Shadowrun Returns

[Spider]

I think the combat is quite broken in normal difficulty. Tactical RPGs are supposed to be challenging even in normal, but my physical adept troll slaughtered anyone with ease.

 

It wasn't very difficult in very hard either.

[samm]

Just like the lack of saving anywhere, it is pretty clearly a question of developer's limitations rather that a deliberate attempt to piss off customers.  They really don't have anything to gain by making people re-download the whole game.

I also think they're pretty limited... Didn't mean to say they gain anything, but rather wanted to imply they don't make much effort to serve that part of their customer base because Steam seems to make life easier for them.

 

Well, gotta go to sleep, have a patch to release tomorrow (not kidding)

 

 

 

To be fair, they're not alone in that Expeditions: Conquistador had the same issue to an extent: their first patch was able to be released as a small executable, but their second required a redownload of the whole game. Applying Occam's Razor, I'd say the stated explanation that Unity makes it hard to patch games is a valid one, as opposed to deliberately wasting bandwidth to push a static number of users towards a different platform. We'll see for sure either way once a few more titles are released.

Wouldn't improve my opinion of the engine, and I hope P:E and Torment won't have the same problem... Still, I doubt it's the engine: If something in the main executable has changed, add that to the patch executable. If some other assets have changed, add those files to the patch executable. Expeditions: Conquistador doesn't consist of one huge executable and a single resource file or anything like that. Bandwidth seems to be cheaper than a few hours of coding and testing, at least in the short run *shrug*

Edited August 5, 2013 by samm

[Tale]

I have never been this bad at a mod project before, I swear.

 

My intro plan is being redone again. This has nothing to do with the fact that I accidentally lost my most recent intro map.

 

I have a philosophy here that I need to get on ball with. The introduction should be something of a promise to players. The first things you do should be an example of what the majority of the game will be. If you start with combat, it should be a module about combat. If you start with some openness, dialogues, choices, it should be a module built around that. I was starting with combat with no intent to focus on combat.

 

I also find another spectacular bonus. In cutting this scene, I don't actually have to create any maps to replace it. The scenes I'm replacing it with all use maps I already intended to make.

[Leferd]

Objectively speaking, It's a decent enough game - good but not great...but something about it just makes me smile all throughout the playthrough. I really had a lot of old school fun.

[Tigranes]

Very much emjoyed it but second playthrough and its really getting old.t

 

My melee swordsman kills everything by herself on VH, its a joke. The semblance of challenge on my first run was because I had a rigger-decker-mage with 3 body for most of the game. After plot AP upgrade in particular she can run up and doublecut anybody to death. For the Renraku run I only took a dwarf support mage, 2 out of 4 party slots. Haste PC to 5ap, kill 2 enemies a round with double cut or cleave. Took out everyone at renraku labs incl. Basilisks with full health using support mages heal ability.

 

Will try Telestrian with mage and dodger for matrix then rest of game with only mage backup. You get far too much karma, enemies are far too stupid (hurr durr I will shoot you from far away THEN run up to you and end turn), there aren't enough enemies with interesting abilities (ghouls appear only once, not many or no adepts, no drone uaers, not much grenade types).

 

Glad Berlin is free for KS (and preorder I think?) And hope they ramp up the shallow mechanics there. I think even some easily moddable settings like karma # and enemy levels plus some thoughtful encounter design will go a long way.

[Tale]

Proudest I have been of a map so far. I think I'm really refining my technique.

 

This is actually only a quarter of the map and there's no lighting set up. But it's a good start.

[Hurlshort]

I have finished my adventure, Spectrum Street Episode 1.  I've been running over it quite a bit trying to balance and make it decent for multiple classes, but I can really use some feedback on balance and how it looks from other people's perspective.  So I'm putting it up on Steam and it is available to all my friends.    

Edited August 9, 2013 by Hurlshot

[ShadySands]

Just finished Dead Man's Switch for the second time and I had to increase the difficulty level to very hard this time. I dunno if playing a non-magic user is that much easier or if I've just gotten better (pretty sure it's the former). The patches have definitely helped my experience this playthrough as I didn't encounter any bugs or issues I had the first time.

 

Quick question

 

Brackhaus is Lofwyr right?

 

 

Also reading the anthology that came with the game and I'm really enjoying that, I've missed SR fiction.

[Oner]

 

Also reading the anthology that came with the game and I'm really enjoying that, I've missed SR fiction.

Thanks for the reminder, forgot about it completely.

 

Hurlie, friended you on Steam so I can play your work.

