Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Video games |
Founded | October 1993 |
Founder | David Perry |
Defunct | October 9, 2007 |
Fate | Merged with The Collective |
Successor | Double Helix Games |
Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people |
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Products | |
Parent |
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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.
David Perry, a video game programmer from Northern Ireland, created his first video game in 1982, when he was 15, for the Sinclair ZX81 that he had at home. [2] This led him to move to London, England, shortly following his 17th birthday, where would work with several early video game developers on games for the ZX Spectrum. [2] One of these companies was Probe Software, where Perry worked on The Terminator , published by Virgin Games. [3] : 349 By 1991, Perry had moved to Irvine, California, to work for the internal development studio of Virgin Games' American branch. [2] [3] : 351 At Virgin Games, Perry worked on three successful promotional games: Global Gladiators for McDonald's, Cool Spot for 7 Up, and Disney's Aladdin . [3] : 1–2 All three games were profitable enough that Perry, after two years at Virgin Games, opted to leave the company. [3] : 2
At the time, he had received employment offers from the Sega Technical Institute and Playmates Toys; the latter was a toy company that had produced toys based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles license and was looking to move into video games from that same license. [3] : 2 Perry turned down both offers, instead working out an agreement with Playmates that would see the company fund an independent studio with several million dollars, in exchange for the publishing rights to the first three games developed by that studio. [3] : 2 [4] Playmates agreed, and Perry, once he had gained lawful permanent resident status in the U.S., set up Shiny Entertainment using Playmates' funds in October 1993. [1] [5] Offices for the company were set up in Laguna Beach, California, and Perry was appointed as the company's president. [6] Several developers formerly of Virgin Games followed Perry and joined Shiny, bringing its employee count to "around nine". [3] : 4–5 [2] The name "Shiny" was taken from the song "Shiny Happy People" by R.E.M., which was popular around the time of the company's inception, while the "Entertainment" suffix was chosen because Perry believed that, should the studio attempt to co-operate with Hollywood film production companies, such companies would rather work with an "entertainment" company than with a "games" company. [1] Despite this precaution, Shiny was often mistaken for a pornography production company. [1]
According to Perry, the young Shiny was not sure what to do, having neither a game project, nor a business plan. [3] : 3 [5] However, since Playmates was new to the video game industry, Playmates Interactive, the publishing arm set up by the toy company, had no high expectations. [3] : 2 Playmates aided Shiny in finding licenses for potential game projects, and Shiny came close to developing a game based on the Knight Rider TV series, but eventually settled on creating an original game. [3] : 2 [5] When the company was about to hire Doug TenNapel, an animator formerly of DreamWorks, TenNapel demonstrated his skills by creating a sketch for a game character that would later become Earthworm Jim. [5] The character's abilities were worked out by Perry and TenNapel, and the surrounding game, also called Earthworm Jim , became Shiny's first development project. [3] : 2 [5] To help with the game's promotion, Playmates set out to create Earthworm Jim toys, but required that a TV series should be produced to market the toys. [3] : 7 Perry subsequently met with executives of Universal Studios, who agreed to produce the series if there were toys to accompany it. [3] : 8 The deadlock was resolved when Perry invited the heads of Universal and Playmates for dinner, agreeing each party would fulfill their part of the deal. [3] : 8 The game was released on console in 1994 to much success, spawning several sequels, spin-offs and ports to other platforms. [2]
Following a sequel to Earthworm Jim, Earthworm Jim 2 , Shiny ought to produce a game with 3D computer graphics, however, Perry was concerned that his team, which had only worked on 2D games, would find it difficult to produce a 3D game. [3] : 6 [5] Seeking help from other companies, Perry was offered deals by Nintendo and Sony to exclusively develop for these companies' console, but he instead agreed to sell Shiny to another video game publisher, Interplay Productions. [3] : 6 [5] [7] The deal was announced by Interplay at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 1995, with Shiny retaining their identity and management under the new ownership. [7] Following this buy-out, half of Shiny's employees, including TenNapel, left Shiny to form The Neverhood, Inc., another game developer. [8] Meanwhile, Perry instituted a strict no-sequels policy at Shiny to ensure that new games developed by the studio would be surprising and associated with the developer, rather than with a franchise. [9]
The next game produced by Shiny was MDK , produced fully in 3D. [5] The studio's team successfully switched from 2D to 3D development, and MDK, released in 1997, became a very successful game. [3] : 6, 8 [5] Aside from being used as a benchmark test for new graphics cards by various magazines, Shiny scored between 40 and 60 deals to include support for peripherals, including joysticks and 3D glasses, as well as deal with Apple Inc. that saw MDK pre-installed on every first-generation iMac. [3] : 8 [5] Perry believed that selling Shiny because he was unconfident of his team's ability to produce a 3D game was the worst mistake he had ever made. [10] After MDK shipped, Shiny employees Nick Bruty and Bob Stevenson left the company to form Planet Moon Studios with the same development principles as Shiny. [11] [12] Further Shiny games— Wild 9 , R/C Stunt Copter , Messiah , and Sacrifice —were developed in parallel at the company, leading to what Perry said was simultaneously diluting focus and talent, and none of the games sold as well as MDK. [3] : 8
