Encased Updates, $56,737 and Counting
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With over three weeks left to go, Dark Crystal Games' Kickstarter campaign for their Fallout-inspired RPG Encased has managed to gather more than 50% of its initial goal with $56,737 already pledged.
Since our last update roundup, plenty of new ones have gone up, most of them fairly rich in new info. Update #5 describes the game's approach to random encounters, update #6 introduces us to the Dark Crystal Games team, update #7 shares some stretch goal ideas, update #8 brings us an interview with Peter Salnikov, the game's composer, and shares a jazz rock rendition of the game's theme, update #9 shares a few screenshots and talks about the game's environments, and finally, update #10 brings us a gameplay-filled teaser trailer.
Here's the trailer:
And the jazz rock theme:
And here's a bit about the game's random encounters:
Every encounter in Encased is its own post-apocalyptic story. Some of these stories will resolve on the spot, others will require significant effort and maximum concentration. Many encounters have consequences and lead to a whole new series of quests.
Random encounters occur when the player travels on the world map. A player’s Stats as well as the world’s condition directly affects which stories will be generated.
There is still civilization of a sort in the east of the Dome. You might meet a water caravan, slave traders, or a Kshatriya patrol. You may stumble upon a suspicious house, or a car riddled with bullet holes and carrying a mysterious case on the back seat. You might discover money or a relic inside.
Encounters in the east are mostly social in nature, while the west is almost barren of life. Salt marshes and white sand tell completely different stories: of bare survival and limited supplies, of struggling against the elements. You may find yourself searching out rare underground facilities offering shelter and relief from the relentless heat.
The south of the Dome also has underground complexes, but travellers won’t find any welcome there. The south is an old communications center, a place where ancient battle machines lay buried beneath the sand and rocks. There are countless small bunkers here, the kind where once you enter, the somehow still-powered doors slide silently shut behind your back.
The north lands are now ruled by the New Committee. You may meet police and army patrols, come upon restricted areas where weird experiments are underway, and whole fields of abandoned vehicles rusting away to nothing.
Sooner or later, fate will lead the player to the very center of the Dome where Maelstrom runs rampant alongside gangs of insane raiders, and the stranger anomalies summoned by Tower radiation. Encounters near the center involve battles with bandits, surreal zones of abnormality, the constant chatter of insane Maelstrom, and many other unusual and exciting events.
When we say ‘many’ unusual events, this is no exaggeration. Encounters in Encased cannot all be resolved with combat. There are meetings with characters, secret locations which cannot be found any other way, and vignettes — brief but detailed text adventures, where the solution will depend on a player’s decisions, Stats and Skills.
For example, while travelling the desert the player may discover a spacious house. The doors are all locked, but there is definitely something going on inside. The player may break in (Lockpicking), enter through the open window on the second floor (Deftness), slip in through the back door (Sneaking), or simply knock and ask them to let you in (Looks). Although if you are unsuccessful, there’s always the risk of a bullet to the face. Perhaps, the player is wearing a mad raider’s mask or has shown up at a gang lair in a Black Wing uniform. Anyway, there is always a way to complete an encounter, even if it’s not immediately obvious.
At this point most of our planned 75 random encounters have already been written. With your help there can be even more!
