There is almost certainly no game genre in which the storyline plays a greater role than in the RPG. The storyline creates the ground under the hero's feet, motivates his decision making, and drives a person from the safety of his Vault into a perilous quest for a water chip. In today’s update we will not simply relate Encased’s storyline, but also explore it, try to comprehend its origins, and imagine the place to which it will lead the player. We will also hear from people behind storyline development for the game.

Encased RPG - Dev Update 2 - Behind The Storyline

The game takes place in the 1970’s, a decade with many similarities to our own history but with one tiny twist: the discovery of the Dome.

[... both helicopters from the search group were wrecked, only one crew member survived. He said that one of the vehicles allegedly crashed against an "invisible wall" and, falling, collided with the second helicopter.]

[... like the Bermuda Triangle, except that it’s not really a triangle. A sergeant broke his nose against this thing when they set up camp near the crash site.]

[...an unpleasant surprise. Yes, the parachutes opened and our people successfully descended into the Dome. It's not even that one of them died in a gravity anomaly: this is a calculated risk, we also lost robots this way. But who could have guessed that the dome is semi-permeable and our people won’t be able to come back out?]



Why the 1970’s? Because the 70’s were a highly controversial period around the world, and many of the conflicts of that time end up reflected in the world under the Dome. Within the confines of this mysterious anomaly, the details begin to look a little bit... different.

The Dome is the major enigma of the world of Encased. An enormous, artificially engineered structure, with a vast network of underground facilities, full of sentient machines, traps and weird gizmos, the ultimate purpose of which the player will have to decipher on his own. This otherworldly artifact is the foundation of the main storyline, which sets the tone and background for the entire narrative.

But all this comes much later. In its initial stages, the conquest of the Dome was an unqualified success. Naturally, an undertaking of this size and complexity could not come to be without financing. The organization both backing and implementing the research, the CRONUS Foundation, recouped their investment by auctioning, on a global scale, some of the fantastic relics and technologies recovered from the Dome.

As the wealth of CRONUS grew, so did its political influence: as the brainchild of the world political elite, the foundation employed lobbyists around the world to promote its interests.

***

However, this story is not just about some giant corporation: in the game, CRONUS is simply one of the major factions, and nothing prevents the player from examining events under the Dome from an unofficial point of view.

The game is divided into a prologue and three acts. While the prologue relates the game’s backstory, inter-act transitions connect key moments of the main storyline. Each of these transitions marks an irreversible change in the world, and it’s for the player to decide exactly what that change will be.

***

The post-apocalyptic setting is a rich stage for storytelling on any topic. In our case it’s a story about progress, the riddle of long dead civilizations, and creatures from other worlds. It is also a story about human greed leading to strife, and ultimately world war.



We like to think of our plot as a Fallout-like story tailored for lovers of classic science fiction. After all, Fallout’s unforgettable backstory is about building a brand new world. Such inspiring science fiction leads us to a thought experiment: try to answer the question “How will people behave in conditions impossible in our reality?”

On the one hand, Encased is a story about hopes and ambitions. We put a lot of effort into the development of our factions and their leaders, seeking to create fresh and unique personalities with believable motivations and visions for the world they are building. On the other hand, Encased is about an inexplicable force that leaves in its wake a desert full of mysteries, artifacts, and strange, frightening things. Every contact and every interaction with this world leads to more questions than answers.

Interview with our guest stars!



You joined the work on Encased later than the main team and you are still getting into the details of what we have in mind. What do you like the most about the setting or the world of Encased?

I like the incredibly original setting (not just another post-nuclear-blast modern nation) and the faithful but warped 1970s sci-fi aesthetic. Encased has fantastic design backing its very original premise.

We like the idea that any element of the game could be a tool in the creating a story (and the means to tell it). I’m referring to things such as item descriptions, level design, recreating the consequences of an event, etc. What things can you suggest to be the tools of storytelling? Perhaps it will be something very unexpected?

