KickStarter Cyber Knights: Flashpoint - the latest tactical RPG from Trese Brothers - now available on Early Access

[Abu Antar]

 

[santino27]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tresebrothers/cyber-knights/posts/3034093

November Progress Report

Knights and Backers!

It is a thankful time of the year and we’re taking some time to reflect on all the support that you and our wider community have given us over the past decade. That last part can be kind of hard to believe -- that Cory and I have been creating games professionally together for ten years and as a hobby for our entire lives. We couldn’t have done it without you, without our repeat Kickstarter backers, without our Patreons and without our entire community. Thank you all for what you’ve given us, which has allowed us to give you these games in return!

Executive Producers #3
In November, we held the third Executive Producers meeting to give a demonstration of Cyber Knight’s multi-job system and its job trees. We looked closely at the Vanguard’s job tree and did a bit of leveling up to show the tree in action. Then, we took the Vanguard out for a spin in a small stealth level and used her Talents to dodge patrols, knock out security systems, jack a terminal and then quietly executed two guards who were too close to our objective. There were some rough spots -- as stealth gameplay is a hard system to get just right -- but we all had a blast and the demonstration generated a ton of useful feedback and questions.

Our executive producers are our “first line alpha team” who receive early presentations of the game’s features in action and who we rely on for invaluable early feedback. We’re looking forward to scheduling the fourth session soon! The more EP meetings there, are the more you know we're closing in on alpha :D

Spoiler

Recent Press
We’re excited to share that Cyber Knights: Flashpoint has recently been featured by the some gaming sites that we love --

In our first appearance on the site, PCGamer's Jon Bolding shared Cyber Knights: Flashpoint and discussed the game's design approach and unique take on cyberpunk in the year 2231. It’s been a dream of ours for a long time to be featured on top-tier gaming sites like PCGamer and we couldn’t have gotten up there without your support!

We also had a chance to sit down the GamingOnLinux team and discuss how Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is both classic and innovative within the tactical turn-based genre and what it has been like developing indie games over the past decade. So, check out “A chat with Trese Brothers the makers of the upcoming cyberpunk Cyber Knights: Flashpoint”. The Linux gaming community may be small, but they are mighty and we’ve been proud to bring all of our Steam games to Linux over the years.

Steam Autumn Sale
Every year, we bring some of our best deals out for the Steam Autumn Sale and this year is no exception. While you’re waiting for Cyber Knights, we’d highly recommend you check out its extremely well reviewed tactical predecessor, save 60% on Templar Battleforce. And don’t miss a chance to sail the stars as an intergalactic bounty hunter, spy or space pirate. Save 50% on Star Traders: Frontiers where you can see the true depth of our idea of endless replay and how we lovingly support our games after launch.

Reward and Stretch Goal Progress
We always include the progress bar infographic to make it easy to check on our progress and where we are at with all commitments, rewards and stretch goals. With this update, we’ve completed one additional art stretch goal -- the new scout drone chassis. Coming in hot on 3 rotors, the tri-scout is equipped with powerful comms and sensory equipment making it a real boon to your team to gather battlefield intel or a real threat to expose your team and leave you in their sights.

We’ve also made a minor adjustment to the progress bar graphic to be sure the timeline of dependencies is clear. We are working our way from the top to the bottom. Therefore, we have moved the Pen and Paper RPG reward to the bottom of the stack to be sure there is confusion that the alpha will not launch until that campaign is scheduled and completed. We're getting there!

Thank you again for all your support!

Andrew & Cory Trese

 

[Parsimonious cook]

In an unlikely case that CP2077 turns out to be shit we can at least rely on Trese Bros to deliver a proper cyber punk RPG in 2021.

 

[Abu Antar]

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Abu Antar]

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[agris]

Their art design has never been amazing, but it’s enough to put meat on the ultra-dense bones that are the mechanics of their games.

 

[santino27]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tresebrothers/cyber-knights/posts/3058148

(Missing the (very simple) customization video as I cannot remember how to embed it from KS)

December Progress Update

Knights and Backers!

The year of 2020 is coming to a close (imagine that!) but we didn’t want to miss the chance to give you another update on our progress and to thank every single backer for your support of our project. With your backing, we are making our dream heist cyberpunk RPG.

