Cyber Knights is a tactical RPG that plunges you and your team of hackers, mercs and thieves into the neon-soaked future of 2231.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Cyber Knights: the Final Hours
about 6 years ago
– Fri, Mar 06, 2020 at 01:25:39 AM
Knights,
Thank you for being a key part of the Trese Brothers community and for making the Cyber Knights: Flashpoint Kickstarter a HUGE success. This community funded the Kickstarter in the first 12 hours and delivered the long-awaited Matrix Mk2 stretch goal at $200,000 in the final 24 hours.
And now we now enter the final phase, the endgame of the Cyber Knights. In a few hours, the campaign will close and the great machine of Kickstarter will sputter to life to start charging cards. It will take a few days for the dust to settle and for us to work out errors and backer issues with payments but it won’t be long before we are sending surveys, assigning roles and posting progress updates about development!
We are going live on our Trese Brothers Twitch channel today at 4 PM EST and will be live streaming through the close of the campaign. We’ll be telling studio stories, talking about Cyber Knights development and next steps and taking questions from backers and fans. Come join us!
BackerKit / Pledge Manager
Following the end of the Kickstarter campaign, we will move to open up backer surveys through our pledge manager, Backerkit. In the days after the end of the campaign, you’ll get an invitation to the pledge manager to complete a survey and make any final decisions about your pledge add-ons. During the pledge manager phase, you’ll have the option to increase your pledge or pick additional add-ons.
We’ve prepared the full list of pledge-adds on. If you are interested in an add-on, upgrade your pledge while the Kickstarter is still running and then you can assign those funds to the add on during the pledge manager phase.
This stretch goal will introduce a completely new stealth cyber-Job to the game which is designed to synergize with a new type of enhanced animal companion. For those cat lovers who have been requesting it, the Assassin and their cybercat are for you. Like the Hunder and the Drone Pilot, the Assassin cyber-job will be built around coordination with the companion but the cybercat’s unique one-on-one NeuroRig operates very differently than the pack-mind of the Hunder’s EvoRig.
From a budget standpoint, the new animal companion will require new models, textures and a completely new feline animation rig done by our expert in animal animation. This will be a pretty big addition beyond what we’ve planned for dogs and drones and the Assassin job will have unique sound effects, Talents, abilities and visuals.
From a gameplay standpoint, the Assassin looks down at Matrix Mk2 and asks “Does hacking the camera even matter if it never saw me in the first place?” Armed with the advanced senses and mobility enabled by the NeuroRig, the Assassin will slice through physical security. A high-risk, high-reward playstyle the Assassin is a glass-cannon with both short and long range kill potential.
Cybercat upgrades will focus on enhanced sensors, mobility enhancement, target debuffs and NeuroRig efficiency. At $225K we can afford to complete one full cybercat model and effect set. If we can find support for the campaign beyond that, $235K will fund a complete second cybercat based on the cybercat animation rig. If we fund to this level we will have a poll for backers after the campaign to decide on bobcat, puma, lynx or civet.
One very generous backer created this poster to help explain why you must pledge for cybercats!
Character Traits
We have had a lot of questions about Character Traits, so we want to share some more details about the system. Lots of these ideas have been proven in Star Traders: Frontiers and we’re going to take them to the next level with Cyber Knights: Flashpoint.
Traits are special aspects or quirks that a character possesses. A newly hired mercenary starts with a few Traits based on background and history. Each member of your team will gain, lose and change Traits during game and story events, through a process called Trait Mutation.
Traits will often be added or removed based on your story choices and situations that occur while on missions. Your hired mercenary’s traits will evolve over time based on the way you play the game. Each mission could change your team -- for the better, or worse. Some Traits will be positive, bonuses like Nimble and Tough. Other Traits will be negatives for the character, like Crammerhead or Chronic Pain.
