IllFonic, LLC is an American
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
Golden, Colorado
Golden is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 20,399 at the 2020 United States Censu ...
, with further offices in
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...
, and
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
. The studio was founded by Charles Brungardt, Kedhrin Gonzales and
Raphael Saadiq
Raphael Saadiq (; born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to fame as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! In addition to his solo and group ...
in 2007. IllFonic is best known for developing ''
Friday the 13th: The Game'' and ''
Predator: Hunting Grounds''.
History
IllFonic founder Charles Brungardt had been working with
R&B artist
Raphael Saadiq
Raphael Saadiq (; born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to fame as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! In addition to his solo and group ...
since exiting college, producing and engineering records.
While working together, Saadiq confronted Brungardt with the idea of appearing in video games, based on which the game ''Ghetto Golf'' was conceptualized.
Brungardt subsequently relocated from
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
to
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
and, together with Kedhrin Gonzales, formed IllFonic out of a garage.
Saadiq is also considered a co-founder.
The studio moved around within Denver, from the garage to an apartment, then to offices above bars on Denver's broadway, before moving to proper offices by
Speer Boulevard
Speer Boulevard, in Denver, Colorado, is a historic parkway. It runs from Irving St. in the West Highland neighborhood to Downing St. in the Country Club neighborhood, was built in 1906, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places ...
in the
Golden Triangle
Golden Triangle may refer to:
Places
Asia
* Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia), named for its opium production
* Golden Triangle (Yangtze), China, named for its rapid economic development
* Golden Triangle (India), comprising the popular tourist ...
in June 2013.
On the night of March 5, 2010, a
cannabis dispensary
A cannabis shop, cannabis dispensary, or cannabis cooperative, is a location at which cannabis is sold for recreational or medical use. In the Netherlands these are called coffeeshops. In the United States they exist as an outlet for both recr ...
located next to IllFonic's offices was robbed. The
Denver Police Department
The Denver Police Department (DPD) is the full service police department jointly for the City and County of Denver, Colorado, which provides police services to the entire county, including Denver International Airport, and may provide contractu ...
answered the alarm but incorrectly arrived at IllFonic's address, handcuffing three of its employees at gunpoint before the error was resolved.
In March 2010, IllFonic was announced to be developing ''
Nexuiz
''Nexuiz'' is a free first-person shooter video game developed and published by Alientrap. The game was released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and uses the DarkPlaces engine, a modified ''Quake'' engine. A remake, also called ...
'', a remake of
the game of the same name released by
Alientrap
Alientrap Games Inc. (commonly referred to as just Alientrap) is an independent video game developer led by Lee Vermeulen and Jesse McGibney. It has released the games ''Nexuiz'', '' Capsized'', '' Apotheon'', '' Cryptark'', and '' Wytchwood''.
G ...
in 2005. The remake was released in February 2012 for
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 ...
and in May 2012 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 ...
, published through
THQ Partners
THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initia ...
, part of publisher
THQ
THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initi ...
.
However, as THQ went through
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
, the servers for ''Nexuiz'' Xbox 360 version were shut down.
The rights to the game then failed to be sold during THQ's bankruptcy auctions.
In 2013, IllFonic was contracted to develop the "Star Marine" module and the first-person systems for the game ''
Star Citizen
Logo Cloud Imperium Games
''Star Citizen'' is an in-development multiplayer, space trading and combat simulation game. The game is being developed and published by Cloud Imperium Games for Microsoft Windows. An extended retry of unrealized plans ...
''.
The game's developer, Cloud Imperium Games, planned to integrate these assets into the main game, however, after one year of work, discrepancies in the scales of the two studios' assets were found, making them incompatible.
IllFonic continued working on ''Star Citizen'', and their work was nearly completed by August 2015.
That month, IllFonic laid off six developers, including three of those working on ''Star Citizen''.
In July 2013, IllFonic announced ''Revival'', a
massively multiplayer online role-playing game
A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game.
As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...
. The game's development was "indefinitely suspended" in March 2016.
In late 2014, IllFonic and publisher
Gun Media
Gun Interactive (formerly Gun Media; stylized as Gun.) is an American video game publisher based in Lexington, Kentucky. It was founded by Ronnie Hobbs and Wes Keltner in 2010.
History
Gun Interactive was founded by Ronnie Hobbs and Wes Kelt ...
announced ''Slasher Vol. 1: Summer Camp'', an asymmetrical
hide-and-seek
Hide-and-seek (sometimes known as hide-and-go-seek) is a popular children's game in which at least two players (usually at least three) conceal themselves in a set environment, to be found by one or more seekers. The game is played by one chose ...
-style
action game
An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, and platform gam ...
. In early 2015, the game came to the attention of
Sean S. Cunningham, the producer of the ''
Friday the 13th'' series of films, who approached Gun Media to turn ''Summer Camp'' into a licensed game; the game was subsequently renamed to ''
Friday the 13th: The Game''. By this time, IllFonic had 50 employees.
The game was released in May 2017 for Microsoft Windows,
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
, and
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
. However, legal battle surrounding the ''Friday the 13th'' franchise rights was in progress, causing IllFonic to cease development of new content for the game by June 2018. A
Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
port of ''Friday the 13th: The Game'' was released in August 2019. ''Dead Alliance'', a multiplayer
first-person shooter
First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...
, was developed by
Psyop Games and IllFonic, and released by
Maximum Games
Maximum Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Walnut Creek, California. Originally founded in 2009 as a publisher of family-oriented titles for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii, the company shifted to publishing games of all g ...
in August 2017. The game was previously known as ''Moving Hazard''. In November 2018, IllFonic opened a second office in
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...
, with an initial seven staff members.
By January 2019, the Denver headquarters had been relocated to
Golden, Colorado
Golden is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 20,399 at the 2020 United States Censu ...
.
Both offices collectively employed 78 people (38 in Golden and 40 in Tacoma) in July 2019, while the Tacoma office alone had 47 employees by November.
One of the IllFonic's most recent games, ''Predator: Hunting Grounds'', was released for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 in April 2020. In January 2020, former
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game industry, video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is ma ...
executive Gio Corsi joined IllFonic as
chief product officer
A chief product officer (CPO), sometimes known as head of product, is a corporate title referring to an executive responsible for various product-related activities in an organization. The CPO is to the business's product what the CTO is to techno ...
. By this time, the company had also opened a third office in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
.
Games developed
Supportive development
* ''
Armored Warfare
Armoured warfare or armored warfare (mechanized forces, armoured forces or armored forces) (American English; see spelling differences), is the use of armored fighting vehicles in modern warfare. It is a major component of modern methods of ...
''
* ''
Crysis 3
''Crysis 3'' is a 2013 first-person shooter video game developed by Crytek and published by Electronic Arts. It is the third game of the ''Crysis'' series, a sequel to the 2011 video game ''Crysis 2''. The multiplayer portion of the game was d ...
''
* ''
Evolve''
* ''
Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric''
* ''
Star Citizen
Logo Cloud Imperium Games
''Star Citizen'' is an in-development multiplayer, space trading and combat simulation game. The game is being developed and published by Cloud Imperium Games for Microsoft Windows. An extended retry of unrealized plans ...
''
Canceled
* ''Ghetto Golf''
* ''Project Advena''
* ''Revival''
References
External links
* {{Official website, https://www.illfonic.com/
2007 establishments in Colorado
American companies established in 2007
Companies based in Golden, Colorado
Indie video game developers
Privately held companies based in Colorado
Video game companies established in 2007
Video game companies of the United States
Video game development companies