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Robinson Technologies

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Robinson Technologies logo
Robinson Technologies logo

Robinson Technologies is an independent video game developer, located in Japan. It was founded by Seth Robinson. The company produced the BBS door games Legend of the Red Dragon, Planets: The Exploration of Space and Growtopia, an experimental multiplayer creative sandbox created as a collaboration with Hamumu Software and released in 2013 for iOS, Android, PC, and Mac.[1]

History

The BBS era

In 1989, Seth Robinson created a game that he called Legend of the Red Dragon, or LORD, in an effort to attract new users to his Amiga-based BBS that he ran at the time.[2] He was only 14 years old at the time.[3] He later ported the game to a disk operating system and would allow others to port the game to other operating systems and BBS platforms.

The game exemplified how simple a game could be while still being fun. It is a text-based menu-driven fighting game, allowing players to take on the role of a potential dragon-slayer. It featured multiplayer options if its BBS host had multiple nodes (or phone lines). The gameplay style that it featured was in many ways a predecessor to the MMORPG genre. The game would later feature a form of graphical menus, created and displayed by RIPTerm.

Another feature of the game was In Game Modules or IGMs. These were little add-ons to the game, allowing for expansion. IGMs could be written by anyone and allowed for a lot of gameplay to be added on. Some IGMs even allowed "mischievous" game play, almost allowing players to cheat. Robinson only released a single IGM of his own, called Barak's House.

Shortly afterwards, Robinson released a game called Planets: The Exploration of Space. Commonly referred to as Planets: TEOS, it was a space trading game that had players flying to various kinds of planets, buying, selling, and trading items in order to make money. The game allowed fights that were very similar in style to LORD, allowing players to attack others when they were offline. Players could also attack planets in order to take control of them. Robinson describes the game as "kind of like LORD mixed with Tradewars".[4]

The game featured two sides, the Alliance and the Maraken. Players could join and fight for either side. Players could own planets for whichever side they belonged to. However, they could also play independently and start their own "guilds" called cartels. The game had a notable Star Trek influence, including references to the Borg and characters from different Star Trek shows.

Planets: TEOS also featured IGMs, the major difference being that players had to travel to a particular planet to enter into that IGM. Robinson only released one TEOS IGM of his own, called "Landfill", which was a Tetris clone.

In various releases of Planets: TEOS, Robinson advertised a new game he had been working on. This game, New World, would never see release due to reasons that were never made public. Instead, another of Robinson's games inherited the name, Legend of the Red Dragon II: New World. Fans wanted a new game from Robinson and wanted New World as well, so he released the official sequel to his original hit, Legend of the Red Dragon.

This game is completely different than the original Red Dragon. Instead of a text-based menu concept, the game had an ANSI-based graphical map concept. Players controlled a smiley face-like character that could roam around, much like modern MMORPGs. The game was never as successful as the original Red Dragon, but it did gather a cult following.

Eventually, Robinson sold the rights to the three BBS games to Metropolis Gameport in 1998.[4]

List of RTSoft BBS Door games and programs

  • Legend of the Red Dragon
    • Barak's House (a LORD IGM)
  • Planets: The Exploration of Space (or simply Planets: TEOS)
    • Landfill (TEOS In Game Module Tetris clone)
  • Legend of the Red Dragon II: New World
  • RTReader (BBS door that ran from a scripting language)
  • BradyBunch Adventure (multiplayer .DLL for MBBS/Worldgroup)
  • Tournament LORD (MBBS/Worldgroup .DLL port)

The PC era

In 1997, Robinson Technologies released an adventure/RPG title by the name of Dink Smallwood. This was an effort made by Seth Robinson to move away from BBS door games and into something more profitable. The title featured an isometric view and had a comedic focus.[5]

In an attempt to keep the game's player-base active longer, Robinson took the idea of IGMs from Legend of the Red Dragon and created "D-Mods", an add-on feature where players could create their own adventure for others to explore. Anyone could create D-Mods and distribute them as they wished.

On 17 October 1999, Robinson Technologies released the game to the public for free, and now it can be downloaded without charge from their website. On 16 December 2011, a new version of Dink Smallwood called Dink Smallwood HD was released for iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows XP/Vista/7, webOS, and Mac OS X.[5][6]

After Dink Smallwood, Robinson worked on many programs, releasing most of them on the company website. Notable releases include Teenage Lawnmower, Dungeon Scroll and Funeral Quest. He also worked on games for other companies like the Opening Weekend series for The Learning Company and developed several Flash games for various websites.

