The Runestone Trials
Plot - The Runestone Trials:
As a merchant of the Artisans Guild, Declan always dreamed of doing more. Hearing explorers of the guild tell tales of adventure that he'd only dreamed of. Declan seeks to move up the ranks of the guild, proving to the other members and himself that he is capable. The first test... The Runestone Trials.
Dash to gather Runestones on each map to unlock the exit, while dodging enemies, gathering loot and eating food on the ground to heal all wounds. Help rescue others and spend the coins & loot gathered to Heal, Hire Mercenaries, and buy Perks, Armor, and other Upgrades.
Declan Dashborne and the Runestone Trials was a Top 10 finalist in Gameplay during the 2025 RPG Maker Game Jam. A 30-Day deadline left me focusing on gameplay and bug fixes primarily and a lot was left to be desired in visuals, and a few UI gripes. This version is focused on first addressing the issues and suggestions the players and myself had with the limited Game Jam Version. After it is polished, more levels and content will be created to expand the game. The Game Jam Version will remain up untouched in the state the game was in during the Jam, but this can be considered the official version of the game. Thank you, I hope you enjoy the game and be sure to leave your feedback in the comments below and follow for future updates!
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game is cool but cmon dude you can do better than AI images
true, removed. thank you.
i respect it man good on you!
Ver 0.3.1 - What's New?
- UI Improvements based on the Game Jam feedback.
- Score is removed on camp levels to easily see the exits.
- Gold HUD is moved to bottom-left corner so it will never be hidden by the text and menus while viewing options to spend the gold.
- A new Run Timer added above the score for Speedrunning purposes. A new objective to complete all the maps as fast as possible.
- Graphical overhauls to all of the maps.
- Added a variety of music to the levels composed by Eoin Blunnie.
- New chest animation
- New possible outcome from chests of 250 Points.
- Points are now being experimented with in various ways. For example: when reaching 1000 Points on the first map you will see an extra Chest appear on the map.
- The Crystalmancer is now an NPC you must escort in order to unlock; she will be available as the first Survivor you can save on the 2nd Floor. If you don't rescue her, you will not unlock the Crystalmancer NPC or its PERKs for that run. Next, I will add more NPCs each with their own Perks to also unlock through this method to add some unique aspects to each run.
- New Enemy Type [Blue Slime with a Slowdown Debuff] - Encountering these slime will slow you down for a few seconds and is a stackable debuff, so many of them at once will slow you down for a long time. I will work on various slime type encounters in future updates.
- The runestone images and icons in the game are runestones now instead of gold trinkets. Those trinkets will probably be used as treasure pickups in a future update.
2025-'26 Roadmap
- Continue to add items and upgrades
- Tweaking Gameplay mechanics, continuing to try new ideas to improve gameplay further.
- Improve the current levels graphical design, and tweaking the balance of enemies, gold, and items.
- Adding new enemy types.
- Overhauling the UI, with images for choices and shops instead of bland text options.
- Adding new Survivors and changing the Escort/Camp system (planning to make survivors saved added to the camp, which will unlock new merchants to handle various tasks, upgrades, perks, etc. which will make each run a bit unique if done correct)
- Work on touch/mobile controls, make them smooth enough to justify promoting this game as mobile. Right now it runs just fine on mobile and might even shine more on the devices, but the touch controls are not where they need to be for me to consider it a mobile friendly game.
- Once I am satisfied with the state of these core levels, I will work on a new set of levels to select which will expand the game to new zones, using new tilesets