Trilobyte is a
computer 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 ...
founded in December 1990 by
Graeme Devine
Graeme Devine is a computer game designer and programmer who co-founded Trilobyte, created bestselling games ''The 7th Guest'' and '' The 11th Hour'', and helped design id Software's '' Quake III Arena''. He was Chairman of the International ...
and
Rob Landeros
Rob Landeros is a computer game designer and graphic artist. Together with Graeme Devine, he co-founded Trilobyte, where he created the highly commercially successful games ''The 7th Guest'' and '' The 11th Hour''. After leaving Trilobyte, he ...
, best known for ''
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'' games.
The company was reformed in 2010 by co-founder Rob Landeros, with some of its original titles being re-released.
History
''The 7th Guest''
''
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 ...
'' was one of the first computer games for
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 ...
. Most of the footage for the game was filmed with a
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
35,000 budget,
Super VHS cameras, and blue butcher paper as a background that would later be removed using
chromakey
Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a Visual effects, visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on colour hues (colorfulness, chroma range). The technique has b ...
to insert the actors in the game. In the game, the player must move around the map solving puzzles in a style similar to ''
Myst
''Myst'' is a graphic adventure/puzzle video game designed by the Miller brothers, Robyn and Rand. It was developed by Cyan, Inc., published by Broderbund, and initially released for the Macintosh in 1993. In the game, the player's character t ...
''. Most of the puzzles in ''The 7th Guest'' were based on versions of real puzzles invented by people such as
Max Bezzel. The 7th Guest was the first game to use full rendered 3D animation and navigation. For the time, it had state-of-the-art graphics by
Rob Landeros
Rob Landeros is a computer game designer and graphic artist. Together with Graeme Devine, he co-founded Trilobyte, where he created the highly commercially successful games ''The 7th Guest'' and '' The 11th Hour''. After leaving Trilobyte, he ...
,
Robert Stein III,
Gene Bodio,
Alan Iglesias, MIDI music by
The Fat Man, and a story by
Matthew J. Costello. During planning, a sequel was being considered. The final version of ''The 7th Guest'' was released in April 1993, with 60,000 copies sold overnight.
The game was a turning point in CD-ROM based technology.
Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
called ''The 7th Guest'' "the new standard in interactive entertainment."
[Wolf, Mark J.P. (200]
''The video game explosion: a history from PONG to PlayStation and beyond''
Greenwood, page 129. .
''The 11th Hour''
''
The 11th Hour'' was released in the winter of 1995, after missing its original release date by more than a year. It was one of the first games to support 16-bit color, with detailed environments and fluid motion. However, the game drew criticism for several reasons:
* The game was released in
DOS
DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems.
DOS may also refer to:
Computing
* Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel
* Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...
when
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. The first operating system in the 9x family, it is the successor to Windows 3.1x, and was released to manufacturin ...
was dominant in the market
* The game still used MIDI for music, instead of
CD audio
Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA or CD-DA), also known as Digital Audio Compact Disc or simply as Audio CD, is the standard format for audio compact discs. The standard is defined in the ''Red Book'', one of a series of Rainbow Books (named fo ...
.
* Gameplay featuring puzzles and riddles, which ranged from
abstract logic
''Abstract Logic'' is the first collaborative live album by bassist Jonas Hellborg and guitarist Shawn Lane, released in 1995 through Day Eight Music; a remastered and remixed edition, containing a revised track listing and two extra tracks, was ...
to
anagram
An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...
s.
Despite pre-orders, sales did not meet the expected amount, and the game did not recover its production costs. This was a key factor in the company's financial downfall.
Subsequent projects
The next projects for Trilobyte were published by Trilobyte itself. ''
Clandestiny
''Clandestiny'', published in 1996 by Virgin Games and developed by Trilobyte, is a video-based puzzle computer game. After the profit loss of '' The 11th Hour'', the second game created by Trilobyte, the producers went on to make a more kid-fr ...
