Artificial Studios

Last updated
Artificial Studios
Type Video game developer
Industry Video games
Founded2001
Headquarters Gainesville, Florida, U.S.
Key people
Tim Johnson (Founder, Technical Director), Jeremy Stieglitz (Founder, Project Director)
Website http://artificialstudios.com/index.php

Artificial Studios was a computer game development and engine development company founded in 2001.

Artificial Studios first came to attention with their "Reality Engine", unveiled in 2004, a solution for games using next-generation DirectX9-powered graphics. This is one of several "next-gen" engines, see Game Engines.

All of the Reality Engine intellectual property was purchased by Epic Games in 2005 and Artificial Studios co-founder and lead engine programmer, Tim Johnson, was also hired by Epic as part of the deal. [1] All development on Reality Engine has ceased and all Reality Engine licensees are encouraged to upgrade to Unreal Engine 3.

In 2006, Artificial Studios released CellFactor: Combat Training, then CellFactor: Revolution, a free downloadable game (of which a demo was released in May 2006) designed to show off the capabilities of the AGEIA PhysX game physics acceleration chipset. The game used Artificial Studio's own 'Reality Engine' technology. The full game was released for free on May 8, 2007, and can be downloaded from a variety of gaming websites.

In 2007, Artificial Studios released Monster Madness: Battle For Suburbia, published by SouthPeak Games for the Xbox 360 and PC as their flagship title. The Monster Madness franchise was continued in 2008, by new developers, with Monster Madness: Grave Danger.

In 2008, Artificial Studios acquired funding for their unannounced title, codename "R6", from publisher Ignition Entertainment. A new studio was established, Ignition Entertainment: Florida, for development of this project. [2] The studio had approximately 70 employees and the title was rumored for a "late 2009" release. [3] The project was cancelled in 2010 and the studio was abruptly closed. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unreal Engine</span> Game engine

Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game Unreal. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genres of games and has seen adoption by other industries, most notably the film and television industry. Written in C++, the Unreal Engine features a high degree of portability, supporting a wide range of desktop, mobile, console and virtual reality platforms.

Epic Games American video game company

Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, Maryland. Following his first commercial video game release, ZZT (1991), the company became Epic MegaGames, Inc. in early 1992 and brought on Mark Rein, who has been its vice president since. Moving their headquarters to Cary in 1999, the studio's name was simplified to Epic Games.

Silicon Knights Defunct Canadian video game developer

Silicon Knights was a Canadian video game developer. Founded in 1992 by Denis Dyack, the company was headquartered in St. Catharines, Ontario. They started developing for computers such as the Atari ST and IBM PC compatibles. After 1996, they moved to console titles.

Remedy Entertainment Finnish video game developer

Remedy Entertainment Oyj, trading internationally as Remedy Entertainment Plc, is a Finnish video game developer based in Espoo. Notable games the studio has developed include the first two instalments in the Max Payne franchise, Alan Wake, Quantum Break and Control. Sam Lake, the writer and face model for Max Payne in the original game, has represented the company on numerous occasions.

Ignition Entertainment Limited, doing business as UTV Ignition Games, was a video game publisher of Indian media conglomerate UTV Software Communications. After The Walt Disney Company acquired UTV Software Communications as a wholly owned subsidiary for The Walt Disney Company India, UTV Ignition Games assets were liquidated.

Terminal Reality

Terminal Reality is an American video game development and production company based in Lewisville, Texas. Founded in October 1994 by ex-Microsoft employee Mark Randel and former Mallard Software general manager Brett Combs, Terminal Reality developed a variety of games including racing games, 3D action games, and more.

<i>Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia</i> 2007 video game

Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia is a video game for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows, developed by Artificial Studios and Immersion Games. Players are able to combine objects found around the town to create bigger and better weapons with which to destroy the monster menace. The game includes five environments and hundreds of enemies. Four-player cooperative play is available as well.

<i>Monster Truck Madness</i> 1996 racing video game

Monster Truck Madness is a racing video game developed by Terminal Reality and published by Microsoft. It was released in North America on August 31, 1996. The game has twelve monster trucks and tasks the player with beating computer opponents. Checkpoints, multiple hidden shortcuts, and interactable objects commonly appear in the tracks. In the garage, the player modifies the truck to account for terrain surfaces. Online multiplayer is accessed with a modem, a local area network (LAN), or TCP/IP.

