Nicolas Choukroun
Encyclopedia
Nicolas Choukroun (born 1966 in Montpellier
) is a French multimedia author with multiple talents that encompass video games, music, professional audio, video and the internet.
and Cryo Interactive
at a time they were just start-ups. He has created some game concepts that are now very popular. He got worldwide coverage for games like Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure, the front page of PC Gamer
US and UK and got prime time TV interviews on TF1 and TV5 French TV channels.
Nicolas Choukroun started to be interested by video games in the early '80s while he was in high school at the "Mass de Tesse" College in Montpellier, when one of his friends shown him a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. His first computer was a Texas Instrument TI99A. He started to learn the basic and programming with the Assembly cartridge. Later on, he purchased a MSX
1 Sanyo
and started his first video game named KillDozer
in Z80 assembly. He then got a Yamaha
MSX
II, the first micro computer to have a midi plug-in, so he could use it both to create music and to do programming. But it is on the Atari ST
that Nicolas Choukroun published his first game.
In 1984, Nicolas Choukroun meet the small company Lankhor
, the author of the famous Mortville Manor
, and they agreed to publish KillDozer on the Atari ST platform.
In 1985, he moved definitively to Paris where Ubisoft engaged him as a full time employee in their Créteil
office. In 1988 Nicolas Choukroun meet Michel Ancel
through a local newspaper classified advertisement to find graphic artists. They worked together on a game prototype named Mechanic Warrior which despite some leaks to the press and a very positive feedback was never released.
Finally in November 1989, Nicolas Choukroun released his first video game Intruder with Ubisoft. This game was a side scrolling game and was very original because of its second degree humor but was not very well accepted by the game community who were more interested in very serious games like Nemesys or R-Type
. Nicolas did some programming work on The Teller (Brain Blaster in the UK) for Michel Ancel and released his second video game in February 1990: Pick'n Pile with Ubisoft. This game got a lot of success and a worldwide distribution. It has been converted for almost every platform, Atari 2600, Apple II, Apple II GS, Amstrad, Amiga, PC DOS etc... this game was the precursor of all the 'Gems' games like Pop Cap's Bejeweled
. Internally, Nicolas Choukroun wrote numerous game designs for Ubisoft (Dad Venture for TRS
, Adam & Eve]) and joined a unique creative experiment named 'le Chateau' where Ubi Soft had their authors working in the Castle of La Gacilly
in Carentoir
.
In 1991, Ubisoft decided to stop all their developments, and Nicolas Choukroun moved to work for Loricel as a game producer. He would produce Vortex, Entity, Paragliding, Quadrel, Moonblaster, Timerace and Turbo Cup. Because Broderbund was distributed by Loriciel in France he produced the French version of Prince of Persia
(1991).
In 1992, Philip Ulrich, Remi Herbulo and Jean Martial Lefranc founded Cryo Interactive and hired Nicolas Choukroun to be producer and game designer for their startup. The next 2 years Nicolas Choukroun was responsible of the 'second floor' (the first floor was the administrative area) and hired more than 80 people in different teams, producers, artists, musicians and programmers. Numerous games were created under his management Speedy Gonzales for Sega, Timecop for Victor Interactive, Virus, Trashman for EA and finally Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure (1995) for Mindscape where Nicolas Choukroun is credited as Producer, Lead Programmer, Game Designer and Music Composer. This game got an incredible success but has been killed in the egg by 20th Century Fox
after one month of sales and +200.000 unit sold in the USA. However it got the "Best Adventure Game of the Year" award in PC Loisir. This game is, to date, the only adventure game ever published based on the Aliens movie license. Its story was very innovative and based on the Dark Horse Comics
books.
In 1996, Nicolas Choukroun quit Cryo.
In 2000, Nicolas Choukroun was hired Director of Europe by Netwhirl communication, a Pre-IPO startup from Irvine (CA). In 2001 Nicolas Choukroun sold his network for an estimated 1.5 Million Dollars of shares of eFront.com, Netwhirl communication's website.