'', with gameplay similar to the previous ''The 7th Guest'', and ''The 11th Hour'', though using
cel animated
Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation.
Proce ...
(cartoon) video rather than live action, and ''
Uncle Henry's Playhouse'', a re-packaging of a number of the puzzles and games from ''The 7th Guest'', ''The 11th Hour'', and ''Clandestiny''. Neither were commercially successful.
It has been reported that the relationship between Landeros and Devine became so strained that they last spoke to each other at a board meeting in November 1996.
After ''Clandestiny'', the company effectively took two different internal directions. Landeros led a project called ''
Tender Loving Care'', while Devine started a Massively Multiplayer project, ''Millennium''. ''Tender Loving Care,'' starring
John Hurt
Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors. Director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in t ...
, was completed in 1998.
About the same time,
Red Orb Entertainment
Red Orb Entertainment was a publishing division created by the Broderbund software company to market its video game titles, distinguishing them from its library of edutainment titles, which it marketed to schools. Launched on May 21, 1997, and b ...
, a division of
Brøderbund
Broderbund Software, Inc. (stylized as Brøderbund) was an American maker of video games, educational software, and productivity tools. Broderbund is best known for the 8-bit video game hits ''Choplifter'', ''Lode Runner'', ''Karateka'', and '' ...
, signed on to publish two titles on Devine's "side" of the company – ''Assault!'', a top-down multiplayer action game, and ''Extreme Racing'', a racing game, which ran on a shared
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 ...
. ''Assault!'' was later renamed ''Extreme Warfare'' and changed from top-down to a first person perspective. ''Extreme Racing'' was retitled ''
Baja 1000
The Baja 1000 is an annual Mexican off-road motorsport race held on the Baja California Peninsula. It is one of the most prestigious off-road races in the world, having attracted competitors from six continents. The race was founded by Ed Pearl ...
Racing'' and attached to a
SCORE International
SCORE International (Southern California Off Road Enthusiasts) is an off-road racing sanctioning body in the sport of desert racing. Founded by Mickey Thompson in 1973, SCORE International was purchased from Sal Fish in late 2012. and is run by i ...
racing license. Both games made appearances at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (
E3) trade show that year.
Closing
The Learning Company
The Learning Company (TLC) was an educational software company founded in 1980 in Palo Alto, California and headquartered in Fremont, California. The company produced a grade-based line of learning software, edutainment games, and productivity ...
purchased Brøderbund in 1998. The Learning Company canceled many of the current Red Orb game projects and Trilobyte. The company was unable to find new
publishers
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
for the titles and cut payroll on 15 September 1998.
[ ] However, the company stayed afloat for several more months in the hopes of being acquired by Midway Games. The company closed in early 1999.
Rob Landeros
Rob Landeros is a computer game designer and graphic artist. Together with Graeme Devine, he co-founded Trilobyte, where he created the highly commercially successful games ''The 7th Guest'' and '' The 11th Hour''. After leaving Trilobyte, he ...
later developed a proposal for another first-person sequel in ''The 7th Guest'' series – ''The Collector''.
Relaunch
In November 2010, Trilobyte was resurrected. ''The 7th Guest'' was relaunched for the iPhone and iPad in December 2010. In April 2011, ''
The 7th Guest: Infection''—a stand-alone version of the popular Microscope Puzzle from the original ''7th Guest''—was released for iPad.
''The 7th Guest 3''
On Halloween 2013, Trilobyte launched a
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
campaign for ''The 7th Guest 3: The Collector'', which failed to meet its funding target of $435,000.
Another
crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...
campaign was started at
Crowdtilt
Founded in 2012, Tilt (formerly Crowdtilt) was a crowdfunding company that allowed for groups and communities to collect, fundraise, or pool money online. James Beshara and Khaled Hussein launched the platform under the name Crowdtilt in February ...
with a smaller goal of $65,000 to build the first story of the haunted mansion
but that too, failed, and the 7th Guest 3 was officially cancelled in June 2014.
