It was done horribly on the xbox360 a few years ago.

Invelios wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2011 at 10:14am:


It had Shadowrun name on it because the studio that made it had the rights for Shadowrun named games. But if you looked at the background it wasn't Shadowrun...
They only used the Megacorp concept and the UGE one... and forgot about everything else.

Anyway I'd sign right away for a Shadowrun MMO, as it is mandatory to have a combat system like DDO for it to work.
( and I'm not even talking about the interraction system they have to put in place for the legwork of the various missions. )
That reminds me that I haven't checked Dumpshock lately.

Would love to see a well crafted Shadowrun MMO, but it probably wouldn't happen. First, last I checked, Microsoft owns the rights to any computer versions of the old FASA products, so that's a mark against a decent MMO coming out. Second, the last Shadowrun video game kind of flopped. Third, doing it properly would be about as challenging as making three or four traditional MMOs. You'd have your "real world" system, a matrix system (which, based on 4th edition shadowrun, would have to mesh with the real world system), a magic system (including astral travel), and rigging (which could be reasonably done with a well built pet system, plus the ability to use a drone on a mission as your avatar). You'd basically be designing three worlds, which have limited interactions with each other, while having the ability to be on multiple levels at the same time (Everybody is always somewhere on the physical, most people can hop onto the matrix whenever they want, while magicians can go astral at any time, or simply peek into it to interact with the physical and astral.)

Flav wrote on Nov 24^th, 2011 at 2:46am:

So, no matrix. Astral plane is basically just stealth and detection. So, pretty much a shooting game with "magic" added on? Does that sound like a game that somebody already tried, like on the XBox 360?

I know it's probably silly, but if someone tries to make a Shadowrun MMO, I'd like to see them do it right. Now, the matrix thing, I could see them having as a throwback to first/second/third edition, where you don't have to deal with the meat body while you're doing matrix overwatch. You basically have your own little combat system going on while the rest of the party is dealing with theirs. Kind of like how a Shadowrun game is supposed to go, only with a GM for each team. Doing it while you have a body to take care of would be a little too annoying, I think.

As for the astral, I'd personally want to see it done properly, rather than as some silly slapped on "see invisible" mechanic. By which I mean including astral perception (which could be interesting, targeting enemies in astral space or in real space), astral travel (where you cannot do anything to people in the physical world, but can still scout around a bit), and the metaplanes (solo or magician group quests for xp and other neat gimmicks).

Honestly, one well designed engine could probably handle all three styles of gameplay (physical, matrix, astral), but the challenge I was seeing is in integrating them.

The matrix could be done, but it would have the people jacked in doing their own thing while the rest of the team either goes after other objectives or provides cover from any incoming trouble. If the decker can for instance, take over security from outside, then they could help the team by opening doors or taking over some of the buildings defence/security systems. Tricky to implement maybe, but not impossible.

NaturalHazard wrote on Feb 3^rd, 2012 at 10:19pm:


If cybernetics/bioware worked out physical adepts would be dead simple...a lot of the same effects.

Initiating (for adepts and full mages) would need to be difficult but not crazy like SWG's 1st jedi unlocking mechanism.