Shadowrun Returns: an old-school turn-based RPG on Kickstarter

What I find most interesting about this Kickstarter trend is that it is proving game publishing companies wrong. Publishers think that it isn't worth the money/time to build games like this. They want the next Angry Birds/Modern Warfare, full of DLC upgrades, in-app purchasing and facebook spam with the core gaming experience being secondary at best.<p>While the investors/publishers don't think its worth it monetarily, users are demanding higher quality games and putting their money where their mouth is.<p>Its also a huge shift. Instead of guessing what gamers might want, putting money in, and seeing how the game does- this enables developers to get their idea fully vetted monetarily and demand-wise upfront, then take the time to develop the game.

I'm wondering if a good idea for a startup would be to take the Kickstarter model and flip it backwards. Fans propose projects they would like to fund, others fund it, then the respective rights owners see this interest and receive the money for the project.<p>There is a downside to this, which is the respective author might not be motivated anymore for the project and thus would do a poor job. Or worse, the company owning the rights to the projects, may decide it's not worth selling it back to the original author and therefore create their own version that's not up to par with the author's vision. Perhaps this could be avoided by specifically targeting the original author so that only s/he could receive the funding.<p>But ultimately, I guess the problem is that if it's proven there's a huge interest in a project, then the current rights owner may be more reluctant to give up the rights or only at a much higher cost.

I am glad that more developers are deciding to do this and putting more control into the hands of their consumers.<p>The biggest benefit to the developer here is that they have paid for initial development up front AND they get to sell this game on Steam and other market places once it releases.<p>Even with a moderate PR push from any one of these companies if they sell 100K copies at 10 dollars a piece (or even less) they have come out WAY ahead on this project.<p>Obviously a big publisher like Activision or EA is going to scoff at something like a 10 Million dollar profit when they need to fund the rest of their operations + split that revenue with the developer. They take risks but only when they know the chances of meeting their return percentage is higher than a certain threshold.<p>What was the last game you can remember from a big publisher that took a huge risk?

I don't understand what exactly they are proposing: a new computer game? The remake of an existing computer game? Or a reprint of the pen &#38; paper RPG?

Shadowrun is such a great universe, that mixture of classic fantasy elements like elfs, orcs, magic with cyberpunk ala neuromancer really hit a nerve.<p>wonder why there never was a movie or tv series in such a setting, seems way cooler than vampires.<p>kickstarter seems to become the ycombinator for gaming, which is awesome in its own. will be interesting if they'll ever compete.

It slightly irks me they moved from "Linux support is definitely on the table too!" to "a Linux version [...] beyond the scope of the project." But not quite as much as their move to add more technical content when they reach one million, rather than the expansion into GNU+Linux support.<p>I do however understand their reasoning. Their cold, realistic and undoubtedly true reasoning.

I still play the Shadowrun pencil and paper game weekly with a group of friends. I will definitely support this kickstarter.

This morning's update talks about the interface and UI, and they describe it as "X-Com like"...<p>So excited..<p>No Linux or multiplayer in the first version though.. But I'd rather have a solid and detailed core product, and get MP in v2, if v1 works out..

Wow! a bunch of people put in $10,000...

I've backed a few great tabletop RPG products on Kickstarter/IndieGoGo.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm BACKIN THAT SH<i></i>! That is all.

A bit off topic, but the new google glasses keep making me think of augmented reality in Shadowrun 4th Edition. So cool :p<p>I'm really glad this kickstarter got funded, the Shadowrun universe has always been one of my favorites.