Shadowrun Online Steps Into the Light

[Andy Chalk]

Shadowrun Online Steps Into the Light

A new browser-based Shadowrun game is in the works with none other than original designer Jordan Weisman helping out with production.

It's been a few years since the last time we saw a Shadowrun [http://www.amazon.com/Shadowrun-Xbox-360/dp/B000OLSJLC/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1318526699&sr=1-1] videogame, that being the thoroughly mediocre Xbox 360/PC shooter that came out in 2007. Hopefully things will go a little better for Shadowrun Online, a browser-based online game currently in pre-production at Cliffhanger Productions. Full-on development is scheduled to start next month and Cliffhanger is doing its best to keep expectations reasonable.

"It will be a decent quality, but it won't be what some call AAA. The reason for that is simple: we are doing a browser based game," the studio explained in the first Shadowrun Online newsletter [http://www.cliffhanger-productions.com/content/list/details/id/65]. "This means anyone can access it at any time from their PC, no downloading, no hassle. But that also means we need to limit visuals. I hope you agree that gameplay is king, so we think the visuals are decent enough."

Because it's so early in the process, the nature of the game is still very fluid, but it will be broken down into two major components: the action map, where missions will be carried out, and mission preparation, which will take place on an overview map of the city and involve using contacts, skills and resources to gain information about the upcoming job, bribe guards, prepare spells and so forth.

It's not much to go on but the presence of Jordan Weisman, who licensed [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-10-13-shadowrun-online-unveiled] the rights to Shadowrun, along with the Mechwarrior and Crimson Skies properties, to Weisman's Smith & Tinker startup in 2007.

More information about the new Shadowrun game, including the unequivocal statement that "it is nothing like the Xbox game," can be found at "The Big Shadowrun Online Question/Answer Thread [http://www.cliffhanger-productions.com/scripts/forum/index.php?topic=242.0]" on the Cliffhanger forums.


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[Roganzar]

Like me some Shadowrun. I've been hoping for a Shadowrun MMO style game for years. Great world for it too. Hope this turns out as fun as I'm now imagining it will be.

 

[SachielOne]

Oh HELL YES.

Hmm, if Adam Jensen were a Shadowrun character, how much Essence would he have left?

 

[JaredXE]

Now, the big question is: Can my mage cast Mass Orgasm on a group of security guards as a means to get away?

Also, they allowing character gen by Karma points or just plain xp?

 

[StriderShinryu]

Gah.. sad that it will be a limited browser based game as opposed to a full featured client based MMO. Shadowrun really is perfect for that sort of thing just like The Matrix was before poor MxO was so poorly handled post launch (and launched before it was ready). Still, after reading through the Q&A, it does sound like this will at least be an interesting diversion. Heck, it's already sounding 10x better than the 360/PC game from a few years back.

 

[Mischa87]

When I seen the thread title, I thought I would need a grinectomy, but as soon as I seen it was going to be a browser game, I got a little iffy on it... Not due to the lack of visuals (I loves me some Roguelikes) It's just that browser games tend to suck, with the whole AP/Energy bull... But... I don't think it could be any worse then that intellectual abortion of a PC/360 game... So I remain cautiously optimistic.

 

[Roganzar]

Oh HELL YES.

Hmm, if Adam Jensen were a Shadowrun character, how much Essence would he have left?

Lets see he was mainly a head and torso with some leg parts so I'd guess 0.35 remaining essense. Plus it was top of the line gear so more stuff for less Essense cost.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I kinda liked the shooter. I think fantasy and FPS should cross more often. Perhaps in a more polished game...

 

[Smooth Operator]

"it is nothing like the Xbox game"

A very important if not down right critical statement, because that game was dog shite on a broken plate force fed to you by a burly inmate.

I love that they are taking WebGL to the next level with some proper games, but I also fear this will make the game slip by the gaming community unnoticed.

 

[MrBrightside919]

I still have Shadowrun for the Genesis...

 

[Smokej]

is this based on 4th Edition?

 

[cerebus23]

I used to have a shodowrun online site bookmarked back in the day but seemed the project in general was in limbo, think they went through 3 or 4 engine switches during the time i was peeking in.

Good to see it got somewhere, browser based or not hope its good.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I dont know why people knock the 360 game.

Yea, it wasn't Shadowrun

I'd say that's probably why they knock it.

It's the same as (though not quite as bad, IMO) as the new X-Com and Syndicate games. No one is saying that they are out and out bad games. Heck, they're not even out yet so absolutely no one is in a position to judge them in that regard at all. What fans of the license have issue with is how these games are a slap in the face to those who have followed the series for any length of time.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Interesting. Could be really good, could be horribly bad.

Anyway, what's Shadowrun without a bucket full of D6?

 

[The Random One]

Yes, I love Shadowrun! Well, the world of Shadowrun. I never played the game and I understand it uses more dice then a Yahtzee Poker Dice Backgammon triathlon.

So I'll be on the lookout for this.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

Great news. Now if only I could port my old pen and paper Orc Street Samurai, complete with Wasp helicopter, into the game.

 

[maddog015]

Wonder if this will be like that Neverwinter browser based game on facebook..

 

[Scott Warren]

roll 42 d6's target number is 11

 

[Pumpkin_Eater]

Shadowrun was an excellent game that flopped for two very stupid reasons: Vista only compatibility and a menu screen that looked like Halo's.

 

[cerebus23]

Shadowrun was an excellent game that flopped for two very stupid reasons: Vista only compatibility and a menu screen that looked like Halo's.

NO that shadowrun game flopped because microsoft took a beloved and great ip with a ton of depth and lore behind it and turned it into a bleeping fps game, to every perosn that ever played shadowrun it was slap in the face and sure sign that microsoft had no intention of doing ANYTHING with the SR IP that was worth anything.

So almost to fan noone bought that game for that very reason.

Oh and also at about the same time there was a small company working on a shadowrun mmo proof of concept on their own time and dime and they had a fully working engine and art assests made and even some working code, and microsoft strung them along until they hit them with a cease and desist order soon after they announced their sudden new "shadowrun" title.

And yea they copped a lot of the classes and blance of the game to make the fps they made and it probably was great and way different because it had so much rpg behind it draw from, but people were waiting for an rpg or a mmo to strip that all down to fps was an insult, especially since the xbox is console that a fps is a dime a dozen, wth did they have to turn a rpg franchise into another fps exactly in the first place?