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The Software Toolworks

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A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with employee responsibilities split between individual disciplines, such as programmers , designers , artists , etc. Most game development companies have video game publisher financial and usually marketing support. Self-funded developers are known as independent or indie developers and usually make indie games .

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125-832: The Software Toolworks, Inc. (commonly abbreviated as Toolworks ), was an American software and video game developer based in Novato, California . The company was founded by Walt Bilofsky in 1980 out of his Sherman Oaks garage, which he converted into an office, to develop software for the Heathkit H89 microcomputer . It quickly expanded into video games, releasing Airport and MyChess in 1980; other notable games include Chessmaster 2000 , Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing , and Mario Is Missing! . Toolworks merged with its distributor, Software Country, in 1986 and, after going public in 1988, acquired IntelliCreations , DS Technologies, and Mindscape . By 1994, Toolworks employed 600 people and had

250-457: A chess game by Dave Kittinger. This continued in 1981, with Robert Wesson developing a clone of Pac-Man , the game Munchkin , and a port of Invaders for the H89, and Bilofksy adapting the artificial intelligence psychiatrist ELIZA . Other early non-game software included the spreadsheet editor Zencalc (later replaced by MyCalc), the text editor PIE, the text formatting application TEXT, and

375-588: A database , Voice over IP , or add-in interface software; this is also known as middleware . Examples of this include SpeedTree and Havoc . Independents are software developers which are not owned by (or dependent on) a single publisher. Some of these developers self-publish their games, relying on the Internet and word of mouth for publicity. Without the large marketing budgets of mainstream publishers, their products may receive less recognition than those of larger publishers such as Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. With

500-405: A "counter-relief" or intaglio impression when used as seals. The process is essentially that of a mould . Most seals have always given a single impression on an essentially flat surface, but in medieval Europe two-sided seals with two matrices were often used by institutions or rulers (such as towns, bishops and kings) to make two-sided or fully three-dimensional impressions in wax, with a "tag",

625-452: A culture of "toxic geek masculinity" within the workplace. In addition, the conditions behind crunch time are far more discriminating towards women as this requires them to commit time exclusively to the company or to more personal activities like raising a family. These factors established conditions within some larger development studios where female developers have found themselves discriminated in workplace hiring and promotion, as well as

750-472: A daily basis. At least in Britain, each registered notary has an individual personal seal, registered with the authorities, which includes his or her name and a pictorial emblem, often an animal—the same combination found in many seals from ancient Greece. Seals are used primarily to authenticate documents, specifically those which carry some legal import. There are two main ways in which a seal may be attached to

875-477: A disk duplication and software packaging company, the following November. Following the merger, Crane conceived a typing application in which the user would be guided by Mavis Beacon , a fictional typing instructor who would correct the user's mistakes. The product, Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing , was developed by Bilofsky, Duffy and Norman Worthington from Bilofsky's home in six months, with Duffy often working more than 140 hours per week. The team aimed at making

1000-477: A document. It may be applied directly to the face of the paper or parchment (an applied seal ); or it may hang loose from it (a pendent seal ). A pendent seal may be attached to cords or ribbons (sometimes in the owner's livery colors ), or to the two ends of a strip (or tag ) of parchment, threaded through holes or slots cut in the lower edge of the document: the document is often folded double at this point (a plica ) to provide extra strength. Alternatively,

1125-571: A first-party company. As a balance to not being able to release their game for other platforms, second-party developers are usually offered higher royalty rates than third-party developers. These studios may have exclusive publishing agreements (or other business relationships) with the platform holder, but maintain independence so that upon completion or termination of their contracts, they are able to continue developing games for other publishers if they choose to. For example, while HAL Laboratory initially began developing games on personal computers like

1250-410: A fixed period and generally work similar hours as full-time staff members, assisting across all areas of video game development, but as contractors, do not get any benefits such as paid time-off or health care from the employer; they also are typically not credited on games that they work on for this reason. The practice itself is legal and common in other engineering and technology areas, and generally it

1375-526: A follow-up to Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing focused on piano teaching: Miracle Piano Teaching System . The application came with a physical velocity-sensitive keyboard , which Toolworks had ordered 100,000 of. The required quantity was overestimated and many keyboards were damaged in transit, causing high financial losses for Toolworks. In April 1990, Elizabeth Barker became the president and chief operating officer (COO) of Toolworks, succeeding Crane (who remained chairman and chief executive officer ) in

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1500-726: A form of written identification since the Qin dynasty (221 BC–). The seals of the Han dynasty were impressed in a soft clay, but from the Tang dynasty a red ink made from cinnabar was normally used. Even in modern times, seals, often known as "chops" in local colloquial English, are still commonly used instead of handwritten signatures to authenticate official documents or financial transactions. Both individuals and organizations have official seals, and they often have multiple seals in different sizes and styles for different situations. East Asian seals usually bear

1625-403: A game on schedule. The complexity of workflow, reliance on third-party deliverables, and the intangibles of artistic and aesthetic demands in video game creation create difficulty in predicting milestones. The use of crunch time is also seen to be exploitative of the younger male-dominated workforce in video games, who have not had the time to establish a family and who were eager to advance within

1750-406: A game's profits. Current examples of first-party studios include PlayStation Studios for Sony, and Xbox Game Studios for Microsoft Gaming . Second-party developer is a colloquial term often used by gaming enthusiasts and media to describe game studios that take development contracts from platform holders and develop games exclusive to that platform, i.e. a non-owned developer making games for

1875-407: A gold chain around his neck." Because it is used to attest to the authority of its bearer, the ring has also been seen as a symbol of power, which is why it is included in the regalia of certain monarchies. After the death of a Pope, the destruction of his signet ring is a prescribed act clearing the way for the sede vacante and subsequent election of a new Pope. Signet rings are also used as

