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Snowblind Studios

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Video games
Founded	1997; 28 years ago (1997)
Defunct	2012 (2012)
Fate	Merged intoMonolith Productions
Successor	Monolith Productions
Headquarters	Kirkland, Washington, U.S.[1]
Parent	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (2009–2012)
Website	snowblind.com (archived)

Snowblind Studios was an American video game developer located inKirkland, Washington.^[1] They were founded in 1997, specializing inrole-playing video games.

In February 2009, Snowblind Studios was acquired byWarner Bros. Home Entertainment.^[2] Originally located inBothell, Washington, after the Warner Bros. acquisition, the studio was relocated to Kirkland. Following the release ofThe Lord of the Rings: War in the North, the studio was merged in withMonolith Productions in 2012.

The Snowblind engine, also referred to as the Dark Alliance game engine, is agame engine created by Snowblind Studios for perspective correct overhead third person view role-playing games. It was first used by Snowblind Studios to createBaldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. The previousBaldur's Gate games used theInfinity Engine which was created byBioWare for isometric role-playing games.

The first game to use the engine wasBaldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, a joint collaboration betweenInterplay Entertainment and Snowblind Studios. Interplay then used the engine for all their ports of the game except the Game Boy Advance version, which used its own game engine. These ports of the game greatly expanded on how much content the game was able to use and the amount of save slots present in the game.

The engine was then used by Snowblind Studios in itsEverQuest games starting withChampions of Norrath. Snowblind improved the engine in their own ways, such as adding new features such as character creation and online multiplayer. Interplay, however, continued to use the engine, due to the fact they partly owned the engine, for their console games. Interplay used the engine for their sequel toDark Alliance,Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, which was developed byBlack Isle Studios. This sequel once again improved on the engine's capabilities and added more features, improved graphics and better audio; it added features from the Infinity EngineBaldur's Gate games such asCompanions. Interplay then releasedFallout: Brotherhood of Steel andThe Bard's Tale; both games improved on the engine in their own way.Brotherhood of Steel added areputation system to the game andThe Bard's Tale improved on other features of the engine, such as audio.The Bard's Tale was the Dark Alliance Engine's firstPC release. Interplay was developing a sequel toBrotherhood of Steel,Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2. This game would have added the features of sniping, stealth and a more advanced reputation system, but was soon canceled.

Snowblind Studios then releasedChampions: Return to Arms, which refined the online multiplayer and changed the linear portion of the games released for the engine and allowed characters to change the ending. Around this time, Snowblind began to license the engine out to indie developers, but only one could make a game. The game was met with a lawsuit byTitus Software, the owners of Interplay, andAcclaim Entertainment but in the end, it was ultimately released asCombat Elite: WWII Paratroopers.

Snowblind then createdJustice League Heroes with the same engine in 2006. The game was released around the time the next gen of video game consoles was out, but due to it being created for the previous gen, it was released forXbox andPlayStation 2. A portable version of the engine was used for thePlayStation Portable. TheGame Boy Advance version, which was released asJustice League Heroes: The Flash, used its own engine, and theNintendo DS version did the same thing. To fit thesuperhero theme of the game, Snowblind Studios put most of their effort into the length of the game, thereby taking out many features of the engine.^[3]

• Official website viaInternet Archive
• Snowblind Studios' profile atMobyGames

• Defunct video game companies of the United States
• Video game development companies
• Defunct companies based in Kirkland, Washington
• Video game companies established in 1997
• Video game companies disestablished in 2012
• Defunct video game companies based in Washington (state)
• Warner Bros. Games

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