Best way you can help is to spread the word via Facebook, Twitter, and just plain word of mouth.  The more people who know about us (they don't even need to pledge) the more likely we'll be able to reach our goals and not worry about breaking the project up into smaller DLC.

A lot of you asked to get a graphic from us to use as your profile photos on Facebook, Twitter, and here on KS.  So here it is!

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Video Updates

• Biweekly 04! — 5/10/13
• Biweekly 03! — 5/3/13
• The Labyrinth 2v2 KotH Map Teaser — 4/24/2013
• Biweekly 02! — 4/19/2013
• Biweekly 01!

Tier Updates

Kickstarter Translations

Не пропустите, Кикстартер теперь и на Русском!

• Наша страница на Кикстартере.
• Таблица тиров и наград.

Alternative Payment

All additional payments will be put towards stretch goals as they cannot be accounted for to reach our funding goal.  We will update every few days the current alternative funding amounts to accurately reflect our funding position.

Adventure Mode is the expansion to Guns of Icarus Online that will bring the world of the game to life.

We released Guns of Icarus Online (Skirmish Mode) on October 29th of last year on Steam. It was Kickstarted back in February 2012, when games were just becoming a hot a topic on Kickstarter. This means that we’re one of the only studios to successfully complete a Kickstarter campaign and deliver on our promise with a shipped game that’s currently being played by people all over the world. (In fact, this is actually our third time on Kickstarter, with another game successfully funded and shipped back in 2011!).

So what is Guns of Icarus Online Adventure Mode all about?

• A persistent online post-apocalyptic steam & dieselpunk world 
• Crew or captain your own ship and experience airship combat taken to new levels 
• Explore towns and take on missions to help them develop and grow...or bring them to ruin 
• Politics and intrigue with six player-run factions, each vying to stake its claim in the world 
• Robust and accessible economic and political systems that drive the action

All this is on top of the core of Guns of Icarus Online's Skirmish Mode, an already amazing and unique team-based airship-to-airship game where you get to play as three different roles—Engineer, Gunner, and Pilot—and work with your friends to keep your airship afloat and blasting enemies out of the sky.

Trailer for Guns of Icarus Online (Skirmish Mode), that airship-to-airship bit.

A huge chunk of Adventure Mode has already been completed: for Skirmish Mode, we've developed and honed the core team-focused PvP combat system that is the heart of the game. Adventure Mode will build on top of that foundation and bring greater context and impact to the aerial battles. You’ll still join a crew, fly in an airship, and do battle with enemy vessels, but you’ll be doing it to complete trade runs, execute strategic raids, carry out political missions, and more. Fly the colors of a faction or strike out as a mercenary, come to the aid of allied towns or fly forth to smite your enemies, and make a visible impact on a world that develops day by day.

We are a small indie studio in NYC of eight and a handful of independent contractors and interns. We are self- and family-funded, self-published, and survivors of some publisher nightmares that convinced us of the value of forging our own path. Every project we make is a labor of love, and we strive relentlessly for quality and innovation in everything we do. Most importantly, we are passionate about creating a great experience for our players and doing something that's never been done before.

We’ll be putting everything we have into Adventure Mode, including all the previous work we did with Guns Online Skirmish Mode. However, we’ll still need your help to get Adventure Mode feature-complete and realize our ultimate vision.

When we first started on the long journey to make Guns of Icarus Online, we had a rough start with a publisher. They promised to fund us, give us creative control, and support our vision. Instead, they dictated content, withheld payment, and even threatened to steal our intellectual property and outright copy our idea. Luckily, we managed to break it off and escape with our IP intact, but not without some wounds—to put it bluntly, we were broke! Our previous Kickstarter connected us directly to our fans and gave us a much-needed boost, but it wasn’t able to fund the majority of the project so we used up a lot of savings and borrowed from family. Everyone involved in the process has been extremely supportive, especially our group of dedicated fans who’ve stuck with us since the beginning. It’s been an uphill battle but we’re proud to remain self-funded and self-published—independent through and through to pursue our dreams.

We released Skirmish Mode first as a standalone game because we needed to pay our bills and maintain our livelihoods. We've since made many improvements and will continue to support and enhance Skirmish Mode. In addition to that ongoing work, we now feel we’re ready to embark on the final phase of our ultimate dream.

This is why we’re running this campaign a little differently from others you’ve seen. We’re not big-name celebrity game makers and the fact of the matter is we can’t do a giant go-big-or-go-home campaign for a number of reasons:

• It’s a lot of risk for us, and we don’t want to let our backers and our fans down.

