Full Steam Ahead!
Hey Chummers - Producer Chris here!
Just taking a second to poke my head up from the depths of development to give you a quick check-in regarding where development of
Shadowrun: Hong Kong stands.
Our pace has been accelerating steadily over the past few months to get us to the current breakneck speed that will carry us to the July 4th weekend. When we get there, we’ll celebrate our Content Complete milestone and the team will take a deep breath for the first time since it started getting "Toasty in Seattle" (we're not used to 80's in May, and the A/C was not up to the task - though recently improved!).
Content Complete doesn't mean we won't still be polishing the game after the 4th - it means we're not adding anything new to the experience after that. This is extremely important to the QA process. If basic functionality and structural pieces are continually shifting, it’s very difficult to get a stable, shippable game quickly. But, if we're just swapping out a placeholder wall tile for a final wall tile or a sketch portrait for a final portrait, it may not be risk-free (from your friendly neighborhood producer's POV), but it’s certainly less prone to create new bugs from a gameplay standpoint.
Speaking of bugs and QA, that process is up to full speed as well. Our bug lists are growing (as expected) while the rest of the new content goes in. And holy shrine spirits, is it ever going in! Missions are moving forward in leaps and bounds every day across the board, from gameplay and story to art and audio.
The new Matrix is finally being distributed in all its glory across every mission after months of hard work from multiple team members thanks to your generous Kickstarter backed funding goal. This is really exciting to see and we can't wait for you to experience it!
Also in the "Completely New to Shadowrun Thanks to Kickstarter Backers" category that’s rocking our cybersocks: animatics. If you got a chance to see
the pre-launch trailer, you got a taste of what these are going to be like. As you know, we're big on storytelling, and while you don't have to worry that you'll be sitting through a bunch of movies instead of partaking of our writing team's talents, a little cinematic touch not only adds some great drama, but also some new perspectives on the world of Shadowrun. We hope you'll agree that the storytelling enhancement is powerful. (…)