Anything can be a tool of story design. Due to budget constraints, modern game designers are very reluctant to include content the player might miss, so that everything, even minor sidequests, tends to be connected geographically or story-wise to the main quest line. I love to stumble on things in an RPG, an uncharted cave with its own complete story unconnected to any other quest. Great level design could give the player cues to a secret area in an underground bunker. Hiding a breadcrumb leading to a quest in an item description is a great idea.



You write for games, but you've also written for movies and TV. How is writing for games different? What are the particular challenges of writing interactive stories?

The obvious difference between TV and games is that games are interactive - in TV you write one version of the story (ideally the best version) but in games you need to write several versions of the story, and they all have to be awesome. More than that, the player has to feel like their choices are unlimited, even though there's no way in the world you can write every possible version. (This may be a challenge - but it's also an advantage. You get to explore a number of different versions of the same story. That's really attractive for a writer.)

Many of the story-telling principles remain the same, but another big advantage of story-telling in games is that the player controls the protagonist. In some ways this makes it easier to reach the audience emotionally - in TV the viewer is passive, in games the player is active. If the bad guy wins a fight in a TV show, the viewer might feel bad, but the story goes on. If the bad guy wins a fight in a game, it's generally game over. This means that the player isn't 100% focused on the story, because they have to be focused on the gameplay. Gameplay has to come before storytelling. The story has to rise from the gameplay. It's no coincidence that so many role-playing games are set in the world of heroic fantasy, because the core gameplay - exploration, combat and puzzles, usually - is easily served by a story that's simple and easy to tell. Stepping outside of heroic fantasy is a brave move, but it's going to make for a fascinating journey.

Now there is a clear trend for games with a rich history and Encased claims to be such a game. Do you think this is a temporary trend, or is the industry doing what it should have done a long time ago?

I don't pay a lot of attention to trends, in games or elsewhere, but having worked for Swen on Divinity: Original Sin 2, there's a lot to be said for taking the games you love and trying to do better. That's what creators do - we take bits of other people's work that we loved and mix it up with a bit of innovation, and this is how we move the culture forwards. We create from our own experiences, but also from the parts of the culture that connect with us. I know my own work is influenced by Stephen King and Metallica and the McDonagh brothers and Red Dwarf and Asimov and The Sopranos and 80s action movies and... well, the list is never-ending. Point is, all of those influences, combined with my life experience, make me who I am as a writer. Encased may be particularly inspired by Fallout 2, but Dark Crystal's passion for that game is going to mix with their love for Roadside Picnic, and DOS2, and all the other things they've known and loved over the years, and that will mix with their particularly Russian viewpoint (and that of their Irish and American guest writers) - and when you bring it all together, you'll get something new and unique and wonderful. Players who also loved Fallout 2 will be inspired by Encased, but there'll be players out there who've never played a Fallout game who'll love it too, because it'll be something new in and of itself.

If anything, this is a purer creative endeavor than, say, taking an existing IP and making yet another sequel to it, just because you know it'll be easier to market. (Nothing wrong with this, of course, studios have wages to pay!) But while Encased is inspired by old-school games, it's a new IP of its own. A new thing to add to the culture. And with a bit of luck, it'll inspire someone in years to come to make their own new thing. It's a thrill to be part of it.

Project funding info: $72,194 pledged by 1,983 backers and we still have a little less than two weeks. Thank you all!

The new week starts with good news! You were really active in Facebook and Twitter, and we are happy to put another tick in our Social Goals section. The nearest delivery will bring a batch of unique motorcycle jackets to the world under the Dome.


We have reached the mark of 33 Community Points

Darren's troops jacket

In the times of the Dome being actively explored, Darren Sherman, one of the Black Wing’s generals, proposed the creation of motorcycle detachments for rapid response in case of emergency.


Motorcycle Leather Jacket unlocked

The idea was close to the embodiment: a batch of powerful motorcycles was delivered to the Dome, and the uniform of the biker squads was designed from the ground up, taking into account the most stringent requirements for ergonomics and safety.

