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Sega Technical Institute (STI) was 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 ...
owned by
Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
. Founded by the
Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...
veteran
Mark Cerny Mark Evan Cerny (born August 24, 1964) is an American video game designer, programmer, producer and media proprietor. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Cerny attended UC Berkeley before dropping out to pursue a career in video games. In hi ...
in 1990, STI sought to combine elite Japanese developers, including the
Sonic Team is a video game developer owned by the Japanese video game company Sega as part of its Sega CS Research and Development No. 2 division. Sonic Team is best known for the long-running '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' series and games such as '' Nights ...
programmer
Yuji Naka , credited in some games as YU2, is a Japanese video game programmer, video game designer, designer and video game producer, producer. He is the former head of the Sega studio Sonic Team, where he was the lead programmer of the original ''Sonic t ...
and his team, with new American talent. STI developed games for
Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...
, including several ''
Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...
'' games, before it was closed at the end of 1996. After working in Japan for Sega on games for the
Master System The is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 and ...
, Cerny proposed the creation of a development studio in America, which was approved. When Naka quit Sega after the release of ''
Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...
'', Cerny convinced him to join STI. After completing ''
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a 1992 platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute (STI) for the Sega Genesis. It follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic as he attempts to stop Doctor Eggman from stealing the Chaos Emeralds to power his space stationnamed T ...
'' in 1992, STI was divided in two due to friction between the Japanese and American developers: the Japanese developed ''
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a 1994 platform game developed and published by Sega for the Genesis. Like previous '' Sonic'' games, players traverse side-scrolling levels while collecting rings and defeating enemies. They control Sonic and Tails, who attempt to retri ...
'' and ''
Sonic & Knuckles is a 1994 platform game developed and published by Sega. Players control Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna in their quests to save Angel Island; Sonic tries to prevent Doctor Robotnik from relaunching his orbital weapon, the Death Egg, ...
'' before leaving in 1994, while the Americans developed games including ''
Sonic Spinball ''Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball'' is a 1993 pinball video game developed by Sega Technical Institute and published by Sega. It is a spinoff of the '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' series set in the continuity of the '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' animated s ...
''. The failed development of ''
Sonic X-treme ''Sonic X-treme'' was a platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute from 1994 until its cancellation in 1996. It was planned as the first fully 3D ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' game, taking Sonic into the 3D era of video games, and the first ...
'' for the
Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the succ ...
became representative of a culture shift at Sega, and STI closed at the end of 1996. Games developed by STI are considered significant in the history of the Genesis, and many were well-received or sold well. Developers have described STI as a unique workplace that did not fit into Sega's corporate structure.


History


Formation, ''Dick Tracy'', and ''Kid Chameleon''

