Game News Shadowrun: Hong Kong Kickstarter Update #11: Sequel "mini-campaign" announced as stretch goal

[naossano]

Where do they post their answers?

In the comments section of the kickstarter, the comments from HBS are highlighted.

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

Thanks, man. Just want to keep my eyes peeled in case they answer my questions.

 

[VioletShadow]

They keep getting requests for a campaign that allows character importing so it makes sense for them to actually deliver that.

You are being too nice lately. You are scaring me.

 

[mindx2]

I don't see anything wrong with how they're conducting this KS.* They clearly have a solid vision for the main campaign and don't want to alter it with excessive stretch goals. So they put up a stretch goal to create something after that main story and price it pretty high compared to the previous stretch goals. This KS looks to have been created with their core game already set and priced out. Not like some KS that start their campaigns way too low, begging for more money with unrealistic stretch goals that add to that core game they didn't price correctly in the first place! So, all in all, this seems to be one of the smarter KS I've seen.

*

Spoiler

Of course, no boxed edition tier is a MAJOR ISSUE!!!!

 

[JarlFrank]

Yeah, I am very happy about the way they're planning this one out. Stretch goals are realistic and usually add some minor content rather than whole new features, while those that add features or make existing features deeper are appropriately high. They know exactly what they're getting into, they know exactly what they want and what kind of money they need to do it. This, along with their constantly improving track record from DMS --> DF --> DF:DC, gives me high hopes this will turn out good.

 

[Vault Dweller]

We have our plans set for the story we want to tell in Shadowrun: Hong Kong, but if we’re lucky enough to reach the enormous sum of $1,000,000, we’re gonna create an additional 4-5 hourShadows of Hong Kong Mini-Campaign that takes place after the SR:HK story ends. Not only that, the Shadows of Hong Kong Mini-Campaign will allow you to IMPORT your high-karma Hong Kong character for a challenge only a prime runner could accept.

Pretty cool. Backed.

...except for the admission that the original Dead Man's Switch campaign had 75 percent(!) of its originally planned content thrown out. That explains some things, now doesn't it?

Jesus... The Codex must interview them asap and get more info.

 

[Infinitron]

Pretty cool. Backed.

The high-level campaign is what convinced you to back? That's interesting, can you explain?

 

[Vault Dweller]

I was on the fence before so I guess I was just waiting for a good reason. I'm not overly crazy about their games but they did make an effort to improve and that's something.

All the over stretch goals were typical KS shite like side-mission this, expanded something that. An eagerness to tell a new story, hopefully a truly challenging mini-campaign, now that's something too. Besides, since when are expansion packs a bad idea?

I understand the "why don't you make the main game better instead?" sentiment, but it's not that simple. Taking a break would give them time to process, gather feedback, improve the overall design again, etc. Thus, I see it as a better offer. For instance, the mega-dungeon in PoE. I'd prefer if it was an expansion rather than a part of the main game. It simply would not get enough content and attention, whereas it would have shined if the developers could focus on it almost exclusively after.

 

[naossano]

I am not sure i fully approve, but thank you for providing reasons to defend the expansion pack.
It might also turn that if they get more money from sells, they get to increase the lenght of that "mini" campaign.

What bothers me is not the lack of boxed version but also the lack of localization.
It might prevent many foreigners who don't understand english well enough to buy it.

 

[tuluse]

Jesus... The Codex must interview them asap and get more info.

I think the answer is going to be pretty obvious, making the editor took way more effort than they were expecting.

 

[Vault Dweller]

What I meant is that it would be nice to hear more development stories. What was planned, what went wrong, how it was handled. Basically, how did the original vision got transformed into 25% of it, which sounds like a very dramatic cut. Cutting 15-30% is kind of understandable. Cutting 75%?

Also, I doubt that the entire team worked on the editor as it's a programming task, mainly. Surely they had designers, writers, and scripters.

 

[Kem0sabe]

What I meant is that it would be nice to hear more development stories. What was planned, what went wrong, how it was handled. Basically, how did the original vision got transformed into 25% of it, which sounds like a very dramatic cut. Cutting 15-30% is kind of understandable. Cutting 75%?

Also, I doubt that the entire team worked on the editor as it's a programming task, mainly. Surely they had designers, writers, and scripters.

Small team, new engine, overwhelmed with their first major ip project, seems plausible.

 

[Wizfall]

What I meant is that it would be nice to hear more development stories. What was planned, what went wrong, how it was handled. Basically, how did the original vision got transformed into 25% of it, which sounds like a very dramatic cut. Cutting 15-30% is kind of understandable. Cutting 75%?

It did not surprise me at all, it was painfully noticeable to me while playing the last parts of DMS.
I know well enough the Shadowrun P&P Universal Brotherhood plot and the idea behind it is quite nice.
But the way it was implemented in DMS felt very wrong and awkward.
The pacing of the last 1/3 of DMS is very bad, rushed and clearly show HBS took big shortcuts to finish the game.
That damaged greatly the story.

HBS also wanted to implement a "detective" element to the game (to collect information and to prepare runs).
It was completely cut and that the thing i missed the most. It was a strong point (for the time) of the snes game.

 

[Kem0sabe]

DMS's story worked well enough while you were trying to find the killer, as soon as they added the entire save the city from bug demons plot, it went to shit.

Rpg devs should get it in their heads that low key stories are just as valid as the save the world hero stuff, and often much more interesting.

 

[Spectacle]

DMS's story worked well enough while you were trying to find the killer, as soon as they added the entire save the city from bug demons plot, it went to shit.

Rpg devs should get it in their heads that low key stories are just as valid as the save the world hero stuff, and often much more interesting.