And then the Maelstrom broke loose so that the idea of the motorcycle squadron had no chance to become the reality. They say that the choppers are still stationed in one of the deserted warehouses, with odometers, stuck at around a couple of dozen miles. The jackets were much more fortunate: they can still be bought from wandering merchants or looted from bandits robbing old arsenals…



Thank you for your activity once again. We remind you that your likes, shares and follows are more important to us now than ever. A little more than two weeks remain till the end of the campaign, and we would really appreciate if as many people as possible could learn about Encased by that time.

We've already gathered more than $71,000, and this all could be possible only due to your support. Shares, likes and follows in social media are of much greater value to us, than it may seem, and each one of you can cope with it easily.

Check out previous updates and learn more about social goals and what was unlocked in previous updates (in case you missed them).

Encased Kickstarter Update #11: Help Spread the Word!

Encased Kickstarter Update #12: New stretch goal, social goals achieved

Thanks in advance for your help and understanding. Together we can make Encased a really great game.



And now - pay close attention! October 5th at 7 PM CET / 10 AM PDT we are going to have a dev stream, where we will show the inner kitchen of game development, answer your questions and make Encased and Dark Crystal Games merchandise giveaway.

You can ask questions right here, under this update, or in our Twitter account, but we will also answer everything asked during the stream time.

Waiting for you October 5th at 7 PM CET / 10 AM PDT.
Our channel link: https://www.twitch.tv/darkcrystalhq

Hello from Dark Crystal Games! We’re live with a new update, and we’re glad you’re here. Today we’ll be talking about how the narrative for Encased is intertwined with role-playing mechanics, and how player choices dramatically affect both the story and the gameplay.

Encased - Pre-Alpha Gameplay #1 - Narrative

As you already know, you’ll be playing as an employee of CRONUS, masters of the Dome. You’ll be asked to choose your Wing - the part of the company you’re joining. Your choice will dramatically affect your experience of the world inside the Dome.

Black Wing. Military, security, special forces, and police, providing security and keeping the police under the Dome.

White Wing. Scientists, researchers, and medical personnel. Your job is to study the amazing technology of the Dome - for the good of mankind, yes, but mostly for corporate profit.

Blue Wing. Mechanics, computer scientists, engineers, builders. Blue Wing employees build and maintain company infrastructure.

Silver Wing. Directors, managers, and financiers. You and those around - and above - you run the corporation under the Dome.

Orange Wing. Unskilled labor, recruited from the world’s prisons. The lowest of the low.



Choosing your wing at character creation is one of the main parameters determining how you experience the world under the Dome. Blue and White are the working elites, respected from the beginning. Orange employees arrive in handcuffs, under the watchful gaze of the suspicious Black and Silver authorities. Each Wing and the characteristics and skills that they bring bestow limitations… and bonuses.

The choice of Wing affects the unique choices available to you - not just in dialog, but in the way your adventures unfold. The engineer sees the Dome as a mechanism, to be broken down to find out how it works. The scientist may see it as a mystery of unknown origins, to be solved that it may divulge its secrets. The soldier sees a threat to be met - and looks forward to the fight. The director sees a resource to be exploited, and profit to be made. And to the ex-prisoner in the orange jumpsuit, the Dome is a step up from Hell, where survival is everything.

One obvious effect of your choice of Wing is your level of access: Blue employees can walk into technical areas, Whites into laboratories, and Blacks into command posts and armories. Each Wing employee also has different skillsets - for example, a Blue Wing engineer or a technically savvy Orange will be able to hack a terminal and avoid registering at the reception desk on arrival at the Dome. This can be useful.



On top of the customization available at character creation through the choice of Wing, we’ve also added an option to create the character’s back-story. At times, the hero will remember who they were in their lives before the Dome, and that choice will open unique game situations, dialog options, and even NPC reactions as the character reacts to learning the truth about your past. Who knows, perhaps your crazed colleague, on discovering that you were a surgeon, will stab you to see if you can save yourself. Or maybe that rebellious Orange with the big gun will change their mind about shooting you because their mum always wanted them to marry a doctor.



