So.... what happens after $700,000???
Hey Everybody!
We get this question a lot (like, a LOT!) and today is the day we're gonna answer it!
We have our plans set for the story we want to tell in Shadowrun: Hong Kong, but if we’re lucky enough to reach the enormous sum of $1,000,000, we’re gonna create an additional 4-5 hour Shadows of Hong Kong Mini-Campaign that takes place after the SR:HK story ends. Not only that, the Shadows of Hong Kong Mini-Campaign will allow you to IMPORT your high-karma Hong Kong character for a challenge only a prime runner could accept.
The Shadows of Hong Kong Mini-Campaign will come out sometime before the end of 2015 and will be free to Backers at the $15 pledge level and up. And you’ll receive as many copies of the Mini-Campaign as you are eligible for at your reward level. For example, if you get 3 copies of Shadowrun: Hong Kong at the $150 level, you’ll also get 3 copies of the Mini-Campaign.
Make sense? Good!
But no matter what funding level we reach, it's BONUS TIME!
Everyone who backs the project at the $35 Reward Level and above will get access to an AUDIO COMMENTARY TRACK from the Shadowrun Development Team. Hear the writers, designers, artists, engineers, and composer discuss how the game was made, the challenges they faced, and the fun they had while making the game. The audio commentary will arrive in an update after the game is released.
AND everyone who backs at the $35 Reward Level and above will also get TWO HIGH-RES DIGITAL POSTERS that, when placed together, combine into a beautiful Shadowrun Panorama. The first poster contains a Timeline of Shadowrun History. The second contains a Glossary of Shadowrun Slang. Tell your friends!
Again, we can't thank you enough for the outpouring of support for a project we're delighted to be working on. Look for another peek behind the scenes soon, and please let us know if there's some element of game development at Harebrained Schemes you're interested in hearing about.
Have a great weekend,
HBS
TheUnbeholden on January 26, 2015
A 5h add on? I know they can do better than that. We need more games and stories like this. Now they have the money to do it. Hire couple extra guys 2k/mo to do the artwork and models. Call the writers out of the vacation to get their arses to write more. Use cookies and occasionally whips to boost the creative process... they can even hire a higher class strippers and say goodbye to the 50 y.o lady across the street.
snon
Superbacker
on January 26, 2015
@HBS -Timeline poster
This poster covers the SR timeline from "the Awakening" (2011) till 2056?
Frederik Nygaard on January 26, 2015
Perhaps a goal could be to remake the original snes game. That would be nostalgia in its purest.
SV on January 25, 2015
The mini campaign sounds interesting, and I do understand why it would be done for logistical reasons, but a part of me cannot help but wish those five hours were spent integrating it into the main campaign, perhaps as one or two lengthy side-missions...
Harebrained Schemes LLC Creator on January 25, 2015
@Laurent Maire @Ber
That was very rewarding to read. Thank you.
João Carlos Bastos
Superbacker
on January 25, 2015
After this recently announced 1M goal, you should have a goal, obviously a very high amount (2M or 2.5M), in which if reached, you would work on another standalone expansion, and backers would get this new campaign as well.
It would probably entice new backers (especially since there was a chance of getting 2 full campaigns for a low price), and if reached, it would unsure further life for the current Shadowrun electronic "incarnation".
Knut Ivar Hellsten on January 25, 2015
I would rather have more optional side content (jobs) with karma and cash rewards. xD
ET3D on January 25, 2015
How would the mini campaign be made available to non-backers? Will it be sold as DLC?
Empirimancer on January 24, 2015
The mini-campaign makes more sense than just somehow extending the main campaign. If you're an author and you've thought up a story up to a satisfying conclusion, you don't want to be told to make it longer by X hours just because the project got a bigger budget than expected. It's likely to have a negative impact on the story. On the other hand, adding a mostly independent episode with the same characters that takes place after the main story will have no such impact.
Radon on January 24, 2015
@HBS: Could you please support that community translation project linked by RC?
In general, setting up a plattform just to be able to do fan translations (including the option to ship them within the regular game channels!) as easy as possible would be a great and quite cost-neutral way!
Paul F on January 24, 2015
Not sure if this has been said already, but what about offering backers a voting option on mini-campaigns for Shadowrun Returns and Dragonfall as well? Epilogue missions for some of those characters (Glory?) would be great.
