Shadowrun Returns - Lots of Information

[Myrthos]

Lots of information about Backer Rewards, distribution plans, pre-orders, and more can be fofund for Shadowrun Returns.

When do I get my rewards?

• Your DIGITAL rewards (the game, the editor, the wallpaper, special ability, the soundtrack, the short story anthology PDF, etc) will all be available on the Harebrained Account Website on launch day.
• Your PHYSICAL rewards (the t-shirts, the DocWagon cards, the hardcover short story anthology, the USB dog tags, the deluxe box edition (which contains a bunch of stuff), will ship about 3 weeks after launch day. (We’ll explain why below.)
• People who pre-ordered the Shadowrun Returns Deluxe and Collector’s Editions will get their digital and physical goodies in the same timeframe as above. (And will download their digital goodies from the Harebrained Account Website too.)
• Early access to the Shadowrun Returns EDITOR will be available to eligible Backers at the end of April.
• Backers eligible to have their photo turned into an NPC or CUSTOM PC have already been contacted and work has already begun!

More information.

 

[Japol]

An important ''detail'' of the update :
''Now, that may prompt the question, “What about DRM-free?” To honor our original promise of a DRM-free version of the game, the Harebrained Account Website will also contain a downloadable version of Shadowrun Returns that does not include Steam integration. While this version will include the Seattle story (and Berlin, via a one-time update), without Steam integration, it will be unable to browse and play community-created stories from within the game. Any future DLC will only be available through Steam. ''

 

[ChienAboyeur]

Somebody told me they were pressured by EA into acting that way.

 

[Couchpotato]

Doesn't sound that good. Seems the drm free version will come at a cost. Hopefully you can also download a steam version later. Otherwise you might have to buy another copy just to use the dlc.

 

[killias2]

All backers, to my knowledge, will get the DRM-free version and the Steam version. I'd be fine with it if they support the DRM-free version with patches and open up modding a bit. As is, I know some people will be upset, and they have at least some cause.

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

Mmm, they should just try to get a deal with GOG. Seems to work for everybody else. Steam workshop is a nice convenience function, but by no means required for mod or DLC distribution. We have done it "a mano" long enough.
Seems an unnecessary cause for controversy to me.

 

[Carnifex]

I personally used to dislike Steam, because of having to be online for the most part, but I've come around to accept this one DRM incursion into my life. With that said, a deal with GoG for the future updates would be really cool, if they can swing it.


-Carn

 

[GuybrushWilco]

I personally used to dislike Steam, because of having to be online for the most part, but I've come around to accept this one DRM incursion into my life. With that said, a deal with GoG for the future updates would be really cool, if they can swing it.


-Carn

You can play Steam games in offline mode Well, except for MMOs obviously.

 

[Carnifex]

Yes.....hence, the most part. . I do play games like Gothic an such in offline mode.



-Carn

 

[Terry]

There seems to be full blown rage war on the forums at shadowrun.com fueled by the anti steam agitators. HBS has said they will put out a FAQ Friday to address concerns raised.

This whole fire storm kind of has me wondering about the effect on crowd funded projects. Some include right in the start of the campaign the whole green light us on Steam to bring in more support. I guess the bitterness and hatred put in to gamers by the abuses at the hands of the likes of EA, Ubisoft, and Activision and their ilk has created some seriously upset people.

I was a supporter of The Pit from Kerberos which was released in Febuary on Gamers Gate and a couple of weeks later on Steam and it surprised me how many people were clamoring for it on Steam during this 2 week delay.

I guess the old saying you can't please all the people all the time certainly rings true.

 

[Japol]

There seems to be full blown rage war on the forums at shadowrun.com fueled by the anti steam agitators. HBS has said they will put out a FAQ Friday to address concerns raised.

This whole fire storm kind of has me wondering about the effect on crowd funded projects. Some include right in the start of the campaign the whole green light us on Steam to bring in more support. I guess the bitterness and hatred put in to gamers by the abuses at the hands of the likes of EA, Ubisoft, and Activision and their ilk has created some seriously upset people.

I was a supporter of The Pit from Kerberos which was released in Febuary on Gamers Gate and a couple of weeks later on Steam and it surprised me how many people were clamoring for it on Steam during this 2 week delay.

I guess the old saying you can't please all the people all the time certainly rings true.

It's not about anti-steam,it's about being pro- DRM-Free.
It's about getting a fully functional DRM-Free game that can utilise user created content,just like we were promised on kickstarter.
That is not the case according to their latest update.