2000-483: A lead or plastic seal with a government marking, typically fixed to a wire that passes through part of the meter housing. The meter cannot be opened without cutting the wire or damaging the seal. Specially-made tamper-evident labels are available which are destroyed if the protected container or equipment is opened, functionally equivalent to a wax seal. They are used to protect things which must not be tampered with such as pharmaceuticals, equipment whose opening voids

2125-419: A lever-press or a screw press . Certain medieval seals were more complex still, involving two levels of impression on each side of the wax which would be used to create a scene of three-dimensional depth. On the death of a seal-holder, as a sign of continuity, a son and heir might commission a new seal employing the same symbols and design-elements as those used by his father. It is likely that this practice

2250-410: A manual packaged in a Ziploc bag. In 1983, Toolworks was joined by Joe Abrams, Bilofsky's cousin. That same year, the company moved into a proper, three-room office on the 11th floor of a Sherman Oaks bank building, opposite Sherman Oaks Galleria . This move was made possible by Toolworks' growing sales, and by this time, its products were sold through more than 50 Heathkit stores, and it had released

2375-662: A means of cancelling them. When King James II of England was dethroned in the Glorious Revolution of 1688/9, he is supposed to have thrown the Great Seal of the Realm into the River Thames before his flight to France in order to ensure that the machinery of government would cease to function. It is unclear how much truth there is to this story, but certainly the seal was recovered: James's successors, William III and Mary used

2500-663: A name written in Aramaic (Yitsḥaq bar Ḥanina) engraved in reverse so as to read correctly in the impression. From the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC until the Middle Ages, seals of various kinds were in production in the Aegean islands and mainland Greece. In the Early Minoan age these were formed of soft stone and ivory and show particular characteristic forms. By the Middle Minoan age

2625-461: A new set for seal forms, motifs and materials appear. Hard stone requires new rotary carving techniques. The Late Bronze Age is the time par excellence of the lens-shaped seal and the seal ring, which continued into the Archaic , Classical and Hellenistic periods, in the form of pictorial engraved gems . These were a major luxury art form and became keenly collected, with King Mithridates VI of Pontus

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2750-413: A piece of ribbon or strip of parchment , running through them. These "pendent" seal impressions dangled below the documents they authenticated, to which the attachment tag was sewn or otherwise attached (single-sided seals were treated in the same way). Some jurisdictions consider rubber stamps or specified signature-accompanying words such as "seal" or "L.S." (abbreviation of locus sigilli , "place of

2875-437: A position in a medium to large video game company. An experienced game-development employee, depending on their expertise and experience, averaged roughly $ 73,000 in 2007. Indie game developers may only earn between $ 10,000 and $ 50,000 a year depending on how financially successful their titles are. In addition to being part of the software industry, game development is also within the entertainment industry; most sectors of

3000-441: A programmer for RAND Corporation , and as a consultant. In 1979, he acquired and assembled a Heathkit H89 microcomputer ; he found that the microcomputer lacked important software and thus began developing new software and ports of his own, including a fullscreen editor and a compiler for the C programming language entitled C/80, the latter based on Ron Cain's public-domain compiler Small-C . Bilofsky subsequently contacted

3125-567: A revenue of US$ 150 million . In May that year, it was acquired by Pearson plc for $ 462 million , which converted it to bear the Mindscape identity by November. The Software Toolworks was founded by programmer Walt Bilofsky, who, after studying at Cornell University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), had worked for the Institute for Defense Analyses , as

3250-624: A roundtable discussion with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), the professional association for developers. Statements made by the IGDA's current executive director Jen MacLean relating to IGDA's activities had been seen by as anti-union, and Game Workers Unite desired to start a conversation to lay out the need for developers to unionize. In the wake of the sudden near-closure of Telltale Games in September 2018,

3375-472: A seal. The practice spread, and it seems to be taken for granted by King Clovis I at the very beginning of the Merovingian dynasty . Later ecclesiastical synods require that letters under the bishop 's seal should be given to priests when for some reason they lawfully quit their own proper diocese. Such a ruling was enacted at Chalon-sur-Saône in 813. Pope Nicholas I in the same century complained that

3500-407: A single publisher; one canceled game may devastate a small developer. Because of this, many small development companies are short-lived. A common exit strategy for a successful video game developer is to sell the company to a publisher, becoming an in-house developer. In-house development teams tend to have more freedom in game design and content than third-party developers. One reason is that since

3625-461: A smaller counter-seal , which would be used to impress a small emblem on the reverse of the impression. In some cases the seal and counter-seal would be kept by two different individuals, in order to provide an element of double-checking to the process of authentication. Sometimes, a large official seal, which might be in the custody of chancery officials, would need to be counter-sealed by the individual in whose name it had been applied (the monarch, or

3750-431: A souvenir or membership attribute, e.g., class rings (which typically bear the coat of arms or crest of the school). One may also have their initials engraved as a sign of their personal stature. Traditionally, signet rings were worn either on the little or the ring finger of the least dominant hand, with the most common usage being on the little. The less noble classes began wearing and using signet rings as early as

3875-403: A strong STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) background for women at the secondary education level, but there are issues with tertiary education such as at colleges and universities, where game development programs tend to reflect the male-dominated demographics of the industry, a factor that may lead women with strong STEM backgrounds to choose other career goals. There

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4000-703: A surgery simulation game was released in 1988. In 1989, the company released Beyond the Black Hole , a stereoscopic 3-D arcade game that came with 3-D glasses. By 1989, Chessmaster games and Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing had collectively sold 750,000 through retail and licensing deals. Looking to get a hold of a development license for Nintendo platforms, which were difficult to obtain, Toolworks acquired Mindscape , an existing license holder based in Northbrook, Illinois , in March 1990. Using Mindscape's license, Toolworks released

