Ralph Stock

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Ralph Stock, 2014

Ralph Stock (* 1969 in Gießen ) is a German game designer and entrepreneur.

life and career

The beginnings

Around 1977 Ralph Stock discovered a Commodore PET at a friend of his father's and first looked at computer technology. The game Hamurabi , an economic simulation, aroused his fascination for computer games and their development. In the early 1980s, Ralph Stock built his first own computer - a Sinclair ZX81 - from a kit at the age of 12 . He used this computer for his first programming experiments. At the age of 15, Stock and his team of school friends developed his first game for the C64 : An adventure game called The Philosopher's Stone . When the game was published and commercially marketed by Kingsoft in 1984 , Ralph Stock was still in school. In high school, Stock was already working on Bozuma: The Secret of the Mummy and East vs. West: Berlin in 1948 and graduated from high school in 1988. Bozuma was published by Time Warp Software GmbH, a Rainbow Arts (Softgold) label. Stock then continued his cooperation with Softgold / Rushware and worked first as a freelancer, then as a permanent employee as a programmer and producer at Rainbow Arts. He also developed his own invention, Mad TV , at Rainbow Arts, thus laying the foundation for its indirect successor. After Ralph Stock initially worked as a producer and game designer at Rainbow Arts, he became chief producer and development manager there in 1990.

For Ralph Stock as well as for other game developers after the Amiga era, Rainbow Arts became an incubator for founding their own company: According to their own statement, the responsibility for the development of German-language versions of the computer games was from Lucasfilm Games , TSR or SSI and the associated international exchange with other game designers like Chris Roberts or Richard Garriott at the time, essential for Stock's development as a game designer and producer.

Promotion software and Sixteen Tons

In 1993 Ralph Stock founded Promotion Software GmbH in Tübingen. His company first gained notoriety with advertising games such as Victor Loomes , Tom Long: The Time Adventure (MS-DOS) or Jeff Jet: Adventure Infohighway . In 1994 the game designer published Der raging Reporter (simulation, MS-DOS), his first educational game for political education. In collaboration with Ikarion , Stock developed other games such as Mad News (1994), Mad News Extrablatt and Caribbean Disaster (1995) in the style of the humorous simulation Mad TV . The musician Chris Hülsbeck was responsible for the soundscape of this and other Ralph Stock games.

Ralph Stock also cooperated with board game authors such as Reiner Knizia and realized digital game implementations of board games such as Keltis (2009), Einfach Genial (2009) or Heckmeck (2014).

Inspired by Command & Conquer , Ralph Stock invented the rescue simulation Emergency: Fighters for Life in 1997 - a real-time strategy game that was "turned into a positive" and was published in 1998. According to Gamesindustry.biz, the Emergency series is still one of the most important German game brands . Under the brand label Sixteen Tons Entertainment , Ralph Stock in Tübingen developed various other games such as Gotcha! (2006) or The Show (2007) as well as continuations of the Emergency game series . In 2009 he founded a studio in the media city of Babelsberg. Games developed there were published under the name Quadriga Games until 2012. This studio has been based in Berlin since 2017.

engagement

With Serious Games Solutions, the division of Promotion Software GmbH that specializes in applied games, Stock is committed to the use of gamification and serious games in digital education and shares its experience at trade fairs. In addition to his creative work as a game developer, he was, for example, a guest of Chancellor Angela Merkel at the International German Forum on Health and Innovation in the Federal Chancellery . At the Learntec Congress, at the didacta trade fair for the education industry and the specialist conference Bizplay as well as at the Serious Games Conference and the German Dev Days, Stock participated as a speaker.

Ralph Stock is a member of various juries; in 2019 he was a member of the jury for the Animated Games Award , a competition at the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film .

reception

Ralph Stock is considered one of the leading game developers for digital games used in health and education.

His best-known invention is Mad TV , a humorous business simulation published by Rainbow Arts in 1991 . The game was positively received by the trade press (quote Powerplay: "No question, the best mark is drawn for such a brilliant idea: MadTV is one of the funniest strategy games of the year") and inspired various official and unofficial successors.

Stock's Emergency HQ game for iOS and Android, released in 2018, was the first game in the Emergency series to be a pure free-to-play game. According to PocketPC magazine, it is a successful implementation of the emergency game principle: "Conclusion: a strong classic for the mobile gaming market"

Ludography (excerpt)

Awards (excerpt)

