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119-556: KingsIsle Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Round Rock, Texas . Founded in January 2005 by Elie Akilian, the company operates a development studio in Round Rock, Texas , which hosts the majority of its staff. KingsIsle is best known for its massively multiplayer online role-playing games , Wizard101 and Pirate101 . After Media and Games Invest acquired KingsIsle in January 2021, Akilian spun off

238-488: A Premium Outlet Mall , and the mixed-use La Frontera center, have changed Round Rock from a sleepy bedroom community into its own self-contained "super suburb". Round Rock and Williamson County have been the site of human habitation since at least 9,200 BCE. The area's earliest known inhabitants lived during the late Pleistocene (Ice Age), and are linked to the Clovis culture around 9,200 BCE based on evidence found at

357-593: A database , Voice over IP , or add-in interface software; this is also known as middleware . Examples of this include SpeedTree and Havoc . Independents are software developers which are not owned by (or dependent on) a single publisher. Some of these developers self-publish their games, relying on the Internet and word of mouth for publicity. Without the large marketing budgets of mainstream publishers, their products may receive less recognition than those of larger publishers such as Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. With

476-460: A humid subtropical climate , Cfa on climate maps. The city was heavily damaged by a high-end EF2 tornado on March 21, 2022 . The tornado continued well northeast of the city afterwards, causing additional damage before dissipating. Sixteen people were injured. As of the 2020 United States census , there were 119,468 people, 41,896 households, and 29,962 families residing in the city. The 42,580 housing units had 32,338 owner-occupied homes with

595-521: A multinational computer and information technology corporation based in Round Rock, develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. The company employs about 11,500 people in the Round Rock facilities, and as of 2017, about 138,000 people worldwide. Dell was originally based in Austin after its formation in 1984 as PC's Limited by UT college student Michael Dell . With

714-527: A convenient low-water crossing for wagons, horses, and cattle. The first postmaster called the community "Brushy", and the creek was called " Brushy Creek ", but in 1854, at the suggestion of the postmaster, the small settlement was renamed Round Rock in honor of this now famous rock. After the Civil War, Jesse Chisholm began moving cattle from South Texas through Round Rock on the way to Abilene, Kansas . The route he established, which crossed Brushy Creek at

833-597: A crossing location along the Chisholm Trail. The project plans include 18 to 20 additional bronze statues over time. Following the end of the American Civil War , a group of Confederate veterans held a reunion in Georgetown on August 27, 1904, for the old settlers of Williamson County and their descendants. The invitation promised "good music, plenty to eat, and above all a warm welcome." The event

952-452: A culture of "toxic geek masculinity" within the workplace. In addition, the conditions behind crunch time are far more discriminating towards women as this requires them to commit time exclusively to the company or to more personal activities like raising a family. These factors established conditions within some larger development studios where female developers have found themselves discriminated in workplace hiring and promotion, as well as

1071-571: A first-party company. As a balance to not being able to release their game for other platforms, second-party developers are usually offered higher royalty rates than third-party developers. These studios may have exclusive publishing agreements (or other business relationships) with the platform holder, but maintain independence so that upon completion or termination of their contracts, they are able to continue developing games for other publishers if they choose to. For example, while HAL Laboratory initially began developing games on personal computers like

1190-410: A fixed period and generally work similar hours as full-time staff members, assisting across all areas of video game development, but as contractors, do not get any benefits such as paid time-off or health care from the employer; they also are typically not credited on games that they work on for this reason. The practice itself is legal and common in other engineering and technology areas, and generally it

1309-403: A game on schedule. The complexity of workflow, reliance on third-party deliverables, and the intangibles of artistic and aesthetic demands in video game creation create difficulty in predicting milestones. The use of crunch time is also seen to be exploitative of the younger male-dominated workforce in video games, who have not had the time to establish a family and who were eager to advance within

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1428-406: A game's profits. Current examples of first-party studios include PlayStation Studios for Sony, and Xbox Game Studios for Microsoft Gaming . Second-party developer is a colloquial term often used by gaming enthusiasts and media to describe game studios that take development contracts from platform holders and develop games exclusive to that platform, i.e. a non-owned developer making games for

1547-407: A median value of $ 172,500. Of the 41,896 households, 29.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.5% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.4% were not families. About 18.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.87, and

1666-514: A much greater volume United States evidence of Archaic period inhabitants based on relics and flint tools recovered from burned rock middens . The earliest known "historical" Native American occupants, the Tonkawa , were a flint-working, hunting people who followed the buffalo on foot and periodically set fire to the prairie to aid them in their hunts. During the 18th century, the Tonkawa made

1785-496: A new highway. The site has been studied for many years and samples carbon date to this particular Pleistocene period around 10,500 years ago. Prehistoric and Archaic period "open occupation" campsites are also found throughout the county along streams and other water sources, including Brushy Creek in Round Rock and the San Gabriel River in Georgetown, 10 mi (16 km) north. These archeology dig sites show

1904-557: A ninth-grade center reverted to a middle school, and the district's 31st elementary school opened in the Stone Oak subdivision. "The average student-teacher ratio for the district is 16. The annual dropout rate for students in grades 7–12 is 1.1%, and more than 77% of the district's graduating seniors take the SAT and ACT college entrance exams, scoring well above state and national averages." The property tax rates are significantly higher than

2023-437: A position in a medium to large video game company. An experienced game-development employee, depending on their expertise and experience, averaged roughly $ 73,000 in 2007. Indie game developers may only earn between $ 10,000 and $ 50,000 a year depending on how financially successful their titles are. In addition to being part of the software industry, game development is also within the entertainment industry; most sectors of