And if they absolutely must do a save-the-world type of story, try not to recycle one that has been done at least twice in published Shadowrun adventures already.

 

[almondblight]

What I meant is that it would be nice to hear more development stories. What was planned, what went wrong, how it was handled. Basically, how did the original vision got transformed into 25% of it, which sounds like a very dramatic cut. Cutting 15-30% is kind of understandable. Cutting 75%?

Also, I doubt that the entire team worked on the editor as it's a programming task, mainly. Surely they had designers, writers, and scripters.

Keep in mind they switched engines in the middle of their 15-month development period (which was originally planned to be 9 months!), and significantly cut back on features (for instance, you were supposed to be interacting with the "Physical, the Digital, the Mystic, and the Astral" realities on missions, and the dialogue system was supposed to be like a better version of the SNES one). They also seemed to move away from the game being an anthology with runs being written by different authors:

We intend to follow a braided anthology structure for our story. Jordan, his partner Mitch Gitelman and Mike Mulvihill, who led Shadowrun game development at FASA Corp. will craft and structure the meta-story, then supply key information for a group of writers to weave into their own short stories, which we'll then use as the basis for our missions.

My understanding is that they hired a bunch of authors to write for the game, but their content ended up only appearing in some book that came in the higher tiers. Roguey has the book, I believe.

 

[Infinitron]

I think they switched the engine really early on, not in the middle. My impression was that they took one look at that engine Double Fine used for Broken Age and said "Ah fuck it we're switching to Unity".

For some reason though, they waited a long time before telling anybody about it. Possibly because they were afraid backers were expecting them to use "the same engine Double Fine did!", but that's just my theory.

 

[tuluse]

for instance, you were supposed to be interacting with the "Physical, the Digital, the Mystic, and the Astral" realities on missions

You can do this, though mystic and astral interactions are all scripted.

I think they switched the engine really early on, not in the middle. My impression was that they took one look at that engine Double Fine used for Broken Age, then looked at Unity, and said "Ah fuck it we're switching to Unity".

For some reason though, they waited a long time before telling anybody about it. Possibly because they were afraid backers were expecting them to use "the same engine Double Fine did!", but that's just my theory.

They probably didn't think anyone would really care.

 

[almondblight]

You can do this, though mystic and astral interactions are all scripted.

It seems like they originally wanted to do something a bit deeper:

Four realities overlap in the world of Shadowrun (the Physical, the Digital, the Mystic, and the Astral) and associated character classes such as the Street Samurai, Hacker, Combat Mage, and Shaman, each have the ability to view and interact with the world in ways the others can’t.

Here are some ways that selecting each character type allows you to see the map from a different perspective:

• Street Samurai see a threat assessment overlay of the environment that notes enemy appraisals, options for cover, potential weapons, and statistics for drawn weapons.
• Combat Mages see magical auras, granting them the ability to locate magical items, identify spells being prepared, and find the intersections of magic lay lines where they can recharge their power.
• Hackers/Deckers see the digital control circuitry that allows them to manipulate the physical world via the digital one.
• Shaman see the “true world” that lies in the astral plane, distinguishing the true nature of people, plants, creatures, and magical objects while buildings and other “dead” objects appear as mere shadows.

Missions (aka "Runs") in Shadowrun Returns can require interaction with all four realities simultaneously, requiring you to use information learned from each character’s perspective to coordinate their context-sensitive actions to get the job done. . . and survive.

 

[almondblight]

I think they switched the engine really early on, not in the middle.

Yeah, you're right:

We were moving very quickly and were super busy when the decision was made ( finding and moving to new office space, hiring a bunch of people, doing design preproduction, and figuring out the tech solutions) so making an announcement about it fell off our radar.

 

[twincast]

Where do they post their answers?

In the comments section of the kickstarter, the comments from HBS are highlighted.

Or if you don't want to scroll through all those user comments:
https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/webeharebrained/comments

 

[GloomFrost]

You can do this, though mystic and astral interactions are all scripted.

It seems like they originally wanted to do something a bit deeper:

Four realities overlap in the world of Shadowrun (the Physical, the Digital, the Mystic, and the Astral) and associated character classes such as the Street Samurai, Hacker, Combat Mage, and Shaman, each have the ability to view and interact with the world in ways the others can’t.

Here are some ways that selecting each character type allows you to see the map from a different perspective:

• Street Samurai see a threat assessment overlay of the environment that notes enemy appraisals, options for cover, potential weapons, and statistics for drawn weapons.
• Combat Mages see magical auras, granting them the ability to locate magical items, identify spells being prepared, and find the intersections of magic lay lines where they can recharge their power.
• Hackers/Deckers see the digital control circuitry that allows them to manipulate the physical world via the digital one.
• Shaman see the “true world” that lies in the astral plane, distinguishing the true nature of people, plants, creatures, and magical objects while buildings and other “dead” objects appear as mere shadows.

Missions (aka "Runs") in Shadowrun Returns can require interaction with all four realities simultaneously, requiring you to use information learned from each character’s perspective to coordinate their context-sensitive actions to get the job done. . . and survive.

Hmmm interesting.

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

Where do they post their answers?

In the comments section of the kickstarter, the comments from HBS are highlighted.

Or if you don't want to scroll through all those user comments:
https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/webeharebrained/comments

Better yet! Thanks, twincast.

 

[MicoSelva]

The cynical guy that I am lately, I will consider backing this for $15 if the KS reaches $1M, because then I will get the expansion too.

Otherwise, it would feel a bit too much like pre-ordering, which I do not do, unless we are talking about The Witcher.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Why is there still no Codex Fundraiser thread for this, Angthoron ? Unacceptable.