Stonehearth features a procedurally-generated world where players manage a colony of people called "Hearthlings". Players are tasked with caring for their hearthlings including, feeding, sheltering, and defending them from the dangers like orcs and skeletons. 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. 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.