Inspired by classic old-school RPGs, Encased gives you extensive options - and your choices will have real consequences. Which is exactly how it should be. Using the available skillsets, attribute values and starting bonuses of your chosen Wing, along with the choices you make along the way, Encased lets you choose your own unique experience of the world under the Dome and its stories.

Welcome to Encased. Welcome to the Dome. Welcome to your adventure.

Project funding info: $68,273 pledged by 1,830 backers.

Thanks for your support, we’ll be back with a new update soon!

In this update, we’re going to tell you about the various vehicles that roam and/or rust in the desert under the Dome, as well as the backstory of the company manufacturing them for CRONUS.

Although the Dome is far removed from civilization, its motor pool is diverse and extensive. There were approximately 5,500 functioning vehicles before the incident. By the time of the main story around 2,000 of them are still on the road, since a vehicle’s lifespan is significantly reduced without access to parts. Some vehicles were stripped, some destroyed in conflicts, and others were completely redesigned and thus not counted in the official statistics.

Aside from the Dome’s dozens of research facilities, many small towns were built as well. CRONUS employees enjoyed white block houses, supermarkets, movie theaters and, of course, cars. With generous salaries, many employees enjoyed a personal vehicle.

The main supplier of both civilian and work vehicles was Stanton Motor Company. Established 17 years before the Dome’s discovery, Stanton was a big name with great ambitions in the industry, and a rather odious head honcho.

Stanton Motor Co. is our concept of a company which miraculously survived the oil crisis of the 70’s. Its history is counterintuitive, its end predictable, and that’s done on purpose: we want every detail of Encased’s setting to build on the atmosphere of the game and create a real feeling for the era.

Stanton is made up of two divisions. One is called Marks and Manfred Trucks; it specializes in manufacturing trucks, buses and other heavy work vehicles using a universal chassis.



The most renowned vehicle of MM Trucks is already on display in our screenshots and concept art — an orange transport designed for delivering research teams to remote desert facilities.

But if Marks and Manfred Trucks is the dutiful workhorse of the corporation, then its second child, Jupiter Moon, is the scandalous black sheep. Jupiter Moon stamped out small cars, known as Type 72, with a high emphasis on quantity. Type 72 was infamous for its underpowered 4-cylinder engine (6-cylinder available in the luxury model), climate control in the form of a triangular quarter glass window on the driver's side, leatherette upholstery destined to crack and discolor, a "kicking" gearbox, and several other nasty surprises.

Despite all this, the machine became fantastically popular, and remains so even after the catastrophe: you will see Type 72 regularly converted into mobile storefronts, rental accommodations, and insanely painted tanks. The variety of applications for machines not even fit for spare parts is truly limitless: houses, fences and fixed fire points made from old Jupiters are a common sight across the world of Encased.


We are still putting the finishing touches on Type 72. We want this car to be memorable, a true symbol of the mass-produced family vehicle of the Dome.

***

It can be said with certainty that the success of Stanton Motor Co. changed the face of the world under the Dome. And everything, from its rapid rise to every triumph and failure, the company owes to its founder, Stanley Stanton.

In the first act, Stanley is 62 years old. He is a thin, unpleasant man with red hair fading to gray, a long nose, the gold teeth of a gypsy, and the general appearance of a washed-up comedian. At first he makes a quite positive impression: joking and smiling with an easy confidence. Stanley has the air of a reliable business partner, a man you can count on to fulfill any order and solve any problem.

But after a longer acquaintance with Stanley, different qualities come to the fore. His business is growing rapidly due to optimistic investors, profitable contracts, and aggressive PR. Maybe too rapidly. Deadlines are regularly missed and scheduled deliveries delayed. Cars often arrive incomplete, or in such poor shape they must be scrapped for parts. Though MM Trucks have a more or less consistent level of quality, Jupiter Moon has a well-deserved reputation as a manufacturer of rolling (sometimes) trash cans. The enterprise by some miracle does stay afloat however, and the boss perseveres.

