A Success in the Making
I noted in my last post that I wasn’t going to post about anything Shadowrun related until something significant from the “Year of Shadowrun” hit. I figured that would give me a couple of months to think about, you know, anything else. But just when I was settling into my Shadowrun reprieve, something came along that pulled me back into the Sixth World. Better yet, its part of a Kickstarter success story that is clearly going to deliver on all its promises and more.
Peek below the fold to find out more.
Last week, Harebrained Schemes, the company behind the wildly successful Kickstarter for Shadowrun Returns released 20 minutes of alpha gameplay footage for the edification of their backers and the gaming press. I’ve linked it for you here
, so go have a watch. All 20 minutes of it. It’s worth it. I’ll wait…
That, to me, is $2 million well spent dollars, right there. I had some doubts about Harebrained Schemes’ ability to deliver on the game as described in their campaign video and subsequent updates, but they are seriously on the verge of changing my mind about “big time” videogame projects on Kickstarter (all make the verdict when I can buy Shadowrun Returns on Steam…)
Let’s do a quick rundown of everything awesome in that video. These are in no particular order, mind you—just things that I think are damn cool.
- Gorgeous backgrounds (essential for an isometric game)
- A map editor for building your own scenarios
- Character statistics having an effect on conversations (this is hardly new, but I like it every time)—and you can “Face” your way out of combat, if you want to.
- Deckers and Riggers have tactical applications (I especially like the Drone rigging, which was a late addition to the pen and paper game, but very cool in this context).
- The Action Point system looks pretty fun and adds an element of resource management.
- The firing mode selector is a great idea (borrowed from X-Com, I gather, but a good choice, given the genre).
- Ley lines let you make interesting tactical trade-offs with your spell-slingers.
- Cover system looks well thought out and cool.
- Freaking summoning is AWESOME. I love what they did there.
Now for the bad stuff:
- It isn’t installed on my hard drive right now, providing me with hours of enjoyment.
I was a skeptic, but this video made me a believer. I’m very excited for HS to deliver on this one, because it looks like a home run.
Caffeineforge 
Looks good. I will have to give it a look once it’s available for purchase. I see that their delivery dates show the sunny, insane optimism that I come to expect from software projects. Seems unlikely they’ll make their January 2013 date at this point. Still, it’s good to see that they’re using that time wisely.