4125-473: A total of 40 products by 1984. That year, distributor Software Country and its manager, Les Crane , licensed Toolworks' versions of Adventure and ELIZA for a software compilation disk titled Golden Oldies Vol I , which was released the following year. Subsequently, Crane agreed with Abrams that Software Country would market a chess game developed by Toolworks; for this project, Toolworks brought on Mike Duffy, who had ported MyChess to IBM PC and PCjr , and

4250-682: A unique case where nearly all parts of its labor force, including white-collar jobs such as video game development, may engage with labor unions under the Employment Protection Act often through collective bargaining agreements. Developer DICE had reached its union agreements in 2004. Paradox Interactive became one of the first major publishers to support unionization efforts in June 2020 with its own agreements to cover its Swedish employees within two labor unions Unionen and SACO . In Australia, video game developers could join other unions, but

4375-615: A variety of hard materials, including wood, soapstone, sea glass and jade. East Asian seals are traditionally used with a red oil-based paste consisting of finely ground cinnabar, which contrasts with the black ink traditionally used for the ink brush . Red chemical inks are more commonly used in modern times for sealing documents. Seal engraving is considered a form of calligraphy in East Asia. Like ink-brush calligraphy, there are several styles of engraving. Some engraving styles emulate calligraphy styles, but many styles are so highly stylized that

4500-481: A way that the item could not be opened without the seal being broken. Applied seals were used on letters close (letters intended only for the recipient) and parcels to indicate whether or not the item had been opened or tampered with since it had left the sender, as well as providing evidence that the item was actually from the sender and not a forgery. In the post-medieval period, seals came to be commonly used in this way for private letters . A letter writer would fold

4625-473: Is also a significant gap in racial minorities within the video game industry; a 2019 IGDA survey found only 2% of developers considered themselves to be of African descent and 7% Hispanic, while 81% were Caucasian; in contrast, 2018 estimates from the United States Census estimate the U.S. population to be 13% of African descent and 18% Hispanic. In a 2014 and 2015 survey of job positions and salaries,

4750-406: Is also the impression thus made. The original purpose was to authenticate a document, or to prevent interference with a package or envelope by applying a seal which had to be broken to open the container (hence the modern English verb "to seal", which implies secure closing without an actual wax seal). The seal-making device is also referred to as the seal matrix or die ; the imprint it creates as

4875-509: Is easily detached by cutting the cords or strips of parchment, but the forger would then have great difficulty in attaching it to another document (not least because the cords or parchment are normally knotted inside the seal), and would again almost certainly break it. In the Middle Ages, the majority of seals were pendent. They were attached both to legal instruments and to letters patent (i.e. open letters) conferring rights or privileges, which were intended to be available for all to view. In

5000-449: Is expected that this is meant to lead into a full-time position, or otherwise the end of the contract. But more recently, its use in the video game industry has been compared to Microsoft 's past use of " permatemp ", contract workers that were continually renewed and treated for all purposes as employees but received no benefits. While Microsoft has waned from the practice, the video game industry has adapted it more frequently. Around 10% of

5125-533: Is generally illegal, companies often target their oldest workers first during layoffs or other periods of reduction. Older developers with experience may find themselves too qualified for the types of positions that other game development companies seek given the salaries and compensations offered. Some of the larger video game developers and publishers have also engaged contract workers through agencies to help add manpower in game development in part to alleviate crunch time from employees. Contractors are brought on for

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5250-730: Is known as sigillography or sphragistics. The stamp seal was a common seal die, frequently carved from stone, known at least since the 6th millennium BC ( Halaf culture ) and probably earlier. The oldest stamp seals were button-shaped objects with primitive ornamental forms chiseled onto them. Seals were used in the earliest civilizations and are of considerable importance in archaeology and art history . In ancient Mesopotamia carved or engraved cylinder seals in stone or other materials were used. These could be rolled along to create an impression on clay (which could be repeated indefinitely), and used as labels on consignments of trade goods, or for other purposes. They are normally hollow and it

5375-555: Is now unusual in most countries in the west for private citizens to use seals. In Central and Eastern Europe, however, as in East Asia, a signature alone is considered insufficient to authenticate a document of any kind in business, and all managers, as well as many book-keepers and other employees, have personal seals , normally just containing text, with their name and their position. These are applied to all letters, invoices issued, and similar documents. In Europe these are today plastic self-inking stamps. Notaries also still use seals on

5500-562: Is often made out of agate , carnelian , or sardonyx which tend not to bind with the wax. Most smaller classical engraved gems were probably originally worn as signet rings, or as seals on a necklace. The wearing of signet rings (from Latin "signum" meaning "sign" or "mark") dates back to ancient Egypt: the seal of a pharaoh is mentioned in the Book of Genesis . Genesis 41:42: "Removing his signet ring from his hand, Pharaoh put it on Joseph 's hand; he arrayed him in garments of fine linen, and put

5625-534: Is presumed that they were worn on a string or chain round the neck. Many have only images, often very finely carved, with no writing, while others have both. From ancient Egypt seals in the form of signet rings , including some with the names of kings, have been found; these tend to show only names in hieroglyphics . Recently, seals datable to the Himyarite age have come to light in South Arabia . One example shows

5750-494: Is still their primary activity they are generally described as "publishers" rather than "developers". Developers may be private as well. In the video game industry , a first-party developer is part of a company that manufactures a video game console and develops mainly for it. First-party developers may use the name of the company itself (such as Nintendo ), have a specific division name (such as Sony's Polyphony Digital ) or have been an independent studio before being acquired by