2142-538: A professionally designed disc golf course, cricket, cross country running, twenty-field baseball complex, five-field softball complex, and seven soccer facilities in addition to the Rockin' River Family Aquatic Center. The 11th annual US Quidditch Cup championship quidditch tournament was hosted in Round Rock in April 2018. The city of Round Rock is managed through a council-manager form of government. The city council

2261-649: A roundtable discussion with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), the professional association for developers. Statements made by the IGDA's current executive director Jen MacLean relating to IGDA's activities had been seen by as anti-union, and Game Workers Unite desired to start a conversation to lay out the need for developers to unionize. In the wake of the sudden near-closure of Telltale Games in September 2018,

2380-407: A single publisher; one canceled game may devastate a small developer. Because of this, many small development companies are short-lived. A common exit strategy for a successful video game developer is to sell the company to a publisher, becoming an in-house developer. In-house development teams tend to have more freedom in game design and content than third-party developers. One reason is that since

2499-814: A small part in Travis County ), which is a part of the Greater Austin metropolitan area. Its population is 119,468 according to the 2020 census . The city straddles the Balcones Escarpment , a fault line in which the areas roughly east of Interstate 35 are flat and characterized by having black, fertile soils of the Blackland Prairie , and the west side of the Escarpment, which consists mostly of hilly, karst-like terrain with little topsoil and higher elevations and which

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2618-403: A strong STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) background for women at the secondary education level, but there are issues with tertiary education such as at colleges and universities, where game development programs tend to reflect the male-dominated demographics of the industry, a factor that may lead women with strong STEM backgrounds to choose other career goals. There

2737-697: A unique case where nearly all parts of its labor force, including white-collar jobs such as video game development, may engage with labor unions under the Employment Protection Act often through collective bargaining agreements. Developer DICE had reached its union agreements in 2004. Paradox Interactive became one of the first major publishers to support unionization efforts in June 2020 with its own agreements to cover its Swedish employees within two labor unions Unionen and SACO . In Australia, video game developers could join other unions, but

2856-568: A wide range of city-like services including parks and recreation, full utilities, road maintenance and a Home Owner's Association . Services a MUD can offer, however are also limited by law (for example they cannot offer library services). Another similar but somewhat smaller MUD in Round Rock's is Fern Bluff Municipal Utility District in the Wyoming Springs area of town. Both MUDs play a significant role in local governance and maintenance of basic utilities. From time to time, elections to

2975-592: Is 47,648 (2010 city estimate). Round Rock's largest district is Brushy Creek Municipal Utility District. Brushy Creek MUD was formed as Williamson County Municipal Utility District No. 2 in October 1977 with 725 acres (2.9 km ) of land. An annexation in 1983 increased the District to 2,210 acres (8.9 km ). The district name was changed to Brushy Creek Municipal Utility District in August 1990. The MUD provides

3094-452: Is a social and educational group, with the purpose of facilitating social activities, as well as collecting and preserving important historical information and facts. The facilities are rented for meetings, arts and craft and collectable shows, events, parties, weddings and rehearsal dinners. In the 1950s, planners of the new Interstate Highway System proposed to route Interstate 35 through Taylor, whose population and cotton industry made it

3213-482: Is also a significant gap in racial minorities within the video game industry; a 2019 IGDA survey found only 2% of developers considered themselves to be of African descent and 7% Hispanic, while 81% were Caucasian; in contrast, 2018 estimates from the United States Census estimate the U.S. population to be 13% of African descent and 18% Hispanic. In a 2014 and 2015 survey of job positions and salaries,

3332-684: Is appropriated each biennium by the Texas Legislature . In August 2010, Austin Community College's largest campus to date opened adjacent to the Texas State University center. ACC is constructing five additional buildings with a total of 250,000 square feet (23,000 m ) to accommodate up to 5,000 students in its first phase. All three campuses are adjacent to each other within the burgeoning Avery Farms development. The newest component of higher education

3451-502: Is composed of six city council members and the mayor. The mayor and all council members are elected at large and serve the entire city, not by geographic precincts. The mayor pro tem is appointed annually by council members. City Council positions are not full-time jobs. The council appoints a full-time city manager, who manages the daily affairs of the city, and all council meetings are held at 221 E. Main Street, in downtown Round Rock, on

3570-539: Is covered by water. Prior to the 2010 census, the city annexed part of the Brushy Creek CDP, increasing its area to 35.9 square miles (93 km ), of which, 35.6 square miles (92 km ) of it is land and 0.3 square miles (0.78 km ) is water. The climate in this area is characterized by generally hot, humid summers and mild, cool winters. According to the Köppen climate classification , Round Rock has

3689-541: Is detailed in a book by Linda Scarborough (publisher of the Williamson County Sun newspaper) titled Road, River and Ol' Boy Politics: A Texas County's Path from Farm to Supersuburb published by Texas State Historical Press. By the 1990s, Round Rock was primarily a suburb, with the majority of its employed residents working in Austin and then returning home after work to places such as Round Rock and Georgetown, where housing and land were less expensive. In

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3808-449: Is expected that this is meant to lead into a full-time position, or otherwise the end of the contract. But more recently, its use in the video game industry has been compared to Microsoft 's past use of " permatemp ", contract workers that were continually renewed and treated for all purposes as employees but received no benefits. While Microsoft has waned from the practice, the video game industry has adapted it more frequently. Around 10% of