Edited August 9, 2013 by Oner

[melkathi]

 

Hurlie, friended you on Steam so I can play your work.

 

 

Did that too. Then send friend invites to a few more people who looked familiar. Then decided that it was enough socializing for one day

[BruceVC]

 

 

Hurlie, friended you on Steam so I can play your work.

 

 

Did that too. Then send friend invites to a few more people who looked familiar. Then decided that it was enough socializing for one day

 

 

Hi Melkie

 

Where have you been? I have missed you and your shrewd comments

[alanschu]

 

 

Did that too. Then send friend invites to a few more people who looked familiar. Then decided that it was enough socializing for one day

 

Stalker!

[melkathi]

 

 

Hi Melkie

 

Where have you been? I have missed you and your shrewd comments

 

 

Took a three week break off the internet, gaming etc.

[BruceVC]

 

 

 

Hi Melkie

 

Where have you been? I have missed you and your shrewd comments

 

 

Took a three week break off the internet, gaming etc.

 

 

You naughty boy Melk, next time let us know

 

Talking about missing regular members does anyone know where Drowsy Emperor is?

[melkathi]

 

 

Talking about missing regular members does anyone know where Drowsy Emperor is?

 

 

 

When the Steal Summer Sale started he was just about to go into radio silence so as to concentrate on something unviersity related like exams or something like that. He hasn't emergd from that yet. Steam profile reads last online 20 days ago.

[Guest Slinky]

Boo is most likely just running around eating peoples eyes, miniature giant space hamster tend to do that at times.

[Malcador]

Thought he was taking a break off for studies. Or might be out enjoying summer.

[ShadySands]

Nevermind about Brackhaus

 

There is a short story in the anthology with him and Harlequin that answers that

[Hurlshort]

Hrm, now people are getting black screens when they try it.  I know Tale got it to run last night, anyone else having issues?

[Hurlshort]

Reloaded a new build and it seems to be working well.  Fixed a few bugs, although there are still some smaller issues I need to tweak.  It's also apparently a bit hard

[entrerix]

 

 

 

 

Hi Melkie

 

Where have you been? I have missed you and your shrewd comments

 

 

Took a three week break off the internet, gaming etc.

 

 

You naughty boy Melk, next time let us know

 

Talking about missing regular members does anyone know where Drowsy Emperor is?

 

 

he probably will be gone for two weeks and then come back and post 40 times a day cause thats how he rollllllls (in a hamster ball)

[Malcador]

Finally finished it off, that last fight sure was annoying.

[ShadySands]

Update 60

 

 

Things are moving quickly here so we thought we’d quickly update you on what’s going on.

Beyond working on bug fixes, translations, Linux, and finishing the tablet versions of the game, the engineering team has been investigating improvements to our save game functionality. We are aware that there are a number of people who would like the ability to save in the middle of scenes. However, we also know that adding this feature would involve major changes to the core infrastructure of the game. It’s still too early to say whether this is going to be possible, but we wanted to let you know that we’re actively investigating it and will let you know more in the coming weeks. 

We've heard a lot of questions from you wondering what to expect from Berlin. Well, our original plan called for a modest-sized campaign that we could ship by the end of October. However, after listening to your forum discussions and feedback, it became clear that you would like to see something bigger (and so would we). So, we've decided to spend more time on Berlin to create an experience closer to the size of Dead Man’s Switch. A story of that scope will take longer, so we’re targeting January for its release. While we're still in the early stages of development and many things could change, we’d like to share what we’re planning so far. For example - we know that we want our next story to feel more like the player is part of a shadowrunning crew and contain more corporate intrigue.

Here are the key ideas driving Berlin pre-production right now: 

• A more flexible main story arc - choose which runs to complete first, and which factions to complete objectives for 
• More depth to the NPC runner characters 
• New weapons, outfits, portraits, music, and enemies - including more magical creatures 
• Improved Physical Adept gameplay - along with additions for some of the other existing archetypes 
• A European city with a very different look, “vibe”, and cast of characters 
• A story that highlights the compelling themes of the Shadowrun: Germany sourcebook 

In addition, for the GMs out there, all of the environments and characters that we add in Berlin will also be available in the Shadowrun Returns Editor for anyone who has the Berlin campaign installed.