It has been a very busy December! We're working through the game now in big sweeps, deepening systems, improving concepts and expanding and hardening the saved game format. There is still so much work to do before it is ready for first alpha contact, but the progress shows daily. Through December we’ve been working to build out more depth for the enemy’s security systems, laid the foundation for Matrix Mk2 Hacking system and started another major pass on the missions system that is the cornerstone of the heist-style gameplay-- pre-mission advantages, mission rewards and requirements and all the rest.

But, Are you saying "But murdercat, I can't wait for this game!"? Here's a chance to put your mouseclicks where your mouth is: you can vote for us in RPG Site's Most Anticipated RPG of 2021 poll. RPG Site has been covering RPGs since 2006; we just got our first coverage from them this year, and it's been great to get on their radar. If you have 20 secs to click-through and give us a vote, we appreciate the help!

Also, this holiday season the entire Trese Brothers catalog is part of Steam’s Winter Sale, offering the best prices of the year for gifts to gamer friends or to snag that one you haven't tried yet.

• We recommend starting with Star Traders: Frontiers, our award-winning space sandbox RPG that players have called "Firefly meets Dune."
  
• If you’re looking for a big dose of challenging tactical combat to get ready for Cyber Knights, then Templar Battleforce might be the xeno-crushing, mech-stomping battler you’ve always wanted.
  
• Miss classic fantasy RPGs? Heroes of Steel is our early-days "hidden gem," inspired by old-school Gold Box games like Pool of Radiance.

Matrix Mk2 Prototype
Work has officially begun now on the Matrix Mk2 prototype, by far the largest addition to the game’s scope funded by the Kickstarter stretch goals. We’ve been working to design the system, the character jobs, cyberware, decks, software, IC enemies and more over the last few months. It is a critical system due to how tightly it is tied to the game's real world as well as to the mission objectives. Every hackable matrix access point lets you link into an entirely separate matrix map and exposes digital challenges that might the physical world in very important ways -- letting you smash up security, open that blast door or in the worst case, die when a IC fries your brain stem. The first prototype is high on substance and low on graphics but our early hacker characters are now gliding from node to node across connections, seeking out data stores to steal valuable data and blueprints or control nodes to reach back into the physical world and remove obstacles for their team.

Character Customizing

Spoiler

Even as the art team is approaching the finish line for all of the game's assets, the wonderful creative and skilled team members are finding ways for us to create even cooler results and options. At the moment, there is some extra focus on heads, cybernetic overlays and head customization.

The short video below is very early but shows off some of the ideas the team is currently testing with our 3D asset stack --

https://v.kickstarter.com/160900916...97184d2d59079d8e2f86a0d15ceca5f_h264_high.mp4

The short video shows some of the options were working to bake into your character design studio -- adjusting chin, nose and eye size as well as adding cybernetic overlays, as well as facial tattoos or paint, plus facial animations (which will be used very judiciously lol) and every conceivable coloring options including eye color (glowing, red, terminator, whatever), eye makeup (none, some, purple!), skin color, tattoo or paint colors, and even lip color. Not to mention adding hair, beards, helmets, hats, masks and eyewear ...

Next Level Security
In November and December, we have been expanding the stealth and security aspects of the game in all sorts of exciting ways. Our first step here was to expand the range of security devices as well as add new capabilities, integrate dynamic elements and determine how they could be defeated by the player. New devices like pressure sensors, laser mesh fields and thermo-radar arrays have now come online. Branching out from cameras, we added listening posts which pick up the sound of nearby gunfire and create areas where you can still operate but must be careful of your weapon choices and weapon mods. Motion detectors pick up fast moving objects, creating areas where you can go but must move slowly and therefore risk being caught in the open.

Our second focus was to improve the security team response and the security alarm level meta. We’ve now transitioned from the prototype’s immediate response model to a staggered response model where enemies and security devices have a slight delay before they are able to report their security events (seeing a dead body, one of your characters, getting shot) up to the security AI. This window dramatically improves the feel, giving your team the opportunity to synchronize ambushes and clean up loose ends before the call goes over the radio. This also means the arrival of additional reinforcements are now delayed as well.

And finally, we’ve rebalanced the security meta and doubled the count of the major and minor alarm levels which helps slow down the extreme security responses (instead of always “calling Brave Star now...!”) and let us be much more granular with the security alarm values. For example, being picked up by a motion detector is far less serious than being spotted by a guard and the extra room in the scale helps model that. The larger scale also helps enable a dynamic element where security systems will turn on as you pass different major alarm thresholds. If a patrol comes across a body and punches the alarm level higher, certain security doors may hardlock and laser meshes may flicker to life to block off other restricted areas.

