Caldwell also critiqued the limitations on what to make in the game beyond houses and garrisons. Reviewing the early access build of the game, Brendan Caldwell from Rock, Paper, Shotgun criticized the pacing, saying that the “build, defend, grow” cycle of the game distracts from the creative side of the game. ĭevelopment on the game ended in 2018 with several promised features from the Kickstarter left unimplemented., even though the game Kickstarter surpassed the original goal. On June 3, 2015, the game was released on Steam Early Access. Tom Cannon credits Maxis' Sim games and Dwarf Fortress as inspiration for the city-building mechanics, while the class system was inspired by Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. After the success of the Kickstarter, the development team was expanded with friends of the brothers after pitching the idea to them. Described as a "passion project" by Tom Cannon, the brothers spent two years making a prototype before creating a Kickstarter campaign to fund the creation in 2013. Stonehearth was developed by Radiant Entertainment, a company founded by Tom and Tony Cannon, co-founders of the fighting game eSports event Evolution Championship Series. Players are tasked with caring for their hearthlings including, feeding, sheltering, and defending them from the dangers like orcs and skeletons. Stonehearth features a procedurally-generated world where players manage a colony of people called "Hearthlings".