Announced : Mechwarrior Online & Shadowrun Online

After two years’ of near-total silence about the fate of the Mechwarrior reboot, Piranha Games have announced Mechwarrior Online, a free-to-play, team-based multiplayer BattleMech sim. It’s also going to tell the story of the Battletech universe in real-time, starting from just before the Clan Invasion of 3050. Each day, players will do battle on behalf of the universe’s major factions, and each day in the game will represent a single day’s action in the fictional Inner Sphere. It will go live in the second half of 2012.

Mechwarrior Online (MWO) might be free-to-play, but MWO Creative Director Bryan Ekman and Piranha President Russ Bullock insist this is going to be a proper Mechwarrior game in the tradition of Mechwarrior 2 through 4, not a successor to the Xbox action game Mech Assault. Ekman says joystick support is a strong probability, and both call this a Mech sim.

“I think it’s really the Mechwarrior you know,” Bullock says. “It’s fully first-person. It’s not a new interpretation. We’re modernizing things a little bit, I think we’ll get to those questions, but certainly it’s Mechwarrior.”

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• Standard "sitting in your mech" FPS gameplay
• Supported Modes (More to come, surely):
• Conquest
• Versus
• Supports the creation of Mercenary Units, which can be organized as small as individual lances (4 players). Unknown how large this will scale.
• Customization of Mercenary Units from the look of their Logo, down to stratagem and ranks.
• Heavy bias towards Urban environments
• Information Warfare is a large component of this game. This likely means deployments of UAVs (seen in pre-vis videos), and Electronic Countermeasures (ECM).
• Currency and Experience are confirmed to be used in the game, as well as some sort of Unlock system.
• Focus is more on team synergy, and less on getting into an Assault mech. There will be uses for all types of players. Piranha's aim is to make this Mechwarrior more Tactical than Shooter.
• Free to Play. There is nothing announced as to what you'd be buying at this point.
• Mechs will be customizable. From weapons systems to device upgrades (think: improved heatsinks, better myomer for quicker movement), to appearance.

• Now takes place in 3049, set in the Inner Sphere
• The story will be progressed "live", meaning daily story updates.
• Your successes and failures MAY be integrated into the overarching storyline (speculation)
• It's expected that the story will lead up to, and include the Clan invasion.
• You are expected to pledge alliegence to one of the five Houses of the Inner Sphere (Federated Suns, Lyran Commonwealth, Draconis Combine, Free World's League, Capellan Confederation)

Smith & Tinker has optioned the Shadowrun PC license rights to Cliffhanger Productions. Game creative is currently being developed in collaboration with original creator Jordan Weisman and Cliffhanger is proud to get a chance to work on one of the top 3 RPG franchises in the world. The immensely popular setting mixing cool cyberpunk tech with magic and mythical races and monsters has spawned over 80 novels and sold over 10 million books worldwide.

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Watch your back.
Shoot straight.
Conserve ammo.
And never,ever, cut a deal with a dragon.

Welcome to the Shadows...

Shadowrun is one of the most successful story settings ever. With several million of books sold, over 100 Pen and Paper RPG books published, four video games and a dedicated fan following it is one of the top three roleplaying franchises. Eagerly awaited by fans around the globe, Shadowrun Online will raise browser based games to a new level of quality and engagement.

Shadowrun is set in a dystopian near-future of the 2070s, a world where cyberpunk meets magic, mega corporations have become independent states and the Awakening has brought forth ancient races from Elves, Trolls, Dwarves and orcs to mythical animals and even dragons.
Technology has changed mankind- cybeware can make you stronger, faster and smarter. Augmented senses and organs can be bought from illegal street clinics and you can even experience the Matrix itself by moving your conscious into the endless stream of data.

Though technology pervades every sprawl of every city, there are a lot of cracks between the giant corporate structures where the shadows are even deeper. If you want a job done and don't want to dirty your hands, you tunr to the Shadowrunners - deniable assets, living beyond the reach of the law and the ultimate survivors in the urban jungle.


Hackers, Riggers, Combat Mages and Street Samurai will take on the most dangerous missions - for a price. Become part of the underground elite and experience adrenaline filled adventures from infiltrating a secret corporate lab, fighting chromed-up mercs over a secret magic formula, spying on a crime syndicate or sabotaging an almighty AI on the brink of controlling the matrix.



Cliffhanger is actively seeking partners for publishing and distributing the game.



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RPS: How did you come to be developing a Shadowrun game? What was the motivation for picking the licence?

Wagner: Actually many of us are long time pen and paper players and when we thought about the future for our company and which games we would like to do, we decided to try and become the top address for high quality rpg and strategy browsergames (and no, to us that is not a contradiction in terms) and reached out to a number of companies. Shadowrun and Deadlands were available and we are still in talk with others. It took as almost a year to get the license signed and paid for, but here we are now. We think the Shadowrun setting lends itself so well to a computer game that we had to do it. And also, I wanted my Troll character to be able blast away some of those pointy eared posers in 3D.

RPS: Can you tell us a bit about how it’s going to work? You’ve said it’s a browser-based game, but can we have a bit more detail about how that will work?

Wagner: The game will be a tactical action RPG in isometric 3D, with emphasis on the RPG part. The game will feature two major parts – the action map, where a runner group executes missions and the meta game, with a city map where the legwork mission take place and the hubs are and your own upgradable hideout, where mission preparations, crafting of software and character management takes place .

Actions map mission can range from infiltration -where raising the alarm usually means you are swarmed by guards- to all out shootouts, taking out a supernatural critter or defusing a bomb. There are several of the classic Shadowrun archetypes available of course.