In 2001, Nicolas Choukroun created DSPDEV (that would later become ScopeDSP). This new website was based on the development of software emulation of professional studio gears for the German soundcard Creamware. Rapidly DSPDEV became one of the most popular third party developer, with the Gold Verb reverberator, the Multicomp multiband compressor and more than 20 other plugins. He released a library of DSP modules (the DSPLIB) that extended the possibilities of the Creamware platform. Creamware decided that this was breaking their developer contract and decided to cancel his developer agreement in 2004.
Since he is creating plug-ins for the Pro Audio industry, Nicolas Choukroun has been credited in Samplit (revolutionary system to sample automatically analog gear to re-create them digitally from Soundlib), Ocean Way Studio Drums (the recreation of Drum sounds of the most awarded Los Angeles Studio as a plug-ins, recorded by Allen Side), Drum Master (from Sonic Reality, created by legendary studio drummers Steve Gadd
(Paul Simon
, Steely Dan
), Bill Bruford
(Yes
, King Crimson
), Jerry Marotta
(Peter Gabriel
), Danny Gottlieb
(Pat Metheny Group
), Ed Greene (Donald Fagen
, Barry White
), Nick D'Virgilio
(Tears for Fears
, Genesis
)). These products got numerous awards, like the Keyboard Magazine
Keybuy award or the Electronic Musician
EM award for best Plug-in 2009.
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
) is a French multimedia author with multiple talents that encompass video games, music, professional audio, video and the internet.
His career in the video game industry
Nicolas Choukroun has been a pioneer in the video game industry, playing a key role in companies like UbisoftUbisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
and Cryo Interactive
Cryo Interactive
Cryo Interactive Entertainment is a French video game development and publishing company founded in 1992, but existing unofficially since 1989 as a developer group under the name Cryo...
at a time they were just start-ups. He has created some game concepts that are now very popular. He got worldwide coverage for games like Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure, the front page of PC Gamer
PC Gamer
PC Gamer is a magazine founded in Britain in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future Publishing. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games magazines in their respective countries...
US and UK and got prime time TV interviews on TF1 and TV5 French TV channels.
Nicolas Choukroun started to be interested by video games in the early '80s while he was in high school at the "Mass de Tesse" College in Montpellier, when one of his friends shown him a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. His first computer was a Texas Instrument TI99A. He started to learn the basic and programming with the Assembly cartridge. Later on, he purchased a MSX
MSX
MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...
1 Sanyo
Sanyo
is a major electronics company and member of the Fortune 500 whose headquarters is located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo targets the middle of the market and has over 230 Subsidiaries and Affiliates....
and started his first video game named KillDozer
Killdozer
Killdozer may refer to:* "Killdozer!" , a 1944 novella by Theodore Sturgeon* Killdozer! , a 1974 ABC cult classic sci-fi film based on the Theodore Sturgeon story...
in Z80 assembly. He then got a Yamaha
Yamaha
Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
MSX
MSX
MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...
II, the first micro computer to have a midi plug-in, so he could use it both to create music and to do programming. But it is on the Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
that Nicolas Choukroun published his first game.
In 1984, Nicolas Choukroun meet the small company Lankhor
Lankhor
Lankhor was a French video game company, notable for producing Mortville Manor, the first video game to feature speech synthesis during gameplay....
, the author of the famous Mortville Manor
Mortville Manor
Mortville Manor is a point-and-click adventure game developed and published by Lankhor in 1987 on Atari ST. There were several adaptations, amongst other Amstrad CPC, Amiga, IBM PC compatibles. The game was released in French, English and German...
, and they agreed to publish KillDozer on the Atari ST platform.
In 1985, he moved definitively to Paris where Ubisoft engaged him as a full time employee in their Créteil
Créteil
-Health:As of 1 January 2006, 27 pharmacies, about 60 dentists, about 60 general practitioners, 10 pediatricians, and a half-dozen ophthalmologists and dermatologists constitute the general medical staff of the city.Health facilities include:...
office. In 1988 Nicolas Choukroun meet Michel Ancel
Michel Ancel
Michel Ancel is a French video game designer for Ubisoft. He is best known for creating the Rayman franchise for which he was the lead designer for the first two games, and which as of 2008 has sold the most units for the publisher. He is also known for the cult favourite Beyond Good & Evil and...
through a local newspaper classified advertisement to find graphic artists. They worked together on a game prototype named Mechanic Warrior which despite some leaks to the press and a very positive feedback was never released.
