Turbulenz was a video game development company based in the United Kingdom, and was focused on HTML5 game development. They created a HTML5 game engine also named Turbulenz. The company published third party video games as well as developing their own.
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Headquarters | , United Kingdom |
Key people | James Austin (CEO) |
| Website | biz |
History
editTurbulenz was founded in 2009 in Guildford, United Kingdom, by several former industry veteran from Electronic Arts and Criterion, after raising $5 million in funding.[1][2][3] Some of the funds raised were set aside to help developers work on browser game.[4] Gavin Shields is the chief operating officer, and David Galeano is the chief technology officer (CTO).[5][6] The company's goal is to create an end-to-end platform for creating, publishing and monetizing web games.[2] In 2012, several game industry veterans from Lionhead Studios joined the company to create a new game.[1] Shields stated that the ability to recruit industry veterans validated the company's direction in promoting HTML5 gaming.[7]
Turbulenz engine
editTurbulenz's primary product is an HTML5 game engine. It supports 3D graphics, dynamic lighting, shadow maps, physics, 2D animations, and audio. It relies on WebGL, Web Audio and JavaScript, and is intended to support the development of web browser based games.[5] The engine is supported by a development community hub site and a consumer store site.[7][3]
In 2013, the engine was made open source under the MIT license.[8] It was the first 3D JavaScript engine to be made open source. At the time, there were over 3000 developers working with the engine, and the company was working towards mobile and tablet support.[9]
The engine has been used for third party games such as Denki's Save the Day and Xona Games' Score Rush.[10][11]
In 2015, it was announced that Turbulenz's game Boundless, which uses the engine, would be released on PlayStation 4.[12]
In 2021, it was bought by Larian Studios and integrated[13]
Games
editTurbulenz has also developed and released games using its engine. The games are released under their first party team, Wonderstruck Games.[14]
| Game | Year | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Polycraft | 2013 | Web[15] |
| The Marvellous Miss Take | 2014 | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS[16] |
| Boundless (Originally Oort Online) | 2017 | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4[12][17] |
References
edit- ^ a b Gera, Emily (19 July 2012). "Lionhead Studios veterans join Turbulenz to build HTML 5 titles". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ a b Alexander, Leigh (10 November 2010). "Turbulenz Raises $5 Million For Online Game Platform". Gamasutra. UBM plc. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ a b Galeano, David; Tebbs, Duncan (7 February 2013). "Making the Move to HTML5, Part 1". Gamasutra. UBM plc. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ Martin, Matt (24 November 2010). "Turbulenz launches developer funding programme". GamesIndustry.biz. Gamer Network. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ a b Humphries, Matthew (26 July 2012). "Turbulenz WebGL engine proves Quake 4 is possible in a browser". Geek.com. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 23 October 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ Chapple, Craig (10 July 2012). "HTML5 'is the future of gaming'". Develop. NewBay Media. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ a b Handrahan, Matthew (19 July 2012). "Lionhead veterans join HTML5 studio Turbulenz". GamesIndustry.biz. Gamer Network. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ turbulenz-game-engine-goes-open-source on nerdy-news (2013)
- ^ Humphries, Matthew (2 May 2013). "Turbulenz makes HTML5 engine open-source". GamesIndustry.biz. Gamer Network. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ Whitehead, Dan (10 April 2012). "Denki's Gary Penn and Sean Taylor on working outside the mainstream and life after Quarrel". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ Cowan, Danny (15 June 2012). "Xona's Bullet-Hell Shooter Score Rush Now Available In Chrome Web Store". Indiegames.com. UBM plc. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ a b Farokhmanesh, Megan (27 October 2015). "Boundless heading to PS4, watch the trailer here". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ "Guildford's Turbulenz becomes Larian Guildford – to work on Baldur's Gate 3". MCV. 19 February 2021.
- ^ John, Dalziel (28 June 2013). "Q&A with Wonderstruck Games". CreativeJS. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ Tylwalk, Nick (23 January 2013). "Polycraft Preview". GameZebo. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ Smith, Graham (27 October 2014). "The Marvellous Miss Take Is Stylish, Make No Mistake". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ Sykes, Tom (28 October 2015). "Oort Online is now Boundless, will offer cross-play with PS4". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved 14 October 2016.