Difference between revisions of "Three Rings"

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'''Three Rings Design, Inc.''' was founded in March 2001 by Daniel James and Michael Bayne. After discussions between the two, one of the concepts that Daniel had put forward, an MMOG driven by action puzzles, was chosen as Three Rings' first project, and development started in July of 2001. In November 2011, Three Rings was acquired by SEGA as a self-contained game development studio within the SEGA family.{{fn|http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/33687}}
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'''Three Rings Design, Inc.''' was a company that developed and maintained several online games.  
  
The name ''Three Rings'' is derived from Tolkien mythology: in those stories, the elves created three magic rings, named Vilya, Narya and Nenya. These names appear from time to time in Puzzle Pirates. Narya is also the name given to Three Rings' [https://github.com/threerings/narya open-source Java library], containing "facilities for making networked multiplayer games." Narya is used with other Three Rings and open-source technologies to power Three Rings' [http://www.gamegardens.com/ Game Gardens] site.
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== About ==
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The company - often referred to colloquially as "OOO" - was founded by Daniel James and Michael Bayne. It had offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Madison, Wisconsin. It was later based in San Francisco, California.
  
The current staff of Three Rings Design include the Game Masters (Spiral Knights), Agents (Whirled), Sherrifs (Bang! Howdy) and Ocean Masters (Puzzle Pirates), who are responsible for customer service, moderation and policing within their respective games and perform similar functions to Game Masters in other games, and developers who are responsible for the development and maintenance of Puzzle Pirates, Bang! Howdy, Whirled, and Spiral Knights.
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The name "Three Rings" is derived from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien's_legendarium Tolkien mythology]: in those stories, the elves created three magic rings, named Vilya, Narya, and Nenya. These names appear from time to time in Puzzle Pirates. Narya is also the name given to Three Rings' [https://github.com/threerings/narya open-source Java library], containing "facilities for making networked multiplayer games." Narya is used with other Three Rings and open-source technologies to power Three Rings' [http://www.gamegardens.com/ Game Gardens] site.
  
Prior to starting Three Rings, in 1995 Daniel James made an attempt at bidding for the rights to make an MMORPG based on the Lord of the Rings. This company would have been called '''Three Rings Internet Productions''' but never got underway due to legal wrangling.  
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The staff of Three Rings Design included [[Game Master]]s (Spiral Knights), Agents (Whirled), Sherrifs (Bang! Howdy), and Ocean Masters (Puzzle Pirates). These members were responsible for customer service, moderation, and policing within their respective games - and to an extent the other games under Three Rings. Also employed were several [[Credits|developers]] responsible for the engineering and maintenance of games under Three Rings.
  
In March 2016, layoffs have hit Three Rings, leaving some former Three Rings staff go, due to financial cuts by SEGA. In April 2016, former Three Rings staff formed Grey Havens, and the rights to continue developing games, like Spiral Knights, have been moved to Grey Havens.
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== History ==
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Prior to starting Three Rings, Daniel James made an attempt at bidding for the rights to make an MMORPG based on the Lord of the Rings in 1995. This company would have been called "Three Rings Internet Productions" but never got underway due to legal wrangling.{{fn|http://thecan.org/in/threerings.html}}
  
== Other Links ==
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*March 30th, 2001: Company founded.{{fn|http://www.ign.com/companies/three-rings-design-inc}}
* [http://www.threerings.net Official website of Three Rings]
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* [http://www.threerings.net/about About Three Rings]
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*July 9th, 2001: Development of first game (Puzzle Pirates) begins.
* [http://thecan.org/in/threerings.html The Sad Tale of Three Rings Internet Productions]
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* [http://www.puzzlepirates.com Puzzle Pirates]
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*Around 2007: Development of second game (Spiral Knights) begins.
* [http://www.banghowdy.com Bang! Howdy]
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* [http://www.whirled.com Whirled]
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*February 24th, 2011: Doctor Who: Worlds in Time was announced, with BBC's collaboration involved.
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*November 17th, 2011: Three Rings was acquired by SEGA as a self-contained game development studio within the SEGA family.{{fn|http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/33687}}
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*January 15th, 2014: Three Rings announced Doctor Who: Worlds in Time's closing down taking place in March 3, 2014.
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*March 3rd, 2014: Three Rings shut down Doctor Who: Worlds in Time.
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*March 4th, 2016: SEGA authorized a large number of layoffs. This included all of Three Rings Design Inc., leading to its disbandment.{{fn|http://segabits.com/blog/2016/03/06/sega-networks-confirms-layoffs-in-the-west-including-three-rings-design-inc/}}
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*April 6th, 2016: Several former Three Rings staff members moved Spiral Knights to [[Grey Havens]]. Grey Havens is currently the home of several games previously cared for by Three Rings.{{fn|http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/114100}}
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== See Also ==
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*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Rings_Design Three Rings article on Wikipedia]
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*[http://www.puzzlepirates.com Puzzle Pirates]
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*[http://www.banghowdy.com Bang! Howdy]
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*[http://www.whirled.com Whirled]
  
 
[[Category:Terminology]]
 
[[Category:Terminology]]

Latest revision as of 19:38, 8 March 2017

Three Rings Design, Inc. was a company that developed and maintained several online games.

About

The company - often referred to colloquially as "OOO" - was founded by Daniel James and Michael Bayne. It had offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Madison, Wisconsin. It was later based in San Francisco, California.

The name "Three Rings" is derived from Tolkien mythology: in those stories, the elves created three magic rings, named Vilya, Narya, and Nenya. These names appear from time to time in Puzzle Pirates. Narya is also the name given to Three Rings' open-source Java library, containing "facilities for making networked multiplayer games." Narya is used with other Three Rings and open-source technologies to power Three Rings' Game Gardens site.

The staff of Three Rings Design included Game Masters (Spiral Knights), Agents (Whirled), Sherrifs (Bang! Howdy), and Ocean Masters (Puzzle Pirates). These members were responsible for customer service, moderation, and policing within their respective games - and to an extent the other games under Three Rings. Also employed were several developers responsible for the engineering and maintenance of games under Three Rings.

History

Prior to starting Three Rings, Daniel James made an attempt at bidding for the rights to make an MMORPG based on the Lord of the Rings in 1995. This company would have been called "Three Rings Internet Productions" but never got underway due to legal wrangling.[1]

  • March 30th, 2001: Company founded.[2]
  • July 9th, 2001: Development of first game (Puzzle Pirates) begins.
  • Around 2007: Development of second game (Spiral Knights) begins.
  • February 24th, 2011: Doctor Who: Worlds in Time was announced, with BBC's collaboration involved.
  • November 17th, 2011: Three Rings was acquired by SEGA as a self-contained game development studio within the SEGA family.[3]
  • January 15th, 2014: Three Rings announced Doctor Who: Worlds in Time's closing down taking place in March 3, 2014.
  • March 3rd, 2014: Three Rings shut down Doctor Who: Worlds in Time.
  • March 4th, 2016: SEGA authorized a large number of layoffs. This included all of Three Rings Design Inc., leading to its disbandment.[4]
  • April 6th, 2016: Several former Three Rings staff members moved Spiral Knights to Grey Havens. Grey Havens is currently the home of several games previously cared for by Three Rings.[5]

See Also

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