  • 2018: Comenius-EduMedia-Award medal for Blue Brain Club .
  • 2017: Germany - Land of Ideas , category "excellent place" for teamwork .
  • 2014: "German Prize for Online Communication 2014", category "Best Corporate Game" for Power Matrix .
  • 2013: "Digital Communication Awards 2013", category "Best Corporate Game" for Power Matrix .
  • 2013: German jury computer game award, category "Best Serious Game", for people on the run .
  • 2010: Serious Games Award from the jury for Willi wills Wissen: With the Vikings at the Serious Games Conference
  • 2009: Children's software award TOMMI for Willi wills Wissen: With the Vikings .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ RETROKOMPOTT 081 The ASM Year 1988 PART I Part 1 ( December 21, 2018) (from 3:11:52) on YouTube , accessed on August 28, 2019.
  2. ↑ Mysterium game developer: Step by step from desire to career , editor: Felix Olschewski, 2013, ISBN 978-3842342262
  3. ↑ RETROKOMPOTT 081 The ASM Year 1988 PART I Part 1 ( December 21, 2018) (from 3:14 p.m.) on YouTube , accessed on August 24, 2019.
  4. ↑ a b C64 Wiki : The Philosopher's Stone (Kingsoft) accessed on August 15, 2019
  5. ↑ Stuttgarter Zeitung : Game design at the Children's University - children must test the games beforehand , October 16, 2011, accessed on August 15, 2019
  6. ↑ C64 Wiki : Bozuma accessed on August 15, 2019
  7. ↑ Stay Forever Plays: Bozuma # 9 (interview) from February 14, 2019, minute 4:00 to 4:58, accessed on August 20, 2019
  8. ↑ Stay Forever | Episode 21: Mad TV March 13, 2013, accessed August 20, 2019
  9. ↑ a b making games : Ralph Stock: “The flow of games must be redefined today” , December 23, 2014, accessed on August 15, 2019
  10. ↑ Retro Gamer Special 2/2017 - C64: Everything about the legendary bread bin C64, page 179
  11. ↑ a b About Ralph Stock 1994 - Mad News, accessed August 20, 2019
  12. ↑ Retrokompott : Retrokompott 081 The ASM Year 1988 Part I Part 1 ( December 21, 2018) (from 4:11:40) on YouTube , accessed on August 24, 2019.
  13. ↑ Mobygames : Tom Long: The Time Adventure (English) accessed on August 15, 2019.
  14. ↑ Kultboy.com : Interview: Ralph Stock PC Games 11/95, accessed on August 20, 2019
  15. ↑ MobyGames : Chris Hülsbeck.Retrieved August 20, 2019
  16. ↑ Retrokompott : RETROKOMPOTT 081 The ASM Year 1988 PART I Part 1 ( December 21, 2018) (from 4:25:40) on YouTube , accessed on August 24, 2019.
  17. ↑ Retrokompott : RETROKOMPOTT 081 The ASM Year 1988 PART I Part 1 ( December 21, 2018) (from 4:28:55) on YouTube , accessed on August 24, 2019.
  18. ↑ Potsdam's latest news : Potsdam companies - games for the real thing , August 16, 2016, accessed on August 15, 2019
  19. ↑ Golem.de : Quadriga Games - a new German game studio (update) , February 9, 2010, accessed on August 15, 2019
  20. ↑ Sixteen Tons Entertainment : About Us. Retrieved August 15, 2019
  21. ↑ a b Charitable Hertie Foundation : Ralph Stock , 2018, accessed on August 15, 2019
  22. ↑ Tagesspiegel : Serious Games: Spielemacher asked , October 10, 2010, accessed on August 15, 2019
  23. ↑ Learntec Karlsruhe : Ralph Stock from Serious Games Solutions in conversation at LEARNTEC 2017 , YouTube video from March 31, 2017, accessed on August 15, 2019.
  24. ↑ What is important to people - global health and innovation (see participant PDF, 198 kb) from February 21 & 22, 2017, accessed on August 20, 2019
  25. ↑ Learntec : Program / Speakers Accessed on August 16, 2019.
  26. ↑ game : Sustainable learning that motivates: Serious games for the first time at didacta January 29, 2016, accessed on August 20, 2019
  27. ↑ EA blog for digital gaming culture : Bizplay Karlsruhe - Gamification Congress for the first time with BIU.Dev as a partner , September 9, 2016, accessed on August 16, 2019
  28. ↑ Nordmedia : Around 350 guests at the Serious Games Conference 2015. Accessed on August 16, 2019
  29. ↑ German Dev Days : Speakers 2019, Day 2 Retrieved on August 16, 2019
  30. ↑ International Festival of Animated Film : Animated Games Award for “Trüberbrook” , 2019, accessed on August 15, 2019.
  31. ↑ Kultboy.com : Mad TV , various reviews from game magazines from 1991-1992, accessed on August 16, 2019
  32. ↑ PocketPC.ch : Alluded to: Emergency HQ is a new edition of the well-known Emergency HD , May 31, 2018, accessed on August 16, 2019
  33. ↑ games making : ? Only top designers can make serious games? June 26, 2013, accessed August 20, 2019
  34. ↑ Paidia - Zeitschrift für Computerspielforschung : [1] Spielender Beobachter - observing player: Possibilities of documentary elements in game-based learning systems using the example of people on the run May 6, 2015, accessed on January 18, 2020
  35. ↑ Comenius Award : Press release , June 21, 2018, accessed on August 15, 2019.
  36. ↑ Germany - Land of Ideas : Crisis Simulation Teamwork , Excellent Places 2017, accessed on August 15, 2019.
  37. ↑ Online Communication Prize : German Prize for Online Communication , 2014, accessed August 15, 2019.
  38. ↑ Digital Communication Awards : Winnerlist , 2013, accessed on August 15, 2019.
  39. ^ German Computer Game Award : Winner Best Serious Game , 2013, accessed on August 15, 2019.
  40. ^ Game Association of the German Games Industry: Serious Games Award Gold , March 5, 2010, accessed on August 15, 2019.
  41. ↑ Children's software award : Willi wills Wissen - Bei den Vikings (United Soft Media) , TOMMI Archive 2009, accessed on August 15, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Stock, Ralph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German game designer
DATE OF BIRTH 1969
PLACE OF BIRTH to water