Scheduled Executive Producers #4
In November, we held the third Executive Producers meeting and looked closely at the game’s multi-job system and a stealth job’s ability to slip through security and patrols. We’ve sent out the invites now for the fourth Executive Producers meeting which will take a deeper dive into advanced security systems and the Matrix Mk2 prototype. We can’t wait to share another snapshot with the EPs and gain invaluable early feedback.

Reddit /r/PCGaming AMA
In early December, we posted an AMA (“Ask Me Anything”) on the PCGaming subreddit and were happy to get awesome reception, spread the word about the game and answers tons of questions not only about Cyber Knights: Flashpoint but about game dev, our game worlds, the business side of what we do and more. If you’d like to catch up on all that, check it out on Reddit.

Reward and Stretch Goal Progress
With each update, we include the progress bar infographic to make it easy to check on our progress and where we are at with all commitments, rewards and stretch goals. With this update, we’ve completed the final art stretch goal slotted before alpha! The new corporate outfits are coming in looking very gilded and with a strong power-suit air. For those mercs looking to cut a classy style or for all the high-powered megacorporate connectors you might meet, these new outfits are mint.

We are excited to say, that closes out the final art stretch goal before alpha except the 3D faces for our Backstory tier backers and above. It's a major notch in the progress tracker.

Here comes 2021! Let's go!

Every week, Cory is working on different aspects of the game on the Trese Brothers Twitch channel on Tuesday or Thursdays at 4PM EST. Recently, he's been showing off the progress on the Matrix Mk2 prototype, so we hope you'll join up to see the fun in action!


Thanks for your continued support!

Andrew and Cory Trese

 

[Sarkile]

Damn. Q3 2021 is a long time from now.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Abu Antar]

 

[santino27]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tresebrothers/cyber-knights/posts/3079923

Happy New Year!

Knights and Backers!

We are so excited to welcome 2021! It will be a very big year for the game as we march down the to-do list (stretch goals and rewards) towards the alpha with 1,000+ amazing backers. December ended on a busy note and as January opens, we are roaring into the new year of development!

Alpha Schedule Update
As we arrive in 2021, it is time to revisit the alpha schedule. All of our internal scheduling models show that the Cyber Knights: Flashpoint alpha will not be ready during Q1 of 2021. We’re making good progress every day, but the game is big and we added a lot of scope to it through the campaign’s stretch goals.

This is always a hard decision. There are hundreds of factors at play. Without a doubt, 2020 has been a tough year. And, as we’ve learned from watching game launches over the years, and over the past few months, it is so critical to launch at the right time. It is up to Cory and I alone to make the decision as to when the alpha is ready. We are always very careful not to risk burning your trust or burning your time by releasing the game to alpha before it is ready and fun to play.

We are committed to continuous updates on Kickstarter -- one a month or more -- and to being as transparent as we can be about the schedule and our progress. We’re thankful for everyone’s patience in giving us time to get this right.

Adding and Trimming Scope
When it comes to schedules and deadlines, scope is always a top concern. Getting the right level of depth in all the right systems is key to setting a foundation that will support an amazing game. Over the last few months we’ve both added some scope -- as our development exposes how exciting some of these areas can be -- and judiciously trimmed scope where it feels right.

Key to gridless movement system are simplified costs and a generous "grace" in the cost of movement
A good example of added scope is in pre-mission advantages, where we have found that this heist-style setup can be such a fun part of every mission. We quickly knew that pre-mission advantages needed even more capabilities (such as unlocking previously inaccessible areas in missions), more interactivity options with the maps (such as bribes to buy keys to certain doors) and that it also needed tighter integrations to the Matrix Mk2 expansion.

A good example of a scope trim is that we have fully separated the venn diagram of Contact services and safehouse offerings. The original design contained some overlap between Contact services and safehouse modules that impacted your safehouse build strategy, allowing you to rely on Contacts for some things and build your safehouse to cover the others. In practice, we found this to be too much to manage and it added confusion instead of depth. A key example of the separation is that your safehouse will no longer have a cyberware clinic or hospital ward -- these are services provided by Contacts only. Your team will heal slowly at the safehouse on their own and there is no option to invest in becoming a doctor’s office. What's more, you don't have to weigh the decision of becoming a doctor’s office against truly exciting things like a drone workshop or a weapon crafting workshop.

