Shrines, a new adventure feature that adds challenge and variety to each adventure run in which your team can benefit from incredible bonuses sometimes with negative effects attached to them.

In our previous dev blog, we discussed the direction of our game development with Goblin Stone and some notable features we recently added to the game. Today's dev blog is dedicated to the previously mentioned Shrine features, and we will go into detail about the progress and mechanics of this new feature.

What’s in development

Since the demo, shrines have been an existing feature, but these structures were initially introduced as the 'Obelisk' and 'Oriflamme', which grant a fixed one-time-status effect to the player's party when interacted with, such as a 30% heal or a buff to combat speed.

We realized that simply gaining buffs and bonuses weren't enough to make each run unique and challenging as we iterated on the adventure system. We decided to revamp the shrine feature and added in a forced-choice mechanic to bring in a layer of randomness and provide the player with meaningful choices that affect the outcome of their adventure.

Appearance

Starting from Chapter 2, players will be able to randomly encounter shrines during their adventures. Each shrine's appearance is designed to match the biome it will be displayed in, such as Forest, Grassland, or Underground. For variety, each biome has two different designs for its shrines.

As you may have noticed, each shrine statue has some similarities in its features, such as the trapezoid-shaped head, oval eyes, wide mouth, and sometimes accessories. We also made sure to add environmental elements to the final design, such as bushes, plant growth, splotches of moss, and even spiderwebs.

Shrines can bestow both power and curse on anybody who comes near them. We can easily tell that these goblin-esque statues are constructed and depict an element of the monsterfolks' culture.

The new shrine mechanics

Players will be able to encounter two different kinds of shrines in the game: The Normal Shrine and the Cursed Shrine, which is more of an experimental feature that we may or may not include in the final version.

Unlike in its early version, where the player may choose to interact with it, Normal Shrines automatically activate once your goblin party is within its vicinity. This is where the forced choices system comes into play. The shrine will ask the player to choose between two different effects. Both of these effects come with a buff and a debuff that will be applied to their current adventure party. In most cases, the benefits of the buff outweigh the drawbacks of the debuff.

These effects apply immediately and will last throughout the adventure or until the goblin party returns to the lair. Depending on the player's choice, these effects can either aid or hinder your adventure party during combat. So be sure to choose wisely!

The Cursed Shrines, on the other hand, are something you want to avoid as they only bestow negative effects. These shrines come with a mini-game that begins when you get too close to them. To avoid the shrine's curse, your goblin party must stop if the shrine opens its eyes and looks at your goblins. Wait for it to go back to sleep before trying to sneak past it.

If the goblin party successfully sneaks by, no effects will trigger. Otherwise, the player will be forced to choose one or two unfavorable debuffs.

While some players may use these shrine effects to gain an advantage in combat, others may use them to make the game more difficult. Some players may even opt to take on short-term handicaps in exchange for more lasting effects.

We want our players to be able to make more meaningful decisions in Goblin Stone and have a different gameplay experience each time they play. Please let us know about your ideas in the comments! Some of the best ideas come from our community, and we take them seriously.

Thank you for reading our development blog, and we hope you will look forward to our next one. Please support us by adding Goblin Stone to your Steam wishlist if you haven't yet!