Shadowrun Online/Browsergame in development

[Wirdschowerdn]

Speaking of sneaking, real time is the way to go. Like the Commandos games.

God how I loved the Commandos games...

 

[Mastermind]

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

You're wasting your time. The codex is one of the most hypocritical and worthless prestigious magazines when it comes to getting feedback for your games. You will not get anything out of your time here other than butthurt and rage. They are not going to like your game no matter how good it is.

 

[DaveO]

Ok, so if the Codex is so worthless why do you post? With you being a participant of the Codex, that must make you worthless as well.

 

[primetide]

ah, I am used to loads of criticism initially, but after a while it usually gives way to carefully worded scepticism. That being said, we are interested in oponions of any kind- preferably constructive of course.
But I am all for going into the lion's den when talking about ideas - at least they must be able to stand their ground there.
And whether the final game is appreciated or hated is a different matter entirely...this in the end will be decided with people paying for it (or not).

 

[Mastermind]

Ok, so if the Codex is so worthless why do you post? With you being a participant of the Codex, that must make you worthless as well.

I rest my case.

I did not say the codex is worthless, I said it is worthless for this particular endeavor. The codex has its uses. Mostly as a punching bag that lets out a satisfying scream when you knee it.

 

[Mastermind]

ah, I am used to loads of criticism initially, but after I while it usually gives way to carefully worded scepticism. That being said, we are interested in oponions of any kind- preferably constructive of course.
But I am all for going into the lion's den when talking about ideas - at least they must be able to stand their ground there.
And whether the final game is appreciated or hated is a different matter entirely...this in the end will be decided with people paying for it (or not).

I have a question: is there a reason why there won't be facebook integration? Despite popular opinion, Farmville is not the beginning and the end for facebook games. I play a trading card game, two MMORTSs, one anime blob and one mmo dungeon keeper clone regularly, and none of them are anything like farmville. Seems like a pity to throw away easy advertisement. Plus, with so many games on facebook going off to another site to play more is not particularly convenient.

 

[Excidium]

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.

That is really the best solution.

 

[Spectacle]

ah, I am used to loads of criticism initially, but after I while it usually gives way to carefully worded scepticism. That being said, we are interested in oponions of any kind- preferably constructive of course.
But I am all for going into the lion's den when talking about ideas - at least they must be able to stand their ground there.
And whether the final game is appreciated or hated is a different matter entirely...this in the end will be decided with people paying for it (or not).

Be aware that the codex has a policy of not banning any but the most severe trolls. This gives a wonderful atmosphere of honest speech, but also explains why posters like mastermind are still around. Don't take everyone here seriously, because many aren't. If you can take the heat you'll find one of the most insightful gaming communities on the web.

 

[Mastermind]

Be aware that the codex has a policy of not banning any but the most severe trolls. This gives a wonderful atmosphere of reading words like niggerfaggot every other sentence, but also explains why posters like mastermind are still around. Don't take everyone here seriously, because many aren't. If you can take the heat you'll find one of the most insightful gaming communities on the web.

Fixed.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Jagged Alliance 2 in the Shadowrun world - YES PLEASE, I'd pay money for that.

 

[primetide]

ah, I am used to loads of criticism initially, but after I while it usually gives way to carefully worded scepticism. That being said, we are interested in oponions of any kind- preferably constructive of course.
But I am all for going into the lion's den when talking about ideas - at least they must be able to stand their ground there.
And whether the final game is appreciated or hated is a different matter entirely...this in the end will be decided with people paying for it (or not).

I have a question: is there a reason why there won't be facebook integration? Despite popular opinion, Farmville is not the beginning and the end for facebook games. I play a trading card game, two MMORTSs, one anime blob and one mmo dungeon keeper clone regularly, and none of them are anything like farmville. Seems like a pity to throw away easy advertisement. Plus, with so many games on facebook going off to another site to play more is not particularly convenient.

I am not saying we aren't going to have facebook integration, but running on facebook purely has several drawbacks.
Firstly: Facebook takes 30% of any money you make and forces you to use FB credits. Now in theory they act like a publisher, but in fact you have to pay advertising extra and the virality is severly limited by now with all the rules about what you can post to a user's wall and where it ends. It still can be great, but for a hard-core game it does not makes as much sense.
Secondly: FB integration for a lot of things sucks. It is slow, cumbersome and does not work well with more "hungry" software, because you swap stuff a lot in and out of memory.
Thirdly: If we cannot finance Shadowrun alone (and currently we can't), we need a publisher to front some money. FB publishers never ever do that.
Fourthly (?): FB isn't big in Russia and South America, where we also want customers

 

[Lord Chambers]

If I can do runs aginst Facebook Corp, I'll be happy.

