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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tresebrothers/cyber-knights/posts/2750579
Stretch Goals: Skyrise + Hacking Mk2
Knights!
Welcome to day 4 of the Cyber Knights: Flashpoint Kickstarter! What a blazing start we’ve all had together. In the initial project rush, we’ve blown past our funding target and our first four stretch goals. Today, we’re rolling out our next wave of funding goals all the way up to our ambitious $200,000 stretch of Matrix Mk2.
We’ve still got lots of time with 27 days remaining. Please help us get the word out by continuing to share our project with your friends and gaming communities. Tell someone new every day and help us keep this project blowing up and getting bigger and better! Here are some ideas --
Without further wait, we’ve unlocked the following 11 stretch goals! We’ve covered each category in detail below the graphic.
- Post the campaign to social media
- Share our interview with Rock, Paper Shotgun with gamers!
- Tell your gaming group
- If you’re an active member on a gaming community site, share it there (don’t spam)
- Tell a friend who is going to PAX East about us in the Kickstarter room, 10 AM to noon daily
Enough blaze, let’s get down to the details.
Lorebook Unlocked!
The Star Traders: Frontiers Lorebook has been one of our favorite resources for the game. It’s a great introduction to the universe and its history both old and new. It introduces the factions and all the interesting ways the intergalactic society functions that are vastly different than ours. With your successful funding of the “On the Street” stretch goal, we’ve now committed to publishing an illustrated lorebook for Cyber Knights: Flashpoint that will be publicly available. Based on the current content, timeline and art we have lined up we’d expect it to be upwards of 50 pages.
One of the new street outfits!
Street, Military and Corp Outfits ($120K, $180K)
Style is the lifeblood of cyberpunk and we want to keep cramming more visual options into the game. The game will already include 30 options for outfits along with a wide variety of facial accessories (glasses, earpods, implants and more) and the ability to shift color on outfits. We’ve already unlocked the Streets Outfit stretch which will add 2 new streets outfits. Through the $130,000 Military Outfit and $180,000 we’ll add 2 new outfits of each of those types for your soldiers of fortune who want to dress like soldiers or want to wear that high style blitz.
Pitbull hunds are built for extreme chomping power and survivability.
Doggos! ($110K)
In 2231, decades of breeding and cybernetics have transformed some dog breeds into hunds -- cybernetic wardogs of the future. We already have two dog breeds ready for the game -- the doberhound attack dog and the pithund tank dog. Each of the breeds will come with different strengths and weaknesses -- where the doberhound is faster and a powerful attack dog, the pithund is a nigh unstoppable tank with jaws of steel.
At the $110,000 stretch goal, we will add a third dog breed to the set. If we reach the stretch, we’ll hold a poll if it should be a support/utility dog like a hound (beagle!) or a fast attack dog (shepherd). Yes -- we are going to make you choose between our dogs -- King Tut or Rigatoni.
A quadcopter fast moving scout drone armed with a rapid fire submachine gun.
Drones! ($120K)
In the same mold as hunds, each drone chassis will have its own capabilities, strengths, weaknesses and armament options. We already have four drone chassis ready for the game and are excited to now have just unlocked a new scout drone to add to the set. The scout drone will have lighter weaponry, scanner talents and be more stealthy engines to avoid detection.
New on the list is an additional battle drone at the $120,000 stretch. If we’re able to add this drone it will function as a combat support drone capable of both boosting defense while using its hardpoints to lay down heavy fire against enemy targets.
Animation Expansion ($140K)
The depth and variety of a game’s animations has a huge impact on its final beauty and polish, especially in the heat of combat. Our animation budget has so far covered the bases we need -- running, walking, crouching, leaning into cover, reloading and more. But we’d love to open up more budget to add even more important animations to the game -- like petting the dog. Some of the additional animations would change gameplay in interesting ways if we can afford them -- lifting and dragging bodies (unconscious targets, dead guards) or vaulting over barricades (giving even more movement flexibility).
This expansion would benefit both the mission combat map as well as the safehouse. Improved idle animations, doggo pets, relaxed walking and hand gestures would all be welcome additions for safehouses and cutscenes. In addition, this stretch goal frees up some additional budget for better animation blend trees to improve the 3d aspects of directional animation, like the character taking a bullet or being killed by a grenade. We’re confident the current animation budget will look good, but with this additional funding we can really polish it and take the game’s characters to the next level.
Very early concept of a skyrise residential complex. Where is the VIP target hiding?
