Jordan Weisman hopes to resurrect Crimson Skies

With Shadowrun Returns now a roaring success on Kickstarter, creator Jordan Weisman has told Shacknews that he hopes to resurrect another of his classic creations, the dieselpunk world of Crimson Skies.

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Shadowrun creator Jordan Weisman's plan to bring the fine cyberpunk RPG back in a new video game is going swimmingly, as Shadowrun Returns hit its Kickstarter funding goal in only 28 hours. Now, he's eyeing up another of his classic creations too. In a chat with Shacknews today, Weisman revealed he wishes to resurrect Crimson Skies and its dieselpunk world of air-pirates.

"I'm hopeful that's another property that I can approach soon. I'm in discussions with them about that," he told us. "I'm hoping that we can bring that back to life as well."

Weisman's former company Smith & Tinker licensed the video game rights to Crimson Skies in 2007, along with Shadowrun and MechWarrior. However, "It kind of fell into the same void" as the first stab at resurrecting MechWarrior, unable to secure a publisher.

"That era and that story is one of my favorites that we came up with and I'd love to be able to go back and tell stories in that world as well," he said.

Crimson Skies was first released as a board game by FASA in 1998, followed by books, a miniatures game, and two video games. It's set in an alternate-reality 1930s, where air-pirates plunder the skies over a fractured United States.

Don't get too excited just yet, though. "I don't want to bite off more than we can chew right now," Weisman explained. "First comes Shadowrun, and we want to make that great, and then we'll figure out where to go after that."

With 16 days still to go, the Shadowrun Returns Kickstarter has rocketed past its $400,000 goal, approaching $875,000. Putting at least $15 into the kitty will get you a copy of the finished game, with increasingly fancy perks for those who give more and more.

We'll have more on Shadowrun Returns once I've sifted half an hour of chat about cyberpunk, social networks, the pressures of fan-funding, and what flavor of ice-cream Jordan would be if he were an ice-cream (it's Rocky Road).

From The Chatty
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    April 12, 2012 2:00 PM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, Jordan Weisman hopes to resurrect Crimson Skies.

    With Shadowrun Returns now a roaring success on Kickstarter, creator Jordan Weisman has told Shacknews that he hopes to resurrect another of his classic creations, the dieselpunk world of Crimson Skies.

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      April 12, 2012 2:07 PM

      A return of Crimson Skies as an arcade-sim would be amazing!

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      April 12, 2012 2:14 PM

      I'll take that game in any form. Love the universe.

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      April 12, 2012 2:16 PM

      Awesome been waiting for this.

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      April 12, 2012 2:17 PM

      FUCK YES

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      April 12, 2012 2:43 PM

      OH MAMMA, HELL YEAH

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      April 12, 2012 2:52 PM

      I don't think a budget Crimson Skies is what I'm looking for.

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      April 12, 2012 2:56 PM

      another kickstarter, what a surprise

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      April 12, 2012 3:13 PM

      It would be nice -- I really liked Crimson Skies.

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      April 12, 2012 3:14 PM

      fuck yes, loved this game

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      April 12, 2012 3:17 PM

      Hell yeah I freaking loved that game

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      April 12, 2012 3:39 PM

      [deleted]

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        April 12, 2012 3:45 PM

        This was a great Xbox live PC game

        fixed it for you

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          April 12, 2012 3:48 PM

          You should both be launched into the sun.

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            April 12, 2012 4:03 PM

            Agreed

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            April 12, 2012 4:04 PM

            What? Crimson Skies was both an awesome Xbox and PC game.

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            April 12, 2012 4:05 PM

            Oh wait nevermind I thought you meant Shadowrun. Crimson Skies ruled on the Xbox so only Alpha will burn to death.

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              April 12, 2012 5:52 PM

              The Crimson Skies action sim on the PC was fucking awesome you goddamn heathen!

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                April 12, 2012 7:50 PM

                Are we not allowed to think that all Crimson Skies titles, regardless of platform, were awesome? Because they were, and if you disagree you're wrong.

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                  April 12, 2012 8:29 PM

                  They were. I'm just sayin that, 1) the original PC title was more awesome, and 2) Rauol is a damned uncultured heathen for implying it wasn't awesome.

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          April 13, 2012 8:47 AM

          This was a great Xbox live PC game Hex-based tabletop game.

          Fixed it for YOU.

          Seriously, I'd love to see a Crimson Skies kickstarter as a turn-based hex grid tactical flight wargame for squadrons. That'd be about twelve kinds of awesome, and set it apart from the crowd while really digging down to its roots.

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      April 12, 2012 4:00 PM

      One of my favorite games on the Xbox. If they can bring out an updated HD verson I'd happily pay $20-$30 for it. Really beautiful and fun game deserving of a version for this generation of consoles and pcs.

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      April 12, 2012 4:20 PM

      I really don't want to buy into the pre-pre-order hype of kickstarter, but I will give Crimson Skies my money.

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      April 12, 2012 5:50 PM

      Shadowrun and Crimson Skies sound great, but please, please, please give him the Battletech IP. We want a proper game, and not that P2W shit Piranha is doing!.

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        April 12, 2012 6:20 PM

        He has the Battletech IP. Who do you think licensed it to Pirahna?

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      April 12, 2012 7:01 PM

      Crimson skies was fun!

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      April 12, 2012 9:35 PM

      This makes me really happy! Tried to get the pc version to run last year on a modern system was frustrating. Hope this works out and they get the same voice actors back.

    • spl legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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      April 12, 2012 10:10 PM

      I'm glad to hear they are already thinking about the next project even though there's absolutely nothing to show for this one.

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      April 12, 2012 10:50 PM

      Loved that game!

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      April 12, 2012 10:51 PM

      This is the first game on Kickstarter that I'd support.

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      April 13, 2012 9:17 PM

      I might be alone in this, but I'd love a Crimson Skies RPG. Walking around and dialogue (and shootouts?) in city hubs and on your airship, and then the bulk of gameplay is air combat. Upgrade your planes, weapons, and pilot's skills. Companions become wingmen or deck crew on your airship. It's not far off from the basic formula of where something like TIE Fighter is already.

      I just really like the weird alternate history world they've got. The second game got a little blah with the giant nazi robots and Indiana Jones-lite stuff. It felt as thin as, say, Sky Captain. But the basics of the universe are very cool.

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