3927-533: Is generally illegal, companies often target their oldest workers first during layoffs or other periods of reduction. Older developers with experience may find themselves too qualified for the types of positions that other game development companies seek given the salaries and compensations offered. Some of the larger video game developers and publishers have also engaged contract workers through agencies to help add manpower in game development in part to alleviate crunch time from employees. Contractors are brought on for

4046-474: Is ideally suited to crop agriculture. Nearby Taylor, Texas , east of Round Rock, was the primary cotton center where the crop was hauled for ginning (its seeds mechanically removed) at the cotton gin , compressed into bales, and shipped by train. Austin was also a cotton center for a time once the railroad arrived there in the 1870s. Cotton production and cattle raising, on a much smaller scale, continues today, although primarily east of Round Rock. To preserve

4165-552: Is in the heart of the emerging Avery Center development which houses Seton Williamson, the A&;M Health Science Center and other medical campuses. By the end of 2009 1,700 students were enrolled in the programs. Texas State University has taken on the lead role in this effort and 100 acres (40 ha) of land for the facility and additional buildings were donated by the Avery family of Round Rock, whose family members were early settlers on

4284-518: Is part of the Texas Hill Country . Located about 20 miles (32 km) north of downtown Austin , Round Rock shares a common border with Austin near Texas State Highway 45 . In August 2008, Money named Round Rock as the seventh-best American small city in which to live. Round Rock was the only Texas city to make the Top 10. In a CNN article dated July 1, 2009, Round Rock was listed as

4403-573: Is represented by its own board of directors , who are voted on by the residents of the district, and it has the authority to condemn land, add additional land area, and levy fees in lieu of property taxes to maintain the utilities and other facilities. Ten MUDs are in Round Rock: Brushy Creek, Fern Bluff, Highlands at Mayfield Ranch, Meadows at Chandler Creek, Paloma Lake, Parkside at Mayfield Ranch, Siena, Teravista, Vista Oaks, and Walsh Ranch. Total population living within these MUDs

4522-494: Is still their primary activity they are generally described as "publishers" rather than "developers". Developers may be private as well. In the video game industry , a first-party developer is part of a company that manufactures a video game console and develops mainly for it. First-party developers may use the name of the company itself (such as Nintendo ), have a specific division name (such as Sony's Polyphony Digital ) or have been an independent studio before being acquired by

4641-668: Is the School of Nursing at Texas State University, housed within the university's College of Health Professions. Other programs offered by the college are health information management, health services research, and physical therapy. In November 2006, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA) opened the first segment of the region's first toll road system. Both State Highway 130 and State Highway 45 toll roads run through portions of Round Rock and provide greatly increased mobility to

4760-474: Is usually conducted in a casual business environment, with t-shirts and sandals as common work attire. Many workers find this type of environment rewarding and pleasant professionally and personally. However, the industry also requires long working hours from its employees (sometimes to an extent seen as unsustainable). Employee burnout is not uncommon. An entry-level programmer can make, on average, over $ 66,000 annually only if they are successful in obtaining

4879-604: The AFL–CIO writing an open letter to video game developers encouraging them to unionize. In January 2020, Game Workers Unite and the Communications Workers of America established a new campaign to push for unionization of video game developers, the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE), in January 2020. Initial efforts for CODE were aimed to determine what approach to unionization would be best suited for

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4998-536: The Business and economic development section in this article.) Round Rock is 17 miles (27 kilometers) north of downtown Austin, and 10 mi (16 km) south of Georgetown. Its elevation is 709 ft (216 m). According to the US Census Bureau , the city has an area of 26.3 square miles (68 km ), of which 26.1 square miles (68 km ) are land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km ) (0.50%)

5117-528: The Fort Worth -to-Cleburne train. Bass was tracked to Round Rock, and as he attempted to flee, Bass was shot and killed in a gun battle by Ranger George Herold and Ranger Sergeant Richard Ware. Sheriff's Deputy A.W. Grimes was killed in the shootout. Near Ware was Soapy Smith , a noted con man, and his cousin Edwin, who witnessed Ware's shot. Soapy exclaimed, "I think you got him." The event is known locally as

5236-456: The International Game Developers Association (IGDA), are conducting increasing discussions about the problem; they are concerned that working conditions in the industry cause a significant deterioration in employees' quality of life. Some video game developers and publishers have been accused of the excessive invocation of "crunch time". "Crunch time" is the point at which the team is thought to be failing to achieve milestones needed to launch

5355-516: The MSX , they became one of the earliest second-party developers for Nintendo, developing exclusively for Nintendo's consoles starting with the Famicom, though they would self-publish their mobile games. A third-party developer may also publish games, or work for a video game publisher to develop a title. Both publisher and developer have considerable input in the game's design and content. However,

5474-585: The Malta -based holding company Media and Games Invest for $ 126 million and further $ 84 million as earn-out . Akilian subsequently spun off the company's mobile games segment as Wimo Games, heading it as executive chairman . In December, the studio signed an economic development agreement with the Round Rock City Council to move into new 33,000 square feet (3,100 m) headquarters in Round Rock. The new offices facilitated all of

5593-528: The Me Too movement and have tried to address the symptoms of these problems industry-wide, the video game industry has yet to have its Me Too-moment, even as late as 2021. There also tends to be pay-related discrimination against women in the industry. According to Gamasutra 's Game Developer Salary Survey 2014, women in the United States made 86 cents for every dollar men made. Game designing women had

