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.
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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.
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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
style="font-style: italic;">Auto Assault
literature was also
included in that mix.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Auto Assault Game Page.
