Croteam

Croteam
Private
Industry Video game industry
Founded 14 June 1993 (1993-06-14)
Founders
  • Davor Hunski
  • Roman Ribarić
  • Dean Sekulić
  • Alen Ladavac
  • Davor Tomičić
  • Admir Elezović
Headquarters Zagreb, Croatia
Key people
  • Roman Ribarić (CEO)
  • Alen Ladavac (CTO)
  • Davor Hunski (CCO)
  • Damjan Mravunac (CMO)
Products
Number of employees
 40+[1]
Divisions Croteam Incubator
Website croteam.com

Croteam is a Croatian video game developer based in Zagreb. Established by six friends in June 1993, the company is best known for the first-person shooter series Serious Sam as well as the 2014 puzzle game The Talos Principle.

History

CCO Davor Hunski (left) and CTO Alen Ladavac at the Game Developers Conference 2015

Croteam was established on 14 June 1993,[2] as a "garage games" company, originally headed up by six friends in Zagreb, Croatia.[3][4] The company's founders were Davor Hunski, Roman Ribarić, Dean Sekulić, Alen Ladavac, Davor Tomičić, and Admir Elezović.[5][6][7] Their first video game was Football Glory, a football game which was published by Black Legend for the Amiga 500 and Amiga 1200 platforms in 1994, and then for PC in 1995.[3][4] Sensible Software threatened legal action against Croteam, asserting that Football Glory was a clone of their video game Sensible Soccer. Croteam ceased further development on the title and released it as freeware in 1998.[4] Their second video game, titled Save the Earth, was a children's game based on a Croatian TV series and released for the Amiga 4000. One year later, Croteam finished 5-A-Side Soccer, an indoor soccer version of Football Glory for the Amiga 500 and Amiga 1200.[3][4]

A long hiatus followed, broken by the first title of the Serious Sam series, Serious Sam: The First Encounter in 2001, followed by Serious Sam: The Second Encounter in 2002.[3][4] Both Serious Sam games debuted on Microsoft Windows and utilised Croteam's in-house Serious Engine. In 2002, Serious Sam for the Xbox was released, which consisted of both games with the additional number of cinematics, an updated scores system, combos, multikills, auto-aiming and other console specific features.[3] A sequel, Serious Sam 2 for both PC and Xbox was released on 11 October 2005, using Serious Engine 2.[8][9]

In 2007, development began on Serious Sam 3: BFE, a prequel to the original game. In 2010, Croteam released high definition remakes of the original Serious Sam games with upgraded textures and models, enhanced engine, user interface and audio, and additional features. Serious Sam 3: BFE was released for Windows in November 2011, soon followed by macOS and Linux versions. The Xbox 360 version of Serious Sam 3: BFE was released on Xbox Live Arcade in September 2012, and later made its way to PlayStation 3 via PlayStation Network in March 2014.[3] In December 2014, Croteam released the first-person puzzle game The Talos Principle for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux.[10]

Serious Engine

For development of Serious Sam: The First Encounter, Croteam developed the Serious Engine (formerly named S-Cape3D), a proprietary game engine, which, while similar to other engines at the time, was designed to render large environments and support a large number of enemies visible at any time.[11] Serious Engine 2 was developed alongside Serious Sam 2, adding in support for a physics engine, refraction, detailed textures, and high dynamic range lighting.[12][13]

Serious Engine 3 was used to support the high-definition remakes of The First Encounter and The Second Encounter for release on Windows and Xbox 360, adding in true high-dynamic lighting support. As Croteam wanted to target more platforms with the release of Serious Sam 3: BFE, Serious Engine 3 was heavily reworked to support seventh-generation consoles, and became Serious Engine 3.5. With the introduction of eighth-generation consoles, Croteam continued to improve the Serious Engine, releasing it as Serious Engine 4, which premiered with The Talos Principle.[14] Serious Engine 4 is also expected to be used for the upcoming Serious Sam 4, with Croteam claiming it can support up to 100,000 enemies on screen at any time.[15]

In honor of Serious Sam: The First Enconter's 15th anniversary in 2016, Croteam released the source code for the first Serious Engine under an open source licence.[16]

Games developed

References

  1. ↑ Gach, Ethan. "Serious Sam 4 Is Aiming For 100,000 Enemies On Screen At Once But It's Not There Yet". kotaku.com. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  2. ↑ "Croteam on Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "About Croteam". Croteam. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Varney, Allen (25 October 2005). "Serious Cro". The Escapist. Defy Media. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  5. ↑ "Bili su klinci iz Utrina koji maštaju da će živjeti od videoigara, 2001. su imali prvi hit, a dosad su prodali milijune". telegram.hr. 1 March 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  6. ↑ "Intervju: Davor Tomičić suosnivač Croteama". ign.com. 18 May 2016. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  7. ↑ Fogel, Stefanie (19 April 2018). "Croteam Is Making New 'Serious Sam' Game". variety.com. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  8. ↑ Calvert, Justin (23 September 2003). "Serious Sam 2 development update". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  9. ↑ Sinclair, Brendan (27 September 2005). "Serious Sam sequel locked and loaded". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  10. ↑ Matulef, Jeffrey (4 September 2014). "The Talos Principle gets a December release date on Steam". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  11. ↑ "War Stories: Serious Sam almost didn't happen—until crates saved the day". Ars Technica. October 3, 2018. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Serious Sam 2 PC Review". Computer Gaming World. 11 October 2005. Archived from the original on 30 June 2006. Retrieved 29 December 2006.
  13. ↑ https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/news010803sam2]
  14. ↑
  15. ↑
  16. ↑ Matulef, Jeffery (March 17, 2016). "Serious Sam's engine is now available to all". Eurogamer. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Serious Sam 4 Interview: First Encounters of the Badass Kind". Shacknews. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  18. ↑ O'Connor, Alice (20 May 2016). "The Talos Principle 2 Discreetly Announced". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
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