Grid Games
A Video Game Studio
As a child I’ve always liked to create things. Ranging from building tree houses to building large constructs using LEGO. When my mom got her first PC I was naturally curious to what that it could do. I realised relatively quickly it basically did whatever you told it do, more so you could type in commands and it would execute them; be it a valid or invalid command. My moms first PC was passed down to me as she got a new one and was installed in my little room at home. This thing was bulky, noisy and it smelled of cigarettes. I remember the first game that I played; I controlled a little plane and had to drop bombs on structures on the ground and some of them even shot back. There wasn’t a whole lot of room to fly but it was a lot of fun! At some point later, when my brother got a tad older my mom would get us these CDs containing free- & shareware games and demos of games. There was this game called Crusader: No Remorse, starring a guy in a red suit which my brother and I always played. Joe would usually say: “Jeff, can we play the guy in the red suit game”, so while I was playing he was watching.
Later I got more interested in using the PC to create things. The two main reasons I got in to computer programming was because of 1. I wanted to exploit systems (i.e. hacking) and 2. video games. At some point I even started my own little computer club (read: computer hacking crew) together. I think a lot of people started programming because of those two reasons. I mean, how awesome would it be to create your own games and give others that magic feeling while they are playing your video game? I couldn’t imagine anything cooler than that.
Fast forwarding a couple of years; Anarchy Online. AO was my first MMORPG that I played and probably also my brother’s (yes, we were a bit late to the party). I was obsessed over this profession (class) called the Fixer. The fixer, as the name implies, fixes things for you; he’s smart, does some shady stuff and is very capable with computers. I remember that this was the game that inspired me to create my own MMO one day. About a year ago, after finishing my previous project (Ethereum) I asked my brother: “Joe, do you want to start a video game studio together?”. There wasn’t a moment of hesitation when he said yes. You have to understand, this is a big deal, quitting a stable and relatively well paying job for something relatively unstable like a video game studio with no outlook on success.
It took us about a little less than a year to fully commit ourselves and create our own brand new video game studio called: Grid Games. The name “Grid” comes from Anarchy Online, a digital world used for fast traveling between cities and other popular areas:
The Grid; a Digital Highway connecting cities and popular areas, allowing you to omit the annoyance of the Whompah system, requiring some computer literacy for certain entries and exits.
This is what gave us the idea to use the name “Grid Games”. It’s also suiting considering that the first game we’ll be working on is directly influenced by the game Anarchy Online. In fact it will probably be within the same universe.
We are now about 8 weeks in and it’s absolutely awesome. Personally I had no doubt about working together but I’m always a little precautious. Thus far it’s nothing short of just plane awesome; we both got a wild and almost never exhausting well of imagination and fantasy but yet our skill set differs immensely. I’ve a technical background and have always enjoyed programming and my brother has always been more on the creative side; working his magic with photoshop, blender and the various audio software suites. Recently he’s becoming better at 3d modelling and it’s fun to see how quickly he picks up those new skills, how patient he is, fiddling with meshes, UV maps and god knows what. It’s good to see him in his element and it brings pure joy to see him having so much fun (that isn’t to say there’s no cursing and scolding involved also).
Currently we are working on our tech demo and title we’ve always wanted to work on, a massive multiplayer game in a sci-if setting (much like AO and Neocron). Joe is working on models and texture and I’m doing all of the programming. The core networking (protocol) for the MMO is set and working (though, of course, still a work in progress). We are using Unity3d as our graphical engine. Basic player movement and player networking has been implemented but much this is still an ongoing progress.
Joe’s idea is to create weekly or bi-weekly video updates on our work and upload them to YouTube. I’m planning on writing up a technical plan and more details about the MMO networking part. Stay tuned if you’re interested to read more on what we do and our progression. Until the next update!
— Jeff
Joey — @joeywilcke
Jeff — @jeffehh
http://grid-games.com
