With Microsoft’s current first party studio lineup Xbox has often needed the help of many independent developers and at times even other major publishers such as Sega and its internal studio, Creative Assembly, working on Halo Wars 2. This outside contract work has brought in some serious ammunition in the IP department in the past. Games like Killer Instinct, Ori and the Blind Forest, Cuphead, Scalebound, Zoo Tycoon, and more wouldn’t have been possible (or canceled) without external studio support. That’s where the head of Dragon Punk, Daniel Connery, comes in.
Some of you may be wondering what Dragon Punk is and what they have done. Well, Dragon Punk’s current project in the works is a highly impressive Ark Survival Evolved mod. Simply titled, Tribe of Gods, Dragon Punk has altered much of the base game with new additions to creatures and landscapes. Floating land masses recreate scenes similar to that of James Cameron’s Avatar. The creatures on board offer a more mythological offering of animals to tame.  One environment mod offers a more cyberpunk type of vibe with a futuristic city to explore. Perhaps this is the mod that the Dragon Punk team offered as a demo to the Xbox team at Redmond in their proposal.
According to TheGG Connery’s Shadowrun history begins with the Sega version of Shadowrun. Inspired by the “complex RPG narratives” Shadowrun would become a part of his life as he grew into a developer at the University of Texas. Achieving cloud based rendering augmented reality technology, Connery had his development plans on hold as he was called to serve in the Army. Upon his return, Connery would face a grievously wounded father.  Promising to achieve his life long goal of creating a Shadowrun game, Connery has submitted a proposal to Microsoft for a new entry to the Shadowrun series every September.
So we know Connery’s background with the franchise and we know what Dragon Punk is capable of, but what exactly would the game look like? TheGG continues their interview with Connery and uncovers several aspects of the game pitched to Microsoft. First of all, the name would be ‘Shadowrun Anthology.’ With the series beyond some people’s recognition, an anthology would serve as a means to better acquaint newcomers to the franchsie. According to Connery, the game would contain “…three types of campaigns: traditional, new chapters, and mods.” Traditional Campaigns would offer experiences straight from the books, while new chapters would offer completely different tones similar to that of Shadowrun: Hong Kong. Lastly, mods would offer any player the ability to build their very own Shadowrun tale. As far as expectations go, Connery did mention a campaign based on the Dragon Heart saga and Xbox One X and PC versions of the game complete with Co-OP and online play.
Whether or not Microsoft bites at this opportunity to bring back Shadowrun is yet to be seen. But one thing is for sure, the Daniel Connery is currently looking for other fans of the franchise to let their voices be heard.
https://twitter.com/DragonpunkGame/status/906243373455081472
