NetDevil
Encyclopedia
NetDevil, owned by Gazillion Entertainment, was an American
developer
of massively multiplayer online role-playing games
in Louisville, Colorado
.
. Before forming NetDevil, Brown, Grundy, and Williams worked at Digital Creators, an information technology firm located in Boulder, Colorado
. The three dreamed of being creators of their own digital worlds, and began developing Jumpgate
, a space-based flight simulator MMO, during their spare evenings and weekends. After a year of part-time work, they quit their jobs and started NetDevil, headquartered in the basement of Scott Brown's home. Their first proper office was 750 square feet (69.7 m²), sub-leased from friends with another technology company. In an interview with GameDaily, Scott Brown shared that at one point they had fourteen people packed into one big room.
According to the company's website, the name NetDevil was chosen as a name because of the "owners' obsession with cool scary things that live in the deep dark waters of the world". All of the company's principals are certified SCUBA divers, including one certified dive master.
, a nearly 30000 sq ft (2,787.1 m²) office facility which includes a professional sound studio, user testing facility and LEGO
model shop. To celebrate their 10th year anniversary, they hosted a party at their new location.
(2001) – A massively multiplayer online flight simulator set in space. Though it was initially published by 3DO
, NetDevil regained control of the game after 3DO's bankruptcy in 2003.
Auto Assault
(2006) – A massively multiplayer online game that combined vehicular combat with role-playing elements, allowing the player to explore a post-apocalyptic future in customizable cars, motorcycles, semis, and tanks. It was published by NCsoft
, and shut down in 2007.
Warmonger: Operation Downtown Destruction
(2007) – An apocalyptic, first-person shooter
(FPS), built around the AGEIA
PhysX processor with Unreal Engine 3
. It features a piece-by-piece destruction system and fluid and cloth-based effects.
Lego Universe
(2010) A children's game where LEGO
minifigures group up in the Nexus Force, to defeat the Maelstrom. NetDevil was defunct because of this game.
– In June 2007, NetDevil announced plans for Jumpgate Evolution, a remake of NetDevil's first project, the classic MMO Jumpgate. The space-based title will be getting a massive graphical revamp, along with many new features. In December 2007, NetDevil announced the launch of a website for Jumpgate Evolution containing backstory written by Keith Baker, in-game footage, screenshots and video, community forums, and a fan site kit available for download.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
developer
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
of massively multiplayer online role-playing games
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
in Louisville, Colorado
Louisville, Colorado
Louisville is a Home Rule Municipality in Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The population was 18,937 at the 2000 census. Louisville began as a rough mining community in 1877, suffered through a period of extraordinary labor violence early in the 20th century, and then, when the mines...
.
Beginnings
NetDevil was founded in 1997 by Scott Brown, Peter Grundy and Steven Williams in Louisville, a suburb north of Denver, ColoradoDenver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
. Before forming NetDevil, Brown, Grundy, and Williams worked at Digital Creators, an information technology firm located in Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
. The three dreamed of being creators of their own digital worlds, and began developing Jumpgate
Jumpgate
In science fiction, a jump gate is a fictional device able to create a wormhole or portal, allowing fast travel between two points in space...
, a space-based flight simulator MMO, during their spare evenings and weekends. After a year of part-time work, they quit their jobs and started NetDevil, headquartered in the basement of Scott Brown's home. Their first proper office was 750 square feet (69.7 m²), sub-leased from friends with another technology company. In an interview with GameDaily, Scott Brown shared that at one point they had fourteen people packed into one big room.
According to the company's website, the name NetDevil was chosen as a name because of the "owners' obsession with cool scary things that live in the deep dark waters of the world". All of the company's principals are certified SCUBA divers, including one certified dive master.
New location
In June 2007, NetDevil announced that they'd completed moving into their new location in Louisville, ColoradoLouisville, Colorado
Louisville is a Home Rule Municipality in Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The population was 18,937 at the 2000 census. Louisville began as a rough mining community in 1877, suffered through a period of extraordinary labor violence early in the 20th century, and then, when the mines...
, a nearly 30000 sq ft (2,787.1 m²) office facility which includes a professional sound studio, user testing facility and LEGO
Lego
Lego is a line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts...
model shop. To celebrate their 10th year anniversary, they hosted a party at their new location.
