 | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 1990; 35 years ago (1990) inSalem, New Hampshire, U.S. |
| Founders | |
| Defunct | May 24, 2000; 25 years ago (2000-05-24) |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people | Paul Neurath (president; 1990–2000) |
Number of employees | 120 (1999) |
| Parent | AverStar (1997–1999) |
| Website | www.lglass.com at theWayback Machine (archived February 9, 1998) |
Looking Glass Studios, Inc. (formerlyBlue Sky Productions andLookingGlass Technologies, Inc.) was an Americanvideo game developer based inCambridge, Massachusetts. The company was founded byPaul Neurath withNed Lerner as Blue Sky Productions in 1990, and merged with Lerner's Lerner Research in 1992 to become LookingGlass Technologies. Between 1997 and 1999, the company was part ofIntermetrics and was renamed Looking Glass Studios. Following financial issues at Looking Glass, the studio shut down in May 2000.
Notable productions by Looking Glass include theUltima Underworld,System Shock, andThief series.
Co-founders of Looking Glass, Paul Neurath and Ned Lerner, met atWesleyan University where Lerner was a physics major and Neurath studied environmental science. The two worked together on the gameDeep Space: Operation Copernicus (1987) before Lerner moved to the West Coast where he worked creating games forElectronic Arts. Neurath found work atOrigin Systems, who had moved their business toNew Hampshire in 1984. Neurath worked on a number of projects includingOgre (1986) andOmega (1989). His largest project was leading the design ofSpace Rogue (1989), which he collaborated with Lerner on many of the technical aspects.[1][2]Space Rogue was in turn a major inspiration forWing Commander (1990) due to its melding of storytelling and space combat elements.
Before the completion ofSpace Rogue, Origin Systems moved back to Texas along with the majority of the staff.[3] Neurath, not wanting to move, decided to use the former Origin office to start his own studio, Blue Sky Productions, at 59 Stiles Road inSalem, New Hampshire in 1990.[4] Lerner, who had his own company called Lerner Research, supplied funds to help get the operation off the ground.[2]
With a concept to create afirst-person dungeon crawler in the vein ofDungeon Master (1987), Neurath began recruiting from the local region. One of his early hires was Doug Church, programmer and graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Church working together with Chris Green of Lerner Research developed a basic three-dimensional,texture mapped demonstration of the game with animation by former Origin artist Douglas Wike.[5][6] The demo was showcased at the 1990 SummerConsumer Electronics Show to attract publisher interest.Richard Garriott andWarren Spector of Origin Systems saw the demo and decided to finance their first game.[7]
The demo, initially namedUnderworld, was rebranded under theUltima series. The initial funding for the game was purportedly $30,000, allowing Neurath to hire his initial staff into Blue Sky Productions. The final cost of production was around $400,000[1] and would be released in March 1992 asUltima Underworld (1992). By the end of production onUltima Underworld, the company had moved to a new office inLexington, Massachusetts.[7][8]
Blue Sky Productions began work on the sequel toUltima Underworld while Neurath and Lerner spoke about merging their two companies. Lerner Research was fresh off the completion ofCar & Driver (1992) and had been granted a license to develop EA's nextMadden title for theSega Genesis for which they needed more development support. The two decided on a name change in order to differentiate themselves from the game companyBlue Sky Software.[9] Initially they used the name "Flying Fish Designs" but eventually settled on Looking Glass.[7] The name was chosen both as a reference to the bookThrough the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll and to the idea that their game worlds transported people to new worlds. They initially considered "Looking Glass Studios" but decided that their specialty was more in technology.[10]
LookingGlass Technologies Inc. was incorporated on June 29, 1992, with Neurath as president and Ned Lerner as vice president and treasurer.John Madden Football '93 (1992) was the first game released by the new studio, withUltima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds (1993) following. Origin became a subsidiary of Electronic Arts in September 1992; EA handled all future publishing arrangements with the studio.[2]
The experienced development team led by Doug Church developedSystem Shock (1994), a pioneering combination of first-person shooter mechanics and immersive systems. The game was decently successful, but initially released on floppy disk which cut out the voiced dialog in its data entry logs, a novel narrative technique for which the game became known.[11] The CD-ROM version utilized voice acting developed by an internal sound team, made up of members from the local bandTribe: Greg LoPiccolo, Eric Brosius, and Terri Brosius – also voice ofSystem Shock's villain SHODAN – who later moved into a game design role.[12]
LookingGlass moved to a new facility inCambridge, Massachusetts in Fall 1994.[13] They received $3.8 million of investment from venture capital firms in November of that year.[14] In 1995, the company started publishing their own games under their own label starting withFlight Unlimited (1995).[14] Designed bySeamus Blackley, the game was noted for its realistic physics simulation and was very successful for Looking Glass, selling 300,000 copies by mid-1997.[15][16] The series was followed up by several sequels/
Terra Nova: Strike Force Centuri (1996) was a largemultimedia production by the studio. The full-motion cutscenes were shot inside of the Looking Glass offices on a greenscreen, with staff members doubling as actors and producers of the film. The game featured other technological achievements like procedural animation, but the massive production took its toll on Looking Glass, not recouping its production costs.
Due in part to the failure ofTerra Nova andBritish Open Championship Golf (1997), Neurath sought outside investment to keep the company afloat.Intermetrics, a Massachusetts-based software company, acquired LookingGlass in 1997. The official name of the company was changed to Intermetrics Entertainment Software, LLC, operating under the trade name of Looking Glass Studios.