• We’re passionate about this project and dedicated to continuing it.
• At the end of the campaign we’ll make and release something, no matter what. How far and how fast we can go depends a great deal on your support.  Even $100,000 will enable us to release a sizable expansion to Skirmish Mode while we continue to push forward.

So we’re hedging our bet here. There are four pillars of Adventure Mode, one of which is already done! The next three are directly related to Adventure Mode. The pledge goal of $100,000 will cover one pillar, our AI Director (PvE/Co-Op) that will control all the enemies you will encounter on a mission. The last two pillars are the Econo-Political System and World-Building Tools. The stretch goals for each of these pillars are based on our actual financial estimates of what it would take for our team to develop and complete these systems. With your support, we’ll go as far as we can.

This is our third Kickstarter campaign and so far we're two for two.  We Kickstarted our other projects, reached our goals, shipped our rewards, and successfully delivered on what we promised in a timely fashion while keeping our backers fully in the loop. No production limbo. No communication breakdown. This is how we roll, and we're ready to do it again.

The pledge goal by itself covers the AI Director. This will get us to full PvE/co-op functionality, so you’ll finally be able to grab some friends and gang up on the computer in PvE battles. PvE/Co-op also makes sense as a Skirmish addition we can release on its own if it comes to it. Did we mention that we’re also working on AI-driven bi-planes?

Our AI Director as it stands now.  LOL.

The best cooperative titles all have stellar AI systems. The AI Director will dynamically adjust stress and tension as the game progresses, turning all the right knobs to get your heart pumping or give you a breather at just the right moment. The perfect amount of challenge every time.

This will let us create extremely fun game modes that support the feel and story of the world. We're interested in politics and territorial struggle, with factions extending their influence and controlling towns. Some of these game modes will be centered around assaulting or defending towns. Other missions may have a more economic skew, letting you hunt down resources in the environment to bolster a town's economy or simply help it survive. Maybe one day a certain VIP is seeking transport to a neighboring settlement, and it'll be your job to ensure safe passage. But nothing is ever easy... with the AI Director always ready to throw something at you, no journey will be uneventful!

This is the good stuff. What better way to explore a world than to gain a stake in its very survival? Through a robust and comprehensible economic and political system, you will actively take part in shaping the world. With tangible and meaningful feedback making the outcome of your actions clear, the fortunes of towns and entire factions will rise and fall every time you launch your airship to embark on a mission.

Missions are the core of the Adventure Mode experience, whether you are hired crew or doing the hiring as a captain. Both towns and factions will generate missions automatically based on their econo-political need. Does the town of Sylka need more grain? When you dock at Sylka, you’ll be able to accept trade missions to fulfill that need. Did the Anglean Republic just declare war on the Order of Chaladon? You’ll find raiding missions at each faction’s capital and controlled cities. And as you climb the ladder of wealth and influence to gain higher rank in your faction, your votes can help steer policy. Will you choose war or peace? Trade or plunder? Independence or conquest?

Our world map is pretty ridiculous. Realizing just a small portion of that map means generating a whole lot of gorgeous terrain for you to fly and fight through. A team of our size needs to be smart and invest in R&D, developing tools to work more efficiently. This is why we’re pursuing a procedural system to generate terrain and decoration to speed up the map creation process.

Terrain generation from an asset pool just takes care of the ground work, so to speak, and provides us with a base to get started. Each route you fly will be generated once and then undergo a polishing pass, receiving a personal touch from our artists before it’s complete. This means you’ll get the best of both worlds: a large landscape of varied terrain with unique quirks and features that you’ll come to know as you travel the routes, but all polished and approved by our artists for maximum aesthetic effect.

Other world generation items on the table include new systems for weather and time of day changes, walkable towns where you can disembark from your ship and explore (stretch goal), and free-flight and exploration modes (stretch goal).

No matter what happens, we'll be running as hard, as fast, and for as long as possible to get Adventure Mode. Kickstarter is a way for us to guarantee we'll reach the finish line. The campaign will be funded at $100,000, which will guarantee PvE/co-op functionality. If we don't make it all the way to $500,000, then you backers will get a Season Pass to whatever we release. The main difference is a change in our release strategy but we hope we don't need to do that—Kickstarter is the best place for funding because it's coming from people like you who are the most passionate about the work we do. We really appreciate it. Our fans are always our #1 priority.

