Night Dive Studios, Inc. (
doing business as
A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...
Nightdive Studios) 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
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...
. The company was founded in November 2012 by Stephen and Alix Kick, former
video game artist
Game art design is a subset of game development involving the process of creating the artistic aspects for video games. Video game art design begins in the pre-production phase of creating a video game. Video game artists are Visual arts, visua ...
s for
Sony Online Entertainment
Daybreak Game Company LLC is an American video game developer based in San Diego. The company was founded in December 1997 as Sony Online Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment, but was spun off to an independent investor in ...
, after Stephen Kick found himself unable to purchase the 1999 game ''
System Shock 2''. He successfully negotiated with the rightsholder Star Insurance Company, which had acquired ''System Shock'' and other assets from the defunct developer
Looking Glass Studios
Looking Glass Studios, Inc. (formerly Blue Sky Productions and LookingGlass Technologies, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was founded by Paul Neurath with Ned Lerner as Blue Sky Product ...
, and Nightdive Studios released the game via
GOG.com
GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through it ...
in February 2013. The company is known for obtaining rights to
abandonware
Abandonware is a product, typically software, ignored by its owner and manufacturer, and for which no official support is available.
Within an intellectual rights contextual background, abandonware is a software (or hardware) sub-case of the g ...
video games, updating them for compatibility with modern
platforms, and re-releasing them via
digital distribution
Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content (media), content such as Sound recording and reproductio ...
services.
History
Founding and ''System Shock 2'' (2012–2013)
Nightdive Studios was founded by Stephen Kick and his wife, Alix Kick (), both former
character artists at
Sony Online Entertainment
Daybreak Game Company LLC is an American video game developer based in San Diego. The company was founded in December 1997 as Sony Online Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment, but was spun off to an independent investor in ...
(SOE).
Kick was with that company for three years, working on ''
Free Realms
''Free Realms'' was a massively multiplayer online (MMO) role playing video game developed by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) for Microsoft Windows, Mac and PlayStation 3 that is set in a fantasy-themed world named Sacred Grove. The game was r ...
'' and ''
PlanetSide 2
''PlanetSide 2'' is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online first-person shooter developed by Rogue Planet Games and published by Daybreak Game Company. The game supports battles with thousands of players (up to 2,000 on a single Level (video ...
''.
While Banegas had left the company earlier to establish a
plushie
A stuffed toy is a toy doll with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, stuffed animals, and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be cal ...
business, Kick remained in his position until 2012.
After also quitting his job, he and Banegas, then his fiancée, commenced a nine-month-long road trip from
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
through Mexico and Central America.
To pass the time during this trip, Kick brought a
netbook
Netbook was a commonly used term that identified a product class of small and inexpensive laptops which were sold from 2007 to around 2013. These machines were designed primarily as cost-effective tools for consumers to access the Inte ...
and several classic video games to play.
While staying in a hostel in Guatemala, he wished to play the 1999 game ''
System Shock 2'' but found that the
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...
version he had brought no longer worked on his netbook.
Kick looked for fan-made
patches for the game and tried purchasing an updated version via
GOG.com
GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through it ...
to no avail, and he discovered that there no longer was a legal way to obtain the game.
The rights to the ''System Shock'' franchise had been acquired from its defunct developer,
Looking Glass Studios
Looking Glass Studios, Inc. (formerly Blue Sky Productions and LookingGlass Technologies, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was founded by Paul Neurath with Ned Lerner as Blue Sky Product ...
, by Star Insurance Company (a
subsidiary
A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...
of Meadowbrook Insurance Group), while the
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
was retained by the game's publisher,
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
.
Starting in October 2012, Kick sent various emails to Star Insurance Company to inquire about the status of the series'
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
(IP).
To his surprise, the company's
legal counsel
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicitor, ...
responded within a few days, asking Kick what he was planning to do with the IP.
Star Insurance Company had recently acquired the ''System Shock'' trademark from Electronic Arts but was wary of producing a new entry in the series given the high cost associated with such a production.
Kick pitched the idea of updating ''System Shock 2'' for modern
platforms and re-releasing it via
digital distribution
Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content (media), content such as Sound recording and reproductio ...
services, including GOG.com and
Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
.
He argued that the game was highly sought after, as over 34,000 people had placed it onto their GOG.com wishlists, and that a re-release would be profitable.
The insurer was fond of this idea, so Kick and Banegas, who had then almost reached the
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...
, returned to the United States.
Arriving in New Mexico, Kick began phoning with Star Insurance Company's legal counsel and eventually reached a deal.