The true face of Stanton is an arrogant, insolent grifter, an expert at making bank on other people’s trust. He thinks himself a genius salesman and wheeler-dealer and in a sense he is right, as long as the profits continue to offset his infamy. Unlike almost every other corporate executive, the man himself relocated to the Dome and transferred a large part of his production there. Even the incident couldn’t turn Stanley Stanton into anything but a businessman, though his business now has shifted from production to repair. In the game, you can even visit the Stanton Motor Co.’s decrepit main plant, and a huge warehouse full of dusty Jupiters.

Project funding info: $67,078 pledged by 1,787 backers and 19 days to go! Thank you, friends, let's keep it up!

— Yessir, you heard me right, sir: we located a two-engine bomber buried in the sand. It’s almost untouched, sir! Full load of ammunition, seemingly intact. I would give a more detailed report, but the enemy’s closing on our position, and—

— Belay that, lieutenant. Here are your orders: take cover inside the fuselage. Use the portholes as embrasures. You should find two machine guns somewhere in the plane, they were standard issue. That may help.

— Sir, yes, sir!

— And have the sappers prepare the ammunition for detonation. There should always be a plan B.



In one of the far western desert sectors, the Kshatryas squad discovered an abandoned bomber, half buried in the sand. Unfortunately, you won’t have time to calmly analyze this find: your sentries have reported the approach of three garbage trucks, manned by Raiders and armored for combat. Worse, it seems like they’ve tapped into your transmission.

Bad news: there’s no fall back position. Good news: there should be a pair of machine guns onboard, and a ton of ammunition to go with them.

A new in-game encounter for our backers: epic battle versus waves of hostile Raiders!

We’re creeping ever closer to our main goal, all because of your support. There’s still another 35% to go, but your active involvement keeps us hopeful and energized. And maybe these new goals will help someone make a final decision to support the project.

Today we’ve uncovered one of the additional stretch goals: a new massive event for Encased. This event will be added to the game if funding reaches $105,000.

If you’re paying attention, you’ll see there are two more stretch goals still locked. We’ll reveal one of them when we reach 2,000 backers, and the other when our funds reach $75,000. It’s not that far. Hit social media, tell your friends, post on forums, let’s do it!


One goal revealed, two more to go

Now let’s talk about some guaranteed game content.

Yesterday, we announced the social media goals. By spreading the word about Encased you help to uncover in-game rewards that will be available to everyone.


In just one day you, our fans, have completed several quests and scored 14 points.

This means the Community Wallpaper, new Hat Accessory and the Veteran Rifle rewards have all been unlocked!


Our artists are working feverishly on the wallpapers right now, so let’s discuss the other two rewards.

*Roger&Roger*

With a dark blue felt finish and a polished skull badge, this hat is a real work of art. The fancy label hidden inside the lining reads *Roger&Roger*. This is definitely no common bit of headwear!

The workshop responsible for this item was never on the Committee’s official suppliers list, but Roger Zaretski, its founder, is a well known eccentric. The same eccentric who discovered gold in the sands under the Dome, built his own brewery, and is currently plotting to restore Spire station.

All that, and he makes great hats too.

*SVT-40, "Frau Svetlana"*

Otto Fasmer and the troops under his command have been missing since the end of the Korean War. The fourteen Wehrmacht veterans vanished from the 38th parallel in February of 1953, as if anticipating the end of hostilities.

From that date on, any accounts you may have heard of Fasmer and his men are strictly the unofficial stuff of military lore.

It has been said Fasmer and his squad relocated to South America. They were also witnessed at all the major hotspots of the Vietnam conflict. Whatever the fate of these die hard Germans, Otto's rifle, originally obtained on the Eastern Front, might be the single proof that Fasmer is a real living man, and not simply a myth.

