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| 5 DEC 2007 at 3:58pm |
IviniaGuild Master
Posts : 4459
Joined: 7 JUN 2003
Location: US
Status : Offline | Was going around the other day looking and trying to get a feel for who all was out there along with "whatever happened to..." types of things and found it interesting how many developers have disappeared or moved on to other things. While far from being complete, here are some names that come to mind:
Legend - (Shannara, Death Gate, etc.)
Cryo - (Lots of games, but nothing really notable)
The Wimmers (Amber: Journeys Beyond)
Michael Clark - (Harvest, The Arrangement - haven't heard about anything in a long time)
Frixx-It - (Tears of Betrayal - website is gone)
Lucas Arts - (Some Monkey thing)
Sierra - (Shivers, Gabriel Knight, Phantasmagoria, etc.)
Detalion - (Schizm, Schizm 2)
Omni - (Riddle of the Sphinx, Omega Stone)
Dreamforge - (Sanitarium)
Interplay - (Frankenstein, Tomb of the Pharaoh)
Arxel Tribe - (Hitchcock)
Terminal Reality - (Blair Witch games - still around, but not doing AGs)
Take2 - (Black Dalia - If they are now Take2 Interactive, then they are still around, but not doing AGs)
Wannadoo - (Cameron Files)
SouthPeak - (Temujin, Dark Side of the Moon - Still around, not doing AGs)
France Telecom - (Dracula Resurrection/Unleashed)
Pinhead Games - (Case of the Crabs - website is there but empty)
Smoking Car Productions - (The Last Express)
Westwood - (Kyrandia, still around, not doing AGs)
Saturn+ - (Midnight Nowhere)
t-bot - (Mystery of the Nautilus)
Flashpoint Production - (Noctropolis)
Access - (Tex Murphy)
Microids - (Post Mortem, Still Life - are these guys coming back?)
trecision - (Watchmaker)
While far from being a complete list, I do find it interesting how many have left the scene. It seems like the lifespan of an AG developer is not very long. :-/
Any others you can think of that should be added to the list?
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| 5 DEC 2007 at 4:14pm |
BlountSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 271
Joined: 19 APR 2006
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Ivinia (5 DEC 2007 3:57pm)
Any others you can think of that should be added to the list?
Dinabyte (Nippon Safes, Big Red Adventure)
Tsunami (Blue Force, Ringworld Games)
Core Design (Curse of Enchantia, Universe)
Microprose (Return of the Phantom, Rex Nebular, Dragonsphere)
Don´t know what they are doing right now, but they dont develop adventure games anymore.
Currently Playing: Dracula Origins&&&&Check out my Videogame Music Covers!! http://www.youtube.com/user/SixStringsGeek
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| 5 DEC 2007 at 5:02pm |
ElfstoneGuild Master
Posts : 5892
Joined: 4 NOV 2002
Status : Online | Cryo lives on in Kheops. With much better games.
[b]playing[/b]: Destination Treasure Island (done in two sittings, but it's nice), Syberia (ho-hum), Dracula: Last Sanctuary (on hold)&&[b]reading[/b]: even more study papers&&[b]listening to[/b]: [url=http://www.last.fm/user/Brax82/]this and that[/url], plus [url=http://www.musicovery.com/]Musicovery[/url]&&[b]TV favorites[/b]: (currently) Pushing Daisies, Chuck, Journeyman (cancelled! grrr...), Heroes&& all-time) 24, Stargate SG1, X-Files, Lost, House
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| 5 DEC 2007 at 5:02pm |
ukpetdSpace Cadet
Posts : 176
Joined: 27 JUL 2007
Status : Online | The way of the world is that games producers create a company to develop and market a game. To limit the financial risk, the company is limited and it exists only for that single game. Distributors survive longer because they spread the risk over several games and/or several genres. On the other hand, sucessful distributors either are taken over or take over less sucessful distributors. The good will built up by a company is often ignored in these deals or ends up as a name on the box that hardly anybody reads.
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| 5 DEC 2007 at 6:47pm |
Jenny100Guild Master
Posts : 3510
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | Galilea
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| 5 DEC 2007 at 7:44pm |
SirDaveGuild Master
Posts : 4939
Joined: 17 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Hue Forest- Amber
Mojave- Secrets of the Luxor
Hammerhead- Timelapse & Titanic Adventures Out Of Time (though still sold by Barracuda)
H+a- Celtica, Jewels II (The Ultimate Challenge) aka Gems of Darkness
Trilobyte- The 7th Guest, 11th Hour, Clandestiny
The future ain't what it used to be!
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| 5 DEC 2007 at 10:07pm |
AndromusGuild Master
Posts : 5536
Joined: 6 NOV 2002
Status : Offline | Dreamworks Interactive - The Neverhood
Rocket Science - Obsidian
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| 5 DEC 2007 at 10:55pm |
MrLipidPrivate Detective
Posts : 666
Joined: 10 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | Cyberflix
Dust: A Tale of the Wired West
RedJack: The Revenge of the Brethren
Titanic: Adventure Out of Time
Titanic: The Lost Mission
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| 19 DEC 2007 at 12:21am |
BlountSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 271
Joined: 19 APR 2006
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Elfstone (5 DEC 2007 5:02pm)
Cryo lives on in Kheops.