5875-399: Is unique, and engravers often personalize the seals that they create. The materials of seals and the styles of the engraving are typically matched to the personalities of the owners. Seals can be traditional or modern, or conservative or expressive. Seals are sometimes carved with the owners' zodiac animals on the tops of the seals. Seals are also sometimes carved with images or calligraphy on

6000-474: Is usually conducted in a casual business environment, with t-shirts and sandals as common work attire. Many workers find this type of environment rewarding and pleasant professionally and personally. However, the industry also requires long working hours from its employees (sometimes to an extent seen as unsustainable). Employee burnout is not uncommon. An entry-level programmer can make, on average, over $ 66,000 annually only if they are successful in obtaining

6125-639: The AFL–CIO writing an open letter to video game developers encouraging them to unionize. In January 2020, Game Workers Unite and the Communications Workers of America established a new campaign to push for unionization of video game developers, the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE), in January 2020. Initial efforts for CODE were aimed to determine what approach to unionization would be best suited for

6250-456: The International Game Developers Association (IGDA), are conducting increasing discussions about the problem; they are concerned that working conditions in the industry cause a significant deterioration in employees' quality of life. Some video game developers and publishers have been accused of the excessive invocation of "crunch time". "Crunch time" is the point at which the team is thought to be failing to achieve milestones needed to launch

6375-508: The MSX , they became one of the earliest second-party developers for Nintendo, developing exclusively for Nintendo's consoles starting with the Famicom, though they would self-publish their mobile games. A third-party developer may also publish games, or work for a video game publisher to develop a title. Both publisher and developer have considerable input in the game's design and content. However,

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6500-517: The Me Too movement and have tried to address the symptoms of these problems industry-wide, the video game industry has yet to have its Me Too-moment, even as late as 2021. There also tends to be pay-related discrimination against women in the industry. According to Gamasutra 's Game Developer Salary Survey 2014, women in the United States made 86 cents for every dollar men made. Game designing women had

6625-589: The Papal Chancery these leaden authentications fell out of favour in western Christendom. Byzantine Emperors sometimes issued documents with gold seals, known as Golden Bulls . Wax seals were being used on a fairly regular basis by most western royal chanceries by about the end of the 10th century. In England, few wax seals have survived of earlier date than the Norman Conquest, although some earlier matrices are known, recovered from archaeological contexts:

6750-499: The Ring of the Fisherman , the papal signet, and to see that it is broken up. A similar practice prevailed in the Middle Ages and it is often alluded to by historians, as it seems to have been a matter of some ceremony. For example, on the death of Robert of Holy Island , Bishop of Durham, in 1283, the chronicler Robert Greystones reports: "After his burial, his seal was publicly broken up in

6875-504: The Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) union doing work for video games struck several major publishers, demanding better royalty payments and provisions related to the safety of their vocal performances, when their union's standard contract was up for renewal. The voice actor strike lasted for over 300 days into 2017 before a new deal was made between SAG-AFTRA and

7000-424: The seal impression (or, more rarely, the sealing ). If the impression is made purely as a relief resulting from the greater pressure on the paper where the high parts of the matrix touch, the seal is known as a dry seal ; in other cases ink or another liquid or liquefied medium is used, in another color than the paper. In most traditional forms of dry seal the design on the seal matrix is in intaglio (cut below

7125-504: The video game industry . He told the Los Angeles Times : "Someone who was part of the co-creation of that world and those characters isn't getting a credit or a nickel for the work they put into it. Maybe we need unions in the video game industry to be able to protect creators." Seal (emblem) A seal is a device for making an impression in wax , clay , paper , or some other medium, including an embossment on paper , and

7250-429: The 13th century. In the 17th century, signet rings fell out of favor in the upper levels of society, replaced by other means for mounting and carrying the signet. In the 18th century, though, signet rings again became popular, and by the 19th century, men of all classes wore them. Since at least the 16th century there have also been pseudo-signet rings where the engraving is not reversed (mirror image), as it should be if

7375-652: The Heath Company, which made the Heathkit series of microcomputers, to have it market his software and, in response, was told that the operating system and the BASIC programming language Heathkit microcomputers came with were sufficient. He advertised his software in BUSS , a Heathkit hobbyist newsletter , in 1980, quickly receiving orders for his software. Bilofsky eventually adopted the name "The Software Toolworks", using it publicly for

7500-446: The IGDA found that people of color were both underrepresented in senior management roles as well as underpaid in comparison to white developers. Further, because video game developers typically draw from personal experiences in building game characters, this diversity gap has led to few characters of racial minority to be featured as main characters within video games. Minority developers have also been harassed from external groups due to

7625-498: The Middle Ages, this generally comprised a compound of about two-thirds beeswax to one-third of some kind of resin , but in the post-medieval period the resin (and other ingredients) came to dominate. During the early Middle Ages seals of lead, or more properly " bullae " (from the Latin), were in common use both in East and West, but with the notable exception of documents (" bulls ") issued by

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7750-741: The Mindscape moniker for all of its operations, which is considered the end of Toolworks. Video game developer A developer may specialize in specific game engines or specific video game consoles , or may develop for several systems (including personal computers and mobile devices ). Some focus on porting games from one system to another, or translating games from one language to another. Less commonly, some do software development work in addition to games. Most video game publishers maintain development studios (such as Electronic Arts 's EA Canada , Square Enix 's studios, Activision 's Radical Entertainment , Nintendo EPD and Sony's Polyphony Digital and Naughty Dog ). However, since publishing