Mark Cerny Mark Evan Cerny (born August 24, 1964) is an American video game designer, programmer, producer and media proprietor. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Cerny attended UC Berkeley before dropping out to pursue a career in video games. In hi ...
, a fan of
computer programming Computer programming is the process of performing a particular computation (or more generally, accomplishing a specific computing result), usually by designing and building an executable computer program. Programming involves tasks such as ana ...
and
arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...
s, joined
Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...
in 1982 aged 17. At 18, he designed and co-programmed ''
Marble Madness ''Marble Madness'' is an arcade video game designed by Mark Cerny and published by Atari Games in 1984. It is a platform game in which the player must guide a marble through six courses, populated with obstacles and enemies, within a time limi ...
'', his first major success. After his time with Atari, Cerny became an independent programmer and signed a contract with
Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
in 1985 to work on an arcade game out of an office at the company's arcade division in
San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...
. Cerny was approached by Sega's president,
Hayao Nakayama is a Japanese businessman and was the former President and CEO of Sega Enterprises, Ltd from 1983 to 1999. Early life and career Nakayama was born into a family of doctors, and was expected to pursue medicine as a career. However, Nakayama de ...
, about canceling his project and coming to Japan to work on software for Sega' upcoming
Master System The is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 and ...
console. Cerny relocated to Tokyo in late 1986. There, he developed Master System products, including launch games and the SegaScope 3D glasses accessory. Despite initially planning on a six-month stay, he worked with Sega in Japan for over three years. In 1990, Cerny desired to return to the United States. At the same time, the Sega of America CEO, Michael Katz, and the executive vice president, Shinobu Toyoda, prioritized increasing game development in the US due to a lack of games catering to American tastes. This resulted in Sega's head of research and development, Hisashi Suzuki, announcing his intention to send a group of younger, but experienced, arcade developers to the US to develop games for the region, and would be supplemented with American development staff as well. Suzuki wanted to call this new studio the "Sega Institute of Technology" (SIT), but was convinced by Cerny to change the name to "Sega Technical Institute" over concerns that the "s" sound in the group's initials would be pronounced instead with a "sh" by Japanese speakers. The initial group Sega planned to send over was 11 developers. Sega applied for O-1 expert visas, for "nationally or internationally recognized" people with "a record of extraordinary achievement", unaware that the Japanese developers did not qualify. As a result of the applications for this quantity of unqualified visas, the US Embassy in Tokyo denied them all and temporarily barred Sega from applying for more. Because of this, Sega instead decided to send Cerny to the US and have him proceed to hire American talent without assistance from Japan. Believing it would bolster creativity, Cerny located STI away from Sega of America's headquarters in
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 ...
, choosing to set up near the arcade division offices in San Jose. Within a year, STI had outgrown its space and relocated to
Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was estab ...
. Ken Balthaser, Sega of America's product development manager, did not support STI being independent of Sega of America, and wanted it to be part of the American division's corporate structure. He was overruled by Nakayama, who was convinced by Cerny that he could make this level of independence work, something which had never been tried at a major game developer before. This allowed Cerny to report directly to Sega's offices in Japan and avoid the game concept approval management of Sega of America. He aimed to establish an elite development studio that would combine the design philosophies of American and Japanese developers, much like Suzuki's original plan. Cerny's first employee at STI was Yutaka Sugano, who had previously created the arcade game ''Shinobi'' and had already been assigned to work in the US. The studio's first project was ''
