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From the Inside Looking In

An Overview of the NetDevil Open House / 10th Anniversary Event

By Cody “Micajah” Bye

“Massive.”

That single word epitomizes everything about NetDevil. From their massively multiplayer games to the massive dimensions of their new studio to the massive LEGO block that looms ominously at the right of their entryway. Utterly massive.

When I was asked by Ten Ton Hammer to fly out to Louisville, Colorado, for NetDevil’s 10th Anniversary celebration, I was excited. However, as far as the open house part of it was concerned, I was fairly neutral. From my experiences in various studios around the country, I’ve never seen anything that truly thrilled me. Standing next to an 8-foot tall statue of Master Chief was neat, when I was at the Microsoft studios in Redmond, Washington, but the studio itself was a fairly typical office building. From my experience most other offices have similar layouts; the development team customizes the space for their own needs, but it remains an office building at heart.

The Auto Assault car comes flying from the top of the column!

On my arrival to the NetDevil offices in Louisville, I knew that I had happened upon a unique structure designed exclusively for a singular studio. Even from the outside of the building, you knew that this was no simple business office. The building was huge, and that’s probably an understatement. At the time we visited, the current NetDevil team wasn’t even coming close to filling the building. With an employee count already rising towards 100 members, the management at NetDevil knew that they needed to expand their offices before the push on LEGO Universe really kicked in. So, they contracted an architect and set to work designing the newest NetDevil office building.

With two representatives from the Kohnke PR firm, Erik Gonzalez and Quinn Wageman, leading the way, the members of the press and I entered the building and immediately sat back on our heels. While 30,000 sq. ft. sounds like a lot of space, the NetDevil office felt much, much bigger than that. Incredibly high ceilings supported drop down lighting and ventilation through one part of the studio, the LEGO development side, while the other side had an open, airy feel to it, with the work stations grouped into tight clusters throughout the area. In general, it felt like someone took an airplane hanger and molded it into a feasible-looking building.

A 12-foot LEGO brick guarded the entrance of NetDevil's studio.

To each side of our group stood various reminders of the projects NetDevil had undertaken in the past. On our left was the actual Auto Assault car that NetDevil created and had once driven across the Colorado countryside. Officially retired, the car was displayed prominently at the top of a massive column-shaped structure, from which we could hear a flurry of activity.  When we asked, we were informed that this was where the Warmonger four-on-four playable demo was being operated (you can read all about my experience with the game in my hands-on article).

Placed directly opposite the front door was a extensive memorial to Jumpgate, with the first CD, map, and instruction manual for the game placed behind glass. More Auto Assault literature was also included in that mix.