Harebrained Schemes

Shadowrun Returns Anthology Reward For Kickstarter
Backers In Development

The Shadowrun Returns story has already been ‘kickstarted’ with development of the game and now with the creation of a fiction anthology based in Shadowrun’s cyberpunk reality.  Already one of the most anticipated games for 2013, according to several top gaming websites, Shadowrun Returns is a graphically rich, single-player, turn-based tactical RPG that will release for PC, Mac and Apple and Android tablets.  Shadowrun’s dynamic gaming world is beloved by fans around the world who clamored for its return by participating in a massively successful Kickstarter project that surpassed its goal by raising 5 times its initial funding request.

Harebrained Schemes, led by Shadowrun originator Jordan Weisman, has teamed up with Catalyst Game Labs to create one of their most eagerly anticipated Kickstarter rewards, the Shadowrun Returns Anthology of all-new short stories that tie into the game’s world.

“Fiction has always played a seminal part in developing and expanding the Shadowrun universe,” said Weisman, CEO and Creative Director of Harebrained Schemes, “From short fiction in sourcebooks to full-length novels to epub novellas; nothing works as well to immerse a player into the Sixth World.”

As part of Shadowrun Return’s Kickstarter project, Harebrained Schemes promised a fiction anthology to several tiers of backers.  Catalyst Game Labs is managing the creation of the full-color, hardcover 8.5” x 11” deluxe anthology.  They will work directly with Jordan for Shadowrun Returns ideas, work with the authors to craft their stories, create the layout and oversee the publication.

“We’re exceedingly pleased that Harebrained Schemes chose us to help make this project a reality,” said Randall N. Bills, Managing Developer for Catalyst Game Labs. “Whenever Jordan calls out, you know it’s going to be a brilliant project. Working closely with him and the rest of the Harebrained Schemes crew to publish such a great tome of original Shadowrun fiction will result in a product that’s going to be fantastic from start to finish.”

Some of the extremely talented authors filling this volume’s pages include Jordan Weisman, Michael Stackpole, Tom Dowd, Loren L. Coleman, Jason Hardy, Jennifer Brozek, and Russell Zimmerman. Managing Editor John Helfers, who brings a wealth of both anthology and publishing experience to this project, is working closely with Jordan to ensure his vision of this anthology remains true to both Shadowrun and Shadowrun Returns.

Check out http://harebrained-schemes.com/ to learn more about Shadowrun Returns and go to www.shadowrun.com to join the community!

Catalyst Game Labs


Catalyst Game Labs is dedicated to producing high-quality games and fiction that mesh sophisticated game mechanics with dynamic universes, all presented in a form that allows beginning players and long-time veterans to easily jump into our games, while helping fiction readers enjoy our stories even if they don’t know the games.

Catalyst Game Labs is an imprint of InMediaRes Productions, LLC, which specializes in electronic publishing of professional fiction. This allows Catalyst to participate in a synergy that melds printed gaming material and fiction with all the benefits of electronic interfaces and online communities, creating a whole-package experience for any type of player or reader. Find Catalyst Game Labs online at www.catalystgamelabs.com.

Harebrained Schemes

Harebrained Schemes is a small group of wildly talented people, crammed into a closet, making whatever cool thing inspires them next. The Harebrained team is a combination of seasoned veterans and fresh talent, and is led by serial entrepreneur Jordan Weisman—founder of FASA, Virtual World Entertainment, FASA Interactive, Wizkids, 42 Entertainment, Smith & Tinker, and creator of BattleTech / MechWarrior, Shadowrun, and Crimson Skies. Their first title, Crimson: Steam Pirates, was one of Apple’s Benchmark Games of 2011 and one of Metacritic.com’s Best iPhone Games of 2011. Their next title, Strikefleet Omega, was named one of Google Play’s Best Games of 2012. In April 2012, Harebrained Schemes made headlines when it launched one of the first 7 figure Kickstarter campaigns to fund Shadowrun Returns, which now appears on five “Most Anticipated Games of 2013” lists.

Hi everyone, Mitch again.

Hope your holidays were great. A lot has happened since the last time we talked! Sit back, crack a SoyCaf, and let’s get started. There’s a lot to cover. . .

Let’s start with a progress report!

On the code-side, over 30 character skills and abilities are in the game and working. That’s stuff like etiquette, snapshot, and conjuring. On top of that, decking, rigging, spirit summoning, and spellcasting are in too! This list represents a huge push from our engineering team to get the first draft of these features in before the end of the year and they delivered. Now, before you get too excited, all these systems are using “programmer art” so they’re. . . not pretty. But they prove the systems, can be tested, bug-fixed, and iterated upon before we spend the time prettifying them. It’s starting to feel like a game. It’s got bugs and there’s a lot to do but it’s starting to feel like Shadowrun.