Dick Tracy ''Dick Tracy'' is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy (originally Plainclothes Tracy), a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the ''Detroit Mirror'', and it ...
'', based on
the movie "The Movie" is the 54th episode of the sitcom '' Seinfeld''. It is the 14th episode of the fourth season, and first aired on January 6, 1993 on NBC. The episode revolves entirely around the characters' struggles to go to see a movie together. P ...
for which Sega obtained a license to develop a game. Sega gave STI five months to complete development, while STI still had only Cerny and Sugano on staff. American staff were hired to program the game, and Japanese graphic artist Takeshi Doi worked on the animation. According to the game's lead programmer, Mike Schwartz, the Japanese and American staff collaborated well despite the language barrier; Sugano and Doi had some understanding of English, and Cerny, a fluent speaker of Japanese, helped to ensure good communication. Sega also sent American staff members, including Schwartz, to Japan to visit Sega's headquarters, with Sugano and Doi leading their tour. Despite STI's efforts, which including having each character's likeness approved by their actor in the movie–including
Warren Beatty Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker, whose career spans over six decades. He was nominated for 15 Academy Awards, including four for Best Actor, four for Best Picture, two for Best Director, ...
,
Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...
, and
Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy ...
–''Dick Tracy'' did not sell well. The game's late release in February 1991, eight months after the movie debuted in theaters and two months after its home video release, prompted Sega to insist on being a part of movie-based projects at least a year before the film's release date. STI began development on its next game, ''
Kid Chameleon ''Kid Chameleon'' is a 1992 platform game developed and published by Sega released for the Sega Genesis. In the game, a Boss (video games), boss character with artificial intelligence in a Virtual reality, virtual reality video game begins abduct ...
'', in 1991, as they were finishing ''Dick Tracy''. Cerny and others conceived ''Kid Chameleon'' in 1990 as an
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 ...
, with knowledge that such games were popular due to the success of
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
's ''
Super Mario Bros. is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The successor to the 1983 arcade game '' Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series, it was first released in 1985 for ...
'' and that the Genesis lacked many of these games, with none of those it did have developed in the West. A number of new staff were hired as ''Kid Chameleon'''s development began. The development team for the game consisted of 15 people, all American, with sound being outsourced to a third party. Cerny facilitated open communication during the game's development and created opportunities for the developers to bond and spend their off time together; this led to increased communication between artists, designers, and programmers, which was crucial because the game's development did not use
version control In software engineering, version control (also known as revision control, source control, or source code management) is a class of systems responsible for managing changes to computer programs, documents, large web sites, or other collections o ...
to prevent overwriting the work of each other. The game includes over 100 levels despite the small 4 MB cartridge used, but does not include any save feature. ''Kid Chameleon'' was released in late 1992 and sold well for Sega.


