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Game News Shadowrun: Hong Kong Kickstarter Update #2: Initial stretch goals met, new stretch goals announced

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Tags: Harebrained Schemes; Shadowrun: Hong Kong

Shadowrun: Hong Kong ended up hitting all of its initial stretch goals on the first day of funding, raising over $300,000. A new Kickstarter update released today celebrates that, but doesn't mention that a whole bunch of new stretch goals have been added on the Kickstarter's main page. I'll list them here:
  • $350,000 - More better sound! We can only describe smells (for now) but we can definitely improve on our audio. Dynamic combat music will ebb and flow as a battle progresses, providing more atmosphere and tension. Enhanced Ambient Sound is a catch-phrase for lots of technical babble about making your play environment sound more real and less repetitive.
  • $400,000 - Gaichu joins your team of runners! Gaichu was a member of the Renraku Corporation's elite Red Samurai security force. Infected with the Human Meta-Human Vampiric Virus (HMHVV) on a mission gone wrong, he was forced to abandon his pure-human unit as the virus slowly twisted him into a ghoul. Now a shadowrunner, Gaichu could prove a valuable ally, but his loyalty comes at a price…
  • $450,000 - Enhanced Cyber! If this goal is reached, we'll add a new skill to our character creation system that enhances a character's cyberware and unlocks the ability to install powerful new cybernetic enhancements. This system will further differentiate characters with 'ware from their flesh and blood counterparts. We'll also add cyberweapons that you can install into your characters' arm slots, complete with new animations and visual effects.
  • $500,000 - Is0bel's personal side mission! Born to immigrant parents of Somali descent, Is0bel has experienced life in the slums of Kowloon first-hand. Escaping at a young age, she retreated into the cold perfection of the Matrix, but her family still languishes in the depths of the sprawl. Her personal mission will take her back to a place that she barely escaped from - and you'll come along for the ride.
  • $550,000 - Expanded magic! If we hit this funding goal, we’ll add new gameplay options and equipment for magic-using characters. Shamans will gain the ability to summon Shrine Spirits at specific locations in the Hong Kong environment. These great-form spirits are far more powerful than their mundane counterparts, can’t break away from your control, but are limited in duration. Hermetic mages and physical adepts will gain access to Foci - enchanted weapons and objects that can boost a spellcaster’s magical power or allow an adept to deliver devastating magical attacks.
  • $600,000 - Gaichu’s personal side mission! When Gaichu became infected with HMHVV, the Red Samurai code that he'd sworn to demanded that he take his own life. Instead, he took to the shadows, dishonoring himself and the rest of his team in the process. In Gaichu's personal mission, you will square off against a squad of highly-trained warriors who will stop at nothing to destroy their old teammate... and you alongside him.
  • $700,000 - Revamped Matrix: Art and Gameplay! If we hit this goal, we'll add more people to the team to revise the look, feel, and gameplay of the Matrix. We want the Matrix to feel more like you're traveling in the digital world. We also want to add new types of Intrusion Countermeasures and new ways of interacting with them so that decking feels more like an illegal entry into someone's system.
Odd that they announce a new companion AND a mission for that companion as stretch goals before all of the original three companions have gotten one. Maybe they have something extra-special planned for Duncan Wu. Anyway, let's see how many more stretch goals we can blaze through on Day Two!
 

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Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is. Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
I wonder if they will show off some gameplay or something. I'd even settle for one of the songs. I really enjoyed the music in Dragonfall.
 

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Potentially they're saving some cool stuff for a 'PoE' moment later on. At least I hope so. They don't appear to have much more than a couple concept pieces so far.
 
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Wu is a cis male of the dominant Han ethnicity of China, he deserves no background as he is already privileged enough as it is.
 

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I reckon it reached peak funding speed earlier than SR, and will be flatter from here. More in the first two hours, slightly more after one day, will be less after two days.

Something to do with peoples experience with, and awareness of, kickstarter. Means a lot of those who are going to back get on board quicker. Expecting some fatigue also. Will it get past $1mill?
 
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I wonder if it's that kickstarter dynamics have changed, or if it has more to do with how lackluster their pitch has been. If they came out from the get go showing "more cool stuff" I think they would be doing a lot better than they are now.
 
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Well, it's going to be up for about 10 more days than the first one, maybe that will help.
I think it will be able to match DMS, though maybe that's just the first day hype.
 

Shannow

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I reckon this is gonna crawl from here. Kickstarter dynamics have changed.
???
1. It now passed 400k. That's not exactly crawling.
2. All successful campaigns, that I've followed, started real strong on the first day, the got weaker over the next 3 days...and stayed weak until the last 3 days, where it usually picked significantly and was comparable to days 2-4. In so far this looks to be following that pattern exactly. I don't see any change.

