Update with some screen shots.

At $1,281 pledged, we're 22% of the way to the $5,800 goal. Which is AWESOME! 😀 

By way of thank-you to all the supporters of Emerald, here's four new screenshots from the game!

• Thrusters / Warp Core: The Ship's engine room. I love the design of this room - the harsh red lines make it feel so busy and important. Which it is.

• Labyrinth: This is the map screen, showing your current position within and relative rotation toward the Ship.

• Shadows: Before you reactivate the Ship's most basic systems, it's a very dark place indeed.

• [REDACTED]: Something's malfunctioning - never mind, this shouldn't be here.

All these images are available in this handy gallery, as well as all other imagery for Emerald that's been released. Feast your eyes!

I have a handful of articles and interviews lined up in the next few days, which should hopefully drive more attention to Emerald. In the meantime, please continue to share Emerald around!

Edit: Make the $1,301 :D/

 

Another update what I like to see, no one else in on this?.

At the conclusion of the third day of Emerald's funding campaign, I'm extremely pleased to say that we're over $1,600 funded! $1,623 to be exact, as of the time of this update.

It's become obvious that the high-level tiers are popular - the coveted $213 "XO Level" tier was snatched up within hours of the campaign's launch, and the $99 "Fated Crewman" tier has only one of seven slots remaining.

So, I've decided to launch a third featured-in-game tier: the $90 "In Memoriam" Tier! With this tier, you'll be included in the Ship's Memory Banks, digital servers that contain an account of everything that's happened to the Ship. The Memory Banks are accessed through terminals, and is where most of the game's interactive storyline is revealed.

The people featured in the Memory Banks are people who have somehow impacted the Ship in the past in a significant way. This can include previous crew members, noteworthy passengers, old lovers and friends, strategic investors, skilled past enemies, or anything else besides. You decide who you were, and how you impacted the Ship. This way you can write yourself into the history of Emerald, and become a part of the story.

In-game, you'll be found as a data entry within the Memory Banks. This will include customizing your in-game appearance, your name or alias, and your history. The Memory Banks have been secured against infiltration, however, and with my help you'll be able to create your unique encryption pattern.

Of course, those lucky folks who secured XO and Fated Crewman Levels will still have their direct interaction with the Ship, being active members of the crew during the catastrophe that kicks off the story of Emerald. But one of the key features of Emerald is its rich backstory, and now you'll have a chance to write yourself into it, even if you arrived a little late to the campaign!

And of course, there's still one Fated Crewman tier left available. Just sayin' 😉

Thanks again, so much for all your support! If anyone has questions feel free to message me here on Kickstarter, or email me at nick@kranggames.com. Please keep sharing Emerald around, and I'll see you folks tomorrow!

-Nick Yonge, krangGAMES

 

Doing well over the half way mark now.

Today's update is a few hours late (I usually try to update between 5 and 6pm PST), but that's because today's update is a BIG update!

First of all, as of the time of writing this we're only $58 away from being 50% funded! Let's see if we can't nail that before the day is out - please consider upgrading your pledge and continue sharing Emerald. Some of those backer rewards are pretty awesome, after all! Thanks ♥ 

Next, I'm extremely happy to announce I've partnered with Darcy Dee, an amazing Vancouver-based illustrator. She's going to make another huge, epic, super detailed HD wallpaper for Emerald, and it's gonna be wildly different and awesome - her art style is unlike anything Emerald has been exposed to yet.

And, finally, I've announced the campaign's stretch goals!

There are 21 stretch goals in total, which top out at $25,000. Plenty of Kickstarters raise $25k, and many do it in a single day - now those campaigns are much bigger and more high-profile than Emerald, but I'm just saying, with some hard effort we can totally make it happen.

