Rockstar Lincoln

Last updated

Rockstar Lincoln Limited
Formerly
  • Spidersoft Limited (1992–1998)
  • Tarantula Studios (1998–2002)
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
Founded5 May 1992;32 years ago (1992-05-05) in Lincoln, England
Founders
  • Steve Marsden
  • David Cooke
Headquarters
North Hykeham
,
England
Parent

Rockstar Lincoln Limited (formerly Spidersoft Limited and Tarantula Studios) is a British video game developer based in North Hykeham. It is the quality assurance and localisation studio of Rockstar Games. Steve Marsden and David Cooke founded the company as Spidersoft in May 1992. Initially, it primarily developed Game Boy and Game Gear ports of various titles, including pinball video games for publisher 21st Century Entertainment, which acquired Spidersoft in 1995. After 21st Century Entertainment shut down in March 1998, Take-Two Interactive acquired Spidersoft in June that year and renamed it Tarantula Studios. The studio continued working on Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, such as Grand Theft Auto (1999). In 2002, the development arm of Tarantula Studios was shut down and the quality assurance portion was integrated into Take-Two's Rockstar Games label as Rockstar Lincoln.

Contents

History

Early years and pinball games (1992–1998)

Rockstar Lincoln was founded as Spidersoft by Steve Marsden and David Cooke. [1] They had previously worked together in the computer chip manufacturing department of GEC-Marconi from 1982 until 1984, when they turned to game development. They created the ZX Spectrum game Technician Ted , which was published by Andrew Hewson's company Hewson Consultants in 1984. [2] The duo ported the game Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe to the Game Boy while working with Mirrorsoft in 1991 and created a coin-op conversion of Time Scanner, a pinball video game, for Activision. [1] Hewson shut down Hewson Consultants and co-founded 21st Century Entertainment in 1991. Following a meeting between him and Marsden, Marsden and Cooke established Spidersoft in Lincoln on 5 May 1992. [1] [3] The founders intended to name the company after an insect but found "Bugsoft" inappropriate. As arachnids "spooked them most", they settled on "Spidersoft". [4] Marsden initially intended to keep tropical fish at the office but found that this would have required regularly cleaning their tanks. Instead, and in line with its name, the studio adopted tarantulas, starting with a Goliath birdeater and peaking at fifteen specimens. [4] [5] The studio primarily developed ports or adaptations of other games, including pinball games developed by Digital Illusions and published by 21st Century Entertainment. [6] These include Pinball Dreams , which Spidersoft worked on for six to seven months. The studio also developed a sequel, Pinball Dreams 2 , in five months. [7] Outside of pinball projects, Hewson set up the studio with Sony Imagesoft to develop Cliffhanger , a tie-in for the 1993 film of the same name. [6] [8] Poker Face Paul's Blackjack and Solitaire were each completed in twenty-five days. [7]

21st Century Entertainment contracted Spidersoft to port the successful game Pinball Fantasies to a range of platforms, including the Atari Jaguar and Game Boy. [6] Following these ports' 1995 releases, 21st Century Entertainment sought to ensure a steady supply of pinball games without having to rely on third-party contractors, aiming at topping the pinball game niche market. To Hewson, Spidersoft appeared willing to continue developing pinball games, whereas Digital Illusions was looking to drop out of developing games in the genre. Consequently, 21st Century Entertainment acquired a controlling stake in Spidersoft. [6] As the publisher increasingly focused on pinball games, Hewson lost his passion for the business, which he felt became "formulaic". In 1997, he was offered to join a start-up founded by old contacts of his, so he agreed with his co-investors to part ways and wind down the company. [9] 21st Century Entertainment was defunct by March 1998. [10]

Acquisition and handheld games (1998–2000)

On 1 June 1998, Take-Two Interactive announced its acquisition Spidersoft, renaming it Tarantula Studios. [11] As part of the deal, the studio shifted its focus to game development for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, starting with Montezuma's Return! , In-Fisherman Bass Hunter , and an unannounced project for the former platform, as well as Three Lions and Space Station Silicon Valley for the latter. [11] Marsden remained with Tarantula Studios as studio director. In October 1999, the studio employed twenty-four development staff and was in the process of hiring fifteen people for quality assurance. It also held five tarantulas at this time, residing in Marsden's office. Tarantula Studios developed multiple games concurrently, each with a team of two programmers and two artists. [5] Later games by Tarantula Studios include Rats! (1998) and Jim Henson's Muppets (1999), [5] [12] as well as Evel Knievel (1999), Grand Theft Auto (1999), Grand Theft Auto 2 (2000), Austin Powers: Welcome to My Underground Lair! (2000), and Austin Powers: Oh, Behave! (2000) published by Take-Two's Rockstar Games label. [13] [14] [15] Evel Knievel became the lowest-scored Game Boy Color game on IGN at 2.0/10, with the site's writers describing it as "ruthlessly hard and impossible to play". [15]

