Road Rash programmer considering Kickstarter for new sequel

Road Rash creator Dan Giesler has told fans he's going to talk to EA about the rights to the combat-heavy motorcycle racer, and possibly take to Kickstarter to fund a new game.

Reddit users seemed quite delighted when a question about why Road Rash has been on hiatus for several years was answered by Giesler himself, the programmer and co-designer of Road Rash and its firts two sequels.

"It hasn't resurfaced because I was burned out after Road Rash 3. But I'm ready to do another one now. I just needed 20 years off," Geisler said.

"I'm ready to make a better one now. I miss playing it too. If there is enough interest, I'll do a Kickstarter on it."

At first, Geisler confirmed EA has the rights to the name, but not the genre, calling for suggestions for a new title. Later, he said he'd talk to EA to see about licensing.

The programmer said he's going to think about it, but is pretty set on Kickstarter. He envisions a premium game, with a free trial version including a few bikes and tracks, but no freemium features to distract from the core gameplay. Platform-wise, he aid he's probably build the game in Unity, making it ultra-portable, and said "PC for sure".

Geisler also noted that he developed the road tech for Road Rash - later used in Skitchin' - well before he came to EA, meaning he can probably build a very close successor with an old-school-feel.

"I would keep the mechanics 2.5D. when you go full 3D physics I think you lose something. Although a new version would be in 3D, I'd restrict the physics as needed, cause reality tends to suck," he said.

"I wanted the handling to be like the old mechanical arcade games. It was all about reaction time and picking a lane. Randy Breen the co-designer and producer of the game gave me a motorcycle physics book early in the project. I put it up on my shelf and never looked at it," he added.

User enthusiasm was high, and Geisler said he'd already filed the paperwork for an LLC to put the project in motion. "I'm talking it over with some people now. It looks like this will happen," he concluded.

During his Reddit conversartion, geisler has some scathing things to say about EA's treatment of the property after he left.

"They fucked it up. I did 1, 2 and 3. Now it's time for a 4," he said.

"Don't say Road Rash 64 again. Not my deal. And yeah what a piece of - well you know. That was done by Pacific Power and Light, which was Don Traeger's company. It's funny because I did Road Rash 3 after leaving a project he was my producer on. I told him I'd finish RR3 before he shipped his s**t, and would outsell him. Well I did but he made the N64 version after I left EA and made $25 million. Who's the sucker."

EA is believed to have made a couple of attempts to reboot Road Rash, including one at Bizarre Creations but shelved each title prior to announcement. Criterion has expressed interest in the property.

Thanks, ECC. Reddit links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13