7875-501: The PC version of Ultimate Domain . By 1993 Computer Gaming World described Toolworks as "the reigning king of software repackaging efforts" ( shovelware ) on CD-ROM. Toolworks continued to grow further, to 600 employees by 1994, when it was generating annual revenue of $ 150 million . That May, the company was acquired by British media company Pearson plc for $ 462 million . Shortly thereafter, by November, Toolworks had assumed

8000-521: The acquisition of Activision Blizzard , stated it supported these unionization efforts. After this acquisition, the employees of Bethesda Game Studios , part of Zenimax under Microsoft, unionized under the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in July 2024. Over 500 employees within Blizzard Entertainment 's World of Warcraft division also unionized with CWA that same month. Sweden presents

8125-572: The advent of digital distribution of inexpensive games on game consoles, it is now possible for indie game developers to forge agreements with console manufacturers for broad distribution of their games. Other indie game developers create game software for a number of video-game publishers on several gaming platforms. In recent years this model has been in decline; larger publishers, such as Electronic Arts and Activision, increasingly turn to internal studios (usually former independent developers acquired for their development needs). Video game development

8250-404: The application more fun to keep users engaged, thus it incorporated large quantities of text it deemed interesting, generated mistake analyses, and made it visually appealing. Renée L'Espérance, a Haitian woman whom Crane and Abrams had met at a Saks Fifth Avenue store, was contracted to represent Mavis Beacon. Due to her darker skin, several stores initially refused to sell the application when it

8375-466: The approval of Crowther and Woods. This version was expanded so that, at the end of the game, the player is admitted into a fictional "Wizards' Guild" and given a password that could be posted to Toolworks in return for a "Certificate of Wizardness", underwritten by Crowther and Woods, and signed with the Toolworks corporate seal , the only time this seal was used. The game was released in 1982 and came with

8500-430: The artist, and the seals from the owners of the paintings. East Asian seals are the predecessors to block printing . There is a direct line of descent from the seals used in the ancient world, to those used in medieval and post-medieval Europe, and so to those used in legal contexts in the western world to the present day. Seals were historically most often impressed in sealing wax (often simply described as "wax"): in

8625-589: The bishops of Dôle and Reims had, " contra morem " (contrary to custom), sent their letters to him unsealed. The custom of bishops possessing seals may from this date be assumed to have been pretty general. In the British Museum collection the earliest bishop's seals preserved are those of William de St-Calais , Bishop of Durham (1081–96) and of St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury (1093–1109). Seals are also affixed on architectural or engineering construction documents, or land survey drawings, to certify

8750-420: The case of important transactions or agreements, the seals of all parties to the arrangement as well as of witnesses might be attached to the document, and so once executed it would carry several seals. Most governments still attach pendent seals to letters patent . Applied seals, by contrast, were originally used to seal a document closed: that is to say, the document would be folded and the seal applied in such

8875-426: The characters represented on the seal are difficult for untrained readers to identify. Seal engravers are considered artists, and, in the past, several famous calligraphers also became famous as engravers. Some seals, carved by famous engravers, or owned by famous artists or political leaders, have become valuable as historical works of art. Because seals are commissioned by individuals and carved by artists, every seal

9000-431: The closest equity, making 96 cents for every dollar men made in the same job, while audio professional women had the largest gap, making 68% of what men in the same position made. Increasing the representation of women in the video game industry required breaking a feedback loop of the apparent lack of female representation in the production of video games and in the content of video games. Efforts have been made to provide

9125-505: The company acquired developers IntelliCreations (of Chatsworth, California ) in August 1988 and DS Technologies (of West Chicago, Illinois ) in February 1989. With the acquisition of IntelliCreations, Toolworks announced that it would move its headquarters to Chatsworth. Toolworks also agreed with manufacturer Vendex to have Toolworks' games included with Vendex's machines. Life & Death ,

9250-474: The company was tasked with developing one of the ports but the undertaking eventually proved a financial strain and Toolworks ran out of funds by the end of 1987. To raise new capital, the company became a public company in January 1988, through a reverse merger with Deseret-Western Venture Capital, an existing public shell corporation registered in Utah . By June 1988, Toolworks had 45 employees. Shortly thereafter,

9375-542: The completed letter, pour wax over the joint formed by the top of the page, and then impress a ring or other seal matrix. Governments sometimes sent letters to citizens under the governmental seal for their eyes only, known as letters secret. Wax seals might also be used with letterlocking techniques to ensure that only the intended recipient would read the message. In general, seals are no longer used in these ways except for ceremonial purposes. However, applied seals also came to be used on legal instruments applied directly to

9500-416: The console manufacturer (such as Rare or Naughty Dog ). Whether by purchasing an independent studio or by founding a new team, the acquisition of a first-party developer involves a huge financial investment on the part of the console manufacturer, which is wasted if the developer fails to produce a hit game on time. However, using first-party developers saves the cost of having to make royalty payments on

9625-503: The console. This established the use of licensing fees as a model for third-party development that persists into the present. The licensing fee approach was further enforced by Nintendo when it decided to allow other third-party developers to make games for the Famicom console, setting a 30% licensing fee that covered game cartridge manufacturing costs and development fees. The 30% licensing fee for third-party developers has also persisted to

9750-444: The developer if the game is not meeting expectations. When each milestone is completed (and accepted), the publisher pays the developer an advance on royalties . Successful developers may maintain several teams working on different games for different publishers. Generally, however, third-party developers tend to be small, close-knit teams. Third-party game development is a volatile sector, since small developers may depend on income from

9875-417: The developers are the publisher's employees, their interests align with those of the publisher; the publisher may spend less effort ensuring that the developer's decisions do not enrich the developer at the publisher's expense. Activision in 1979 became the first third-party video game developer. When four Atari, Inc. programmers left the company following its sale to Warner Communications , partially over

