Darren Monahan

Last updated
Darren Monahan
NationalityAmerican
Occupation Programmer
Employer Obsidian Entertainment
Known for Role-playing video games

Darren Monahan is the chief information officer and producer of Obsidian Entertainment and one of Obsidian's founders. [1] [2] Monahan works in the game industry, having worked for Interplay Entertainment in various capacities, including as a senior producer for Black Isle Studios, manager of quality assurance, and a programmer on many of Interplay's titles. As a producer, Monahan managed the development of six published products, including the entire Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance series.

Contents

Career

Darren Monahan started out in the QA department for Interplay Entertainment. [3] Monahan met Feargus Urquhart while working in QA on one of his titles. [4] Monahan then moved out of QA to become a programmer as part of Interplay's Tech Group. [4] Monohan worked on Redneck Rampage Rides Again , credited with the redbook, autorun, and miscellaneous programming. [5] Monahan later transferred to Black Isle Studios and became an associate producer on Icewind Dale . [4] [6] Monahan was the producer for Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance at Black Isle Studios. [7] [8] He also produced Icewind Dale II . [9] [10]

Monahan was one of five developers who formed Obsidian Entertainment in June 2003, along with Chris Parker, Urquhart, Chris Jones and Chris Avellone. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [4] The five friends held a brainstorming session at the home of Chris Parker, where Monahan, Urquhart and Parker decided that between the three possible names of Three Clown Software, Scorched Earth and Obsidian, they liked Obsidian the least, since it reminded them of Black Isle. [3] Monahan, Parker, and Urquhart used their credit cards to pay for most of the startup costs, with the total investment somewhere between $100,000 to $125,000. [4] Monahan was the executive producer on Neverwinter Nights 2 . [17] [18] Monahan, along with the other four company owners, was responsible for developing role-playing game titles including Fallout and Knights of the Old Republic II. [19]

Related Research Articles

<i>Baldurs Gate</i> Franchise of fantasy role-playing video games

Baldur's Gate is a series of role-playing video games set in the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. The series has been divided into two sub-series, known as the Bhaalspawn Saga and the Dark Alliance, both taking place mostly within the Western Heartlands, but the Bhaalspawn Saga extends to Amn and Tethyr. The Dark Alliance series was released for consoles and was critically and commercially successful. The Bhaalspawn Saga was critically acclaimed for using pausable realtime gameplay, which is credited with revitalizing the computer role-playing game (CRPG) genre.

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

BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, alongside Trent Oster, Brent Oster, and Marcel Zeschuk. Since 2007, the company has been owned by American publisher Electronic Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interplay Entertainment</span> American video game developer and publisher

Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers Brian Fargo, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and Rebecca Heineman, as well as investor Chris Wells. As a developer, Interplay is best known as the creator of the Fallout series and as a publisher for the Baldur's Gate and Descent series.

<i>Icewind Dale</i> 2000 video game

Icewind Dale is a role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios and originally published by Interplay Entertainment for Windows in 2000 and by MacPlay for the Macintosh in 2002. The game takes place in the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms campaign setting and the region of Icewind Dale, and uses the 2nd edition ruleset. The story follows a different set of events than those of R. A. Salvatore's The Icewind Dale Trilogy novels: in the game, an adventuring party becomes enlisted as a caravan guard while in Icewind Dale, in the wake of strange events, and eventually discover a plot that threatens the Ten Towns of Icewind Dale and beyond.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Isle Studios</span> American game developer

Black Isle Studios is a division of the developer and publisher Interplay Entertainment formed in 1996 that develops role-playing video games. It has published several games from other developers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Avellone</span> American video game designer

Chris Avellone is an American video game designer and comic book writer. He worked for Interplay and Obsidian Entertainment before becoming a freelance designer and writer. He is best known for his work on role-playing video games such as Planescape: Torment, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and the Fallout series.

<i>Baldurs Gate II: Shadows of Amn</i> 2000 video game

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Interplay Entertainment. It is the sequel to 1998's Baldur's Gate and was released for Microsoft Windows in September 2000. Following its predecessor, the game takes place in the Forgotten Realms, a fantasy campaign setting, and is based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition rules. Powered by BioWare's Infinity Engine, Baldur's Gate II uses an isometric perspective and pausable real-time gameplay. The player controls a party of up to six characters, one of whom is the player-created protagonist; the others are certain characters recruited from the game world.

Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Irvine, California. It was founded in June 2003, shortly before the closure of Black Isle Studios, by ex-Black Isle employees Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, and Chris Jones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feargus Urquhart</span> Scottish-American video game developer

Feargus Urquhart is a Scottish-American video game designer and CEO of Obsidian Entertainment.

<i>Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter</i> 2001 video game

Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter is a 2001 expansion pack to the role-playing video game Icewind Dale, developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Entertainment. It introduced many changes and additions to the original game, and included a new campaign. A downloadable add-on to this expansion pack, titled Trials of the Luremaster, was released for free. Both the expansion and add-on were included in Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition.

<i>Icewind Dale II</i> Role-playing video game by Black Isle Studios

Icewind Dale II is a role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Entertainment, released on August 27, 2002. Like its 2000 predecessor Icewind Dale, the game is set in the Forgotten Realms fantasy setting in the Icewind Dale region. The player assumes control of a group of mercenaries in a war between the Ten Towns of Icewind Dale and a coalition of persecuted races and religions.

<i>Neverwinter Nights 2</i> 2006 video game

Neverwinter Nights 2 is a role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari Interactive. It is the second installment in the Neverwinter Nights series and is the sequel to BioWare's Neverwinter Nights, based on the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy tabletop role-playing game. Neverwinter Nights 2 utilizes an adaptation of the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition rules. Players create player characters to represent themselves in the game, using the same character creation rules as found in the Dungeons & Dragons game. They may gain the assistance of additional party members, and they eventually acquire a keep that can be used as a base of operations. Neverwinter Nights 2 is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting—in and around the city of Neverwinter. The story is mostly unrelated to Neverwinter Nights and follows the journey of an orphaned adventurer investigating a group of mysterious artifacts known as "silver shards" and their connection to an ancient, evil spirit known as the King of Shadows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josh Sawyer</span> American video game designer

Joshua Eric Sawyer, more commonly known and credited as Josh Sawyer, J.E. Sawyer, or JSawyer, is an American video game designer, known for his work on role-playing video games.

Icewind Dale is a role-playing video game series developed by Black Isle Studios. It is set in the Forgotten Realms Icewind Dale region, but takes place decades before the events described in R. A. Salvatore's books which made the area a part of Faerûn.

<i>Van Buren</i> (video game) Video game

Van Buren was the codename given to what would have been Fallout 3, a role-playing video game that was being developed by Black Isle Studios before the parent company, Interplay Entertainment, went bankrupt. This resulted in the company shutting down Black Isle, which in turn laid off the PC development team on December 8, 2003, effectively cancelling the game.

<i>Baldurs Gate</i> (video game) 1998 video game

Baldur's Gate is a role-playing video game that was developed by BioWare and published in 1998 by Interplay Entertainment. It is the first game in the Baldur's Gate series and takes place in the Forgotten Realms, a high fantasy campaign setting, using a modified version of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) 2nd edition rules. It was the first game to use the Infinity Engine for its graphics, with Interplay using the engine for other Forgotten Realms-licensed games, including the Icewind Dale series and Planescape: Torment. The game's story focuses on a player-made character who travels across the Sword Coast alongside a party of companions.

<i>Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir</i> Expansion pack

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir is an expansion pack for the role-playing video game Neverwinter Nights 2, developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari Interactive. It was released in late 2008 in North America, Europe, and Australia. Like previous entries in the Neverwinter Nights series, Storm of Zehir is based on the paper and pencil fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, and uses the game's 3.5 edition ruleset.

Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound was a cancelled role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios for the Microsoft Windows platform. Announced in 2002 under the codenames FR6 and Project Jefferson, it was planned to be the third main entry in the Baldur's Gate series, utilizing the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition ruleset. The game was set to use a 3D graphics engine developed for the game, rather than the Infinity Engine used for the developer's previous games.

