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Nicholas Anthony Bruty (born 1969), known as Nick Bruty, is a British video game designer and entrepreneur, known for work on video games such as Earthworm Jim, Earthworm Jim 2 , and MDK.
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Nicholas Anthony Bruty (born 1969), known as Nick Bruty, is a British video game designer and entrepreneur, known for work on video games such as Earthworm Jim, Earthworm Jim 2 , and MDK.
Bruty was born in 1969, in Longfield, Kent, [1] and was raised and educated in Livingston, Scotland. [2] He made his first step into video games when he was 15, working for company SoftStone with his friend David Quinn, completing some projects before SoftStone went bust in 1984.
In 1987, Bruty joined Probe Software, where he met another notable industry figure: David Perry. Together they formed a team, with Bruty as artist and Perry as programmer, making arcade classics such as Trantor: The Last Stormtrooper , Savage , Overlord and Dan Dare 3. [3] In 1992, Perry and Bruty both joined the American division of Virgin Games, where they worked on Global Gladiators , Cool Spot , Aladdin and The Jungle Book .
In 1993, David Perry formed Shiny Entertainment in California, and Bruty, along with some other members of Virgin Games, followed having completed The Jungle Book. While at Shiny, Bruty led the art direction on cult platformers Earthworm Jim and its sequel. In the Special Edition of Earthworm Jim, the level "Big Bruty" was named after him.
Shiny produced the hit shooter MDK in 1997. Bruty was responsible for the idea of the game itself, the characters, and its humorous style. [4] [5]
After MDK, Bruty left Shiny [6] and formed video game company Planet Moon Studios with other ex-Shiny employees Tim Williams and Scott Guest. The company made Giants: Citizen Kabuto , Armed and Dangerous (influenced by MDK) and Infected . In 2011, Planet Moon closed, and the company's staff were acquired by online games developer Bigpoint Games.
In March 2011 Bruty and ex-Planet Moon Studios lead programmer Richard Sun formed a new game company: Rogue Rocket Games. In March 2014, Bruty and Rogue Rocket Games announced First Wonder, a spiritual sequel to Giants: Citizen Kabuto. They started a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for it on September 25, 2015; [7] however the campaign did not meet its funding target and the project was canceled. [8]
Douglas Richard TenNapel is an American animator, writer, cartoonist, video game designer, and comic book artist whose work has encompassed animated television, video games, and comic books. He is best known for creating Earthworm Jim, a character that spawned a video game series, animated series, and a toy line. He is also the creator of the animated television series Catscratch (2005–2007), which aired on Nickelodeon, and was itself a loose adaptation of TenNapel's comic book limited series Gear.
Earthworm Jim is a 1994 run and gun platform game developed by Shiny Entertainment, featuring an earthworm named Jim, who wears a robotic suit and battles the forces of evil. The game was released for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, before being subsequently ported to a number of other video game consoles.
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.
Thomas Andrew Tallarico is an American video game music composer, sound designer, and television producer. Since the 1990s, he has helmed production for numerous video games through his self-titled company. He co-hosted the television series Electric Playground and Reviews on the Run from 1997 until 2006. In 2002, he created Video Games Live (VGL), a global video game music orchestra.
David Perry is a Northern Irish video game developer and programmer. He became prominent for programming platform games for 16-bit home consoles in the early to mid 1990s, including Disney's Aladdin, Cool Spot, and the Earthworm Jim series. He founded Shiny Entertainment, where he worked from 1993 to 2006. Perry created games for companies such as Disney, 7 Up, McDonald's, Hemdale, and Warner Bros. In 2008 he was presented with an honorary doctorate from Queen's University Belfast for his services to computer gaming. He was the co-founder & CEO of cloud-based games service Gaikai, which was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment. In 2017 Perry became the co-founder & CEO of a customer intelligence startup called GoVYRL, Inc. developing a new advanced brand dashboard called Carro.
Earthworm Jim 2 is a 1995 run and gun platform video game and the sequel to Earthworm Jim, and the second and final game in the Earthworm Jim series developed by original creators Doug TenNapel, David Perry and Shiny Entertainment. It was released in late 1995 and early 1996 depending on region and video game console, initially being released for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, before being ported to other platforms.
Giants: Citizen Kabuto is a third-person shooter video game with real-time strategy elements. It was the first project for Planet Moon Studios, which consisted of former Shiny Entertainment employees who had worked on the game MDK in 1997. Giants went through four years of development before Interplay Entertainment published it on December 7, 2000, for Microsoft Windows; a Mac OS X port was published by MacPlay in 2001, and the game was also ported to the PlayStation 2 later that year.
MDK is a 1997 third-person shooter video game developed by Shiny Entertainment for Microsoft Windows and subsequently ported to Mac OS by Shokwave, and to the PlayStation by Neversoft. The game was published on all systems by PIE in North America, while Shiny Entertainment handled the European release. It initially debuted in March 1997 for Windows and in November of the same year for PlayStation. Later on, MDK became available on GOG.com in September 2008 and on Steam in September 2009.
