Encased News

A little more than a day is left till the end of our Kickstarter campaign. Thanks to your activity, less than 24 hours passed from achieving one stretch goal to unlocking another! Now, not only will Encased include the Fallen Fortress encounter, but the game will also have an extended freeplay mode, entertaining you with additional quests and content after the initial playthrough is over.

Very little funding is needed until we unlock the next stretch goal: the auto-train mobile HQ.

We’ve already talked about Ursula in an earlier update, but a few more details remain to be revealed.

We need to rush to get it!

Ursula was designed before the Incident, and when Maelstrom was unleashed on the world the project had to be modified in a hurry. The engineers worked furiously to protect the machine and its crew from waves of damaging psychic energy, and they were quite successful: one of Ursula’s cars is equipped with a special air-tight compartment shielded by thick lead walls. This allows you to navigate Ursula through those rare sectors where Maelstrom is so strong that no exposed character, no matter how high his Psyche score, can survive.

Ursula will grant you access to places you cannot reach in any other way.

***

To survey areas made uninhabitable by raging psychic energy, you can use a special drone with weapons and a manipulator arm which allows you to retrieve small objects, press buttons, and open doors.

Researchers were certain these autonomous robots would be very useful: according to maps compiled before the catastrophe, several unexamined complexes were located in areas with the highest Maelstrom activity. Perhaps the increased concentration of psychic energy has some relation to their contents, but... what could that be?

The answer to this question we leave for the player to uncover.

***

Although rigorous testing showing the shielding to be effective, there was something even the research scientists did not know. The weird psychic energy affects not only organic matter, but technology as well. In sufficient quantities, the radiation will manifest itself by altering the behavior of onboard systems.

The change in Ursula’s “personality” poses many difficult questions: is this new development dangerous, or is it an opportunity to make direct contact with Maelstrom? What are the possible threats, and are there any positive effects?

This event could turn out to be a serious crisis, but it’s also one of the many interesting, major quests associated with the auto-train HQ.

***

Ursula is unique, and there are many people in the desert who would like to lay hands on her. Sooner or later you will have to raise your defenses and fight against raiders intent on taking over your auto-train.

That's how stationed camp looks like

In the previous update dedicated to the mobile HQ, we talked about converting the train’s armored hull into a wall. However, that’s not all: the train can be equipped with stationary turrets directed by the on-board computer’s defense protocol. This program itself can also be edited by the player for maximum effectiveness.

The turrets must be serviced and repaired, and their ammunition replenished of course. Upgrades will be available.

***

Prepare questions for AMA

It's time to ask us anything! We're doing AMA on Reddit with Developers team. Answers on any questions about Encased, our studio Dark Crystal Games and others which you may be interested in. The date is Monday, 15th October (11:00 PM CET/ 03:00 PM PDT!).

And finally, a bit of math. To date, campaign funds total $113,488, which means we need a bit more than $6,500 to unlock Ursula.

If you're still on the fence about pledging or increasing your pledge, take a look at this physical rewards update. Perhaps a researcher hoodie, a branded CRONUS t-shirt, or a specialty metal badge would motivate you to support us further.

Hello everyone! We are reaching the very end of the campaign and have unlocked the first stretch goal! Let’s keep it up! There are other great features and add-ons ahead which may not happen without your help!

First one unlocked! Keep it up!

The Fallen Fortress was first introduced in KS Update #12; today we talk a bit more about the background of this special encounter.

***

The private military contractor Eidolon had a mixed reputation.

Most serious people considered Eidolon’s existence a myth. However, really serious people knew how to send them an encrypted message with a very strong chance of a reply. And those communiques, as a rule, were about really serious matters.

According to a classified CIA document which fortuitously escaped its scheduled destruction, Eidolon had a part in every significant conflict of the era - from the Rimon 20 operation to Black Saturday and the fall of Phnom Penh. In each case, Eidolon’s personnel had up-to-the-minute knowledge and skills in every branch of military science. Apparently it’s true that Progress is the father of Efficiency.

It’s no surprise that shortly after the discovery of the Dome these mercenaries contacted CRONUS.

