Game developer brings fantasy to life
Paul Caporicci and Shawn Jackson spent a lot of time watching fantasy movies while growing up in the 1980s.
Now, decades later, those movies have inspired the first console game developed by their St. Catharines software company.
After two and a half years of development, Creative Bytes Studios has launched Embers of Mirrim, available for Xbox One, Play Station and PC computers.
Movies such as Dark Crystal, Labyrinth and The Neverending Story created for the developers worlds “where anything could happen … and usually did,” Jackson says.
“More and more of those vintage movies are becoming popular,” adds Jackson, the company’s chief creative officer and art director.
“Media like that really does resonate across multiple generations. And when we were looking for inspiration in terms of like themes and art styles and even stories, we really gravitated to that whole ’80s fantasy world.”
While Jackson took a lead role developing the vision for the game, it was up to Caporicci — the company’s chief executive officer and project director — to head the team of programmers that brought the vision to life, while embracing technology that didn’t exist back when those movies were on the big screen.
“We wanted to make games that we used to play back in the day, but they couldn’t make them back then,” Caporicci says.
While he and Jackson came up with the initial vision and scope of Embers of Mirrim, additional staff were brought on board for the project, along with assistance from other game development companies working under contract.
“Everyone contributed to the different ideas,” Caporicci says. “The whole game really evolved over time.”
While ensuring the game was fun to play and functional, the team also worked with game distributors and console manufacturers to ensure it would be compatible with different platforms.
“It has to go through certification, and that part takes a while, to make sure that they can all launch on the same day,” he says.
Caporicci and Jackson started their careers working with the now-defunct Silicon Knights. Silicon Knights began to struggle in 2011 prior to declaring bankruptcy three years later, cutting numerous jobs in the process.
“We wanted to stay in the area. We had families with kids and we loved living in Niagara. We wanted to stay here,” Caporicci says.
“We thought, Sean’s an artist, I’m a programmer. Between the two of us we can kind of do anything together.”
They started Creative Bytes in 2013, moving into offices at the Generator at One — 1 St. Paul St., St. Catharines — and teamed up with another Silicon Knights alumnus, Frank Knezic, the fledgling company’s design director and senior programmer.
At first, the bulk of their work was focused on contracts for larger game developers, but they eventually started working on games of their own.
They’re first project was Monsters Assemble, a game designed for mobile devices like cell phones.
“It was kind of just about building reputation,” Caporicci says, adding it led to contracts with larger development companies — leading to a job working on Activision’s Skylanders: SuperChargers game.
“Once that was done, we were a couple of years in as a company and we were ready to do it on our own.”
Embers of Mirrim is the company’s most ambitious project so far.
Caporicci says the game has been well-received by critics and game players, so far.
“The reviews have gone really well. We’re really happy with people playing it.”