Finally in November 1989, Nicolas Choukroun released his first video game Intruder with Ubisoft. This game was a side scrolling game and was very original because of its second degree humor but was not very well accepted by the game community who were more interested in very serious games like Nemesys or R-Type
R-Type
is a side scrolling shoot-em-up arcade game produced by Irem in 1987. The player controls a space fighter named R-9a "Arrowhead" to defend humanity against a mysterious but powerful alien life-form known as "Bydo", which was later discovered to be not entirely alien in origin...
. Nicolas did some programming work on The Teller (Brain Blaster in the UK) for Michel Ancel and released his second video game in February 1990: Pick'n Pile with Ubisoft. This game got a lot of success and a worldwide distribution. It has been converted for almost every platform, Atari 2600, Apple II, Apple II GS, Amstrad, Amiga, PC DOS etc... this game was the precursor of all the 'Gems' games like Pop Cap's Bejeweled
Bejeweled
Bejeweled is a puzzle game by PopCap Games, first developed for browsers in 2001. Three follow-ups to this game have been released. More than 75 million copies of Bejeweled have been sold, and the game has been downloaded more than 500 million times....
. Internally, Nicolas Choukroun wrote numerous game designs for Ubisoft (Dad Venture for TRS
TRS
TRS may refer to:* Theology and Religious studies, an academic discipline* International Air Transport Association airport code for Friuli Venezia Giulia Airport * TRS connector , also known as the Jack plug...
, Adam & Eve]) and joined a unique creative experiment named 'le Chateau' where Ubi Soft had their authors working in the Castle of La Gacilly
La Gacilly
La Gacilly is a commune in the Morbihan department of Brittany in north-western France.-Twin towns:La Gacilly is twinned with Gowerton in Swansea, Wales, UK.-References:* * -External links:* *...
in Carentoir
Carentoir
Carentoir is a commune in the Morbihan department of Brittany in north-western France.-External links:* * * * *...
.
In 1991, Ubisoft decided to stop all their developments, and Nicolas Choukroun moved to work for Loricel as a game producer. He would produce Vortex, Entity, Paragliding, Quadrel, Moonblaster, Timerace and Turbo Cup. Because Broderbund was distributed by Loriciel in France he produced the French version of Prince of Persia
Prince of Persia
Prince of Persia is a platform game, originally developed by Jordan Mechner and released in 1989 for the Apple II, that represented a great leap forward in the quality of animation seen in video games....
(1991).
In 1992, Philip Ulrich, Remi Herbulo and Jean Martial Lefranc founded Cryo Interactive and hired Nicolas Choukroun to be producer and game designer for their startup. The next 2 years Nicolas Choukroun was responsible of the 'second floor' (the first floor was the administrative area) and hired more than 80 people in different teams, producers, artists, musicians and programmers. Numerous games were created under his management Speedy Gonzales for Sega, Timecop for Victor Interactive, Virus, Trashman for EA and finally Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure (1995) for Mindscape where Nicolas Choukroun is credited as Producer, Lead Programmer, Game Designer and Music Composer. This game got an incredible success but has been killed in the egg by 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
after one month of sales and +200.000 unit sold in the USA. However it got the "Best Adventure Game of the Year" award in PC Loisir. This game is, to date, the only adventure game ever published based on the Aliens movie license. Its story was very innovative and based on the Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
books.
In 1996, Nicolas Choukroun quit Cryo.
His career in the Internet
In 1996 Nicolas Choukroun started learning Internet and created the first automatic submission software Ablaze under the name of Virtual Promoter; he also developed a community based on the emulation of old video games and consoles on modern computer named the Emuclassic Network. He signed advertising contracts with Burst and Flycast and extended his network on a dozen different domain names all related to video games and technology. This community reached the rank 3583 in the Mediametrie barometer in 1999. At its peak Emuclassics had 25,000 unique users and more than one million hits per day.In 2000, Nicolas Choukroun was hired Director of Europe by Netwhirl communication, a Pre-IPO startup from Irvine (CA). In 2001 Nicolas Choukroun sold his network for an estimated 1.5 Million Dollars of shares of eFront.com, Netwhirl communication's website.
