This week we talk with Jordan Weisman and Mitch Gitelman, co-founders of the game studio Harebrained Schemes. Jordan, the creator of Shadowrun, and Mitch discuss how they got their start, how they grew their business, and lessons learned from Kickstarting their games. They also cover why it's vital to identify what you're not good at, the importance of finding the right partner and much more.
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Show notes

Shadowrun: Hong Kong Kickstarter
Harebrained Schemes: Website, Twitter
Shadowrun Returns: Steam, Kickstarter, Google Play, App Store
Shadowrun: Dragonfall -- Steam, Google Play, App Store
Golem Arcana: Website, Kickstarter
FASA
BattleTech Center (video)

Transcript
Alexis: Before we get to Harebrained Schemes and even FASA, Jordan, why don’t you introduce yourself really quickly?
Jordan: Sure. I’m Jordan Weisman. I’m both embarrassed and proud to say that I’ve been designing games for 35 years now and glad that my last job was as a paperboy. Since then I had to work for a living, so I enjoyed that very much. Do you want the whole –.
Mitch: Brief bio thing?
Jordan: The brief bio, this and then that?
Alexis: Sure, let’s get a bit of an intro for Mitch and then we can dive into the history.
Mitch: Okay. Hi, my name’s Mitch Gitelman and I’m the cofounder and studio manager of Harebrained Schemes. Let’s see – I’ve been making games since about 1993, started in paper and pencil role-playing games, which is where I met Jordan. From there, I moved on to video games where I started working on PlayStation 1 first wave title and did a whole bunch of really horrible games where I ended up working with Jordan on what became Crimson Skies at FASA Interactive. Then I went to Microsoft from there.
Alexis: Alright. So how did this all get started for you, Jordan? How did you leave your job as a paperboy to decide, “You know, I want to make games�
Jordan: Let’s see – I wasn’t actually a paperboy; “paperboy†is a euphemism. I was a delivery boy for a drug store, actually.
Mitch: Well that’s much better.
Jordan: That drug store had delivery boys. Anyway, I had been a player of old Avalon Hill titles for a long time since I was a kid. I was working at a summer camp up in Wisconsin, got introduced to D&D the year it came out and that’s pretty much it. The life went off the rails right at that point.
Mitch: Or directly magnetized onto the rails.
Jordan: One or the other. So after a short, aborted attempt at college [chuckles] I started FASA in 1980.
Alexis: I got to stop you here because – you were in college. What were you studying?
Jordan: I’m not what one would call a great student. My grades in high school were not exactly exemplary, so I didn’t have a lot of college options and we didn’t have a lot of money at the time. I really loved sailing and saw that the government pays for this academy for the United States Merchant Marine Academy where they teach you to be a merchant officer.
I got the congressional appointment necessary, because in the Midwest no one has ever heard of it, so it wasn’t that hard and went off to King’s Point. My long hair was shaved off, I was brought into the Navy – because you’re technically a naval reserve while you’re there – and went about trying to learn to be a naval officer, which, about a year into it, I was like “I’m not sure that my romantic vision of sea is what the reality is.â€
I left, came back to Chicago, went to the U of I Computer School for about a year. I tried to study computers because I’ve been into computers since 12; I started programming PET 8ks.
Mitch: Yes! I love that; that was such a cool-looking machine!
Jordan: It was, and I’d done all these rather elaborate games and stuff in my young teenage years, and then got an Apple II,