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==History== | ==History== | ||
===Formation and early years=== | ===Formation and early years=== | ||
The company was founded in 1988 by [[Michael Hayward]] and [[Ian Saunter]].{{Magref|Edge35}} It was legally incorporated on July 27, 1989, under the name Starclear Software.<ref name="companieshouse"/> Not long after, it became known as Logotron Entertainment.<ref name="companieshouse"/> This is because it had spun out from [[Logotron]], a small purveyor of educational software, after Logotron was bought out by Longman Publishing Group in 1989.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20000412063856fw_/http://www.biota.org/papers/sginterview.html|site=Biota.org|title=The Origins of CyberLife|published=April 12, 2000|retrieved=July 24, 2021|quote=I published educational software myself, but only made peanuts on it. And then I started writing educational software for Logotron as a freelancer. They started getting interested in games, went to the States to look for new products, and came back with a boxful of games. This was nothing to do with me, I hated computer games. So then there was a management buyout. One side bought out the games and went its own way [and became Millennium] and Logotron was bought out by Longman. I ended up programming a version of a side scrolling platform game Millennium wanted porting to the PC - their expert said you couldn’t do fast background scrolls on the PC. I didn’t know it couldn’t be done, so I did it. A few weeks later the game was done and everyone was sufficiently impressed that I got more business. I found myself reluctantly a games programmer.|author=Grand, Steve}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abandonware-france.org/compagnies/logotron-229/|site=Abandonware France|title=LOGOTRON - Compagnie de jeux vidéo|retrieved=May 7, 2025}}</ref> The Logotron name and mark were used by the newly established company under license from Logotron as denoted on the boxes of some of their early releases. | The company was founded in 1988 by [[Michael Hayward]] and [[Ian Saunter]].{{Magref|Edge35}} It was legally incorporated on July 27, 1989, under the name Starclear Software.<ref name="companieshouse"/> Not long after, it became known as Logotron Entertainment.<ref name="companieshouse"/> This is because it had spun out from [[Logotron]], a small purveyor of educational software, after Logotron was bought out by Longman Publishing Group in 1989.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20000412063856fw_/http://www.biota.org/papers/sginterview.html|site=Biota.org|title=The Origins of CyberLife|published=April 12, 2000|retrieved=July 24, 2021|quote=I published educational software myself, but only made peanuts on it. And then I started writing educational software for Logotron as a freelancer. They started getting interested in games, went to the States to look for new products, and came back with a boxful of games. This was nothing to do with me, I hated computer games. So then there was a management buyout. One side bought out the games and went its own way [and became Millennium] and Logotron was bought out by Longman. I ended up programming a version of a side scrolling platform game Millennium wanted porting to the PC - their expert said you couldn’t do fast background scrolls on the PC. I didn’t know it couldn’t be done, so I did it. A few weeks later the game was done and everyone was sufficiently impressed that I got more business. I found myself reluctantly a games programmer.|author=Grand, Steve}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abandonware-france.org/compagnies/logotron-229/|site=Abandonware France|title=LOGOTRON - Compagnie de jeux vidéo|retrieved=May 7, 2025}}</ref> The Logotron name and mark were used by the newly established company under license from Logotron, as denoted on the boxes of some of their early releases. | ||
In 1992, Logotron Entertainment changed its name to Millennium Interactive,<ref name="companieshouse"/> although the name Millennium was already in use by the company since 1990.{{Magref|C&VG102}} Even earlier, some of the games published by Logotron were part of a "Masterworks for the Millenium{{sic}}" range, as denoted on their front covers. In 1993, Millennium shifted its focus from game publishing to pure game development.{{Magref|Edge35}} | In 1992, Logotron Entertainment changed its name to Millennium Interactive,<ref name="companieshouse"/> although the name Millennium was already in use by the company since 1990.{{Magref|C&VG102}} Even earlier, some of the games published by Logotron were part of a "Masterworks for the Millenium{{sic}}" range, as denoted on their front covers. In 1993, Millennium shifted its focus from game publishing to pure game development.{{Magref|Edge35}} | ||
Latest revision as of 18:04, 19 May 2025
| Millennium Interactive | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Logo as seen in Defcon 5. | |||
| AKA | Starclear Software[1] Logotron Entertainment[1] CyberLife Technology[1] Creature Labs[1] | ||
| Type | Video game developer / publisher | ||
| Founded | 1988[2] | ||
| Incorporated | July 27, 1989[1] | ||
| Defunct since | June 8, 2004[1] | ||
| Headquarters | Quern House, Mill Court, Great Shelford, United Kingdom (1993 - 1997)[3] | ||
| Key people | Michael Hayward, Ian Saunter, Toby Simpson, Steve Grand, Chris Sorrell | ||
| Products | James Pond, Creatures | ||
Millennium Interactive, also known as Logotron Entertainment, CyberLife Technology, and Creature Labs, was a video game publishing and development company. It was responsible for publishing and creating titles such as Rome: Pathway to Power, The Adventures of Robin Hood, James Pond, Defcon 5, Deadline and most notably, Creatures. The first MediEvil began development at the company's game studio in 1995, prior to its acquisition by Sony in 1997.