Yuji Naka, ''Sonic the Hedgehog 2'', and Cerny's departure

Shortly after the release of ''
Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...
'' in 1991, the
Sonic Team is a video game developer owned by the Japanese video game company Sega as part of its Sega CS Research and Development No. 2 division. Sonic Team is best known for the long-running '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' series and games such as '' Nights ...
programmer
Yuji Naka , credited in some games as YU2, is a Japanese video game programmer, video game designer, designer and video game producer, producer. He is the former head of the Sega studio Sonic Team, where he was the lead programmer of the original ''Sonic t ...
quit Sega following disagreements over salary and backlash from the company over the time and effort it had taken to finish developing the game. Cerny, who had been making frequent trips to Japan while he was setting up STI, and who had previously consulted with ''Sonic'' character artist
Naoto Ohshima (born February 26, 1964) is a Japanese artist and video game designer, best known for designing Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic the Hedgehog and Dr. Eggman characters from Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise. Although Yuji Naka created ...
, visited Naka's apartment and listened to the reasons why he left. Cerny took this information to Sega of America executive Shinobu Toyoda, who had previously negotiated Naka's salary while in Japan. As a result, Naka relocated to join STI four months later, at double his original salary and additional bonuses.
Hirokazu Yasuhara (also credited as Carol Yas) is a Japanese video game designer. He is best known for designing the gameplay and stages of the initial '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' video games for Sega Genesis in the 1990s, based on technical demos and engines program ...
, who had designed most of the ''Sonic'' stages and gameplay, had been assigned shortly before the completion of ''Sonic'' to work in the US, and he also joined STI. In September 1991, Cerny pitched ''
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a 1992 platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute (STI) for the Sega Genesis. It follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic as he attempts to stop Doctor Eggman from stealing the Chaos Emeralds to power his space stationnamed T ...
'' as STI's project for the 1992 Christmas season, giving the team 11 months of development time, but Sega management considered it too soon for a sequel. STI explored other concepts, but in November, Sega reversed course and told Cerny that it needed ''Sonic 2'' for the 1992 holiday season. Cerny said that this did not create "much of a creative loss", as STI had yet to come up with a game idea on par with ''Sonic'', but lost two months of development. STI began development on ''Sonic 2'' with a team composed of both American and Japanese developers. Over 100 people worked on the game and the main team comprised 20 developers. Sega of America marketing director Al Nilsen said that STI wanted "to go all out" to ensure ''Sonic 2'' would be as successful as the original ''Sonic'', since sequels were generally not well regarded. Its development suffered some setbacks; the language barrier and cultural differences created a rift between the Japanese and American developers. The Japanese were used to crunch conditions, with Cerny noting they often worked through the night and slept in their cubicles. In contrast, the Americans locked the STI offices at night. Cerny had envisioned the Japanese acting as mentors to the Americans, but cooperation was difficult since the Americans could not speak Japanese. STI artist Craig Stitt recalled Yasuhara and lead artist
Yasushi Yamaguchi , also known as Judy Totoya is a game designer and artist. He designed the character Miles "Tails" Prower in an internal contest hosted by Sonic Team. He originally named the character "Miles Prower", however SEGA wanted to call the character "Tail ...
as easy to work with, but Naka as "an arrogant pain in the ass" not interested in working with Americans. Another STI artist, Tim Skelly, said that Naka would have been happier working with an all-Japanese team. Cerny said of the situation, "''Sonic 2'' did ship but after that we said 'no more!'" Upon release, ''Sonic the Hedgehog 2'' broke video game sales records; in November 1993, it was reported to be the best-selling 16-bit video game ever at the time. During 1992, Cerny left STI; he claimed to have done so as development on ''Sonic 2'' was being completed. Masaharu Yoshii temporarily filled in as the head of the studio and was credited as ''Sonic 2'''s director. Cerny's reasons for leaving included Nakayama's disapproval of Cerny's spending before ''Dick Tracy'' and ''Kid Chameleon'' were released, Cerny's refusal to create games with small development teams in short time frames as was commonly done with Master System games, and the rising tension between the American and Japanese staff of STI. In particular, Cerny felt that the Americans were not treated respectfully by the Japanese. Further complicating this was STI's involvement with the ''Sonic'' franchise and Naka's desire to oversee the process personally, as well as Sega of America's initial hesitation to assist given their lack of confidence in the character. After ''Sonic 2'' was completed, Naka refused to develop another ''Sonic'' game if he had to work with the Americans again.