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

Well, its a poorly worded update that was bound to upset people for sure. I am not part of the "pro DRM free" brigade (quite the contrary), but I do agree they should deliver on their promises, as much as they can.
That said, I hope at least partly its just poorly worded: "it will be unable to browse and play community-created stories from within the game." Does not necessarily exclude that content can't be accessed and installed through other, out of game channels, which I think would be just fine. But this needs to be clarified.

 

[Moorkh]

I understood this as the latter, too. Which means Steamworks will work just as it does for Skyrim, but is not required for mods if you have a little know-how.
I'm more concerned about the DLC thing - they seem to be Steam exclusive, indeed, and that might be very unsatisfactory.

 

[Terry]

I too think it is just poorly worded, though the post release additional content being only on steam is possibly one of the bigger bones of contention.
I guess it is best to wait for further info from them.

 

[Zygo]

It's not just poorly worded. People donated money, and in some cases a lot of money on the basis of, among other trhings, it being DRM free, and they are now going to release only a crippled version DRM free. Even if there will be some kludge to enable mods there is still the matter of the steam exclusive dlc- and it most definitively implies no updates either (to whit, "Steam allows us to provide up-to-date downloads and patching[..] the Berlin dlc will be provided via a one time update").

It's like 'pre-ordering' a sundae for dessert, you can choose chocolate and strawberry and there's a big list of additional toppings. But having ordered deciding to get the strawberry one you actually find that some toppings aren't available for it, if they forget to put a spoon in it you'll have to use your fingers to eat it and there's a nice exclusive set of toppings just for the chocolate eaters. You also have the additional, always odious spectacle of a bunch of entitled apologists saying "why aren't you fine with chocolate? I am, so you should be too- if you aren't you're obviously just a h8r, get with the times, drink the Kool Aid, Love Big GabeN etc etc"

I didn't contribute though I got as far as the preorder page after the kickstarter so it does not directly effect me, but at very best they're guilty of the most ham fisted communication known to man.

 

[Bedwyr]

I'm still sympathetic to people who feel misled. The promise from the beginning was that you'd get a game that would be supported, be modified and run like a PnP game, and be DRM free. The latter is a signal that "Steam need not apply".

If I'm reading their release correctly, they aren't supporting mods outside of Steam Workshop. Even if there's a legitimate business reason to do that, it breaks the trifold promise because now while you can still have a game without DRM, you can no longer have "the rest of the game" or "the mods". If that promise was your expectation in supporting the campaign, I'd think you'd have a legitimate complaint.

But again, I'm not conclusively clear on what's going on.

edit: To be sure I'm a Steam supporter and user, but sympathetic empathetic to people who oppose Steam on moral grounds.

 

[Santos]

I'm not particularly vocal about being anti-steam; however, the one game that I bought off of Steam never did update properly, and left me seeing other means to play a patched version of a game that I had actually purchased. Didn't leave me feeling all that great about the platform.

 

[Terry]

The problem as I see it is that expectations and reality don't always mesh well. There have been a lot of assumptions I suspect on the part of both parties both HBS and the fans.
This may be repeated again and again as the big KS projects start to come to fruition. I hope not, but there was a back lash last week at Robers Space Industries with the cross bow cross funding for Shroud of the Avatar where some of the fans went nuts and started throwing accusations around.
Its like some gamers are on a hair trigger just itching to explode given the least provocation. And with projects with tens of thousands of backers even the smallest percentage of them can cause a PR disaster.

 

[rjshae]

Its like some gamers are on a hair trigger just itching to explode given the least provocation. And with projects with tens of thousands of backers even the smallest percentage of them can cause a PR disaster.

Yes, regardless of the issue or topic, it seems impossible to please every gamer, and the excluded minority tend to be very vocal in their objections. Game developers need to have a very thick skin to, well... stay in the game.

 

[Lennie]

Yes, regardless of the issue or topic, it seems impossible to please every gamer, and the excluded minority tend to be very vocal in their objections. Game developers need to have a very thick skin to, well… stay in the game.

Maybe it is impossible to please every gamer, but that doesn't excuse going back on what you initially promised. Many people, when pledging for this product, did so with the belief that this game and its future DLCs/addons would be DRM free. That this is now not true is nothing short of a betrayal of those backers by HBS. I'd revoke my pledge now if I could. As far as I'm concerned Shadowrun: Returns is a failure and I'll never back or play any game by HBS ever again. I can only hope that InXile and Obsidian don't make the same mistake and do their best to adhere to their promises. It's a shame that one bad apple like HBS has the potential to sour the entire crowd funded RPG scene.