So in my journey through the vast landscape of the internet, I found this little morsel.

www.wiredreflexes.com

It appears to be an online browser based Shadowrun game. I'm not sure but I think it's running off of SR3 rules. It's missing quite a bit but shows a lot of promise

There's a link on the bottom of the page referring to the Shadowrun Returns project. I wonder whether this is an early idea of the same guys.

A quick heads-up guys: this game doesn't (yet, anyway, dunno about the future) have any differentiation between login name and character name. So you'll want to give it whatever name you want for your character as your login name.

I'm emailing the guys who make it to look into changing it, because "ShadowDragon8685" is a completely retarded name for use in the Shadows of 2060.

I have been piqued.

Are you kidding? That's a great name for a runner!

By the metric of getting your face beaten in by everyone?

Ahh, but you simply strive to be so badass that your name could be Suzie Que (as a male) and no one would bother to insult your name, lest they become pretty little smears on the plascrete...

"What's the 'eighty-six eighty-five' for?"
"It's the number of idiots I've murdered in cold blood for being too damn stupid. Don't ask me another stupid question or I'll have to do the paper work to change my name to ShadowDragon8686."

registered.
making a troll samurai as i type.

Alternatively, it could be date of birth, but only if the character is a Spike Baby elf. (Or, you know, an internet poster in 2012...)


I like your idea, but I'd still rather use the character name I intended. I didn't realize that it made your login name the same as your character name.


Oh, by the way? At present, taking A priority for nuyen is pretty damn pointless. I think it's literally impossible to spend 1,000,000 on the things in-game yet, unless you like, but an absolutely ridiculous gigaassload of bullets. Also annoying is that you can't buy contacts, you have to make them, and instead of having Connections ratings, the only metric that determines what you can get is your Reputation.

So, basically, despite having started with enough cash out of chargen to buy all alphaware and the most SOTA gear available in 2060, I'm stuck rocking an Ares Predator, and I can't buy a cyberdeck because decking and the Matrix have yet to be invented.

Hmm . . ok . . so . . not much cyber to be had in the beginning . . not much gear to be had either . .
Even some lousy ghouls took out my troll . .

No, it's not. I'm developing it and have been for a while. I wish I was part of Shadowrun Returns, but I'm not.

Please keep in mind that the game is far from finished or well-balanced and has very little content yet. As a result, I'm very eager to hear your ideas, suggestions and criticism, of course.

Oh that's yours? O.o
Nice one!
Takes a bit getting used to and has some stuff missing, but otherwise is pretty much how a shadowrun game should be . .

The one thing I haven't been able to figure out is how to reset your character/account, in case you wanted to start over?

I wanted to see how magic was implemented (built a dwarf sam).

My first run through of the ghoul den resulted in getting KO'd, as I couldn't figure out how to reload. Make the combat log blink/flash/or something to draw people's attention to it when there's a new entry, perhaps? And maybe auto-reload a weapon if it's out and you try to use it?

Overall, it's a fun little diversion. I find I just wish I could play around more with it, having to wait for the ghoul den to respawn atm.

You can go to the beta-tester's section of your safe house and delete your character to start over.

Again, and I can't reitterate this enough; the game is not even 10% complete. It's lacking in content. It's not properly balanced yet. There's many things that require our attention (like stealth). It requires a lot of work to make it a proper game. If you want to play and give us your thoughts we appreciate that very much.

Well, for what you have, it's quite fun, and shows promise. My comment wasn't really to complain at lack of items, but to illustrate how I just want more, more more.

Thanks for the info on resetting! I was wondering what the "beta tester" function thing was for.

You're lucky! I took myself out with drain =D

Ah. Now that i went from close combat troll to gun dorf i oneshot ghouls left and right . .

OK, does anyone know how to cast a non combat spell in combat? I wanted to cast my armor spell but couldn't work it out, so when I attempted to retreat, I got KO'd.

AFAIK you can only cast direct damage spells (stunbolt, manabolt, powerbolt) in combat. The rest you cast of the magic page out of combat.

Maybe make buying things like ammo in bulk easier.

Made an elf "sammy" until they implement adepts.

Well, I guess I wish this project success.

And hopefully Microsoft doesn't notice it, cos we've seen what happens then.





-k

Microsoft doesn't own the electronic rights anymore, they are back in Jordan Weisman's (I hope I got his name right) hands. He's making a Shadowrun game himself but it's set in 2050 so there's no overlap.

I'm redoing the shop interface as we speak and this will definitely be part of that. The shop as it is now was done quick and dirty so that we had something with which you could buy things and was never meant to be used for long.

Overlap or not, there's a good possibility of a cease and desist. I have made some decisions, like using the old SR3 rules set, not making any money off it, etc. to hopefully stop them from taking us down, but I am ready to accept it should they decide to do it.

I was one of the first one to donate to Shadowrun Returns and can't wait to play it. Let's hope that counts for something.

Well, I'm an elf hermetic magician obviously. Died twice so far because of ghoul, the same ghoul. Hmph.

No, Microsoft still owns the rights.

Weisman sold the rights to make Shadowrun electronic products to MS, along with FASA Interactive and a number of other properties around 2000-2001.

In 2007, he negotiated a license deal with Microsoft that would allow him to develop electronic products for Shadowrun, Battletech, and Crimson Skies. Microsoft remains the Licensor, with Smith & Tinker, Weisman's company, as the Licensee.