He raised money from his friends and family to pay the license fee for ''System Shock 2'' and establish a company.
Subsequently, Kick and Banegas founded Night Dive Studios on November 7, 2012.
Kick assumed the role of
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
, while Banegas became the
chief financial officer
The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...
.
The company name was inspired by their shared passion for diving, especially
night diving
Night diving is underwater diving done during the hours of darkness. It frequently refers specifically to recreational diving which takes place in darkness. The diver can experience a different underwater environment at night, because many marine ...
, and Kick specifically recalled one night dive he had experienced in the
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...
.
Night Dive Studios was initially located in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
, later moving to nearby
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...
.
Around the time of the company's foundation, a French developer known as Le Corbeau released a patch for ''System Shock 2'' that allowed it to run on modern computers. Kick was unsuccessful in contacting the developer but still used the patch as the new version's groundwork, asserting that it was the IP holder's legal right to use it.
Night Dive Studios worked with Kick's former SOE colleagues and GOG.com on updates and further
bugs fixes.
The updated version was released onto GOG.com in February 2013.
According to Banegas, the game's returns in its first month painted Night Dive Studios as a viable business.
Kick decided to continue Night Dive Studios in similar efforts to bring back older games to modern systems.
The company's first hire was Daniel Grayshon, a writer of ''System Shock''
modding
''Modding'' is a slang expression derived from the English verb " to modify". The term refers to modification of hardware, software, or anything else, to perform a function not originally intended by the designer, or to achieve bespoke specific ...
guides based in the United Kingdom.
Night Dive Studios brought ''System Shock 2'' to Steam in May 2013. Later that year, it released updated versions of ''
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream'',
Harlan Ellison
Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. Robert Bloch, the author of '' Psycho'' ...
's 1995 game based on
his eponymous short story; ''
Wizardry VI'', ''
VII VII or vii may refer to: the Roman numeral 7
Art and entertainment
* The Vii, a video game console
* vii, leading-tone triad, see diminished triad
* ''VII'' (Blitzen Trapper album)
* ''VII'' (Just-Ice album)
* ''VII'' (Teyana Taylor album)
* ...
'', and ''
8;'' and the
Trilobyte games ''
The 7th Guest
''The 7th Guest'' is an interactive movie puzzle adventure game, produced by Trilobyte (company), Trilobyte and originally released by Virgin Interactive Entertainment in April 1993. It is one of the first computer video games to be released only ...
'' and ''
The 11th Hour''.
Subsequent history (2013–present)
In 2014, Night Dive Studios re-released 28
edutainment
Educational entertainment (also referred to as edutainment) is media designed to educate through entertainment. The term was used as early as 1954 by Walt Disney. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has incidental entertainment ...
games from
Humongous Entertainment
Humongous Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Bothell, Washington. Founded in 1992, the company is best known for developing multiple edutainment franchises, most prominently ''Putt-Putt (series), Putt-Putt'', ''Fred ...
, as well as the adventure game ''
Bad Mojo''. The company also generated speculation that it might be planning to re-release ''
The Operative: No One Lives Forever'', as news sources took notice of a Night Dive Studios trademark filing that included material referencing the ''No One Lives Forever'' franchise. Kick responded to these rumors by saying that the company could not comment on future releases for the time being. Kick later revealed that they had indeed been working on trying to acquire the publishing rights for both ''No One Lives Forever'' and its sequel, to the point where they had the original
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...
to construct a
remake
A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...
of the title, but could not get the three companies with stake in the games' IP,
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
,
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
, and
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
, to negotiate the rights.
2014 also saw the company's participation in the
Humble Bundle
Humble Bundle, Inc. is a digital storefront for video games, which grew out of its original offering of Humble Bundles, collections of games sold at a price determined by the purchaser and with a portion of the price going towards charity and t ...
series of games collections, with a Humble Bundle package in May 2014 that featured all of the company's titles through that date, and a "flash sale" bundle in July that featured the company's Humongous Entertainment re-release titles. In December 2014, Night Dive Studios coordinated the re-release of the 1996 first-person shooter role playing hybrid game
Strife as ''Strife: Veteran Edition'', after acquiring rights to the game. Because the game's
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...
had been lost, a derivative of the
Chocolate Doom subproject ''Chocolate Strife'' was used as the game's engine, with its original programmers being contracted to do additional coding for the re-release. The source code of ''Strife: Veteran Edition'' has been made available under
GPLv3
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general u ...
on
GitHub
GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, continuous ...
by Night Dive Studios' and Samuel "Kaiser" Villarreal on December 12, 2014. While this was the first source code opened for a Night Dive Studios release, Kick announced his commitment in recovering, preserving and also opening of more source code in a
Reddit AMA
r/IAmA is a subreddit for question-and-answer interactive interviews termed "AMA" (short for "Ask Me Anything"). AMA interviewees have ranged from various celebrities to everyday people in several lines of work. Founded in May 2009, the subredd ...
in 2016.
