Rocket Science Games
Encyclopedia
Rocket Science Games was a video game developer
that created games for consoles
and computers
from 1993 to 1997. The company was responsible for games such as Obsidian, Rocket Jockey
, and Loadstar.
and Peter Barrett in 1993, Rocket Science Games receiving $12 million in funding from Sega Enterprises and the Bertelsmann Music Group in May 1994, they became RSG's North American and European publishers, respectively. Staffed with some of the brightest rising stars of the computer, comics and movie industries, RSG created a huge buzz even before the release of their first titles and claimed to be an on the verge of revolutionizing the video game industry using Full Motion Video. Founded at the height of the FMV
video game craze of the '90s
, their first three games utilized the technology heavily; but as a backlash grew against the technology, the games received mixed reviews and their fortunes suffered due to poor sales, they shifted away from consoles and FMV to concentrate on more traditional PC games.
After the disappointing sales of their early games they received much needed funds from SegaSoft
, who then became the sole publisher
for their titles in development. Sega canceled about half of the titles RSG was working on to reduce costs and speed up releases, this had a noticeable negative effect on their quality however. Rocket Jockey shipped missing Local area network
support that had been heavily promoted to the press and was even advertised on the box, it wouldn't be patched into the game for several months. Obsidian also suffered quality problems as it had several bugs present at the time of its release, a few that prevented completion of the game. Unfortunately, while some of their SegaSoft games were critically acclaimed, none of them did particularly well financially, and unable to secure additional funding, RSG was forced to close down in 1997.
About a year before closing its doors, in February 1996, RSG announced a partnership with CyberCash, Inc.
to launch a virtual arcade service based on micropayments . CyberCash, a virtual currency
company, would provide the financial infrastructure for the arcade and use it to jump-start their micropayment "electronic coin service". This announcement was heavily circulated by the media and, along with several other micro payment based services, was heralded as the next big thing in Internet commerce . The arcade was to be based on RSG "V3 Internet game engine" and feature at least 20 classic arcade games with a launch as early as the second half of 1996 . The unnamed service was never given a firm launch date nor were any specific titles mentioned. After the initial flurry of excitement the partnership failed to produce any further announcements and the service was never heard from again. It may have been a casualty of the cuts SegaSoft's made later that same year when they acquired RSG. Later SegaSoft partnered with CyberCash and used their micropayment system, now named the CyberCoin service, for their Heat.net online gaming service . Heat.net was shut down in 2000 when SegaSoft was restructured into Sega.com and CyberCash filed for bankruptcy a year later.
The Space Bar by Boffo Games
was originally to be published by RSG but was transferred to SegaSoft after RSG closed its doors. Darwin Pond was an unreleased title that was completed before the fall of RSG but was never commercially released; later its creator Jeffrey Ventrella
released it for free over the Internet
. A new version of Darwin Pond is currently being developed by Ventrella and Brian Dodd, who worked together at RSG. It is currently in a very early stage of development.
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...
that created games for consoles
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
and computers
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...
from 1993 to 1997. The company was responsible for games such as Obsidian, Rocket Jockey
Rocket Jockey (game)
Rocket Jockey is a PC game created by Rocket Science Games and published by SegaSoft in 1996. A Sony PlayStation version of the game was also under development but never released...
, and Loadstar.
History
Founded by Steven Gary BlankSteven Gary Blank
Steve Blank is a Silicon Valley-based retired serial entrepreneur, founding and/or part of 8 startup companies in California’s Silicon Valley after dropping out of the University of Michigan...
and Peter Barrett in 1993, Rocket Science Games receiving $12 million in funding from Sega Enterprises and the Bertelsmann Music Group in May 1994, they became RSG's North American and European publishers, respectively. Staffed with some of the brightest rising stars of the computer, comics and movie industries, RSG created a huge buzz even before the release of their first titles and claimed to be an on the verge of revolutionizing the video game industry using Full Motion Video. Founded at the height of the FMV
Full motion video
Full motion video based games are video games that rely upon pre-recorded TV-quality movie or animation rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models to display action in the game. In the early 1990s a diverse set of games utilized this format...
video game craze of the '90s
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...
, their first three games utilized the technology heavily; but as a backlash grew against the technology, the games received mixed reviews and their fortunes suffered due to poor sales, they shifted away from consoles and FMV to concentrate on more traditional PC games.
After the disappointing sales of their early games they received much needed funds from SegaSoft
SegaSoft
SegaSoft, originally headquartered in Redwood City, California and later San Francisco, was a joint venture by Sega and CSK, created to develop and publish single and multiplayer games for the PC, primarily in the North American marketplace. SegaSoft was founded in 1995 and lasted until 2000, when...