10000-493: The direct supervision of, a licensed professional engineer, and assures the document's recipient that the work meets the standards expected of experienced professionals who take personal responsibility for their judgments and decisions. In old English law , a cocket was a custom house seal; or a certified document given to a shipper as a warrant that his goods have been duly entered and have paid duty. Hence, in Scotland , there

10125-415: The earliest is a gold double-sided matrix found near Postwick , Norfolk, and dated to the late 7th century; the next oldest is a mid-9th-century matrix of a Bishop Ethilwald (probably Æthelwold, Bishop of East Anglia). The practice of sealing in wax gradually moved down the social hierarchy from monarchs and bishops to great magnates, to petty knights by the end of the 12th century, and to ordinary freemen by

10250-467: The entertainment industry (such as films and television ) require long working hours and dedication from their employees, such as willingness to relocate and/or required to develop games that do not appeal to their personal taste. The creative rewards of work in the entertainment business attracts labor to the industry, creating a competitive labor market that demands a high level of commitment and performance from employees. Industry communities, such as

10375-448: The face of the document, so that there was no need to break them, and this use continues. Historically, the majority of seals were circular in design, although ovals, triangles, shield-shapes and other patterns are also known. The design generally comprised a graphic emblem (sometimes, but not always, incorporating heraldic devices ), surrounded by a text (the legend ) running around the perimeter. The legend most often consisted merely of

10500-868: The first major collector according to Pliny the Elder . His collection fell as booty to Pompey the Great , who deposited it in a temple in Rome. Engraved gems continued to be produced and collected until the 19th century. Pliny also explained the significance of the signet ring, and how over time this ring was worn on the little finger. Known as yinzhang ( Chinese : 印章 ) in Greater China , injang in Korea , inshō in Japan , ấn triện (or ấn chương ) in Vietnam , seals have been used in East Asia as

10625-502: The first time with an advertisement submitted to the magazine Byte in June 1980. He converted his garage in Sherman Oaks, California , to a two-room office, outfitting it with a disk duplicator, shelving, and a shipping area. This office was later relocated into a garden shed. By the end of the year, Toolworks had entered the video game business, having published Airport , an air traffic control game by Jim Gillogly , and MyChess ,

10750-557: The first video game-specific union, Game Workers Unite Australia, was formed in December 2021 under Professionals Australia to become active in 2022. In Canada, in a historic move, video game workers in Edmonton unanimously voted to unionize for the first time in June 2022. In January 2023, after not being credited in The Last of Us HBO adaptation, Bruce Straley called for unionization of

10875-533: The flat surface) and therefore the design on the impressions made is in relief (raised above the surface). The design on the impression will reverse (be a mirror-image of) that of the matrix, which is especially important when script is included in the design, as it very often is. This will not be the case if paper is embossed from behind, where the matrix and impression read the same way, and both matrix and impression are in relief. However engraved gems were often carved in relief, called cameo in this context, giving

11000-404: The gaming industry, while a 2017 IGDA survey found that the female demographic in game development had risen to about 20%. Taking into account that a 2017 ESA survey found 41% of video game players were female, this represented a significant gender gap in game development. The male-dominated industry, most who have grown up playing video games and are part of the video game culture , can create

11125-416: The identity of the licensed professional who supervised the development. Depending on the authority having jurisdiction for the project, these seals may be embossed and signed, stamped and signed, or in certain situations a computer generated facsimile of the original seal validated by a digital certificate owned by the professional may be attached to a security protected computer file. The identities on

11250-580: The impression is to read correctly. Rings have been used since antiquity as spy identification and in espionage. During World War II, US Air Force personnel would privately purchase signet rings with a hidden compartment that would hold a small compass or hidden message. MI9 purchased a number of signet rings from Regent Street jewelers that were used to conceal compasses. In modern use, seals are used to tamper-proof equipment. For example, to prevent gas and electricity meters from being interfered with to show lower chargeable readings, they may be sealed with

11375-452: The industry by working long hours. Because crunch time tends to come from a combination of corporate practices as well as peer influence, the term "crunch culture" is often used to discuss video game development settings where crunch time may be seen as the norm rather than the exception. The use of crunch time as a workplace standard gained attention first in 2004, when Erin Hoffman exposed

11500-431: The lack of respect that the new management gave to programmers, they used their knowledge of how Atari VCS game cartridges were programmed to create their own games for the system, founding Activision in 1979 to sell these. Atari took legal action to try to block the sale of these games, but the companies ultimately settled, with Activision agreeing to pay a portion of their sales as a license fee to Atari for developing for

11625-410: The mayor of a town): such a counter-seal might be carried on the person (perhaps secured by a chain or cord), or later, take the form of a signet ring, and so would be necessarily smaller. Other pendent seals were double-sided, with elaborate and equally-sized obverses and reverses. The impression would be formed by pressing a "sandwich" of matrices and wax firmly together by means of rollers or, later,

11750-527: The middle of the 13th century. They also came to be used by a variety of corporate bodies, including cathedral chapters , municipalities, monasteries etc., to validate the acts executed in their name. Traditional wax seals continue to be used on certain high-status and ceremonial documents, but in the 20th century they were gradually superseded in many other contexts by inked or dry embossed seals and by rubber stamps . While many instruments formerly required seals for validity (e.g. deeds or covenants ) it

11875-551: The movement again called out for the industry to unionize. The movement argued that Telltale had not given any warning to its 250 employees let go, having hired additional staff as recently as a week prior, and left them without pensions or health-care options; it was further argued that the studio considered this a closure rather than layoffs, as to get around failure to notify required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 preceding layoffs. The situation

