Gamasutra 20 'Breakthrough' Honoree:
Gearbox Software
http://www.gearboxsoftware.com/
Studio overview
Gearbox
Software has been based in Plano, Texas,
since it was founded in 1999. The company's first projects were developing the Half-Life
expansions Opposing Force and Blue Shift; since then, the studio has
become best-known for creating the Brothers
in Arms series, which is published by Ubisoft.
Key staff
Company
CEO and president Randy Pitchford was one of the founders of Gearbox; prior to
that, he worked at upstart developer Rebel Boat Rocker on Prax War, which was never released.
Resume highlights
Gearbox
has taken the commercial and critical popularity of the initial Brothers in Arms game in 2005 and built
on it -- the series has grown to include entries on every platform available,
from PSP and DS to mobile phones to consoles.
And while the company is
best-known for the military-themed shooter series, it has taken its success and
used it as a chance to diversify its development projects.
The company is
currently working on titles for three different publishers, with genres ranging
from rhythm games (Samba de Amigo) to
sci-fi RPG-shooters (Borderlands) to games based on licensed properties (Aliens: Colonial Marines).
What's next
This month will bring the
first Brothers in Arms for HD
systems, as Hell's
Highway comes to PS3 and Xbox 360.
Also due this year is a new version of Samba de Amigo for the Wii, which is
being published by Sega this fall.
Our take
"Gearbox has been around for years, and had high profile
projects from almost day one -- but the company seems tighter, more aggressive,
and more focused these days.
It's now fully expanded to the simultaneous
development of four next-generation games -- Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Borderlands,
and another unannounced title (plus Samba
de Amigo for luck.)
Led by outspoken and genial president Randy Pitchford, the
company maintains its own IP when possible (in the case of Brothers in Arms, for example) and builds solid relationships with
both publishers (Ubisoft, to continue the example) and technology partners
(Pitchford recently spoke on an Epic Games panel at Microsoft's Gamefest 2008.)
While these aren't necessarily evidence of the company's creative facility,
they paint a picture of an expanding, innovative, and well-run studio with a continuing bright future,
which is what scores big here."
- Christian Nutt
|
1.) Kyle Gabler
2.) Joseph M. Tringali, Jeremiah Slaczka
3.) Frank Lantz
4.) Katsura Hashino, Shigenori Soejima
5.) Tom Fulp, John Baez, Dan Paladin
6.) Max Hoberman
7.) Tim Schafer
8.) Goichi Suda
9.) Randy Pitchford
10.) Vlad Ceraldi, Joel DeYoung, Ron Gilbert
11.) Steve Fawkner
12.) Akihiro Hino
13.) Mark Healey, Alex Evans
14.) Mare Sheppard, Raigan Burns
15.) Shinji Mikami, Atsushi Inaba
16.) Dylan Cuthbert, Kenkichi Shimooka
17.) Jenova Chen, Kellee Santiago
18.) Masato Maegawa
19.) Michael Booth
20.) Dave Gilbert
Also, a football team is made up of a lot of people - however, that doesn't stop us from learning and talking about star players like Bret Favre, Joe Montana, etc.
Also, a film is made by many people - however, that doesn't stop us learning about key creators like William Golding, Steven Spielberg, Francois Truffaut, Roman Polanski, etc.
Also, many people are needed to construct a building - however that doesn't stop us giving recognition to key designers like Frank Lloyd Wright, Daniel Libskind, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, etc.
(Shall I continue...?)
There is no excuse for the game industry to obstinately refuse to acknowledge and celebrate the talent of those individuals who have exceptional talent.
I'm...not sure what you want!
I sure am making a post on the internet. Hi mom!
Besides, I didn't know posts could be edited. Where's the button?
We can't go in to these studios and evaluate their skills and find that hidden gem. Nobody will pay us to do that. It's the responsibility of two parties, the companies themselves, and the persons themselves.
-end quote-
There IS a completely logical and near-effortless alternative: contacting the developers before these articles are written and polling them directly for key personnel on their staff. For instance, some noteworthy people who work/have worked with Dave Gilbert are Peter Gresser (Lead Musician), Ian Schlaepfer (Lead Artist for Blackwell Legacy/ Portrait Artist for Blackwell Convergence), Erin Robinson (Lead Artist for Blackwell Unbound), and myself (sprites/animations for The Shivah and Lead Artist for Blackwell Convergence).
I'm sure a quick email could've gotten you all this and more, though! :)
"with Activision apparently opting not to publish the title after acquiring Vivendi Games. "
Err... Sorry????
It's Vivendi who aquired Activision & merged it with Vivendi Games. Yes it's true that the Activision board now lead the game branch of Vivendi but still.. Vivendi IS THE BOSS.
Vivendi holds 54% of Activision Blizzard, so I'm not sure you can tell that Activision aquired anything..
Citing other industries and media is no excuse. I find it just as bad in the film industry that the talent of a whole team and the culture of the company that team resides in (which contributes hugely to how a game is produced) is neglected in favor of single-person worship/stardom.
So, I think that naming the companies AND some of the names of the leads there is appropiate.
Just naming the few leads - like you suggest - is just not enough.
No, Vivendi Games is indeed now a subsidiary of Activision. Also, Vivendi (the parent company, not Games) owns a controlling interest in Activision.
Excuse for what? For standing up for the contributions of key creators?
Like it or not, experience and hundreds of years of history show that key talented people - leaders, shapers - make a difference far out of proportion to their singular number. You can argue against this, but you do so in the face of a vast amount of evidence.
If you have a team of 100, you can pull someone at random and the creative output probably won't change - but if you pull a leader, a shaper, then suddenly the quality and quantity of that output falls a full magnitude.
But what's more - recognition of the effort AND talent of individuals is fundamental to progress out of the dark ages of collectivist tribalism into the enlightenment of self-awareness and humanistic accomplishment.
When faced with real talent, humans generally skew along three trends. They actively suppress it (the old "barrel of monkeys pulling down anyone who rises"); they tolerate it, and let it be "part of the team"; or they openly celebrate it and actively search for and fund it (and that means rewarding it).
I am arguing for the latter.
This, however, already happens. Maybe not enough though.
someone started http://www.internetgamedatabase.com/ but it has no content yet...
What is wrong to actually SHOW some people, see the people who make consumers and gamers enjoy and have good time for HOURS. Show the people we want to cherish, copy and celebrate.
Claiming it's unfair for the ones who are not on the picture is pure BS and so lame. If they work on a project they love next time they will, and next time they will demand to appear on the "collective shot for Gamasutra, the gamedev industry bible".
It's all about making change! We're not made in the stone.
I love to see the face of Introversion guys, or have a big picture of Ken Levine or Will Wright or Jon Blow speaking on a video stream... Watching Raph Koster playing guitar and all,
Of course you can be a big fat nerdy gamedev and so what, making efforts like Gabe Newell (he did lose weight and it was not to use Outlook) isn't bad for you.
And it's certainly good for us, gamedev people. Step up and exist!