Shadowrun Returns Blog Update

In a new “What’s Happening and What’s Next?” blog entry on the official Harebrained Schemes website, we learn that the team has released a v1.0.2 patch for the game (which we reported on earlier) and what their plans are for the game’s short- and long-term future. Have at it:

Ongoing Bugfixing, Balancing & Support

As you’ll see below, the team is busting on several fronts simultaneously, but we’re watching the forums and reviewing bug reports for important issues to fix. When we have a critical mass of fixes ready to go or we find something important that needs to be addressed ASAP, we’ll do an update and provide documentation as noted above.

Linux Release

We have started working on the Linux version of Shadowrun Returns this week. We have our build machine up and running and have started making test builds. It’s still unclear just how much more work is necessary, because the builds are pretty rough in spots. For example, we can create characters, but there are errors when loading into the first apartment scene. The editor is now compiling in Linux, but unfortunately crashes when trying to load scenes. We’re confident we can work through the various Linux-related issues, but it is going to take some time to wrangle them into submission.

Localization

We’re also actively pursuing localizations of the game so Shadowrun fans around the world can enjoy Shadowrun Returns. We’re extracting all the text in the game and sending it to our translators. Based on their estimates, and budgeting for unexpected issues (always plan for the unknown), we believe we’ll have Spanish, Italian, German, and French versions ready to play by early October.

Berlin

Development of Berlin art is already underway, and our design team is also starting to prototype gameplay and mission ideas for the Berlin campaign. We’re targeting late October for the release of Berlin. Here’s a peek at one of the locations we’re working on:

iOS and Android Tablets

While we wanted to get tablet versions of SRR out at the same time as the PC and Mac versions, our main priority was creating the best game possible on all platforms. To that end, we delayed the tablet release for a few weeks to make sure they meet our quality bar. We expect the remaining work on the tablet versions should only take a couple of weeks, but we don’t know how long it will take for the game to go through Apple certification so we can’t give you a specific release date yet. As a reminder, the tablet versions will not include the editor and will not contain access to community created content. We do plan to bundle the best community content and release it on tablets some time in the future.