Shadowrun Returns Interview

Harebrained Schemes’ Jordan Weisman took some time out of his Kickstarter-fueled day to chat with Modojo about the goals the team has for Shadowrun Returns, what they’ll do if funding surpasses $1 million, why releasing the game on tablets is an important part of their plan, and more. Nice, we’re going to be running a whole team of Shadowrunners:

Some gamers feel these devices cannot be taken seriously when it comes to offering “core” experiences. How do you see Shadowrun Returns possibly changing this perception?

Shadowrun Returns will also be on PC, which is the home of “core” games. Having said that, the perception of mobile tablets as a platform only supporting very casual broad market games is a factor of installed base and is only a limitation of imagination. When a general purpose device has a limited installed base, you have to make games that appeal to everyone in order to have a big enough market, but with the enormous install-bases that iOS and Android devices have now, the market is big enough to create games for specific audiences, including the core audience. Plus, there is just something “right” about playing Shadowrun on a device that was science fiction when I wrote the game.

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What about the graphics? Should we expect something along the lines of the Shadowrun Super Nintendo game? How far do you intend to push the iPad and Android devices?

We pride ourselves on the look and feel of our games, such as Crimson Steam Pirates, and Shadowrun Returns will be a beautifully gritty world that takes advantage of modern graphics. That said, our game concept is designed to be played in 2D, presenting a great deal of tactical information to the player to intelligently control an entire team of Shadowrunners, each of whom may have very different world views and each providing the player with more information and interaction options.