12000-402: The names of the people or organizations represented, but they can also bear poems or personal mottoes. Sometimes both types of seals, or large seals that bear both names and mottoes, are used to authenticate official documents. Seals are so important in East Asia that foreigners who frequently conduct business there also commission the engraving of personal seals. East Asian seals are carved from

12125-448: The nature of the video game culture. The industry also is recognized to have an ageism issue, discriminating against the hiring and retention of older developers. A 2016 IGDA survey found only 3% of developers were over 50 years old, while at least two-thirds were between 20 and 34; these numbers show a far lower average age compared to the U.S. national average of about 41.9 that same year. While discrimination by age in hiring practices

12250-529: The news, there have typically been followup discussions towards the potential to form a union. A survey performed by the International Game Developers Association in 2014 found that more than half of the 2,200 developers surveyed favored unionization. A similar survey of over 4,000 game developers run by the Game Developers Conference in early 2019 found that 47% of respondents felt the video game industry should unionize. In 2016, voice actors in

12375-630: The owner, or (in the case of ecclesiastical seals) of a saint. Medieval townspeople used a wide variety of different emblems but some had seals that included an image relating to their work. Sealing wax was naturally yellowish or pale brownish in tone, but could also be artificially colored red or green (with many intermediary variations). In some medieval royal chanceries, different colours of wax were customarily used for different functions or departments of state, or to distinguish grants and decrees made in perpetuity from more ephemeral documents. The matrices for pendent seals were sometimes accompanied by

12500-474: The presence of all by Master Robert Avenel." Matthew Paris gives a similar description of the breaking of the seal of William of Trumpington, Abbot of St Albans , in 1235. The practice is less widely attested in the case of medieval laypeople, but certainly occurred on occasion, particularly in the 13th and 14th centuries. Silver seal matrices have been found in the graves of some of the 12th-century queens of France. These were probably deliberately buried as

12625-694: The present, being a de facto rate used for most digital storefronts for third-party developers to offer their games on the platform. In recent years, larger publishers have acquired several third-party developers. While these development teams are now technically "in-house", they often continue to operate in an autonomous manner (with their own culture and work practices). For example, Activision acquired Raven (1997); Neversoft (1999), which merged with Infinity Ward in 2014; Z-Axis (2001); Treyarch (2001); Luxoflux (2002); Shaba (2002); Infinity Ward (2003) and Vicarious Visions (2005). All these developers continue operating much as they did before acquisition,

12750-520: The president role, and was succeeded herself in both roles by Robert Lloyd in November 1990. In September 1990, Toolworks moved from Chatsworth to Novato . While in talks with Japanese original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in Japan, the chief executive officer of Philips introduced Abrams to CD-ROM drives ; CD-ROM discs could store high capacities of data but drives for them were uncommon in households at

12875-414: The primary differences being exclusivity and financial details. Publishers tend to be more forgiving of their own development teams going over budget (or missing deadlines) than third-party developers. A developer may not be the primary entity creating a piece of software, usually providing an external software tool which helps organize (or use) information for the primary software product. Such tools may be

13000-664: The professional seals determine legal responsibility for any errors or omissions, and in some cases financial responsibility for their correction as well as the territory of their responsibility, e.g.: "State of Minnesota". In some jurisdictions, especially in Canada, it is a legal requirement for a professional engineer to seal documents in accordance with the Engineering Profession Act and Regulations. Professional engineers may also be legally entitled to seal any document they prepare. The seal identifies work performed by, or under

13125-429: The publisher's wishes generally override those of the developer. Work for hire studios solely execute the publishers vision. The business arrangement between the developer and publisher is governed by a contract, which specifies a list of milestones intended to be delivered over a period of time. By updating its milestones, the publisher verifies that work is progressing quickly enough to meet its deadline and can direct

13250-415: The publishers. While this had some effects on a few games within the industry, it brought to the forefront the question of whether video game developers should unionize. A grassroots movement, Game Workers Unite , was established around 2017 to discuss and debate issues related to unionization of game developers. The group came to the forefront during the March 2018 Game Developers Conference by holding

13375-402: The reverse of the one-dollar bill ; and several of the seals of the U.S. states appear on their respective state flags . In Europe, although coats of arms and heraldic badges may well feature in such contexts as well as on seals, the seal design in its entirety rarely appears as a graphical emblem and is used mainly as originally intended: as an impression on documents. The study of seals

13500-446: The same Great Seal matrix, fairly crudely adapted – possibly quite deliberately, in order to demonstrate the continuity of government. A signet ring is a ring bearing on its flat top surface the equivalent of a seal. A typical signet ring has a design, often a family or personal crest , created in intaglio so that it will leave a raised ( relief ) impression of the design when the ring is pressed onto liquid sealing wax . The design

13625-457: The seal may be attached to a narrow strip of the material of the document (again, in this case, usually parchment), sliced and folded down, as a tail or tongue , but not detached. The object in all cases is to help ensure authenticity by maintaining the integrity of the relationship between document and seal, and to prevent the seal's reuse. If a forger tries to remove an applied seal from its document, it will almost certainly break. A pendent seal

13750-425: The seal") to be the legal equivalent of, i.e. , an equally effective substitute for, a seal. In the United States, the word "seal" is sometimes assigned to a facsimile of the seal design (in monochrome or color), which may be used in a variety of contexts including architectural settings, on flags , or on official letterheads . Thus, for example, the Great Seal of the United States , among other uses, appears on

13875-503: The sides. Although it is a utilitarian instrument of daily business in East Asia, westerners and other non-Asians seldom see Asian seals except on Asian paintings and calligraphic art. All traditional paintings in China , Japan , Korea , and the rest of East Asia are watercolor paintings on silk, paper, or some other surface to which the red ink from seals can adhere. East Asian paintings often bear multiple seals, including one or two seals from