History
Formation and early years
The company was founded in 1988 by Michael Hayward and Ian Saunter.[2] It was legally incorporated on July 27, 1989, under the name Starclear Software.[1] Not long after, it became known as Logotron Entertainment.[1] This is because it had spun out from Logotron, a small purveyor of educational software, after Logotron was bought out by Longman Publishing Group in 1989.[4][5] The Logotron name and mark were used by the newly established company under license from Logotron, as denoted on the boxes of some of their early releases.
In 1992, Logotron Entertainment changed its name to Millennium Interactive,[1] although the name Millennium was already in use by the company since 1990.[6] Even earlier, some of the games published by Logotron were part of a "Masterworks for the Millenium[sic]" range, as denoted on their front covers. In 1993, Millennium shifted its focus from game publishing to pure game development.[2]
Focus on artificial life
The company was renamed once again on October 25, 1996, to CyberLife Technology.[1] It planned to focus solely on its artificial life simulation technology, hoping to sell off its games division.[7][7.1] This finally happened on July 4, 1997, when the Millennium development studio, along with several of their projects in development, was sold to Sony Computer Entertainment for £6 million and renamed to SCEE Cambridge Studio.[8][9] This allowed Sony to acquire MediEvil.
CyberLife Technology was renamed to Creature Labs in 2001.[1]
Liquidation and replacement
On June 8, 2004, Creature Labs was dissolved.[1] However, the dissolution was made void by Order of the High Court on April 6, 2005. The company is therefore still considered to be in liquidation as of 2025.[1] A new company with an identical name was set up in its stead on June 22, 2004, and is still active as of 2025.[10]
Logos
As Logotron Entertainment
At this time, the company used the same logo as Logotron, a turtle drawn in the style of Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. This harkens back to the origins of Logotron, as the company was founded in order to port the educational programming language Logo to the BBC Micro.[11] Logo utilises so-called "turtle graphics" to display things on the screen, hence the turtle in the logo.
As Millennium Interactive
The company logo consisted of what appeared to be a stylised ringed planet and its moon. These sometimes appeared in front of a capital M.
Trivia
- Millennium shared its office building with Nichimen Graphics,[12] whose software N-World was used in the creation of MediEvil.[13]
- At an early development stage, the kingdom of Gallowmere in MediEvil was called Millennium, likely after the company itself.[14]
- The word "millennium" comes up in a speech by a Boiler Guard in The Sleeping Village level in MediEvil, a possible reference to the former studio name: "If we don't find the Shadow Artefact Lord Zarok will have us mucking out the demons for the next millennium!"
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 CREATURE LABS LTD. - Overview (free company information from Companies House) on beta.companieshouse.gov.uk.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 An audience with... Millennium in Edge, Issue 35, page(s) 22-26. Published August 1996 by Future Publishing.
