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08-94 |
The entire
staff of Naughty Dog, Jason
Rubin and Andy
Gavin, move from Boston, Massachusetts to Los
Angeles, California. Somewhere near Gary, Indiana,
the driving technology behind the Crash Bandicoot
series is born. By Colorado, a rough game theory is
designed. The previous game design, "Al O. Saurus
and Dinestein" based on side scrolling, time traveling,
scientists genetically merged with dinosaurs, is thrown
out. Andy and Jason are fined heavily for littering.
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08-94 |
Naughty
Dog unpacks in its new offices, the 447 building on
Universal Studios' Backlot in Los Angeles. The dogs
meet Mark Cerny, then newly installed VP of Universal
Interactive Studios. The design is discussed, and
agreement to go into production is made. |
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09-94 |
NDI decides
to go PlayStation. Sony sends Naughty Dog its first
development boxes. They are the size of small refrigerators.
Jason starts character design. The Suzanne Somers
show starts filming nearby. After dating a member
of the staff, Jason manages to get a "Thighmaster"
signed by Suzanne herself. |
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11-94 |
Two months
into production Naughty Dog hires its first employee:
Dave Baggett, a friend of Andy's from MIT. At this
point there are more programmers than artists on the
project. The average Naughty Dog IQ is at its highest.
The softball team is at its worst. |
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01-95 |
Fearing
that the programmer/artist ratio is making him smarter,
Jason hires two additional artists, Bob
Rafei and Taylor Kurosaki. Their first day of
work is at CES (the then-big game show) in Las Vegas,
and entails attending game industry parties and other
"interesting" evening spots in BOTH the city with
the lowest moral standards, and the most traveled
to family destination, in America. |
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03-95 |
Design
of Crash and his pantheon of friends nears completion.
Charles Zembillas and Joe Pearson, two professional
cartoon designers, meet with the Dogs weekly and together
they create the characters we all know so well. Justin
Monast and Dan Kollmorgen are added to the team.
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04-95 |
After returning
to Los Angeles, the original five members of Naughty
Dog spend three solid months working on the game.
Sometime in April, the game becomes functional. It
will be a long two months, however, until it becomes
playable. |
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05-95 |
Sony unveils
the PlayStation at E3 in LA. The world is stunned.
This will be the only E3 without a Crash product.
The Naughty Dogs vow to bring a project to every subsequent
E3. |
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06-95 |
Crash
reaches first playable. 10 months into production
the first level that will be in the final game begins
construction. To this date, it has all been technology.
Now, there must be a game. That, of course, will help
sales! |
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07-95 |
Naughty
Dog moves to bigger and better space in the 488 building
on the Universal lot. |
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08-95 |
The first
three levels that will be in the final game have been
completed. They are judged later to be too difficult
to start the game so they end up on the third island,
in the power plant. 12 months from the beginning of
the game it is obvious to the whole team that Crash
Bandicoot will be a hit. But the rest of the
world does not yet know what is in store for them.
Charlotte
Francis joins the team. |
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09-95 |
The curtain
of silence is removed. Over a year after production
the first videotape of Crash Bandicoot
is made. Sony is shown behind closed doors. |
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11-95 |
Sony becomes
the first publisher to place their hands on Crash
Bandicoot. Many of the levels are completed
by now. They are excited by the game's potential.
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01-96 |
The first
"crate" is placed in the game. 16 months after its
inception, the primary gameplay element is discovered.
Jason, first proponent of the crate, explains the
deep logic behind the addition: "people like breaking
stuff." The crates and Crash's spinning destruction
of said cubes would eventually lead to his name. |
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03-96 |
Sony places
its name on the dotted line. They will publish Crash
Bandicoot. There are little more than two
months for Sony to prepare for E3. As they have then
and every time since, they come through with style.
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04-96 |
Crash
goes Alpha. |
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05-96 |
The first
Crash E3. Crash Bandicoot is on everyone's
must-play list. Early reaction is awesome. |
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08-96 |
After months
of playtesting, Sony gives Crash a thumbs
up. All systems are go for release. A massive bash
is thrown in New York. Recent hiree Stephen
White gets his first taste of the big apple along
with the rest of the team. "Exploring" the subway
system, the team is almost wiped out. Later, Jason
gets a cab driver to hit 90 mph (144 kph) on 5th Avenue
at 4am. Again, part of the team comes near extinction.
Greg
Omi co-author of the 3DO M2 operating system joins
Naughty Dog. |
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10-96 |
Crash
Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back begins. All
of the "should haves" and "could haves" discovered
during the creation of Crash 1 are put
into the brand new, shiny Crash 2 engine.
It is more than three times as fast overall, and can
handle 10 times the animation frames, and twice the
polygon count. The artists cry. |
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11-96 |
Crash
1 launches in Europe. Sales of the title are
record breaking in many territories. Naughty Dog reaches
10 employees with the hiring of Eric
Iwasaki. Andy and Jason do a Japanese press tour.