Ceics on January 24, 2015
HBS, you should consider including increments up until that $1,000,000, perhaps explaining exactly how we are getting closer. Such as: 750K - developed story; 850k - one extra high-karma character available specifically for the Shadows of HK; 950k - extra music tunes or whatever. Just saying -- it might help a lot of people visualize the stretch goal and some initial backers might up their contributions. Cheers!
snon
Superbacker
on January 24, 2015
@HBS:
Mini-campaign
great Idea & maybe also including in this the astral plane, when 1,5mio are reached?
Eddy Buhler on January 24, 2015
As an alternative to scaling adventures to certain karma amounts...why not introduce some kind of auto-scaling to the player's karma amount?
I mean, the thing keeping me from replaying Shadowrun: Returns over and over is that I want my character to develop...and keep developing. Allow character import on all adventures, scale difficulty to the character's karma level, and make karma rewards lower overall, so development can take place over a number of adventures.
In short, give me a way to keep playing with my preferred char, instead of having to reroll a new one for each adventure. Let me play Berlin with my Seattle char, or vice versa. Facilitate player created adventure creation by auto-adapting the difficulty to the player's current karma level.
RC on January 24, 2015
Here's a good place to continue the localization conversation, for HBS to consider all sides: http://www.shadowrun.com/forums/discussion/43395/translation-of-the-game-only-the-game-not-every-digital-reward ^_^
Crusader_bin on January 24, 2015
Sorry for double posting, but It just occured to me, that it is entirely possible, that during the creation of the DLC they will decide to just make another 10-12 h game ^^ Heh, that'd be awesome :P
Crusader_bin on January 24, 2015
So, a DLC that we all will get for free... I guess it's good enough for me, but I would still like it way more for them to just make the main campaign longer.
Than again, they could no longer sell it as a DLC on steam and it would take longer for the game to come out (which is fine with me), so it seems reasonable...
MS on January 24, 2015
I really like the idea, it gets us nice additional content for high-level characters without having to push back the release date of the main game. My one wish: please make the extra campaign brutally hard.
Megazver on January 24, 2015
I am perfectly willing to wait for them to expand the main game.
That said, I suspect it's going to be a separate thing so that they can sell it separately, which I cannot begrudge them. But I wish we got a bigger main game instead.
Dave Sherohman on January 24, 2015
While an expanded main game would be nicer than a sequel mini-campaign, I can immediately see one good reason for doing it this way:
Expanding the main campaign is likely to delay the release date, since the game couldn't be released until the expansion is complete. And that's even if it doesn't require going back to revisit things that were already finished per the original campaign design.
The mini-campaign will be released sometime after the main game release ("The Shadows of Hong Kong Mini-Campaign will come out sometime before the end of 2015...") instead of being part of the original release, so there's a much better chance that the main game's release date will be unaffected.
Megazver on January 24, 2015
I am extremely excited for four more hours of content, but I really wish you'd just integrate them into the game proper. In my experience separate story DLCs for RPGs always felt kinda weird, disjointed and truncated, even though technically it shouldn't make a difference.
Moritz Schubert on January 24, 2015
@Joe: I think HBS has answered this question in the FAQ.
Moritz Schubert on January 24, 2015
I'm with Karl; I would prefer an expanded main game over an additional mini game.
But either way, I'm excited to get more story!
Andy Linea of Sin - DOoD on January 24, 2015
I'd like to see some details about animation works please. ☺
nin on January 24, 2015
Thanks for the commentary! Always cool to hear stuff like that from the devs.
Karl Malm on January 24, 2015
Why not just make an expanded Hong Kong main game? Or would that mess with the flow of the game? Would it be considered something of an expansion?
Empirimancer on January 24, 2015
Awesome! I'm pretty sure we'll make to $1M!
By the way, could we get the image linked below as a 1920x1080 wallpaper without the tag in the bottom left corner? Thanks!
https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gKJdIHDEWbu-RiCPuoCUhd45ClE=/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2935900/srhk_kowloon.0.jpg
Ber on January 24, 2015
@Laurent Maire: Amen, HBS are really knocking it out of the park with their running of this Kickstarter and planning of the game.
drow on January 24, 2015
looking forward to this, too!
Joe Amon on January 24, 2015
Any word yet as to whether fan made campaigns from Dragonfall or Dragonfall Director's Cut will be playable in SR : HK?
Caleb Benoit on January 23, 2015
The Mini-Campaign after HK should bring you back to Seattle (use the DMS setting) for one huge run. Which this could lead to the next game (in theory) because the next highest voted city was an expanded Seattle (pretty sure!)
