Ralph Stock

Ralph Stock (born 1969) is a German game designer. He is best known for his video games Mad TV and Emergency.

Ralph Stock
Ralph Stock in 2014
Born1969 (age 50–51)
Gießen, West Germany
NationalityGerman
OccupationVideo game designer, entrepreneur
Known forMad TV (video game), Emergency (video game series)

Life and career

Early years (1977–1992)

Around 1977, Ralph Stock stumbled upon a Commodore PET at the home of a family friend and had his first chance to dabble in computer science. Hamurabi, a resource-management game, spurred his fascination with video games and their development. In the early ‘80s, at the age of twelve, Ralph Stock built his first computer, a Sinclair ZX81, from an assembly kit. He used this computer for his first experiments in programming.[1] At the age of fifteen, Stock developed his first game for the Commodore 64 with a group of friends from school: an adventure game called Philosopher’s Stone. Stock was still at school when the game was published and commercially marketed by Kingsoft in 1984.[2] While still finishing school, Stock worked on Bozuma: Mystery of the Mummy and East vs. West: Berlin 1948, finally graduating in 1988. Bozuma was published by Time Warp Software GmbH, a Rainbow Arts (Softgold) label. Stock continued to work with Softgold/Rushware, first as a freelancer, later in a permanent role as a programmer and producer at Rainbow Arts. He also developed his own project, Mad TV, at Rainbow Arts; laying the foundations for its indirect successors. After working as a producer and game designer at Rainbow Arts, Ralph Stock became the chief producer and head of development in 1990.[3]

For Stock, like many other game developers in the post-Amiga era, Rainbow Arts was a place to test his ideas before founding his own company.[4] By his own statement, developing the German-language versions of computer games by Lucasfilm Games, TSR, and SSI, and interacting with game designers from around the world, like Chris Roberts and Richard Garriott, was pivotal in Stock's career as a game designer and producer.[5]

Promotion Software and Sixteen Tons Entertainment (1993–present)

In 1993, Ralph Stock founded the company Promotion Software GmbH in Tübingen, Germany. With his company he developed promotional games such as Victor Loomes, Tom Long: The Time Adventure (MS DOS)[6] and Jeff Jet: Adventure Infohighway. In 1994, he released his first political edutainment game: Der rasende Reporter (simulation, MS DOS). In cooperation with Ikarion, Stock developed other titles like Mad News (1994) and Caribbean Disaster (1995) in the style of the humoristic simulation game, Mad TV. Musician Chris Huelsbeck composed the soundtracks for these and other games by Ralph Stock.[7][5]

Stock also worked with board game authors like Reiner Knizia, creating digital versions of board games like Keltis (2009), Einfach Genial (2009), and Heckmeck (2014).[8][9]

In 1997, inspired by Command & Conquer, Stock invented a rescue-simulation game, Emergency: Fighters for Life - a real-time strategy game “turned into something positive”, which was released in 1998. According to Gamesindustry.biz, the Emergency series remains ″one of the most important German game titles to this day″.[10] Under the label Sixteen Tons Entertainment,[11] Ralph Stock developed several other games in Tübingen like Gotcha! (2006), The Show (2007), and sequels in the Emergency game series. In 2009, he founded a subsidiary studio in the Media City Babelsberg.[12] Games developed there were published under the name Quadriga Games up until 2012. Since 2017 the studio is based in Berlin.

Social commitment

Stock works on gamification, games for health and games for digital education through the division of Promotion Software GmbH specialized in applied games (Serious Games Solutions[13][14]) and shares his experience at trade fairs. In addition to his work as a game developer, he attended the International German Forum on Health and Innovation (Internationales Deutschlandforum) at the request of Angela Merkel, which was held at the German Chancellery.[15][16] Stock also speaks at events like the Learntec conference, the Didacta trade fair for the education sector, the Bizplay trade conference, the Serious Games Conference, and German Dev Days.[17][18][19][20][21] Ralph Stock is also invited to judge competitions. In 2019 he was a judge at the Animated Games Award, a contest held by the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Films.[22]

Recognition

Ralph Stock is regarded as one of the leading developers of digital games for the health and education sectors.[23] His most famous game, Mad TV, is a whacky television station simulation game published by Rainbow Arts in 1991. The game received positive reviews from the trade press (Powerplay magazine: “Mad TV is one of the funniest strategy games of the year”)[24] and inspired various official and unofficial sequels. Stock's Emergency HQ, released in 2018 for iOS and Android, is the first game in the Emergency series to be designed as a purely free-to-play game. PocketPC magazine describes it as a successful implementation of the Emergency game principle: “In conclusion: a strong classic re-issued for the mobile gaming market”.[25] His game Emergency 2016 was presented as an application example at the 10th European Conference on Game Based Learning by the University of the West of Scotland.[26]