5712-504: The Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) union doing work for video games struck several major publishers, demanding better royalty payments and provisions related to the safety of their vocal performances, when their union's standard contract was up for renewal. The voice actor strike lasted for over 300 days into 2017 before a new deal was made between SAG-AFTRA and

5831-533: The video game industry . He told the Los Angeles Times : "Someone who was part of the co-creation of that world and those characters isn't getting a credit or a nickel for the work they put into it. Maybe we need unions in the video game industry to be able to protect creators." Round Rock, Texas Round Rock is a city in the U.S. state of Texas , in Williamson County (with

5950-701: The "Sam Bass Shootout". This shootout is recreated each year at the July 4 Frontier Days Celebration in Old Settlers Park. Bass is buried in Round Rock Cemetery , northwest of "Old Town" on Sam Bass Road. His original headstone can be found on display at the Round Rock Public Library . In the first half of the 20th century, the county's wealth came from the cotton fields. Cotton , row crops, grapes, and truck farming were

6069-487: The 1990s, Round Rock had few major employers and jobs other than local retail and other services, or ranching and farming. In the late 1990s, though, that began to change as economic development became a major focus of the city and the Chamber of Commerce . Dell Corporation moved its headquarters to Round Rock, which has provided a significant number of jobs with 16,000 employees at its Round Rock headquarters. (See also

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6188-651: The Austin North Marriott , which provides space for large conferences, meetings, and banquets — a first for the county and an important component of Round Rock's economic efforts. The center is also home to the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation, and Emerson Process Management . The retail portion is the second-largest outdoor commercial project in the Austin-Round Rock metro area. La Frontera

6307-913: The Central Texas Hill Country. It is the 28th most populous city in Texas, according to Texas Demographic Center. The City of Round Rock has maintained a high quality of life while becoming a major center for economic growth in Central Texas, with industry clusters in clean energy, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, and computer/software development. Round Rock has more than 20 major employers including: Cerilliant Corporation , Cintas , Dell , Dresser , Emerson Process Management , Hospira , IKEA , KoMiCo Technology Inc., Round Rock Premium Outlets , Prudential Overall Supply , Sears Customer Care, Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corp, Toppan Photomasks, and TECO-Westinghouse . Dell,

6426-506: The Colorado River in Austin. An elementary school in the Round Rock school district is named for the trail, Double File Trail Elementary School. In 1851, a small community was formed on the banks of Brushy Creek, near a large round and anvil-shaped rock in the middle of the creek. ( 30°30′47.14″N 97°41′21.62″W  /  30.5130944°N 97.6893389°W  / 30.5130944; -97.6893389 ) This round rock marked

6545-596: The Highway Commission. In June 1956, the 15-year debate over the form, funding, and route of the Interstate was resolved. Due to the heavy lobbying, and not wanting to antagonize Taylor, the highway was built along the edge of the Balcones Fault line, running through Round Rock. The precise route was not without opposition, however, as the new road cut off "Old Town" to the west from what had become

6664-446: The IGDA found that people of color were both underrepresented in senior management roles as well as underpaid in comparison to white developers. Further, because video game developers typically draw from personal experiences in building game characters, this diversity gap has led to few characters of racial minority to be featured as main characters within video games. Minority developers have also been harassed from external groups due to

6783-484: The acquisition of Activision Blizzard , stated it supported these unionization efforts. After this acquisition, the employees of Bethesda Game Studios , part of Zenimax under Microsoft, unionized under the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in July 2024. Over 500 employees within Blizzard Entertainment 's World of Warcraft division also unionized with CWA that same month. Sweden presents

6902-572: The advent of digital distribution of inexpensive games on game consoles, it is now possible for indie game developers to forge agreements with console manufacturers for broad distribution of their games. Other indie game developers create game software for a number of video-game publishers on several gaming platforms. In recent years this model has been in decline; larger publishers, such as Electronic Arts and Activision, increasingly turn to internal studios (usually former independent developers acquired for their development needs). Video game development

7021-488: The area developed into a rural Anglo community, some of the modern paved roads followed the original Native-American pathways. One famous immigration route passed through Round Rock and is called the "Double File Trail" because the path was wide enough for two horsemen to ride side-by-side. It is part of a longer trail from North Texas that crossed the San Gabriel River in Georgetown, Brushy Creek in Round Rock, and

7140-402: The average family size was 3.29. In the city, the age distribution was 31.9% under 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 38.8% from 25 to 44, 16.3% from 45 to 64, and 4.5% who were 65 or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.6 males. The per capita income for the city was $ 30,605. Round Rock, with a population of more than 130,000, is located 15 miles north of Austin in

7259-472: The boards were contentious and heated debates arose regarding other MUD issues. Round Rock does not often annex a MUD to avoiding having to take on the aging infrastructure replacement and upkeep costs. Round Rock Independent School District , a Texas Education Agency recognized school district, is in southern Williamson County and northwest Travis County, and includes all the City of Round Rock and portions of

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7378-421: The case later that same year under undisclosed circumstances. It is believed that the companies either settled out of court or had their liabilities absorbed by Apple. On May 12, 2016, KingsIsle laid off 72 employees from its Austin studio, citing the cancellation of several unreleased mobile games and a shift in product strategy. In May 2017, KingsIsle released EverClicker for Android and iOS. In September 2017,