Not only will Traits include gameplay rules and be connected to your choices and actions, they will also trigger new personal stories. Narrative hooks that start because of a character’s Traits will forever alter the character, the story and perhaps the New Boston Zone based on your choices. For example, the “Cyberware Infected by Q-Virus” Trait is a one of a kind story hook based on failing a particular hack. Nasty stuff.
No matter how your mercenaries acquire them, many negative Traits can be mitigated with cyberware, medical treatments or nano-based healing. Some Contacts in the game provide other types treatments that can deal with Traits of biomedical and psychological nature. Many of the negative Traits your mercenaries acquire from dreadful combat wounds you can correct at the Safehouse with a few days, weeks or months in a Nano-Vat.
Contacts also have Traits that make them unique and living actors within the world. If you’re familiar with the simulations that underpin Star Traders: Frontiers, then you will recognize the character sheet below. Traits are listed here in the order acquired. Born Nimble, he learned in combat to be Calm. In the remote wilds of the desert planet Radiux IV, he learned to be Driven, to never break. But along the way he saw too many things, and found himself in the cups at the Spice Hall, day after day. Now, he finds the only thing that stirs his soul is staring into the darkness, into the Xeno, into the Other.
Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will keep careful track of each mercenary’s career and record a log for each one, including their individual Trait mutations and events so that you can review their stories (or visit their shrines in the Safehouse’s memory book.)
Thank you for your support!
Cory and Andrew Trese
Last 24 Hours + Stretch Goals Unlocking!
about 6 years ago
– Thu, Mar 05, 2020 at 02:38:20 AM
Knights,
As the Kickstarter campaign races to the end -- and wow it is blazing fast! -- now is the last chance to share our project with friends and family, coworkers and random people on the street, your local gaming store and coffee shop. Help us get the word out and leave a comment on the campaign to let us know where you shared the game!
As we bring the campaign to a close, please double check your pledge and make sure it is exactly what you want it to be. You can click “Manage Pledge” anytime before the campaign ends to either increase or decrease your pledge. If you want to add to your pledge now to cover add-ons as described in Update #18, now is the time to do it. We wanted to offer a quick clarification the Steam key add-on at $15. These add-on Steam keys come with access to all of the digital rewards from your main pledge (Chromehawk, Nano-Boost, Omega Style, Cyber Tactitian). Therefore, if you pledged $25 for the Soundtrack Edition and add-on $15 for one extra Steam key, that Steam key comes along with a Chromehawk Starting Weapons digital reward. It’s a very nice gift for a friend -- not only a copy of the game but some exclusive cool rewards!
No matter what your pledge is, we are happy to have you with us on this project. This will likely be one of the final updates from us before the campaign is over and if we forget to say it 10 more times before the end -- thank you all so very much. Over the years you’ve made our dreams come true, you let us work together as the duo we have always dreamed of being. Together, let’s make Cyber Knights something exceptionally memorable.
Join us tomorrow, Thursday March 5th on Twitch starting around 4 PM EST. We will be celebrating the final hours of the campaign and cheering on a big finish. Thank you for helping us spread the word to everyone who might be interested in becoming a Cyber Knight!
In the meantime, come hang out on the Trese Brothers Discord where the crew is counting down the hours and the distance to each stretch goal. We have the best community in gaming, come join us.
Achieved: Safehouse Soundtrack ($190K)
Together we’ve gathered more than 4600 backers to help us expand and extend Cyber Knights: Flashpoint with more budget and creative rewards. We’re hitting stretch goals across the spectrum of artwork, rules and music. Our most recent stretch goal is the Safehouse Soundtrack, a fun set of additional tracks will be available for players to listen to in their safehouses; these tracks will also be added to the Soundtrack Edition reward ($25). This means the $25 reward and every reward higher than it has just jumped in value again!
These tracks in particular will have a unique place in the world and will be “performed” by in-game synthwave artists, some of which were mentioned in Update 12: News Simstreams like Seven Banners Burning and Cody Navi. After the campaign closes we’ll work up some options and persona write-ups for our megastars of 2231 and let the backers choose in a poll who’s music will be included for the Safehouse Soundtrack.