List of RTSoft PC games and programs

  • Dink Smallwood (WIN95 RPG; published by Iridon Interactive)
    • Mystery Island (a Dink module released as a free add-on)
  • Opening Weekend: Varmit Season (published by The Learning Company)
  • Opening Weekend: Deer Season (published by The Learning Company)
  • Opening Weekend: Grizzly Season (published by The Learning Company)
  • Opening Weekend: Bear Season (published by The Learning Company)
  • Teenage Lawnmower
  • Dungeon Scroll
  • Funeral Quest (Flash game)

The mobile era

Robinson Technologies started developing games for the mobile device market in the early 2000s. They developed games for the Pocket PC platform, such as a game designed by his wife, Akiko Robinson, called Reckless Thief. The company made the leap to the smartphone market after 2007.

List of RTSoft mobile games and programs

  • Trophy Whitetail PDA (MachineWorks Northwest; Pocket PC)
  • Grizzly PDA (MachineWorks Northwest; Pocket PC)
  • ProCar Racing (MachineWorks Northwest; Pocket PC)
  • Akiko Robinson's Reckless Thief (Pocket PC)
  • Duke Nukem Mobile (MachineWorks Northwest; BREW)
  • T-rexx Hunter: Terror From The Past (MachineWorks Northwest; BREW)
  • Duke Nukem Mobile (3D) (MachineWorks Northwest; Tapwave Zodiac)
  • Stargate SG-1 (MachineWorks Northwest; BREW)
  • Duke Nukem Mobile 3D (MachineWorks Northwest; BREW)
  • T-REXX Hunter 3D (MachineWorks Northwest; BREW)
  • Dungeon Scroll[7]
  • Tanked[8]
  • Mind Wall[9]
  • Blip Arcade[10]
  • Growtopia

Growtopia

Growtopia
Developer(s)Ubisoft Abu Dhabi (2017–)
Robinson Technologies
Hamumu Software
Publisher(s)Ubisoft (2017–)
Robinson Technologies (2013–2017)
Platform(s)Android
iOS
Microsoft Windows
macOS
Nintendo Switch
PlayStation 4
Xbox One
ReleaseAndroid
November 30, 2012
iOS
January 11, 2013
Microsoft Windows
July 9, 2013
macOS
July 27, 2013
Nintendo Switch[11]
TBA
PlayStation 4[12]
TBA
Xbox One[13]
TBA
Genre(s)Adventure, sandbox
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Growtopia is a server-run sandbox MMO game where players can chat, farm, add friends, trade, build worlds and PVP.[14]

As of February 28, 2017, an Ubisoft acquirement of Growtopia was announced and was completed during Ubisoft's 2016-17 fourth quarter, with the original developers being design and general advisors to the game's continued development.[15]

Gameplay

File:PETBATTLE15.jpg
Players in a "world" in Growtopia

Growtopia is a 2D MMO sandbox game that everything in the game can be grown from seeds of trees.[16] However, there is an achievement system, epic quests, and other quests from NPCs.[citation needed]

A new player will be sent to a private world called TUTORIAL which teaches the basics of the game with an item called Growpedia for reading tips. The player starts out with two basic tools: a fist for punching and breaking blocks, and a wrench for wrenching items and edit items' properties. After a player finished TUTORIAL, they will be sent to START for learning more about the game.[citation needed]

Players can visit other people's worlds or create their own worlds. When a player creates a new world, the world will be procedurally generated. Worlds in Growtopia have the same size, except special worlds (such as TINY). Players can break and build blocks, get seeds or gems from blocks, plant seeds, and harvest trees. Players cannot do these activities if the world or the area they are punching is locked by someone else.[citation needed]

Players can lock areas they want by using different sizes of locks: Small Lock, Big Lock, Huge Lock, and World Lock (there are also other types of locks such as Diamond Locks, but works like World Locks). When a player locked an area with a lock, a player can access other people to the lock or edit properties by wrenching the lock.[16]

Development

In 2012, Seth Robinson began thinking about making a new game. At the time, Robinson made six mockup screenshots and sent to Mike Hommel to entice him to help with the project. The game was named Buildo.

The game UI started to take shape with Hommel's mockups.[17] On October 22nd 2012, Hommel uploaded a video on his YouTube channel showing the development of the game before its release.[18]

After three months of development, the game was released on Android as a free beta on November 30th 2012 under the name Growtopia. They moved the game out of beta and release the full version on January 9th 2013.[17] The game has been continuously updated since the release. On February 28 2017, Ubisoft announced an acquisition of Growtopia, it was completed during Ubisoft's 2016-17 fourth quarter, with the original developers being design and general advisors to the game's continued development.[15]

Release

The game can run on multiple operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

The iOS version was released on January 11th 2013, after the Android version on November 30th 2012.[17] A Windows PC beta version was released on July 9th 2013, macOS version was released on July 27th 2013.

The Nintendo Switch version of the game was published on the Nintendo of America website on March 28th 2019 and has been taken down later.[19]

On January 30th 2019, GRAC assigned age ratings for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One version of the game[20] in South Korea while the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One version of the game have not been announced by Ubisoft yet.