Blackstaff on January 23, 2015
It's a great idea and a great update, but... you will soon have to prepare for more after one million :)
=====> the enhanced mini-update post-Hong-Kong or the full new campaign somewhere else ? :)
谢苗恩 on January 23, 2015
Awesome update! Glossary is exactly I wanted! =D
Ralph Chilton on January 23, 2015
Great update, especially with re/ to HBS's Continued love of Gamers.
Laurent Maire on January 23, 2015
HEY HBS! Sincerely, bloody well-done so far. A much more impressive turnout than I ever expected for a campaign to an existing game. Super jazzed to throw my 2-cents into the hat once again, hooray! Also props for developing a strong internal plan, exploiting the creative strengths of your team, before presenting it to the world. That's what I like to see when contributing to the grand designs of small independent companies with Great ambitions. Your unique artistic vision, your potential realised, that's what I want to support.
RC on January 23, 2015
Hoi Chummers!
Do some LEGWORK! Get your PAYDATA right here, omae! Ripe for the taking! ^_^
@FREE Shadowrun Primer .PDF link!
@LINK to ALL _relevant_ Kickstarter comments from HBS!
@INTERNATIONAL BACKER? Some Helpful Information!
@Links to INTERVIEWS WITH THE DEVELOPERS of Shadowrun Hong Kong!
@HareBrained Schemes (HBS) social media links!
...and MORE!
http://www.matrixsprawl.net/2015/01/Shadowrun-Hong-Kong-Kickstarter-NEWS-USEFUL-INFORMATION-and-PAYDATA.html
And the "HEY HBS!" replies from HBS (Big Blue Boxes in the comments) - frequently updated!
http://www.matrixsprawl.net/2015/01/Shadowrun-Hong-Kong-Kickstarter-news-from-HBS.html
Dave, Shadowrunner on January 23, 2015
@Lorebot: Honestly, I think they'd need more than another $500,000 to fund an entirely different game in a new city with new art assets, etc... At least to do one that is of comparable length to DF:DC and still adds a few tweaks to the engine. I'd think that would have to be more like a $2 million goal at least.
However, it's probably better to leave funding for a whole new game to another Kickstarter campaign. I would be more than fine with HBS doing a Shadowrun CRPG Kickstarter every single year until it actually is 2050 :) Each time adding in a few improvements to the engine and other features that we want. That would be awesome. As long as HBS keeps making great SR games, I'll keep backing them. We still need a campaign in Africa, South America, etc. There's so many cities / areas to explore. But yeah, one thing at a time.
Lorebot on January 23, 2015
If we hit $1.5mil can we get you to double down and bring us another game in another city? I'd love to see San Fran, Chicago, or London :)
RC on January 23, 2015
@Thom in the USA...
Inexpensive 18" x 24" posters printed for $2.97 from http://www.shortrunposters.com/ with $5 flat-box shipping http://www.shortrunposters.com/shipping-options
Thom
Superbacker
on January 23, 2015
Now to look into finding someone or a place to print out the digital posters to hang on my wall.
RC on January 23, 2015
That developer commentary's going to be fun. These guys have a sense of humor, and like to share production insights. Really looking forward to that, and the WIZ posters too, Chummers! ^_^
pioslik on January 23, 2015
One way I'm glad about that mini-campaign. But it also intrigued me if this doesn't affect the main game. In Dragonfall you had few different endings, Hong Kong is supposed to have those too. What I mean- how does this mini-campaign blend into original campaign? Is it going to take into account our different choices, or is there will be Only One True Canonical Ending which mini-campaign will follow?
Matthew Dimalanta
Superbacker
on January 23, 2015
So I just want to say that's a big jump from $700K to $1M... but what an AWESOME reward. I can also see why they would need the extra money to do it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that one.
RC on January 23, 2015
Hoi Joshua! Read the 3rd image down. HBS talked about Astral there, and why there's not doing it right now, Chummer ^_^
http://www.matrixsprawl.net/2015/01/Shadowrun-Hong-Kong-Kickstarter-news-from-HBS.html
Sunjammer on January 23, 2015
Sweet!
Joshua Manor on January 23, 2015
I bet those pledges would double overnight if Astral Space was offered as a reward tier. I am not saying...I am just saying.
George Kelion on January 23, 2015
OH GOD, PLEASE PUT THE MINI-CAMPAIGN ON IPAD!!!
Ivan, Troll Streetsamurai on January 23, 2015
This mini-campaign update is just awesome. A great final (?) stretch goal!
Rhino von Helenkellër on January 23, 2015
Awesome! :O
Ber on January 23, 2015
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS
A challenging mini-campaign to follow after the main game, that is better than any stretch goal suggestion I've seen.
Nice work HBS!