Harebrained Schemes General Discussion Thread

[fantadomat]

Did Shadowrun games sold that poorly for them go and try do some irrelevant shit in genre that they have no experience? Couldn't have they just kept making rpgs? I doubt that i will be interested in their game in the next decade or so,judging by the shit they make now.

 

[Morality Games]

Generally indie/AA companies have a hard time breaking out of the mold of what brought them success, which leaves them vulnerable after the public gets sick of whatever their niche is. On one level HBS seems to be aggressively trying to avoid that fate. On the other, HBS staff just seem to want to tackle many different kinds of project.

 

[fantadomat]

Generally indie/AA companies have a hard time breaking out of the mold of what brought them success, which leaves them vulnerable after the public gets sick of whatever their niche is. On one level HBS seems to be aggressively trying to avoid that fate. On the other, HBS staff just seem to want to tackle many different kinds of project.

Yeah but the public doesn't buy their games,the niche do. IF you want to break the mold then do it as a secondary project not as the main thing. Also the best thing is if you bring some innovation while keeping the genre. You don't go around jumping from genre to genre in the search of the big money. Honestly don't see HBS surviving a lot longer as a AA dev. Their upcoming games will most likely flop,i certainly don't care about them. Jumping heads up in some random shit an wasting years is stupid. Keep to the genre and iron a name for your self like Obsidion and Larian did.

 

[agris]

Did Shadowrun games sold that poorly for them go and try do some irrelevant shit in genre that they have no experience? Couldn't have they just kept making rpgs? I doubt that i will be interested in their game in the next decade or so,judging by the shit they make now.

According to Steamspy, their sales were going in the wrong direction. From SRR to Dragonfall to Hong Kong, they sold ~1.1 mil, ~0.80 mil and ~0.55 mil. For the HK releases, I can confirm that that data includes pre and post Extended, but I'm not sure about the DF Director's Cut (can't find if there was a different appid for it).

 

[Infinitron]

Did Shadowrun games sold that poorly for them go and try do some irrelevant shit in genre that they have no experience? Couldn't have they just kept making rpgs? I doubt that i will be interested in their game in the next decade or so,judging by the shit they make now.

According to Steamspy, their sales were going in the wrong direction. From SRR to Dragonfall to Hong Kong, they sold ~1.1 mil, ~0.80 mil and ~0.55 mil. For the HK releases, I can confirm that that data includes pre and post Extended, but I'm not sure about the DF Director's Cut (can't find if there was a different appid for it).

Original Dragonfall was a Shadowrun Returns DLC, no data.

And yes, Harebrained Schemes had to change direction. Their low-fi engine had them trapped in a dwindling niche. Hope for an RPG using the BattleTech engine someday.

 

[DeepOcean]

Did Shadowrun games sold that poorly for them go and try do some irrelevant shit in genre that they have no experience? Couldn't have they just kept making rpgs? I doubt that i will be interested in their game in the next decade or so,judging by the shit they make now.

I dunno, maybe they wanted some small project so the staff could get used to Unity 3d by the time Battletech rolled up?

 

[Jedi Exile]

I hope BattleTech will be successful...

 

[DeepOcean]

And yes, Harebrained Schemes had to change direction. Their low-fi engine had them trapped in a dwindling niche. Hope for an RPG using the BattleTech engine someday.

Shadowrun Returns 2 on 3d, with rigging vehicles, astral plane and all that stuff would be pretty good.

 

[DeepOcean]

I hope BattleTech will be successful...

I think this will be their best hit.

 

[agris]

I hope BattleTech will be successful...

I think this will be their best hit.

They've handicapped themselves by removing all the PvP ladder and match making stuff.

 

[circ]

And yes, Harebrained Schemes had to change direction. Their low-fi engine had them trapped in a dwindling niche. Hope for an RPG using the BattleTech engine someday.

Shadowrun Returns 2 on 3d, with rigging vehicles, astral plane and all that stuff would be pretty good.

aka Unity. No thanks mam.

 

[Roguey]

Shadowrun is also on Unity.

But yeah I don't get this clamoring for moving Shadowrun from nice-looking tiles to uglier-looking 3D with a likely worse camera.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Yeah I agree, if they became a Shadowrun factory it would put them out of business really quickly. First game was passable in terms of production values but since then Obsidian and Larian have outstaged them by light years in terms of tech and it really showed in SH:HK.

 

[Roguey]

Yeah I agree, if they became a Shadowrun factory it would put them out of business really quickly. First game was passable in terms of production values but since then Obsidian and Larian have outstaged them by light years in terms of tech and it really showed in SH:HK.