Internal tension and more ''Sonic'' games

Cerny's replacement at STI was
Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...
and
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 ...
veteran Roger Hector. Having been recruited by Toyoda to join STI while working with
Disney Interactive Disney Interactive is an American video game and internet company that oversaw various websites and interactive media owned by The Walt Disney Company. History 1995–1996: Formation and beginnings In December 1994, Disney announced that it wa ...
, Hector knew Cerny and met with him as he was departing. According to Hector, he knew what Cerny had done at STI and wanted to maintain that status quo as long as he could. Believing the tension between the Japanese and Americans at STI was normal, Hector adapted his management style in order to keep the two teams together while integrating them when it was needed by the game being developed. STI maintained its unusual place in Sega's organizational structure during Hector's tenure. According to Hector, STI reported both to Sega's Japanese headquarters and Sega of America, but was independent and did not fit into corporate structure. After ''Sonic 2'' was released, Sega relocated STI to
Redwood City Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately south of San Francisco, and northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a po ...
, closer to Sega of America's headquarters. The idea behind such a move was to more closely connect STI with Sega of America's product development department, but the move worried Hector that STI's special status would be in danger. Hector ensured this status would be retained, reporting directly to Toyoda at Sega of America while still being allowed to avoid Sega of America's pitch and review processes. Employees at the new STI building were also given key access exclusive to them. Hector credited this unusual arrangement for fostering creativity and making STI "very special". Developers Peter Morawiec and Adrian Stephens, who worked for STI, expressed fond memories of working there for its uniqueness. In 1993, STI began work on ''
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a 1994 platform game developed and published by Sega for the Genesis. Like previous '' Sonic'' games, players traverse side-scrolling levels while collecting rings and defeating enemies. They control Sonic and Tails, who attempt to retri ...
''. Naka selected the majority of the team, while Hector oversaw development.'''' Due to the game's scope and Sega's commitment to the start date of a corresponding
McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
Happy Meal A Happy Meal is a kids' meal usually sold at the American fast food restaurant chain McDonald's since June 1979. A small toy or book is included with the food, both of which are usually contained in a red cardboard box with a yellow smiley face ...
promotion and TV ad campaign, the team split the game in half, with ''Sonic 3'' released in February 1994 and ''
Sonic & Knuckles is a 1994 platform game developed and published by Sega. Players control Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna in their quests to save Angel Island; Sonic tries to prevent Doctor Robotnik from relaunching his orbital weapon, the Death Egg, ...
'' in October. ''Sonic & Knuckles'' was released with "lock-on technology" to connect the two games and allow them to be played together as originally intended. Both games were developed in Palo Alto before STI relocated. Hector said ''Sonic 3'' had a troubled development. He recalled having to prevent the rest of Sega from bothering the team while simultaneously making sure the game would be finished in time. Additionally, Hector struggled to balance resources between ''Sonic 3'' and other projects, Naka was sometimes seen as a harsh leader, and STI staff not on the ''Sonic 3'' team became jealous of the priority given to the game. To facilitate better communication, Hector brought in a language teacher to instruct a Berlitz class in Japanese. Some Americans did contribute to the development; artist Chris Senn contributed
concept art Concept art is a form of visual art used to convey an idea for use in films, video games, animation, comic books, or other media before it is put into the final product. Concept art usually refers to world-building artwork used to inspire the ...
for ''Sonic & Knuckles'', and
Howard Drossin Howard Drossin is an American composer for film and video games. His work includes co-scoring with longtime collaborator RZA, ''The Man with the Iron Fists'' for Universal Pictures, starring Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu; several award-winning vide ...
contributed the soundtrack for the same game. Because ''Sonic 3'' was not scheduled to be released for the 1993 holiday season, Sega was interested in a spinoff ''Sonic'' game. Sega's marketing team suggested a game based on the casino levels of the first two games. A
pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...
game pitch came from Morawiec, who had previously worked on the special stages in ''Sonic 2''. Morawiec drew inspiration from the 1992
Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...
game ''
Pinball Dreams ''Pinball Dreams'' is a pinball simulation video game developed by Digital Illusions and originally released for the Amiga in 1992. It spawned several sequels, including ''Pinball Fantasies'' and ''Pinball Illusions''. The MS-DOS port was digital ...
'' to combine pinball
mechanics Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, ''mēkhanikḗ'', "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to objects r ...
with the gameplay of ''Sonic the Hedgehog''. His team at STI was given nine months to develop the game, which Morawiec considered a "tight" schedule. To speed up production, Sega sent veteran staff from Japan to assist, including ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' artist Katsuhiko Sato. Additionally, Hector hired more programmers and assured his team that the game would be done on time. STI staff also changed the
programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...
from
assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...
to C, an unusual choice for Genesis games at the time, which caused
frame rate Frame rate (expressed in or FPS) is the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (frames) are captured or displayed. The term applies equally to film and video cameras, computer graphics, and motion capture systems. Frame rate may also be ca ...
and optimization problems but greatly accelerated development. A last-minute difficulty occurred when the team learned that Sega did not own the theme to ''Sonic the Hedgehog'', which had been used in ''Spinball.'' Morawiec tasked lead composer Drossin to write a new theme within two hours. Though it received poor reviews, ''Sonic Spinball'' sold well and helped to build the reputation of its developers.


