Stainless Games

Not to be confused with Stainless Steel Studios.
Stainless Games
Private
Industry Interactive entertainment
Computer and video games
Founded 1993
Founder Patrick Buckland
Neil Barnden
Headquarters Newport, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom
Products Carmageddon
Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers
Risk: Factions
Number of employees
 100
Website www.stainlessgames.com

Stainless Games is an independent British video game developer based in Newport, Isle of Wight that is best known for the creation of the multimillion-selling Carmageddon franchise, which has since acquired both acclaim and infamy.

History

Originally named Stainless Software, the company was founded in 1993 by industry veteran Patrick Buckland and Neil "Nobby" Barnden.

Patrick Buckland was the lead programmer on Carmageddon and Carmageddon II: Carpocalypse Now, and Neil Barnden was the lead artist on both. Before Stainless Games, Buckland was a freelance programmer, and Nobby was a senior designer at Conran and The Body Shop.

Starting out with sub-contracted 3D engine work for Argonaut Games, and developing medical multimedia titles for the Times-Mirror Company, the company then went on to develop what later became Carmageddon for SCi. This was launched amidst much controversy over its violent content in 1997 but garnered high review scores thanks to its compelling gameplay and many ground-breaking features (including a fully featured physics engine - a world-first for video games). Stainless released a sequel, Carmageddon II in 1998. Subsequent versions of the franchise (Carmageddon TDR 2000) were contracted by SCi to other developers.[1]

In 2006 Stainless were sub-contracted by Blitz Games to code one of their three Burger King games, PocketBike Racer, although all design and contractual work was carried out by Blitz themselves. The company has subsequently developed in the console download field, having eleven titles released or soon to be released on XBLA, plus two titles on PSN (PS3). These include a range of Atari classic titles which feature both the original version running under an emulator, and a completely re-written evolved version. These have also been released on PSP as a single product in December 2007. Electronic Arts released the Stainless developed PSP and DS title Scrabble in early 2009. This was available for the North American market only, for licensing reasons.

The company released Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers in June 2009 on XBLA. Developed over nearly two years in conjunction with Wizards of the Coast, the title broke sales records on Xbox Live Arcade (171,000 in the first month) and was well received by both critics and players. In April 2011, it was announced by Wizards of the Coast that Stainless Games are working on the new updated client version of Magic: The Gathering Online (commonly known as MTGO or MODO).[2]

Stainless has also licensed Buckland's 80's Mac classic Crystal Quest and has produced versions for XBLA and Windows Vista.

On 1 June 2011, Stainless announced that they had retrieved the rights to the Carmageddon brand, and that a new - and completely independent - game was in development, named Carmageddon: Reincarnation.[3] On 8 May 2012, Stainless announced a Kickstarter project aimed at funding Carmageddon: Reincarnation into a new game, with an initial requirement of $400,000 which was funded successfully on 6 June 2012.[4]

Games

References

  1. ↑ Wallis, Alistair (2006-12-14). "Playing Catch Up: Stainless Games' Patrick Buckland". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2011-05-12.
  2. ↑ "Magic Online Status Report - April 2011". Retrieved 2012-05-08.
  3. ↑ CVG (2011-06-01). "New Carmageddon game confirmed for digital release". Retrieved 2011-06-01.
  4. ↑ Kickstater (2012-05-08). "Carmageddon Kickstarter". Retrieved 2012-05-08.
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