Spoiler

There is only one true color for loots!
January Progress
As we march to alpha, we are dedicating each week to a specific area of the game -- finishing data modeling, adding new content, integrating more widely with other systems and pushing testing data through the game. In January, our weeks have been focused on (1) expanding the mission capabilities and allowing stories to fully create missions, (2) improving loot and mission objectives interactivity on the map and (3) Contact services, Traits and the tiered laddering of their offerings. Next up, we are revisiting pre-mission advantages again and pushing even more feature-awesome into their stack as they make up the bedrock of the heist RPG style. Then we’ll be heading back to the safehouse to support a new set of modules including drone workshops and kennels.

Even as we work through a cycle of focus weeks, we are continuing progress every week on some major systems that are still in construction. The biggest of these in the Matrix Mk2 prototype. As promised when we set it as a stretch goal, we are taking a simple system and expanding it into something full blown with an entire job specialty, its own branch of equipment, completely new enemy type (IC) and an AI system for them, special hacking focused cyberware, cyberdecks, matrix missions and more. We’re setting aside some hours each week to make progress on this big one.

A story diagram from the EP meeting showing the flow of an early storyline, codenamed “Sibling Salvage”
Executive Producers / Patreons
Last weekend, we met with the Executive Producers for the 4th time. In this meeting, we discussed the story design theory we’re using to tackle the challenge combining deep, threaded narrative stories with a squad-based RPG where you have the freedom to create or recruit all of your characters. We shared our architecture and design decisions that helped us form the game’s data structures and design patterns that are allowing us to create very unique storylines in each playthrough, by engaging and progressing characters and contacts in stories from many different angles.

We’ve included a five minute excerpt from the introduction to the Executive Producers session where we outlined the goal we’ve set for the game’s story system. It doesn’t include the juiciest details we shared with the Executive Producers team, but we hope you’ll find it exciting to hear what kind of experience we’re aiming to achieve!

Next week on Thursday, we’ll be sitting down with the Patreon crew to go through the same story design presentation. Any patron at any pledge level is invited to join us for this last “Patrons Only” Executive Producers meeting which is a thank you to those supporters who pledge to our efforts every month.

Streaming on Twitch
You can find Cory (and sometimes Andrew) on the Trese Brothers Twitch where we are streaming game development, answering questions and talking about the studio Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4PM EST.

Rewards and Stretch Goals
As always, we include the progress bar infographic to ensure you can see the status of every reward and stretch goal in a single glance. Last update, we were excited to announce the last of the art stretch goals before alpha had been officially completed. With this update, we’re very close to closing out the major art reward for backer’s 3D faces in the game. Hopefully this week or next, the 3D renderings will be going out to our backers to check out!

Also, we’re continuing constant pressure on the Hacking Mk2 prototype, but there is still a lot of work to complete as discussed above in the January Progress section of the update.

Thanks for your ongoing support!

Andrew & Cory Trese

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[razvedchiki]

this looks like shadowrun done right.

 

[Parsimonious cook]

Exactly, Trese Bros already did "Space Hulk done right" with Templar Battleforce, now its time for Shadowrun.

 

[Darth Canoli]

this looks like shadowrun done right.

More like Path of Exile, did you see the skill trees?

It has MMO design written all over.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

this looks like shadowrun done right.

More like Path of Exile, did you see the skill trees?

It has MMO design written all over.

Templar Battleforce used similar skill trees.

 

[Terenty]

Not a fan of this plastic fortnite/borderlands art style, especially for characters. Why can't they go with something more gritty cyberpunky

 

[InD_ImaginE]

do they have any update on non-mechanic side of things?

Star Trader Frontier gets old real fast after a while due to repating content

 

[baud]

this looks like shadowrun done right.

More like Path of Exile, did you see the skill trees?

It has MMO design written all over.

Templar Battleforce used similar skill trees.

I think it was the upgrade/weapons/skills unlock tree that was super extensive, for the skills it wasn't even a tree

 

[Abu Antar]

 

[Abu Antar]

 

[santino27]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tresebrothers/cyber-knights/posts/3117712

February Progress Update

Knights and Backers!

