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id Software co-founder Tom Hall joins Diner Dash dev PlayFirst
Tom Hall has signed on with PlayFirst, the publisher of GameLab's downloadable hit Diner Dash. Hall was a co-founder of id Software, and later worked on Duke Nukem, Deus Ex, Anachronox and other highly regarded video game franchises. Hall will serve as principal designer at PlayFirst, and is drawn there by "the fast-paced and creative atmosphere of mobile gaming," he says in a GI.biz post. Though he is better remembered for his past contributions, Hall's recent experience involves stints at mobile and social gaming studios KingsIsle Entertainment and Loot Drop.Before joining PlayFirst, Hall attempted two Kickstarter campaigns with no success: the "old-school RPG" Shaker with Brenda Brathwaite and the Worlds of Wonder create-your-own-platformer project. [Image credit]
Kickstart a Commander Keen successor, and the tools to build your own
Tom Hall's "Worlds of Wander" game creation tool looks Keen, literally. It looks like the classic side-scroller Commander Keen, which Hall designed back in 1990. Hall has launched a Kickstarter for the Worlds of Wander tool, through which he promises to deliver not only a method to create and share your own games, but a full sample game to play and experiment with.That game may be enough to secure pledges on its own. Secret Spaceship Club is billed as "the spiritual successor to Commander Keen." It stars two kids who discover a world of "secret space agents who disguise their spaceships as common objects," and set off to help them defeat the Bumbledybots.The editor allows users to create content in either a streamlined "Simple Mode" ("Smart-draw with ground tiles, ladders, bridges, switches, and more (it nicens the edges for you), then populate your world with NPCs and enemies and objects and dangers, then hook them all up with an easy-to-use Place 'n' Fiddle interface!") or a more robust Advanced Mode, and make levels to play on iOS, PC, Mac, and Ubuntu.It will allow all that, if the $400,000 Kickstarter goal is raised. The drive just launched, with just $750 as of writing. "This isn't just a spiritual successor to Keen," Hall notes. "It's an editor and game content-sharing community – so that means servers, community support, lots of art and design and programming!"
Old-School RPG Kickstarter update details game's story
The "old-school RPG" Kickstarter by industry vets Brenda Brathwaite and Tom Hall took some lumps the other day for not revealing more about the game's story. Today the pair rectified the criticism on the project's Kickstarter page.Two games are planned if the project reaches a $1.9 million stretch goal, one designed by Brathwaite and the other by Hall; both will take place in the same universe. The first game is about James Connelly, an employee of Shaker, "a Bridge corporation between time and worlds." For a fee, the employees can become anyone. An incident occurs and Connelly is stuck in his form on a medieval era planet, with no way home.The second game, which only happens if the Kickstarter reaches the outer milestone, would follow Darien Cole, a rising star at Shaker who is affected by the same incident. The game's Kickstarter page gets into far more detail.With 30 days to go, the project has received $167,048 of a $1 million goal.
'Old-School RPG' Kickstarter created by industry vets Brathwaite, Hall
Industry veterans Brenda Brathwaite and Tom Hall want to make an "old-school RPG," and are seeking a million dollars on Kickstarter for that to happen. The pair, who run developer Loot Drop with another industry vet, John Romero, are on a quest to make an RPG in the classic style of the genre from decades past.With respect, the pair have been around the industry for quite a long time. Brathwaite worked on the Wizardry and Dungeons and Dragons series, while Hall was a founder of id Software and worked on Commander Keen, Anachronox, Doom, Wolfenstein and much more.The stretch goals on the project are also interesting. At $1.9 million, which Obsidian's Project Eternity reached in about ten days, Brathwaite and Hall will make "two full games." One will be designed by Brathwaite, the other by Hall.Those who pledge $15 to the project will receive digitally distributed copies of the games created. If you're looking to be a big spender, with a $10,000 pledge, you'll have Brathwaite, Hall and Romero show up at your door and deliver the game in a box on a red velvet pillow. The Kickstarter and its many tiers are live now.
Ion Storm, Wolfpack vets lift lid off KingsIsle Entertainment
When the folks at KingsIsle Entertainment first approached us saying that they were working on something mysterious, we couldn't help but be intrigued. After all, this is a company co-founded by Tom Hall of id Software and Ion Storm fame, not to mention such nostalgic favorites as Commander Keen and Rise of the Triad. Of course, then we heard their project was an MMO, which was about the same time we began to feel uneasy and in need of nearby exit. Little is known about the new MMO project, save for the fact that it's been under the knife for three years and is one of two projects currently being banged out by the fledgling studio. Still, there's reason to believe that KingsIsle's MMO could turn out something worth looking out for, and not just another corpse on the massively multiplayer Hamburger Hill. Besides Hall, the company is being helmed by former Midway Games vet David Nichols, while development efforts are being led by former Wolfpack Studios president Todd Coleman, who worked on the semi-popular MMO Shadowbane in a previous life. Even so, with everyone and their brother coming to the table, forks in hand, boasting the 'next great MMO,' it's difficult not to be jaded, so we'll be looking forward to seeing what more comes out of this company in the weeks ahead.
