, but it should be said again and again -- Thank you so much for supporting us, as I have said before it was due to many of you supporting us that we decided to continue working on this project, and you are the reason for making this happen!
Thank you and enjoy the demo! Please feel free to comment here on Kickstarter, as I am going to be writing directly here a lot more often now -- and show us some of your screenshots as well on our Discord and Twitter!
