Edgeworks Entertainment

Edgeworks Entertainment is a machinima and new media production company founded by Alexander Winn and cofounded by Lacey Hannan. The company first gained recognition for their machinima series including The Codex Series, Vox Populi, Forsaken and Radical. Edgeworks is also known for hit terraforming game TerraGenesis, which has over 20 million downloads. [1]

Edgeworks Entertainment
TypePrivate
IndustryEntertainment
Founded2004
HeadquartersLos Angeles
Key people
Alexander Winn
Lacey Hannan
ProductsThe Codex
The Heretic
Vox Populi
TerraGenesis
Websitewww.edgeworksent.com

Productions

The Codex Series

The Codex crew, which then consisted of Alexander Winn, Ryan Luther, Patrick Malone and Meghan Foster, all got together to celebrate the launch of The Codex Series. Lauren Jenks joined the crew after a few months, and the series reached 20 episodes before it ended on August 13, 2005, when Episode 20, "The End of All Things", was released.he Codex Series is the name for the overarching story of the machinima series The Codex and The Heretic. Collectively, the series have received over 80 million hits as of April 2008.

The Codex

The Codex is a 20-episode online machinima series, set in Bungie' Halo video game universe. Along with its sister series, The Heretic, it is part of the greater Codex Series. It relates the story of a Covenant invasion of a Human world in order to recover a Forerunner artifact, and the story of the Humans resistance of that invasion. Since its initial release on February 9, 2005, The Codex has earned a large international fan base, and has been featured in numerous print, radio, televised, and online news media such as NPR,[2] mtvU,[3] Xbox World 360 Magazine in Britain,[4] and the front covers of the Dallas Observer[5] and Houston Press.[6] In his September 29, 2005 Long Tail blog entry, Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Wired magazine, described The Codex as the best machinima he had ever seen and an excellent example of his Long Tail theory.[7] The Codex is the highest trafficked peer-produced Halo machinima series in existence, ranking second only to the professionally produced series Red vs. Blue.

The Heretic

The Heretic is the second machinima series made by Edgeworks Entertainment. Like its predecessor, The Heretic is set in Bungie' Halo video game universe. It is a prequel to the popular series The Codex. The Heretic tells the story of how the Codex was found, and how the various characters in The Codex came to be involved with it. At 12:01 AM, February 9, 2007, Edgeworks Entertainment released Episode 1: Seeds of Doubt.

The Reclaimer

The Reclaimer was planned to be a sequel to The Codex and also the final series in The Codex Series. However, production of the series has officially been halted until further notice as a result of Microsoft's release of their Game Content Usage Rules, which made certain elements of the series impossible.[8]

Vox Populi

Vox Populi is the first non-machinima endeavor from Edgeworks Entertainment. It is a community-driven review site, in which registered members can post reviews for, at the time of release, movies and video games.[9] In the following weeks, Edgeworks also added television and book review sections.[10][11]

Forsaken
Forsaken logo.

Forsaken was a planned machinima series by Edgeworks Entertainment, and would have been the group's first to be made in the World of Warcraft game engine. According to Edgeworks, the series centered on an "over-the-hill hero" who "must rise to the challenge when the forces of evil begin their bid for control over the land of Azeroth".[12] The series was announced on April 12, 2006, with a teaser trailer[13] and was to be written and directed by Malone and co-produced by Malone and Winn.[14] Forsaken would have been the first Edgeworks production not to be written or directed by Winn, and Edgeworks cited the new series as the first step towards making a community for "artistic development and distribution".[15] Unfortunately, due to the series being rendered impossible thanks to a patch released for World of Warcraft, production of the series has halted as of January 3, 2007, and it seems unlikely that it will ever be completed or released.[16]

Radical

On 9 February 2010, 5 years after the release of The Codex it was announced [17] that Edgeworks would be creating a new, original, live action web series called Radical. A teaser trailer was released, along with a new forum section and media components. Production will be started late spring 2010 with a release date of the first episode also around that time.

TerraGenesis

On July 6, 2016, Founder Alexander Winn released his 25th app, TerraGenesis, on the iOS App store. Based on real science and data from NASA, the game lets players terraform planets across the solar system as they work to create habitable worlds for people to live on. The app unexpectedly gained a lot of attention, eventually leading to Edgework's publishing deal with Tilting Point in October 2017.[18]

In June 2017, TerraGenesis took the top prize at the Very Big Indie Pitch at Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco.[19]

On April 4, 2018 Edgeworks Entertainment and publisher Tilting Point announced launching TerraGenesis on the Google Play store, making it available for Android users.[20]

In May 2019, the 5.0 version update of TerraGenesis was launched, adding a whole host of new features to the game, as well as a completely revamped graphical engine.[21] Two months later on July 20 a "flat planet mode" was added to the game as well as moon landing inspired events in the game to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Moon Landing.[22]

On July 31, 2019, Edgeworks and Tilting Point announced their plans to releaseTerraGenesis to the Microsoft store in the fall. To showcase the upcoming Microsoft Store launch, Tilting Point and Edgeworks partnered with filmmaker, composer and influencer Melodysheep on a cinematic video for TerraGenesis, showcasing the possibilities of space exploration, depicting a sense of wonder and curiosity.[23]

TerraGenesis currently has over 20 million downloads.[1]

References
  1. "TerraGenesis Developer Edgeworks Entertainment Cryptically Teases New Game". Hey Poor Player. 2021-02-09. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  2. "Turning Video Games into Movies". Marketplace, NPR. Archived from the original on 2008-05-12. Retrieved 2008-04-26.
  3. "Machinima Master". MTV University. Archived from the original on September 11, 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-26.
  4. "XBOXWorld 360". Retrieved 2008-04-26.
  5. "Lights Camera Play". Dallas Observer. Retrieved 2008-04-26.
  6. "Hollywood Halo". Houston Press. Retrieved 2008-04-26.
  7. "The Long Tail". Retrieved 2008-04-26.
  8. "Microsoft 1, Community 0". The Reclaimer. Edgeworks Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-15.
  9. "Vox Populi". Edgeworks Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
  10. "Random Facts". Vox Populi. Edgeworks Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
  11. "VP Conquers the Small Screen". Vox Populi. Edgeworks Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
  12. "Videos". Edgeworks Entertainment. Edgeworks Entertainment. Archived from the original on May 14, 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-21.
  13. Winn, Alexander. "The Motherload". Forsaken. Edgeworks Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 22, 2007. Retrieved 2006-05-21.
  14. "Bios". Forsaken. Edgeworks Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2006-05-14. Retrieved 2006-05-21.
  15. "About Edgeworks Entertainment". Edgeworks Entertainment. Edgeworks Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2006-05-14. Retrieved 2006-05-21.
  16. "Forsaken Cancellation". Forsaken. Edgeworks Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2007-03-22. Retrieved 2007-01-03.
  17. "Radical Announcement". Edgeworks Entertainment. Retrieved 2010-02-10.
  18. Chapple, Craig; Editor, Senior. "TerraGenesis developer Edgeworks signs publishing deal with Tilting Point". pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved 2019-08-30.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  19. Chapple, Craig; Editor, Senior. "Space colonisation game TerraGenesis wins Very Big Indie Pitch at PGC San Francisco". pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved 2019-08-30.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  20. "TerraGenesis Now Available on Android Devices". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  21. "Incredibly Deep Planetary Strategy Game 'TerraGenesis' Gets Massive Version 5.0 Update". TouchArcade. 2019-05-20. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  22. "TerraGenesis Launches 5.1 Update with New". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  23. TerraGenesis - Leaving The Cradle Trailer - IGN, retrieved 2019-08-31
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