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12-96 |
Crash
1 launches in Japan. Sales are huge. Sony
Computer Entertainment's advertising campaign and
positioning are perfect. Crash 1 will
go on to be the best selling foreign developed title
on the Next Generation Consoles... until Crash
2 arrives. |
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02-97 |
Erick
Pangilinan joins the Naughty Dog art staff. |
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03-97 |
Rob
Titus joins the Naughty Dog art staff. The softball
team improves. Joe
Labbe joins Naughty Dog. We all learn to Rap.
Naughty Dog decides to keep our day job. |
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05-97 |
Crash
1 receives a "Gold Prize" in Japan for sales
of more than 500,000 units. It is the only foreign
developed title to do so. WORLDWIDE SALES OF Crash
1 REACH NEARLY 2 MILLION. |
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06-97 |
Crash
2 is unveiled in Atlanta, Georgia. Again,
the industry is awed. Naughty Dog's party antics at
E3 reaffirm the teams naming. |
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08-97 |
Crash
2 goes Alpha. Dan
Arey, lead designer of Gex 2, decides to join
Naughty Dog. Level design is streamlined, and the
refinement process becomes smoother. |
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09-97 |
Crash
1 joins Sony's "Greatest Hits" series in the
US. Sales jump greatly. Jason does a press tour of
Europe. |
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11-97 |
Crash
2 ships in the US. Initial sales are excellent.
Naughty Dog takes temporary residence at 10 Universal
City Plaza as their new office space in Santa Monica
is being completed. |
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12-97 |
Crash
2 ships in Europe and Japan. Again, Jason
and Andy tour Japan on a press tour. The rest of the
Dogs take a month to recover...for some, the first
break in three years. |
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01-98 |
Based on
continuing sales of Crash 1, as well
as the smash sales of Crash 2 worldwide,
THE CRASH SERIES REACHES 5 MILLION UNITS! Naughty
Dog thanks Sony for its incredible run. Naughty Dog
begins Crash Bandicoot: Warped. |
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02-98 |
Malcolm
Hee joins Naughty Dog as a texture artist as Charlotte
Francis takes leave to have a baby. The dress code
and language around Naughty Dog take a serious dive.
Further, the baby is not named "Crash" as expected.
Charlotte will return, with baby in tow, three months
later. Dress and Language do not improve prompting
some to fear the change is permanent. |
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03-98 |
Crash
1 becomes the #1 selling PlayStation title
in America. Sales top 1.5 million in this territory
alone. FFVII and NFL Gameday are #2 and #3. |
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04-98 |
Again,
Naughty Dog receives the "Gold Prize" in Japan for
sales of over 500,000 units. Crash 2
replaces Crash 1 as the best selling
foreign developed Next Generation Console title in
Japan. Sales of Crash 2 top 800,000,
while Crash 1 settles at over 600,000.
Danny Chan and Evan
Wells, lead programmer and lead designer of the
recently completed Gex 2, join Naughty Dog. Discussions
of the future begin. |
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05-98 |
Naughty
Dog moves to an office overlooking Santa Monica's
Third Street Prominade. Half the team's commute improves,
the other half worsens. But everyone likes the new
digs. Business along the Prominade picks up, Naughty
Dog productivity slows. We learn to deal with the
"distractions." |
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06-98 |
A small
sampling of Crash 3 levels are prominently
displayed at Sony's E3 booth in Atlanta, Georgia.
The industry wonders if Crash 3 is just
more of the same. We let them wonder. The Naughty
Dogs leave their mark throughout the city. Next year
E3 moves back to L.A. Any connection? |
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07-98 |
Naughty
Dog begins "Project X." It will be a high tech,
free roaming, multiplayer PlayStation tour-de-force.
It will not be a character based platform game...and
Crash may not be the star. This is the first time
two projects are concurrently in development at Naughty
Dog. |
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08-98 |
The Japanese
Crash Bandicoot visits the Naughty Dog dog house.
Jason takes possession of his Ferrari F355GTS. Driving
games become a popular topic of discussion around
the office. |
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09-98 |
Crash
2 joins the "Greatest Hits" lineup and sales
spike. Crash 2 returns to the TRSTS
top 10. After nearly two years in the top 20, Crash
1 finally drops off the list. Running Wild
is released. Contrary to the claim made on its cover,
Naughty Dog had nothing to do with it. |
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10-98 |
Crash
3 goes gold just nine months and eight days
after production started. Crash 1
& 2 become the number one and number two best selling
PlayStation titles of all-time in North America.
Andy gets his Mercedes. |
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11-98 |
Gavin
James joins Naughty Dog's programming staff. Crash
3 hits store shelves accompanied by mega-marketing
campaigns by Sony and Pizza Hut. Artists start work
on "Project X." Naughty Dog attends PlayStation's
Anniversary / Spyro's Launch party in Las Vegas.
