Shadowrun Returns - Inteview @ Venturebeat

Venturebeat interviews Harebrained Schemes Co-Founder Mitch Gitelman to talk about Shadowrun Returns, and it's expansion Dragonfall.

Nichols: So obviously, you guys went the crowdfunding route with Kickstarter, which ultimately proved to be extremely successful for the studio. What was that like for the team, seeing just how much support you had from the public?

Gitelman: It was kind of magical – the scary, Sorcerer’s Apprentice kind of magical. And by that, I mean the Mickey Mouse version, not the Bruckheimer version. The outpouring of positive emotion for Shadowrun was incredible. It’s a part of peoples’ childhoods. They sent us bagels and pizzas during crunch. They sent us encouraging emails. When we met them at conventions, they were warm and supportive.

And their expectations were high. Very high. And we had only about $1.1 million in operating funds to deliver with. It was incredible working hard on something that you knew people really wanted, but the sense of responsibility to live up to their expectations and not disappoint them was very, very stressful. For me, it was all worth it.

Nichols: Looking back, is there anything about Shadowrun Returns that makes you just say, “Man, if we only had a little more time …”?

Gitelman: I’ve never made a game where I didn’t feel that way, but that was the real joy in making Dragonfall. Building on a successful platform is a wonderful thing. You can listen to your audience and react to their feedback in a measured and thoughtful way. You can listen to your team and give them the space to explore the ideas they had to “hold on to for later.” You can move your craft forward. We saw Dragonfall as our opportunity to improve in every area of the game – tactical gameplay, storytelling, art, tools … everything.