The true nature of this interaction is known to no one, except at the highest levels of CRONUS administration. But one particular rumor persists. Allegedly, everything ended with the last flight before the Incident. That flight was an armed transport converted from an Army bomber. And on that transport, together with ammunition, equipment, and medicine was something very important to certain people.

Something very valuable. Something from under the Dome.

Radio contact was lost a few hours into the flight, and moments later the craft disappeared from radar as well. At the same time, all contact between CRONUS and their Eidolon liaisons was severed. Even the emergency channel fell silent… But then Maelstrom broke loose, and survival became the chief priority.



No one expected that this same lost bomber, staffed and piloted by a shadowy organization which may or may not have been an urban legend, would be discovered in the drifting dunes of the Dome. The craft was surprisingly intact, though it had obviously made an emergency landing. Of the crew there was no sign. The cargo was abandoned. And now two factions are ready to tear out each other’s throats for it.

Whatever it is.

***

Once again - thanks to each and every one of you for your generous support!

If you missed our rewards preview from yesterday, check it out in KS Update #23. Consider upgrading your pledge level or adding some extra rewards as add-ons!

Please like and share these messages on Twitter and Facebook - this will help us raise some extra activity on these two last days (we will count those into our Social Goals too!).

Encased Kickstarter campaign is almost over. Little time remains. If we use it well - and we will use it well - the Fallen Fortress Encounter will make it into the game and in a few months you’ll be in the desert, holed up in a crashed bomber, fighting off attackers with a high-calibre air-to-air machine-gun.

A heart-warming thought, we’re sure you’ll agree.

We’re fully funded, but we have so much more planned for this game. The more support we can get, the more awesome content we can add to the game. We have a slew of cool stretch goals to hit, and your support will help us get there - and land you some fantastic physical rewards. T-shirts. Hoodies. And an item that’s going to blow your mind.

Welcome to the must-have accessory for the desert under the Dome. No self-respecting barbarian would be seen dead without it.

Behold the Mask of the Raider! We have only four Masks of Supreme Ruler!

Hand-painted by our artists in an isolated underground complex (our office) deep beneath the scorching desert (in Russia), your mask of the raider stinks (some imagination may be required) of blood, heat, and insanity. Unique in their madness, no two masks are alike. Yours will be one of a kind.

The mask was taken from the Dome, sourced in violence and terror, and delivered to us by a mysterious benefactor at a time when all the lifts to the Spire were out of service, and the radiation alert was at stage 5 - exposure for more than 30 seconds, even in a hazmat suit, would kill you.

Who sent it? And why? We’ve spent long hours staring into those eyeholes in search of the secret. (We’ve found nothing, and now we feel a little… strange. The eyes seem to stare right back.)

At the dawn of CRONUS’s exploration of the Dome, when a new era of discovery and prosperity was upon us, the Foundation was organised and regimented. Much thought went into employee uniform design. Thousands of uniform items were manufactured. Most were distributed. Some were shelved, banished to a warehouse to gather dust. And some were deemed to be just too damn awesome and were never made. We’ve found the patterns for those items, and we’ve had them manufactured as a special thank-you for our backers.

The Committee T-shirt

Before CRONUS gave up on sartorial magnificence in favour of the practicality of the jump-suit coverall, elite designers conceived a range of phenomenal T-shirts to be issued to employees deemed most deserving. Lore would have it that they were never made. We’ve remedied that situation.

T-shirt design prototype

Hand-sewn at Orange Wing factories by diligent ex-prisoners, the T-shirt’s pleasant design, comfortable shape, and soothing CRONUS logo will be welcomed by even the most resentful wage-slave.

Rogues Team Cap

Baseball cap design prototype

One for the fans. The Crystal Sands Rogues are the Dome’s most popular (in fact… only) baseball franchise. Recruited from the ranks of the Orange Wing, their dedication last season let them to a perfect win/loss record, and allowed the entire roster to escape being sent into the Dome. But Lady Luck is a fickle champion - who knows how this year will pan out for our ball-playing heroes?

Explorer’s Hoodie

The nights are cold in the desert. To work at their optimum, CRONUS employees were to be issued with a soft hooded top that would allow them to carry out their duties in comfort, protected from the cold - and from accidental radiation exposure.