Transition to quality assurance (2001–present)

By 2001, the development and quality assurance departments of Tarantula Studios had been separated, of which the former was shut down in 2002. [16] The remainder was integrated into Rockstar Games as Rockstar Lincoln in the same year. [17] As part of Rockstar Games, the studio provides quality assurance and localisations—including French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish—for internal projects, such as Manhunt , Max Payne 2 , and the Grand Theft Auto series. [18] In January 2011, Mark Lloyd, Rockstar Lincoln's long-time studio head who had been with the company since 1999, announced his resignation. [16] [19] His departure coincided with that of Mark Washbrook, the founder and studio head of Rockstar London. [19] [20] Rockstar Games stated that neither departure would affect the studios' active projects. [19] Tim Bates succeeded Lloyd as general manager. [21] Lloyd went on to found a video game consultancy service, Titanium Consultancy, which he later voluntarily wound down. Alongside Washbrook, he joined Activision's mobile-focused Activision Leeds studio in May 2012. [20]

Around 2016, Rockstar Lincoln moved into the Lindum Business Park in North Hykeham. A survey it conducted with its employees led East Midlands Trains to provide several additional stops at Hykeham railway station, within walking distance from the office, from May 2016. [22] [23] Rockstar Lincoln won the "Active Workplace" award in the Lincolnshire Sports Awards in 2015 and 2016, and it was nominated again in 2017. The studio offered its employees subsidised gym memberships, and a "Sports & Social" team organised sporting and leisure activities. [21]

Leading up to the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 in October 2018, it was reported that Rockstar Lincoln staff had, of all other Rockstar Games studios, suffered the worst crunch. Former and active employees reported that testers were paid low wages, had to work long hours, and were subjected to strict security regulations. One employee stated that mandatory overtime for working on Red Dead Redemption 2 started in August 2017, prior to Rockstar Games entering "official crunch mode" that October. Testers at Rockstar Lincoln were asked to work on evenings and weekends. They would initially work three nights per week, and later five. Of those working overtime, localisers and lead testers were paid annual salaries and thus were not compensated for working additional hours. In contrast, regular testers were paid by the hour and, depending on how long they worked, earned more than their leads. [24] In response to overtime reports, the studio's management announced in a meeting held on 19 October 2018 that overtime at the studio would immediately become optional. [25] All testers at the studio were to be converted to full-time employees by 1 August 2019. Security measures were lowered to allow mobile phones at the workplace, and a flexitime system was introduced. [26]

Games developed

As Spidersoft

List of games developed by Rockstar Lincoln, 1992–1996
YearTitlePlatform(s)Publisher(s)Notes
1992 Hook Game Gear Sony Imagesoft Port development
1993 Poker Face Paul's Blackjack Adrenalin Entertainment
Pinball Dreams Game Boy, Game Gear, MS-DOS, Super Nintendo Entertainment System 21st Century Entertainment, GameTek Port development
Chuck Rock Game Boy Sony Electronic Publishing Port development
Cliffhanger Amiga, Game Boy, Game Gear, Nintendo Entertainment System Sony Imagesoft, Psygnosis
1994 Lemmings 2: The Tribes Game BoyPsygnosisPort development
Andre Agassi Tennis Game GearLance InvestmentsPort development
Pinball ArcadeMS-DOS21st Century Entertainment
Poker Face Paul's Solitaire Game Gear Sega
Pinball Dreams 2 MS-DOS21st Century Entertainment
Math Blaster Episode I: In Search of Spot Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System Davidson & Associates Port development
1995 Pinball Fantasies Atari Jaguar, Game Boy, PlayStation, Super Nintendo Entertainment System21st Century Entertainment, GameTekPort development
Pinball World MS-DOS21st Century Entertainment, Rebellion Developments
Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends Pinball Amiga, Amiga CD32, MS-DOS Alternative Software
Pinball Mania Amiga, Game Boy, MS-DOS21st Century Entertainment, GameTek
1996 Pinball Builder Windows 21st Century Entertainment
Total Pinball 3D MS-DOS