Naka's departure, ''Comix Zone'', ''The Ooze'', and ''Die Hard Arcade''

Following the release of ''Sonic & Knuckles'', Yasuhara quit, citing differences with Naka, and went on to develop games for Sega of America. Naka returned to Japan in late 1994 to continue work with Sonic Team, reuniting with Ohshima. STI was left with mostly American staff. Further complications came from internal corporate tension: Sega of America operated as an independent entity, and relations with the Japanese were not always smooth. Some of this conflict may have been caused by Nakayama and his admiration for Sega of America; according to former Sega of America CEO
Tom Kalinske Thomas Kalinske (born July 17, 1944) is an American businessman, best known as having worked for Mattel from 1972 to 1987, where he was credited with reviving the Barbie and Hot Wheels brands, launching Masters of the Universe, then being promoted ...
, some executives disliked that Nakayama appeared to favor US executives, and "a lot of the Japanese executives were maybe a little jealous, and I think some of that played into the decisions that were made". By contrast, author Steven L. Kent wrote that Nakayama bullied American executives and believed the Japanese executives made the best decisions. According to Hector, after the release of the
Sony 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 divi ...
in 1994, the atmosphere at Sega became political, with "lots of finger-pointing". STI's next game, ''
Comix Zone ''Comix Zone'' is a 1995 beat 'em up video game developed and published by Sega for the Genesis. It is set within the panels of a comic book with dialogue rendered within talk bubbles and sprites, and backgrounds possessing the bright colors an ...
'', entered development before ''Sonic Spinball'' but was placed on hold so Morawiec could work on ''Spinball''. After presenting his concept to Hector, Morawiec was encouraged to pitch it directly to Kalinske, who approved and gave his approval again after ''Spinball'' was released. Development began with a three-man team of Morawiec designing, Adrian Stephens programming, and executive producer Dean Lester, but grew to a team of nearly a dozen. Development was relatively smooth and became STI's top project, with the full support of Sega's marketing department, but pressure was mounting as the American team had not released a game since ''Spinball''. Timing became a factor with the forthcoming release of new video game consoles, the 32X and
Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the succ ...
. As a result, ''Comix Zone'' was delayed to the beginning of 1995 and two levels were cut. Morawiec also increased the game's difficulty on recommendation of Sega's test department, a decision he later regretted. ''Comix Zone'' saw limited sales due to the release timing and high difficulty, and according to Stephens did not break even, but later attracted a
cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
. Stephens also said that the game's late release delayed STI's movement to developing Saturn software, and that "neither STI nor the Saturn ever recovered from that." ''
The Ooze ''The Ooze'' is a video game developed by Sega Technical Institute and released in 1995 in video gaming, 1995 for the Sega Genesis. In the game, players take the role of a slimy puddle of liquid and face off against various enemies and obstacles. ...
'' entered development in 1994, stemming from an algorithm by programmer David Sanner. The game's approval was questionable due to its being unconventional and its main character being made of toxic sludge, and was not guaranteed to ship. The game's main artist and designer was
Stieg Hedlund Stieg Hedlund (born 1965) is a computer and video game designer, artist, and writer with over 25 years of experience. He has worked on more than 30 games in the video game industry. He is best known for his work in action RPGs, and has also wo ...
, who took over after the original designer left. Hedlund considered ''The Ooze'' a great opportunity and worked to move the game along and made the game's first stage to teach players how to play. Though marketing wanted to change the look of ''The Ooze'' to a more cartoon-based design, the game's art director refused, fearing it would change the tone of the game. Progress was later hampered with the departure of programmer Scott Chandler and artist Marte Thompson. Sega's marketing considered bundling ''The Ooze'' as a pack-in with the forthcoming
Genesis Nomad The Genesis Nomad, also known as Sega Nomad, is a handheld game console manufactured by Sega and released in North America in October 1995. The Nomad is a portable variation of the Sega Genesis home video game console (known as the Mega Drive o ...
, but the coordination never happened. Released late in the Genesis' active years, ''The Ooze'' sold below Sega's expectations and was a commercial failure. Those who developed the game, however, consider it the last truly independent game STI developed without outside interference. STI completed one game in partnership with
Sega AM1 is a development department within Japanese video game developer Sega that also previously existed as Wow Entertainment and AM1 spent most of its early existence under the leadership of Rikiya Nakagawa and developed a number of arcade games f ...
, ''
Die Hard Arcade ''Die Hard Arcade'', known as in Japan, is an arcade beat 'em up video game released by Sega. It was the first beat 'em up to use texture-mapped 3D Polygonal modeling, polygon graphics, and used a sophisticated move set by contemporary beat 'em up ...
''. The game originated as a means for Sega to use existing resources: Sega had produced an excess inventory of
ST-V Sega is a video game developer, publisher, and hardware development company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with multiple offices around the world. The company's involvement in the arcade game industry began as a Japan-based distributor of coin-o ...
arcade boards, and had acquired the ''Die Hard'' license but as yet had no ''Die Hard'' games in development. To develop the game, Sega sent over a group of artists, programmers, and designers to STI, who supplied additional artists, music, and animation. ''Die Hard Arcade'' became Sega's most successful arcade game produced in the US, and helped the arcade division to sell off the excess inventory.


''Sonic X-treme''

