Bitmap Brothers
Encyclopedia
The Bitmap Brothers were a UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 based video game developer
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...

 founded in 1987. The company entered the industry in 1988 with the scrolling shooter Xenon
Xenon (computer game)
Xenon is a 1988 vertical scrolling shooter computer game, developed and published by The Bitmap Brothers. It featured as a play-by-phone game on Saturday-morning kids' show Get Fresh.-Description:thumb|left|In-game screenshot...

. They quickly followed with the classic Speedball. Prior to becoming the publisher of their own games (under Renegade Software
Renegade Software
Renegade Software was a UK based games publisher, founded in 1991 by the Bitmap Brothers.Initially the Bitmap Brothers used the new label to publish their own games, after they had become dissatisfied with the practices of publishing companies . Their stated goal was to give game developers more...

), early Bitmap Brothers titles were distributed
Distribution (business)
Product distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. An organization or set of organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by a consumer or business user.The other three parts of the marketing mix are product, pricing,...

 by Image Works
Image Works
Image Works was a publishing label of video games publisher Mirrorsoft created in 1988. The first two games published under the Image Works label were Fernandez Must Die and Foxx Fights Back...

 and Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...

.

The Bitmap Brothers released several games on the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...

 and Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...

, and were one of the most successful companies on those platforms. They became known in particular for releasing games from a variety of different genres that usually came to be regarded as leaders in their respective fields. Their PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...

 games have never matched the sales of their previous Amiga titles, despite garnering positive critical reviews in the press.

They were the first game developers to publicise themselves as rock stars, and were featured in the press posing in dark glasses standing next to the helicopter of Robert Maxwell
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell MC was a Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament , who rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire...

, the owner of Mirrorsoft
Mirrorsoft
Mirrorsoft was a computer game software publisher in the United Kingdom, owned by Mirror Group Newspapers. It was founded as a publisher of educational software before moving into games. One offshoot of its printing roots was Fleet Street Publisher on several platforms...

, the publisher of a number of their games.

They were also one of the first companies to use licensed music in their games. Xenon 2 Megablast
Xenon 2 Megablast
Xenon 2 Megablast is a computer game originally produced for the Amiga and Atari ST, and later converted to the PC, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive, Acorn Archimedes and Game Boy platforms. The sequel to Xenon, it was designed by the Bitmap Brothers...

featured music by Bomb the Bass
Bomb the Bass
Bomb the Bass is the umbrella title for the output of British musician and producer, Tim Simenon. The band, which has evolved its style over the years, has been classed as electronic or dance....

.

In later years the company was best known for its Real-time strategy game
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....

 Z
Z (computer game)
Z is a 1996 real-time strategy computer game by The Bitmap Brothers. It is about two armies of robots battling to conquer different planets.A sequel, Z: Steel Soldiers, was published in 2001. was published by KavCom in 2011.-Worlds:...

. The game received rave reviews in the press.

After 2002 the company also released ports of several of their games for both the Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...

 and Pocket PC
Pocket PC
A Pocket PC is also known by Microsoft as a 'Windows Mobile Classic device'. It is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer, personal digital assistant , that runs the Microsoft 'Windows Mobile Classic' operating system...

 platforms.

Details

The Bitmap Brothers were based in Wapping
Wapping
Wapping is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets which forms part of the Docklands to the east of the City of London. It is situated between the north bank of the River Thames and the ancient thoroughfare simply called The Highway...

, East London and were privately owned. The company's MD
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

 was Mike Montgomery, who had founded the company together with Eric Matthews and Steve Kelly. Mike Montgomery later went on to take sole control of the business.

Mark John Coleman is a computer graphics developer who frequently worked with the Bitmap Brothers, and along with Dan Malone was responsible for the visual style that became a trademark of a Bitmap Brother games.

Other key staff included Technical Director John Phillips, Business Development Director Ed Bartlett
Ed Bartlett
Ed Bartlett, is a British entrepreneur best known for pioneering the in-game advertising industry and the Freemium game model...

 and Creative Director Jamie Barber.

Legacy

Two former core members of the company — Mike Montgomery and John Phillips — have gone on to found Tower Studios (along with Sensible Software
Sensible Software
Sensible Software was a software house active during the 1980s and 90s, from the United Kingdom.The company was well-known for the very small sprites used for the player characters in many of their games, including Sensible Soccer, Cannon Fodder and Sensible Golf.- Early history :Sensible Software...

 founder Jon Hare
Jon Hare
Jon "Jops" Hare is a British computer game designer, game artist and musician. He is one of the two founder members and directors, with Chris Yates, of Sensible Software, one of the most successful European games development companies of the late 1980s and 1990s.Hare was co-designer and artist of...

