Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Video game company building success from ground zero

Two years ago, Las Vegas-based Petroglyph was three guys in a small temporary office.

Today the company has grown to 23 employees who are working on the next highly anticipated real-time strategy (RTS) game for LucasArts, Star Wars: Empire at War.

The game, to be released worldwide this fall, will take Star Wars video game fans to the next level with both real-time strategy planetary and space battles -- a first for LucasArts' Star Wars games.

Real-time strategy games can be played by a single player on one computer, or over the Internet or a local area network (LAN) against human opponents. Rather than the traditional turn-based game where "one player moves, then another player moves," real-time strategy games allow players to battle against each other, or against computer-controlled (artificial intelligence) players at the same time.

Petroglpyh was founded by three programmers after video game giant Electronic Arts closed Westwood Studios, its Las Vegas division, in early 2003, and consolidated its video game operations at its Redwood City, Calif. headquarters.

"We started from scratch after Westwood closed," Michael Legg, one of Petroglyph's founders, said.

While the group may have started small, they were far from neophytes in the field of video game technology.

Co-founders Steve Tall and Joe Bostic are both considered pioneers in the industry for creating the genre of real-tme strategy games. Bostic is the original co-creator of Dune 2: The Building of a Dynasty, which is often referred to in the industry as the first real-time strategy game. Tall was the lead designer and lead programmer of the popular game 'Z', which also is one of the first games to pioneer the genre.

The three have over 50 years of combined industry experience, and are well known for having major roles in creating and producing such games as the Command & Conquer series; Blade Runner, The Legend of Kyrandia series; and Monopoly for the Internet.

The Command & Conquer series has sold more than 22 million units worldwide, Legg said.

"From my view, it was like a ready-made studio," said Chuck Kroegel, Petroglyph's general manager. "There were these three people interested in working together and staying in Las Vegas, and all these other team members ready to come back."

That commitment is what drew Lucas- Arts to the new company, said Brett Tosti, producer at Marin County, Calif.-based LucasArts.

LucasArts, a division of Lucasfilm Ltd., is a leading publisher and developer of interactive entertainment software for video game console systems and personal computers. The company was founded by filmmaker George Lucas to provide an interactive element to his entertainment company.

"This is a group of game developers that have a long track record of making RTS games," Tosti said. "What they were representing was the kernel of a good developer that is not yet ramped up."

Tosti said before LucasArts signed a contract with Petroglyph, it asked Legg, Tall and Bostic to write up different proposals that focused on business plans; how they would structure the company and who they would hire; and their ideas for the game.

"They wrote up the plans and they all seemed, quite honestly, a lot better than established companies," Tosti said. "We've been with companies for years that haven't done as good a job writing up these proposals."

Since signing the contract on Oct. 24, 2003, Petroglyph has rounded out the company with qualified people and so far has handled the mammoth project well, he said. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Creating a new video game entirely from scratch takes a lot of time and effort for any company -- especially one that has just got off the ground.

Petroglyph started hiring the necessary people, and of the 23 people now at the company, 19 of them are former Westwood employees, Legg said. Many of those employees stayed behind in Las Vegas after Westwood closed up shop, he said.

To create a video game, programs must be written before each segment of the game can be drawn. Even music and sound effects must be written.

In the case of Star Wars: Empire at War, spaceships must be not only made to fly, but fly at the proper speeds. Space backdrops, battle maps and story lines must all be created.

The team researched the Star Wars movies and the extended universe of Star Wars -- everything beyond the movies, from the books and comics, to action figures and other computer games.

The story lines in Star Wars: Empire at War take place after "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," which is expected in movie theaters May 15, but occurs before the plot of "Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope" (the first film in the original Star Wars trilogy).

The game developers are pleased with their progress.

"We're a little over halfway," Legg said of completing the game.

The three founders said they know the opportunity to create a Star Wars game for LucasArts is an excellent opportunity, but admit it comes with a heavy burden.

"We're going to be very heavily judged on it," Legg said. "Our goal is to do an incredible job on it. This is what is going to define Petroglyph."

While Petroglyph was successful in landing the plum contract, for many in the technology business Las Vegas might as well be a galaxy far, far away.

When it comes to attracting technology businesses, the valley for years has lost out to other cities, with companies citing a lack of talent and highly skilled workers as reasons not to locate, or stay, in Southern Nevada.

Nevada scores near the bottom of the nation in a Milken Institute index gauging every state's technological attributes.

Somer Hollingsworth, president and chief executive of the Nevada Development Authority said he thinks people and companies are slowly changing their minds about Las Vegas as a place to base technical companies. He said IBM's recent acquisition of Las Vegas software company Systems Research and Development and the success of Petroglyph can only help.

"Everybody is going to look and say what in the heck is going on in Vegas," Hollingsworth said. "Times are changing, and this adds fuel to the fire."

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