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Some (small) Devs we should know; and some devs to mourn
Topic Started: Feb 26 2010, 06:29 AM (2,102 Views)
sheath
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Farewell The Code Monkeys, we barely knew yea. Does anybody know what games they made?

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-02-15-the-code-monkeys-closes-doors

One of the longest running UK independent studios, The Code Monkeys, has decided to cease trading after 23 years in business.

In a brief post on the company blog yesterday it was announced that the board and shareholders had voted to wind up the studio, closing the doors once and for all at the Yorkshire headquarters. The vote took place on February 1 - the 23rd birthday of the studio's inception.

Just over a month ago development director Adrian Hirst had announced that The Code Monkeys would be cutting staff to remain competitive, telling press: "The Code Monkeys reduced staffing levels based on our current production needs and predictions of what is needed for 2010."

The closure marks an end to a development history which stretched from the ZX81 and Spectrum to the iPhone, with PSP minis, a DS port of Manic Monkey Mayhem and further titles in the studio's Three Sports series the last to be worked on.
Activision killed Bizarre Creations, oh happy day. Metropolis Street Racer, Project Gotham Racing, Fur Fighters (on Dreamcast) and others are always going to be great games.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-02-15-friday-sees-closure-of-bizarre-creations

Bizarre Studios, the Liverpool developer which was announced to be closing by Activsion last month, is finally terminating business on Friday 18 February.

The studio, which turned out titles like Geometry Wars, Project Gotham and Blur over the course of its history, was recommended for closure by Activision in January following unsuccessful attempts to find a buyer.

At one point, the developer had employed around 200 staff, but layoffs and rumours of closure began to surface in November, 2010 following poor sales of Blur and the James Bond licence 007: Bloodstone.

Whilst other studios have been looking at Bizarre staff for recruitment, so far no new studios have been formed by former employees of the company.
Edited by sheath, Feb 15 2011, 08:28 AM.
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sheath
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At least Bizarre Creations got a sad farewell video.
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Belpowerslave
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I don't understand why MS didn't buy them...didn't they publish the entire PGR series on Xbox? It was always a big launch title too, wasn't it?

Bel
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sheath
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So long Psygnosis. I didn't like many of your games, and I hated the popular ones, but I'm sure many an aging Sony fan will mourn.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-08-22-sony-closes-wipeout-developer-sony-liverpool-report
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DarcSeven
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I'm gonna sing the DOOM Song.
I'm surprised they lasted this long. They made a third of all the very few racing games I liked with the Wipeout series (Still playing Wipeout HD). Team Buddies is a childhood favorite I still have. Not good news, but I'm sure the workers will find a new home elsewhere. RIP Psy.
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sheath
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This seems like a good article on the topic. Edge sucks though.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/psygnosis-story-john-white-director-software
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sheath
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I've been wondering what happened to Melbourne House. Apparently they were absorbed into Krome studios in 2006 and nobody has heard from them since.

http://www.mobygames.com/company/krome-studios-melbourne/history
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sheath
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Kenji Eno, Developer of D, Enemy Zero and Composer for the Sega Rally 2 soundtrack passed away yesterday. I can't bring myself to insert a platitude here, but I feel bad for his family.

http://kotaku.com/5985871/game-designer-kenji-eno-has-died-at-age-42
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sheath
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I'm sure everybody has heard by now, but Disney shut down Lucas Arts for good. It looks like they had already been degraded into a cruddy Star Wars game factory in recent years, but all the same here's for "progress". :cheers:
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sheath
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Aaaaaand here's the other shoe:

http://kotaku.com/ea-snags-exclusive-deal-to-make-star-wars-games-493178983

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sheath
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I didn't even realize that Argonaut games closed in 2004. Here I've been sitting around waiting for them to come up with another sleeper gem like Red Dog and wondering where they were.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argonaut_Games

"In late October 2004, Argonaut Games called in receivers David Rubin & Partners, made 100 employees redundant and was put up for sale. Lack of a constant stream of deals with publishers led to cashflow issues and a profit warning earlier in the year."