But wait, there’s more. NPCs are talking! Our base conversation system is in and working. We’ve got branching dialog in the game that performs checks to determine what dialog options to give you – we plan to note the skill/attribute/race, etc. that allowed that option to appear. We (and you) can do all sorts of cool things with our conversation system combined with our trigger system. Things like attaching a conversation to a window prop so it feels like you’re overhearing people on the other side of the window or having a conversation that convinces someone to turn off the fog of war in an area and escort you to the mainframe.

One big task that can’t be underestimated in all of this was creating test environments for each of the above features to ensure they work according to our spec and continue to work while we bugfix and iterate on them. That took our designers a good chunk of time but it’s worth it because now we can have interns regularly run tests independently. It also gave everyone plenty of practice with the editor.

Our next undertaking is a major overhaul of the user interface. As you may remember from Thanksgiving, we were living with interface version 2.0 to see how we liked it. We wanted to give it time so everyone could play with it for awhile and enter their comments and suggestions on a master list so we could review it in its entirety. Mike, our Art Director, wrapped his brain around all the feedback and came up with a holistic plan to address everyone’s issues. After reviewing it with the team and making a few revisions and additions, implementation began this week. Everyone’s very excited about interface version 3.0 and can’t wait play it.

Last on the production-side, our Audio Director has been collaborating with our composers to make sure we get the right sound for the game. Marshall and Gavin are working on Seattle while Sam tackles Berlin. I think Sam has the tougher job because he’s working without concept art but he and Alistair (our Audio Director) think they’re on the right track. I love hearing the work-in-progress music because they throw in little bits of their SNES and SEGA tunes here and there.

So far, we’re tracking to our May/June timeframe but my palms are a little sweaty. This next bit will give you an idea why.

Here’s what’s up with the Backer Rewards and survey

Here’s the deal: Kickstarter’s Backer Survey feature only allows us to do ONE survey ever. If we get something wrong, we can’t do another. In addition, that survey would only cover Kickstarter Backers and we’d have to do a separate system for PayPal Backers. As an added complication, if someone wants to change their mailing address or something, we’d have to do it by hand which is error-prone. On top of that, the KS survey tool won’t allow you to upload your photo for the Doc Wagon cards or NPC & PC character art.

We saw a few Kickstarter game projects set up databases so their Backers could log in and personally maintain their data and we thought it would be perfect for us too. In fact, Brian Fargo from inXile was cool enough to send us his Wasteland II  database code to save us time. But we also wanted to hook up the database to the game so it would automatically know who should get in-game rewards like the special ability and Doc Wagon.

Unfortunately, we were trying to work with an external partner for this so it wouldn’t distract the core team quite so much, but it wound up not working out to the quality level we were happy with, so we’re going to take a step back and make sure we can deliver something we (and you) will be happy with.

In the meantime, we’re starting some of the reward fulfillment process by hand. Backers at the $1000 level should have already received emails asking them to send us their photos so we can translate them into NPCs for the game. And Backers at the $2500 level and above will receive an email shortly asking for a photo so we can create their custom PC as well.

IMPORTANT: The deadline for getting your photos back to us is February 28th. If we don’t get your photo via email by then, we won’t be able to get your NPC or PC into the game. So watch out for that mail from us and contact info@hbs-studios.com if you don’t get the mail by Monday.

We deeply appreciate our Backers’ patience about the rewards. Believe me, we haven’t forgotten about you! Far from it. We’re just trying to be smart and focus on delivering the best game we can.

Check out the coverage Shadowrun Returns is getting!

Cool title page for the Game Informer article!

In addition to a bunch of great new features, something else exciting happened at the end of the year. Shadowrun Returns appeared on three “Most Anticipated Games of 2013” lists: Shacknews.com, Gametrailers.com, and PocketTactics.com.

Most. Anticipated. Pressure? What pressure?

There was also a nice interview with me on a Russian site called Game Star. Check it out here.

As we told you in December, GAME INFORMER did a big article on Shadowrun Returns for their February print and digital magazines along with an article called The Archetypes of Shadowrun Returns. The magazine article is really cool – good writing, great layout, 6 pages of coverage!