We’re excited to once again team-up with our composers to make an even more massive synthwave-cyberpunk soundtrack for Cyber Knights: Flashpoint!
In the Hunt: Hacking Mk2 ($200K)
This update is going out as we speed toward the Hacking Mk2 stretch goal. We original unveiled Hacking Mk2 in Update #5 which is highly inspired by the abstract network maps of the SEGA Genesis Shadowrun and hacking in Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
As you move through a mission, your hacker will seek out access points and other hackable terminals across the map. If your hacker can reach one, they will connect to the Matrix and start to spend Action Points cracking security the node’s security, decrypting protocols, downloading files or controlling map elements -- hopefully while someone is watching their unprotected body. If you get traced by the firewall, you’ll have guards and drones headed your way fast!
To stay ahead, the Hacker Job uses a mix of software, cyberware and Talents to slice through intrusion countermeasures. Depending on how tough the node’s security is it might take you multiple turns and attempts. Once successful through the first security, the Hacker can download valuable data from the system or control connected devices on the map through network functions. Different Matrix networks will enable your hacker to access security controls, industrial systems or corporate databases.
Beyond just disabling security cameras or unlocking doors your Matrix hacks will allow you to manipulate interactive map features. For example you could disable temperature and pressure limiters, shutdown voltage detectors or open industrial valves flooding a space with chemicals. Matrix control over corporate functions will open up various options, such as requesting camera maintenance or triggering intrusion alarms intentionally to summon guards and divert attention from your real goal.
Matrix hosts will often contain side-quests, pay data, prototype recipes and intel about corporate operations -- sometimes hacking them will be optional while sometimes it will be a core part of the mission. In addition, once upgraded your safehouse will allow for hacking-based pre-mission advantages.
More Reading
If you're new to the Trese Brothers or just catching up on this campaign, check out some of the awesome interviews and AMAs we've done over the last 30 days:
Thank you for your support and for joining us in the excitement of the final sprint to the finish! Every penny raised on Kickstarter will go towards making the best game we possibly can. In preparation for a very hype launch on Steam, please add Cyber Knights: Flashpoint to your Wishlist!
Cory and Andrew Trese
Trese Brothers Games
“Half Minty” Pledge Drive
about 6 years ago
– Wed, Mar 04, 2020 at 01:04:00 AM
Knights!
We have an amazing community member, the Masked Knight, stepping forward to help us push our momentum in these last days by offering a second Pledge Match Drive. With only a few thousand to go to the New Corp Outfit at $180,000 this one is likely to push us over that line!
“Half Minty?” Pledge Match
The generous backer known as the Masked Knight has thrown down the gauntlet. He will match every dollar pledged new to the campaign or upgraded to an existing pledge for the next 6 hours. The generous pledge match offer extends all the way up to $1,000, so if we can hit $1,000 in pledges or upgrades in hours ahead, the Masked Knight will kick in another $1,000 on top! The pledge drive is named in honor of the earlier “May I Call you (Mint) Dragon?” Pledge Drive and we hope everyone will join in to make this just as successful!
“Valkyrie Zero” Narrative Stretch Goal
As we chip away at our Stretch Goal list we are unlocking budget for more and more Cyber Knights content. Even as the budget changes, the mission stays the same -- we are dedicated to creating deep, carefully crafted, replayable games at a fair price with no shenanigans. And we pride ourselves on releasing hundreds of updates.
Early in the campaign we unlocked the Valkyrie Zero stretch goal at $100,000 which gave us us our biggest addition to the game yet and thanks to your support we are going to be able to pour even more time, energy and budget into the game’s storylines. Valkyrie Zero traces the fallout from the destruction of the Knight Horizon Security corporation and the Snake Island Incident thirteen years before the beginning of Cyber Knights: Flashpoint. While many in New Boston would like to forget Snake Island and KHS completely, things that are buried in the NBZ have a way of coming back to the surface eventually.
