In late 2005, after overseeing the stabilization (four service packs released in one year) of the Trainz 2004 and Trainz 2006 retail releases, one of the company's founders, Greg Lane, left, saying publicly it was time to move on. Prior to that and the Trainz series of simulators, Auran had published a number of Auran Jet based games for the Australian market, including Shadowgrounds and Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday. In the ensuing bankruptcy the company lost most of its development staff. Success of Dark Reign spurred interest in the game engine from other games developers, and Auran began in-house development of a generalized version of the graphics engine for licensing to third-party companies based on its self-developed middleware game engine called the Auran JET and in 1998 began development of a more specialized version for what became the game engine for the Trainz series of train simulator products-beta tested with Trainz 0.9 in 2000 amongst railfans, and with a major new release about every 2½ years.Īuran grew steadily on the Trainz revenues and, in 2007, invested heavily and overextended its finances developing the Fury video game, a player versus player (PvP) based massively multiplayer online game which never recouped its costs. ) Since 2007, the re-titled N3V Games has taken over primary day to day operation, development, and management of the Auran/N3V panoply of resources, websites, holdings, and software. When Auran overextended backing the wrong product in early 2007, Hilliam bought in, and initially brought out several republished or rebundled packaged releases as new product titles to boost cash flow ( Trainz Routes, Trainz Complete Collection and eventually the regionally focused Trainz Classics and Europe only releases. The game received a 9.2 rating on GameSpot and was called "one of the most impressive games released this year in any genre." īy the mid-2000s, Tony Hilliam had established a video game company 'N3VrF41L Games' while occasionally participating on the Auran forums as a Trainz fan. Dark Reign sold over 685,000 units and was rated in the top ten real-time strategy games by the US magazine Game Developer. Auran is now operated as a holding company, with operations and development ceded to N3V Games, a different closely held company.Īuran was established by Greg Lane and Graham Edelsten in 1995, and released its first game, Dark Reign: The Future of War, in 1997. N3V Games (formerly Auran Development and later n3vrf41l Publishing) is an Australian video game developer and publisher based in Helensvale, Queensland, Australia. For for the Marvel comics character, see Auran (comics).ġ995 28 years ago ( 1995) (as Auran Development) A visit to Auran Games (updated in 2008)Ģ years after the first visit, Auran has closed down most of their office space - this is what remains."Auran" redirects here.Only two small teams are kept to support Trainz Railwayz and Fury. The company lays off most of its employees. Trainz Classics: Railroad Simulation - Third Edition Trainz Simulator 2009: World Builder Edition Co-founder Greg Lane had already left Auran in 2005 and became the CTO at MyVirtualHome. They also create games based on new franchises. around 2009 and now continues development of the Trainz series. Auran still remains as a brand / division of n3vrf41l, which changed its name N3V Games Pty Ltd. Eventually Auran became a subsidiary of n3vrf41l and the company disappeared. On 17th December 2007 Auran Games went into voluntary administration and a majority of the staff was laid off, except for a small group to continue work on the Trainz series. As a separate company, N3vrf41l licensed Auran's titles. N3vrf41l would take over publishing activities so Auran could focus entirely on game development. In 2005 Auran directors Graham Edelsten and Tony Hilliam founded the publishing company n3vrf41l Publishing and it was first announced in May 2006. After focusing almost entirely on those games from 2001-2007, the studio branched out with Battlestar Galactica and Fury, both released in 2007.Īuran also published a number of games for the Australian market, including Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich, Shadowgrounds and Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday. Auran released its first game Dark Reign: The Future of War in 1997.Īuran was best known for developing the Trainz railroad simulator series, which uses their self-developed middleware game engine Auran Jet. It was founded in 1995 by Greg Lane and Graham Edelsten. Auran was a game development and publishing company based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
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