Acquisition by Gazillion Entertainment
In July 2008, NetDevil was purchased by game publisher Gazillion Entertainment, though this fact was not made public until March 2009.Departures of Founders
In the last months of 2010, all remaining founders of NetDevil, notably Scott Brown, Peter Grundy, and Ryan Seabury, who headed the LEGO Universe team, chose to leave the company. Brown and Seabury started End Games Entertainment whose first product is a Facebook game titled Vorp!Layoffs
In February 2011, two rounds of layoffs took place at the NetDevil studio. The first round eliminated the Jumpgate Evolution development team. The second downsized the LEGO Universe team and appears to be part of a deal in which Gazillion passed control of development of LEGO Universe to the LEGO Group. As of the last week of February, it is not clear whether NetDevil will be retained as a studio by Gazillion Entertainment.Released
JumpgateJumpgate: The Reconstruction Initiative
Jumpgate: The Reconstruction Initiative is an MMORPG in a science fiction setting for the PC, released in North America on September 25, 2001 by NetDevil and 3DO...
(2001) – A massively multiplayer online flight simulator set in space. Though it was initially published by 3DO
The 3DO Company
The 3DO Company , also known as 3DO , was a video game company...
, NetDevil regained control of the game after 3DO's bankruptcy in 2003.
Auto Assault
Auto Assault
Auto Assault was a massively multiplayer online game , developed by NetDevil and published by NCsoft. It combined vehicular combat with role-playing elements, allowing the player to explore a post-apocalyptic future in customizable cars, motorcycles, semis, and tanks...
(2006) – A massively multiplayer online game that combined vehicular combat with role-playing elements, allowing the player to explore a post-apocalyptic future in customizable cars, motorcycles, semis, and tanks. It was published by NCsoft
NCsoft
NCsoft is a South Korea-based online video game company, which has published massively multiplayer online role-playing games including Lineage, City of Heroes, Wildstar, Exteel, Guild Wars and Aion.-History:...
, and shut down in 2007.
Warmonger: Operation Downtown Destruction
Warmonger: Operation Downtown Destruction
Warmonger: Operation Downtown Destruction is a first-person shooter video game developed by NetDevil that uses the Nvidia PhysX engine. It is available as a free download from the official site and from Nvidia via their free GeForce Power Pack download....
(2007) – An apocalyptic, first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
(FPS), built around the AGEIA
AGEIA
Ageia, founded in 2002, was a fabless semiconductor company. Ageia invented PhysX – a Physics Processing Unit chip capable of performing game physics calculations much faster than general purpose CPUs; they also licensed out the PhysX SDK , a large physics middleware library for game...
PhysX processor with Unreal Engine 3
Unreal Engine 3
Unreal Engine 3 is a computer game engine developed by Epic Games. It is the third generation of Unreal Engine, designed for DirectX 9/10/11 personal computers , the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation Vita, the Wii U, Android and OpenGL-based operating systems such as iOS and Mac OS X...
. It features a piece-by-piece destruction system and fluid and cloth-based effects.
Lego Universe
Lego Universe
Lego Universe is a massively multiplayer online game developed by NetDevil. The game was released on October 26, 2010, with an early opening for LEGO "Founders", which consisted of users who pre-ordered the game. It is globally distributed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment...
(2010) A children's game where LEGO
Lego
Lego is a line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts...
minifigures group up in the Nexus Force, to defeat the Maelstrom. NetDevil was defunct because of this game.
In development
Jumpgate EvolutionJumpgate Evolution
Jumpgate Evolution, commonly abbreviated as JGE, is an unreleased massively multiplayer online game having been in development by NetDevil intended to be published by Codemasters...
– In June 2007, NetDevil announced plans for Jumpgate Evolution, a remake of NetDevil's first project, the classic MMO Jumpgate. The space-based title will be getting a massive graphical revamp, along with many new features. In December 2007, NetDevil announced the launch of a website for Jumpgate Evolution containing backstory written by Keith Baker, in-game footage, screenshots and video, community forums, and a fan site kit available for download.