<i>Monster Truck Madness 2</i> 1998 video game

Monster Truck Madness 2 is a monster truck racing video game developed by Terminal Reality and published by Microsoft for the PC in 1998.

Zombie Studios was an American independent video game developer of console, PC, mobile and web-based games. It was formed in 1994 as Zombie, LLC by Joanna Alexander and Mark Long, formerly of the Sarnoff Research Center. Alexander and Long founded Zombie after they completed the design of a virtual reality game console for Hasbro at Sarnoff in 1993. Zombie has designed and produced over 30 games for major platforms. From 1999 to 2004 the company was known as Zombie Inc. They created a value label in 2005, Direct Action Games, to design and produce value titles for both PC and consoles.

Chair Entertainment Group, LLC is an American video game developer based in Salt Lake City. The company was acquired by Epic Games in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tantalus Media</span> Australian video game developer

Tantalus Media is an Australian video game developer based in Melbourne. It was founded in 1994 by programmers Andrew Bailey and Trevor Nuridin. Since its inception, Tantalus has developed almost 100 games, and has won multiple game awards. In March 2021, Keywords Studios acquired 85% of Tantalus Media for US$46.8 million.

Engine Software is a Dutch video game developer, located in Doetinchem, Netherlands, which specialized in handheld video games and digital platforms until 2011. In the period after (2011-present) they have become more active and known for high-end ports and adaptations of games to modern consoles, mobile, PC and streaming services like Stadia and Luna. Some of the best known games they have worked on include Puzzle Quest for the Nintendo DS, Terraria for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Wii U, Killer7 Remastered for PC, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch for Nintendo Switch and No More Heroes / No More Heroes 2 for Nintendo Switch.

Slightly Mad Studios Ltd. is a British video game company whose headquarters are in London, England. They primarily develop racing games and simulators.

Sega Studios San Francisco American video game developer

Sega Studios San Francisco, formerly known as Secret Level, Inc., was an American video game developer based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in December 1999 by Jeremy Gordon, Otavio Good, and Josh Adams.

<i>Dead Block</i> 2011 video game

Dead Block is a third-person action-strategy video game by German developer Candygun Games and publisher Digital Reality, in which three survivors of a zombie outbreak attempt to keep zombies out of a safehouse. It was released on the Xbox 360 on July 6, 2011 via Xbox Live Arcade, and on the PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Network on July 19, 2011 in North America and July 27, 2011 in Europe. A Microsoft Windows release followed on January 26, 2012.

Chromatic Games, formerly Trendy Entertainment Inc., is an American video game development studio, founded in 2009, by Augi Lye and Jeremy Stieglitz. It is located in Gainesville, Florida. Trendy Entertainment is a developer of Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows, iOS, and Android platform games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rod Fergusson</span> Canadian video game producer

Rod Fergusson is a Canadian video game producer, best known for overseeing the development of the Gears of War franchise, originally at Epic Games and then as head of The Coalition. More recently, Fergusson moved over to Blizzard Entertainment to oversee development on the Diablo series.

<i>Dauntless</i> (video game) 2019 video game

Dauntless is a free-to-play action role-playing video game developed by Phoenix Labs and published and distributed by Epic Games. The game initially launched in beta in May 2018 for Microsoft Windows. An early access version launched on May 21, 2019 for PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, including full support for cross-platform play, and was fully released for those platforms on September 26, 2019. A Nintendo Switch version was released on December 10, 2019. Versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S were released on December 2, 2021.

Three Fields Entertainment Limited is a British video game development studio. It was founded in February 2014 by Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry, who had previously worked at Criterion Games, along with developer Paul Ross who had worked with them under Criterion Games.

References

  1. "Epic Games Purchases Reality Engine™ and Hires Chief Architect and Primary Developer, Tim Johnson | News | Epic Games". Archived from the original on 2012-04-17. Retrieved 2012-08-23.
  2. Bluesnews: Ignition Entertainment and Artificial Studios
  3. Ignition Florida Homepage Archived June 5, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Ignition closes US studio [Update]". MCV. 12 January 2011.