Hoodie design prototype

A joint project between the White and Silver Wings, scientists chose materials and color combinations that would allow the employee the highest visibility in the dark of the night-time under the Dome. (After the Maelstrom event, this would become rather a disadvantage, but the hoodies remained prized for their warmth, their softness, and their rakish style.) The Silvers agreed and insisted that a huge CRONUS logo be sewn on the sleeve. This may be the only example of the two Wings working together in perfect harmony.

CRONUS Badge

Badge design prototype

After a lode of a pure and surprisingly workable metal was found in a mine under the Dome, CRONUS celebrated with the creation of these limited-edition souvenir badges, which were distributed to workers considered worthy of reward. Scientists of the White Wing have been unable to identify the metal, but they swear that it’s probably not dangerous.

Hardcopy Lorebook



Feel the weight of the hard-cover tome and inhale the heady scent of ink - a rare and valuable commodity under the Dome. Written and illustrated by highly talented (and in some cases decidedly odd) CRONUS employees, this collection of visions of the world beneath the Dome is drawn from their adventures, their experiences, their research studies… and their nightmares. This is a story about the first days under the Dome, and how a civilization thousands of years old collapsed overnight.

But that’s not all!

In addition to your physical rewards, some rather delectable digital goodies await you - including the opportunity to get your portrait into the game, immortality as a baseball star, access to alpha and beta versions of the game, and a rather spiffing set of army dog-tags - and the quest that goes with them.

Personalized Baseball Card

“Strange how memories work. I was sixteen, my father had just bought me an old car. Where I come from the streets can be dangerous, and I was small and skinny, thinner than your leg, so I hid a baseball bat under the front seat of that old car. One day, some bastard decided he didn’t like my parking and thought he’d teach me a lesson. I grabbed the bat. He laughed at me.

The joke was on him.

That was fifteen years ago now, maybe more. Me and my bat have been through a lot since then. But every time I pick it up, each and every time I feel the weight of the wood in my hands, I think about how we hammered that asshole into the ground in the parking lot of a five-and-dime, and I smile. I reckon that memory makes me the player I am today.”

Casey Molinary, outfield for the Crystal Sands Rogues.

Check out Crystal Sands Rogues Baseball Player tier there are only 40 of these

You, my friend, are the lucky ones. You took the deal and joined the Orange Wing, and made your way to the Dome. But someone read your file and saw you had talent, or maybe they saw you play a pick-up game in a sandy parking lot while waiting for a transport - and picked you up for the Crystal Sands Rogues.

You’re famous. You’re popular. Your face on a baseball card is a collector’s item. You’re a star and a hero - as long as the team keeps winning. Lose, and you’re going into the Dome as a nobody - you’ll have to find some other way of being a hero.

In-game Portrait

We know that many of you RPG fans set out to make a character that’s as close as it can be to yourselves. (We know this because we do it too.) Want to play the game with a character whose portrait matches yours? This pledge is for you.

Check out CRONUS Wing Director - Portrait Edition

(We’ll also send you a high-res download of the picture.)

You want this. You want the T-shirt. You want the hoodie. You want the baseball cap. And you want an extra copy of the game or a Beta Access. Obviously. Here’s what you need to do.

You need to pledge CRONUS Corporal tier or above to be able to include add-ons

You probably know very well how to increase tier level (Please consider it!). If not we will help.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/darkcrystalgames/encased-old-school-isometic-turn-based-rpg/posts/2314621

Hello there, Encased Community!

Just now, we calculated the total Community Points you’ve gathered with your Likes and Shares. Guess what: there are exactly 48 of them! That means it’s time to unlock the next social goal, and today’s reward is an unusual weapon, unique in the game, the Dragon Katana!

We unlocked 48 points

Kimiko Nakamura, head of the New Committee, is constantly followed by an inconspicuous, gloomy man wearing headphones. Practically nothing is known about this man, and even his name, “Henry”, is widely considered to be an alias.

Reliable facts about “Henry” are scarce: he is 194 centimeters tall, loves music, and always wears headphones. He also carries a sizeable katana in a lacquered wooden sheath, about which, perhaps, we know more than about Henry himself.