- ↑ CyberLife Enquiries on CyberLife. Published June 7, 1997. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
- ↑ "I published educational software myself, but only made peanuts on it. And then I started writing educational software for Logotron as a freelancer. They started getting interested in games, went to the States to look for new products, and came back with a boxful of games. This was nothing to do with me, I hated computer games. So then there was a management buyout. One side bought out the games and went its own way [and became Millennium] and Logotron was bought out by Longman. I ended up programming a version of a side scrolling platform game Millennium wanted porting to the PC - their expert said you couldn’t do fast background scrolls on the PC. I didn’t know it couldn’t be done, so I did it. A few weeks later the game was done and everyone was sufficiently impressed that I got more business. I found myself reluctantly a games programmer." — Grand, Steve, The Origins of CyberLife on Biota.org. Published April 12, 2000. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
- ↑ LOGOTRON - Compagnie de jeux vidéo on Abandonware France. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
- ↑ Cloud Kingdoms in Computer & Video Games, Issue 102, page(s) 84. Published May 1990 by Graham Taylor.
- ↑ The Making of... MediEvil in Retro Gamer, Issue 49 (PDF file), page(s) 60-63. Published March 2008 by Imagine Publishing. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
- ↑ Sorrell, Chris: "We were working very closely with Sony at a time when the portion of the Millennium team that had developed Cyberlife - an AI technology that was first used in the PC title Creatures - was rather more concerned with developing that technology than in developing regular games. They were looking to sell the 'traditional' games division. We reached a point where it was looking quite possible that we might be sold to a company that many of us thought would be a really bad partner. I took a huge personal gamble and arranged a clandestine meeting with our Sony producer. I told him what was happening, and that I could imagine nothing better than if we could finish development of the game as a first-party Sony studio. Fortunately a few months later we became Sony's second United Kingdom development studio." on page 62 in The Making of... MediEvil in Retro Gamer, Issue 49 (PDF file), page(s) 60-63. Published March 2008 by Imagine Publishing. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
- ↑ Nisse, Jason, Sony spends £6m on research base in The Times. Published July 14, 1997. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
- ↑
"Probably the only time I'll ever make it onto the business pages of The Times. Sony bought our little MediEvil game studio for £6 million!" — Jason Wilson (@GunnWriter) on X (formerly Twitter) (archived version at Internet Archive Wayback Machine). Published January 1, 2017.
- ↑ CREATURE LABS LTD. overview - Find and update company information on GOV.UK. Retrieved May 6, 2025.
- ↑ "I spent two depressed years in rural Leicestershire trying to write a book, and was wondering what to do next, as the book was going nowhere, when a cover story I wrote for New Scientist changed my life. The story was built around an interview with Seymour Papert, a charismatic computer scientist and educational theorist, who had invented Logo — a computer programming language for children. Teachers wrote to me, wanting to know why they couldn’t have Logo on the BBC Microcomputer that was just then finding its way into schools. Why not?
As with many of my initiatives, had I known what was involved, I wouldn’t have started. However, Logotron was born and it was the perfect antidote to 12 years of thinking, dreaming and worrying about events on the other side of the world." — Christopher Roper on Marshwood Vale Magazine. Published July 1, 2009. Retrieved May 6, 2025. - ↑ "Nichimen Graphics Inc. announced today the opening of its European office in Cambridge, England in order to meet the specific needs of the growing 3D Interactive Market in Europe. The new office, located at Quern House, Mill Court, Great Shelford, Cambridge, UH, CB2 5LD, will be responsible for providing sales and technical support to prospects and current customers in the European market." — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE on Nichimen Graphics. Published November 12, 1996. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
- ↑ jason wilson medievil design history on atomic-city concept art and design of Jason Wilson (archived at Wayback Machine Internet Archive).
- ↑ Especial MediEvil - El nacimiento de una leyenda (o casi) in Hobby Consolas No. 70 (archived version at Archive.org). Published July 1997 by Axel Springer España.
External links
Official website (archived version).- Millennium at Creatures Wiki.