I reckon it reached peak funding speed earlier than SR, and will be flatter from here. More in the first two hours, slightly more after one day, will be less after two days.

Something to do with peoples experience with, and awareness of, kickstarter. Means a lot of those who are going to back get on board quicker. Expecting some fatigue also. Will it get past $1mill?
Now this is something that could be possible. Perhaps the campaign will lack the end-push because many (potential) backers already know what they'll be getting and thus will back earlier.
And sure there'll be some fatigue. It's not "the new shit" anymore, it's not promising to scatch an itch that hasn't been scratched in a decade anymore, there'll be less people caught up by hype and tempted to donate 100$+ for games that might be cool, but are rationally only worth 50$ max*, it's also not a "donate or this will not be made" situation, and so on.
Obviously the biggest problem is "Stripe". Changing the payment module is costing HBS millions! ...or at least my 15$. I'll be getting it on GOG later...:oops:

All that said, I'd say this is going stronger than I had expected. Atm I'd predict ~750k-850k, but I've been wrong before.


*Though I just had a look and they have 150$ 413; 180$ 94; 225$ 288; 500$ 47; 1000$ 18; out of 10663. That means around 8% donated over 100$. Seems quite high to me. As I've said, I've been wrong before ;)
 

naossano

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I would say it will get more money.
Before that, SR returns was an abstract thing. Now that we tested in, we need our new dose to carry on in life.
 

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Serpent in the Staglands Torment: Tides of Numenera Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong
???
1. It now passed 400k. That's not exactly crawling.
From watching past kickstarters closely, it seems it slowed down quicker. Was around $365k after 24 hours, and will struggle to get $100k the next 24. I think that's relatively fast attrition but I could be wrong. How many other kickstarters where day 2 was 25% of day 1?
 

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From watching past kickstarters closely, it seems it slowed down quicker. Was around $365k after 24 hours, and will struggle to get $100k the next 24. I think that's relatively fast attrition but I could be wrong. How many other kickstarters where day 2 was 25% of day 1?

Torment's day 2 was 33% of its day 1. Like Shadowrun: Hong Kong, Torment also relied on quickly tapping the existing backers of a previous project - in Torment's case, both Wasteland 2 and Project Eternity.

It's pretty simple - if people back a project on day 1, they're not around to back it on day 2!
 

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Torment's day 2 was 33% of its day 1. Like Shadowrun: Hong Kong, Torment also relied on quickly tapping the existing backers of a previous project - in Torment's case, both Wasteland 2 and Project Eternity.

It's pretty simple - if people back a project on day 1, they're not around to back it on day 2!

I won't be tricked by your maths! :P
 

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Dragonfall was good enough to warrant backing something potentially as good or better.

:takemymoney:
 
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What do people think about these stretch goals though? There really isn't anything that excites me in there yet. Instead of these tiny incremental increases, I would like to see some further off, yet still obtainable goals. For example, at 1 million, they have an open world structure. That would get me excited.
 

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The drop-off is steeper which is is to be expected now that more people aware of Kickstarter/the company's previous efforts. I guess the new Kickstarter strategy would be to start out with a relatively high initial funding goal and put the most enticing stretch goals first.
 

Shannow

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Perhaps they consider 700000$ a relatively early stretch-goal?

Otherwise I don't see the big difference between:

500k goal.
700k most enticing stretch goal.

and

100k goal.
700k most enticing stretch goal.

As somebody mentioned, some people like to see those stretch goals getting met. That's easier with an initially low goal. It also gives people a sense of what they're achieving with their donations. (Whether this really depicts reality is another (and IMO uninteresting) question.) *shrug*
 

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Personnally, it is more about seeing new exciting goal.
The revamped matrix wasn't amongs the initial goal and was only revealed when previous goal were achieved.
If the kickstarter reach 700K (the proper question is when), there might be other interasting goals around the corner, like the astral plane, less linearity, the ability to create four custom player-characters on second playthrough, etc...
It helps keep being interested and spreading the word.
 

Declinator

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the ability to create four custom player-characters on second playthrough

Why the hell would it not be an option on the first playthrough? Personalityless customizable companions would be a great improvement, right alongside improving the matrix parts in importance.

One other thing they should do is make the characters run at full speed all the time (out of combat) and not that pitiful walking or jogging if the target is close.
 

naossano

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Beside the balance issues, it would be to not miss the intended characters.
If not on the first playthrough, it shouldn't be default mode.
 

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