His SVT-40, reworked and customized, has turned up under the Dome. Does this mean that Otto is still alive? If so, what is he doing here? The rifle raises many questions, and the same weapon must be the key to the answers.

Let’s push it, friends! The more Likes and Shares Encased receives, the more new content will be unlocked.

Project state info: $65,352 pledged by 1,740 backers. Hooray!

As of now, Encased has earned more than $58,000 in Kickstarter pledges. We are very grateful for the enthusiastic response. However, money is not the only way you can help us create the exact experience we intended.

We’ve prepared some cool in-game rewards for our community. To get these rewards into the game, we need your subscriptions, likes, and reposts.

Think of every milestone as a small quest. The completed quests award you with achievement points, which in turn unlock the new game bonuses.


Community quests unlock points which open new content for Encased!

Facebook likes: Like the Encased Facebook page and encourage your friends to do the same!

Encased was originally conceived as a game with a rich storyline and fully realized world. We put significant effort into a detailed setting and immersive atmosphere. This is why it’s worth getting acquainted with the world of the Dome on our Facebook page.

Facebook shares: share the Encased announcement post on Facebook.

We publish samples of the game’s lore, art and 3D models on our Facebook page on a regular basis, creating an interesting and welcoming community. Tell other old-school, post-apocalypse and sci-fi fans about our site. By spreading the word about Encased, you’ll be contributing to the development of the game.

Twitter followers: follow @darkcrystal_hq on Twitter and encourage your friends to too.

Our Twitter account is about publishing fun-size concept art, 3D models and game news. Follow @darkcrystal_hq, and be the first to see the details!

Twitter retweets: retweet the announcement tweet from @darkcrystal_hq

The more retweets we get, the more successful our Kickstarter campaign will be. Help Encased become a really huge and cool game!

Twitter likes: Like the announcement tweet from @darkcrystal_hq

For each Like, a raider in the wasteland dies a horrible death, and one more player joins our ranks.

Discord fans: join our Discord group.

In addition to our Facebook community, we also have a Discord channel, where we share the latest game news, reveal our carefully guarded development hints and secrets, embrace our nostalgia for cool RPGs of days gone by, and simply talk to our players.

And don’t forget: Discord is the most convenient way of communicating with developers and sharing your own ideas to make Encased even better.


And now let's talk about the rewards!

4 Points - Community Wallpapers

Our artists will create HD-wallpapers based on the short story developed by Encased writers for our Kickstarter backers.

7 Points - New In-Game Hat Accessory

Before you venture out to conquer the desert, don’t forget to put on your helmet! Or a hat. Or the special item we thought up, modeled, and added to the game.

12 Points - New In-Game item - Veteran Rifle

Every equippable item in Encased has a history. We’re planning an additional assault rifle (to be added to the game with your help) with such as history. It’s an unusual weapon with an illustrious past and remarkable properties.

21 Point - New Outfit - Leather Motorcycle Jacket

A cool leather jacket is an invaluable asset in the vastness of a harsh, dying world. Thanks to your social media activity, it might become available in Encased.

35 Points - New Servoshell Coloring

Who doesn’t like motorized armor? Thanks to our backers, this servoshell might get an additional unique color scheme.

48 Points - New In-Game item - Dragon Katana

This katana will be useful both in close quarters… and in a firefight. The unique weapon of Kimiko Nakamura (head of the New Committee)’s personal bodyguard.

62 Points - Bloodbath Perk

Perhaps the most nostalgic perk of them all. Watch your enemies blast their allies into a pile of red chunks as grenades blow up in their hands… but don’t get too excited: the next critical failure might be yours.

85 Points - Dog the Pal

This ally will follow you into the heat of any battle. A friend in need is a friend indeed, right? Yes, you read that right: more social media activity and we’ll add a recruitable canine companion to the game!

Hello everyone! We hope you have a good Sunday!

We have posted a new gameplay teaser dedicated to our Kickstarter campaign on YouTube, check it out!