City maps will feature legwork mission locations, where you basically apply your skills or contacts and sort of roll the dice to see whether you succeed – this is more of a text-window narration that may unlock new action missions, provide necessary items like the code cards for a corporate facility or allow you to smuggle in rifles to an action mission, which usually only allows small, concealable weapons.

The plot will actually evolve over time based on player actions – so for example, a mission may be about getting an item for one of two corporations. If more people win this mission for Corp A, then the next time we update the storyline, this corp will have that item and new plot developments follow from this. We are looking very much forward to using mechanics like this, which is where the strength of a browser game comes in – we can update anytime without forcing people to do huge downloads and we can produce new content much quicker than the big client based games.

RPS: How much is what you are doing with the game based on the engine you’ve made for Jagged Alliance Online? Will they play similarly?

Wagner: Well, the technical base is similar as will be some of the core mechanics for the turn based game – but while JAO is all about running a group of mercs and tactically overcoming the opposition, SRO will focus on one character per player, more roleplaying and have a lot more interaction with the environment, hacking, magic and infiltration. We will have smaller groups but more fireworks!

RPS: Can you tell us a bit about the feedback and input you are getting from the Shadowrun community? What sort of stuff have they been able to help with?

Wagner: Currently we are very happy with people giving us suggestions and discussing the game at our forums. The fans we have so far have been excited about us trying and we are very open about the limitations of the game. Of course we would love to spend a hundred million on a big-ass game, but with our budget we need to make up what we lack in sheer manpower by good ideas and concepts. This seems to be something the fans can get behind – obviously everyone wants their favorite character or location in the game, but some stuff needs to be put off until after launch. Again, we are open about that and so far fans have been very understanding. Even the thorny subject of monetization has been approached with an open mind from both sides We also have created the Shadowrun High-Council of Elders (SHE), manned by writers, editor, artists and fan-project and community stalwarts to make sure we stick to the spirit of the setting and fit into the current storyline.

RPS: When can we expect to see the game in action? Are you launching it via a beta?

Wagner: Well, we have just started pre-production, so beta is probably a year away, but we actually have sneaked in a Shadowrun mission map into the Jagged Alliance Online beta, which is starting soonish. Of course it won’t have the SRO gameplay, but at least it helps people imagine what the game would visually be like. The screens we have published are taken from that map. We are also thinking about crowdfunding a part of the game, so some people may get an earlier look if they support us in creating the game.

RPS: Thanks for your time.

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TwistedAegis said:

I'm concerned too about the F2P; a game like mechwarrior where you can customize your mech with all of the different add-ons would seem a perfect type of game for pay-to-win. "Hmm, $500 for the multiple nuke launcher attachment, or $600 for the nuke-proof armor upgrade..."

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Ekman also promises that while players will be able to buy items with real money, nobody can buy anything that will confer a tactical advantage. “Anything that would affect or give you a tactical advantage, you can’t purchase with real cash. You have to earn that by playing the game,” he says.

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dario03 said:

I'm kind of worried they might do something like limit your class though. The article says that they will be trying to get away from the "everybody runs to the assault class cause its the best" so they might limit free to play to the support types and mediums/heavys. So f2p guys can still play and do the information grabbing and light battles but if you want to tank around and blow stuff up you gotta pay.

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theNoid said:

Its 2011 not 2001 .. open your mind.

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DarkStryke said:

They're both F2P, so yeah, there goes most interest.

Two of the best IP"s FASA created both given the jobber treatment for online PC.

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Savi said:

god i hope mechwar will be good, and i mean really good. im still not sold on f2p games but the last 2 years they seem to be a bit better, firefall looks great to. but dam i love mech war i dont want it to be bad lol

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DarkStryke said:

You mean open your wallet, continuously.

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CrimsonKnight13 said:

I'm not exactly thrilled with the turn of events. I was looking forward to a single player Mechwarrior game but now I don't think that will happen until MS decides to stop being asses about the Mechwarrior license.

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Ducman69 said:

I have been finding that Fremium games are actually the most expensive titles you can invest in.

In order to make money, they typically get you hooked on the game early on, but then frustrate you into making purchases else the grind becomes outright painful and your win rate goes down.

So this being "F2P" is actually a very strong strike against it IMO. I rather make a $35-40 purchase and be done with it, than get nickle and dimed left and right, or succumb to the inevitable "pay to win" transition.

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theNoid said:

For what its worth, MW Online sounds very VERY much like World of Tanks, and that is fucking awesome. World of Tanks is basically a MW game with tanks. Don't let the F2P label fool you, this is serious gaming here and paying for a sub nets you nothing much more than double XP rate, and a few neat tank unlocks that aren't the best in class. Rewards in WoT are done by playing, unlocking, upgrading and learning serious, tactical strategies to take out different types of tanks.

I think MW Online will be much of the same. Its a shame though, many will ignore the game because its F2P. Its been proven time and time again lately that F2P model is very profitable and allows medium/small devs to actually, you know ... make video games.

Its 2011 not 2001 .. open your mind.

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infect0 said:

Awesome for a super arcade like tank game. Which what I am hoping MW does not become.

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This is HQ to any available units. We have mechs down at nav Gamma.Bravo Cadet reports we have 4 summoners on site. Bandits are hostile; repeat bandits are hostile.

HQ, this is alpha assault. I'm on my way, bearing 0-2-5.

ETA 34 seconds

Alpha assault this is bravo cadet, I've got bandits all over me! Would you get down here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X3GD0UnBCk

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