What do yo mean? They changed their name? :-?
Currently Playing: Dracula Origins&&&&Check out my Videogame Music Covers!! http://www.youtube.com/user/SixStringsGeek
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| 19 DEC 2007 at 12:31am |
AndromusGuild Master
Posts : 5536
Joined: 6 NOV 2002
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Blount (19 DEC 2007 12:21am)
Originally Posted By Elfstone (5 DEC 2007 5:02pm)
Cryo lives on in Kheops.
What do yo mean? They changed their name? :-?
Kheops was founded by former Cryo employees, I believe.
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| 19 DEC 2007 at 1:41am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | Methinks Hidden Sanctum is feeling worried and looking under his seat for the parachute.
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| 19 DEC 2007 at 4:44am |
IviniaGuild Master
Posts : 4459
Joined: 7 JUN 2003
Location: US
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Caroline (19 DEC 2007 1:41am)
Methinks Hidden Sanctum is feeling worried and looking under his seat for the parachute.
Not at all. I'm not an adventure game developer, I'm a game developer. True things are not quite going as well as I would have hoped at the moment, but stressed? Nope. If I had a team of employees that I had to pay then I might be, but alas that is not the case. I plan to stay the course for many years to come.
I was just looking at several game companies out there that have been around for a LONG time. However, no adventure game companies seem to have been able to stand the test of time. When I started to look back on them, I found the list to be pretty substantial with developers who have created some truly great games no longer existing. The few that are still around don't even make AG's anymore and the one or two that do are more focused on other genres.
Saying Cryo is still around though as Kheops isn't correct. Some ex-Cryo members might have started Kheops, but Cryo is dead. That's like saying Lucas Arts is still around making adventure games as TellTale or August Moon.
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| 21 DEC 2007 at 1:09am |
PeterooIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 20
Joined: 12 DEC 2007
Status : Offline | Small clarification: Westwood's been gone for years. (Folded into EA LA, as I recall.)
Peter
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| 21 DEC 2007 at 2:16pm |
BlountSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 271
Joined: 19 APR 2006
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Andromus (19 DEC 2007 12:31am)
Originally Posted By Blount (19 DEC 2007 12:21am)
Originally Posted By Elfstone (5 DEC 2007 5:02pm)
Cryo lives on in Kheops.
What do yo mean? They changed their name? :-?
Kheops was founded by former Cryo employees, I believe.
Originally Posted By Ivinia (19 DEC 2007 4:44am)
Saying Cryo is still around though as Kheops isn't correct. Some ex-Cryo members might have started Kheops, but Cryo is dead. That's like saying Lucas Arts is still around making adventure games as TellTale or August Moon.
It would make sense though, if Kheops had some relationship to Cryo cause AFAIK their adventures share similar traits. Im talking about the outstanding first person graphics and the historical/educational themes. You can find both in Cryo´s and Kheops´s games.
Currently Playing: Dracula Origins&&&&Check out my Videogame Music Covers!! http://www.youtube.com/user/SixStringsGeek
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| 21 DEC 2007 at 8:04pm |
Igor ArtemovSpace Cadet
Posts : 185
Joined: 1 APR 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Ivinia (5 DEC 2007 3:57pm)
Cryo - (Lots of games, but nothing really notable)
What about Captain Blood, KGB, Dune, Lost Eden, Dragon Lore?
Saturn+ - (Midnight Nowhere)
They are still in business, I assure you) They make 3-4 games a year, but you don't want to see them :-X
Strange that nobody mentioned AdventureSoft/Headfirst (Simon the Sorcerer, Feeble Files, Call of Cthulhu) and Coktel Vision (Goblins, Inca, Woodruff etc)..
Killing Time
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| 21 DEC 2007 at 9:12pm |
InlandAZGuild Master
Posts : 5586
Joined: 4 MAY 2007
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Afex Tween (21 DEC 2007 8:03pm)
Originally Posted By Ivinia (5 DEC 2007 3:57pm)
Cryo - (Lots of games, but nothing really notable)
What about Captain Blood, KGB, Dune, Lost Eden, Dragon Lore?
Saturn+ - (Midnight Nowhere)
They are still in business, I assure you) They make 3-4 games a year, but you don't want to see them :-X
Strange that nobody mentioned AdventureSoft/Headfirst (Simon the Sorcerer, Feeble Files, Call of Cthulhu) and Coktel Vision (Goblins, Inca, Woodruff etc)..
Coktel Vision had a number of excellent games (most are still in my favs list) - Bargon Attack, Lost in Time and Ween to name a few additional titles.
So I'm told they're still in the software business - just not in the gaming end of things.
