Shadowrun Online/Browsergame in development

[Wirdschowerdn]

Must have missed that completely:

http://www.cliffhanger-productions.com/content/list/details/id/58



But hey, at least it's for PC this time around.

 

[Excidium]

D&D = MMO incoming.

Shadowrun = Facebook game incoming.

VtM = MMO with Facebook integration incoming.

Fucking hell.

 

[Spectacle]

It seems like they're interested in following the original setting and history, which is a huge over the shitty M$ shooter.

 

[Excidium]

From the devs:

Coming back to the post's original topic...
Let me quickly say hello from the developers mentioned in this post,
We are not doing a full fledged client based MMO, I am afraid, as this would be beyond our meagre means and also almost all big client based futuristic RPGs have failed commercially, so it is a BIG risk. So it means our game will not be huge, shiny and it will not aim to build the 6th world brick by brick for you to experience. That being said, if anyone has 60 to 70 million dollars lying around unused looking for an investment opportunity, we are happy to reconsider.

Instead we intend to focus on the more tactical parts of the game and we will do a browser based game with small team gameplay (either alone or with others), more in the tradition of Baldur's Gate crossed with Jagged Alliance - with more firepower. We will have a seperate AI server for the game to ensure challenging fights and enemy behaviour.

We have began to talk with Shadowrun writers regarding plots and missions and want to stay as close to the game's plot as possible and keep the essence of the setting very much in the foreground. Many of us have been fans for over a decade and we have made our fair share of runs, so we want to stay true to the game we love.

Now reality, being the nasty thing it is, may force us to make compromises due to limited budget or technological barriers, so we can't promise anything at that point and anyway, this is not the place for marketing blurbs.

What we do want is for the fans of Shadowrun to become part of our development effort - as a critical (but hopefully constructive) audience, as a group to exchange ideas with (knowing we cannot incorporate each one) and to keep us straight in aiming for what makes the game great.

And no, we do not think this is steampunk, that was a misquote from our text for the Deadlands Action RPG we also intend to do...

Well at least they're honest with their shitty use of an RPG license.

 

[Gerrard]

Deadlands Action RPG we also intend to do...

Oh?

 

[lightbane]

Well, at least we know it cannot be worse than that shooter... Unless it features romances with dragon npcs.

 

[primetide]

From the devs:

...
Now reality, being the nasty thing it is, may force us to make compromises due to limited budget or technological barriers, so we can't promise anything at that point and anyway, this is not the place for marketing blurbs.

What we do want is for the fans of Shadowrun to become part of our development effort - as a critical (but hopefully constructive) audience, as a group to exchange ideas with (knowing we cannot incorporate each one) and to keep us straight in aiming for what makes the game great.

Well at least they're honest with their shitty use of an RPG license.[/quote]

Ah, I beg to differ. I have talked about the limits of our budget - I don't think we intend to do a shitty game, last time I looked. We actively engage the pen and paper people, we have created an advisory board manned by long time Shadowrun luminaries (artists, authors, even some mod guys) and we intend to get the best game we can out of our budget. But it simply is less than 5% of what say Bethesda spends on any of their games. That being said, gameplay can still be fun, graphics can still be good. But it is more like TV against cinema- we can do decent, but we can do gargantuan mindboggling graphics and planet sized worlds.

And we are trying to be open about that, not raise false expectations.

But we do have a lot of love and respect for the license - many of us have played Sahdowrun from 2.01 onwards

 

[kaizoku]

sup Drog? (tm)


1) online games are shitty
2) I really doubt P&P RPG players are fond of web browser games
3) unless you dumb down the game to the max (which voids the purpose of having the license in the first place) you won't be able to capitalize users

 

[LeStryfe79]

Wow those guys got some sweet ass IPs. I wonder if the CE comes with free cigarettes and whisky?

 

[Excidium]

CE of a browser game?

Well at least they're honest with their shitty use of an RPG license.

Ah, I beg to differ. I have talked about the limits of our budget - I don't think we intend to do a shitty game, last time I looked. We actively engage the pen and paper people, we have created an advisory board manned by long time Shadowrun luminaries (artists, authors, even some mod guys) and we intend to get the best game we can out of our budget. But it simply is less than 5% of what say Bethesda spends on any of their games. That being said, gameplay can still be fun, graphics can still be good. But it is more like TV against cinema- we can do decent, but we can do gargantuan mindboggling graphics and planet sized worlds.

And we are trying to be open about that, not raise false expectations.

But we do have a lot of love and respect for the license - many of us have played Sahdowrun from 2.01 onwards

It's good that the dev team likes the license, but that doesn't change the fact that it's going to be used in a browser game. I'm expecting a game that relies just on its licensed brand to attract customers. Featuring streamlined rules, premium item shop, social network integration, repetitive gameplay and all the other crap that comes with the genre.

 

[GarfunkeL]

While I would love a Shadowrun game on PC, I have to be extremely skeptical about the direction they're going - since I've never played a good browser game. Why browser? It's very much possible to do a small-budget game without going the Farmville/Mafiawars-route.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Hey primetide, don't you think you're spreading your small team a bit too thin among 3 games?

What engine are you using btw?

 

[Gregz]

Loved the SEGA RPG version, hope they go that route.

