Shadowrun Shadowrun Returns Pre-Release Thread

[General Maxson]

I must confess that, despite my emotions hoping for the better, my rational side thinks this game will be a huge flop.

Why?

 

[tuluse]

I must confess that, despite my emotions hoping for the better, my rational side thinks this game will be a huge flop.

Flop monetarily or the game will suck?

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I fear the game will suck.
I hope it will not, and be totally awesome.

 

[Wizfall]

I'm confident.
At worst the story will be good with simplified gameplay.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Even then, an editor can make it a bit more complex.

 

[imweasel]

SNES Shadowrun music will smite out any shittiness with pure awesomeness:

(unless it is a mighty big shit that is)

 

[Jaesun]

http://harebrained-schemes.com/post/jordans-developer-diary-power-to-the-people/

When you net out all the costs of Kickstarter, Amazon/PayPal, Microsoft (for the license), the production cost of our Backer rewards, and the picking, packing, and shipping cost of those rewards, we have just under $1.2 million to actually spend on making the game – which is amazing compared to our modest initial plans but nothing compared to today’s 100-million-dollar RPG behemoths

Chapter and Scene Introductions set the context and emotional landscape for the scene you are about to play
In-world GM pop-ups describe the sights, sounds, and smells that your character is experiencing at this moment. For those of you who are unfamiliar with tabletop role-playing, GM stands for “Game Master” – the person charged with setting the stage and refereeing the action.
In-world character speech bubbles provide short quips from your characters and our NPCs, providing insights into their actions. Of course, sometimes, they’re just for entertainment.
Our conversation window allows you to have in-depth branching conversations with characters in the world, as well as GM narration that helps bring those characters to life. (Although we can’t animate the single tear traveling down the street urchin’s face, we can type it!)

These theater of the mind tools can be used in really inventive ways. Trevor King-Yost, one of our designers, put together a wonderful little sample game which combined an old school movement puzzle and classic text adventure using a combination of character movement, word balloons, and the conversation window. The team broke into spontaneous applause when they saw it.

Over the last eight months, we have invested a great deal of time and money into creating an editor powerful enough for us to tell the stories we want and (hopefully) accessible enough for you to wield its power and tell your stories too.

Just some selected quotes. It then goes into some detail on the editor (of which the Dialogue editor looks a LOT like NWN/NWN2's). heh But still the dialogue editor in NWN/NWN2 was pretty cool, I liked it.

 

[Excidium]

This is looking great. By the way the character editor picture gives you an idea of the character system in the game.

 

[General Maxson]

This is looking great. By the way the character editor picture gives you an idea of the character system in the game.

Yes, and for a game of such low budget it seems like it will be good! Can't wait for this, they have really nailed it with the resources they have. Almost makes me sorry they didn't get more! Maybe next Shadowrun game from they will be even bigger and better if this one sells well, and I have hopes that it will.

 

[Ulminati]

Fuck the character editor picture! (Well not really, it looks sweet too).

Look at the level/trigger/dialogue editor! It looks EXACTLY like the balance between editing power and ease of use the aurora toolset had. This bodes well for custom modules!

 

[General Maxson]

Fuck the character editor picture! (Well not really, it looks sweet too).

Look at the editor! It looks EXACTLY like the balance between editing power and ease of use the aurora toolset had. This bodes well for custom modules!

I just hope we DO get GOOD custom modules to play, not just romance and sex ones... :D

 

[Ulminati]

NWN got a shitton of horrible crap, but it also got a handful of real gems. It'll probably be the same with this.

 

[Roguey]

We started with a keyword-based system derived from the SNES game but after mocking this up and playing with it I found that clicking on a single word made me feel like I was not participating in the conversation. I felt more like I was performing an inquisition. One word at a time. It was like, “Sim-chip! Talk!”

Shadowrun has a “voice” to it, a staccato rhythm of conversation inspired by writers like Raymond Chandler and William Gibson, and that just didn’t come across by clicking a word. So we pivoted to a more traditional branching conversation tree in which players select from sentences that capture not just the facts but also the flavor of the conversation.

How does it feel to be beaten at practically everything by a smaller-budget title, Fargo?

It'll be funny if it turns out to be even more of a mess.

 

[evdk]

How does it feel to be beaten at practically everything by a smaller-budget title, Fargo?

One of the suggestions from the fans was that the Ranger party should deliver a line of dialog instead of just barking a keyword. We really love this idea. Having full sentences creates a natural conversation flow. Additionally, this approach allows us to remove the ambiguity of keywords – holding your mouse over a keyword will show you a preview of the sentence your Rangers will say.
A working example:
NPC Bob, who is guarding some guns, has intro text that reveals two keywords he has more to say about. Clicking on Bob starts the dialog:
>NPC Bob – “Hey strangers, we don’t normally see people out so far into the wasteland. Be careful, it is really dangerous out here unless you are heavily armed.”
This introduces two keywords to the player that they can use to converse with NPC Bob, dangerous and armed. Using the keyword dangerous will prompt NPC Bob give you more information about what is up ahead.
>Ranger Party (keyword = dangerous) –“What is so dangerous about these canyons?”
>NPC Bob – “These canyons are crawling with the outcasts of every crappy society in the wasteland. You had better watch your step.”
Using the armed keyword will have NPC Bob tell you about a possible mission.
>Ranger Party (keyword = armed) –“How do you think we should be armed?”
>NPC Bob – “It is best to have a lot of hollow point ammo out here for all the mutant creatures wandering around. I just came from a cave at the end of that canyon where I found a half destroyed case of ammo. You are welcome to help yourself if you find them. You are going to need all the help you can get out here.”

Just FYI.

 

[Roguey]

Wasteland 2: Human Revolution. Now with the sudden addition of a lot more writing even though that was supposed to be all finished.

 

[Jaesun]

http://harebrained-schemes.com/post/its-on/

There's some other pics as well as concept art for the Seattle campaign.

 

[Excidium]

That shaman's coat looks bitchin'.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

FUCKING AWESOME!!!

 

[toro]

The girl looks like is taken straight out of Krater. But that's a shitty game which should not be mentioned.

Anyway, the pictures are nice. Great job until now.

 

[Zed]

Really looking forward to the in-game AXCTIONZ reveal. Gonna be sweeet.

 

[Azalin]

 

[Cyberarmy]

That shaman's coat looks bitchin'.

It's the bitchin hour mon!

 

[Major_Blackhart]

So, will my tranny troll street sam be able to smash?

 

[taxalot]

The Elf Samurai seems fuckable and that is all that matters as far I as I am concerned with video games anymore.

 

[Ulminati]

There's some other pics as well as concept art for the Seattle campaign.

Screw the pictures, you left out the REAL gold nugget!

“What sort of exciting stuff”, you ask?
How about a look at Shadowrun Returns in action!!!
On Sunday, March 10th at South By Southwest in Austin, TX, Jordan and I will do a LIVE DEMO of Shadowrun Returns and take questions from the audience.