, who then became the sole publisher
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
for their titles in development. Sega canceled about half of the titles RSG was working on to reduce costs and speed up releases, this had a noticeable negative effect on their quality however. Rocket Jockey shipped missing Local area network
Län
Län and lääni refer to the administrative divisions used in Sweden and previously in Finland. The provinces of Finland were abolished on January 1, 2010....
support that had been heavily promoted to the press and was even advertised on the box, it wouldn't be patched into the game for several months. Obsidian also suffered quality problems as it had several bugs present at the time of its release, a few that prevented completion of the game. Unfortunately, while some of their SegaSoft games were critically acclaimed, none of them did particularly well financially, and unable to secure additional funding, RSG was forced to close down in 1997.
About a year before closing its doors, in February 1996, RSG announced a partnership with CyberCash, Inc.
CyberCash, Inc.
CyberCash, Inc. was an internet payment service for electronic commerce, headquartered in Reston, Virginia. It was founded in August 1994 by Daniel C. Lynch , William N. Melton , Steve Crocker , and Bruce G. Wilson...
to launch a virtual arcade service based on micropayments . CyberCash, a virtual currency
Virtual economy
A virtual economy is an emergent economy existing in a virtual persistent world, usually exchanging virtual goods in the context of an Internet game...
company, would provide the financial infrastructure for the arcade and use it to jump-start their micropayment "electronic coin service". This announcement was heavily circulated by the media and, along with several other micro payment based services, was heralded as the next big thing in Internet commerce . The arcade was to be based on RSG "V3 Internet game engine" and feature at least 20 classic arcade games with a launch as early as the second half of 1996 . The unnamed service was never given a firm launch date nor were any specific titles mentioned. After the initial flurry of excitement the partnership failed to produce any further announcements and the service was never heard from again. It may have been a casualty of the cuts SegaSoft's made later that same year when they acquired RSG. Later SegaSoft partnered with CyberCash and used their micropayment system, now named the CyberCoin service, for their Heat.net online gaming service . Heat.net was shut down in 2000 when SegaSoft was restructured into Sega.com and CyberCash filed for bankruptcy a year later.
The Space Bar by Boffo Games
Boffo Games
Boffo Games was a short-lived computer games developer founded in 1994 by Steve Meretzky, Mike Dornbrook, and Leo DaCosta. The logo was designed by Gayle Syska, formerly of Infocom. Only two games, Hodj 'n' Podj and The Space Bar, were produced by Boffo before the studio closed its doors in 1997...
was originally to be published by RSG but was transferred to SegaSoft after RSG closed its doors. Darwin Pond was an unreleased title that was completed before the fall of RSG but was never commercially released; later its creator Jeffrey Ventrella
Jeffrey Ventrella
Jeffrey Ventrella is a digital artist, programmer, and researcher. Ventrella was principal inventor and, with Will Harvey, co-founder of the virtual world There.-Career:...
released it for free over the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. A new version of Darwin Pond is currently being developed by Ventrella and Brian Dodd, who worked together at RSG. It is currently in a very early stage of development.
Released (by date)
- Loadstar: The Legend Of Tully Bodine
- Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: The Second CataclysmCadillacs and Dinosaurs: The Second CataclysmCadillacs and Dinosaurs: The Second Cataclysm was a console and computer game made by Rocket Science Games based on the Xenozoic Tales licence. Not to be confused with the earlier Capcom arcade game Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, it was the second game made by Rocket Science being released in 1994 for...
- Wing Nuts: Battle in the Sky
- Rocket JockeyRocket Jockey (game)Rocket Jockey is a PC game created by Rocket Science Games and published by SegaSoft in 1996. A Sony PlayStation version of the game was also under development but never released...
- Obsidian
- The Space BarThe Space BarThe Space Bar is an adventure game co-developed by Boffo Games and published by Rocket Science Games and SegaSoft in 1997. The game featured a 3-D environment which allowed the player to rotate , and a humorous cast of aliens in the framework of a mystery...
Unreleased (alphabetical)
- Dark Ride
- Darwin Pond
- Ganymede
- Loadstar II: Showdown on Phobos
- Pest!
- Rocket Boy
External links
- Rocket Science Games profile from MobyGamesMobyGames-Platforms not yet included:- Further reading :* Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media; 2 edition , ISBN 0-07-223172-6...
- Darwin Pond Official Homepage
Articles
- Wired: Rocket Science Article on RSG from 1994
- "Coming Soon" Article Article about SegaSoft and RSG from 1996
- Business Wire Article Article about upcoming RSG from 1996.