Shadowrun Returns Development: “Exhilarating Process – Like a High Wire Act With No Net”

Despite smashing its Kickstarter in record time, Harebrained Schemes’ upcoming Shadowrun Returns is still under lots of pressure to deliver.

Leader Jordan Weisman stated to GIBiz that, “We have 37,000 backers on Shadowrun Returns. Our hope is that there’s a lot more of them than just those 37,000, because if not then we lose the gamble. We’ve spent every penny and more that they gave us to make the game; we haven’t made any money.

He notes that “our backers have been enormously supportive, and through the process we’ve reached out and said ‘This xyz feature, we’re cutting it; as we were getting into it it’s expensive and it wasn’t mainline to what we’re doing.’

“The audience has been really supportive of that. That part’s been great.” The the overall Kickstarter way of development has “been an exhilarating process working with the audience; it’s total glass house. Very different than the usual development. It’s like a high wire act with no net; it keeps us very focused and scared to death.”

Let’s see if that result reflects in the final release of Shadowrun Returns.