In 2001, Nicolas Choukroun created DSPDEV (that would later become ScopeDSP). This new website was based on the development of software emulation of professional studio gears for the German soundcard Creamware. Rapidly DSPDEV became one of the most popular third party developer, with the Gold Verb reverberator, the Multicomp multiband compressor and more than 20 other plugins. He released a library of DSP modules (the DSPLIB) that extended the possibilities of the Creamware platform. Creamware decided that this was breaking their developer contract and decided to cancel his developer agreement in 2004.
- In 2004, Nicolas Choukroun created Gigfiles a website selling sounds for audio professionals.
- In 2005, Nicolas Choukroun created the award winning Absolute Pianos.
- In 2007, Nicolas Choukroun moved to Florida to work with Sonic Reality, one of the precursor in the sound creation in the USA since 1995. Nicolas Choukroun is still in charge of everything related to the technology in Sonic Reality, web, scripting and iPhone development.
The music
Nicolas Choukroun was raised to love music by his mother and piano teacher, Magalie Choukroun. He started to compose music at the age of twelve and continued all his life, publishing more than ten music albums in all styles and composing the music of all his video games.Since he is creating plug-ins for the Pro Audio industry, Nicolas Choukroun has been credited in Samplit (revolutionary system to sample automatically analog gear to re-create them digitally from Soundlib), Ocean Way Studio Drums (the recreation of Drum sounds of the most awarded Los Angeles Studio as a plug-ins, recorded by Allen Side), Drum Master (from Sonic Reality, created by legendary studio drummers Steve Gadd
Steve Gadd
Steve Gadd is an American session and studio drummer, notable for his work with popular musicians from a wide range of genres.-Biography:...
(Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
, Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
), Bill Bruford
Bill Bruford
William Scott "Bill" Bruford is an English drummer, percussionist, composer, producer, and record label owner. He was the original drummer for the progressive rock group Yes, from 1968-1972. Bruford has performed for numerous popular acts since the early 1970s, including a stint as touring...
(Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
, King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
), Jerry Marotta
Jerry Marotta
Jerry Marotta is a drummer currently residing in Woodstock, New York. He is the brother of Rick Marotta, who is also a well-known drummer and composer....
(Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
), Danny Gottlieb
Danny Gottlieb
Danny Gottlieb is a freelance drummer who has performed as part of the Pat Metheny Group and Mahavishnu Orchestra. He is also a member of the University of North Florida jazz faculty, where he teaches as a fulltime Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies.- Biography :Danny graduated from the...
(Pat Metheny Group
Pat Metheny Group
The Pat Metheny Group is a jazz group founded in 1977. The core members of the group are guitarist and bandleader Pat Metheny, composer, keyboardist and pianist Lyle Mays , and bassist and producer Steve Rodby...
), Ed Greene (Donald Fagen
Donald Fagen
Donald Jay Fagen is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the co-founder, lead singer, and the principal songwriter of the rock band Steely Dan ....
, Barry White
Barry White
Barry White, born Barry Eugene Carter , was an American composer and singer-songwriter.A five-time Grammy Award-winner known for his distinctive bass voice and romantic image, White's greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and with the Love Unlimited Orchestra, crafting many enduring...
), Nick D'Virgilio
Nick D'Virgilio
Nick D'Virgilio is an American drummer and multi-instrumentalist musician, often referred to as NDV, best known as a former member of the progressive rock band Spock's Beard. He was also one of two drummers chosen to replace Phil Collins in Genesis on the Calling All Stations album...
(Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...
, Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...
)). These products got numerous awards, like the Keyboard Magazine
Keyboard Magazine
Keyboard Magazine is a magazine that originally covered electronic keyboard instruments and keyboardists, though with the advent of computer based recording and audio technology, they have added digital music technology to their regular coverage, including those not strictly pertaining to the...
Keybuy award or the Electronic Musician
Electronic Musician
Electronic Musician is a monthly magazine published by Penton Media featuring articles on synthesizers, music production and electronic musicians....
EM award for best Plug-in 2009.