Gunblade Katana is now unlocked

This sword is clearly of custom design. In addition to the blue steel blade, this katana has an unnaturally long handle. Taking a closer look, one sees a pistol grip and trigger are concealed within the hilt.

There are two more rewards, keep it up!

Eyewitnesses familiar with the design say the katana is capable of firing .50 caliber incendiary rounds. Those who’ve seen this strange weapon in actual combat will probably not say anything - because they are dead.

Two more Social Goals to go. Can we do this?

Thank you!

New Kickstarter Final push Teaser!

And we do want to express our sincere gratitude to our backers in these exact words. We are thrilled to be able to make Encased the RPG exactly as it was intended, with your help.

The Kickstarter campaign is taking a lot of energy and we are damned tired, but there’s still about a week to go and we have tons of plans and ideas. What else can we include in the game to make it even better and more interesting? How will additional funds from this point on affect Encased?

That’s what we’ll cover in today's update!

$105 000 — The Fallen Fortress Encounter

Fascinating combat encounter where the player must defend a crashed bomber in the desert against a crowd of raiders. Read more about this event in one of our previous updates.



$110 000 — Interesting Free Play

Mode Encased won’t end when the credits roll. Moreover, the post-completion Free Play Mode will get a number of interesting options, additional quests, events and dialogues. The game will also “remember” which ending the player achieved and the world will adjust accordingly.

$120 000 — Upgradable Mobile HQ

An auto-train buried in the sands will appear on the outskirts of the Dome. The hero will be able to capture and restore it, and use it as a mobile base of operations.



The auto-train is designed to be modular: some cars provide the ability to produce weapons, others allow you to heal injured comrades (or yourself), and a third type acts as a launching pad for reconnaissance drones. There are also several random events and quests associated with the road train.

$130 000 — Player Vehicles



The desert under the Dome is vast and dangerous. It is much safer, and less exhausting, to travel behind the wheel of your own vehicle. However, safety does not equal boredom. Automobile ownership automatically triggers the appearance of specialized “automotive” events in the game, as well as additional ways to complete quests.



Also, the car (or the motorcycle) can be upgraded into a real post-apocalyptic tank.

$130 001 — 1 Combond Encounter

We’re all used to quests of epic complexity being rewarded with superior loot and good money. But what about an adventure that pays a single coin? Will it be easy? Maybe. Will it be strange? Definitely. In any case, the result will be completely unpredictable.



After collecting $130,001, we will add this funny and unusual quest to the game.

$135 000 — Personal Drone Assistants

Robotics is one area where the technologies under the Dome have been successfully implemented. These little-studied mechanisms have allowed the creation of lightweight, levitating drones that crack wise, criticize the player’s actions, occasionally do useful things, and sometimes even participate in combat.



The drone is not merely a companion, but also an exciting “construction kit”, whose components can be assembled in a variety of ways. As a result, you might convert a frail flying robot into an incredibly effective fighter, or an inconspicuous scout into a universal first-aid kit, darting from unit to unit on the battlefield.

$145 000 — Gladiator Arena

Having been captured by one of the raider factions, a player may find himself in a real post-apocalyptic coliseum! Gladiatorial combat in the world of Encased is not just a bloody fight for survival, but a whole game unto itself, with match-fixing, intrigue, and confrontation between champions.



You will also discover unique items, interesting text events, and a couple of extra hours of gameplay to spend knocking the crap out of opponents in multiple colorful and detailed arenas.

And by the way, you can bet on yourself at the local bookie.

$160 000 — Mod Support

A good RPG often awakens the desire to continue or expand its story. Or write a completely new one. Such has been the case with the classic Fallout, as well as The Elder Scrolls series, and we hope the same will be true of Encased.

If we collect $160,000 or more, we will create a toolkit with a user-friendly interface to pass along to our players.

$210 000 — Narrative Voiceover

Encased has a lot of stories that could be even better if the “narrator” had a real voice. But we need your help with this.

Project funding info: $99,799 pledged by 2,331 backers!

Once again - thanks to each and every one of you!