As Tarantula Studios

List of games developed by Rockstar Lincoln, 1996–2001
YearTitlePlatform(s)Publisher(s)Notes
1998 Las Vegas Cool Hand Game Boy, Game Boy Color Take-Two Interactive
Montezuma's Return!
Rats!
1999 Hollywood Pinball Game Boy Color
Space Station Silicon Valley
Three Lions
Jim Henson's Muppets
Evel Knievel Rockstar Games
Grand Theft Auto
2000 Austin Powers: Oh, Behave!
Austin Powers: Welcome to My Underground Lair!
Grand Theft Auto 2
Formula One 2000 Take-Two Interactive
2001 Kiss Pinball PlayStationPort development
Hidden & Dangerous Port development

Cancelled

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Take-Two Interactive</span> American video game holding company

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockstar Games</span> American video game publisher

Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Founding members of the company were Terry Donovan, Gary Foreman, Dan and Sam Houser, and Jamie King, who worked for Take-Two at the time, and of which the Houser brothers were previously executives at BMG Interactive. Sam Houser heads the studio as president.

<i>Grand Theft Auto III</i> 2001 video game

Grand Theft Auto III is a 2001 action-adventure game developed by DMA Design and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, following 1999's Grand Theft Auto 2, and the fifth instalment overall. Set within the fictional Liberty City, the story follows Claude, a silent protagonist who, after being betrayed and left for dead by his girlfriend during a robbery, embarks on a quest for revenge that leads him to become entangled in a world of crime, drugs, gang warfare, and corruption. The game is played from a third-person perspective and its world is navigated on foot or by vehicle. Its open world design lets players freely roam Liberty City, consisting of three main areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockstar North</span> British video game developer

Rockstar Games UK Limited is a British video game development company and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Edinburgh. The company was founded as DMA Design in Dundee in 1987 by David Jones, soon hiring former classmates Mike Dailly, Russell Kay, and Steve Hammond. During its early years, DMA Design was backed by its publisher Psygnosis, primarily focusing on Amiga, Atari ST and Commodore 64 games. During this time, they created successful shooters such as Menace and Blood Money, but soon turned to platform games after the release of Lemmings in 1991, which was an international success and led to several sequels and spin-offs. After developing Unirally for Nintendo, DMA Design was set to become one of their main second-party developers, but this partnership ended after Nintendo's disapproval of Body Harvest.

<i>Grand Theft Auto 2</i> 1999 action-adventure game

Grand Theft Auto 2 is an action-adventure game developed by DMA Design and published by Rockstar Games in October 1999 for Microsoft Windows and the PlayStation, and the Dreamcast and Game Boy Color in 2000. It is the sequel to 1997's Grand Theft Auto, and the second main instalment of the Grand Theft Auto series. Set within a retrofuturistic metropolis known as "Anywhere City", the game focuses on players taking the role of a criminal as they roam an open world, conducting jobs for various crime syndicates and having free rein to do whatever they wish to achieve their goal. The game's intro is unique for a title in the series, as it involved live-action scenes filmed by Rockstar Games.

<i>Pinball Dreams</i> 1992 video game

Pinball Dreams is a pinball simulation video game developed by Digital Illusions and originally released for the Amiga in 1992. It spawned several sequels, including Pinball Fantasies and Pinball Illusions. The MS-DOS port was digitally released by Rebellion Developments along with its sequel and Pinball Mania on February 22, 2011 on GOG.com with support for Microsoft Windows. It received an OS X build on April 23, 2013; and a Linux build on August 19, 2014.