What a year it has been. It is hard to believe we’ve come around to the anniversary of the Kickstarter’s launch. At every milestone and checkpoint, we look back on how far we’ve come and on our supporters -- you! -- who made this possible and we are grateful. The eve of the launch date is a moment to remember. Last year, Cory and I were staying up late, working on perfecting our by-the-hour checklist for post-launch and trying to keep a lid on our excitement. You all blew that lid right off, funding us before the night was over. And from there, it was a straight shot to impressive stretch goals like new game environments, expanded Matrix gameplay, and most importantly... cats!

As we hit the one year mark, we’re proud of our progress and glad for the stretch goals and rewards we’ve already delivered. But we know that we’ve had some delays and have the lionshare of rewards and stretch goals ahead of us. We will continue to communicate monthly with big status updates and keep you in the loop as to the game’s progress and projected schedule. We are always grateful for your support and your patience as we work toward the alpha. To repeat the statement from the last update, in case anyone missed it -- the Cyber Knights: Flashpoint alpha will not be ready during Q1 of 2021. We are making steady progress, but there are still months of work to complete before the alpha will be ready and at the quality we want to make the best use of your time and feedback.

Get your cyberpunk fix on our social accounts!
In addition to the @TreseBrothers twitter where we chat game dev and share highlights from all our games, we now have a Facebook and twitter account for Cyber Knights!

Plug in to keep updated and get your regular cyberpunk fix. We’re sharing concept art, gameplay previews, news & interviews, highlights from the forums & discord, shout-outs to other awesome cyberpunk creators, and more. See you on the net, Knight!

Spoiler

February Progress
As we mentioned in the January update, we’re dedicating each week to a certain aspect of the game and putting all our energies into bringing that system or area to alpha readiness. During February, we worked on these major features for a week each: (1) improved level flow, lighting and dynamic security challenges, (2) pre-mission advantages which you can buy from your network of contacts in order to alter the flow of a mission, stack up insurance against reinforcements and alarms, bypass map areas or challenges altogether, or compensate for a team’s lack of skill in certain disciplines (hacking, stealth, security), (3) safehouse management, including the ability to smoothly add and upgrade modules, review and recruit from potential merc pool, install workshops for all types of crafting and hacking from home, (4) improved the balance of all weapon classes and the rules for how armor plating is degraded by weapon attacks, built out the Wounds catalog for exciting types of lasting post-combat damage and figured out the scheme by which wounds can be nullified by combat stims and cyberware.

It has been a huge month. And every week, we’re doing so much more than what we can type here reasonably, including things like adding 50 hairstyles and 15 beards to the game, adding a full step-out-from-cover implementation for combat and vastly improving the AI’s ability to respond intelligently to threats. And (see below) wiring up the game’s environment with more intelligence to respond with VFX and SFX that are appropriate to the materials in question. Bullets ricocheting off metallic crates send showers of sparks and play the right sound while those burying themselves in concrete billow out of a cloud of dust.

Metal, concrete, headshot!
Mk2 and Hacking Missions
Previously we discussed how adding and cutting scope in the right places benefits the game. Our process of development and early gameplay testing often reveals previously unseen potential. In this case, we’ve found a place to further expand the Hacking Mk2 system into the missions system in new and exciting ways.

The missions system features multi-map missions -- for example, you might first creep across the cargo yard or into the lower utility chambers of a facility before entering the second area, the main nano-factory where you must break into the third and final map of the manufacturing data center. While it is an addition of scope, we have now integrated matrix missions directly into this mission chain so that the mission designer has the option to replace a normal map with a matrix hack or offer the option for the Knight’s team to pick a matrix hack over a normal map. A hacking focused team might bring their hacker on the mission and bypass the first map altogether by hacking an exposed matrix line from the sewers below the facility to open a path directly to the main factory floor.

This integration helps expand the Matrix Mk2 beyond being just amazing matrix-only missions from yoru Safehouse and on-map matrix hacks to gain limited control of map elements and digital loot. Now, the Matrix Mk2 stretch goal will shine in the main mission progression as well. Your stretch goal dollars hard at work! Picking a matrix hack over a regular map will be no less dangerous but allow teams with different operational capacity to handle challenges their own way. This approach to Matrix Mk2 missions also adds an additional set of pre-mission advantages, which we worked on in the first week of February.

Executive Producers / Patreons
We’ve scheduled the 5th Executive Producers meeting for early March. With 4 under our belt, we’ve now reviewed the art process for the game, the multi-job system, stealth action and the game’s story architecture. As we get closer to alpha, we’ll keep meeting with the Executive Producers regularly, gathering feedback from this valuable “first line” of players. With so much going on in the game's development, we’ll be aiming to meet with the Exec’s once a month now until alpha.

