Stormfront Studios

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stormfront Studios, Inc.

logo
legal form Incorporated
founding 1989 (as Beyond Software )
1991 (renamed Stormfront Studios )
resolution 2008
Reason for dissolution Business abandonment
Seat United StatesUnited States San Rafael (California) , USA
management Don Daglow (President & CEO)
Number of employees 33 (status: resolution 2008)
Branch Software development
Website http://www.stormfront.com

Stormfront Studios was a developer for computer and video games founded in 1988 , who achieved great fame especially for his games in the role-playing game world Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). In 2008, the company ceased operations due to a lack of new orders and laid off all remaining employees.

history

The studio was founded in 1988 by Don Daglow after his departure from Brøderbund under the name Beyond Software and was run until the end of business operations. Since there were other companies with this name, it was decided in 1991 to change the name to Stormfront Studios .

The Stormfront Studios were not limited to any genre or product, but, according to Don Daglow, always tried to develop a wide range of products. Nonetheless, numerous commissioned works for various D&D franchisees made the developer well known. In addition, the studio developed several sports and racing games such as the EA Sports series Madden NFL and NASCAR .

The first commissioned work included games for the AOL online service and Tony La Russa's Ultimate Baseball for SSI . SSI also commissioned Stormfront to continue the D&D games of the Gold Box series. The first game of this cooperation appeared under the title Gateway to the Savage Frontier . As a result, the first graphical MMORPG entitled Neverwinter Nights was created in 1991 on the technical basis of the Gold Box series in a joint collaboration between Stormfront, SSI and AOL . For this, Stormfront was awarded the Emmy Technology Award in 2008 for creating the first graphic online role-playing game. 1992 followed with Treasures of the Savage Frontier a direct successor to Gateway of the Savage Frontier . As the first role-playing game, the game included the possibility of a romance between the player character and a companion character, with effects on the attribute values. 1993 appeared with Stronghold, the fourth D&D title of the studio and at the same time the first real-time strategy game in 3D optics.

Between 1993 and 2001, the studio mainly worked on sports and racing games, including other titles from Tony La Russa Baseball , Madden NFL , Mario Andretti Racing , NASCAR and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2001 . In addition, the developers created the two-part children's game series Eagle Eye Mysteries (1993/1994), the action adventure Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Harbinger (1995), the adventure Byzantine - The Betrayal (1998), as well as an originally started for SSI in 2001 After various company takeovers , D&D role-playing game with the title Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor was finally published by Ubisoft .

From 2002 to the cessation of business operations in 2008 published with The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), Eragon (2006) and The Secrets of the Spiderwicks (2008) mainly accompanying games to films. For the former, the company received an award from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences in 2002 for outstanding achievements in the field of visual engineering. In addition, Stormfront developed Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone (2004) for Atari and in collaboration with novelist RA Salvatore again an action adventure in the D&D game world, based on the technical basis of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers .

On April 1, 2008 it became publicly known that after rejecting a project due to a lack of orders, the company had dismissed all 33 remaining employees and had ceased business operations.

Ludography (excerpt)

Significant developments

  • Neverwinter Nights - First graphic MMORPG
  • Stronghold - First real-time strategy game in 3D optics

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Jon "BuckGB" Birnbaum: Stormfront Studios Interview ( English ) In: Gamebanshee . UGO entertainment. April 16, 2005. Retrieved February 28, 2011.
  2. ^ A b National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences: Stormfront Studios Honored At 59th Annual Emmy Technology Awards For Creating First Graphical Online Role-Playing Game ( English ) In: MCV . McCormack & Morrison. January 10, 2008. Archived from the original on February 14, 2010. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 14, 2011. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mcvuk.com
  3. ↑ Jonathan Sutyak: Forgotten Realms Archive: Silver Edition ( English ) In: Allgame . Rovi . Retrieved October 10, 2011.
  4. ^ A b Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences : Winner category "Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering 2003" . Official website. Last accessed October 10, 2011.
  5. ^ Stephan Lindner: Forgotten Realms - First impressions . In: Gameswelt . Web Media Publishing AG. March 17, 2004. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
  6. ↑ Edge editor: Stormfront Studios Closing ( English ) In: Edge . Future Publishing. April 1, 2008. Archived from the original on August 20, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2011.