<i>Grand Theft Auto</i> Video game series

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is an action-adventure video game series created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily developed by British development house Rockstar North, and published by its American parent company, Rockstar Games. The name of the series is a term for motor vehicle theft in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockstar Leeds</span> British video game developer

Rockstar Leeds Limited is a British video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Leeds. Ian J. Bowden, Dave Box, Gordon Hall, and Jason McGann founded the company as Möbius Entertainment in December 1997 after working together at the studio Hookstone. Möbius worked with SCi on two games: Alfred's Adventure, a remake of the Twilight-developed Alfred Chicken, and the cancelled Titanium Angels. From 2001 on, the studio created Game Boy Advance games for several publishers, including multiple for The 3DO Company and Max Payne for Rockstar Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockstar Toronto</span> Canadian video game developer

Rockstar Games Toronto ULC is a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Oakville, Ontario. The company was established as Imagexcel in the early 1980s and developed more than fifteen games under that name, including Quarantine, which was published by GameTek in 1994. The publisher bought the studio's assets through its Alternative Reality Technologies subsidiary in March 1995 and then sold Alternative Reality Technologies to Take-Two Interactive in July 1997. The studio became part of Take-Two's Rockstar Games label as Rockstar Canada in 1999 and was renamed Rockstar Toronto in 2002 when Take-Two acquired Rockstar Vancouver. Under Rockstar Games, the studio developed the 2005 game The Warriors, based on the 1979 film of the same name, as well as several ports, including the Windows versions of Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City, Max Payne 3, and Grand Theft Auto V. In July 2012, Rockstar Vancouver was merged into Rockstar Toronto, which then moved into larger offices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockstar San Diego</span> American video game developer

Rockstar San Diego, Inc. is an American video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Carlsbad, California. The studio is best known for developing the Midnight Club and Red Dead series.

<i>Grand Theft Auto IV</i> 2008 video game

Grand Theft Auto IV is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sixth main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, following 2004's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and the eleventh instalment overall. Set in the fictional Liberty City, based on New York City, the single-player story follows Eastern European war veteran Niko Bellic and his attempts to escape his past while under pressure from high-profile criminals. The open world design lets players freely roam Liberty City, consisting of three main islands, and the neighbouring state of Alderney, which is based on New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Houser</span> English video game producer (born 1971)

Sam Houser is an English video game producer. He is a co-founder and the current president of Rockstar Games, and is one of the creative driving forces behind the Grand Theft Auto franchise, having been its producer since the third game. His brother Dan was Rockstar's vice president of creativity until 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockstar New England</span> American video game developer

Rockstar New England, Inc. is an American video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Andover, Massachusetts. Ian Lane Davis founded the company as Mad Doc Software in November 1999 after working as technical director for Activision. The studio worked with Activision on Star Trek: Armada before leading the development of its sequel, Star Trek: Armada II. From 2002 on, Mad Doc was the principal developer of the Empire Earth series, developing two games and two expansions. While the successful Empire Earth II landed the company publishing contracts with Rockstar Games and Bethesda Softworks, Empire Earth III was a critical and commercial failure and led to an end for the series. Mad Doc developed Star Trek: Legacy for Bethesda Softworks and Bully: Scholarship Edition for Rockstar Games. After the latter was released in March 2008, Rockstar Games's parent company, Take-Two Interactive, bought Mad Doc and made it part of Rockstar Games as Rockstar New England. Under Rockstar Games, the studio worked on a sequel to Bully until its developers were reallocated to projects like Max Payne 3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockstar London</span> British video game developer

Rockstar London Limited is a British video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in London. Mark Washbrook established the company in November 2005 within Rockstar Games' European publishing offices. The studio's first game was Manhunt 2, which it took over from Rockstar Vienna after that studio was shut down in May 2006. Rockstar London later developed Midnight Club: L.A. Remix and co-led the development of Max Payne 3. Washbrook left the company in January 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockstar Vancouver</span> Canadian video game developer

Rockstar Vancouver Inc. was a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Vancouver. The studio is best known for developing Bully (2006).

<i>Grand Theft Auto: London 1969</i> Mission pack for Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto Mission Pack #1: London 1969 is an expansion pack for the 1997 action-adventure game Grand Theft Auto, developed by Rockstar Canada and published by Rockstar Games. It was released for personal computers and the PlayStation in April 1999. The expansion adheres to the same gameplay mechanics of the main game and takes place in a fictionalised version of London during the 1960s. Players assume the role of a criminal who works for several London-based crime syndicates, and complete levels by achieving a set score, within an open world environment that allows them to do whatever they wish alongside jobs to achieve their goal.

<i>Agent</i> (video game) Video game

Agent is an unreleased stealth action game under development by Rockstar North that was originally announced for the PlayStation 3. The game was planned to take place in a 1970s Cold War setting. Agent was teased in July 2007 and formally announced in June 2009. The trademark for the game's title was renewed in 2013 and 2017, and abandoned by November 2018.

