Rubicon Development

Rubicon Development is a UK-based independent game developer. It is most notable for creating the Great Big War Game Series. It created Combat Monsters.

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Introdution
Rubicon came into being with a meeting of minds of its two founding directors, Paul Johnson and Steven Haggerty. After long and successful careers in mainstream game development, they decided to strike out on their own in early 2005 with a plan to specialise in developing games for hand held and mobile devices which could be digitally distributed. The foundation of the company enabled the development of proprietary engine technology to publish to the full range of the latest generation of consoles and to be extensible so that new platforms could be reached with maximum speed as they came onto the market.

Services and specialisms
Thanks to the make-up of the core staff, Rubicon can tackle small to mid-size projects for practically any platform, with little or no learning curve. Long industry experience and wide skill sets make for a flexible development team. Rubicon specialises in platform conversion and original content creation, either to your specification or ours. Rubicon can develop an original title from scratch on any of the below platforms, or convert an existing game between any two of them: · Microsoft Xbox 360 · PlayStation 3 · PSP · Nintendo Wii · Nintendo DS · LeapFrog Didj · Microsoft Xbox · PC/Direct X · PlayStation 2 · iPad/iPhone/iTouch · Gizmondo · BREW/J2ME/Symbian · Pocket PC, Smartphone · Palm O/S · PlayStation Rubicon Development has an extensive tool chain in place for rapid development on all of the above platforms, including largely shareable libraries for 3D/2D etc.

Completed Projects
We’ve been trading for five years and notched up an exciting range of shipped and in-development projects.

Paul Johnson as Managing Director
Paul serves the dual role of programmer and chief operating officer, with the main emphasis being on the former. With over 25 years of professional games programming experience, he is well grounded in all aspects of game development. Prior to Rubicon, Paul was the sole proprietor of Applewood House Development, a freelance enterprise doing much the same work as Rubicon. Applewood traded for three years with some success and never any shortage of happy clients. Before that, Paul spent several years working in lead roles at Stainless Software Ltd, makers of the infamous Carmageddon, several years at Mirage Technologies and several years at Attention to Detail, Ltd.

Steven Haggerty as Technical Director
Steven’s primary tasks include developing new technology, evaluating current technical trends and carrying out a wide range of programming tasks on several different platforms. As a lead and senior programmer on the vast majority of his previous games, he was worked in every aspect of games programming, from the lowest level machine code through to Java. Prior to Rubicon, Steven worked as a freelance games developer, working on various consoles and handheld platforms and was responsible for the conversion of the high profile title Fight Club 3D for IOMO / Superscape. The 11 years prior to this were spent programming at games companies including Infogrames/Hasbro/Microprose, SCi Ltd and Stainless Games Ltd, usually as a Senior or Lead programmer. Steve has worked on several games from initial low level engine code to final Sony/Microsoft/NSTL submission.

David Moss as Art Director
David has been creating game graphics for over 20 years having begun his computing days as bitmap artist on the Atari ST, and he now has an impressive portfolio of work spread over most of the major gaming platforms. Prior to working with Rubicon, David has worked for companies including Rocksteady Studios, and Argonaut Software ltd. In recent years he has worked successfully is a freelance artist in both games and Digital Illustration. David brings to Rubicon a keen eye for graphics and animation with the ability to put his hand to anything that gets passed his way. His credits include Alien Odyssey (PC), Alien Resurrection (PSOne), Powerpuff Girls (PSOne & N64), Bob the Builder Bob (PC), Cubix Racing Robots ( PSOne), I-Ninja (PS2, & Xbox), Urban Chaos (PS2, Xbox), Deal or No Deal (PC), Nancy Drew (Didj), Star Wars Jedi Trials (Didj), High School Musical (Didj), Tracy Beaker (DS/Wii/PC), Horrid Henry (DS/Wii/PC), Sushi Go Round (DS/Wii).

Steve Venezia as Lead Game Designer / Level Creator
Steve has performed design roles on a wide variety of games with both licensed and orignal IP. Starting his career as a dedicated QA operative he stalked up the ranks to Lead Designer on several titles, including Doctor Who (DS/Wii) and Horrid Henry (DS/Wii/PC). Steve has also learnt the art of gameplay programming and spends most of his free time developing iPad and iPhone games that rather inevitably, heavily feature zombies.

Michalis Bobotsaris as Programmer
Michalis has been with us for several years now and is our lead AI and general gameplay programmer. As a computer science masters graduate, he brings with him a fresh face and boundless enthusiasm, coupled with a proven ability to get projects finished on time. Michalis has no commercially published work prior to joining Rubicon, as this is his first employed position. However, since he joined us he’s had a good hand in most projects and led some of them.

Jamie Cason as Producer & Business Development
With 14 years experience producing entertainment projects in the theatre, TV and interactive industries, Jamie takes care of day-today project management, business and legal affairs, and liaison with clients. Jamie joined the BBC in 2000 with responsibility for developing interactive entertainment across multiple digital platforms. Jamie created, commissioned and executive produced a multitude of games including the BAFTA Award-winning Celebdaq and others based on some of the BBC’s best loved brands including EastEnders, The Office, Little Britain and Neighbours, primarily targeting young audiences. Since leaving the BBC in 2007, Jamie has specialised in producing console-based interactive entertainment for children and families. His credits include Peppa Pig, Tracy Beaker, Horrid Henry for Nintendo DS, Wii and PC and High School Musical and Star Wars: Jedi Trials for LeapFrog’s Didj.