Valkyrie Zero adds an optional branching narrative, side quests, and new character storylines attached to recruitable mercenaries. This content won’t be required for a play through the main story arcs but will add an estimated 20 hours of additional gameplay to explore interwoven into the universe. This stretch goal will add content to every part of the game -- additional contacts, missions, story choices, maps, recruitable characters, loot, traits, cyberware and writing to weave this narrative into the game.
The campaign’s big stretch goals like Valkyrie Zero at $100k and Matrix Mk2 at $200k aim to enhance the experience without deviating from the project’s aim or distracting from the core features. Stretch goals like these that extend the budget on multiple fronts will improve the game in so many ways beyond just boosting the core release. These expansions will also enhance the toolkit available for our backers when they are crafting their recruitable characters, backstories, legends, villains or operations. The additional characters, hooks, traits, loot and cyberware will be available to backers as they configure their creative rewards in the game.
My personal recruitable character will be a dangerous old hacker who knows too much but can never leave the shadows and go legit even if he wanted to. If we hit the Matrix Mk2 stretch goal I’ll have even more optional Traits, gears and cyberdeck upgrades to play with. Perhaps your recruitable character has an old Valkyrie port but doesn’t even remember having it implanted ...
Steam Page
Cyber Knights: Flashpoint has a Coming Soon page on Steam, where you can follow the game or add it to your wishlist. We hope you’ll join us on the community discussion boards by posting a comment, question or your support for the game’s campaign. Every backer will get a Steam key at least 48 hours before the game goes on sale in Early Access.
Trese Brothers Comms
We are online on the Trese Brothers Discord server where we welcome Knights and players of all of our games to come and hang out. We’re online every day -- come share your stories, ask questions and get involved. We also have our ever-popular Trese Brothers Games Forum for players who prefer a less real-time form of communication.
Trese Brothers on Twitch
We’ll be doing a stream today, Tuesday at 4:00PM EST. You can find us on the Trese Brothers Twitch where we demo game development, answer questions and talk about the studio Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Thank you for your support!
Andrew and Cory Trese
Trese Brothers Games
Add-Ons + PAX East + Squad Goals
about 6 years ago
– Tue, Mar 03, 2020 at 02:43:18 AM
A milsec commander outfit WIP -- still needs more tech-feel
Knights!
Today we want to take a moment to stop before the final climb to the summit on Thursday night to express our thanks for you as a member of this absolutely amazing community of backers. As we have said in our past campaigns, the positive energy and excitement from the community is what drives us to make our best possible game. We’re so excited to build, alpha, release and update Cyber Knights with you and for you. Andrew and I are back from PAX East and ready to close this campaign out strong and get started on the next phase -- getting the game built!
Tonight we wanted to share the details about our campaign add-ons today so that anyone interested can increase their pledge now to cover any add-ons they want.
What are Add-ons?
After the end of the Kickstarter campaign, we will be using the Backerkit pledge manager to gather surveys and offer additional campaign add-ons. In the pledge manager, you’ll be able to assign any extra funds from your pledge or increase your pledge to snag any of the campaign add-ons you want. For example, if you wanted to get an additional Steam key for Cyber Knights and were already pledging $100, you could up your pledge to $115 during the Kickstarter campaign and then assign that $15 to a Steam key after the campaign. If you wanted two extra Steam keys and the hardcover art book, you could increase your $100 pledge to $180 ($100 + $15 + $15 + $50). If you have any questions, please just message us directly.
Additional Cyber Knight Steam Key ($15 add-on)
The first add-on that backers have asked about are Steam Keys for Cyber Knights: Flashpoint and our previous release, Star Traders: Frontiers. Additional Cyber Knights: Flashpoint Steam keys will be available for $15 for anyone who wants multiple copies for yourself or for a friend. Steam keys for Star Traders: Frontiers and the STF OST will also be available as campaign add-ons.
Hardcover Printed Art Book ($50 add-on)
The Founder’s Edition reward ($40) includes a downloadable digital artbook that will showcase the game’s artwork in all of its stages, from concept art to high-poly renders to final in-game scenes. We are excited to also offer a special-edition hardcover art book as a $50 campaign add-on. This 8.5”x11” hardcover book will include 100 pages of the best and most striking high-resolution concept art from the game. This reward and shipping will be available in the pledge manager after the campaign ends.
New support drone achieved!
Support Drone Stretch Goal
Earlier today we crossed the $170K stretch goal and unlocked a new support drone chassis. Thanks to everyone who is pledging or increasing their pledge to help bring us across the line and unlock even more content potential. The new support drone stretch goal will give us additional art budget for the model, animations, sounds and abilities for the new drone type. Support drones aren’t as fast as scout drones and they don’t have the heavy armament or structure of a battle drone but they are easy to fly and highly customizable. Depending on your Drone Pilot’s build and your squad’s needs, support drones can be configured with mobile medical stations, long range scanners, jamming pods or nanogears for buffing your team. A support drone’s piloting module makes it a breeze to fly for an experienced pilot and as a result its orders require fewer Action Points, leaving more of your turn to command your battle and scout drones, or fire a weapon, or use a Talent …
Styles within styles
PAX East 2020
Andrew and I had a terrific time at PAX East and we were so honored to be selected by the Kickstarter Games team to represent our fellow creators and Cyber Knights in their room. We screened the video, showed off the concept artwork and demonstrated a pre-alpha build that featured one level and 3 of prototype character builds. Between Thursday and Sunday we ran just over 160 games of Cyber Knights: Flashpoint with a wide variety of players.
Every afternoon we returned to our hotel room and huddled over our laptops to fix the bugs we found that day and tweaked the level, balance and AI to incorporate user feedback. We didn’t know what to expect out of PAX, but it has built a ton of excitement for the upcoming Cyber Knights: Flashpoint Alpha test. It was amazing to meet everyone who attended.
Ready to pilot that drone!
Tactical Update
The pre-alpha prototype that Andrew and I demonstrated at PAX East focused on the player overcoming a small squad of guards and a rudimentary security system while attempting to cross the map and escape by moving their team to an exit door. The player had a three character squad using an Agent-Ex, a Stalker and a Combat Medic with a variety of Talents that could be used to manipulate security components, guards, positioning and combat elements.
As the player infiltrates the level, they must contend with multiple layers of opposition. Individual guards can see and hear the player’s units, and on the guard’s turn the AI can alert other nearby guards or use a communication panel to call in an alarm. Security cameras placed at key locations alert central dispatch of intruders, dead bodies or violent actions and these had to be avoided at all costs.
The prototype gave the player a toolbag of options to disable security cameras, move invisibly between two points, walk without making a sound using Talents like Jam Camera, Nano-Walk and Dead Silence. Buffs like Nano-Shell provided a short term damage mitigation ability, giving the players a way to tank a couple of shots if they made a positioning mistake or were caught by a patrol.
Some players found Talents like Dazzle to blind guards and Distracting Noise to lure them into traps provided the most fun, while others took the high ground and engaged directly. The combat components of the prototype were popular and we were happy with how well people adapted to gridless positioning. Systems like the high-ground advantage and recoil were functioning smoothly and we will keep working on improving them.
The player’s builds had a mix of heavy and light armor as well as a variety of modified and basic weapons. Silencers, scopes and limited shotgun ammo were all tested out and added to the tactical combat layer. Even with silencers and stealth, the demo level was built so that most players were flushed into a chokepoint and spotted eventually. Usually the alarms would be set off, giving most players a chance to try out both the sneaking and fighting components. However, a few players made clean stealth runs all the way to the end, which was a pleasant surprise.
