Dylan Collins and I sat down to record a podcast about the early history of Demonware, the video games tech company we founded 20 years ago and sold to Activision. We had ring side seats to the mainstream emergence of online gaming. What an adventure! Links plus a transcript here: https://lnkd.in/e8W9vH4J Feat. Steven Collins hugh reynolds Paul Hayes 🐶 Eoin ó Fearghail David Corcoran John Kirk Craig McInnes Robert Synnott Vladislav Titov Michael Collins Steffen Higel Morgan Brickley Art Santos Ian Kehoe
I enjoyed that.. good reminiscing..
Tilman Schaefer
1mo
The squid that was left in the fridge for weeks deserves an honorary mention.
Peter Wright
1mo
I was briefly at Demonware out of the Vancouver office (and briefly in Santa Monica) and it was one of the hardest and most rewarding experiences I've ever had. So much respect for *everyone* I worked with there - it was so impactful I've spent the rest of my career trying to find opportunities where I could re-discover the magic you all had created at that company. Let me tell you - it's been a long search!
Nathan Silvers
1mo
Man so much cool history. I like the bit about "ironically liking single player".. you're welcome (sp level designer back then)! I eventually went on to do tools programming and got to write a "Publisher variables" gui, it was meant for producer types to work on live game variables.. I remember an article around that time of someone accidentally turning some feature on before it was time. Demonware echo'd a lot inside the studio, much appreciated in the trenches work!
John Kirk
1mo
Some fond memories there. Nice work. I cannot remember the punch up though.
Still have the t-shirt only mine is brown😀. Still wear it from time to time
Demonware was part of the historic wave of spinouts born in the in the #DeepTech innovation culture of Trinity College Dublin. It still employes hundreds in Ireland.
Michael Collins
1mo
An amazing read over my morning coffee in Vancouver, it brought back lots of great memories and I wouldn’t be sitting here in Vancouver if it wasn’t for you! I’m looking forward to listening later!
Steven Collins
1mo
I love that Paul Hayes is on his mobile in that photo at GDC! It was great to learn more about behind the scenes at Demonware. I can testify first hand to the continued importance of the Demonware team at Activision and the quality of the team you guys put together back in the day!
Principal Engineer at Treyarch
1moI still vividly remember my time in the Abbey Street office. We still use Demonware tech as the underpinning for online for COD. I'm still here at Treyarch 17 years later, the last of the space monkeys. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you two. Nice work!