Shiny Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Laguna Beach, California. Founded in October 1993 by David Perry, Shiny was the creator of video games such as Earthworm Jim, MDK and Enter the Matrix. Perry sold the company to Interplay Productions in 1995, which sold the studio to Infogrames, Inc. in 2002. After Foundation 9 Entertainment acquired Shiny in 2006, the company was merged with The Collective in October 2007, creating Double Helix Games.
MDK2 is a 2000 third-person shooter, action-adventure video game developed by BioWare and published by Interplay Entertainment for the Dreamcast, Windows and PlayStation 2. It is a sequel to the 1997 game MDK. First released for the Dreamcast in March 2000, it was later released for Windows in May, with newly selectable difficulty levels and the ability to manually save. In March 2001, a slightly reworked version, featuring level design modifications and gameplay tweaks, was released for the PlayStation 2 as MDK 2: Armageddon. The PC version was released on GOG.com in September 2008, and on Steam in September 2009. A port of the PlayStation 2 version was released for Wii via WiiWare in 2011. Also in 2011, a HD remastered version was released for Windows. Called MDK2 HD, this version features new 3D models, textures, improved lighting, and remastered music, and was released on Beamdog in October, and on Steam in July 2012.
Earthworm Jim 3D is a 1999 platform game developed by VIS Interactive and published by Interplay Entertainment for the Nintendo 64. It is the third in the Earthworm Jim series and a sequel to Earthworm Jim 2. It was the first game in the series to not be developed by Shiny Entertainment, which had recently instituted a strict "no sequels" policy. Interplay Entertainment, having recently purchased the Earthworm Jim rights, handed the franchise off to VIS Interactive.
Earthworm Jim is an American animated television series based on the video game series of the same name that aired on The WB's Kids' WB strand for two seasons from September 9, 1995, to December 13, 1996. A co-production between Universal Cartoon Studios and Flextech Plc and based on the video game series of the same name from Playmates and Shiny Entertainment with characters created by Doug TenNapel, the series follows the adventures of the titular character who battles the forces of evil using a robotic suit.
Stephen Crow is a game programmer who worked in the 1980s on the ZX Spectrum platform, programming for companies such as Hewson Consultants and Bubble Bus Software. He also worked with members of the Graftgold team. More recently, he was the lead artist working for the now-defunct Monkeytropolis.
Planet Moon Studios was a game development studio based in San Francisco, California founded by ex-Shiny Entertainment developers Nick Bruty (President) and Bob Stevenson (CEO) in 1997. The founding members were then known for creating the third-person shooter video game MDK.
Earthworm Jim is a series of platform games featuring an earthworm named Jim who wears a robotic suit and battles the forces of evil. The series is noted for its platforming and shooting gameplay, surreal humor, and edgy art style. Four games were released in the series: Earthworm Jim, Earthworm Jim 2, Earthworm Jim 3D, and Earthworm Jim: Menace 2 the Galaxy, with the first game released in 1994. The series had lain dormant for almost a decade before Gameloft remade the original game in HD for PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade in 2010. Interplay announced Earthworm Jim 4 in 2008; little to no information surfaced until May 2019 and August 2020, and development went dormant once again by January 2023.
Earthworm Jim 4 is a proposed video game in the Earthworm Jim series. It was originally announced by Interplay Entertainment in 2008, and referred to by Interplay as "still in development" in May 2011. Later commentary over the next decade from individual developers would contest its development status, until May 2019, when it was announced that the game was being developed for the Intellivision Amico console. Lack of updates in the years following has again lead to the belief that the game is on hold or cancelled.
Earthworm Jim HD is a high definition remake of the original Earthworm Jim video game. While the original was released in 1994 for the Sega Genesis and then ported to many other platforms, the remake was released digitally through XBLA on Xbox 360 on June 9, 2010, through the PSN on the PlayStation 3 on August 3, 2010, and for Windows Phone 7 alongside its launch in October and November of 2010. While critics had mixed feelings with regard to how well the game had aged, they generally praised the new content, mainly the cooperative multiplayer mode.
Earthworm Jim, also known as Earthworm Jim PSP, was a planned entry in the Earthworm Jim series of video games, intended for release on the PlayStation Portable. Initially thought to be a remake of the original Earthworm Jim, it was later revealed that it would contain mostly original content. The game was reported to reunite some of the developers who had worked on the acclaimed Earthworm Jim and Earthworm Jim 2 but been absent during production of the more poorly received Earthworm Jim 3D and Earthworm Jim: Menace 2 the Galaxy. Although said to be 80% complete in August 2006 and slated for an early 2007 release date, the game was ultimately cancelled in mid-2007.
Rogue Rocket Games is an American video game developer formed in early 2011 by Nick Bruty and Rich Sun, both of whom previously worked at Planet Moon Studios. The company is located in San Francisco, California.