Streaming on Twitch
You can find Cory (and sometimes Andrew) on the Trese Brothers Twitch where we are streaming game development, answering questions and talking about the studio Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4PM EST.

Rewards and Stretch Goals
With each update, we always include the progress bar infographic to ensure that all backers can easily see the status of every reward and stretch goal in a single glance. With this update, we're excited to share that we have completed the work for all of the backer’s 3D faces, hair and beards. I started prepping the wave of emails to share these but there are 60 of them and didn't quite finish the grind. Hopefully these are coming soon. So -- the 3D heads are basically done but we have the final step of game integration and sharing with backers. To the backers waiting, sorry for the delay.

Thanks for your on-going support,

Andrew & Cory Trese

 

[santino27]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tresebrothers/cyber-knights/posts/3145363

March Progress Reort

With March coming to a close, the year is getting into full swing. It’s amazing looking back -- one year ago, we were still putting the administrative wrap on the Kickstarter and the Backerkit surveys went out on March 13th. By March 24th, over 75% of you had completed them and now we’re at a very happy 98%!

In this monthly progress update, you can check out:

• an important schedule change
• the month’s 4 major focus areas
• the exciting reveal of the targeted jobs list for the alpha
• a video clip from the 5th Executive Producers meeting
• a video demonstration of the Kickstarter faces reward we're now delivering

2021 Schedule Update
Andrew and I are heads down on Cyber Knights: Flashpoint every week, making constant progress towards alpha. In our timeline update in January we ruled out the possibility that the CK:F alpha would be ready within Q1. We know many of you were optimistic that that was a roundabout way of saying the alpha test would begin in April, but we want to be upfront: we are still months away from being ready.

As you'll see below, it's not from a lack of progress. Major milestones continue to be hit each month, with most of the core systems of the game coming online on schedule. Our challenge in giving a specific ETA for the alpha has been two-fold:

1) Generally, we estimate development time on features pretty accurately. However, our game dev process is iterative and flexible, allowing us to evolve, add or cut certain features during development. Until all the alpha-required features are complete, we can’t review the overall game experience and content required to fill those systems to make sure the alpha isn't just "playable", but providing the intended experience. We anticipate time beyond our "feature-complete" date for further review and content creation/tuning to ensure the alpha is actually ready for your feedback.

2) For personal reasons, we're expecting a 4 week period sometime this summer that I'll be unavailable (I'm moving across the country). The timing isn't pinned down but it's something we need to schedule around.

So, with those caveats in mind, the timeline we can commit to is that the alpha will be launched in Q4 2021 at the absolute, very latest. It is possible it will come earlier, but we want you to know that within this year is a guarantee. As you know, we want to get this in your hands as soon as possible as much you do (and not just so we can release and pay the bills ).

In the meantime, we appreciate your patience, and hope that these updates and all the additional behind-the-scenes we're offering on Twitch and in Discord are helping you feel part of this game even before you get the chance to play it. Because as one of our backers, you are.

March Progress Update
As we explained in the January update, each week we dedicate ourselves to a particular aspect of the game and put all our energies into bringing that to alpha readiness. During March, we worked on these major features each week: (1) integrated storyteller control to allow level scripts to control doors, security devices, monsters, matrix hosts and alarms (2) designed the melee and support jobs Cybersword, Warmachine and Medic and made major improvements to how nano-blades will function in the game to be an exciting weapon type (3) redesigned the ranged combat jobs Agent Ex, Gunslinger, Sniper, Soldier (4) added rules for carrying medkits, grenades and combat stims and enabled Jobs to train to increase certain types of item effectiveness (a Medic heals for more health, stims for more duration while a Soldier can train for more grenade boom!)

Spoiler

While building out the tactical gameplay of the Matrix, we've been iterating on visual concepts
March has been a very busy month. Every week we’re chipping away at a dozen smaller task lists while we smash the bigger goals. We’ve re-engaged with our audio partners at Studio Viking and they’re now building out the soundstage and moodboards for the game’s audio environment -- from ambients to gunfire to the UI and back again. We’re working with the art team to test new character customization features the team has developed that will yield a “build slider” letting you customize the thickness of your character’s 3d model.

If you'd like to check out some of the current progress on the character outfit and style options, we just broadcast an in-depth Twitch stream on it this week.