 

[primetide]

Well, first of all, browser does not mean facebook or social. Look at our current Jagged Alliance Online - we do a 3D gamesd based on Unity. So your impression of browser games is probably based on older games. Browser has come a long way in recent years...
and as mentioned - we cannot do a BIG gamne, but that does not mean it is shitty. It just means we need to make gameplay better and can not rely on big graphic effects.

We had the same discussion with Jagged Alliance as well as over at Dumpshock - a lot of people are sceptical, but before you judge, at least look at the pics on our page.
It will never be a PnP game with all its freedom, but I think it could be fun and challenging...

browser is not facebook anymore - it just means you don't need a 5 Gig client downloaded before you even start. And we are squarely aiming at the core audience - see, the good thing about doing a small budget game is, that we don't need to please everybody- just enough people so it is worth doing. We want to get to the RPG players, not the facebook housewives (though they ma not be mutually exclusive).

 

[primetide]

Hey primetide, don't you think you're spreading your small team a bit too thin among 3 games?

What engine are you using btw?[/quote

we aren't doing all three at once
We will finsih Jagged Alliance end of this year and begin Shadowrun in autumn...
we are using Unity 3D for our game

 

[Destroid]

While you are gobbling up PnP RPG licences make a SLA Industries game!

Also is this going to be 'free2play' ?

 

[thesheeep]

Well... from what I read at the forums and the ideas so far.
It does sound pretty good - for a pure online game.

Browser or not really doesn't matter that much to me. With an engine like Unity 3D you could "easily" develop something like Baldur's Gate running in a browser. Such things are just not done because most publishers aim at the money.

If you get the missions right and as free as possible and stick to the rules as close as possible, it might even turn out well. If you just go and use the setting, shit on the rules and turn it into a pretty bad DDO, you'll pretty much screwed. So I hope you got your focus on the right stuff.

The existing network in the shadowrun setting does allow for some nice interaction between players. Something else than "all run around in the same pub but on 200 instances" is needed here

 

[primetide]

While you are gobbling up PnP RPG licences make a SLA Industries game!

Also is this going to be 'free2play' ?

We also looked at Unknown Armies, but as mentioned...we will do the ones we got before we get new ones.

Yes, it will be free to play...

 

[Excidium]

Well, first of all, browser does not mean facebook or social. Look at our current Jagged Alliance Online - we do a 3D gamesd based on Unity. So your impression of browser games is probably based on older games. Browser has come a long way in recent years...
and as mentioned - we cannot do a BIG gamne, but that does not mean it is shitty. It just means we need to make gameplay better and can not rely on big graphic effects.

We had the same discussion with Jagged Alliance as well as over at Dumpshock - a lot of people are sceptical, but before you judge, at least look at the pics on our page.
It will never be a PnP game with all its freedom, but I think it could be fun and challenging...

browser is not facebook anymore - it just means you don't need a 5 Gig client downloaded before you even start. And we are squarely aiming at the core audience - see, the good thing about doing a small budget game is, that we don't need to please everybody- just enough people so it is worth doing. We want to get to the RPG players, not the facebook housewives (though they ma not be mutually exclusive).

That sounds a lot better.

Will Shadowrun Online use the same combat style of Jagged Alliance Online?

 

[primetide]

...

browser is not facebook anymore - it just means you don't need a 5 Gig client downloaded before you even start. And we are squarely aiming at the core audience - see, the good thing about doing a small budget game is, that we don't need to please everybody- just enough people so it is worth doing. We want to get to the RPG players, not the facebook housewives (though they ma not be mutually exclusive).

That sounds a lot better.

Will Shadowrun Online use the same combat style of Jagged Alliance Online?

We are looking into that - we may use something closer to Baldur's Gate, so a mix of turn based and real time

 

[Oarfish]

we may use something closer to Baldur's Gate, so a mix of turn based and real time

Uhoh. Prepare for

 

[Haba]

For a moment I thought we had the devs of Jagged Alliance 2: Reloaded posting here and I nearly choked on my tongue. You should put up a disclaimer or something.

 

[primetide]

For a moment I thought we had the devs of Jagged Alliance 2: Reloaded posting here and I nearly choked on my tongue. You should put up a disclaimer or something.

hehe, maybe I should have explained myself better, knowing how sensible that is....well for JAO we are using full turn based. But for Shadowrun we expect more things to do with interaction apart from pure use of skills or weapons. So in essence more walking/sneaking/spying. And the relation between the time it takes to walk from a to b and the time it takes to get you character to do that is an issue. So we may use real time while in non-combat situations and turn based for combat/hacking etc.

But as we are all about pleasing the customer (potentially you ), let's hear it - what would you prefer?

 

[Spectacle]

Real time exploration and turn based combat is the way to go IMHO, it worked sweet in JA2.
How are you planning to make money from this thing BTW?

 

[primetide]

Real time exploration and turn based combat is the way to go IMHO, it worked sweet in JA2.
How are you planning to make money from this thing BTW?

ah, money, damn, I knew we forgot something ;9

The game will be free to play and we will sell all kinds of augmentation, magic talisman and special wepaons and ammo. Shadowrun lends itself very well to any kind of item selling and I think it doesn't even feel weird. It is part of the game setting as such anyway