All in all it was a really great chance to get extremely early test data about how the AI and map navigation perform. Players found the visual and audio detection system to be easy to understand and the tweaks we made over the weekend definitely helped. It was really awesome to see people actually playing a little bit of Cyber Knights: Flashpoint and enjoying it. It is extremely early in the process, but we’re underway!
Owlcat Games & Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
We wanted to send another big thank you to the team at Owlcat Games, creators of CPRGs in the Pathfinder universe like Kingmaker and the Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Kickstarter. As big fans of their work, it was exciting to be able to share each other's campaign in an update and we wanted to recommend them once again. If you backed us today on the recommendation of Owlcat Games, say ‘hi’ in the comments and know that we appreciate your support very much. If you haven’t seen the Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous campaign go check it out and help support one of the coolest RPG campaigns on Kickstarter right now!
To arms!
Cory and Andrew Trese
Trese Brothers Games
Home Stretch + PAX East Day #3
about 6 years ago
– Sun, Mar 01, 2020 at 02:21:48 AM
Knights!
The finish line is in sight. Four days to go. The final, bonkers, last 48 hours is waiting, just ahead. This week we rolled out our final stretch goal list and we even unlocked a few like Skyrise and now the first Skyrise OST Expansion. This expansion will include a theme, introduction and tension track for the Skyrise environment. These additional tracks will be available in the released version of the game for all backers and players and will also be added to the Soundtrack Edition reward ($25). We’re excited to work with our composer to make even more glorious cyberpunk music for you!
PAX East Final Day
We’ve had 3 amazing days in the Kickstarter room at PAX East and we have one more day to go. We want to send a shout out to all of our fans who have stopped by to say hi and to play the Cyber Knights prototype -- some community legends like @en1gma and others, thank you for coming by! And also, we especially want to express our gratitude to all of our new backers who pulled out their phones and pledged to the project on the spot. What a momentum and energy boost this has been and we can’t wait to all work together to create this game.
You can see Kickstarter went in on the “drenched in neon” theme!
Are you Savage?
With so many upgrades and new pledges to the Alpha Edition ($60 or higher), we have been in the hunt for the Savage 700 bonus all last week. Finally, as of yesterday we went over the mark for 700 players on the alpha team. This means we will now double the number of style additions in the Omega Style Collection from 6 to 12 for every backer at the $60 tier and higher. If you haven’t upgraded to this level, consider the awesome additional cosmetics in your decision and let’s get savage together.
Dogs or Cats? Or both!
Are they Loyal?
As you lead your team through the twists and turns of the story, you will make many choices -- who to work for, who to work against. In addition to impacting the narrative, your choices are directly linked to the evolution of your individual character’s Traits and Loyalty. Most of the pivotal story choices you make will add or remove a Trait from an involved character, helping to knit together that character’s unique history.
Traits are a trigger for additional personal story-lines so these Trait changes are adding hooks for future stories. Your choices will have profound effects on each character’s Loyalty score which measures how connected they are to you, the Knight, and has weight in what future stories may hook to that character. Certainly, after you save Rocket’s life he will join with a high Loyalty score out of gratitude, but will your choices keep it that way? Pillz the Yakuza-hating Warmachine’s Loyalty is ebbing away every time you ignore his grumbling and run another lucrative job for the criminal organization -- when will he become a liability?
Hitting Stretch Goals!
Over the last few days, we hit the Skyrise Environment expansion and now have cleared the goal for the soundtrack to back it up. You can see above another piece of environmental concept showing the luxury lobby spaces of the Skyrise environments, grand entry halls, sweeping staircases and reflective faux marble.
With the $160,000 stretch goal achieved, we’re now all looking toward the next steps along the way up to Hacking Mk2 at $200,000. We’ve got a few more to climb over -- the new support drone, the new corp outfit and the additional soundtrack expansion for your safe house. From there, things get even bigger and more exciting with Hacking Mk2 and cybercats!
