Indie games have certainly risen in popularity over the past few years. After gaining more exposure through Steam, developers have been able to break away from the creative limitations of the corporate gaming industry to pursue more personal and innovative projects. An industry veteran since 1986, Simon Golding recently founded his own studio, Nephilim Game Studios, to develop his own projects.
And what’s this project about, you ask? Well, he’s not telling anyone…yet.
A Seasoned Pro(grammer)
Simon’s experience in the gaming industry is not only voluminous, but diverse including various genres of games such as puzzle, real-time strategy, and shooters, under his belt. Of course, Simon’s initial experience with game programming were much different then than they are now.
From 1990 to 1993, I worked on a number of Gameboy titles, only needed one programmer in those days.
In the mid-90’s, Simon worked for Sega, contributing his programming skills to popular titles like Mortal Kombat II and FIFA. Soon afterward, Simon worked for the iconic Westwood Studios, developers of the wildy popular Command and Conquer series, in Las Vegas, Nevada. When Westwood Studios merged with Electronic Arts in 1998, Golding programmed a number of titles including:
- Medal of Honor: Rising Sun, PS2/XBOX/Gamecube (2003)
- GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, PS2/XBOX/Gamecube (2004)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II, Xbox 360 (2006)
- Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, Xbox 360 (2007)
- Boom Blox, Wii (2008)
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, PlayStation 3 (2009)
Golding describes his work on Epic Mickey 2 as a ‘great thrill’, ending his quote with a mischievious smiley face.
More recently, Simon was the Director of Studio Technology for Junction Point’s Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two and 2K’s man vs. monster FPS, Evolve.
The amassment of such a diverse and prestigous resume of games is quite an achievement. However, Golding remains modest about his contribution to each title:
I’m proud of all of them in some way, each one had its different high points. This might sound strange but once I’ve finished making a game I will never play it again, time to let it go.
Time for Something “New ‘n Tasty”
After establishing himself as a talented and successful programmer, Golding’s next step was to do something bigger and bolder. He created Nephilim Game Studios, giving him an oppurtunity develop his own games. Although Golding is not willing to spill any details on his new game yet, he did give some insight into his secret project:
I can’t tell you much except it will be a trilogy and characters in the game come from the name of the studio. Right now its in pre-production, getting the story worked out so it can span across the 3 games and feel like a full experience when it all comes together.
As of right now, Nephilim Game Studios is working on completing the Wii U and PlayStation Vita versions of Oddworld: New ‘n Tasty. Oddworld: New ‘n Tasty was originally released for the PlayStation 4 in July 2014 to critical acclaim as an impressive remake of Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey.
Personally, I am excited to see what is on the horizon for Nephilim Game Studios. With Golding’s talented programming, his secret game is likely to be stellar!
For more on Nephilim Game Studios, visit their website or Facebook page.
Image Sources: Games-All & PlayStation.com
Published: Sep 4, 2015 02:14 pm