 

[oscar]

Hell I think I'd play a game in any setting and no matter how bad the graphics as long as it had juicy, strategic, detailed JA2-style turn based combat.

I like your honesty about your budget and what you can achieve (I especially like how you see Facebook for what it is, a mere advertising tool, not some "revolution" in gaming). No point trying to compete with the big boys for the flashiest action scenes and shiniest graphics. What we want is good, solid, strategic gameplay that isn't blatantly dumbed down and targeted at the Halo and Call of Duty 4 playing frathouse down the road.

Since you seem to be making all the right noises for what's influencing your combat (Temple of Elemental Evil and Silent Storm also had some pretty awesome tactical turn-based) a mature (note this does not mean your companions dropping the F-Bomb every five seconds and being able to romance a gay dwarf) story with well-written (I'm not talking Tolstoy here but enough to make your characters not seem like complete idiots or generic RPG staples) dialogue would also be nice.

Luckily you've nabbed a good setting so all the real worldbuilding leg-work has been done for you (though I do wonder why you purchased a relatively well-known setting without having the budget to complete the actual game).

Good luck my Austro-Hungarian friends and be sure to keep the Codex supplied with screenshots and more info!

 

[primetide]

Well,
as we are doing JAO, we will definitely try to have a challenging combat with enough detail and tactics.
We acquired the license primarily because we wanted to do a Shadowrun game - if I had waited for a million Euro to drop on us before we get the license, I might have never been able to start. But also chances of getting financed are better if you have a popular license, so it does make business sense to invest in a license in order to get more investement in. A bit of a gamble, but no risk, no fun.

Storywise we are going to use established Shadowrun authors and are fully intending to do a mature story (as mature as a game gets with elves, dwarves and cyberpunk)

 

[primetide]

Ah, and for that matter- our first version of JAo (pre-beta) will be playable at gamescom next week. so if you are there, swing by the gamigo booth...

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Well,
(as mature as a game gets with elves, dwarves and cyberpunk)

It better involves hairy dwarf boobies!

 

[primetide]

Well,
(as mature as a game gets with elves, dwarves and cyberpunk)

It better involves hairy dwarf boobies!

what exactly is interesting about hairy b...ah never mind. no, even more mature

 

[primetide]

our first newsletter on the shadowrun online game is out..take a peek here http://www.cliffhanger-productions.com/content/list/details/id/65

 

[Excidium]

Sounds fun, just don't go too crazy on the microtransations.

Also this thread should be moved to the MMO subforum.

 

[Mangoose]

Sounds fun, just don't go too crazy on the microtransations.

Also this thread should be moved to the MMO subforum.

How is this an MMO?

 

[GarfunkeL]

Sounds fun, just don't go too crazy on the microtransations.

Also this thread should be moved to the MMO subforum.

How is this an MMO?

The game will feature two major parts – the action map, where you (and your friends) do missions from stealthily infiltrating a secret Renraku research facility to punching the lights out of a major Aztechnology outpost with guns blazing. Hacking, magic and gunfights are all part of that and will be done simultaneously (so nobody needs to go for pizza while your hacker battles Black ICE for two hours).

 

[LeStryfe79]

So, in other words, you guys are gonna sell Action Points in the cash shop? While selling playing time isn't inherently bad, I'd be super careful about this business model. That being said, I'll definitely check this out a little more down the development line.

 

[Excidium]

Sounds fun, just don't go too crazy on the microtransations.

Also this thread should be moved to the MMO subforum.

How is this an MMO?

Shadowrun Online

 

[Mangoose]

Sounds fun, just don't go too crazy on the microtransations.

Also this thread should be moved to the MMO subforum.

How is this an MMO?

The game will feature two major parts – the action map, where you (and your friends) do missions from stealthily infiltrating a secret Renraku research facility to punching the lights out of a major Aztechnology outpost with guns blazing. Hacking, magic and gunfights are all part of that and will be done simultaneously (so nobody needs to go for pizza while your hacker battles Black ICE for two hours).

So, Diablo II is an MMO?

 

[primetide]

So, in other words, you guys are gonna sell Action Points in the cash shop? While selling playing time isn't inherently bad, I'd be super careful about this business model. That being said, I'll definitely check this out a little more down the development line.

we will sell AP- which basically only is required if you don't wanna wait for them to regenerate - which they do over time. so not too much of an issue in my view.