), and state their involvement with Bitmap Brothers as having ended in 2004.

Business Development Director, Ed Bartlett
Ed Bartlett
Ed Bartlett, is a British entrepreneur best known for pioneering the in-game advertising industry and the Freemium game model...

 went on to pioneer the In-game advertising
In-game advertising
In-game advertising refers to advertising in computer and video games. IGA differs from advergaming, which refers to a game specifically made to advertise a product.The IGA industry is large and growing...

 industry, initially with Hive Partners and then with IGA Worldwide.

After years of silence a news post on the official website announced Speedball 2 Tournament
Speedball 2 Tournament
Speedball 2 Tournament is a sequel to the Commodore Amiga futuristic sports video game Speedball originally created by Bitmap Brothers, published by Frogster Interactive Pictures and developed by Kylotonn.-Features:...

which was released in November 2007 by Frogster Interactive, but failed to achieve the success of previous titles in the franchise.

In October 2010, it was announced that Speedball 2 would be resurrected again, this time for the iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...

 and iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...

 systems, with Vivid Games managing the conversion.

Trivia

As a tribute to the greatness of Xenon 2, in particular for the upgradeability of the spaceship between levels in Xenon 2, Alpha Helix honoured the Bitmap Brothers by naming the most powerful weapon in The Last Eichhof
The Last Eichhof
The Last Eichhof is a freeware shoot-'em-up game released for MS-DOS in 1993 by Swiss company Alpha Helix. The player controls a beer bottle and destroys bottles belonging to rival beer companies. There are 5 levels; between each level, the player is given a chance to buy extra bottles, each with...

, "Xenon 2 Cannon".

Titles

In chronological order:
  • Xenon
    Xenon (computer game)
    Xenon is a 1988 vertical scrolling shooter computer game, developed and published by The Bitmap Brothers. It featured as a play-by-phone game on Saturday-morning kids' show Get Fresh.-Description:thumb|left|In-game screenshot...

    (1988)
  • Speedball (1988)
  • Xenon II: Megablast (1989)
  • Cadaver
    Cadaver (video game)
    Cadaver is an isometric action-adventure game by the Bitmap Brothers, originally released by Image Works in 1990, for Atari ST, Amiga, MS-DOS and Acorn Archimedes...

    (1990)
  • Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe (1990)
  • Gods
    Gods (video game)
    Gods is a 1991 video game by The Bitmap Brothers where the player is cast as Hercules in his quest to achieve immortality. The game was first made for Amiga and Atari ST computers and then ported for various other platforms...

    (1991)
  • Magic Pockets
    Magic Pockets
    Magic Pockets is a platform game developed by the Bitmap Brothers and published by Renegade in October 1991. It was released for the Atari ST, Amiga, Acorn Archimedes and PC....

  • The Chaos Engine
    The Chaos Engine
    The Chaos Engine is a top-down run and gun computer game developed by the Bitmap Brothers and published by Renegade Software in 1993. The game is set in a steampunk Victorian age in which one or two players must battle the hostile creations of the titular Chaos Engine across four landscapes and...

    (1993)
  • The Chaos Engine 2
    The Chaos Engine 2
    The Chaos Engine 2 is an isometric shooter video game, and sequel to The Chaos Engine, released for the Amiga in 1996 and developed by the Bitmap Brothers.-Plot:...

    (1996)
  • Z
    Z (computer game)
    Z is a 1996 real-time strategy computer game by The Bitmap Brothers. It is about two armies of robots battling to conquer different planets.A sequel, Z: Steel Soldiers, was published in 2001. was published by KavCom in 2011.-Worlds:...

    (1996)
  • Speedball 2100 (2000)
  • Z: Steel Soldiers
    Z: Steel Soldiers
    Z: Steel Soldiers is a real-time strategy game released by the Bitmap Brothers on 15 June, 2001 for the Windows platform. It is the sequel of their earlier game Z, and follows the same futuristic military science fiction storyline and battlefield gameplay...

    (2001)
  • Speedball Arena (cancelled)
  • World War II: Frontline Command
    World War II: Frontline Command
    World War II Frontline Command is a real-time strategy, 3D, tactical war game for the PC that was developed by long standing developers, the Bitmap Brothers. It was originally released in Europe during September 2002 by Deep Silver and subsequently released in June 2003 by Focus Multimedia.-Plot:As...

    (2003)
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK