Shadowrun: Awakened MMO, A community-driven effort to create a Shadowrun-based MMO Options

[eralston]

Shadowrun: Awakened

The year is 2070. In a world dominated by megacorporations, where money is the key to power, you must find your place and pick your battles. Will you work for the corporations, brokering underhanded deals and conducting heated negotiations by the light of day, or will you clandestinely further their causes through sabotage, murder, and destruction? Will you align yourself with one corporation, working towards its survival and success over its competitors, or with none in particular, taking the best offers and letting them cut each other's throats?

Shadowrun: Awakened is a community-driven effort to develop a free-to-play Massively-Multiplayer Online Game based on the Shadowrun pen & paper RPG. We are always looking for new artists and programmers to Volunteer. Register on our Forums and introduce yourself here to get started! If you aren't an artist or programmer, please consider Donating.

For the latest on Shadowrun Awakened, Like Shadowrun Awakened on Facebook, Follow Shadowrun Awakened on Twitter, or Subscribe to Shadowrun Awakened on YouTube. For answers to common questions, please visit our FAQ. We will continually update this thread with news relevant to the project.

[eralston]

We are currently working on releasing a single-player demo, to show of our game mechanics, in December. You can view a video of current progress here.

As always, we are hoping to attract more 3D artists. If you know anyone who can do 3D modeling or texturing, please send them our way. The best way to jump into the project is to go to our forums, register, and post in the Volunteers section.

[KarmaInferno]

Any relation to the licensed Shadowrun MMO being developed by Cliffhanger?




-k

[eralston]

Negative. We are a separate, community-driven effort.

We are certainly paying attention to Smith & Tinker's activities, including the potential rights sale to Cliffhanger, but are forging ahead until we hear something. S&T have been trying to sell the rights for almost 2 years now, so we're rather used to the issue being up in the air.

[Jhaiisiin]

Remember also, that developing a game can have serious rights infringements. More than one project in the past have been told to cease at least using the name Shadowrun, which sucks for marketing...

If you're serious about this, make sure you check everything.

[Draco18s]

Remember also, that developing a game can have serious rights infringements. More than one project in the past have been told to cease at least using the name Shadowrun, which sucks for marketing...

Last I knew, Microsoft had the digital rights (i.e. rights to make games) to ShadowRun. And they will C&D you.

[Stahlseele]

They C&Ded SRO. THE BASTARDS!

[KarmaInferno]

Browsing their website, they state that Microsoft "gave them permission" as long as they don't try to make money off the project.

I hope they got that in writing, cos otherwise it's about as worthless as wet toilet paper.

Microsoft, like many large IP rights holders, unofficially tries to pretend they do not know about particular fan works whenever possible, as the current legal landscape requires them to take action against Trademark violations they "know about". As long as they can reasonably claim that it wasn't something they were aware of, they can leave the work alone. They don't want to piss off customers and fans if they don't have to, after all, and let's face it legal actions cost money.

So most fan work faces a dilemma. The creators of the fan work ostensibly put their work out in the public to get noticed, but if they get TOO famous the Rights Holder may be forced to take legal action against them.




-k

[DamienKnight]

I thought Microsoft sold off their Shadowrun Video game rights? They were quick to shutdown all shadowrun related mods/games when they had the license, but I think Smith and Tinker are alot more lenient with the license (or they just cant afford to sue every project in developement?)

I would think that as soon as a licensed shadowrun MMO is about to go public (or a few months prior) even the most lenient license holder would slap a C&D. Right now they are not trying to compete with you, but once they have a game out there and are trying to make money, they ARE going to shut down any community projects.

[eralston]

Hoi, Chummers. The August Newsletter will fill you in on progress in the last month.

Concerning the SR IP and the project: The project founder made a good faith commitment with an MS exec at the time of the project's inception in 2006, communicating via both phone and e-mail. Microsoft did transfer the rights to Smith & Tinker after that time. They weren't as responsive as MS. S&T, after undergoing some restructuring around becoming a mobile games company, has been trying to sell them for quite a while. We have subsequently talked to S&T and they have confirmed they are trying to sell it. The grim reality is no matter who currently has the rights, any permission we might acquire could always be pulled out from under us by the current owner.

Which would you choose? Follow your passion and make the game everyone wants to play OR do nothing because people who don't get Shadowrun have lawyers who might write you an e-mail one day. Living in the shadows is about defiance, so I see only one answer.

[KarmaInferno]

I dunno. I'd probably create a cyberpunk MMO of my own creation, free of any IP licensing restraints.

But that might be just me being silly.



-k