In February 2019, Game Software Rating Regulations also assigned age ratings for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch version of the game.[21]

Reception

Growtopia received "mixed or average" reviews from professional critics according to review aggregator GameRankings.[22]

Video gaming website Jay Is Games described the game as "simple and easy enough to work on the mobile platform (and be fun for kids), but with enough room for customization and socialization".[24] 148Apps gave the game a 4/5, saying "the crafting mechanic is unique".[23] Pocket Gamer's Peter Willington scored the game 6 out of 10, said he dislikes the crude menus, the UI is bland and cramped, and hates the character design.[25] TouchArcade wrote "With online games like this that take place in persistent worlds where everyone can interact, you’ll no doubt get some people trying to destroy things and generally make life tough for everyone else".[26]

Cultural impact

Clones

After Growtopia was released, some video games was released with various similarities with 'Growtopia' and some were called as Growtopia "clones", including Pixel Worlds.

Former developer Seth Robinson responded about Pixel Worlds on the official 'Growtopia' forums saying "Cloners gonna clone, isn't our first, won't be the last. If a legal line (rather than just a moral one) has been overstepped our legal representation will handle it (we won't comment about ongoing legal action here) but same as always, we'll keep our focus on adding original ideas in Growtopia and making it the best game it can be"[27]

Merchandise

The first official 'Growtopia' merchandise is a T-shirt. The t-shirt, called "Into The Game" was released on Amazon.com on October 17th 2018 with various sizes, five colors: black, asphalt, cranberry, kelly green and brown.[28] On November 26th 2018, a premium version of Into The Game T-shirts were released.[29] Ubisoft also released "Emerald Lock Premium" T-shirts on the same day."Official Growtopia Merchandise Emerald Lock Premium T Shirt". Amazon.com. Retrieved 11 April 2019.

References

  1. ^ Robinson, Seth A. "Robinson Technologies - Home". www.rtsoft.com. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  2. ^ "Nuklear LORD Forums". lord.nuklear.org/. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  3. ^ Games, DIY. "DIY Games". diygames.com/. Archived from the original on 6 May 2006. Retrieved 15 April 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b Robinson, Seth A. "Robinson Technologies - LORD/BBS Frequently Asked Questions". www.rtsoft.com. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  5. ^ a b Gidari, Cameron (24 August 2014). "A Criminally Underrated Game About A Pig Farmer". Kotaku. Allure Media. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  6. ^ Dink Smallwood HD official webpage on rtsoft.com
  7. ^ Dungeon Scroll mobile webpage on rtsoft.com
  8. ^ Tanked mobile webpage on rtsoft.com
  9. ^ Mind Wall mobile webpage on codedojo.com
  10. ^ Blip Arcade mobile webpage on rtsoft.com
  11. ^ "Growtopia for Nintendo Switch". Nintendo. Nintendo. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  12. ^ "Growtopia Coming To PS4 - PlayStation Universe". PSU.com. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  13. ^ "게임물 상세정보 | 게임물관리위원회".
  14. ^ "Growtopia | Official Website". www.growtopiagame.com. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  15. ^ a b Kerr, Chris. "Ubisoft acquires massively multiplayer social game, Growtopia". Gamasutra. UBM Technology Group. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  16. ^ a b Polson, John. "Free Mobile Pick: Growtopia (Robinson, Hommel)". IndieGames.com. UBM Technology Group. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  17. ^ a b c Robinson, Seth. "Two guys made an MMO: The Growtopia Postmortem". IndieGames.com. UBM Technology Group. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  18. ^ Hommel, Mike. "Hamumu Develog!!! #9". YouTube. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  19. ^ Parsons, Jack. "Nintendo Switch Port of Growtopia Appears on Nintendo America Website". LootPots.com. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  20. ^ "게임물관리위원회".
  21. ^ Parsons, Jack. "Ubisoft's free-to-play sandbox MMO "Growtopia" rated for Nintendo Switch". LootPots.com. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  22. ^ a b "Growtopia for iOS (iPhone/iPad) - Game Rankings". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  23. ^ a b LeFebvre, Rob. "Growtopia (iOS) Review on 148Apps". www.148apps.com. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  24. ^ a b "Growtopia - Walkthrough, Tips, Review". Jay Is Games. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  25. ^ a b Willington, Peter. "Growtopia (iOS/Android) Review on Pocket Gamer". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media Limited. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  26. ^ Nelson, Jared (11 January 2013). "'Growtopia' is a Free 2D Sandbox MMO that You Should Try". TouchArcade. MacRumors.com, LLC. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  27. ^ Robinson, Seth. "Cloner Worlds / Pixel Worlds / GT Clones mega thread". growtopiagame.com. Retrieved 11 April 2019..
  28. ^ "Official Growtopia Merchandise Into the game T Shirt". Amazon.com. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  29. ^ "Official Growtopia Merchandise Into the game Premium T Shirt". Amazon.com. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
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