These are our general estimates and the kinds of things we will be able to get done in between each major milestone.

All Tiers

All tiers above [Salute! (Thank You)] will include a special in-game badge to let everyone know you were a Kickstarter backer, access to the Adventure Mode forum, and eligibility to partake in our closed beta testing program, the Adventure Mode expansion.  And with every Adventure Mode expansion, we are offering the new Kickstarter exclusive costume codenamed Dust Rider 2.0.

Game Packages

Remember, you MUST have Skirmish Mode to play Adventure Mode

We're no only offering Adventure Mode by itself, we'll also offer it with the required Skirmish Mode in Collector's Edition format as well as Adventure Mode in Collector's Edition format in a variety of tiers.

Collector's Edition Skirmish Mode (CE Skirmish)

This is Collector's Edition Skirmish Mode that is available on Steam (Skirmish Mode, Captain's Costume Pack, and Skirmish Mode Soundtrack).  This package also includes the Kickstarter Exclusive costume, Dust Rider 1.0

Available In:

• First Flight (EB)
• First Flight
• Captain & Crew (EB)
• Captain & Crew 
• And above...

• First Flight (EB)

• First Flight

• Captain & Crew (EB)

• Captain & Crew

• Crew United
• Complete Adventure

Collector's Edition Adventure Mode (CE Adventure)

This will include Adventure Mode and various CE content—high-res poster/wallpaper pack, three Costume Sets (Costume + Hat + Goggle of your choice in our in-game store), Adventure Mode Soundtrack, Making-Of Documentary.  This package also includes the new Kickstarter exclusive costume Dust Rider 2.0

Available In:

• Complete Adventure (EB)
• Complete Adventure
• Bells & Baubles
• And above...

CE Adventure Mode Content

Adventure Mode Soundtrack

Jon Gong (one half of the talented Gong Brothers team), who lent his musical talents to the Skirmish Mode soundtrack, will be taking the helm and providing all the music for Adventure Mode. Our new trailer and several tracks in Skirmish Mode are his inspirations.

Making-Of Documentary

We're bringing back the team who helped us film our Kickstarter video—the talented Gong Brothers— to show you more of our process at Muse Games. Really delve into our heads.

Swag

Swag includes the following items, all of which can be added on to any pledge for $30 USD per swag. Shipping outside of the US will cost an additional $10 USD.

• T-Shirt
• Bullet USB Drive
• Poster
• iPhone 4 or 5 Case
• Cloth Map

T-Shirt

We have a vendor but we want to make a new design for Adventure Mode. Here's the original for a quality check.

Bullet USB Drive

We'll be offering our old bullet USB drive that comes in a nice brown finish.  Our new Adventure Mode USB will be in reflective silver and feature a black logo.  Both have 4gb capacity and you will have the option of which one you'd like.

Poster

We have a vendor but our artists are busily getting a brand new poster ready. Here are images of our old poster. They are full-color and printed on 11x17 medium gloss paper.

iPhone 4 or 5 Case 

We are currently working with a vendor and will post photos ASAP.  But here's the design we'd like to get printed.

Cloth Map

We are currently working with a vendor and will post photos ASAP. We're looking at a full-color print of at least 4"x6" on canvas. This is the map.

Rare Tomes

Our two books, the rare tomes, include the Adventure Mode Artbook and an awesome-looking embossed Captain's Log Book. These two items are only available in the following tiers:

• A Rare Tome
• Expedition Pack
• The Personal Touch
• Treasure Trove
• Distinguished Collector
• Nomenclator
• Inventor
• Architect
• Sculptor
• Visionary
• Hero of the Burren
• Lord/Lady Patron of the Air

Artbook

Branded Log Book

We're looking to get black Moleskine Volant notebooks embossed with the Guns Of Icarus Online logo. They measure 5x8.25, the perfect size for notes and sketching. The Volant notebooks are softcover with the same silky smooth Moleskine cover we're all familiar with. Blank pages.

Creative Consultant

Creative Consultants will get the opportunity to work with us in naming and designing various items and NPC likenesses depending on the tier.

For in-game items or locales, we've been using the names of the Muse Team for some of our engine and ship parts. For example, if you play Skirmish Mode and destroy an airship's engines, you'll see some interesting names like Doolen Ltd, Bengston Industries, and Chung's Choice. It doesn't have to be your surname but you'll help us come up with some businesses that could be manufacturing these engines and other items. Or maybe you'd like to name a pub or restaurant! Your name will forever be remembered. You'll be working very closely with our Chief Nomenclator, Jess Haskins.