Jobs and Cyberjob Designs
Our new Job and Cyberjob system is a core component of the Cyber Knights: Flashpoint design. We spent considerable time this month on the Job system and specific Job implementations. In contrast to Star Traders: Frontiers, each Job in Cyber Knights has a unique tree of Job Nodes that contains buffs, Attribute points, Talents and triggered Passive Talents. Within each Job’s tree of Job Nodes, thousands of possible combinations exist. Each Job will have multiple roles that can be configured based on the paths you train in your Job tree.

Browsing the Vanguard's job tree
Each Job is unique, for example the Cyber Knight Job has support, tactician and tank roles while the Agent EX has mobility, stealth and damage roles.

Relying on the quantum computer riding in their spine, your Cyber Knight is a master tactician, always one step ahead of the enemy while streaming sensory data and battle awareness between the entire team. Their unique brand of support allows the Cyber Knight to manipulate the turn order to the team’s advantage and focus their quantum power against both enemy drones and security. Your Cyber Knight is perfectly positioned for training a second Job -- such as adding Cyberblade or Gunslinger to bring a killing style to their powerful support build.

Part of the work of reaching alpha is deciding the scope and progression of what we will include in alpha, Steam Early Access and beyond and we nailed that list down in March. The alpha will include the game’s 10 core Jobs:

• Cyber Knight
• Vanguard
• Hacker
• Sniper
• Soldier
• Gunslinger
• Cybersword
• AgentEX
• Medic
• Drone Pilot

Wrapped in a Chameleon Skin implant and sliding from pool of shadow to pool of shadow, the Vanguard slices through enemy security and defenses from stealth, knocking out cameras and silently removing guards to clear a path for the team to follow. The unique sneaking abilities of the Vanguard allow for unparalleled stealth action and when combined with their ability to manipulate the enemy’s Minor Alarm Level, they are the master of getting it done without alerting the enemy.


During the alpha, we plan to release additional jobs including the Cyber Knights: Flashpoint version of the Shock Trooper and the Hunder.

• Assault
• Hunder

Stalking the field as the alpha of a pack of cybernetically enhanced war dogs, the Hunder brings the fight to the enemy -- close enough for chomping jaw and shotgun. Deploying area-of-effect pack buffs and single-target surge buffs, the Hunder stands out from other companion Jobs as a powerful short ranged and melee-focused build that works in close coordination with their pack to bring down even the toughest armored opponents.


Then, during Steam Early Access we are aiming to round out the catalog with 3 more Job adds:

• Assassin (w/ cybercat)
• Warmachine
• Toxkit

Having these decisions made will help us correctly focus our efforts on building a balanced base of Jobs and then adding to them as we go, hand in hand with our Kickstarter backers.

Executive Producers #5
In early March, we met with the Executive Producers for the 5th time for another behind-the-scenes reveal and Q&A session about how we are approaching the design for the game’s pacing and progression. We shared the internal metadata scheme we are using to tag and organize different game elements for progression and reviewed some of the progression charts we’ve developed to help sequence game elements, challenges and player decisions -- ranging across tactical combat, safehouse team management, story narratives and down to the level of specific job types.

We’ve included a 4 minute excerpt excerpt from this Executive Producers session which ran over an hour in length. In the clip, we were detailing our breakdown and approach to pacing, challenge and systems introduction in the Tutorial, Early Game, Mid Game and Late Game. If you’re eager more details about what we’re cooking, this is a great listen! Enjoy.

From now until the alpha release, we are scheduling monthly meetings with the Executive Producers so they will have a constant pulse on our progress and our design decisions. We hope you’re enjoying the clips shared in the Kickstarter, as we’ll keep up that practice so every backer can get a sneak peak into the EP reward tier!

Reward and Stretch Goal Progress
As always, we include the infographic of our progress to ensure it is clear where all of our commitments on stretch goals and rewards stand. We are excited to announce that we have completed the final rewards that were slated to be finished before alpha -- every backer’s 3D face, hair and beard are now complete. There are 62 backers at this level, so that will take some time to gather every screenshot and record multiple videos for each, but the first 7 emails have gone out this week (11%) so it should not be long before you'll get yours! You can check out one of the pieces of the reward below -- a video showing off the backer's designed face and hair and then multiple different variations on that style.

If the video is coming through blurry, be sure to play it on YouTube!

Thank you for your on-going support,

Cory and Andrew Trese

Trese Brothers Games