Shadowrun: Hong Kong Update #19, $895,555 and Counting

Shadowrun: Hong Kong has already entered full production according to the latest Kickstarter update for the project, in which studio head Mitch Gitelman explains what the various departments at Harebrained Schemes’ Shadowrun team have been up to. An excerpt:

As I mentioned previously, the transition from Pre-Production to Production is always tricky. Before the Kickstarter, we were in hardcore planning mode – writing design docs, prototyping new tech and magic, creating lists of stuff to make, that kind of thing. Now, a couple of folks are still in planning mode, but most of the team has started cranking on the game. I imagine there are producers out there who prefer things “neater”, but in my experience, doing the right thing is more important than doing things right. You don’t ship a great process. You ship a great game.

Here’s a quick look at each discipline and what they’re up to:

Design

The designers are already at work creating scenes and runs in the game. Kevin’s been working hard on the hub, while Trevor’s busting out the first few scenes of the game. Tyler’s already completed a first draft of a side run and is starting work on his second, and Connor’s drinking from the firehose – he just started on the project and is busting hump to come up to speed quickly.

Writing

Andrew is hard at work on the second draft of his detailed story outline document based on the (GM Notes) document we collaborated on earlier. Think of the GM notes as the (What’s Really Going On) section of a Shadowrun tabletop adventure that allowed the art and design teams to get started. Andrew’s story outline meticulously lays out the information flow necessary to progress through our plot so that we can find holes or inconsistencies early when things are still easy to change. When Andrew needs to step away from that work for a (palette cleanser,) he and Kevin collaborate on a description of the characters & situations in the hub.

Art

The artists represent the largest discipline on the project. Cassidy and Spencer are in production mode, busting out environments for the locations called for in Andrew’s story outline, while Tristin puts in serious time on a Matrix look & feel piece. Maury is working on Gobbet and the rest of the crew members’ in-game character art while Eleanor builds new Hong Kong police and Triad members. Our technical artist, Will, has been working on new visual effects for all the stuff we’re adding and importing our new characters into the game. In fact, Gobbet and Wu have already made their way in. And our Art Director, Chris Rogers, is everywhere – leading art reviews with me, defining the amount of art we’re able to create, planning interface changes, working on outsourcing plans, sketching characters, and producing art for the Kickstarter.

With six more days to go and the customary funding spike near the end, the campaign has a very real shot at hitting its $1,000,000 stretch goal, which would translate into an additional mini-campaign, also set in Hong Kong, that will be free for all backers. I have to admit I was skeptical of this Kickstarter campaign back when it was announced, given Harebrained Schemes seemed to have put very little effort into contacting the press and advertising its launch, but it turned out to be surprisingly reasonable and well-thought out.