Designing in-game asset is the visual design of something like a gun, a building, an engine, or perhaps a piece of equipment carried around by the crew. Your particular style and flare will be seen throughout the world we'll be building. The one and only Tim Doolen will be guiding you throughout the process.

NPC Likeness is straightforward. Send us some photos of yourself and we'll put you in the game!

Patron

At either of the patron tiers you will be able to help us design an NPC and a custom player costume tailored to your specifications! While it's a general rule that we sell all our avatar costumes in our in-game cosmetics store, your costume will be priced at a premium, making it a rare and valuable status symbol.

A seat at our table means you can give us as much feedback as you'd like and we'll do our best to incorporate your input. Since you'll have such a large influence over our design efforts, you'll also get Developer Credit in the game. And a seat at our table literally means we'll have a seat here for you. If you're able to come down to our office, please feel free to do so so we can talk in person! (Sorry, you'll have to handle your own travel expenses!)

One-of-a-Kind Steampunk USB

We have commissioned an artist to create this absolutely unique, hand-crafted 16GB USB drive featuring the Guns of Icarus Online “Pilotwings” logo. It's exquisitely detailed, fully encased in metal, with a nice weight in your hands.

Only ONE of these beauties will ever be made, and we’re reserving this one-of-a-kind treasure as a special reward for the backer with the single highest pledge at the close of the campaign.

Thank you so much for supporting us in our last campaign for Guns of Icarus Online! Even though the funds raised through that campaign only covered a portion of what it took to make Skirmish happen, it meant much more to us than just monetary support. It was the community, the testing, and the feedback from our backers that made our last campaign so valuable to us. Some people have raised questions as to whether or not our previous campaign covered Adventure Mode, and we admit that it was our fault for being unclear. We’ve already sent a message to all of you through the earlier campaign’s message board but we’ll be 100% clear again: the previous Kickstarter campaign does NOT include Adventure Mode, and it only accounted for a small fraction of the cost to make Skirmish.

Some of you have voiced your grievances and we’re very sorry about not being crystal clear with you. We won’t make any excuses, and we’re already working with everyone who have approached us to resolve any concerns. Please email us at feedback@musegames.com if you have any further questions or complaints and we’ll hash it out with you.

I already have Skirmish, can I give that to a friend instead?  And any other re-gifting of costumes.

Yes, you can give any of our digital items away including the Dust Rider costumes!  The games, Skirmish and Adventure DLC, will be given to you via Steam codes.  You can do whatever you want with those.  The Dust Rider costumes will be given to you via our in-game Costume Codes.  You can do whatever you want with those too!

Will there be boarding in Adventure Mode?

Nope.  We're about teamwork and we think boarding is the antithesis of teamwork.

What happens if you don't reach your stretch goals?

This is a Kickstarter for the Adventure Mode DLC so you will get Adventure Mode no matter what.  If we don't come close to our $500,000 target then we'll have to re-evaluate our launch strategy.  Being indie, cash flow is extremely important so we'll most likely have to release content in smaller DLC packages.  For example, co-op functionality will be released first.  Everyone who backs this project will get a Season Pass to all DLC content no matter what our strategy is.  So if we're able to release Adventure in one big DLC, you'll get it.  If we have to split things up into smaller DLC, you'll still get it.

When are the various rewards being fulfilled?

For all new materials like Adventure Mode DLC, documentary, soundtrack, costumes, and physical items we will get those to you ASAP after the project is funded.  For Skirmish Mode, even though it's currently out right now, we can't fulfill until the project is funded because we are not guaranteed any payment until the the campaign ends—everything is up in the air at the last second.  But as soon as the campaign ends and is funded, we'll be sending out Steam codes for Skirmish and related materials.

Uhh, what exactly am I getting in all these tiers?

We understand that some of our tiers might be confusing.  We're trying to provide several different options to you.  You can take a look at a handy spreadsheet of all the things included in each tier.

If something still doesn't look like what you're after, please reach out to us and we'll try to work with you.

How do I get access to the alpha/beta and forum?

So far, there's nothing playable with Adventure Mode so no alpha or beta access just yet.  For the forum, when the campaign ends we'll open up that up for you backers so you can talk to each other more in-depth there.

Other alpha/beta keys will be announced when they are ready to go out.  We'll keep you as up to date on this as we can.