<i>Grand Theft Auto V</i> 2013 video game

Grand Theft Auto V is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, following 2008's Grand Theft Auto IV, and the fifteenth instalment overall. Set within the fictional state of San Andreas, based on Southern California, the single-player story follows three protagonists—retired bank robber Michael De Santa, street gangster Franklin Clinton, and drug dealer and gunrunner Trevor Philips, and their attempts to commit heists while under pressure from a corrupt government agency and powerful criminals. Players freely roam San Andreas's open world countryside and fictional city of Los Santos, based on Los Angeles.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hewson 2016, p. 226
  2. ↑ Hewson 2016, pp. 84–91
  3. ↑ Hewson 2016, pp. 205–208
  4. 1 2 Greaves, Sharon (August 1993). "Webbing 'Em 'Up". GB Action. No. 15. Europress. pp. 32–33. Retrieved 3 July 2022– via Internet Archive.
  5. 1 2 3 "Arachnocodia!". Planet Game Boy . No. 2. Future Publishing. October 1999. pp. 42–45. Retrieved 13 September 2022– via Internet Archive.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Hewson 2016, pp. 221–222
  7. 1 2 Smith, Rob (June 1994). "Genesis of a Game". GB Action. No. 26. Europress. pp. 30–31. Retrieved 21 October 2022– via Internet Archive.
  8. ↑ "Why Amiga doesn't deserve to die". The Sydney Morning Herald . 16 May 1994. p. 46. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ Hewson 2016, p. 231
  10. ↑ Gabrielsson, Sam (10 March 1998). "21st Century Entertainment Ltd R.I.P". The Tower of Pin. Archived from the original on 10 June 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  11. 1 2 Johnston, Chris (1 June 1998). "Take 2 Captures Tarantula". GameSpot . Archived from the original on 3 February 1999.
  12. ↑ Cleveland, Adam (29 September 1999). "Rats!". IGN . Archived from the original on 14 December 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  13. ↑ Carle, Chris (29 September 2000). "Austin Powers: Welcome To My Underground Lair". IGN . Archived from the original on 14 December 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  14. ↑ Brown, Mark (16 September 2013). "History in Handheld: Grand Theft Auto". Pocket Gamer . Archived from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
  15. 1 2 IGN Nintendo Team (31 October 2008). "Worst Reviewed Nintendo Console Games". IGN . Archived from the original on 14 December 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  16. 1 2 Lloyd, Mark (23 May 2019). "From Rockstar Lincoln studio head to anti-crunch advocate". GamesIndustry.biz . Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  17. ↑ Forde, Matt (17 September 2017). "Feature: The Complete History of Rockstar Games on Nintendo Platforms". Nintendo Life . Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  18. ↑ "Could you test games for a living?". This Is Lincolnshire . 9 July 2009. Archived from the original on 12 July 2009.
  19. 1 2 3 Alexander, Leigh (27 January 2011). "Rockstar London Studio Head Resigns". Gamasutra . Archived from the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  20. 1 2 Martin, Matt (22 May 2012). "Ex-Rockstar bosses working with Activision Leeds studio". GamesIndustry.biz . Archived from the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  21. 1 2 Franklin, Ashley (12 July 2017). "Lincolnshire Sports Awards 2017 – Rockstar face tough competition in quest to make it three in a row". Lincolnshire Live . Archived from the original on 14 November 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  22. ↑ Pidluznyj, Stefan (22 April 2016). "Extra stop at Hykeham for rail passengers heading into Lincoln on weekday evenings". The Lincolnite. Archived from the original on 5 September 2023. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  23. ↑ SCP (27 June 2017). "East Midlands Councils Growth Report" (PDF). East Midlands Councils. p. 33. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 September 2023. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  24. ↑ Schreier, Jason (23 October 2018). "Inside Rockstar Games' Culture Of Crunch". Kotaku . Archived from the original on 1 November 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  25. ↑ Kim, Matt (19 October 2018). "Rockstar Lincoln QA Tester Says Overtime is No Longer Mandatory". USgamer . Archived from the original on 13 February 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  26. ↑ Bailey, Dustin (6 August 2019). "Rockstar hires testers full-time after criticism – "things have been better since last year"". PCGamesN . Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2019.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.