7497-434: The cities of Austin and Cedar Park . The area covers 110 square miles (280 km ) encompassing high-tech manufacturing and urban retail centers, suburban neighborhoods, and farm and ranch land. Roughly 45,00 students attend the district's five high schools, ten middle schools, 32 elementary schools, and two alternative learning centers. In August 2010, the district opened its fifth high school ( Cedar Ridge High School ),

7616-644: The city, albeit with strong regional opposition to the high-toll charges to motorists. State Highway 130 runs just south of Austin Bergstrom International Airport at US Highway 183 and connecting to Interstate 35 north of Georgetown , and passes through the easternmost portion of Round Rock. It provides Round Rock residents with quick access to the Austin airport for about $ 6 each way. The project, when completed, will end at Interstate 10 just east of Seguin , about 30 miles (50 km) east-northeast of San Antonio essentially creating

7735-431: The closest equity, making 96 cents for every dollar men made in the same job, while audio professional women had the largest gap, making 68% of what men in the same position made. Increasing the representation of women in the video game industry required breaking a feedback loop of the apparent lack of female representation in the production of video games and in the content of video games. Efforts have been made to provide

7854-402: The company leased 19,871 square feet of office space at 301 Sundance Parkway in Round Rock, Texas . In August 2018, KingsIsle released Animal Cove: Match 3 Adventure for Android and iOS. In September 2018, Dave Rosen and Craig Beers joined KingsIsle's executive team as vice-president of marketing and vice-president of product management, respectively. In January 2021, KingsIsle was acquired by

7973-494: The company's first project, Wizard101 , Coleman headed the development, while Tom Hall , the co-founder of id Software and Ion Storm , served as creative director . Later that year, KingsIsle released Wizard101 as a card-battling massively multiplayer online role-playing game aimed towards children and teenagers, in which players take on the role of student witches and wizards in a fantasy world. In September 2012, Wizard101 had over 30 million registered users. To accommodate

8092-571: The company's third employee and the first to be located in Austin, Texas , where he was joined by former Wolfpack Studios co-founder Josef Hall shortly after. On April 25, 2008, KingsIsle formally announced its existence after "three years of lock down secrecy". At this point, the company had 100 employees in Plano and Austin, and was run by Akilian as chairman and chief executive officer , and David Nichols, formerly of Midway Games , as president . For

8211-416: The console manufacturer (such as Rare or Naughty Dog ). Whether by purchasing an independent studio or by founding a new team, the acquisition of a first-party developer involves a huge financial investment on the part of the console manufacturer, which is wasted if the developer fails to produce a hit game on time. However, using first-party developers saves the cost of having to make royalty payments on

8330-508: The console. This established the use of licensing fees as a model for third-party development that persists into the present. The licensing fee approach was further enforced by Nintendo when it decided to allow other third-party developers to make games for the Famicom console, setting a 30% licensing fee that covered game cartridge manufacturing costs and development fees. The 30% licensing fee for third-party developers has also persisted to

8449-414: The county's economic powerhouse. Highway Commissioner DeWitt Greer called for the " interregional " highway to go through Taylor on its way from Dallas to Austin , but some Taylor leaders and other citizens fought the idea, worried about the possibility of cutting farmers off from all or part of their fields, traffic noise, damage to country life, loss of farmland, and unwanted right-of-way acquisition—it

8568-444: The developer if the game is not meeting expectations. When each milestone is completed (and accepted), the publisher pays the developer an advance on royalties . Successful developers may maintain several teams working on different games for different publishers. Generally, however, third-party developers tend to be small, close-knit teams. Third-party game development is a volatile sector, since small developers may depend on income from

8687-417: The developers are the publisher's employees, their interests align with those of the publisher; the publisher may spend less effort ensuring that the developer's decisions do not enrich the developer at the publisher's expense. Activision in 1979 became the first third-party video game developer. When four Atari, Inc. programmers left the company following its sale to Warner Communications , partially over

8806-467: The entertainment industry (such as films and television ) require long working hours and dedication from their employees, such as willingness to relocate and/or required to develop games that do not appeal to their personal taste. The creative rewards of work in the entertainment business attracts labor to the industry, creating a competitive labor market that demands a high level of commitment and performance from employees. Industry communities, such as

8925-533: The first in the state. As of 1999, approximately half of the general fund of the City of Round Rock originates from sales taxes generated from the Dell headquarters. Today the company is one of the largest technology companies in the world, listed as number 38 on the Fortune 500 (2010). Fortune also lists Dell as the #5 most admired company in its industry. As part of its clean energy program in 2008, Dell switched

9044-572: The first video game-specific union, Game Workers Unite Australia, was formed in December 2021 under Professionals Australia to become active in 2022. In Canada, in a historic move, video game workers in Edmonton unanimously voted to unionize for the first time in June 2022. In January 2023, after not being credited in The Last of Us HBO adaptation, Bruce Straley called for unionization of

9163-404: The gaming industry, while a 2017 IGDA survey found that the female demographic in game development had risen to about 20%. Taking into account that a 2017 ESA survey found 41% of video game players were female, this represented a significant gender gap in game development. The male-dominated industry, most who have grown up playing video games and are part of the video game culture , can create

9282-658: The growth of its Austin studio, KingsIsle leased 18,000 square feet of office space in the Domain 5 building of Austin's The Domain complex in December 2008. In February 2010, KingsIsle released WizardBlox , a free game based on the Sorcery Stones mini-game from Wizard101 , for iOS . By September 2010, Austin hosted the majority of KingsIsle's 120 staff. The employee count rose to 135 by February 2011, and to 220 by August 2012. In October 2012, KingsIsle released its second online game, Pirate101 , which takes place within