One last thing - as we’ve highlighted before, there’s some really cool stuff happening in the world of Shadowrun Returns Community CreatedContent. We love playing the stuff you guys come up with - so much so that we made a “Let’s Play” video of Mitch and Jordan playing "Jacked Up" by Taloswind. They had a blast, and they'll certainly be doing more of these. Subscribe to the Harebrained Schemes YouTube channel if you don’t want to miss ‘em! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4JmjdkiEOc&feature=c4-overview&list=UUO0pndgsIKZdyf9qFmhmSSw

That’s it for now! If you’re at Gen Con, please stop by and see us! In addition to all the seminars we’re running, you can find us in Hall F near the front door, running playtests of Golem Arcana all weekend long. 

Take care! HBS

[ShadySands]

Update 61

 

 

 

Hi guys! Mike McCain here – I’m the art director for SRR, and I'm also heading up creative development of the Berlin campaign so I wanted to give everyone an update on where we’re at and where we’re going.

 

Story: We’ve completed a first draft of our story for the Berlin campaign. There’s still plenty to refine and iterate on but we’re all excited about where it’s heading and agree that the “bones” of it are solid. Without venturing into spoiler territory, it has a lot of fun Shadowrun elements and really plays to the strengths of the Berlin setting – the anarchist Flux state, the many varied factions and ideological viewpoints present in Berlin, and the sense of teeming opportunity for the savvy Shadowrunner. Berlin is a new standalone campaign, not a sequel to Dead Man’s Switch. As such, you’ll start the campaign with a new character. The player is cast as a more seasoned runner this time around, who’s recently relocated to Berlin. You’re running with a small crew which you’ll get to know well as the game progresses.

 

One thing we’re particularly excited about is developing the player’s home base neighborhood, which we’re currently calling the Haven. In 2054, Berlin exists as a fully neo-anarchist state – it’s not a crazy, lawless frontier, but rather a grand experiment in self-governance and emergent social order. Neighborhoods in Berlin become their own entities, with small communities banding together and often operating completely independently of the rest of the city. These neighborhoods organize their own protection and resources, sometimes even to the extent of walling off the entire block. Technology (and the electricity to use it) isn’t always available, and some parts of the city have fallen back to older patterns of living. We’re focusing on one such neighborhood for the player. Not only do you have a home base in this area, but you can explore and meet people in the surrounding neighborhood – meet a contact at the cafe down the street, or head to that back-alley street doc for some new meds or cyber. While developing this Haven area, I’ve been working with the Shadowrun pen-and-paper team in Germany to make sure we construct a slice of Berlin that’s accurate to the spirit of the campaign setting.

 

The main campaign of the game will allow you to complete certain missions in the order you choose, and will present you with some different ways to tackle those missions as well as some optional side objectives. To be clear though, Berlin is not a sandbox environment or an open-world experience. What we are working to create is a more flexible story structure and an engaging “hub area” that will give the player some choices and a sense of place and purpose.

 

Design: For the last few weeks, Trevor and Kevin (our designers who did the bulk of the level design for the Seattle campaign) have been prototyping a variety of gameplay ideas for missions. We want to create meaningful choices for the player within scenes. As an example, Kevin’s working on a run against a corporate facility with several possible ways for the player to gain entry depending on their party’s skillset. The choice of approach isn’t always clear cut, however – one path may allow the player to slip in undetected but at the expense of some innocents. We’re also working on some more unique non-combat elements – the other day Trevor created a dog character in the Haven area that you can interact with and get to follow you around.

 

Also, this week we welcome two new members to our design team, Simon and Andrew, who complete the team for Berlin. (Simon’s our new level designer and Andrew’s our new writer.) It was really fun recruiting for both of these positions, as Mitch and I got to play everyone’s audition levels which showed off a lot of fun, creative ideas. In fact, Andrew wrote a sample NPC character for his audition that we now plan to use in the game. When these guys showed up on Monday, we actually wound up re-arranging the office a bit so that now the design team has a dedicated space right next to the Berlin art team. This should allow for more fluid iteration on scenes between designers and environment artists.

 

Art: Berlin’s a really exciting environment to explore visually – the concept of the Flux State creates a ton of opportunities for unique visual elements. The environment team’s already put together a great European museum interior set and is now hard at work developing our Haven area. It’s fun to think about how a neighborhood would become self-sustaining – the residents of this place have to have their own shared arrangements for power, food, communications… this district is independent from the outside. This means, for example, rooftop gardens and a central growing area with hydroponics technology allowing a high yield of crops from a relatively small area; solar panels plastered across buildings; a cafe at the end of the block which has become the community’s informal gathering place; jury-rigged street lighting along the main strip of the area; and a ruined, fenced-off building which has since become an agreed-upon dump location for unwanted items.