Hong Kong sold more than Tyranny and I personally prefer its art style.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Yeah I agree, if they became a Shadowrun factory it would put them out of business really quickly. First game was passable in terms of production values but since then Obsidian and Larian have outstaged them by light years in terms of tech and it really showed in SH:HK.

Hong Kong sold more than Tyranny and I personally prefer its art style.

Oh it's not that I'm personally that bothered about graphics. I'm just saying just that they can't be charging $30-40 for a game that looks like this anymore. They had to make a jump forward or they'd lose their position in that select group of "AAA crowdfund devs".

 

[Roguey]

Oh it's not that I'm personally that bothered about graphics. I'm just saying just that they can't be charging $30-40 for a game that looks like this anymore. They had to make a jump forward or they'd lose their position in that select group of "AAA crowdfund devs".

None of their games have ever been that much. SRR and HK both debuted at $20.

 

[Metro]

Yeah, Necropolis is also briefly mentioned in the interview. Mitch says they were forced to release it too early.

What a load of shit. They even delayed it to make a console version. They had plenty of time but could only poop out a very very VERY shallow low-res version of Dark Souls. The Shadowrun games were... okay. Nothing amazing. A step above Spiderweb Software but that's not saying much.

 

[Vorark]

Codexers might be interested to know that Mitch credits Andrew McIntosh for the good writing in Dragonfall.

Interesting. Don't know if it's reliable info, but Wikipedia credits him as the sole DF writer, while in HK he was one of four co-writers. Would explain the uneven writing in the latter.

 

[fantadomat]

I hope BattleTech will be successful...

I think this will be their best hit.

Most likely it will flop hard,mech niche is a lot smaller than the rpg niche. I might pirate the game and give it a try,but i doubt that i will get pass the first few levels. Still i am going in with opened mind,if it is good then i might buy it. But looking at it,not impressed,no rpg progression,no side missions and C&C.

Yeah I agree, if they became a Shadowrun factory it would put them out of business really quickly. First game was passable in terms of production values but since then Obsidian and Larian have outstaged them by light years in terms of tech and it really showed in SH:HK.

Hong Kong sold more than Tyranny and I personally prefer its art style.

Oh it's not that I'm personally that bothered about graphics. I'm just saying just that they can't be charging $30-40 for a game that looks like this anymore. They had to make a jump forward or they'd lose their position in that select group of "AAA crowdfund devs".

Still they could have gone for another rpg,not only shadowrun. I see no reason to go for shit like Necropolis or the Mech game. Don't remember seeing Larian or Obsidian going around making shitty CoD clones or survival MMOs. Also i don't care how the fucking games look,if it is good game i am ready to shil the money. Both Dragonfall and Hong Kong are far superior games than that pisshole Tranny. Also they look great,can remember more visual shit from any shadowrun game than tranny.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Most likely scenario is one where Battletech will do reasonably well and HBS starts sequel pumping (clans ,etc).

 

[Infinitron]

Codexers might be interested to know that Mitch credits Andrew McIntosh for the good writing in Dragonfall.

Interesting. Don't know if it's reliable info, but Wikipedia credits him as the sole DF writer, while in HK he was one of four co-writers. Would explain the uneven writing in the latter.

Use MobyGames: http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/shadowrun-dragonfall/credits

 

[Metro]

Only Battletech game you need is Mechwarrior 1... you bitches!

 

[Vorark]

Use MobyGames: http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/shadowrun-dragonfall/credits

Good to know, thanks!

 

[Infinitron]

Got this email:

Hoi Chummers!

Since you've been such a great supporter of the Shadowrun universe, we wanted to make sure you know that Catalyst Game Labs is in their 6-day countdown for the Shadowrun Sprawl Ops Kickstarter campaign. It's a worked-placement push-your-luck dice game that is blowing up over on Kickstarter right now. We hope you duck in for a quick glance.

The staff at Catalyst Game Labs also wanted to send another reward along, to thank you all for being incredible backers of the Shadowrun universe. This novel by Russell Zimmerman is chock full of Shadowrun goodness and we are all very excited about it and the books to follow! You'll find the pdf at this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W4s-3pmFgnGqh5bN5ZZC-zFuKjTOBJvK/view?usp=sharing

And, exciting news, they'll be creating a card specifically from the world and storyline of Shadowrun Returns for this game

Cheers!

HBS

 

[agris]

Infinitron the "Kickstarter right now" link is borked - the one from the email times out on "localhost" (mobile safari), while your version doesn't resolve and gives a "Corrupted Content Error" on FF.