9401-523: The heritage of the famous crossing, a Chisholm Trail Crossing Park was developed to provide visitors with a simulated scene of Round Rock's historical role in the Chisholm cattle drive. Commemorative plaques in the park tell of the history of Round Rock. The bronze sculptures of four steers and pioneer woman Hattie Cluck and her son, Emmitt, were commissioned by the city through donations from Round Rock residents. The sculptures depict Round Rock's history as

9520-457: The industry by working long hours. Because crunch time tends to come from a combination of corporate practices as well as peer influence, the term "crunch culture" is often used to discuss video game development settings where crunch time may be seen as the norm rather than the exception. The use of crunch time as a workplace standard gained attention first in 2004, when Erin Hoffman exposed

9639-556: The initial training programs were targeted to help educate students for work at local companies, such as Dell, which had specialized needs. In 2008, an educational campus and the first RRC building—the Avery Building—was opened through the combined efforts of Texas State University , Austin Community College , and Temple College in order to provide a broader range of educational opportunities, specialized training, and varying degree programs including post graduate degrees. The campus

9758-431: The lack of respect that the new management gave to programmers, they used their knowledge of how Atari VCS game cartridges were programmed to create their own games for the system, founding Activision in 1979 to sell these. Atari took legal action to try to block the sale of these games, but the companies ultimately settled, with Activision agreeing to pay a portion of their sales as a license fee to Atari for developing for

9877-516: The land surrounding the center. Construction on the second Texas State campus building is underway and construction is nearly complete on this additional classroom building. (See also Texas State University Round Rock Campus ) The city is also home to the Texas A&;M Health Science Center Round Rock, which opened its doors in December 2010. The campus is designed to eventually accommodate as many as 17 additional buildings over time as money

9996-564: The leadership of then-City Manager Bob Bennett, planning director Joe Vining, and local citizen Mike Swayze envisioned and oversaw creation of the Texas State University Round Rock Campus (or Round Rock Higher Education Center). The concept was envisioned as a way to lure colleges and universities to jointly provide education, training, and degree opportunities on part-time and full-time bases. The center used various empty facilities around town, and many of

10115-648: The major league Texas Rangers ball club. Home games for the Express are played at the Dell Diamond , a facility that is owned by the City of Round Rock and leased long-term to RSR Sports, which runs and maintains the facility. Round Rock opened a free public skate park in 2007 behind the Clay Madsen Recreation Center on Gattis School Road. Round Rock is the self-proclaimed "Sports Capital of Texas". The city's Old Settlers Park offers

10234-461: The majority of Round Rock is within Precinct 1, all four precincts include some portions of the city. Municipal utility districts , commonly referred to as "MUDs", play a significant role in Round Rock. Each is a special-purpose district that provides public utilities such as water, wastewater , storm water , and sometimes roads, parks , solid waste , and other infrastructure and services to

10353-728: The mobile games segment as Wimo Games. KingsIsle Entertainment was founded in January 2005 by Elie Akilian. Inspired by his teenage son, who was a fan of video games, Akilian established KingsIsle in Plano, Texas , and started hiring former employees of id Software and Ubisoft to work on what would become Wizard101 . To do so, Akilian used funds generated from the 2004 sale of his communications software company Inet Technologies to Tektronix for US$ 325 million . J. Todd Coleman , who had sold his company, Wolfpack Studios , to Ubisoft in 2004, joined KingsIsle in December 2007 after being introduced to Akilian through mutual contacts. Coleman became

10472-435: The more recent "downtown" area east of Interstate 35. The Interstate eventually made Round Rock into a viable and vibrant commercial center, while Taylor withered with the decline of the cotton industry. Today, it is a minor, modest town with a smaller population, while Round Rock has thrived and rapidly grown into the largest city in the county, attracting Dell Computer and major retail centers. The transformation of Round Rock

10591-559: The movement again called out for the industry to unionize. The movement argued that Telltale had not given any warning to its 250 employees let go, having hired additional staff as recently as a week prior, and left them without pensions or health-care options; it was further argued that the studio considered this a closure rather than layoffs, as to get around failure to notify required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 preceding layoffs. The situation

10710-480: The much-studied Gault Site , midway between Georgetown and Fort Cavazos . One of the most important discoveries in recent times is the ancient skeletal remains dubbed "the Leanderthal Lady " because of its age and proximity to Leander, Texas . The site is 4 miles (6 km) west of Round Rock and was discovered by accident by Texas Department of Transportation workers while drilling core samples for

10829-807: The national average, and the schools' performance reflects the tax dollars invested. In the annual report released July 30, 2010, the Round Rock Independent School District received the highest possible rating ("Exemplary") for 25 of its schools, the highest number so rated in any of the suburban districts in Central Texas. These schools are: Westwood High School. Canyon Vista, Walsh, and Cedar Valley middle schools. Spicewood, Forest North, Caraway, Brushy Creek, Laurel Mountain, Fern Bluff, Canyon Creek, Great Oaks, Teravista, Cactus Ranch, Sommer, Deep Wood, Robertson, Pond Springs, Live Oak, Old Town, Jollyville, Forest Creek, Blackland Prairie, Union Hill and Gattis elementary schools. In 2010,

10948-448: The nature of the video game culture. The industry also is recognized to have an ageism issue, discriminating against the hiring and retention of older developers. A 2016 IGDA survey found only 3% of developers were over 50 years old, while at least two-thirds were between 20 and 34; these numbers show a far lower average age compared to the U.S. national average of about 41.9 that same year. While discrimination by age in hiring practices

