Have you ever worked on a commercially released video game?

[cdoty]

I programmed a little on Total Mayhem, and wrote most of the low level code for Revenant (published by Domark/Eidos. developed by Cinematix). I've also developed Frog Feast for a number of game systems.

[CPUWIZ]

I'm buiding a special bedroom

 

Padded walls and everything.

[Rybags]

Didn't do any bundled games, but type-in stuff in books, and I've worked doing commercial educational software on the C-64.

 

I co-authored "More Games for your Atari 600XL" which was released in 1984 by Virgin books. The book had about 19 games, most with machine code routines within BASIC programs.

 

Made a "guest" appearance (1 game) in another book for the C-64. "Blockout" - it was a BASIC game, Surrond (2600) clone - probably the first ever useful program I did for the C-64.

 

Wrote 3 more C-64 games in 1984. Submitted them - just wanted some money, but they decided to give them a book in their own right. "Astounding Arcade Games for the C-64". BASIC games with asm routines. All of about 3 weeks work, made a couple of thousand bucks out of that one.

 

I worked for a software company in 1986 which did educational titles under the "Ladders to Learning" label which was published by McGraw-Hill. Mostly released in Australia, I think the UK might have had some, and they were trying to break into the US market. But, the company I worked for went under - mainly due to distribution stuff-ups.

 

Doing books was promised to be a big earner, but didn't deliver. Got promised big figures but actual sales were a joke. The C-64 book had 40,000 printed but apparently only 11,000 sold.

 

I applied for a job with OziSoft, a 2-bit operation who mainly distributed US and UK games here, in their own packaging. Sent in a few great little C-64 demos with sprites in the border and seamless fine scrolling (without the jittered transition which so many games had early on).

 

Didn't get the job. That was enough to disillusion me enough re the small systems software industry, so I continued on with a career in IBM compatible mainframes.

 

So, to this day, my single biggest individual programming project, so far as size/time goes, is probably a 6,000 line database usage accounts system which I finished in early 1990, written in the SAS language. Non-commercial, it was used by a government department for reporting and billing purposes.

[Red 5]

Beta tested Xbox Live (and not a video game, but Windows '95) for Microsoft.

 

Considering I didn't get paid for either, I wouldn't say I 'worked' on them though.

[Breakpack]

I'm buiding a special bedroom

 

Padded walls and everything.

 

Mirror on the ceiling?

[+Nathan Strum]

Pink champagne on ice?

[jbanes]

Um, I just realized I lied. Like, really, really, lied. I said that I haven't been involved in any commercial game development, but that's not true. There's a gaming component I wrote that has been used in dozens of games, including a commercial MMORPG. My contribution was small overall, but it's widely used. So I guess you can assume one more for, "Yes, but my contributions were small."

[djmips]

Yes.

Edited December 15, 2006 by djmips

[Flojomojo]

Um, I just realized I lied. Like, really, really, lied. I said that I haven't been involved in any commercial game development, but that's not true. There's a gaming component I wrote that has been used in dozens of games, including a commercial MMORPG. My contribution was small overall, but it's widely used. So I guess you can assume one more for, "Yes, but my contributions were small."

It was that pizza-ordering feature in Everquest, wasn't it?

[jbanes]

It was that pizza-ordering feature in Everquest, wasn't it?

What can I say? I like Pizza.

 

No, it's just a timing related component that's used by many (the majority?) of Java-based games. My license was pretty open, so it's being used in places I don't even know about. However, I do know of at least a commercial MMORPG that uses it, as well as a few other commercial products in development. It's possible it's even made it into a few shrink-wrapped products, but companies don't usually advertise that they built a game on Java. (Stigma and all that.)

[Laner]

^^

 

 

I'm credited as an "external tester" or somesuch for several Activision games... does that count?

 

http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/v...veloperId,9858/

Edited October 18, 2006 by Laner

[Albert]

I've done professional game development on the PC, Mac, PS2 and GBA. You can count the 2600, 5200, 7800, Atari 8-bit, and ColecoVision if you include games that have been published through the AtariAge Store. The most notable title I worked on was Deus Ex for the PC and later the PS2. I was one of the three programmers on Deus Ex, responsible for the entire user interface, the conversation system, a standalone Windows-based conversation editor, the save/load system, some nifty easter eggs, and lots of other miscellaneous stuff.

 

..Al

[pmpddytim]

I've done professional game development on the PC, Mac, PS2 and GBA. You can count the 2600, 5200, 7800, Atari 8-bit, and ColecoVision if you include games that have been published through the AtariAge Store. The most notable title I worked on was Deus Ex for the PC and later the PS2. I was one of the three programmers on Deus Ex, responsible for the entire user interface, the conversation system, a standalone Windows-based conversation editor, the save/load system, some nifty easter eggs, and lots of other miscellaneous stuff.

 

..Al

 

Deus Ex is an excellent game by the way. I'm a big fan.

 

-Tim

[+remowilliams]

The most notable title I worked on was Deus Ex for the PC and later the PS2.

That's awesome - Deus Ex is one of my all time favorite 'recent' PC games! The sequel was also very good (though console adaptation hobbled).

 

Looking Glass ruled!

[Albert]

The most notable title I worked on was Deus Ex for the PC and later the PS2.

