Trivia / Crimson Skies

• Executive Meddling: The alpha build of Crimson Skies had lots of elements from the original 1998 board game, such as more planes like Grumman E1-C Avenger and Whittly & Douglas M210 Raven and one point, according to the screenshots from the alpha build, suggest that Confederate Air Force squadron (one alpha build screenshot had Nathan pilots a CAF Kestrel) and the Red Skull Legion gang (Devastator and Brigand with Red Skull Legion markings) will appear in the alpha build (since unique squadrons wasn't exist yet at the time of the alpha build), but according to the news of the game at E3 1999 from game sites like Game Spot, issues during development, such as frequent crashes and various frame-rate drops, causing the game to be delayed from intended Summer 2000 release date to September 17, 2000 to give more development time (such as fixing bugs and glitches, scrapping some elements from the board game (presumably order to have a smoother frame-rate), and unique markings were created for the squadrons unique for the PC game (Fortune Hunters for example, given unique markings) in order to focus more on unique storyline). The end result was, while had unique storyline and is more playable than intended, suffers from both Early Adaptation Weirdness and Obvious Beta at the same time. Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge inverts this, as it was originally intended to be an interactive movie but was scrapped due to lukewarm reception from playtesters, who felt the gameplay being either unplayable or boring, and the development team changed to be more playable gameplay with open-ended level design, ability to switch planes, and multi-player support using Xbox Live. Unlike the original PC game, the Xbox sequel has more elements from the board game, with the Red Skull Legion gang serves as one of the Fortune Hunters' enemy squadrons.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge was originally intended to use the interactive movie concept, in which it would included an elaborate storyline that features a large cast of characters, a linear level design and several cutscenes. Despite getting a favorable reception by press, the interactive movie concept was scrapped due to the development team deciding that the original concept of the game didn't match the intended envision they were expecting, and a lukewarm reception from playtesters stating that the game's intended levels were either short or boring. In response, the development team decided to start from scratch such as simplifying the storyline, have an open-ended level design (such as manning an AA gun or switching planes; in order to give the player more gameplay choices), improve the visuals, decided on a smaller subset of onscreen characters, and changed the boss battles to be more over-the-top than what was intended.
  • Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge would have also have several levels each with a distinct environment layout design as the original mission design dictated, this was scrapped due to time constraints.
  • At one point during the Xbox reel at E3 2001, a brief footage of the way earlier and completely incomplete build of Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, showing Hughes P21-J MKII Devastator in original Fortune Hunters markings from the original PC game, flying through what expected to be completely incomplete version of E3 2002's Manhattan level (which originally took place in the sunset but changed to being took place in the daytime), and had simple multiple green outlined square crosshairs (similar to ones seen in Star Fox 64 and Star Wars Rogue Squadron) rather than unique single circular one.
  • According to the tie-in novel of Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge, there was an early version of cover art for the game teased in the last pages of the book promoting the Prima's Guide for the game if it was intent to being released on Fall 2002.
  • Originally, the PC game was entitled "Corsairs!". It would had been set in the post-World War 1 timeframe and a setting in the fictional kingdoms on the islands off of Europe, and involved on the concept of "knights of the air". The development for the game was stalled due to a game with a similar premise, while not explicitly mentioned, it may had possibly been Air Power: Battle In The Skies.
    • According to art director, Hein Schiller, FASA created a working prototype for Crimson Skies prior to involvement with Zipper Interactive and Microsoft, and would had looked completely different than what was shown in the final build of the game.
  • According to a game design document of the PC game and the trailer of the game, the 1999 pre-alpha and E3 2000 alpha build of the game would have more elements borrowed from the original 1998 board game than what was shown in the somewhat unpolished state of the final build:
    • Fortune Hunters planes had Red Skull Legion (that later appeared in High Road Revenge as an actual pirate gang and one of the rival pirate gangs Fortune Hunters encountered) markings as placeholders (Fortune Hunters markings was created before July 2000 pre-beta build).
    • Blake Aviation Security and Hughes Aviation planes had Boeing Aviation markings as placeholders (Blake Aviation Security markings was created before July 2000 pre-beta build).
    • Studio Security planes had Nation of Hollywood markings as placeholders (Studio Security markings was created before July 2000 pre-beta build).
    • Hollywood Knights Firebrand had some different color schemes and was much closer to the board game, and at one point there were going to have more different Hollywood Knights planes (such as Bloodhawk) as well as more different Black Swan planes (such as Kestrels and the scrapped Ravens).
    • Pandora (Fortune Hunters' zeppelin) was originally named "Klondike".
    • The dialogue originally had entirely different sound effects.
    • Texture of the planes were more-realistic and much closer to their pre-rendered look seen in pre-rendered cutscenes in the final as well as the planes' photos in the board game.
    • Originally, you can command your wingmen.
    • Originally, you can upload custom insignias to your customized planes.
    • Originally, there are additional planes such as the Raven and Avenger, and a Grand Canyon level.
    • Initially, the focus of the game was going to be on the Red Skull Legion and their ruthless fascist agenda. However, the developers soon realized that such a setting would not be compelling or interesting to many players, so they decided to scrap the idea and go with something a bit more nuanced and appealing, which eventually led to the creation of the Fortune Hunters faction. While the development team did use the Red Skull Legion's plane assets as a temporary placeholder in the early build, it was always their intention to eventually develop a new faction that would better suit the game's overall story and tone.
    • The textures for planes in the early version of the game were more realistic than those in the final. This was simply a matter of development time and resources. Realism is a desirable trait in any game or other visual media, but it's also something that requires a great deal of time and effort to achieve. So in this case, the developers had to choose between spending more time on making the textures more realistic or working on other areas of the game. They ultimately decided to focus on the latter, resulting in less detailed textures but more time available to polish and refine other aspects of the game.