In February 2015, Kick announced that the studio was working on re-releasing ''
PowerSlave
''Powerslave'' is the fifth studio album by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 3 September 1984 through EMI Records in Europe and its sister label Capitol Records in North America. It was re-released by Sanctuary and Columbia ...
'' for digital distribution services with an added bonus of porting the Saturn version into the package. Kick also announced that he was working with the original developers of ''
Noctropolis
''Noctropolis'' is a 1994 MS-DOS third-person adventure game by Flashpoint Productions and published by Electronic Arts. In the game, the player assumes the role of the character Peter Grey, a lonely bookstore owner who winds up in the world of hi ...
'' and the original source code and the updated package will feature remastered music,
widescreen
Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...
support and
bug fix
A patch is a set of changes to a computer program or its supporting data designed to update, fix, or improve it. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, with such patches usually being called bugfixes or bug fixes. Patches ...
es.
Using the funds generated by past releases, Night Dive Studios acquired the ''System Shock'' IP from Star Insurance Company in August 2015, intending to create a
remake
A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...
of the first ''
System Shock
''System Shock'' is a 1994 first-person action-adventure video game developed by LookingGlass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. It was directed by Doug Church with Warren Spector serving as producer. The game is set aboard a space s ...
''.
The company released an enhanced version of the original game, which adds support for more resolutions and mouselook, in September that year. Night Dive Studios has since announced it has acquired full rights to the ''System Shock'' series, and are considering developing a third title in the series, as well as remakes for both previous titles, working with original concept artist Robert Waters for some of the design.
By December 2015, the company had licensed the ''System Shock'' IP to
OtherSide Entertainment
OtherSide Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 2013 by Looking Glass Studios co-founder Paul Neurath. In June 2016, the company opened a second studio in Austin, Texas, led by Warr ...
, headed by former Looking Glass Studios
creative director
A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...
Paul Neurath, for the development of ''System Shock 3''.
In May 2016, Night Dive Studios rebranded as Nightdive Studios.
Operations
Nightdive Studios is headquartered out of the Kicks' house in eastern Vancouver, Washington.
As of February 2022, the company employs 40 people, including Larry Kuperman as the director of
business development
Business development entails tasks and processes to develop and implement growth opportunities within and between organizations. It is a subset of the fields of business, commerce and organizational theory. Business development is the creation of ...
.
Most staff work remotely, with locations including
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
and New Zealand.
According to Kick, this distribution allows the studio to operate "on pretty much a
24/7
In commerce and industry, 24/7 or 24-7 service (usually pronounced "twenty-four seven") is service that is available at any time and usually, every day. An alternate orthography for the numerical part includes 24×7 (usually pronounced "twenty ...
basis", while employees collaborate via
GitHub
GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, continuous ...
,
Jira, and
Slack. However, he noted that this setup also caused a lack of in-office socializing and
camaraderie.
Technology
While researching for the development of an updated version of ''
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter'', Nightdive Studios became aware of a
reverse engineering
Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...
project of the game's
Nintendo 64
The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and Au ...
version by Sam "Kaiser" Villareal. The company hired him and developed his custom
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 ...
into the KEX Engine, using which the developers can add modern features to older games.
Aside from ''Turok: Dinosaur Hunter'', the engine has been used for the company's ''
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil'', ''
Forsaken Remastered'', ''
System Shock: Enhanced Edition'' (via a 2018 update), ''
Blood: Fresh Supply'', ''
Doom 64'', ''
Quake'', ''
Shadow Man Remastered'', ''
PowerSlave Exhumed'', ''
Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition'', and the upcoming ''
SiN Reloaded'', ''
System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition'', and ''
Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition''.
Villareal remains Nightdive Studios' lead engine developer as of February 2022.
Games
Original releases
Remasters and enhanced ports
References
External links
*
{{Doom series
2012 establishments in Washington (state)
Companies based in Vancouver, Washington
American companies established in 2012
Video game companies established in 2012
Video game companies of the United States
Video game development companies
Video game publishers