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Jordan Weisman

Jordan Weisman

Shadowrun Returns' Jordan Weisman on the "double-edged sword" of crowdfunding

Omri Petitte at

Harebrained Schemes' Shadowrun Returns saw a successful Kickstarter campaign last April, and since then the developer has been busy crafting the cyberpunk tactical RPG it promised to backers. Dealing with the "crowd" in crowdfunding, though, means directly exposing yourself to an audience that's already given you their money and facing the challenge of earning attention in a sea of nostalgia-powered proposals. Shadowrun (and MechWarrior) creator Jordan Weisman examines these issues directly in a new GamesIndustry interview


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Shadowrun Returns developer talks character archetypes, "classless" system

Omri Petitte at

Harebrained's cyber-sorcery RPG Shadowrun Returns handily slew its Kickstarter goal last April, securing the funds needed for a "graphically rich 2D turn-based single player game with deep story interaction, meaningful character development, and highly-contextual tactical combat." Project lead and Shadowrun creator Jordan Weisman spoke to Game Informer recently about the "foundational character types" to start from in a "classless" system.


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Shadowrun Returns joins the pack of Kickstarter-funded projects

Tyler Wilde at

Crowdfunded sequels, remakes, and reboots are the new...whatever was popular before crowdfunded sequels, remakes, and reboots. Adding to the pile today is Shadowrun Returns, a PC and tablet game in the Shadowrun role-playing universe to be headed up by Jordan Weisman, founder of FASA Corporation, the creator of tabletop classics Shadowrun and BattleTech, and FASA Interactive, which brought us the MechWarrior series.


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Exclusive Interview: Piranha's Bullock talks about the rocky road to rebooting MechWarrior

Rob Zacny at

The MechWarrior community caught fire in 2009 when Piranha Games released a trailer for their upcoming MechWarrior reboot, and it seemed like all Piranha needed to do was find a a publisher and relaunch the classic MechWarrior franchise.

But almost two years went by with no word on the project's status, and no publisher picked it up. I talked to Russ Bullock, president of Piranha Games', and asked about MechWarrior's missing years, and how MechWarrior Online emerged from their struggle to find a publisher. He explains how Microsoft's restrictions on the MechWarrior license made the property a tough sell, and how bad timing made a tough job impossible. Stymied by the traditional publishing model, Piranha started to take a hard look at whether free-to-play might let them make the game they wanted, without compromising its values.


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