To get great coverage like this (over 6m people will see it!), game developers are often required to guarantee “exclusive content” for a period of time. That exclusive content, in this case, includes a couple of new images created out of in-game assets (like the Stuffer Shack scene released last year), a shot of our version of Jake Armitage from the SNES game, and a shot of our editor. Due to the exclusivity, we can’t include those in this post but will include them in Mike’s next dev diary where he’ll talk about how the environments are created.

In order to expand the audience beyond our original ~40k Backers, we still need to engage the gaming community at large in order to reach a wider audience. Even if we sometimes have to make special arrangements like this one, our default is to try and share the information with you first – you are our Backers, after all. We hope you understand.

Without further delay, here’s a rundown of the new information the article mentions:

• The mag talks a little bit about the story of the game, “A woman named Jessica Watts approaches your newly created protagonist for help. Her brother Sam, your old friend, has been murdered. You’re the only one she can trust and she begs you to come to Seattle to figure out what happened. We thought the only appropriate place to start a Shadowrun videogame was the morgue, so the first scene is there”, explains Weisman. “Your dead friend Sam is there, and like any film noir tale, the first character you meet is the Lone Star detective, Mitch Macklusky, who is immediately antagonistic. From there you find out that there’s been a series of murders; these people have all been found with organs cut out. You’re charged with solving Sam’s murder, but as you did into that, more and more unravels, and the mystery expands from the lowest echelons of society, like the biker gangs, all the way up to the dynastic control of one of the largest megacorporations.”
• While creating your character, you’ll answer a short set of questions that help determine your character’s background. (This isn’t implemented yet, so like all of our ideas, we’ll see how it comes out in the wash.)
• In combat, we simulate stun damage by reducing your Action Points. So a punch may do 5 Hit Points and 10 Action Points of damage, reducing your ability to respond to the best of your ability.
• Berlin is going to be released as downloadable content after the game launches and will be free to Backers.
• We also hope to release downloadable environment packs, like the Ork Underground, regularly so Player-GMs have more places to create their own stories.

Pre-orders of Shadowrun Returns are now available!

We’ve opened up pre-orders for Shadowrun Returns on our website. Tell all your friends! We took careful pains to ensure that our Backers’ Rewards remained special and exclusive. So while the highest pre-order gets the USB Dog Tags, it won’t come with the Collector’s Edition Boxed set and other goodies that come at that level.

We need Runners!

As Jordan said during his Fireside Chat, we haven’t reserved any of our funding for marketing expenses and it’s important to get the word out about the game to get more people “into the tent”. The more people we pull in, the more vibrant the community, the more fan-created stories we get to play, and the more support and content HBS can afford to deliver after launch.

So we need your help by sharing the love. Please get the word out about the Game Informer article to attract new people. When you see an article about the game somewhere, don’t just Like it. Share it, retweet it, and start a conversation about it.

• Are you a Facebook person? I am. (Maybe a little too much.) We post articles, news, and tidbits on https://www.facebook.com/HarebrainedSchemes all the time. Check it out.

• I still don’t really get the Twitter thing (old) but we tweet pretty often and retweet Shadowlands stuff too. Connect with us @webeharebrained

• Do you go to www.shadowrun.com? It’s a great place to post suggestions, start over-the-top flashmob plans, debate features and ask questions. I post there all the time, so come say hi!

• And don’t be afraid to send ideas and suggestions for spreading the word! All of us are more creative than just some of us. The address is info@hbs-studios.com.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed underground operatives can make Shadowrun Return; indeed, it’s the only thing that will.” –Lofwyr

Upcoming Events

Want to meet Jordan and me, ask questions in person, and maybe see some new stuff? We’re planning to be at two shows coming up and we’d love to meet you.

• The first is Emerald City Comic Con – it’s our hometown, after all. The show is March 1 – 3 and I’m looking forward to geeking out there.

• Next is South By Southwest in Austin, TX. SXSW is March 8 – 17 and sounds really cool this year. Lots of indie game developers and Kickstarter projects.

Just wanted to get those on your radar. We’ll provide more details as we get closer.

Thanks for the support, the feedback, and the questions.

We appreciate it,
Mitch

Hi! As we mentioned earlier, we’re going to continue giving you small snippets and insights into our development process on Shadowrun Returns. So this latest dev diary falls to me, Chris Kohnert. I head up the engineering efforts in our little office.

A picture of Chris Kohnert, starring Chris Aardappel’s photobomb

I think first off, it bears mentioning that Shadowrun Returns really is a pretty ambitious project. There’s a lot of depth and tactical strategy we’re trying to put into this game, while also keeping alive the fluid and dynamic elements that make a good story-based RPG fun.