That's awesome - Deus Ex is one of my all time favorite 'recent' PC games! The sequel was also very good (though console adaptation hobbled).

 

Looking Glass ruled!

While I did work at Looking Glass, Deus Ex was released by Ion Storm. And specifically, Ion Storm Austin, as the Dallas office was mired in interesting controversy that we were glad to avoid. I had nothing to do with the sequel, which was quite sub-par in my opinion.

 

..Al

[+remowilliams]

I had nothing to do with the sequel, which was quite sub-par in my opinion.

Well, it certainly didn't live up to its predecessor

[Breakpack]

I had nothing to do with the sequel, which was quite sub-par in my opinion.

Well, it certainly didn't live up to its predecessor

 

Yes,Dues Ex is quite possibly the best PC game of all time!

 

[+johnnywc]

I'm not sure if these would be considered commercial since they were only shareware, but I wrote a bunch of arcade-to-PC translations back in the mid-90's, including ports of Donkey Kong, Pac-man, Ms. Pac-man, Asteroids, Centipede, Space Invaders, Galaxian and Galaga:

 

Champ Games

 

Those were the days before MAME of course...

[jbanes]

I'm not sure if these would be considered commercial since they were only shareware, but I wrote a bunch of arcade-to-PC translations back in the mid-90's, including ports of Donkey Kong, Pac-man, Ms. Pac-man, Asteroids, Centipede, Space Invaders, Galaxian and Galaga:

Those were about as commercial as you can get. See, back then I thought Champ Games was a big time operation with major funding to bring back the games we all knew and loved. I had to do a double-take when I saw the words "Champ Games" on Ladybug. I was like, "Holy cow! That's the same guy!"

 

Kudos, man. Those games were really something special when they were released.

 

P.S. Your web host is on the fritz.

[Breakpack]

I'm not sure if these would be considered commercial since they were only shareware, but I wrote a bunch of arcade-to-PC translations back in the mid-90's, including ports of Donkey Kong, Pac-man, Ms. Pac-man, Asteroids, Centipede, Space Invaders, Galaxian and Galaga:

Those were about as commercial as you can get. See, back then I thought Champ Games was a big time operation with major funding to bring back the games we all knew and loved. I had to do a double-take when I saw the words "Champ Games" on Ladybug. I was like, "Holy cow! That's the same guy!"

 

Kudos, man. Those games were really something special when they were released.

 

P.S. Your web host is on the fritz.

 

Heck yeah,back in '97 when I first got a computer and before I tried emulation,I downloaded those games.They were awesome!Didn't the screen scroll up and down in the Pac games?

[cdoty]

I'm not sure if these would be considered commercial since they were only shareware, but I wrote a bunch of arcade-to-PC translations back in the mid-90's, including ports of Donkey Kong, Pac-man, Ms. Pac-man, Asteroids, Centipede, Space Invaders, Galaxian and Galaga:

 

Champ Games

 

Those were the days before MAME of course...

 

I remember these. They were pretty close to the original.

[128bytes]

Sometimes I like to put game cartridges on my desk and then do some paperwork on top of them - heck, I even write some code that way. It is a pain though when some of the Actiplaque residue rubs off on my work. Does that count? .

[super_dos_man]

I did a little work on final fantasy:mystic quest but not enough to deserve any credit for it

[+Cafeman]

You can count the 2600, 5200, 7800, Atari 8-bit, and ColecoVision if you include games that have been published through the AtariAge Store.

 

Oops, I originally voted "NO" but I should have voted Yes then. I thought that the poll was intended to mean non-homebrews. 2 5200 games both published (eventually) by the AA store.

 

I find it interesting to read about the experience the rest of you have, I knew of a few like CPUWIZ and Albert, but there are several others I realize. Even though I have only been involved with 5200 homebrews, I find it difficult to turn 'off' the creative process; I've got a growing folder of ideas & I think I may someday write something that simply runs on Windows or portable phones/PDAs etc. Something small and capable of doing by a team of '1'.

[spacecadet]

Well this is an old thread, but looks like it's been resurrected.

 

According to Mobygames, I have worked on:

 

Manhunt (2004), Rockstar Games, Inc.

Red Dead Revolver (2004), Rockstar Games, Inc.

Grand Theft Auto Double Pack (2003), Rockstar Games, Inc.

Max Payne (2003), Rockstar Games, Inc.

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (2003), Rockstar Games, Inc.

Midnight Club II (2003), Rockstar Games, Inc.

Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne (2002), Gathering of Developers

FireFly Studios' Stronghold Crusader (2002), Gathering

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002), Rockstar Games, Inc.

Mafia (2002), Gathering

 

You can add Tropico I and II, State of Emergency, Serious Sam II and Vietcong to that list; maybe even a couple others.

 

It depends on how you define "worked on", though. I'm credited on all those games (as part of the "New York Production Team"), but I wouldn't say I had a single thing to do with Stronghold Crusader, Serious Sam II or Age of Wonders II. A couple others, like Mafia, I was so tangential to as to basically not matter - I may have influenced the look of some of the box art, if anything. The Rockstar titles I probably had a little more to do with, but still just production-related stuff - not actual work designing or programming the games. But I did at least leave a mark, and I "worked on" them - I mean that was what I was being paid to do at the time.

 

And I am in the credits! So that counts for something.