Personally I agree with everything Thomas said here, and I have to add that with the recent release of the bgt game engine, I believe that people are going to start creating a lot more stuff once it comes out and is publicly well known and more features are added. It has great potential and it's easy to code with.
Just my 2 cents. On 5/23/10, Jorge Gonçalves <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Thomas. I agree with allmost everything what you said here. > Anyways, I think you're forgetting Che. > Not only he created great games including Railracer which is for me the > best audiogame ever produced and cardroom with constantly new games in > the way. > And also, the quolity of services that Che offers such as a dedicated > server for online playing, tournaments etc. > For me, in another field, blind gamers comunity owes a lot to Jim > Kitchen who is for me the developper who probably made more hapy blind > gamers in the world! > I personally admire infinitely the work of Jim for us. > > Jorge Gonçalves > [email protected] > Skype: joport3 > Twitter: www.twitter.com/goncalvesjorge > Webpage: www.jorgegoncalves.com > > Em 23-05-2010 6:36, Thomas Ward escreveu: >> Hi Dark, >> Oh, I've noticed this trend as well. i think everyone has that has >> been around this community long enough. Obviously, I've been hear a >> lot longer than you have, at least 10 years or so, and I've seen a lot >> of developers come and go. Some of them were pretty major for a while. >> Back when I discovered the Audyssey magazine and this list, this would >> have been around 1999 or 2000, game developers were just beginning to >> make the switch from Dos to Windows based games. The major developers >> at the time were PCS Games, Kitchens Inc, GMA Games, and ESP. I think >> BSC Games was just getting started too. >> At the time PCS Games had created a rather impressive catalog of Dos >> games like Monopoly, Kick Boxing, Panzers in North Africa, etc. >> Unfortunately, Kevin left PCS Games, and the market was shifting to >> Windows based games. Phil eventually acquired the GMA Engine and >> produced Packman Talks, Sarah, and Super Dog Bone Hunt. All good >> games, and is still an active member of our community. However, PCS >> isn't as active as it once was. >> As for ESP I think we all know the story there. James North decided to >> quit, turned control over to Josh, and it was renamed Adora >> Entertainment. Eventually Josh has some personal issues with a former >> girl friend, I believe it was, and he ended up renaming it Draconis >> Entertainment. While the software has been faithfully maintained and >> sold via Josh under one company name or another Draconis really hasn't >> yet put out anything truly new in years. All of their releases like >> ESP Pinball Extreme, the ESP Pinball Party Pack, Christmas Whoopass, >> and Ten Pin Alley, were all released quite a long time ago. I know >> they have something in the works for Mac, but still the fact remains >> when the company was still ESP James North was cranking out games left >> and right. Most of the Draconis product catalog is all James North's >> handywork. >> As for GMA I think David has been fairly active over the past 10 >> years. Considering the types of games he's produced like Tank >> Commander, Shades of Doom, Time of Conflict, etc I can certainly >> understand why there are long delays between releases. They are not >> the types of games a developer can slap together in a couple of weeks >> and sell left and right. They take considerable time and effort so I >> still see GMA as pretty major even if they aren't producing games left >> and right. >> As for BSC you said yourself what the problem is there. When Justin >> started out he and Dan were cranking out games like Pipe, Troopenum, >> and Hunter. Then, eventually Dan whent off to make DanZ Games and >> Justin got a real job, and no longer has time to devote to BSC like >> the old days. However, there for a couple of years or so Justin and >> Dan had a pretty good run. I doubt we'll see BSC make a come back any >> time soon unless Justin has a drastic change in employment/change in >> his work schedule. >> In fact, out of all the game developers the only one who has >> consistantly released games practically on a yearly basis and is the >> bedrock of audio gaming is Jim Kitchen. His Dos games were the first >> accessible games I had ever heard of, and he is still producing games >> on a somewhat regular basis. I have to give Jim a lot of credit for >> hanging in here as long as he has. I know far too many accessible game >> developers who have came and went over the past 10 years or so. >> First, there is the now infamous Bavisoft. For a couple of years they >> made a name for themselves when they put out Grizzly Gulch and >> Chillingham. That was around 2003/2004 or so. After that they >> basically fell off the face of the earth, and haven't done anything of >> note since. >> Second, there was LightTech Interactive. That was a company that was >> going very far very fast. It is true they had very simple games like >> Light Cars, Light Locator, The Horse Racing Game, etc but they were >> learning. Their games were improving, getting better, more advanced >> and suddenly the developer doesn't want to do it any more. End of >> LightTech Interactive. >> Third, there is Alchemy Game Studios. As many here will remember James >> North briefly tried to make a come back had a pretty impressive list >> of game projects in the works like Montezuma's Revenge, ESP Raceway, a >> mouse demo, and Max Shrapnal. However, after a number of personal >> problems, plus an angry mob of upset customers, I took his game >> projects off his hands, and he dropped out of site. Probibly never to >> be heard from again I figure. >> Finally, we have DanZ Games. As I said before I remember Dan got >> started helping Justin with BSC Games and then he split off and >> created DanZ Games with a few projects of his own like Super Deecout. >> However, recently after getting a full time job etc he hung up the >> game programming gig, released everything as freeware, and dropped out >> of sight. Not sure if he will ever return or not. >> And sadly those are just the major game companies I can remember that >> have come and gone. I don't count PB Games amung there number because >> obviously Philip Bennefall is still around, but PB Games has become >> Blastbay Studios. Not to mention of late Philip has been catching up >> for time lost, and is bigger and better than before. >> Anyway, to cut this very long post short i know exactly what you mean. >> The people who I thought were pretty major at times haven't turned out >> to be so major in the long hall. If you look to the 90's PCS and >> Kitchens Inc were the major developers of the time. Look to early 2000 >> to 2005 GMA, ESP, BSC, PB Games, and Jim Kitchen were the major >> developers of the period. After 2005 until present the major >> developers were Lighttech Interactive until they quit, Jim Kitchen, >> L-Works, Blind Adrenaline, 7-128 Software, and very recently Philip >> Bennifall has become an extremely important developer with BGT, Q9, >> and Kryngal Crash. Although I fit in to the 2005 to 2010 catagory >> myself I really haven't played a very big roll contributing to the >> community having had more bad luck than good. However, I have >> consistantly put out test builds which is something I guess. >> >> >> Smile. >> >> --- >> Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] >> If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to >> [email protected]. >> You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at >> http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. >> All messages are archived and can be searched and read at >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. >> If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the >> list, >> please send E-mail to [email protected]. >> >> > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > [email protected]. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to [email protected]. > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. 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