Weisman has subsequently sub-licensed the rights to make a browser-based MMO to Cliffhanger Productions, and the rights to make a single-player turn-based RPG to one of his other companies, Harebrained Schemes. I am not sure whether or not the license for the Shadowrun HeroLab Character Creator made by Lone Wolf falls under the electronic product license or the pen-and-paper license.

There have been at least two significant online games based on Shadowrun, fan-created and unlicensed, that have gotten shut down by Microsoft's legal hammer team.

I'm all for more Shadowrun stuff, but MS has shown to be pretty rabid about their ownership rights.

Really, the absolute best thing for this game would be to simply contact Weisman to see if he'd be willing to work out a sub-license. Then there would be far less legal worries.



-k

There are balancing issues for sure. We've not been able to take a very close look at them yet because we've been concentrating on the core so far. Magic, in stark contrast to the pen-and-paper game, is underdeveloped and underpowered.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Get Weisman to license you the rights to make a non-profit browser-based Shadowrun "toy" for a buck or something. Then Microsoft can swivel on it.

Seriously?
Even if SR Returns were something like this, only a bit more polished, i would still play the frag out of that . .
Anybody remember the Decker Minigame from back then? It used the SR3 Decking Rules. That was similar to this.
And i still sunk hours into it!

The license for a digital shadowrun game was bought off of Microsoft by Cliffhanger Studios, who was going to make a browser game themselves. They ran out of funding and John Weisman bought it off them for a lot less.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/www.harebrained-sc...infographic.jpg

Ofcourse, we're willing to stop if Mr. Weisman asks us to. I hope it won't come to that though.

Well, Weisman said on the Kickstarter page, that one of the problems why they couldn't get any of the big publishers involved was legal issues with MS.

So, I would think that the license is still firmly in MS hands and Weisman's companies only got a sub-license now, which allows them to do what they want to do, but still keeps MS in charge of the main license.

This is mostly a guess, of course.

Bye
Thanee

I made a character, opted to prioritize gear money, but I can't work out how you buy equipment and 'ware?

E: Cute with the many Bloodnet references, like a runner called Phree Thought and the gym called Strongarm Tactics (Phree Thought is a street decker in bloodnet, and Strongarm Tacktick a backalley cyberware 'legger.)

You need to get the connections from penumbra first to buy stuff.
and then you can only buy stuff that does not need rep to get it.

Ha, well-spotted. I was always very fond of the names in Bloodnet.

Yeah, you basically fucked yourself, Tias. Go to 'Beta Testers' in the safehouse, 'delete character,' and make a new one.

There's literally no point to having an equipment priority higher than B. Because you don't get the option to buy gear or ware pre-game, like you would in normal character generation, you can't spend it. It'll just wind up hemorrhaging out when you get killed, because Dixie steals 10% of whatever you have, whether it's taking a nuyen if you have less than ten, or taking a hundred grand if you have a million.


It's bullshit of the highest order.

Eh, I call it beta testing Thats what we are here for, to live (or die) so they can learn


Edit: ::falls prey to little "alien" ghouls....again:: FRAG....gotta remember to reload BEFORE i go into the building....

No, I meant the "Picked money priority, can't spend it on buying jack shit" thing was bullshit. (Also that Dixie (thieving bitch) steals 10% of your money.)

i don't see you helping/coding something better in your free time.

Play nice fellas. shadowDragon means well even though he seems to lack a bit nuance and tact.

Oh i can sling code with the best of them, if by slinging code you mean "not knowing a gorram thing about programing" but yeah....

I figured it would pick up as updates arrived, I also bought skills that hadn't been implemented yet.

However, once I got my gear and equipped it, I went to clear out the ghouls, and hoo nelly I got pwned! Even though I had gun equipped and ammo, and a knife equipped, I couldn't shoot, and had only the unarmed option against the ghouls. After one exchange I was fucked up bad.

Guess it's a fixer upper, that game..

Yah close combat is terrible for starters . .
but after making a shooty dorf with a browning max power, i one shotted ghouls left and right O.o

Finally killed a ghoul. Then, I got severely by casting my own powerbolt.
Does anyone know how I can tell if my Armor spell is active?

I have found that an Ares Pred with regular rounds, a pistol skill of 6, smartgun link (and smartgun mod on gun) have made it much much easier to mow through the little buggers (just as long as i remember to equip and load my damn gun)

Ah, the same argument that butthurt defensive game authors on Newgrounds use to defend their games against criticism. "Well, I don't see any games on your account!"

You know what pisses me off about Newgrounds? It lets authors reply to reviews, but doesn't let reviewers reply to author replies. But here? I can reply, and so I shall: Exactly how many movies did Gene Siskel direct?

None? Well, how about that drek? Turns out you don't have to be someone who makes something to know a thing or two about it and comment competently on it.

I don't think he's one of the developers.

That's very odd. Firstly, you can only equip one weapon, so either a pistol or a knife, not both (though we are contemplating a two handed thing in the future). I haven't heard about this problem before, so if you could send some screenshots of this problem to shadowrun.corrosion@gmail.com I would be in your debt.


I'd like to refer to it as a very complex game built in the spare time of two enthusiastic guys. We have a finite amount of time, and we probably would've been better off not trying to recreate Shadowrun as much as we are trying, but we're trying!

Please make note of the fact that I never dismissed your arguments because you're not a developer. I'm not too fond of your overly abbrassive style, but I'm taking things you say into consideration. I might not agree on everything you say, but you make some valid points and I'll keep listening to them as long as you keep trying to watch your tone a bit.