Although in recent years Stainless Games have focused more on off-the shelf technologies such as Unity and the Unreal engine, historically their work centred around their in-house flexible videogame development technology known as Beelzebub.
Summary
Beelzebub (also known as ShapeShifter for a short time[1]) took shape as a game engine when Stainless Software was developing Carmageddon 2, building upon the original Carmageddon code. It became a large suite of routines and sub-systems that share protocols, allowing each to talk to the other without any additional work. Beelzebub was fundamentally cross-platform, although some parts of it (such as the renderer) were almost entirely different for each platform as soon as you looked beneath the API. It notably relied on the BRender graphics engine during its first generation.
World-building and scene creation tools (Plaything 2, Acolyte) accompanied Beelzebub, and various plug-ins for programs such as Maya, 3D Studio Max and Photoshop completed the data pipeline.
Platforms supported throughout the years
Basically all platforms were claimed to be supported by Stainless Games.
- Windows 9x, Windows NT (XP - 10) (including Games for Windows - Live)
- Classic Mac OS, Mac OS X
- Xbox, Xbox 360 (incl. Live Arcade), Xbox One
- PlayStation 2, PSP, PlayStation 3 including PSN (incl. PlayStation Home), PlayStation 4
- Nintendo GameBoy Advance, GameCube, Wii, DS/DSi, 3DS, Switch
- iPhone, iPad and Apple TV (Incl. Game Center)
- Android
- Gizmondo
Principle technology components
- Low-level physics engine, now in its 6th generation
- High-level dynamics API that sits above the physics
- Car dynamics technology. 3rd-generation code, developed in conjunction with ProDrive (Subaru rally team)
- Scene and texture animation system
- Low-level renderer
- High-level renderer
- 2D graphics routines (including blitting)
- World hierarchy management
- Level-of-detail management
- Texture management
- Unlimited multi pass texturing
- Multi texturing in a single pass on capable hardware
- Shadows, reflections, highlights, etc.
- Particle effects
- Other visual effects
- Sky boxes
- Character skinning
- Character animation
- Character physics
- Network transport layer
- Network physics
- Network game management
- Memory management with diagnostics
- Time management
- Action Replay
- Sound System
- Mesh-deformation and splitting system
- File I/O
- Script files
- Camera management
- Split-screen and multi-viewport rendering
- Debugging and diagnostic aids
- Error-handling
- Maths library
- Utility library
- Console
- Input devices abstraction
- Force-feedback support
- Main-loop and general game management
- Fractal vegetation generation
- World creation tools
Known Beelzebub-powered titles
All titles developed by Stainless Games, except where noted.
Product | Year | Platforms | Publisher |
---|---|---|---|
Carmageddon 2: Carpocalypse Now | 1998 | Windows, Mac | SCi |
Arena AD (cancelled) | 1999 | Windows, Mac, PlayStation | SCi |
JFK: Reloaded | 2004 | Windows | Developed and published by Traffic Games |
Carmageddon (Gizmondo) | 2005 | Gizmondo | SCi (never shipped) |
London Racer: Destruction Madness | 2005 | Windows | Davilex Games |
Novadrome | 2006 | XBLA | Buena Vista Games |
PocketBike Racer | 2006 | Xbox, Xbox 360 | King Games |
Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm | 2008 | Windows, Xbox 360 | Sega |
Red Baron: Arcade | 2008 | PSN, Windows | Sierra Entertainment |
Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers | 2009 | Windows, XBLA, PSN | Wizards of the Coast |
Risk: Factions | 2010 | Windows, XBLA, PSN | Electronic Arts |
Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 | 2011 | Windows, XBLA, PSN | Wizards of the Coast |
Carmageddon Funsize | 2012 | iOS, Android | Stainless Games |
Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 | 2012 | Windows, XBLA, PSN, iOS | Wizards of the Coast |
Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 | 2013 | Windows, XBLA, PSN, iOS, Android | Wizards of the Coast |
Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2015 | 2014 | Windows, XBLA, PSN, iOS, Android, Xbox One | Wizards of the Coast |
Carmageddon: Reincarnation | 2015 | Windows | Stainless Games |
Magic Duels: Origins | 2015 | Windows, Xbox One, iOS | Wizards of the Coast |
Carmageddon: Max Damage | 2016 | Windows, Xbox One, PS4 | Stainless Games |