Released 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 ...
'' – the first title released by Trilobyte Software. It sold over 2 million copies, making more than US$50 million for the company in the 1990s. It was re-released for
iPhone and
iPad
The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...
in December 2010, and re-released for PC by DotEmu in February 2012 as an updated version. It was also re-released for PC by GOG in a smaller package. On 13 March 2012 The 7th Guest for MacIntosh was released on the Mac App Store.
''
The 11th Hour'' – the sequel to ''The 7th Guest''. Many production problems and release date slipped by a year resulted in lost profits and sales of 1.7 million units. This game was also re-released in February 2012 for PC by both DotEmu and GOG.
''
Clandestiny
''Clandestiny'', published in 1996 by Virgin Games and developed by Trilobyte, is a video-based puzzle computer game. After the profit loss of '' The 11th Hour'', the second game created by Trilobyte, the producers went on to make a more kid-fr ...
'' – a cel animated child-friendly puzzle game. It sold only 2500 copies in the United States, bringing in a profit of just US$500,000. The game is currently available in the Mac App Store and published by
GRL Games
''
Uncle Henry's Playhouse'' – a compilation of some of the puzzles from ''The 7th Guest'', ''The 11th Hour'', and ''Clandestiny''. It sold 27 copies in the United States, and 127 worldwide.
''
The 7th Guest: Infection'' – a stand-alone version of the Microscope Puzzle from the original release of The 7th Guest, which was excluded from the re-released iPhone and iPad versions due to technical issues. Released as an app for iPad in April 2011.
Unreleased games
''Cybernet'' – The Fat Man has listed on his website that he composed the music for this game.
''Dog Eat Dog'' – An office politics simulator. At a cost of over US$800,000, it was scrapped halfway through production.
''The 7th Guest III'' – A game where the house would be back to its original form and all forms of media were to be controlled by
Satan
Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...
. US$500,000 went into production. Only a few highly rendered screen shots were created before the project was cancelled.
''Extreme Warfare'' – Graeme Devine's online top-down perspective 3D tank game, originally named ''Assault''. Red Orb Entertainment was sold to
The Learning Company
The Learning Company (TLC) was an educational software company founded in 1980 in Palo Alto, California and headquartered in Fremont, California. The company produced a grade-based line of learning software, edutainment games, and productivity ...
, who cancelled the came.
''Baja Racing'' – originally called ''Extreme Racing''. It was shelved due to the lack of development personnel.
''The 13th Soul'' – a 3rd-person real time game inside the Stauf mansion. A few rendered rooms were made. The sale of Virgin Interactive resulted in the cancellation of the project.
''Trojan Planet'' – a role-playing game set in a
parallel universe where all the world is Troy. The company went under shortly after the concept arose.
''The 7th Guest III (3rd Version)'' – Another version in which the town was abandoned and Tad (the young boy from the ''7th Guest'') was grown up and a writer, coming back to stop Stauf. The company went under shortly after the concept arose.
''The 7th Guest III: The Collector'' – A completely new version of ''7th Guest III'' where the events took place in a German
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
rather than the Stauf house. Lack of funding and interest by the producer
Lunny Interactive caused it to be shelved. Trilobyte later sought crowdfunding for a different concept bearing a similar title, but it was cancelled in June 2014.
References
External links
Official websiteOld official websiteTrilobyte at
MobyGames
MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...
"Haunted Glory: The Rise and Fall of Trilobyte"–
Archive.org
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
mirror
''https://www.tbyte.com/downloads/''– Original Game Patches
– Detailed information of ''The 11th Hour'' and the planned third part of the series
''The Collector''– Landeros' sequel proposal
{{Authority control
Companies based in Medford, Oregon
Video game companies established in 1990
Video game companies of the United States
Video game development companies
American companies established in 1990