With some 30-odd companies now crowding Austin’s gaming community, it was impossible to cover all of them, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t steer interested readers in the right direction, thus “the List,” which has been culled from the Austin Game Developers site (www.agd.cc) and other sources.
Any and all of these companies – some big, some small, some downright tiny – are worth a look, and many are producing games you’ve probably heard of. One caveat: With the inbred fluctuations (read: mergers and acquisitions) inherent to the gaming scene, it’s entirely possible that one or more of the companies listed below have already moved on or changed their name. As the article went to press, for example, Warthog: Texas, the SoCo-based offshoot of Warthog UK led by former Digital Anvil co-founder Eric Peterson, was purchased by UK outfit Gizmondo (www.gizmondo.com) – Warthog’s future, as of last weekend, is now up in the air, as is their long-anticipated game Johnny Whatever. Anyway, you get our point.
Aggressive Game Designs (www.aggressivegames.com)
Aspyr Media Inc. (www.aspyr.com)
Atomic Games (www.atomic.com)
Austin Game Conference (www.gameconference.com)
Crainiac Entertainment (www.craniac.com)
Critical Mass Interactive (www.criticalmassinteractive.com)
Digital Anvil (http://games.ign.com/objects/026/026806.html?ui=GameDetailBox)
Dragon’s Eye Productions (www.furcadia.com)
DragonLore (www.dragonlore.com)
Edge of Reality (www.edgeofreality.com)
Game Titan (www.gametitan.com)
Gathering Austin (www.gathering.com)
Gizmondo (www.gizmondo.com)
Glass Eye Entertainment (www.glasseye.net)
George “The Fat Man” Sanger (www.fatman.com)
Inevitable Entertainment Inc. (www.inevitable.com)
Ion Storm (www.ionstorm.com)
Knockabout Games Inc. (www.knockaboutgames.com)
Midnight Studios (www.midnight-studios.net)
NCsoft Austin (www.plaync.com)
Ninjaneering (www.ninjaneering.com)
Online Alchemy (www.onlinealchemy.com)
Origin/Ultima Online (www.uo.com)
Palestar (www.palestar.com)
RadioActive Labs (www.radioactivelabs.com)
Retro Studios (www.retrostudios.com)
Roxor Games Inc. (www.roxorgames.com)
Sony Online Entertainment Austin (www.sonyonline.com)
Super Happy Fun Fun Inc. (www.superhappyfunfun.com)
SurvivorSoft (www.survivorsoft.com)
The Fizz Factor Game Studio (www.fizzfactorgames.com)
Third Wire Productions (www.thirdwire.com)
Warthog: Texas (www.warthogtx.com)
Westlake Interactive (www.westlakeinteractive.com)
Wolfpack Studios Inc./Ubisoft (www.shadowbane.com/us)
This article appears in November 19 • 2004.