One of the most important elements of any good single player game is a challenging and believable AI system. Since we’ve recently been tying up loose ends in the bulk of our core AI, I figured it would be a good time shine a bit of light into some of the elements of it, and how it integrates with some of the story-related gameplay elements of SR:R.

For this game, we have many different ways for you to approach any given scenario: do you try a frontal assault? Do you try to don a disguise and trick the guards into letting you into the server room? Do you need to protect that decker as he overtakes that computer node in order to take control of that mini-gun turret? In order to facilitate this flexible approach to tackling a level, the AI must be able to interweave many different disciplines and game systems and respond to a lot of different situations.

Let’s talk a bit about how this works at a very high level. The very first thing an AI needs to do is to be aware of its surroundings. For instance, when you move around a scene and perform actions, a guard will make an “awareness” check (i.e. “Do I see him?”). This is where stealth, line of sight, and audible cues are sensed and perceived (and also where that awesome ninja suit might come in handy). Assuming the guard sees you, he must then make what we’re calling a “perception” check (i.e. “What do I notice about him?”).

This is where the non-combat elements of the game start to come into play. For example, if you’ve managed to procure a guard’s uniform, he may take a look at you and decide you aren’t a threat. Though, that uniform may not do you any good if you’re carrying a couple of assault rifles when the standard issue weapon is a pistol. (Yes, we actually model that level of sophistication! Though whether it gets into the final game is based on how much fun it winds up being. . .)

Chris Aardappel, who’s taking point on the AI operations. Yes ladies, he’s taken.

Once an AI has perceived you and identified you as a threat, it drops down into a high level planning system where it determines what types of actions it should perform. Things like staying near a VIP to protect him or her or barreling down the hallway to take out the interlopers are resolved at this level. This level of logic, in our system, is implemented using behavior trees. They can be very useful for choosing among high level alternatives and goals.

Next, it comes down to tools of the trade. And in this case, that means pulling out your gun or choosing to unleash that Force 4 fireball spell. Our system performs a weighted analysis of options available comparing the action points (AP) available, AP spend-per-action, potential damage, chance-to-hit, splash damage potential, friendly fire, etc. It selects the best option (or two) and queues it up to be performed. This may also involve moving to get in range (or better range) and/or possibly moving to take advantage of nearby cover.

Eventually it all lands in a low level system that is the nuts and bolts of driving the character around on the screen. Choosing which animation to play, how it meshes with the current state of the character (crouching and facing), which weapon(s) are equipped, whether and how much to turn and face… these are all driven by state machines, a simple, but trusted friend of any programmer.

When you put these parts together, it is a very powerful (but complicated) tool. You can see from the diagram that it manages to hook into many of the exciting gameplay elements we’re working on as well. We want to be able to build Runs that are your standard smash and grab, but also be able to play dress up and possibly sneak into a dinner party wearing that fancy suit, or to woo that bank cashier into giving you the extra details regarding the bank manager’s schedule without resorting to violence (necessarily).

One of my favorite features that might not be evident at first (it’s in that diagram if you look carefully), is the ability for a superior’s perception check to influence or even override those made by underlings. For example, let’s say you had a squad of Lone Star security guards and their commander protecting a genetics lab. If you manage to convince the commander that you belong there (i.e. pass a perception check) through, say, intimidation, fake papers, or even disguise, then when you encounter any of the guards later on, they will check with their officer as to whether you belong there.

If the commander says you’re good, the guard will just wave you on. Assuming, of course, that the guard has a high enough discipline trait. If he’s a slacker or doesn’t trust (or like) his superior, he may just ignore his commander, and make his own check. This could be for good or bad, depending on whether he thinks you’re suspicious or not. Currently, this type of “consult with superior” check is simply done invisibly behind the scenes for the sake of gameplay speed and flow. If you wanted a scripted scenario where the guard stops you, rings his commander, and then makes that assessment upon hearing back, you would probably want to dive into the trigger system and implement that kind of logic there.

We’ve come a long way on AI, but there is definitely a lot of work still remaining. We have a lot of different skills and abilities being coded up right now, so we’ll need to spend some time folding that extra logic into the various levels. We have to make sure the enemy Shamans summon things correctly and that mages will use that trusty Fireball I mentioned earlier without going unconscious from the strain. We’re also continually refining the overall believability of the AI to make sure it feels smart and fun while maintaining a proper challenge level.

That’s about it for my little peek behind the scenes. I hope it gives you an idea of what we’ve been up to on Shadowrun Returns!