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Prolific Publishing began life as Silent Software over fourteen years ago. The company was formed by Baron R. K. Von Wolfsheild to develop interactive software and push the boundaries of technology. During this period Silent Software very quickly became an important player on the Amiga, designing and developing such hits as Fire Power, Galactic Invasion, and Turbo, as well as developing the Epyx game Mindroll. For the Commodore 64, Silent Software produced the Movie-to-interactive classic title from 20th Century Fox and Activision, Die Hard.
Between all of these games Silent Software programmed for the Amiga, Apple, Commodore 64, Mac, Tandy, PC, and Atari ST. Because of its reputation for strong, efficient programming, Disney Software called on Silent Software to develop its first independently-published game, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, which was released on the Amiga, Apple IIe/GS, Commodore 64 and PC in 1988. During the programming of Roger Rabbit, Baron R. K. Von Wolfsheild and the rest of the Silent Software team worked out a new method for displaying computer animation "cels" which allowed the artist to see through one cel to an earlier cel, duplicating the process which traditional animators had been using for years. Dubbed "onion skin" technology, this became the basis for Silent Software’s next original product with Disney, Disney Presents...The Animation Studio. This product, which enabled both amateurs and professionals to create gorgeous computer animations more easily than they ever had before, was a major success on both the Amiga and the PC, winning the People’s Choice Award and capturing 80% of the PC animation marketplace.
Meanwhile Silent Software was continuing to achieve new heights of technological achievement and programming excellence. They created the SBox lossless compression system, which has been used by IBM, Commodore, and Apple for very fast data transfers. The Sbox system was featured in the first multimedia Set Top box, the CDTV, which Silent Software co-produced with original Amiga designer Carl Sassenrath (Rebol.com), and famed computer artist, Jim Sachs.
Upon the introduction of the first 32 bit console system, the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, Silent Software created the very popular multi-player game Return Fire. The Los Angeles Times called it "the single game that prevented 3DO owners from feeling like total idiots for shelling out $700." The PlayStation version of the game, co-published with Time Warner Interactive, was awarded the prestigious "Strategy Game of the Year. To publish the game, Baron Von Wolfsheild formed Prolific Publishing, which then went on to open a Northern California office to branch into a new line of entertainment hardware and software. Prolific’s next project was developing software for the new wave of multimedia gaming devices for the gambling industry. The first in the line of video slot machines was received with rave reviews at the Showboat in Atlantic City.
A recent triumph for Prolific Publishing was the release in September 1998 of Return Fire II. Designed and programmed in-house and published by Panasonic and Ripcord Games, the game has received rave reviews and excellent sales, becoming Panasonic’s largest initial software sell-in in its history.
Return Fire II features the debut of Prolific Publishing’s new 36D™ Engine, which features real-time quadratic polynomial texture rendering, MIP mapping, articulated hierarchical 3D models, terrain deformation, and a host of other technologies which support multiple platforms, and video devices, as well as unaccelerated software only 3D rendering.
Prolific Publishing is growing rapidly, having this year, 1998, brought in over eight million dollars in revenue. It is currently negotiating with a number of major publishers for its next game, and is actively seeking opportunities to make use of its expertise in the creation of new and exciting products.
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