Brad Wardell's site for talking about the customization of Windows.
Published on September 26, 2013 By Frogboy In Stardockians

version 0.50

 

1992

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My friend Bill and I used to come up with comics and draw them out.  He would later help on the art on our first game.

 

1993:

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Worst. Box. Ever.  Started a lifetime suspicion of “business” people.

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So much retconning.

 

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GalCiv for OS/2!

 

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My future wife and I got engaged that year.

 

1994:

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And married the next year.

 

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Article for OS/2 Developer and Game Developer.

 

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First and last ad I would do on my own.

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Imagine this crazy idea: Treat ZIP files like folders. If only we’d have patented that! Smile

 

 

1995:

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Object Desktop for OS/2!

 

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CeBit ‘95 demoing OS/2 for the PowerPC!

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Our first logo.

 

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1996:

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A new logo.

 

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Avarice.  Myst turn 20 this year.  Avarice was in the same genre but very object-oriented.

 

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Our turn to make a box.

 

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An an ad.

 

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Early article on the company.

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Trials of Battle. It was actually pretty amazing for its time. Players could set up independent servers over the Internet (not just on the LAN) and join and leave any time they want.  Stuff we consider basic today. Had a true 3D engine.

 

 

 

 

1997:

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We released a golf game for OS/2 – Links Golf for OS/2.

 

 

 

1998:

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Entrepreneur!

 

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Stellar Frontier! Imaging an MMO Star Control like game where the galaxy is set up by players with their own modded servers. So far ahead of its time.

 

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We made an official expansion pack for some obscure game called StarCraft. I wonder what ever happened to that game.

 

1999:

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Alpha version of WindowBlinds with Control Center ported from OS/2 to Windows.

 

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The end of OS/2 for us.

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2000:

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(remember this kid)

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DesktopX was ridiculously ahead of its time. Allowed you to turn anything into objects that existed right on your desktop.

 

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And let’s not forget ObjectBar!

 

2001

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Ah Component Manager.  In the future, people will purchase and download their games and software over the INTERNET!

 

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There’s that kid.

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2002:

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LightWeight Ninja! Our cool and under appreciated side scroller!

 

 

2002

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We made skins for Nintendo that year to help them launch the GameCube.

 

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2003:

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Hooray! Galactic Civilizations for Windows!

 

2004:

 

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The Political Machine and me on TV discussing using statistical modeling to gameify the election process.

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Object Desktop 2004!

 

 

2005:

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At the deviantART summit. 

 

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Early beta of GalCiv II

 

2006:

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Galactic Civilizations II won IGN’s “Underdog of the year” that year.

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Tab LaunchPad gets a new life as ObjectDock!

 

 

2007:

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Beekeeping at work.

 

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Ah MyColors.

 

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The Stardock building. 

At the time, this was my biggest purchase in my life up to that point.

 

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Jeff Bargmann (Fences) and I at the Entrepreneur of the Year dinner.

 

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2008

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Sins of a Solar Empire!

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Ironclad’s Sins of a Solar Empire in all its glory!

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Early ideas for a fantasy game.

 

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Steve (Neowin) and I.

 

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Early screenshots from Elemental: War of Magic.

 

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Design of how the tactical battles were supposed to be.

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Halloween at work!

 

2009

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GalCiv on store shelves.

 

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Nailing the game design down on paper…which later mutated into something completely different.

 

 

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Stardock building from the front.

 

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Impulse dock.

 

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IconPackager

 

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Alpha of a program we’d later call “Fences”

 

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This picture got me into some PR trouble.  We still think it’s funny though.

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DEMIGOD!

 

 

 

2010

 

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My first book got published.

 

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Sins of a Solar Empire is a phenomenon!

 

 

2011

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One of these puppies is our dog Bailey

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Picture of seeing the book on the store shelves.

 

 

2012

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Fallen Enchantress

 

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Our dog Bailey.

 

 

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2012

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Elemental on the shelves.

 

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Kay saves some baby turtles from walking into the parking lot (we put them in the pond).

 

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Jon and his bird.

 

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Stray cat I found wandering around. We brought him in and fixed him up. Lives with Yarlen now.

 

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Another Halloween!

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These people scare me. A lot.

 

 

2013

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Lead developer on GalCiv I / GalCiv II / Fallen Enchantress

 

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Soren and Derek brainstorming.

 

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Internal mods of Legendary Heroes.

 

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Unannounced game.

 

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Driving out of the parking lot.

 

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Me whining.

 

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Barging in on meeting.

 

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Unannounced game.

 

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Another unannounced game.

 

 

More to come….


Comments (Page 2)
2 Pages1 2 
on Sep 26, 2013


What....no red Porsche in the disabled spot pic?

And one must ask....is the Roo now feeling deflated [not being in shot]? ...

on Sep 26, 2013

Here's some pictures of some awesome people.

https://forums.wincustomize.com/324211/

 

on Sep 26, 2013

Hey--on the picture with "that kid" is that an Apple ][???

on Sep 26, 2013

 

A photo of approx. HALF the games team in 2013    

How far we've come from Brad, an external artist and 2 interns!

on Sep 26, 2013

There, put the Porsche picture up.

And ltos of new pics.

on Sep 26, 2013

We'll have to make sure to get a shot from the Breaking Bad party on Sunday

on Sep 26, 2013

Very nice pictures and resume. Congratulations. 

If only i had the same ability, drive, will or whatever it is to be once as succesful as you, Mr. Frogboy. 

 

 

 

on Sep 26, 2013

Cool stuff!

 

My personal favourite is "Natural Selection".....

on Sep 26, 2013

That's pretty cool.

on Sep 26, 2013

This picture got me into some PR trouble. We still think it’s funny though.

Well...and so you should...that's atrocious parking....neither 90 degree nor parallel ! ....

 

Yep....that looks like me on a TGIF Friday night ....

on Sep 27, 2013

I'm thinking you need to make LH's graphics like your "internal mod"...

 

If that's really what it is...

on Sep 27, 2013

Niceto see the progress of Stardock.Congrats.

on Nov 01, 2013

Please let us meet other parts of the team, give us a chance to thank them for their work.

 

also,

c'mon . UNNOUNCED GAMES?

 

WTf?

 

please announce them!

on Nov 01, 2013

Please make a shiny new DesktopX!!

 

And a real time 4x game would be nice.

2 Pages1 2