The Intermetrics buyout preceded a number of departures at the studio. Co-founder Ned Lerner left to form Multitude with Looking Glass programmer Art Min. Most famously, designer Ken Levine, artist Rob Fermier, and programmer Jonathan Chey who had worked together on aStar Trek: Voyager game canceled in production formedIrrational Games.[17] Irrational formed a studio initially based in the Looking Glass offices, where they co-developedSystem Shock 2 (1999) and the canceledDeep Cover before becoming fully independent.[18]
During the production ofThief: The Dark Project (1998), Looking Glass hiredWarren Spector away from Origin Systems to staff a development arm of the company in Austin, Texas first opened in 1995.[2][19] Though Spector left soon afterwards to joinIon Storm, the Texas office remained open to create console games for various publishers. They created a port ofCommand & Conquer for theNintendo 64,Destruction Derby 64 (1999), along with canceled projectsTamiya Racing andMini Racers.
The lack of success for Looking Glass' projects continued to exert pressure on the studio, in addition to their difficulties finding publishers. Eidos Interactive publishedFlight Unlimited II (1997) and bothThief games, Electronic Arts publishedSystem Shock 2 andFlight Unlimited III (1999). In 1999, Intermetrics divested their ownership of Looking Glass, leaving them without any financial support.[10] The following year, several publishing deals with Eidos, Sony, and Microsoft fell apart.[20]
On May 24, 2000, Neurath called a meeting attended by all employees. He announced that the studio was closing down and the staff left the building that day, with public announcements following.[20][21] Irrational Games continued work onDeep Cover until its subsequent cancellation; many former Looking Glass staff like Terri Brosius joined them. Development onThief III was handed to a team led byThief II project lead Steve Pearsall until it was canceled. AFlight Unlimited spin-off,Flight Combat, which was an estimated three months from completion, was handed toMad Doc Software to be completed asJane's Attack Squadron (2002) as the final game with credits by Looking Glass Studios.
Looking Glass Studios has been called one of the most important development studios in the history of video games. Their game catalog including theUltima Underworld,System Shock, andThief series are seen as the foundation for theimmersive sim genre of action games. Games likeThe Elder Scrolls: Arena,Deus Ex, andDishonored are explicitly modeled after Looking Glass' catalog. The latter two feature designers who were formerly members of Looking Glass.
Ultima Underworld was an influence on id Software's move to create visually impressive first person shooters.John Romero, who had worked onSpace Rogue, conversed with Paul Neurath about the texture mapping technology used in the early Underworld demo. He spoke about this toJohn Carmack, who implemented the technique intoCatacomb 3-D (1991). This technology was crucial to the creation ofWolfenstein 3D (1992) andDoom (1993).[citation needed]
Many other of Looking Glass' developers went on to work on important AAA games. Ned Lerner joinedSony Worldwide Studios as Director of Engineering where he worked on games through thePlayStation 3 andPlayStation 4. Seamus Blackley and other Looking Glass cohorts left to joinDreamWorks Interactive, working on the innovativeTrespasser (1998). AI programmer onThief: The Dark Project Tom Leonard joinedValve Corporation where he developed the AI forSource projects includingHalf-Life 2. Doug Church went on to work for Ion Storm, Electronic Arts, and eventually Valve. Greg LoPiccolo and Eric Brosius joinedHarmonix where they played a major role in the development of theGuitar Hero andRock Band franchises.
Following the closure of Looking Glass, Paul Neurath foundedFloodgate Entertainment in Boston, Massachusetts.[22] They portedUltima Underworld to mobile platforms as well as worked on titles likeDark Messiah of Might and Magic. Floodgate was later acquired byZynga and merged into the Zynga Boston studio; Neurath became the creative director.[23] After the closure of Zynga Boston in October 2012,[24] Neurath establishedOtherside Entertainment in 2013. He reassembled many Looking Glass employees to work on a spiritual successor ofUltima Underworld,Underworld Ascendant (2018), initially funded throughKickstarter.
The rights to Looking Glass' catalog were initially split between various rights holders, which made re-releases of their catalog difficult. Eidos retained the rights to theThief franchise.Thief: Deadly Shadows (2004) was created by Ion Storm and the rebootThief (2014) was created byEidos-Montréal. Stephen Kick ofNightdive Studios secured the rights to re-release theSystem Shock games and eventually acquired the IP rights to create a remake,System Shock (2023), and a future sequel.
| Year | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer | Electronic Arts |
| 1991 | F-22 Interceptor | |
| 1992 | Car and Driver |
| Year | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss | Origin Systems |
| Year | Title | Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | John Madden Football '93 | EA Sports | Sega Genesis version |
| 1993 | Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds | Origin Systems/Electronic Arts | |
| 1994 | System Shock | Origin Systems | |
| 1995 | Flight Unlimited | LookingGlass Technologies | |
| 1996 | Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri | ||
| 1997 | British Open Championship Golf |
| Year | Title | Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Flight Unlimited II | Eidos Interactive | |
| 1998 | Thief: The Dark Project | ||
| 1999 | Command & Conquer | Nintendo | Nintendo 64 port |
| System Shock 2 | Electronic Arts | Co-developed withIrrational Games | |
| Flight Unlimited III | |||
| Destruction Derby 64 | THQ | ||
| 2000 | Thief II | Eidos Interactive | |
| 2002 | Jane's Attack Squadron | Xicat Interactive | Originally cancelled, finished byMad Doc Software[25] |