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12-98 |
Though
some Dogs sleep the month away, others work hard to
finish the engine for "Project X." Crash
3 launches huge in Japan and Europe. As Crash
3 tops one million units in the U.S., WORLDWIDE
SALES OF THE TRILOGY SURPASS 10 MILLION! |
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01-99 |
Returning
from vacation, rejuvinated Dogs help shift "Project
X" development into high gear. Crash
3 becomes the first foreign-developed title
to pass the one million mark in Japan. Crash
2 is not far behind. |
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02-99 |
Scott Patterson
becomes Naughty Dog's first dedicated sound programmer
since Crash 1 days. Eric and Greg breathe
a sigh of relief. |
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03-99 |
Gregg
Tavares joins the programming staff and artist
Bruce Straley
quickly signs aboard to maintain the delicate technical
/ creative balance. |
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04-99 |
Sony announces
PlayStation 2. Jason and Andy start discussing Naughty
Dog's expansion. |
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05-99 |
Naughty
Dog surprises and awes the industry by debuting CTR
(Crash Team Racing) at E3. The show's return
to L.A. dashes everyone's late night party plans.
To compensate, Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games host
their first annual E3 party at the House of Blues.
And, once again, Sony invites the Dogs to their annual
bash. |
06-99 |
Crash
3 earns Naughty Dog the "Platinum Prize" in
Japan for sales of over 1,000,000 units. |
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08-99 |
CTR
goes alpha. |
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09-99 |
CTR
goes beta. Crash 3 joins Sony's "Greatest
Hits" lineup as PlayStation's price drops to $99.
Sales spike. With the hiring of coders Didier
Malenfant and Pål-Kristian
Engstad, the creative staff worries that programmers
plan to procedurally generate art for future projects.
Animator E.I. learns melScript for job security. With
further expansion imminent, Naughty Dog leases additional
office space. Jason insists that this is not to accommodate
more toys. |
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10-99 |
CTR
ships to stores across North America accompanied by
another stellar advertising campaign from Sony. Animator
John Kim signs
aboard to ease art staff concerns. Jason flies solo
on a European press tour. The WB show "Felicity" features
a storyline where characters Elena and Noel become
obsessed with completing Crash 3. |
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11-99 |
Pizza Hut
once again features Crash in TV spots and on millions
of demo discs. CTR goes gold in Europe.
To celebrate, the Naughty Dogs go "shifter kart" racing.
Surprisingly, no one gets hurt. Eddie
Edwards joins the programming staff. |
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12-99 |
The staff
takes a month to re-energize its creative batteries
while Jason and Andy tour Japan. Upon returning to
the States, Andy adopts Osiris.
As CBR (Crash Bandicoot Racing) reaches
Japanese consumers, Naughty Dog officially says farewell
to the bandicoot. It's hard to say goodbye...especially
since all four Crash games continue to sell well.
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01-00 |
The Y2K
bug fails to show, but three new artists do. Mark
Koerner, Mike Gasaway, and Jane
Mullaney bring balance to our Playstation 2 development
force. Naughty Dog's staff now spreads across two
floors. Our post-Crash era has begun! |
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02-00 |
Two new
people enter the scene at Naughty Dog; Ammie
Puckett adds some needed organization to the team,
reintroducing such invaluable tools as silverware,
napkins and human interaction to the Dogs. Christine
Haas arrives to help Jason
take care of business so that he can get his hands
dirty in the game making process again. Naughty Dog
is not yet done growing... |
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05-00 |
The Entertainment
Expo in Los Angeles (E3) is a great success, although
Naughty Dog lays low and builds steam towards their
unveiled project. The the Dogs soak up the buzz and
look towards E3 2001 when they will be back with a
BAMMM !!! |
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06-00 |
Sadly,
Scott Patterson and Mike Gasaway leave Naughty Dog
for different walks of life. Mike has gone to follow
his dream of becoming a filmmaker. Scott and his wife
have moved to Sydney, Australia to raise their family
and spread the gaming talent 'down under'. We will
miss them both... |
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"Naughty
Dog", the Naughty Dog Logo, and the Naughty Dog
character are registered trademarks of Naughty Dog,
Inc. Naughty Dog, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary
of Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. Jak &
Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is a trademark of Sony
Computer Entertainment America Inc. Created and developed
by Naughty Dog, Inc. © 2001 Sony Computer
Entertainment America Inc. Crash Bandicoot and related
characters & © 1999-2000 Universal
Interactive Studios, Inc. Licensed by Universal Studios
Licensing, Inc. All rights reserved. The Sony Computer
Entertainment logo is a registered trademark of Sony
Corporation. "Playstation" and the "PS"
Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer
Entertainment Inc. The Crash Bandicoot series was
developed for the Playstation game console. Jak &
Daxter: The Precursor Legacy was developed for the
Playstation 2 computer entertainment system.
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