Qube Software
Encyclopedia
Qube Software is a London
based company specialising in advanced 3D technology. It was founded in 1998 by Servan Keondjian and Doug Rabson who created the Reality Lab renderer and who subsequently played a leading role at Microsoft
turning it into Direct3D
.
Qube Software has produced games, however its main focus has been the development of 3D software that would address the key problems with 3D middleware
Keondjian says he identified during his years working on Reality Lab
and Direct3D
.
"In particular, we wanted to let people blow out any component from the lowest level all the way to the very high level, so even the networking libraries and input libraries are pluggable, the scripting's pluggable -- everything's a completely pluggable framework for developing games," Keondjian told Gamasutra in a 2008 interview.
The company says that Q’s architecture makes ports to different platforms a relatively trivial task. According to games industry media projects using Q have reportedly been undertaken for the PC
, Wii
, PS2, PS3 while Qube says its compatibility extends to any system making use of floating point technology (i.e. excluding the GBA and DS) and has implied that Xbox360, PSP and iPhone ports are either complete, underway or can be implemented on demand.
Q has been touted as an ‘in house’ solution for games studios as it allows original code to be plugged into the system thus offering licensees the freedom to focus on creating specific tools and features for games projects without having to build an entire engine to accommodate them.
. Keondjian subsequently founded RenderMorphics to allow him to follow his well established interest in 3D technology, an interest he in part attributes to the ground-breaking Elite series of games published in the mid 1980s.
RenderMorphics developed and released Reality Lab
, a real-time 3D application programing interface (API) aimed at the PC. Its main selling point was predicated on the simple claim that it was faster than any of its contemporaries. In early 1995 Microsoft moved aggressively to acquire RenderMorphics with the deal being announced in late February of that year. By doing so Microsoft signalled its intention to target the fast growing video games market by ensuring that its Windows OS provided a platform for games.
Keondjian, Rabson and their business partner Kate Seekings joined Microsoft as part of the deal, with Keondjian leading the efforts to integrate Reality Lab with the upcoming Windows 95
release. With Rabson's help Reality Lab became Direct3D
, the preeminent component in Microsoft's DirectX
suite of APIs.
Having shipped the first three iterations of Direct3D, Keondjian and Rabson left Microsoft in 1997. Keondjian then set up Qube Software, initially with Hugh Steers, one of the founders of Magnetic Scrolls, and later joined by Doug Rabson who had taken time out to work on FreeBSD
.
Qube's main goal was to build 3D software that answered most of the issues that had become apparent during the Reality Lab and Direct3D development period.
Steers eventually left to pursue a range of personal software interests while the team grew with the addition of Peter Jeffrey and Jamie Fowlston.
The first iteration of the resulting software appeared as Q 1.0, used on projects for clients including the BBC
and Lego
while the second, Q 2.0, was launched in February 2008.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
based company specialising in advanced 3D technology. It was founded in 1998 by Servan Keondjian and Doug Rabson who created the Reality Lab renderer and who subsequently played a leading role at Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
turning it into Direct3D
Direct3D
Direct3D is part of Microsoft's DirectX application programming interface . Direct3D is available for Microsoft Windows operating systems , and for other platforms through the open source software Wine. It is the base for the graphics API on the Xbox and Xbox 360 console systems...
.
Qube Software has produced games, however its main focus has been the development of 3D software that would address the key problems with 3D middleware
Middleware
Middleware is computer software that connects software components or people and their applications. The software consists of a set of services that allows multiple processes running on one or more machines to interact...
Keondjian says he identified during his years working on Reality Lab
Reality Lab
Reality Lab was a 3D computer graphics API created by RenderMorphics to provide a standardized interface for writing games. It was one of the main contenders in the realtime 3D middleware marketplace at the time, alongside Criterion Software's RenderWare and Argonaut Software's BRender.Reality Lab...
and Direct3D
Direct3D
Direct3D is part of Microsoft's DirectX application programming interface . Direct3D is available for Microsoft Windows operating systems , and for other platforms through the open source software Wine. It is the base for the graphics API on the Xbox and Xbox 360 console systems...
.
'Q' technology
Qube’s technology platform is called Q. Qube has variously described Q as a ‘game engine,’ a ‘technology development platform’ and an ‘interoperability standard’. Founder Servan Keondjian cites Q’s architecture as the platform's key innovation; a pluggable framework to which modular components or even script languages can be added via common APIs."In particular, we wanted to let people blow out any component from the lowest level all the way to the very high level, so even the networking libraries and input libraries are pluggable, the scripting's pluggable -- everything's a completely pluggable framework for developing games," Keondjian told Gamasutra in a 2008 interview.
The company says that Q’s architecture makes ports to different platforms a relatively trivial task. According to games industry media projects using Q have reportedly been undertaken for the PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
, Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
, PS2, PS3 while Qube says its compatibility extends to any system making use of floating point technology (i.e. excluding the GBA and DS) and has implied that Xbox360, PSP and iPhone ports are either complete, underway or can be implemented on demand.
Q has been touted as an ‘in house’ solution for games studios as it allows original code to be plugged into the system thus offering licensees the freedom to focus on creating specific tools and features for games projects without having to build an entire engine to accommodate them.
History
Rabson and Keondjian met in the late 1980s as employees of the seminal British video games company Magnetic ScrollsMagnetic Scrolls
Magnetic Scrolls was a British computer game developer during the mid 1980s and early 1990s. It was one of two largest interactive fiction game makers of the 1980s...
. Keondjian subsequently founded RenderMorphics to allow him to follow his well established interest in 3D technology, an interest he in part attributes to the ground-breaking Elite series of games published in the mid 1980s.
RenderMorphics developed and released Reality Lab
Reality Lab
Reality Lab was a 3D computer graphics API created by RenderMorphics to provide a standardized interface for writing games. It was one of the main contenders in the realtime 3D middleware marketplace at the time, alongside Criterion Software's RenderWare and Argonaut Software's BRender.Reality Lab...
, a real-time 3D application programing interface (API) aimed at the PC. Its main selling point was predicated on the simple claim that it was faster than any of its contemporaries. In early 1995 Microsoft moved aggressively to acquire RenderMorphics with the deal being announced in late February of that year. By doing so Microsoft signalled its intention to target the fast growing video games market by ensuring that its Windows OS provided a platform for games.
Keondjian, Rabson and their business partner Kate Seekings joined Microsoft as part of the deal, with Keondjian leading the efforts to integrate Reality Lab with the upcoming Windows 95
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
release. With Rabson's help Reality Lab became Direct3D
Direct3D
Direct3D is part of Microsoft's DirectX application programming interface . Direct3D is available for Microsoft Windows operating systems , and for other platforms through the open source software Wine. It is the base for the graphics API on the Xbox and Xbox 360 console systems...
, the preeminent component in Microsoft's DirectX
DirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay,...
suite of APIs.
Having shipped the first three iterations of Direct3D, Keondjian and Rabson left Microsoft in 1997. Keondjian then set up Qube Software, initially with Hugh Steers, one of the founders of Magnetic Scrolls, and later joined by Doug Rabson who had taken time out to work on FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
.
Qube's main goal was to build 3D software that answered most of the issues that had become apparent during the Reality Lab and Direct3D development period.
Steers eventually left to pursue a range of personal software interests while the team grew with the addition of Peter Jeffrey and Jamie Fowlston.
The first iteration of the resulting software appeared as Q 1.0, used on projects for clients including the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
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...
while the second, Q 2.0, was launched in February 2008.