If you have friends who love post-apocalyptic and sci-fi RPGs, and they don't know about Encased yet - this is a perfect opportunity to share with them.

Also check out our latest artwork, dedicated to our dear KS-backers. Thanks to all of you again and again!


These Tier 2 Orange Wing employees are definitely up to something

Project funding info: $55,855 raised by 1,589 backers! This is 55% of the funding goal and we still have 22 days to go! Stay tuned for more updates, next week will be very intense.

In today’s update we would like to talk about the gradual game enhancement a bit. We’re in pre-alpha state now and there’s a lot of work before us, but we’re working on developing every aspect every day.

In order to proceed as quickly as possible, we often make rough models, which then fall for revision. Crafting the intermediate versions is useful because we can see the in-game result immediately, and the other members of the team are much more interested in working with a living character, not a running cube.



Then comes the time to think… what else can we do for our characters? For our maps? For everything we create? For us, they are not just game objects, they are like children. Which we raise, care about and wish only the best.

This is how our “kids” looked like at the primary testing stages, and how do they look like now:


The same metamorphosis also applies to game maps. Even now, during the Kickstarter campaign, we did not halt the project development and are working on the game locations actively.

Dealing with environment, we proceed from the fact that every meter of our world should be of interest to the player. And we try to make those locations the way someone could stop and take a look around, even if “around” is just a fragment of a desert or a marsh, woods or caves. Our task is to make the world around you speak for itself. Tell its own stories, with no need for additional text or explanations.



Until recently, our locations looked like this. Those were the testing sites, we were probing the ground and figuring out what the level topology would look like on the terrain.

Now we are working on the terrain itself. Trees, rocks, surface textures. One of the current tasks is to make the ecosystems self-sufficient. So that the single fragment of wilderness pleased the eye. It is known that the famous game industry developers often say: “The roofs and the floors are crucial to isometry”, because it’s what the player sees best.”



Project funding info: $54,277 pledged by 1,534 backers!

Stay tuned - there will be more interesting information and details about how we develop Encased! Let us know which aspects you'd like us to cover!

In today's update we would like to speak about one of the most important aspects for creating the atmosphere of the game — the music. And about the people who composed the main theme for our Kickstarter video.



Make yourself comfortable and get your best speakers, they’ll come in handy! Now we’re gonna show you how the track was being made.

Encased Kickstarter Theme — Original Jazz Rock Version

Encased Kickstarter Theme — Original Jazz Rock Version

Suddenly, there’s a man responsible for the music under our Dome. Introduce yourself, buddy.

My name is Peter Salnikov and I’m happy to be on board of this campaign. As a composer, I wrote this Encased Kickstarter Theme with my bandmate Ruslan Eldoradovitch.

Peter, you’re not telling us everything. There are no random guys under the Dome. You’re connected to games, aren’t you?

My career could be easily split in two sections. The first is media. After seven years in gaming journalism I decided to quit this profession, and for the last five years me and my partners run an independent lifestyle media called Disgusting Men. It’s the biggest site and community of it’s sort in Russia, we also run the biggest entertainment podcast of the same name. It’s all in Russian, but if you feel like listening to it, check the episodes with Raphael Colantonio (Dishonored, Prey), Daniel Vavra (Mafia, Kingdom Come: Deliverance) – they were published in English as well.

We begin to see the big picture now. let’s talk about music.

Aside of that, for almost a decade we play rock’n’roll with our band called Solar Deity. It’s a real rock band with rehearsals, shows and tours, and its lyrics are in English, so this could be easier to check out. We also did some soundtrack jobs before. Being a curious and a stubborn person, I offered my help to Vyacheslav the way he couldn’t refuse.

Let’s think back a few days ago and recall how did it happen.

The week before Encased Kickstarter launch was pretty tough. We were live streaming, breaking down the musical plan we sticked to while recording the demo of this music. We then held a Skype call with Dark Crystal Games and that was the exact moment when found out that this Kickstarter page will go live on September 13th and not a single day later.

