Surreal Software
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Surreal Software | |
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| Type | Public (Subsidiary of Midway Games) |
| Founded | Seattle, Washington, USA (1995) |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois |
| Key people | Alan Patmore, Co-Founder and Studio Head Stuart Denman, Co-Founder and Studio Technology Director Patrick Lipo, Studio Creative Director Boyd Post, Studio Audio Director |
| Industry | Video Game Development |
| Website | www.surreal.com |
Surreal Software is a video game development studio in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. and a subsidiary of Midway Games.
Surreal Software, best known for The Suffering and Drakan series, employs over 100 designers, artists and programmers. Over the years, Surreal Software's technical capabilities have increased, with the advancement of multi-platform offerings, and a proprietary real-time game development engine. The studio is currently working on This is Vegas, a brand new title which will be released later this year on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.[1] The first screenshots, video and game information for This is Vegas were unveiled the week of February 4, 2008 at IGN.[2]
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[edit] History
Surreal Software was founded in 1995 as an independent video game development studio by Alan Patmore, Stuart Denman, Nick Radovich and Mike Nichols. Patmore, Nichols and Radovich attended Eastside Catholic High School in Bellevue, Washington together.[3] They found Stuart Denman, a University of Washington grad, through an online message board. The group began operating in 1995 in an office in Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood. Previously, Radovich sold real estate, Patmore worked at a wireless company, Nichols was working at local game company Boss Studios, and Denman had just interned at Microsoft on the Excel team. Their first contract was with Bothell-based children's-game developer Humongous, which found Denman's Web site and called to recruit programmers for Humongous. Surreal instead offered to do contract work.
Surreal developed the Riot engine for its games in 1996.
First receiving critical acclaim with the 1999 release of Drakan: Order of the Flame[4][5], Surreal Software continued its success with Drakan: The Ancients' Gates in early 2002, both games selling in excess of 250,000 units. Having grown to two development teams, Surreal released The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring later that same year, selling over 1.8 million units.
In March of 2004, Surreal Software released The Suffering[6], an original concept action-packed horror game set in a secluded island prison. Gamers and critics alike enjoyed this bold new contribution to the horror genre and in 2005, The Suffering: Ties That Bind [7]followed.
In April of 2004, Midway Games acquired Surreal Software as an in-house game studio.[8]
In 2006, the Surreal Software staff moved from Fremont to their new waterfront studio on Elliott Avenue next to the Olympic Sculpture Park.
[edit] Founders
- Stuart Denman - Technical Director
- Stuart is now acting as Studio Technology Director
- Alan Patmore - Project Director
- Alan is now acting as Studio Head of Surreal and is credited on the following titles:[9]
- Drakan: Order of the Flame (1999, PC) - Lead Designer[10][11]
- Drakan: The Ancients' Gates (2002, PS2) - Director
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2002, PC and PS2) - Director
- The Suffering (2004, PS2 and Xbox) - Director
- The Suffering: Ties That Bind (2005, PS2 and Xbox) - Executive Producer
- Alan is now acting as Studio Head of Surreal and is credited on the following titles:[9]
- Nick Radovich - Business Operations
- Nick has since moved on to new opportunities
- Mike Nichols - Art Director
- Mike has since moved on to new opportunities
[edit] Games
- Drakan: Order of the Flame (1999, PC)
- Drakan: The Ancients' Gates (2002, PS2)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2002, PC and PS2)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Treason of Isengard (2003, PS2 and Xbox, cancelled by Vivendi Universal Games).
- The Suffering (2004, PS2 and Xbox)
- The Suffering: Ties That Bind (2005, PS2 and Xbox)
- This is Vegas (2008, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC)
[edit] The Studio
From Surreal's Website:
"Located on the shore of Elliott Bay in the heart of Seattle, Surreal Software’s office boasts spectacular views of the water and the distant Olympic mountain range; the sunsets are magnificent. Nestled between the bustling Belltown neighborhood and popular Lower Queen Anne district, our access to the city’s finer points is unprecedented. We are a short walk from the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Garden, Myrtle Edwards Park, the historic Seattle waterfront and the Seattle Center, which features the iconic Space Needle, Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum. Our 26,000-square-foot office is comfortable, modern and well-suited to cruising around on Razor scooters, playing a game of ping pong or kicking back in our game lounge which features the latest next-gen consoles and games. This is a professional office with a casual flair, presently employing over 100 artists, programmers, animators and designers. If the bean-bag chairs, anime posters and action figures on every desk don't give it away, just look at the nearest computer monitor to see that creativity reigns supreme in this office."
[edit] References
- ^ Midway Press Release:
- ^ IGN.com: Games, Cheats, Movies and More
- ^ Search Results | Seattle Times Newspaper
- ^ GAME THEORY; The Feel of Cinema, but a Game at Heart - New York Times
- ^ Gamasutra - Postmortem: Surreal Software's Drakan: Order of the Flame
- ^ Gamasutra - Postmortem: The Game Design of Surreal's The Suffering
- ^ IGN: Original PS3 IP From Surreal
- ^ Midway Press Release:PR 2004-04-06 A
- ^ MobyGames - Alan Patmore
- ^ Drakan Order of the Flame Interview with Alan Patmore
- ^ Pre-E3 Drakan Interview