Here's some quick details about the stretch goals and what they include:

• Ports! Ports are planned for PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Wii U, iOS, and Android.
• New levels, and many new endings (in fact, virtually unlimited endings)!
• Epic audio! Professional voice acting, multiple new music tracks.
• New gameplay sequences, of the Ship's launch and outside the Ship's hull
• Consulting with a professional cryptographer at a police station or university! (Now THAT would be badass, please everyone let's at least try to get to that tier kthx.)
• Physical stuff! Box version of the game, the OST on CD, figurines, art and dev books, physical copies of all the jazz at the "Log.txt" Reward Level, so much physical stuff
• And plenty, plenty more. There's 21 stretch goals in total, after all 😉

I've added a whole new section to the campaign's description aptly called "Stretch Goals". It has an infographic (displayed at the bottom of this post) and goes into extreme detail about all the goals included. Check it out, and as always PM or email me if you have any questions.

These stretch goals would be super awesome to implement! So yes, please continue sharing Emerald around, consider pledging at higher tiers, and I'll see you around tomorrow! ♥ 

-Nick Yonge, krangGAMES

• 

 

 

Updates are coming in fast.

Hey folks, another day, another awesome progress report!

First off, we've broken the 50% barrier! I sound like a broken record by now, but srsly, THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO'S SUPPORTING EMERALD! I can't stress that enough, you people all have my dearest love. ♥ 

Emerald press coverage has been steadily picking up! We've been featured so far on IndieGames.com, Joystiq, and VG24/7, which is pretty gosh darned amazing. I've also done interviews with a few other sites and will post those when they're available.

Also of note, the Kicktraq coverage of Emerald finally has enough data to do an experimental projection of the Kickstarter campaign's progress. It looks pretty sweet - let's work to try and make the high-end projection come true 😉

And lastly, while we're here, I'd love to point out to you some other amazing Kickstarter campaigns that deserve your attention!

Citizens of Earth

A modern RPG that places you in the shoes of the Vice President of the World and all of the heroes are regular people!

This reminds me of a wicked hilarious quasi-political rendering of EarthBound from the SNES. Which itself was already a hilarious game. So that's cool. Check it out:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/499609193/citizens-of-earth-a-modern-rpg

The Fall

Descend into a dark world where action platforming meets traditional adventure gaming to create something new for you to explore.

You play as an AI helper in a soldier's battle armor, sorta like Cortana from Halo. The soldier is unconscious, and you have to save him - but you're an AI, and are bound by the Laws of Robotics. This game looks so goddamn sweet:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/189665092/the-fall-dark-story-driven-exploration-in-an-alien

Plus, fun fact, these games are all developed in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Being a Vancouver indie dev myself, I'm happy to support these guys - local pride! But as I come across more, I'll continue mentioning other awesome Kickstarters from wherever they are in the world. Games are awesome ♥

Thanks again, everyone!

Oh, by the way, before I go: I do these updates every day between 5 and 6pm (unless otherwise mentioned), but it's come to my attention that some of you folks might not be receiving them, because GMail might mark them as spam. They're totally not spam! They're updates! Updates about the game you paid money for! :O

If you can open your spam folder and mark these updates as not-spam that would be amazing. Hopefully this one gets through your spam filter because I haven't attached any pictures. Anyway, thanks for reading, as always please continue sharing and supporting Emerald, and I'll see you guys tomorrow!

-Nick Yonge, krangGAMES

:D/

 

Successful Kickstater :fan: and still 5 days to go.

We did it 😀

Emerald is successfully funded beyond its base goal. I'm... exhilarated. Ecstatic. Overwhelmed. I'm feeling pretty awesome right now, and I certainly hope you folks are too - it goes without saying that this couldn't have happened without all your help.

Thank you all, so, so much!

Emerald will now be a reality - that much is guaranteed. Many of you will have early access, but all of you - and the rest of the world - will be given an amazing and unique new game experience come February 13th, 2014.

But It's Not Over Yet!

We still have five days left in this campaign! There are tons of stretch goals that we can conquer, some require thousands of dollars more but many are only a few hundred dollars away! Please, continue sharing Emerald with your friends, family, coworkers, enemies, random peeps on the street, whoever else might be interested in Emerald! 

Facebook and Twitter remain the best way to spread awareness of any kind of campaign, and Emerald is no exception. Let's see how far we can take this.

And once again, from the absolute bottom of my heart - thank you.

o <o> /o/ <o> o <o> /o/

-Nick Yonge

krangGAMES