In April 2002, during financial instability at Interplay, Shiny was sold off to Infogrames, Inc. (later renamed Atari, Inc.) for US$47 million. [5] [13] Enter the Matrix , which was in development at Shiny at time, also changed hands to the buyer. [5] [13] Under Atari, Perry conceptualized a game named Plague, which Atari forced him to significantly size down to meet budget requirements. [5] This led Perry to leave the company on February 16, 2006. [5] [14] He was succeeded by Michael Persson, who became the studio's studio head. [15] Perry went on to found GameConsultants.com, a consultancy firm for video game investors, in May 2006, and by September had joined Acclaim Games and was working on a massively multiplayer online game called 2Moons. [16] [17]
Shortly following Perry's resignation, Atari announced that it was reducing its staff count by 20% and sell all of its internal studios, both actions also affecting Shiny. [14] Perry's role as not an employee of Atari meant that he could aid Shiny find the best possible buyer. [14] Thus, on October 2, 2006, Atari agreed to sell Shiny to Foundation 9 Entertainment under the terms that Shiny would at some point co-locate with The Collective, another Foundation 9 studio. [18] On October 9, 2007, Foundation 9 announced that Shiny and The Collective were being merged; both studios had relocated their teams to new 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) offices in Irvine, California, from where the merged company would operate under the lead of Persson. [19] In March 2008, the new studio was named Double Helix Games. [20]
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
1994 | Earthworm Jim | |
1995 | Earthworm Jim 2 | |
1997 | MDK | |
1998 | Wild 9 | |
1999 | R/C Stunt Copter | |
2000 | Messiah | |
Sacrifice | ||
2003 | Enter the Matrix | |
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines | Supportive development for Black Ops Entertainment [21] | |
2005 | The Matrix: Path of Neo | |
2007 | The Golden Compass |
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one of the largest third-party video game publishers in the world and was the top United States publisher in 2016.
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 several 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.
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.
MDK is a 1997 third-person shooter video game developed by Shiny Entertainment for Windows and subsequently ported to Mac OS by Shokwave, and to the PlayStation by Neversoft. The game was published on all systems by Playmates Interactive Entertainment (PIE) in North America, while Shiny handled the European release.
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.
Foundation 9 Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game company based in Irvine, California. The company was formed in March 2005 through the merger of video game developers Backbone Entertainment and The Collective.
Wild 9 is a 2.5D platform video game for the PlayStation. The game was designed by David Perry, developed by Shiny Entertainment, and published by Interplay Productions; all of which were parties involved in Earthworm Jim series of video games. The game was released in North America and Europe in September 1998.
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 block 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 through using a robotic suit.
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.
Digital Eclipse Entertainment Partners Co. is an American video game developer based in Emeryville, California. Founded by Andrew Ayre in 1992, the company found success developing commercial emulations of arcade games for Game Boy Color. In 2003, the company merged with ImaginEngine and created Backbone Entertainment. A group of Digital Eclipse employees split off from Backbone to form Other Ocean Interactive, which, in 2015, bought and revived the Digital Eclipse brand.
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 was believed cancelled by the rights owners by 2023, as it had never left pre-planning stages.
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.
Double Helix Games was an American video game developer based in Irvine, California, founded in October 2007 through the merger of The Collective and Shiny Entertainment, two studios owned by Foundation 9 Entertainment. Double Helix was acquired by Amazon and integrated into Amazon Game Studios in February 2014.
Atari SA, also known under the Atari Group moniker, is a French holding company headquartered in Paris that owns mainly video gaming related interactive entertainment properties. Atari SA's core subsidiaries include the publisher and marketer Atari, Inc., developers Nightdive Studios and Digital Eclipse, and publisher Infogrames, It also has a blockchain division, Atari X, and additionally owns the websites MobyGames and AtariAge. Through these divisions, the company owns the rights to many video game properties that originated from Accolade, Atari, Inc., Atari Corporation, GT Interactive, M Network, Intellivision and others. It is the sole owner of the Atari brand since 2001, through its subsidiary Atari Interactive Inc. which licenses the brand to other entities in the group.
Nicholas Anthony Bruty, 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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