Hi, Um...I'm sorry but--Josh changed the name do to a girlfriend? That's bizarre. Best Regards, Hayden
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bryan Peterson Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2010 9:11 AM To: Gamers Discussion list Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Where have all the developers gone? Not only that but Philip's in college is he not? We are the Knights who say...Ni! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Thomas Ward" <[email protected]> To: "Gamers Discussion list" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 10:36 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Where have all the developers gone? > 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]. 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].