Games
Name Year Credited with Publisher
Philosopher's Stone (Der Stein der Weisen)[27][28]1984developerKingsoft
Bozuma – Mystery of the Mummy[29]1988programmerRainbow Arts Software GmbH
East vs. West: Berlin 1948[30]1989creatorTime Warp Productions
Mad TV[31][32]1990producerRainbow Arts Software GmbH
Log!cal[33]1991producer and additional designRainbow Arts Software GmbH
Victor Loomes[34]1993idea and project managementPromotion Software GmbH
Tom Long: The Time Adventure[35]1993realizationPromotion Software GmbH
Hurra Deutschland (The game about the satirical series Hurra Deutschland)[36]1994idea, producerRainbow Arts Software GmbH, Softgold Computerspiele GmbH
Mad News[37]1994original concept and documentationPromotion Software GmbH
Der rasende Reporter[38]1994developerBundespresseamt
Berlin Connection[39]1994ceoPromotion Software GmbH
Tim und Nina[40]1995developerPromotion Software GmbH
Jeff Jet: Abenteuer Infohighway[41]1995developerPromotion Software GmbH
Caribbean Disaster[42]1995idea, concept and manualPromotion Software GmbH
Emergency[43]1998idea, producer and voicesWizardWorks Group, Inc.
Emergency Police[44]2001ceoDeep Silver
Emergency 2[45]2002idea, producerDeep Silver
Gotcha! Extreme Paintball[46]2004idea, executive producer and ceoGathering
Emergency 3[47]2005concept and executive producerTake-Two Interactive Software, Inc.
Emergency 4 (911 First Responders)[48]2006idea and executive producerTake-Two Interactive Software, Inc.
The Show[49]2007original concept and executive producerTake-Two Interactive Software, Inc.
Emergency DS[50]2009ceoDestineer
Keltis (digital version of the board game by Dr. Reiner Knizia)[51]2009ceoUnited Soft Media Verlag GmbH
Einfach genial (digital version of the board game by Dr. Reiner Knizia)[52]2009project leadUnited Soft Media Verlag GmbH
Emergency 2012[53]2010idea and executive producerDeep Silver
Emergency 2012 DS[54]2010idea and executive producerRondomedia
Emergency Kids[54]2011ceoUnited Soft Media Verlag GmbH
Polizei for Windows[55]2011idea and executive producerRondomedia
Emergency HD[56]2012ceoPromotion Software GmbH
Emergency 2013[54]2013idea and executive producerDeep Silver
Power Matrix[57]2013ceoSiemens Energy
Menschen auf der Flucht[58]2013idea and executive producermissio
Emergency 2014[54]2014idea and executive producerDeep Silver
Emergency 5[59]2014idea, executive producer and head of game designDeep Silver
Heckmeck (digital version of the board game by Dr. Reiner Knizia)[57]2015ceoUnited Soft Media Verlag GmbH
Emergency 2016[60]2015idea and executive producerDeep Silver
Emergency 2017[61]2016idea and executive producerDeep Silver
Emergency 20[62]2017idea and executive producerDeep Silver
Emergency HQ[60]2018ceoSixteen Tons Entertainment

Awards
  • 2018: Comenius-EduMedia-Award for Blue Brain Club.[63]
  • 2017: Deutschland – Land der Ideen, category awarded place (German: ″ausgezeichneter Ort″) for Teamwork.[64]
  • 2014: Deutscher Preis für Onlinekommunikation 2014, category Best Corporate Game for Power Matrix.[65]
  • 2013: Digital Communication Awards 2013, category Best Corporate Game for Power Matrix.[66]
  • 2013: Deutscher Computerspielpreis (German Computer Games Award) jury award, category Bestes Serious Game, for Menschen auf der Flucht.[67]
  • 2010: Serious Games Award of the jury for Willi wills wissen: Bei den Wikingern at the Serious Games Conference[68]
  • 2009: Kindersoftwarepreis TOMMI for Willi wills wissen: Bei den Wikingern.[69]
gollark: We can't just *make* people come back.
gollark: My message included the word bees, too, for authenticity.
gollark: Hey, maybe I should have an official endpoint for these.
gollark: I've sent a webserver-log message to palaiologos.
gollark: ???

References
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  4. Retro Gamer Spezial, Verlag Heinz Heise, February 2017, p. 179
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