11067-556: The need for significant space as it expanded, the City of Round Rock in 1996 offered Dell a "Chapter 380" agreement by offering to split sales tax revenue from in-state sales 50/50 between Dell and the city. (A "Chapter 380" agreement is named for the chapter in Vernon's Statues that permits sales tax revenue sharing for economic development purposes.) It was the first time such an agreement had been used in Central Texas and among

11186-540: The news, there have typically been followup discussions towards the potential to form a union. A survey performed by the International Game Developers Association in 2014 found that more than half of the 2,200 developers surveyed favored unionization. A similar survey of over 4,000 game developers run by the Game Developers Conference in early 2019 found that 47% of respondents felt the video game industry should unionize. In 2016, voice actors in

11305-729: The power sources of the Round Rock headquarters to more environmentally friendly ones, with 60% of the power coming from TXU Energy wind farms and 40% coming from the Austin Community Landfill gas-to-energy plant operated by Waste Management, Inc . Round Rock's largest commercial and office business center is La Frontera , at the intersection of Loop 1, SH 45, and IH-35. La Frontera combines multi-tenant offices, company headquarters facilities, 1,000,000 square feet (90,000 m ) of retail, and several apartment complexes and other smaller retail and housing centers. The project also includes Williamson County's largest hotel,

11424-479: The predominant subsistence east of Interstate 35. West of the Balcones divide, ranchers raised cattle, sheep, and to a lesser extent, goats. Due to Round Rock's favorable geographic location over the rich, fertile " blackland prairie " soils also known locally as the "black waxy" (due to the soil's high clay content), cotton was the largest economic driver at that time. Because of the soil and climate, this ecoregion

11543-694: The present, being a de facto rate used for most digital storefronts for third-party developers to offer their games on the platform. In recent years, larger publishers have acquired several third-party developers. While these development teams are now technically "in-house", they often continue to operate in an autonomous manner (with their own culture and work practices). For example, Activision acquired Raven (1997); Neversoft (1999), which merged with Infinity Ward in 2014; Z-Axis (2001); Treyarch (2001); Luxoflux (2002); Shaba (2002); Infinity Ward (2003) and Vicarious Visions (2005). All these developers continue operating much as they did before acquisition,

11662-414: The primary differences being exclusivity and financial details. Publishers tend to be more forgiving of their own development teams going over budget (or missing deadlines) than third-party developers. A developer may not be the primary entity creating a piece of software, usually providing an external software tool which helps organize (or use) information for the primary software product. Such tools may be

11781-429: The publisher's wishes generally override those of the developer. Work for hire studios solely execute the publishers vision. The business arrangement between the developer and publisher is governed by a contract, which specifies a list of milestones intended to be delivered over a period of time. By updating its milestones, the publisher verifies that work is progressing quickly enough to meet its deadline and can direct

11900-467: The publishers. While this had some effects on a few games within the industry, it brought to the forefront the question of whether video game developers should unionize. A grassroots movement, Game Workers Unite , was established around 2017 to discuss and debate issues related to unionization of game developers. The group came to the forefront during the March 2018 Game Developers Conference by holding

12019-479: The residents of each district. MUDs are typically formed by a residential developer as a means to install utilities and roads to a project when a city is not ready or able to provide them. The developer gets reimbursed over time from the fees levied by the MUD, and at some point the area may be annexed by the city to bring the development into the city's tax base once the basic infrastructure costs are paid off. The MUD

12138-575: The round rock, became known as the Chisholm Trail . Most of the old buildings, including the old Saint Charles Hotel, have been preserved. This historic area is now called "Old Town". Downtown Round Rock was the site of a historic gunfight and subsequent capture (and death) of the 19th-century American train robber Sam Bass , by the Texas Ranger Division on July 19, 1878. The Rangers followed Bass and his gang after they robbed

12257-761: The same universe as Wizard101 . The following November, KingsIsle released Grub Guardian , a tower defense game where players defend their towers with guard animals. Grub Guardian was released on iOS , as well as for personal computers and Android devices as a browser game , and later as a native Android application. In January 2013, Coleman announced his departure from KingsIsle. In 2014, Tyler, Texas -based company Smartflash LLC sued KingsIsle, alongside Apple Inc. , Game Circus, and Robot Entertainment , for infringement on three patents filed by Smartflash's founder and part-owner, Patrick Racz, that related to digital distribution of game content, primarily in-app purchases . All defendants, except for Apple, were dismissed from

12376-479: The school district as a whole was rated "academically recognized", a significant step above 2009 when the school district was rated "academically acceptable" by the Texas Education Agency. Round Rock is partially served by Leander Independent School District & Pflugerville Independent School District Round Rock also has a number of higher education opportunities. In 1990, the city, under

12495-434: The second and fourth Thursdays of each month at 7 pm, unless indicated otherwise. Council meetings are televised. The Commissioners Court is the overall governing and management body of Williamson County, consisting of five members. The county judge presides as chairman over the court, and is elected every four years by all voters in the county. Four commissioners are elected by single-member precincts every four years. While

12614-685: The second-fastest-growing city in the country, with a population growth of 8.2% in the preceding year. According to the 2008 ratings from the Texas Education Agency, the Round Rock Independent School District ranks among the best in the state. Of 42 schools within it, 12 were rated exemplary and 11 were recognized. Round Rock is perhaps best known as the international headquarters of Dell , which employs about 16,000 people at its Round Rock facilities. The presence of Dell along with other major employers, an economic development program, major retailers such as IKEA ,