Skyrise Environment ($150K)
Every mission environment in Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will bring a unique set of props, level design, enemy types and security systems. The 3D environments we’ve shown so far are all the industrial environment which covers warehouses, industrial facilities and secure bunkers. Another environment already in development is the urban environment which covers the underground tunnel systems, open street fights and dilapidated slum habtowers.
The Skyrise Environment stretch goal will let us add a completely different environment. Instead of infiltrating a corporate facility, data lab or a gang den, you’ll be breaking into a luxury residence. These high lifestyle residences may be inside an arcology or just high in one of the towers, hundreds of stories above the street level of the NBZ. This new environment type will open up a new set of guards, security system behaviors, map challenges, loot and mission types. In the Skyrise missions, you’ll capture high value targets, steal data, liberate corporate citizens or assassinate executives who’ve outlived their usefulness.
A quintessential industrial loading tunnel.
Soundtrack Expansions ($160K, $190K)
Studio Viking has already helped us compose an impressive soundtrack for the game but having more music -- especially music tailored to environments -- goes a long way to keep a game feeling fresh and deep. At each of these two stretch goal levels, we will be able to increase our budget to work with our composer to add 3 tracks (per stretch) to the game’s soundtrack -- which of course will be available to all $25 Soundtrack Edition backers. The first expansion will focus on the Skyrise and have a softer feel of a lux residence. The second will focus more on the industrial synthrock music you might find blaring out of the sound system of a criminal safehouse.
Hack the planet!
Matrix Mk2 ($200K)
Like to save the best for last? Yes, yes we do! While we are very excited about the current design of how hacking will work in the game, we know that it could take a bigger role. Cyberspace has always been at the heart of cyberpunk fiction and if we can, we want to make the hacking capabilities within Cyber Knights even more amazing.
First, let’s talk Hacking Mk1 (without this stretch goal) -- because it's already pretty awesome. Your hacking-enabled characters will seek out terminals, access panels and other hackable objects that are scattered across a mission map. If your hacker can reach these you’ll be able to access the hacking mini-game. Once connected to the terminal, you’ll spend your turn’s Action Points on trying to break through different security protocols -- hopefully while your Stalker team member hangs nearby and uses their Action Points for their turn to overwatch and guard your six. You’ll use a mix of cyberware and Job Talents to break through the computer security and depending on difficulty it might take you multiple turns and attempts. If you’re successful, you’ll be able to download and steal any valuable data on the system or control something in the real world through network functions -- such as shutting down or taking over security systems and door locks.
Now, let’s all collectively drool over Hacking Mk2! Hacking Mk2 will deepen the existing design. During missions, the gameplay will be very similar except that the actual hacking of an enemy terminal will have more depth.
If you’re looking for a visual of what inspired us to design Mk2, check out this amazing video of the original Sega Shadowrun hack. Watch long enough to see the node-map behind the visual navigation, the different types of nodes -- data, functional, IC -- and the sheer awesomeness of what could be Cyber Knights: Flashpoint Hacking Mk2.
- When your hacker accesses a hackable target, you’ll gain access to the root node of an internal node-map for that system. Each node on the interconnected map will contain valuable data to steal, system functions like opening a door or dropping the alarm level and of course, the ever-present IC security protocols. In the same way as Hacking Mk1, your hacker will spend their AP each turn overpowering the security and moving between nodes on the map to access the different goals in the matrix system node-map. Adding this additional depth to each terminal will open up a lot of exciting variation -- small shallow terminals with easy maps all the way up to the quantum mainframe with highly challenging maps that your hacker must conquer while the enemy security closes in and the rest of your team is fighting for their lives.
- New safehouse upgrades that will allow your hackers to run matrix hacks from within the Safehouse to gain pre-mission advantages. Hacking will no longer be only a mission feature but something you can do independently from your safehouse! If you don’t want to hack yourself or want your team to focus on other capabilities, you can pay Hacker Contacts to do this work for you.
- With additional depth in the hacking system comes additional depth in the hacking gear. Your computer equipment and programs are going to get a boost in the variety and tactical capabilities to support the new node-map based hack experience.
We hope you’ll comment to let us know what you think about the new stretch goals and which you find to be the most exciting! Share your excitement here and let’s keep the momentum going together! Also, remember to tell a friend and share the campaign.
Thank you for your support, and we will sign off with a pile of art and gifs!
Andrew and Cory Trese
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