Last month’s Develop magazine, an industry monthly for game developers, carried some optimistic pieces reflecting on some of the rarely reported positive changes taking place in the UK developer community. Whilst the last eighteen months have seen perhaps a couple of dozen studios shutting down, several larger studios have continued to grow and prosper, including publisher’s in-house operations. In the process they are providing employment and a creative outlet for very many of the talented individuals who would otherwise be forced out of games and into, shall we say, less ‘interesting’ forms of employment. At the same time, the industry is seeing an encouraging number of new, focused teams emerge, a good case in point being Venom Games, Indie Games and Juice Games, all three of which have been built up by teams previously employed at Rage, which shut down earlier this year.
Read on...
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It's all ZOOKs these days. Just one day after I snuck into the BBC's Elstree studio to get an early peek at the BAMZOOKi TV gameshow being filmed, look what popped into our mailbox: a newspaper article from the local Cambridge Town Crier that shows one of the teams entered in the contest, the RoboGals from nearby Impington College! The set looked great and the contests and ZOOKs were brilliant. We can hardly wait for the programme to air!
Zook, zook!
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The sharp-eyed amongst you may have noticed that, little by little, game patches and free downloads are appearing on Gameware's Creature Labs site. Last week I moved all the old Knowledgebase articles over which was quite easy as, with only a few tweaks here and there, I could upload the entire database as CSV into Gameware's new content management system. It took a fair few days more to sift out some of the less helpful entries and update URLs and so forth, but I believe it's all there now. If anyone runs across a knowledgebase article that's not accurate, please do let me know (click on my profile link below to drop me a message or PM me in the forums). There's also a search facility which may help find answers a bit quicker than simply reading every entry!
The downloads are somewhat less easy as they weren't formatted as database entries, but rather as static HTML that I now have to enter in by hand. So far I'm halfway through Creatures 1, so a couple more days and everything should be there.
As for Norn Packs and other downloads from the mall, I'm sure everyone is anxious for us to get those up and online and that's certainly in progress as well. I'm just now evaluating a shopping cart system and hope to have it working as soon as possible, though you'll forgive me if I don't give a definite date.
You know how these things go!
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We've been surprised and delighted to see that our very own James Pond takes centre stage on the cover of this month's Official PlayStation Magazine (in the UK, at any rate). The first version of James Pond: RoboCod graced several front covers back in the winter of 1992, when the game first came out on Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and Sega Genesis (Megadrive) - that's 11 whole years ago. Although this game includes some significant enhancements for the PSOne (as does the GBA version which will also be released imminently) and features an entirely new set of level maps, I'm wondering if that might be some kind of record for a time gap between the first and latest versions of what is, in effect, the same game!
As if this wasn't incredible enough, observant readers will also notice that this same issue features a preview of the second Creatures game for PSOne! Confusingly, the cover refers to this as 'Creatures 3', though this title is, in fact, called 'Creatures: Raised in Space'. Quite a well-kept secret, this one, but basically it's a follow-up to the last PSOne version, and is produced and developed by the same German team, ELO Interactive. Not really aimed at the hardcore Creatures fan, but still, according to OPM 'very addictive'.
So, back on the covers again. Let's hope it's a taste of things to come!
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One of the questions that regularly comes up on the Gameware Forums is "How do I get Creatures (insert version here) to work on Windows XP". It's an age old problem with software. And some of the software seems an age old! Take for instance the original Creatures, early versions of which ran under DOS, whereas the release version ran on Windows 3.1 as well as the then new Windows 95!
I know that work-arounds exist, but the end result was, well, a little rough. So we've bitten the bullet and taking the decision to make sure that all of the Creatures series work on the latest operating systems!
The picture shows a freshly installed Creatures 1 running happily on Windows XP with a 32 bit colour depth. Okay, so the game may still be 256 colours, but it looks pretty good!
Now where is that Creatures 2 source…
Creatures running on Windows XP!
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Back from our visit to the Lyon Game Connection last week, we’ve been pretty swamped in the follow up work that always goes on in the wake of a successful trip. The novel format of the event allowed literally dozens of meetings and chance encounters to take place between prospective publishing partners, other developers and ourselves. Well-organised, hassle-free and focused exclusively on addressing the need for getting studios together with a wide range of publishers in a calm, professional setting. Really good value. And no jet lag.
Not sure if it was planned that way but the week also coincided with the arrival outside every bar and restaurant in town of this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau (remember that stuff, any yuppies out there?). Definitely not my favourite wine, but the celebratory street atmosphere it generated in Lyon’s fantastic town centre made a great compliment to the working days, hangovers notwithstanding.
I’ve not known anything quite like Game Connection since the early 90’s era of ECTS or GDC (though that’s not really a ‘selling’ event) and would have no hesitation in recommending other developers to give it a try next year.
Jeremy was really thirsty
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I believe that many know that the original Creatures backdrop was first conceived by modelling the entire world and then photographing the models before touching them up pixel by pixel for use in the game.
Some have asked whatever happened to those models and Ian suggested I take a photo of the display case currently housed at the Gameware offices and post it in the diary.