12733-790: The studio's employees, including the 80 from the former Round Rock location, and aimed at employing 150 further people within three years. Video game developer A developer may specialize in specific game engines or specific video game consoles , or may develop for several systems (including personal computers and mobile devices ). Some focus on porting games from one system to another, or translating games from one language to another. Less commonly, some do software development work in addition to games. Most video game publishers maintain development studios (such as Electronic Arts 's EA Canada , Square Enix 's studios, Activision 's Radical Entertainment , Nintendo EPD and Sony's Polyphony Digital and Naughty Dog ). However, since publishing

12852-545: The target of sexual harassment. This can be coupled from similar harassment from external groups, such as during the 2014 Gamergate controversy . Major investigations into allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct that went unchecked by management, as well as discrimination by employers, have been brought up against Riot Games , Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard in the late 2010s and early 2020s, alongside smaller studios and individual developers. However, while other entertainment industries have had similar exposure through

12971-484: The toxic nature of the video game culture. This racial diversity issue has similar ties to the gender one, and similar methods to result both have been suggested, such as improving grade school education, developing games that appeal beyond the white, male gamer stereotype, and identifying toxic behavior in both video game workplaces and online communities that perpetuate discrimination against gender and race. In regards to LGBT and other gender or sexual orientations,

13090-490: The transition to a horse culture and used firearms to a limited extent. Apparently, small numbers of Kiowa , Yojuane , Tawakoni , and Mayeye Native-Americans lived in the county at the time of the earliest Anglo settlements. After they were crowded out by white settlement, the Comanches raided settlements in the county until the 1860s. In the late 19th century, Native Americans were being pushed out of Central Texas. As

13209-487: The use of crunch time at Electronic Arts , a situation known as the "EA Spouses" case. A similar "Rockstar Spouses" case gained further attention in 2010 over working conditions at Rockstar San Diego . Since then, there has generally been negative perception of crunch time from most of the industry as well as from its consumers and other media. Game development had generally been a predominately male workforce. In 1989, according to Variety , women constituted only 3% of

13328-508: The video game industry typically shares the same demographics as with the larger population based on a 2005 IGDA survey. Those in the LGBT community do not find workplace issues with their identity, though work to improve the representation of LGBT themes within video games in the same manner as with racial minorities. However, LGBT developers have also come under the same type of harassment from external groups like women and racial minorities due to

13447-678: The video game industry. Whereas some video game employees believe they should follow the craft-based model used by SAG-AFTRA which would unionize based on job function, others feel an industry-wide union, regardless of job position, would be better. Starting in 2021, several smaller game studios in the United States began efforts to unionize. These mostly involved teams doing quality assurance rather than developers. These studios included three QA studios under Blizzard Entertainment : Raven Software , Blizzard Albany , and Proletariat; and Zenimax Media 's QA team. Microsoft , which had previously acquired Zenimax and announced plans to acquire Blizzard via

13566-504: The workforce in video games is estimated to be from contract labor. Similar to other tech industries, video game developers are typically not unionized . This is a result of the industry being driven more by creativity and innovation rather than production, the lack of distinction between management and employees in the white-collar area, and the pace at which the industry moves that makes union actions difficult to plan out. However, when situations related to crunch time become prevalent in

13685-724: Was argued to be "exploitive", as Telltale had been known to force its employees to frequently work under "crunch time" to deliver its games. By the end of 2018, a United Kingdom trade union, Game Workers Unite UK, an affiliate of the Game Workers Unite movement, had been legally established. Following Activision Blizzard 's financial report for the previous quarter in February 2019, the company said that they would be laying off around 775 employees (about 8% of their workforce) despite having record profits for that quarter. Further calls for unionization came from this news, including

13804-492: Was developed by Bill Smalling and Don Martin, with Fort Worth financier Ed Bass as financial partner. In 2006, a retail-only hub opened in Round Rock at the corner of IH-35 and Highway 1431 (now renamed "University Boulevard"), across the street from IKEA . The major-retailer center includes the Simon Property Group 's Premium Outlets Mall, as well as numerous other retail stores and restaurants. The project

13923-538: Was developed by Simon Property Group, with other portions by Barshop and Oles of Austin. Round Rock is home to the Round Rock Express , a Triple-A Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League , owned by RSR Sports (Nolan Ryan, Don Sanders, Reid Ryan) and was founded by Reid Ryan, son of Baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan . As of August 2010, Nolan Ryan is also the new owner of

14042-646: Was proposed to be an astounding 300 feet (90 m) wide, unheard of before this time. No one even knew what an "Interregional Highway" would look like, unless they had traveled to Germany to see the Autobahn or the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut . Instead, they wanted improvements to the farm-to-market roads and a straight route to Austin. Meanwhile, Round Rock leaders sought the highway and its potential economic benefits. Mayor Louis Henna lobbied

14161-607: Was well-attended, and reunions—now called Old Settlers Association (OSA) reunions—have been held annually ever since. After the initial one, the event was moved to Round Rock and eventually a structure was built (along with three restored log cabins) in the Palm Valley area of Round Rock, in front of Old Settlers Park, just off Highway 79 in east Round Rock. All members of the organization are descendants of Williamson County residents prior to 1904. OSA has about 50 active members and 300 members in all. The Old Settlers Association today

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