"
Skyline Attack, 1984 (Commodore 64)
Alien, 1984 (Commodore 64)
Starglider, 1985
Starglider 2, 1988
Days of Thunder, 1990 (Atari ST, Amiga)
Race Drivin', 1992 (Atari ST, Amiga)
A.T.A.C, 1992 (PC CDROM)
Birds of Prey, 1992 (AMIGA)
X, 1992 (Game Boy)
Star Fox, 1993 (SNES) (assistance in programming)
King Arthur's World, 1993 (SNES)
Vortex, 1994 (SNES)
Stunt Race FX, 1994 (SNES) (assistance in programming)
Creature Shock, 1994 (PC CDROM)
Ren & Stimpy: Fire Dogs, 1994 (SNES)
FX Fighter, 1995 (PC CDROM)
Alien Odyssey, 1995 (PC CDROM)
FX Fighter Turbo, 1996 (PC CDROM)
Scooby Doo Mystery, 1996 (SNES)
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, 1997 (PS1, SAT, PC)
Buck Bumble, 1998 (N64)
Croc 2, 1999 (PS1, PC)
The Emperor's New Groove, 2000 (PS1, PC)
Alien: Resurrection, 2000 (PS1)
Red Dog: Superior Firepower, 2000 (DC)
Disney's Aladdin in Nasira's Revenge, 2000 (PS1, PC)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 2001 (PS1, PC) (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the US)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 2002 (PS1, PC)
Bionicle: Matoran Adventures, 2002 (GBA)
Bionicle: The Game, 2003 (Xbox, PC, PS2, GameCube)
I-Ninja, 2003 (Xbox, PC, PS2, GameCube)
SWAT: Global Strike Team, 2003 (Xbox, PS2)
Carve, 2004 (Xbox)
Catwoman: The Game, 2004 (Xbox, PC, PS2, GameCube)
Power Drome, 2004 (Xbox, PS2)
Malice, 2004 (Xbox, PS2)

Cancelled Games

Croc 3: Stone of The Gobbos, 2005 (Xbox, PS2, GameCube)
"
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sheath
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I just found out that Taito was purchased by Squeenix in 2005 and has been nothing but a compilation and re-release farm ever since. No wonder I haven't heard anything about Taito since I bought their last Xbox compilation disk. At least that disk was well tested.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/company/10632.html
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sheath
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Apparently Sega bought Creative Assembly Australia, renamed them to Sega Australia, made them make a couple of licensed games and then shut them down in April.

In other more positive news, a youtube channel called "GameArt Studio GmbH" contacted me on the YT message system today about a pre-alpha party for their game Quantum Rush. The game looks pretty cool, it reminds me of Fatal Inertia.

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Belpowerslave
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Yeah, they contacted me as well...figured I'd give it a shot(though I don't know how many of the multiplayer sessions I'll make). It does look pretty good though...

Bel
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sheath
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Hey, if you are going to do it I will as well. I was trying to decide if I would actually make the time to test the game. If it is an online thing and too late at night I definitely will not make it.
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Belpowerslave
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Well, I am sure they'll need offline and online testers...so, either way, I'd guess we'll at least get to play it for a while.

Having been involved in a few alpha/beta tests for games, I'm always interested in seeing the various changes made...as well as see how open the devs are to tester-input. I still think I was responsible for GearBox showing the hit points flying off the enemies when you shoot them in Borderlands...;)

Bel
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sheath
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Huh, I didn't know you have still been play testing. I have never tested a game, or even gotten an offer to do so until now. So I guess I will send off that email and see what happens.
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Belpowerslave
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Well, it wasn't anything professional...GearBox, THQ and others do various play testing sessions around the DFW area. I went to a few...got called back, and paid, to do one or two.