As Sonic Team was working on '' Nights into Dreams'', Sega tasked STI with developing what would have been the first fully 3D ''Sonic'' game, ''
Sonic X-treme ''Sonic X-treme'' was a platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute from 1994 until its cancellation in 1996. It was planned as the first fully 3D ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' game, taking Sonic into the 3D era of video games, and the first ...
.'' Development of ''Sonic X-treme'' began in late 1994 at STI. Hector conceived a Genesis game based on the Saturday morning ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' cartoon, and took developers from Sonic Team and STI to the DiC Animation studios to demonstrate his idea, with Morawiec later designing gameplay. Sega management, however, disapproved of the idea, so Morawiec moved on to work on ''
Comix Zone ''Comix Zone'' is a 1995 beat 'em up video game developed and published by Sega for the Genesis. It is set within the panels of a comic book with dialogue rendered within talk bubbles and sprites, and backgrounds possessing the bright colors an ...
''. As new consoles and the
32-bit era The fifth-generation era (also known as the 32-bit era, the 64-bit era, or the 3D era) refers to computer and video games, video game consoles, and handheld gaming consoles dating from approximately October 4, 1993 to March 23, 2006. For home ...
were on the way, the game was moved to the 32X and Michael Kosaka was placed in charge of the team. He created design documents for the game, but resigned in the middle of 1995 due to corporate politics. Executive producer Dean Lester resigned later in 1995, with Manny Granillo taking over as executive producer and STI producer Mike Wallis being placed in charge of development. Wallis stated that he had little to no control over his team despite supervising it because of the organizational structure. During this phase in development, STI was asked by Sega of America management to evaluate developing the game for a forthcoming new console based on
Nvidia Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...
Riva TNT technology. After Sega announced that it would focus solely on the Sega Saturn, development shifted to the Saturn. This cost the STI development team several weeks. The new game design featured a
fisheye lens A fisheye lens is an ultra wide-angle lens that produces strong visual distortion intended to create a wide panoramic or hemispherical image. Fisheye lenses achieve extremely wide angles of view, well beyond any rectilinear lens. Instead of pr ...
camera system that rotated levels with
Sonic Sonic or Sonics may refer to: Companies *Sonic Drive-In, an American drive-in fast-food restaurant chain *Sonic (ISP), an Internet provider and CLEC, serving more than 100 California communities *Sonic Foundry, a computer software company whic ...
's movement. In March 1996, Sega representatives from Japan visited STI to evaluate progress. At this point, ''X-treme'' was already well behind schedule, and the executive who visited ordered the game be reworked around the
engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...
created for its boss battles. This effectively removed the main game development and removed their developers, designer Chris Senn and programmer Ofer Alon, from the project. They would later try to develop a version of ''X-treme'' for PC, but it was rejected. On the Saturn project, the developers worked between 16 and 20 hours a day to meet their December 1996 deadline. This proved fruitless after Sega of America executive vice president
Bernie Stolar Bernard Stolar (October 9, 1946 – June 22, 2022) was an American businessman and a prominent figure in the video game industry for many years. Among several roles in the industry, he was a founding member of Sony Computer Entertainment America ...
rescinded STI's access to Sonic Team's '' Nights into Dreams'' engine following an ultimatum by Naka, who was now producing ''Nights'' and threatened to quit Sega if STI used it. In July 2022, Naka denied that he had anything to do with ''X-treme'' use of the ''Nights'' engine. The loss of the ''Nights'' engine cost the team a further two weeks of development time. After programmer Chris Coffin became severely ill with
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
, Wallis made the decision to cancel the game. ''X-treme'' was announced as delayed, but was officially canceled in early 1997.


Closure and canceled games

STI was disbanded in 1996 as a result of changes in management at Sega of America. New focuses were given to STI, including product
localization Localization or localisation may refer to: Biology * Localization of function, locating psychological functions in the brain or nervous system; see Linguistic intelligence * Localization of sensation, ability to tell what part of the body is a ...
and management of external development teams. According to Hector, corporate politics and fighting amongst the executives could not be rectified. Hector had been given additional responsibilities over all of Sega's product development, leading to his decision to leave the company. New management had taken over shortly before the studio closed. Decisions were made to streamline game development, and Sega of America's product development department branched to form
SegaSoft SegaSoft, originally headquartered in Redwood City, California and later San Francisco, was a joint venture by Sega and CSK (Sega's majority stockholder at the time), created in 1995 to develop and publish games for the PC and Sega Saturn, prim ...
. With STI's recent new responsibilities, it was restructured to report directly to Sega of America and became the new product development department. After STI's closure, Morawiec and Stephens left Sega and formed
Luxoflux Luxoflux Corp. was an American video game developer founded by Peter Morawiec and Adrian Stephens in January 1997, and based in Santa Monica, California. History Luxoflux had a relatively small team size for its first few titles. The two founde ...
. Cerny and Yasuhara remained friends after their time at STI and reunited to work with
Naughty Dog Naughty Dog, LLC (formerly JAM Software, Inc.) is an American first-party video game developer based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin in 1984, the studio was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2001. Gav ...
on the '' Jak & Daxter'' series. In addition to ''Sonic X-treme'', several games were considered but ultimately never developed. A sequel to ''Kid Chameleon'' and ''Jester'', which featured a nearly-invulnerable clay character, were canceled due to STI shifting resources to ''Sonic the Hedgehog 2''. Another, ''Spinny & Spike'', was developed by ''Kid Chameleon'' programmer Steve Woita and
greenlit To green-light is to give permission to proceed with a project. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead". Film industry In the context of the film and television industries, to green-light something is to ...
by Kalinske, but never made it out of development after resources shifted to ''Sonic Spinball''. Sega hired a new producer and art programmer to continue ''Spinny & Spike''. Woita assumed he would return to the game after finishing ''Spinball'', but opted to leave Sega shortly afterward, and Sega determined that development could not continue without the original team. A sequel to ''Comix Zone'' was proposed but dropped, while Morawiec and Stephens set up an office to begin work on an original ''Sonic'' game, but the project was canceled by Naka.


