Shadowrun Online Goes to Kickstarter

[Andy Chalk]

Shadowrun Online Goes to Kickstarter

[kickstarter=1964352341/shadowrun-online]​

The studio making the browser-based Shadowrun MMO wants your money.

It's been awhile since we last talked about a big Kickstarter project, so allow me to point you at Shadowrun Online, the browser-based MMO set in the famous pencil-and-paper RPG world of the same name. Those of you who've been paying attention will recall that Shadowrun Online was originally announced [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113630-Shadowrun-Online-Steps-Into-the-Light] in October 2011, but having seen the great crowdfunding successes enjoyed by so many other indie projects, the devs at Cliffhanger Productions decided to give it a go themselves.

They're aiming high. The Shadowrun Online Kickstarter is seeking $500,000, which isn't outrageous compared to the millions earned by earlier projects like the Double Fine Adventure or Wasteland 2 but still a hell of a pile of money for a relatively unknown studio. Cliffhanger is made up of veterans of various high-profile games like Diablo 2, World of Warcraft, Far Cry, Gothic and others, and while it's doing fairly well for itself so far, the lack of a "big name" like Tim Schafer, Brian Fargo or Brian Mitsoda at the helm could very well make hitting its goal a real challenge.

Speaking of big names and big Kickstarters, Shadowrun Online is separate from Shadowrun Returns, the single-player game being developed by Jordan Weisman and the team at Harebrained Schemes that brought in shadowrun.com [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117003-Shadowrun-Returns-Kickstarter-Finishes-Big], and as Executive Producer Jan Wagner explains in the pitch video, Cliffhanger and Harebrained have agreed to collaborate and support each other where they can, and have even discussed "a little side plot" that will span both games.

Shadowrun Online will be free-to-play with optional "premium subscriptions" available for serious fans, so everyone will be able to play whether they support this Kickstarter or not. Those who do will get things like access to the closed beta, unique in-game items, pre-paid subscriptions and of course the usual crazy stuff at the high end of the donation scale, like being used as a boss enemy or designing your own mission. As always, nobody can guarantee that this thing is going to happen or that it won't suck if it does, so empty your caveats and then check it out at Kickstarter [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1964352341/shadowrun-online]!


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[80Maxwell08]

You might want to edit in their other work just for some background. Also their other work is Jagged Alliance Online. No idea if that's actually out or not.

Just checked it's in open beta.

Now for my actual feelings on the topic at hand. Meh. Still don't know anything about Shadowrun so doesn't really mean much to me.

 

[cerebus23]

I hope it is good. cept i am leary of browser based games and their cash shop/sub models which tend to put a ton of pressure on people just to keep up with other players.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

I used to think browser based MMOs all sucked. But then... Oh wait, they do all suck.

iKid. iKid.

A little let down this isn't the Shadowrun I thought it was.

 

[Scorpid]

So Shadowrun fans, how badly do you want to revive the Shadowrun franchise in video games?

 

[Tony2077]

all i see is kickstarters for other games what happened to nexus 2

 

[UnderGlass]

I was wary of this one myself as I'm not a big fan of MMOs. But after spending a bit of time over on the Shadowrun forums and checking out their frequent Facebook updates it's clear they're a personable bunch of devs and genuine fans of the franchise. It sounds like there will be a fair amount of depth in the game and they're building for f2p right from the start which is good news.

Anyone worried about graphics needs to do a Google image search of Unity games. It's a very powerful engine capable of as much graphical fidelity as the dev wants to put into it. It doesn't matter if the platform is Direct3d or a modern browser+plugin the results are the same.

 

[vallorn]

So Shadowrun fans, how badly do you want to revive the Shadowrun franchise in video games?

We already funded Shadowrun Returns which is more like the old Shadowrun games (the good ones not the *Shudder* Xbox one)

 

[Scorpid]

So Shadowrun fans, how badly do you want to revive the Shadowrun franchise in video games?

We already funded Shadowrun Returns which is more like the old Shadowrun games (the good ones not the *Shudder* Xbox one)

One game doesn't make a franchise revival; why ask the 'xbox one'.

 

[Uge Plex]

Hoi Chummers! Cliffhanger has announced there will be a client for Shadowrun Online, it's not just a "browser based game." And, well.. I've seen people commenting elsewhere about "oh it's an MMO so it must be sketchy" ... this is my reply to them, based on my experience in the community...

The original creator of the entire Shadowrun franchise as well as the company behind the pen and paper Shadowrun RPG are cooperatively supporting Shadowrun Online. That's two other companies working in friendly cooperation with this developer and one of those companies is another video game development company/potential competitor since they're both launchin on tablets (though with very different types of gameplay)! The developer of Shadowrun Online (Cliffhanger) is also the developer of Jagged Aliance Online, which gets a lot of positive reviews from its players, and the team working on the game are developers from other major titles. They've been consistently interacting with the community and responding to the Shadowrun fans as well as interested gamers, tweaking the project where they can as a community effort, which is AWESOME. Additionally, they already have the core engine developed and screenshots available, and need the Kickstarter money to expand the game world and art the like. It's not intended to be a AAA game, they have their sights set on what they can reasonably accomplish, and they've been working on this for some time. Additionally, while the game may be free to play when it launches, they've made it clear it won't be pay to win. Nothing about this says sketchy. It says Cliffhanger is a dedicated developer trying to make a fantastic game for an under served (Shadowrun) community, because they're fans of Shadowrun too, and they've repeatedly shown this to the community. I really hope they get the support to make this game, because these are exactly the type of developers gamers need working on games. It's just a shame they can't get publishers interested without losing control of their own project, which is why they've gone to Kickstarter to get help from gamers to complete Shadowrun Online. So, as Leeloo would say, "Plaese Haaaalp!" You can take a look at the project here, and don't forget to check the updates tab, it has more info and links some really sweet graphics http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1964352341/shadowrun-online - If you can't tell...I'm so excited they're making a Shadowrun game I can play with friends online, it's like a cranial BOMB of AWESOME exploded in my brain! ^_`'`'`'``'`'`