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| 21 DEC 2007 at 9:29pm |
PeterooIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 20
Joined: 12 DEC 2007
Status : Offline | That's right; they do educational stuff (as part of the Vivendi/Universal conglomerate).
Peter
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| 21 DEC 2007 at 10:17pm |
Igor ArtemovSpace Cadet
Posts : 185
Joined: 1 APR 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By InlandAZ (21 DEC 2007 9:12pm)
So I'm told they're still in the software business - just not in the gaming end of things.
I think the situation here is the same as with Sierra - old title, new team. At least Pierre Gilhodes and Muriel Tramis left the company after Coktel was bought out by Vivendi, and they are responsible for most of the adventure titles.
Killing Time
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| 29 DEC 2007 at 12:40am |
Erwin_BrPrivate Detective
Posts : 455
Joined: 7 NOV 2002
Status : Offline | I saw someone mentioning Trilobyte (7th Guest, 11th Hour) and I remembered this very insightful and interesting story about the rise and fall of this company: http://www.gamespot.com/features/btg-tri/index.html
--Erwin
[url=http://justadventure.com/IndependentDevs/BadTiming/index.html][img]http://erbserv.emptyhouse.net/public/images/bt-forumbanner.gif[/img][/url]
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| 29 DEC 2007 at 2:30am |
SirDaveGuild Master
Posts : 4939
Joined: 17 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Erwin_Br (29 DEC 2007 12:40am)
I saw someone mentioning Trilobyte (7th Guest, 11th Hour) and I remembered this very insightful and interesting story about the rise and fall of this company: http://www.gamespot.com/features/btg-tri/index.html
--Erwin
Keep an eye out for the next issue of Adventure Lantern with my article on running The 7th Guest on WinXP including a history of Trilobyte using that article as one of the sources.
The future ain't what it used to be!
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| 29 DEC 2007 at 3:10am |
InlandAZGuild Master
Posts : 5586
Joined: 4 MAY 2007
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By SirDave (29 DEC 2007 2:29am)
Originally Posted By Erwin_Br (29 DEC 2007 12:40am)
I saw someone mentioning Trilobyte (7th Guest, 11th Hour) and I remembered this very insightful and interesting story about the rise and fall of this company: http://www.gamespot.com/features/btg-tri/index.html
--Erwin
Keep an eye out for the next issue of Adventure Lantern with my article on running The 7th Guest on WinXP including a history of Trilobyte using that article as one of the sources.
Love the story (read it many a time) - and I for one will definitely keep my eye out for your article (and it better contain a mention of VPC or DOSBox) -- cuz the DirectX patch blows...
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| 30 DEC 2007 at 12:56pm |
BlountSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 271
Joined: 19 APR 2006
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By InlandAZ (21 DEC 2007 9:12pm)
Originally Posted By Afex Tween (21 DEC 2007 8:03pm)
Originally Posted By Ivinia (5 DEC 2007 3:57pm)
Cryo - (Lots of games, but nothing really notable)
What about Captain Blood, KGB, Dune, Lost Eden, Dragon Lore?
Saturn+ - (Midnight Nowhere)
They are still in business, I assure you) They make 3-4 games a year, but you don't want to see them :-X
Strange that nobody mentioned AdventureSoft/Headfirst (Simon the Sorcerer, Feeble Files, Call of Cthulhu) and Coktel Vision (Goblins, Inca, Woodruff etc)..
Coktel Vision had a number of excellent games (most are still in my favs list) - Bargon Attack, Lost in Time and Ween to name a few additional titles.
So I'm told they're still in the software business - just not in the gaming end of things.
Pierre Gilhodes (ex-Coktel Vision) is currently working on the Goblins3D/Gobliiins4 project : http://www.gobliiins4.com/
Currently Playing: Dracula Origins&&&&Check out my Videogame Music Covers!! http://www.youtube.com/user/SixStringsGeek
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| 30 DEC 2007 at 5:00pm |
InlandAZGuild Master
Posts : 5586
Joined: 4 MAY 2007
Status : Offline | Nice link - It's good to see the game will continue
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| 2 JAN 2008 at 8:36pm |
RaySorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 359
Joined: 21 OCT 2002
Location: US, CA
Status : Offline | One of my favorites:
Presto Studios (Journeyman Project, Journeyman 2: Buried in Time; Journeyman 3: Legacy of Time; Myst III)
Remember, procrastinate now. Don't put it off!!
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| 2 JAN 2008 at 9:44pm |
SirDaveGuild Master
Posts : 4939
Joined: 17 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Ray (2 JAN 2008 8:36pm)
One of my favorites:
Presto Studios (Journeyman Project, Journeyman 2: Buried in Time; Journeyman 3: Legacy of Time; Myst III)
It's interesting that Presto stopped operations when it was still financially doing reasonably well. While to all intents & purposes it is no more, it still maintains the corporation probably to handle continuing royalties etc. (Often that isn't the case when a company shuts down because of heavy debt and/or bankruptcy.)
The future ain't what it used to be!
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