Game reception

Games developed by STI include four ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games. ''Sonic the Hedgehog 2'' received critical acclaim and was a bestseller in the UK charts for 2 months. As of 2006, the game had sold over 6 million copies. ''Sonic Spinball'' received mixed reviews, with an average score of 61% at
GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
, based on an aggregate score of six reviews, but sold well. ''Sonic the Hedgehog 3'' holds an average score of 89% at GameRankings, indicating positive reviews based on its aggregate score of five reviews, while ''Sonic & Knuckles'' also received positive reviews. All four games have been rereleased multiple times in various ''Sonic'' compilations. ''Kid Chameleon'' is recognized for its original character designs and abilities that made it play like "several different platform games rolled into one. ''
Mega Mega or MEGA may refer to: Science * mega-, a metric prefix denoting 106 * Mega (number), a certain very large integer in Steinhaus–Moser notation * "mega-" a prefix meaning "large" that is used in taxonomy * Gravity assist, for ''Moon-Eart ...
'' placed the game at #35 in their Top Mega Drive Games of All Time. ''Comix Zone'', a
beat 'em up The beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional (2D) levels, ...
, faced mixed reviews from ''
GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...
'' and ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The m ...
'' at the time of its release, but has been retrospectively praised for its originality, including the concept of moving through the pages of a
comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
and defeating enemies drawn in front of the player. ''The Ooze'', originally planned as a
Genesis Nomad The Genesis Nomad, also known as Sega Nomad, is a handheld game console manufactured by Sega and released in North America in October 1995. The Nomad is a portable variation of the Sega Genesis home video game console (known as the Mega Drive o ...
launch title, received negative reviews at its launch, but was recognized for its originality, and has been retrospectively called "one of those little-known 16-bit gems that are well worth taking the effort to play through." ''Die Hard Arcade'' has also been recognized for its depth as one of the last beat 'em ups. While it was never released, journalists have considered what impact ''Sonic X-treme'', as a Sonic game for the Sega Saturn, may have had on the market. Retrospectively, STI is given more credit for its game development than it had while it was active. More Sonic compilations have featured games developed by STI, and Sega has since opened more external studios outside of Japan. Ashley Day of ''Retro Gamer'' stated, "only time will tell if such companies can harness the same kind of magic the Sega Technical Institute did so long ago." Ken Horowitz of ''Sega-16'' stressed the importance of STI's games on the Genesis, and also framed STI's history as a cautionary tale of corporate politics. Of this, Horowitz said, "Be it the continued growth and success of the core ''Sonic'' games, the innovative original titles, or the unique development atmosphere that was unrivaled anywhere else at Sega, the Institute gave us some great games and produced some amazing talent. Today’s industry would do well to take a page from Sega’s book about how to make a development team feel at home, and the story of the Sega Technical Institute is living proof of how too much corporate interference can kill a good thing."


See also

*
Sega development studios This is a list of development studios owned by Sega, a Japanese video game developer and publisher based in Tokyo, Japan. Accompanied with the list is their history of game development. Also included are the companies that Sega has acquired over ...
*
Sega AM2 previously known as is a video game development team within the Japanese multinational video game developer Sega. Yu Suzuki, who had previously developed arcade games for Sega including ''Hang-On'' and ''Out Run'', was the first manager of th ...
*
Sega AM3 , known as from 2000 to 2004, is a defunct division of Sega, a Japanese video game company. Established by 1993, AM3 was managed by Hisao Oguchi and developed a number of arcade games for Sega. Series introduced by AM3 include ''Virtual On'', ...


References

{{Authority control Sega divisions and subsidiaries Video game development companies Video game companies disestablished in 1996 Defunct video game companies of the United States