<i>Baldurs Gate 3</i> 2023 video game

Baldur's Gate 3 is a 2023 role-playing video game developed and published by Larian Studios. It is the third main installment to the Baldur's Gate series, based on the tabletop fantasy role-playing system of Dungeons & Dragons. A partial version of the game was released in early access format for macOS and Windows in October 2020. It remained in early access until its full release for Windows in August 2023, with versions for PlayStation 5, macOS, and Xbox Series X/S releasing later that year.

References

  1. ↑ Greg Orlando (October 1, 2004). "Black Knights: Obsidian takes charge of LucasArts' golden goose". Xbox Nation. p. 60.
  2. ↑ "The Knights of New Vegas: How Obsidian Survived Countless Catastrophes And Made Some Of The Coolest Role-Playing Games Ever". Kotaku. December 18, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Butts, Steve (2006-02-01). "Developer Profile: Obsidian. We chat with CEO Feargus Urquhart about the past, present and future of Obsidian". IGN . Archived from the original on 2024-01-18. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Ramsay, Morgan (2012). Gamers at Work: Stories Behind the Games People Play. New York: Apress. pp.  79–81. ISBN   978-1-4302-3351-0 . Retrieved 2024-01-18– via Internet Archive.
  5. ↑ https://archive.org/details/the-hickston-hog-1998-04-01-redneck-rampage-rides-again/page/16/mode/2up
  6. ↑ "Icewind Dale. What do you get when you blend a touch of Diablo with a smidgen of Baldur's Gate?". IGN . 2000-04-10. Archived from the original on 2024-01-18. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
  7. ↑ Yans, Cindy (2001-09-05). "Baldur's Gate goes console. A word with the producer of Dark Alliance". Computer Games Magazine . Archived from the original on 2003-02-20. Retrieved 2024-01-18– via Internet Archive.
  8. ↑ Kujawa, Kraig (November 2001). "Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance". Electronic Gaming Monthly . No. 148. p. 76. Retrieved 2024-01-18– via Internet Archive.
  9. ↑ Mayer, Robert (April 2002). "Interplay Rides Again? Black Isle strikes back with Icewind Dale II". Computer Games Magazine . No. 137. p. 37. Retrieved 2024-01-18– via Internet Archive.
  10. ↑ "Icewind Dale II Q&A. The sequel to the popular Icewind Dale has been in the works for some time. We talk to producer Darren Monahan to learn more about it". GameSpot . 2006-05-17. Archived from the original on 2024-01-18. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
  11. ↑ Barnes, Adam (December 2019). "World of Warcraft". Retro Gamer . p. 78. ProQuest   2847257596 . Retrieved 2024-01-18– via Internet Archive.
  12. ↑ "Black Knights: Obsidian takes charge of LucasArts' golden goose". Xbox Nation . October 2004. p. 66 – via Internet Archive.
  13. ↑ Costa, Richard (June 25, 2018). "From Shadow to Fire – 15 Years of Obsidian Entertainment". TechRaptor. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  14. ↑ Obisidan Entertainment (June 12, 2016). "Obsidian on Twitter: "Today marks our 13 year anniversary of being able to make awesome RPGs! #HappyBirthdayObsidian! ..."". Twitter . Archived from the original on January 2, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  15. ↑ Pratola, Giulio (May 2013). "Obsidian Heritage". Game Republic (in Italian). p. 39. Retrieved 2024-01-18– via Internet Archive.
  16. ↑ "The Will of the Council". GamePro . No. 190. July 2004. p. 34. Retrieved 2024-01-18– via Internet Archive.
  17. ↑ "Neverwinter Nights 2!". Virus (in Polish). Wydawnictwo Bauer. August 2004. Retrieved 2024-01-18– via Internet Archive.
  18. ↑ "Neverwinter Nights 2 Designer Diary #2 - Crafting Cinematic Worlds". GameSpot . 2006-08-28. Archived from the original on 2024-01-18. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
  19. ↑ Brandon, Alexander (2007-09-01). "A Day at Obsidian Entertainment: Building an Audio Department From Scratch". Mix . Vol. 31, no. 9. p. 64. ProQuest   196898185. Archived from the original on 2024-01-18. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
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.