NGDEV, formerly NG:Dev.Team, is a German video game developer and publisher. Founded in 2001 by brothers Timm and René Hellwig, it is known for developing

homebrew Homebrewing mainly refers to small-scale, non-commercial manufacture of a drink, typically beer. Homebrew or home brew may also refer to: Computing * Homebrew Computer Club * Homebrew (package manager), for macOS and Linux * Homebrew (video game ...

for the Neo Geo and Dreamcast.

History

German brothers Timm and René Hellwig began developing

doujin In Japan, is a group of people who share an interest, activity, or hobby. The word is sometimes translated into English as "clique", "fandom", "coterie", "society", or "circle" (as in "sewing circle"). Self-published creative works produced b ...

video games in 2000. Being fans of the Neo Geo, they started reverse engineering the hardware and were able to start developing prototypes. They founded NG:Dev.Team in 2001. In 2006, NG:Dev.Team released their first game, ''Last Hope''. Only 60 copies were produced for the Neo Geo. Realizing an opportunity for greater commercial success, they signed with homebrew publisher RedSpotGames in 2007 to release copies for the Dreamcast. Surprised by the success of the Dreamcast version, the Hellwigs turned their game development hobby into full-time work, and began development on their next game ''

Fast Striker ''Fast Striker'' is a video game developed and published by German developer NG:Dev.Team in 2010 for the Neo Geo MVS. The player flies a space fighter craft through vertically scrolling levels to shoot waves of enemies. The game was later ported ...

''. NG:Dev.Team use KallistiOS to develop Dreamcast games, an open source development environment for making Dreamcast homebrew. While the cost of producing Neo Geo carts is expensive and the community is small, the team considers this when planning their business. In 2011, Timm Hellwig claimed roadblocks with publishing on modern consoles, saying it requires publisher and hardware manufacturer approval, while that is not necessary for publishing on old consoles. He also claimed the market for homebrew on retro consoles was declining, noting that sales of ''Fast Striker'' only totaled to 60% of ''Last Hope'' before it. In an effort to compromise, they expanded to more active platforms like the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

and iPhone. Max Scharl of RedSpotGames disagreed with Timm's assessment, saying NG:Dev.Team does not promote their games well, and cited the commercial success of his Dreamcast game '' Sturmwind'' as further evidence. In 2012, Timm stated that ''Fast Striker'' was not successful on the iOS marketplace and blamed its niche appeal. He also claimed that retro-style games on Xbox and

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

marketplaces were only popular if they had a " hipster feel" which their team was not interested in exploring. In 2019, the company rebranded themselves from NG:Dev.Team to NGDEV.

Games

Reference

External links

* {{NGDEV * German companies established in 2001 Video game companies established in 2001 Video game companies of Germany Video game development companies Video game publishers