ENCASED Kickstarter Trailer Theme Teaser | Guitars & Drums Only | Work in Progress

After that, you most certainly did grab you head, saying ‘Guys, to hell with you, we don’t have the time!’ Was it like this? Or...

After a short panic strike we’ve mobilised all our forces to record this music live, as was planned earlier. We wrote the theme together with my band partner Ruslan but in fact there were a lot more people involved in this than the two of us. In a day we got all of them covered: the trombone player, the string trio, the sax guy, the drummer, the sound engineer and the studio fellas – all of them got their instructions, paper score, dates and details. In two days we stood ready at the studio. In short, it was a huge luck to suddenly be able to gather all those gifted (and thus – over occupied) people at one time and place and this fast. We did all the basic job in 24 hours.

Let’s ruin the intrigue from the start: it was much more harder.

The problem was that the Kickstarter video itself wasn’t finished by then, and when it finally was – it was almost seven minutes long vs. two and a half minutes of our music. But that was a part of the deal we made with the Crystals.

And still you managed.

This Encased Kickstarter Theme (sorry, it still has no name but it definitely deserves to have one – leave your suggestions in the comment section below) was built to be a «handcrafted procedural track». In short, all instruments and fragments were recorded in one tempo and key, and though the original track was only 2:40 long, all of its pieces and cues could be cut apart, arranged in any order and length and transformed into a longer track or a smaller jingle. Actually, we learned that playing a lot of Red Dead Redemption and watching this video after. So, after getting a Dropbox video link, we’ve spent a night and a morning bringing the demo music to needed structure. And then our sound engineer Artem brought the instrumental track to the same form.

When we were waiting for the track, we tried to guess, what will it be like… and we didn’t. Although the result surprised us, in a good way. The video provides a sense how this track was being created, but the references and the internal working are still a mystery.

First off, when we had our first meeting with Vyacheslav Kozikhin, we were talking about the references, the vibe we need. We’ve played the pre-alpha build (and yes, we play a lot of CRPGs in general) and figured, why not make it something that would sound sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, western, and 1970’s-ish at the same time? As a reference, we took Dune (1984) soundtrack, the music of The Last Man Standing (1996, a Bruce Willis movie) and mixed it up with our vision of our favourite game music (Mass Effect, Baldur’s Gate, Fallout – there’s a lot of «canon» features if you listen closely). But the main part was to imagine something like this to be played by a real band actually existing in this word of alternative history.

And, well, there you have it. If you’d ask us to think of an orchestra performing in a club somewhere outside the Dome, we’d think of this. Tell us what you think! There’s a lot more job ahead than done, so your suggestions will be considered.

Encased — Full Kickstarter Theme

Project funding info

As of today $53,160 pledged by 1,494 backers! Thanks to all of you!

When we started this crowdfunding campaign, we definitely had faith in the project and in our ultimate success. However, we did not expect so much support so quickly: just one week into the campaign, we’re already over 50% funded, and the numbers continue to grow hour by hour.

Thanks to you.

In this update, we’re going to discuss our plans for Encased if we surpass our original goal.

If we are successful in raising $100,000, this would let us expand the team, perfect the quality and extend the quantity of Encased content, and invest in localization and professional voiceovers.

When the pledge total approaches $100,000, we will unveil the stretch goals section, where additional objectives will be outlined. But what are these new objectives? Perhaps a pack of new guns? A new mobile transport for the player? Or an additional companion? We’ve got tons of ideas and we intend to post the finest among them.

By the way, we’re happy to read your ideas on what we could add to Encased. Let us know in the comments! Though we can’t promise to implement all of them, we will definitely consider each and every one.

Today we’re also going to reveal the add-on rewards fans can add to their pledges. This one’s simple: to acquire an add-on, top up the amount necessary and pick the required item on the Backers’ Page when the campaign is over (do not forget to add delivery fees for material rewards).



Once again, thanks to everyone supporting us! Stay tuned for new updates!

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