(click for larger in a new window)
Keep in mind that these cases are huge. This, the smallest, is about 4 and a half feet high (nearly 2 meters, I reckon) and 6 feet wide (more than 2 meters) and weighs rather a lot - especially with the glass on. The other two cases are still languishing at the old Creature Labs offices but are due to be moved into storage shortly.
So, now you know!
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Last week was a pretty busy one, with the highlight being going public with our BAMZOOKi project for CBBC. There's still plenty of work to do so far as rounding off the project is concerned, including attending the studio most of December so we can be on hand to support the BBC team in setting up contests and making any required tweaks to the software during filming, but the main focus this week will be on attending the Lyon Game Connection event in France.
Essentially, it's an opportunity for developers and publishers to meet and talk business opportunities, without all the hype and razzmatazz that always surrounds industry events like E3 and ECTS. This'll be my first visit to this relatively new event, so I'm very curious to see how things turn out. Just hope the hosts will forgive us English types for knocking them out of the Rugby World Cup yesterday.
Au revoir!
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We're off and running with our first product announcement and we're all very excited about it. Take a look at our News section for the BAMZOOKi press release and coming shortly, screenshots!
It really is fab and I'm not just saying that! ;-)
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Several people have asked us to explain the relationship between Gameware Europe and Gameware Development, along with where the name Creature Labs now fits into the scheme of things. I was thinking about posting something along those lines in the forums when it occured to me that since (a) it all relates to history and (b) that it might be of more general interest, it might be better to stick it right here in the diary. I've tried to be brief (not generally considered to be my strongest suit), accurate and objective, but I can personally vouch for the fact that everyone involved in this story has experienced something of an emotional roller coaster ride, sometimes over very extended periods. But getting the intensity of that ride across and mentioning all its highs, lows and the passengers on board would probably require a whole book to be written...
Read on...
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Well, it’s been a few days now since our site went live and I’m thinking it’s got be time to take the plunge and briefly introduce myself - so here goes. My name is Ian Saunter, I’m Development Director here at Gameware, and I’m generally responsible for the management of our projects and resources, along with setting the product strategy for the company. It’s a role I’ve been enjoying in one Games Company or another for some fifteen years now - and I can’t imagine doing anything else for a living.
I’ll be checking in here from time to time to share some of our experiences and offer a personal point of view on game-related matters (mainly!). Hopefully, this web site, diary and the inclusion of the Gameware forums, which are already nicely active, will enable us to build bridges between ourselves and the outside world and in the process provide us with valuable feedback, opinion and ideas which we, in turn, can take into account as we build strength in the company and make progress with our varied projects.
Can’t go without saying a big thanks to Lisa, for designing this site and getting us up and running again. Thank you also to all those Creatures users out there, who have been so patient with us and helpful to each other over these last few months - you know who you are!
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As the intrepid community will have noticed, the Gameware website is now live at the .co.uk domain. Sparky should be redirecting the .com site on Monday.
For those who don't know me, I'm Lisa and I used to work for Creature Labs as marketing manager and then as Creatures brand manager. Now, I'm working as an independent contractor for the fledgling company. My role is to build the new Gameware website and help with marketing and a variety of other tasks.
You will probably have noticed a goodly number of "coming soon" pages, primarily in the Creatures section. This is due to some difficulty finding the support databases. We've now located them and will try and re-create as much of the old support knowledgebase as possible in time.
You'll probably wonder when it will all come back online and I'm afraid you've got a couple weeks late as I'm off on holiday tomorrow for a couple of weeks. Good timing, huh?
While I'm gone, both Sparky and Ian will watch over the forums, but they are quite swamped at the moment, so don't be surprised if some questions take a while to answer. Please be patient - we'll get there in the end!
In the meantime, enjoy the site and the forums and I'll be looking forward to tons of ideas and suggestions when I return! Also, please do let me know if you encounter any problems with the site.
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Gameware's new offices are located in the "Garden of Eden" area of Cambridge which somehow seems appropriate and maybe even a little propitious for this rebirth of Creature Labs' titles! This particular office was once a basket-weaving factory and produced bike baskets for Cambridge's many thousands of bicycles.
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Gameware Entrance |
The temporary home of Pond, James Pond. |
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Reception | 
Main working area |
The local locals: | |
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The wi-fied Elm Tree | Above: John Cooke's Grocery |
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Hello and welcome to Gameware's Studio Diary. This diary concept is a bit of a new idea for us here at Gameware. When we were Creature Labs, we always strove to retain a dialogue with our customers, but we there were times when we found it difficult to maintain momentum and regretably, that communication was sometimes lost. Clearly, we want to learn from those experiences.
So this diary is an attempt at doing that. Using weblogging tools, our plan is to try and update this diary as a collaborative weblog written by the Gameware staff. We want to focus on subjects that interest us and that we hope will interest you, our customers, clients and the Creatures community.
It's also a way for you to get to know us - our motives, our hopes, our successes and maybe sometimes our failures. Of course we're planning on more of the former than the latter!
We want to make this informal and timely, but we also know that at times things get a bit hectic. Sometimes we may be hard at work, with little time to post or may be working on confidential projects that we're unable to comment on. Some of us may be quite comfortable posting - others may be quiet and reserved and may not post at all. After all, weblogging isn't for everyone. With this first post, it's a new concept, waiting to be tried.
Wish us luck!
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