ACE Team is a Chilean

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

based in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

. Founded in the late 1990s by brothers Andres, Carlos and Edmundo Bordeu, the company started out by developing

total conversion Video game modding (short for "modification") is the process of alteration by players or fans of one or more aspects of a video game, such as how it looks or behaves, and is a sub-discipline of general modding. Mods may range from small changes an ...

s before turning to commercial game development. All operations were halted between 2003 and 2007 while Andres and Carlos were employed by

Wanako Games Behaviour Interactive Chile Ltda. (Behaviour Santiago; formerly Wanako Games Chile Ltda.) was a Chilean video game developer based in Santiago. The company was founded as Wanako Games in 2002, by Esteban Sosnik, Tiburcio de la Cárcova, Santia ...

History

ACE Team was founded by brothers Andres, Carlos and Edmundo Bordeu in either 1998 or 1999. The studio name was formed from the initials of the three founders. Initially, ACE Team developed

s of older games, starting with ''Batman Doom'' for '' Doom II: Hell on Earth''. Other total conversions included ''ZanZan'' for ''Doom II'' and ''The Dark Conjunction'' for ''

Quake III Arena ''Quake III Arena'' is a 1999 multiplayer-focused first-person shooter developed by id Software. The third installment of the ''Quake'' series, ''Arena'' differs from previous games by excluding a story-based single-player mode and focusing prima ...

''. For the latter, ACE Team hired a

programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

, Juan Pablo Lastra. Following these releases, a scouting agency contacted ACE Team, asking whether they would consider developing commercial games, to which ACE Team agreed. The studio got a hold of

LithTech Jupiter LithTech is a game engine developed by Monolith Productions and comparable with the Quake and Unreal engines. Monolith and a number of other video game developers have used LithTech as the basis for their first-person shooter games. Monolith in ...

, the

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term "software engine" used in the software i ...

also used in '' No One Lives Forever 2'', and began developing a game titled ''Zenozoik: Shattered Land'' in 2002. However, the game proved too ambitious due to the team's insufficient size and experience. By 2003, all development on ''Zenozoik'' was halted as Andres and Carlos were hired by local game developer

. During their time at Wanako Games, they met their soon-to-be company partner, David Caloguerea, and contributed to several of the studio's games, including ''

Assault Heroes ''Assault Heroes'' is an arcade-style, Shoot 'em up, top-down shooter video game developed by Wanako Games. The game has the player driving 4x4 vehicles, piloting speedboats, or proceeding on foot against enemy hordes. Players can play alone or co ...

''. However, most games developed at Wanako Games were

casual game A casual game is a video game targeted at a mass market audience, as opposed to a hardcore game, which is targeted at hobbyist gamers. Casual games may exhibit any type of gameplay and genre. They generally involve simpler rules, shorter sessio ...

s, so in 2007, Andres, Carlos and Caloguerea left Wanako Games to re-instantiate ACE Team. Development on ''Zenozoik'' continued and was moved over to the

id Tech 4 id Tech 4, popularly known as the ''Doom 3'' engine, is a game engine developed by id Software and first used in the video game ''Doom 3''. The engine was designed by John Carmack, who also created previous game engines, such as those for ''D ...

engine, then to

Source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute o ...

. By recommendation from

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...

, the developers of Source, ''Zenozoik'' was retitled ''

Zeno Clash ''Zeno Clash'' is a first-person fighting video game with elements of a first-person shooter. It is the debut game of developer ACE Team and uses the Source engine. It was released for download through content delivery service Steam on 21 April ...

''. The original ''Zenozoik'' prototype was scrapped and never released, with ''Zeno Clash'' was handled as a

spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product lin ...

to that prototype. Leading up to the release of ''Zeno Clash'', ACE Team released the

browser game A browser game or a "flash game" is a video game that is played via the internet using a web browser. They are mostly free-to-play and can be single-player or multiplayer. Some browser games are also available as mobile apps, PC games, or on c ...

''The Malstrums Mansion'' on

April Fools' Day April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which may ...

, 2009. ''Zeno Clash'' was first released on 21 April 2009, self-published by ACE Team for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. A sequel, ''

Zeno Clash 2 ''Zeno Clash 2'' (stylized as ''Zeno Clash II'') is a first-person action role-playing and beat 'em up video game developed by ACE Team as the follow-up to 2009's ''Zeno Clash''. It was published by Atlus for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and ...

'', was announced shortly thereafter. Retail releases of ''Zeno Clash'' came by hand of publishers

Tripwire Interactive Tripwire Interactive LLC is an American video game developer and publisher based in Roswell, Georgia. History Tripwire was co-founded by John Gibson and Alan Wilson with support by members of the international team that created ''Unreal Tour ...

and

Iceberg Interactive Iceberg Interactive is a privately held video game publisher based in Haarlem, Netherlands. The company is known for publishing games of independent developers. It publishes video games for Windows, macOS, and Linux through traditional retail ch ...

in February 2010 and March 2010, respectively. ACE Team co-operated with publisher

Atlus USA Atlus West, formerly known as Atlus U.S.A., Inc., is the North American publishing branch of Japanese video game company Atlus, primarily known for localizing games for both them and other third-party developers. Its first original role-playin ...

to release an

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

port of the game with additional features, titled ''Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition'', in 2010. ACE Team continued working with Atlus USA for their next game; originally referred to internally as ''Boulder'', Atlus USA christened that game ''

Rock of Ages Rock of Ages may refer to: Films * ''Rock of Ages'' (1918 film), a British silent film by Bertram Phillips * ''Rock of Ages'' (2012 film), a film adaptation of the jukebox musical (see below) Music * ''Rock of Ages'' (musical), a 2006 rock ...

'' and released it 2011.

Games developed

References

External links

* {{Atlus 1997 establishments in Chile Companies based in Santiago Indie video game developers Video game companies established in 1997 Video game companies of Chile Video game development companies