 

 

(A sample of some visual development work for Berlin's Haven area. Larger here.)

 

Berlin will come with several new tilesets, which will also mix and match well with the core game’s tilesets to create a lot of variety and opportunities. Our top priorities for Berlin environments are: 1. fully realizing the Haven area as a vibrant, dynamic community, 2. Creating a great European corporate office tileset (for all of our classic office-incursion shadowrunning needs), and 3. building a satisfying final-mission environment (which I can’t say more about without spoilers…). In addition, we have a cool industrial factory environment set underway and a couple of our environment artists have put together a great new set of Berlin advertisements, signs and graffiti.

 

We’re also working on other types of enemies and creatures for the game. So far we have some cool new supernatural creatures (such as a Fire Drake) and some new private security forces for you to contend with – Knight Errant. Berlin will also include some new player portraits, outfits, and Germanic totem choices for shamans.

 

Systems: In between their work on the other big-ticket dev tasks, the engineering team’s been able to complete some fun new features for us to use in Berlin. We now have the ability to display important mission data directly in the game’s UI. This makes it easy for us to communicate custom mission objectives (For example, the number of rounds before reinforcements arrive, # power junctions remaining, etc.) Another cool new toy is… exploding barrels! Because… video games. (Actually, our engineers went above and beyond with this feature and now we can make any actor explode with any type of effect or damage, and even leave behind damage-over-time effects on the tiles in the area.)

 

Another thing we’re excited to add in this new campaign is some more weapon variety. So far we have a grenade launcher, sniper rifle, throwing weapons, and even a taser going in. There may be one or two other fun weapons that find their way in as well…

 

What’s Next: This week we’re shifting from pre-production to production. I’ll be finalizing our story with the design team, along with Jordan and Mitch, to make sure we’re constructing this campaign on a strong foundation. We’ve flowed out a schedule from now until the end of the year so that we can budget our production time appropriately. The environment team is moving from concept art to full tileset production on our Haven location. Our story is being broken out into discrete mission outlines, with each designer taking the lead on a set of missions. Kevin’s created a great “mission doc” template that we’ll use not only to document a clear set of goals for each mission, but also to track feedback and important hotspots for our test team to pay attention to. Our next milestone as a team is to construct a full first-playable of our Haven neighborhood, with the player able to explore the area, talk with the locals, buy equipment, and maybe complete a small side objective or two – then return to their base to get to know their team. This will establish a strong template for both the Haven location and the characters in it that we can build the rest of the experience on.

 

So that’s where we’re at! If you have any questions about Berlin, I’ll be stopping by the HBS Dev Q&A section of the forum as time allows – starting next week – so feel free to leave questions there for me (please put [berlin] at the front of your thread title).

 

Until next time!

 

- Mike

 

And… some other quick updates:

 

Kickstarter Rewards: Many of you have already received your dogtags and t-shirts in the mail but those of you who backed at higher levels were still waiting. Not for much longer though! We have finally received the hardcover Anthologies from our printer and have already started to ship them out.

 

Tablet Releases: The iOS version of Shadowrun Returns is complete and has been submitted to Apple certification. It’s hard to predict certification times but we’ll keep you posted. The Android version of the game is nearly complete and should be ready for release at the same time as the iOS version.

 

The Next Patch: We’re looking to release the next patch for Shadowrun Returns sometime in early October, and it will include a number of the new code and editor features mentioned in the Berlin update above (like custom mission objectives) so you can start using them in your stories before Berlin is even released! It will also include the usual bug fixes and improvements.

 

Linux Release: The next patch (again due in early October) will also include the Linux Beta versions of both the game and the editor. If you’re a Linux user, we’d love to get your help testing when it comes out!

 

Improved Save Games: Our intrepid engineers are hacking away at improving our save game functionality in an experimental branch of the code. We still can’t commit to such a major architectural change or to how long it would take to complete but we are diligently working on it, so please stay tuned.

 

Localization: We’ve pulled all text from the game and sent it to our localization partners, who are currently translating the game into French, Italian, German and Spanish. We should receive translated text back at the end of the month, after which it will require some heavy integration work into the game. We anticipate this work being completed in late October / early November. We’re also working on Russian and Chinese translations of the game, though we don’t have a timeframe for those yet.

 

And finally…

 

 

The Golem Arcana team has launched their Kickstarter funding campaign and it’s off to a great start – check it out, and tell your friends about it!

 

 

 

I'm a bit surprised that Berlin is completely stand alone and that you must start with a new runner

[Gfted1]

I suppose that will give me an excuse to try a different class.