14000-417: The spelling checker SPELL. One of Toolworks' major releases was a port of Adventure , a text adventure game developed by William Crowther in 1975 and later expanded by Don Woods . Gillogly made Bilofsky aware of the game and, by 1982, was able to get the game running on an H89 using Bilofsky's C/80 compiler. Although the game was in the public domain, Bilofsky decided to release an official version with

14125-545: The target of sexual harassment. This can be coupled from similar harassment from external groups, such as during the 2014 Gamergate controversy . Major investigations into allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct that went unchecked by management, as well as discrimination by employers, have been brought up against Riot Games , Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard in the late 2010s and early 2020s, alongside smaller studios and individual developers. However, while other entertainment industries have had similar exposure through

14250-578: The team developed Chessmaster 2000 . Crane stepped up the marketing efforts for the game, paying US$ 10,000 for the cover photo. Bilofsky described this change as the "emphatic end of the Ziploc bag era". Chessmaster 2000 was released in 1986 and sold 100,000 copies within seven months. Building from this success, Toolworks and Software Country merged in October 1986, with Toolworks as the surviving entity. The merged company then bought Priority Software Packaging,

14375-561: The time. Developer LucasArts had completed three CD-ROM games but struggled to sell them. In 1992, Toolworks licensed the games from LucasArts and had them distributed with new PCs by the Japanese OEMs. Within one month, this led to more sales of these games than LucasArts had achieved in the two years prior. The period from 1992–1993 saw the release of several titles: Star Wars Chess , Mario's Time Machine , Mario's Early Years! , Legend , San Diego Zoo Presents: The Animals! , and

14500-484: The toxic nature of the video game culture. This racial diversity issue has similar ties to the gender one, and similar methods to result both have been suggested, such as improving grade school education, developing games that appeal beyond the white, male gamer stereotype, and identifying toxic behavior in both video game workplaces and online communities that perpetuate discrimination against gender and race. In regards to LGBT and other gender or sexual orientations,

14625-487: The use of crunch time at Electronic Arts , a situation known as the "EA Spouses" case. A similar "Rockstar Spouses" case gained further attention in 2010 over working conditions at Rockstar San Diego . Since then, there has generally been negative perception of crunch time from most of the industry as well as from its consumers and other media. Game development had generally been a predominately male workforce. In 1989, according to Variety , women constituted only 3% of

14750-504: The video game industry typically shares the same demographics as with the larger population based on a 2005 IGDA survey. Those in the LGBT community do not find workplace issues with their identity, though work to improve the representation of LGBT themes within video games in the same manner as with racial minorities. However, LGBT developers have also come under the same type of harassment from external groups like women and racial minorities due to

14875-678: The video game industry. Whereas some video game employees believe they should follow the craft-based model used by SAG-AFTRA which would unionize based on job function, others feel an industry-wide union, regardless of job position, would be better. Starting in 2021, several smaller game studios in the United States began efforts to unionize. These mostly involved teams doing quality assurance rather than developers. These studios included three QA studios under Blizzard Entertainment : Raven Software , Blizzard Albany , and Proletariat; and Zenimax Media 's QA team. Microsoft , which had previously acquired Zenimax and announced plans to acquire Blizzard via

15000-455: The words "The seal of [the name of the owner]", either in Latin or in the local vernacular language: the Latin word Sigillum was frequently abbreviated to a simple S: . Occasionally, the legend took the form of a motto . In the Middle Ages it became customary for the seals of women and of ecclesiastics to be given a vesica (pointed oval) shape. The central emblem was often a standing figure of

15125-504: The workforce in video games is estimated to be from contract labor. Similar to other tech industries, video game developers are typically not unionized . This is a result of the industry being driven more by creativity and innovation rather than production, the lack of distinction between management and employees in the white-collar area, and the pace at which the industry moves that makes union actions difficult to plan out. However, when situations related to crunch time become prevalent in

15250-561: Was a factor in the emergence of hereditary heraldry in western Europe in the 12th century. Ecclesiastical seals are frequently mandorla -shaped, as in the shape of an almond , also known as vesica -shaped. The use of a seal by men of wealth and position was common before the Christian era, but high functionaries of the Church adopted the habit. An incidental allusion in one of St. Augustine 's letters (217 to Victorinus) indicates that he used

15375-463: Was an officer called the clerk of the cocket . It may have given its name to cocket bread , which was perhaps stamped as though with a seal. The importance of the seal as a means of authentication necessitated that when authority passed into new hands the old seal should be destroyed and a new one made. When the pope dies it is the first duty of the Cardinal Camerlengo to obtain possession of

15500-660: Was argued to be "exploitive", as Telltale had been known to force its employees to frequently work under "crunch time" to deliver its games. By the end of 2018, a United Kingdom trade union, Game Workers Unite UK, an affiliate of the Game Workers Unite movement, had been legally established. Following Activision Blizzard 's financial report for the previous quarter in February 2019, the company said that they would be laying off around 775 employees (about 8% of their workforce) despite having record profits for that quarter. Further calls for unionization came from this news, including

15625-735: Was released in 1987. This changed when a positive review of the application published in The New York Times generated much demand, restoring all of Toolworks' usual distribution channels within two weeks. In February 1987, Toolworks signed a distribution deal with Electronic Arts (expanded for distribution in Europe in July), which required Toolworks to port each new game to Apple II , Apple III , Apple IIGS , Mac , IBM PCjr , Atari 8-bit computers , Atari ST , Commodore 64 , Amiga , and both monochrome and color IBM PC compatibles . Each team member at

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