The Borderlands thing is....well, very tongue-in-cheek...I don't have any proof that they added because of my comments...but it just seems odd how no one noticed it until I brought it...at any rate, I'll let you decide:

So I sign up for a play testing session for what was eventually going to become Borderlands. This is somewhat early in its development...in fact, it was still during the game's stint using non-cell shaded graphics. At any rate, everyone was sat down at a 360 dev system and they set us loose. After the session finished a lot of the dev team came in and asked us what we liked, didn't like, etc. I told them that I really liked the way my attacks had hit points coming offer the enemies' heads as I attacked them. I told them it was very psuedo-RPG, and that was hip. They just sort of looked at me...no one knew what I was talking about. It was found out that I was on the main dev. machine that had certain things enabled for debugging that none of th other units had....so I was able to see hit points from my attacks, something that wasn't meant to be seen.

At any rate, fast forward to when the game comes out...you shoot a guy and hit points bounce out of the enemies...

Wild, huh?

Past that I did a play session for DarkSiders...and then got called back, and paid, to play it a for a few hours and give some thoughts. I don't really recall if any of my comments had any effect(the game was pretty close to done, and the gameplay was already smooth-as-butter. About the only thing they didn't have in there yet was that portal gun).

Bel
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sheath
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Add Maxis to the kill list.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/3/4/8149791/ea-closes-maxis-simcity-the-sims

"Here's the full statement from EA:

Today we are consolidating Maxis IP development to our studios in Redwood Shores, Salt Lake City, Helsinki and Melbourne locations as we close our Emeryville location. Maxis continues to support and develop new experiences for current Sims and SimCity players, while expanding our franchises to new platforms and developing new cross-platform IP.

These changes do not impact our plans for The Sims. Players will continue to see rich new experiences in The Sims 4, with our first expansion pack coming soon along with a full slate of additional updates and content in the pipeline.

All employees impacted by the changes today will be given opportunities to explore other positions within the Maxis studios and throughout EA. For those that are leaving the company, we are working to ensure the best possible transition with separation packages and career assistance."
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sheath
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Somehow Factor 5 Inc, of Rouge Squadron fame, and Factor 5 GmbH of Turrican fame, being shuttered back in 2009 and 2011 respectively flew under the radar here.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2009/05/14/factor-5-shuts-down
"Factor 5 was working with Brash on the Superman game and a handful of other projects. Brash closed its doors last year after a brief run of high-profile announcements (Clash of the Titans, Saw) and mediocre game releases (Jumper, Space Chimps). Co-founder and Legendary Pictures chair Thomas Tull left Brash in October 2008 and the company fell apart soon after."

The original studio in Cologne shut down in 2011 too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factor_5

Factor 5 GmbH
Amiga

1988: Katakis
1989: R-Type
1990: Turrican
1990: Masterblazer (intro only)
1991: Turrican II: The Final Fight
1991: The Adventures of Quik & Silva (under the pseudonym New Bits on the RAM)
1992: Metal Law (under the pseudonym New Bits on the RAM)
1992: Tony and Friends in Kellog's Land
1992: BC Kid
1993: Turrican 3 (conversion program by Neon Studios)

Atari ST

1990: Turrican
1991: Turrican II: The Final Fight
1991: The Adventures of Quik & Silva (under the pseudonym New Bits on the RAM; port of Amiga version)

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

1993: Super Turrican
1994: Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures
1995: Super Turrican 2

Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

1993: Mega Turrican (released in 1994)
1994: Mega Bomberman 8-players (unpublished demo)
1995: Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures (unpublished)
1996: International Superstar Soccer Deluxe

Game Boy

1994: Contra: The Alien Wars
1995: Animaniacs

PC

1994: Tony & Friends in Kellogg's Land [8]

PlayStation

1996: Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire
1996: Ballblazer Champions

Factor 5, Inc
Nintendo 64

1998: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
1999: Resident Evil 2 (Sound Compression Technology)
1999: Elmo's Letter Adventure (Sound Compression Technology)
2000: San Francisco Rush 2049 (Sound Compression Technology)
2000: Star Wars: Episode I: Battle for Naboo
2000: Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
2000: Pokémon Stadium (Sound Compression Technology)

PC

1999: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 3D
2001: Star Wars: Episode I: Battle for Naboo

Nintendo GameCube

2001: Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
2003: Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike

PlayStation 3

2007: Lair
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