RAD Game Tools
Encyclopedia
RAD Game Tools is privately held company owned by Jeff Roberts and Mitch Soule based in Kirkland, Washington
that develops video and computer game
software
technologies which are licensed primarily by video game companies
. RAD Game Tools is somewhat unusual among middleware
companies as they generally hire one specific person to write, document and support each single product. RAD refuses to patent any of their technologies.
programming
and consulting
company located in Salt Lake City, Utah
. They originally worked on many products, including Microsoft Golf, Under a Killing Moon
, Norton Desktop, and Quattro Pro
.
In 1993, the company began development of Smacker Video Technology
, an 8-bit video codec. Smacker was their first product that was not written for any particular company, released in 1994, just as full motion videos in games took off with the standard inclusion of CD drives in PCs. By the end of that year, they had become the 63rd Fastest Growing Company in America, and the fastest growing company in Utah
.
In late 1995, they acquired the Miles Sound System
from Miles Design.
Early 1999 marked the release of their latest video codec, Bink Video
, which provided better than DVD
quality compression in true color at up to three times the playback speed. Bink has gone on to be licensed for many games on most current platforms.
Also in 1999, RAD released Granny 3D, a 3D toolkit that includes runtime animation and 3D package exporting. Granny was originally written by Casey Muratori, and Tom Forsyth and Dave Moore have worked on it in recent years.
In 2002, RAD released Pixomatic, a software renderer for x86 machines written by Michael Abrash
and Michael Sartain. Pixomatic was designed to be an alternative to broken 3D video hardware and video drivers. Pixomatic was acquired by Intel Corporation
in 2004, and RAD has worked on the Larrabee project since then, consulting on the architecture and writing the 3D software stack.
In 2008, game industry veterans Sean Barrett and Charles Bloom went to work at RAD, working on unspecified new products.
Kirkland, Washington
Kirkland is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is a suburb of Seattle on the Eastside . The population was 48,787 at the 2010 census makes it the 9th largest city in King County and the 20th largest city in the state...
that develops video and computer game
Personal computer game
A PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine...
software
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
technologies which are licensed primarily by video game companies
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...
. RAD Game Tools is somewhat unusual among 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...
companies as they generally hire one specific person to write, document and support each single product. RAD refuses to patent any of their technologies.
Company history
RAD Game Tools began in 1988 as a WindowsMicrosoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
programming
Computer programming
Computer programming is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a program that performs specific operations or exhibits a...
and consulting
Information technology consulting
Information technology consulting is a field that focuses on advising businesses on how best to use information technology to meet their business objectives...
company located in Salt Lake City, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
. They originally worked on many products, including Microsoft Golf, Under a Killing Moon
Under a Killing Moon
Under a Killing Moon is the third installment in the Tex Murphy series of adventure games produced by Access Software. In Under a Killing Moon Tex again fights the forces of evil as he tries to stop a dangerous cult from destroying the world...
, Norton Desktop, and Quattro Pro
Quattro Pro
Quattro Pro is a spreadsheet program developed by Borland and now sold by Corel, most often as part of Corel's WordPerfect Office.Historically, Quattro Pro used keyboard commands similar to Lotus 1-2-3. It is commonly said to have been the first program to use tabbed sheets. Actually, Boeing Calc...
.
In 1993, the company began development of Smacker Video Technology
Smacker video
Smacker video is a video file format developed by RAD Game Tools and has been used in computer games. Smacker video supports 256 colors, and includes transparency support...
, an 8-bit video codec. Smacker was their first product that was not written for any particular company, released in 1994, just as full motion videos in games took off with the standard inclusion of CD drives in PCs. By the end of that year, they had become the 63rd Fastest Growing Company in America, and the fastest growing company in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
.
In late 1995, they acquired the Miles Sound System
Miles Sound System
Miles Sound System , formerly known as Audio Interface Library , is a sound software system primarily for video games and used mostly as an alternative for low-end audio chipsets. It uses little CPU time while providing adequate audio output. It was originally a middleware driver library for...
from Miles Design.
Early 1999 marked the release of their latest video codec, Bink Video
Bink video
Bink is a proprietary video file format developed by RAD Game Tools and used primarily in computer games. It has been used in many games for Windows, Mac OS, Xbox 360, Xbox, GameCube, Wii, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, and Sony PSP...
, which provided better than DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
quality compression in true color at up to three times the playback speed. Bink has gone on to be licensed for many games on most current platforms.
Also in 1999, RAD released Granny 3D, a 3D toolkit that includes runtime animation and 3D package exporting. Granny was originally written by Casey Muratori, and Tom Forsyth and Dave Moore have worked on it in recent years.
In 2002, RAD released Pixomatic, a software renderer for x86 machines written by Michael Abrash
Michael Abrash
Michael Abrash is a technical writer specializing in optimization and 80x86 assembly language programming, a reputation cemented by his 1990 book Zen of Assembly Language Volume 1: Knowledge. The original 8086 processor, the focus of the book, was several generations behind the state of the art by...
and Michael Sartain. Pixomatic was designed to be an alternative to broken 3D video hardware and video drivers. Pixomatic was acquired by Intel Corporation
Intel Corporation
Intel Corporation is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California, United States and the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most...
in 2004, and RAD has worked on the Larrabee project since then, consulting on the architecture and writing the 3D software stack.
In 2008, game industry veterans Sean Barrett and Charles Bloom went to work at RAD, working on unspecified new products.