3D Groove Games (partially lost online games; 1998-2009)

3D Groove's logo.

Status: Partially Found

3D Groove was a 3D game engine that was active between 1998 and 2009, with its peak occurring in the early to mid-2000s. Many 3D Groove games were lost when 3D Groove's site shut down in 2009.

The 3D Groove engine was created by the company The 3D Groove Alliance, Inc. While the 3D Groove Alliance developed their own original games, their main focus was to develop games to advertise various toys, movies, and cartoons. 3D Groove's Advergames would be developed at the request of a company for one of its brands, such as Radio Shack, At&T, Intel, Pringles, etc.

These games could be played online with a web browser plugin, but often there was a more fully featured version of the same game which could be purchased and played offline. The games were licensed royalty-free and non-exclusively, and the game would need to be removed after the license expired.^[1]

Technology

3D Groove came in the different forms (3D Groove SX and 3D Groove GX). Similar to Java, 3D Groove games could be built to be played on the desktop/in a browser as a standalone GRV World File using 3D Groove GX, or with Macromedia/Adobe Director to make a Shockwave Player DIR/DXR/DCR archive file containing a GRV World File as a cast member (which required 3D Groove Xtra to be installed) using 3D Groove SX.

Both versions of 3D Groove, in turn, used the 3D Game Machine C/C++ game development framework (3DGM for short) from Virtually Unlimited Corp. In September 2001, 3D Groove bought the source code for 3DGM.^[2] Most of the 3D models in 3D Groove games use the 3DGM Model File format, which has a .3GM extension and is similar to the common 3DS model file format but with more functionality added to it, including the ability to use quads - or faces with any amount of vertices - instead of just triangles.

History

In 1995, before 3D Groove existed, programmer Jules Urbach worked at DigitalFusion and helped to code the game Real Pool, a basic 3D pool game for the Mac intended to rival the Virtual Pool series. The game was published by MacSoft and got a Windows port in 1998, which was published through GT Interactive (which would later become Infogrames) shortly before the 3D Groove Alliance was established.

The 3D Groove Alliance was established July 6, 1998. Mr. Urbach was the company's co-founder, with entrepreneur Chris Kantrowitz and programmer Peter Laufenberg, who did much of the C++ code for the 3D Groove web browser plugin. Other notable names involved with 3D Groove are Patrick Thiel from Pepworks.com (animator,) Ben Encarcion (artist,) Nick Kang (developer,) Jed Whedon and Rene Winkler (music and sound design) and Jamie and Simon Edis from Ezone.com (artist and programmer, respectively, who used 3D Groove for their web games.)

The assets used in Real Pool were recycled to make a web demo version, becoming the first use of the 3D Groove engine. Intended to promote the full game, the web version of Real Pool used 3D Groove SX and was published on Shockwave.com, becoming their first 3D game, where it got between 5-6 million plays according to Laufenberg. The game made over four million dollars in total sales according to Vice President of Marketing for Infogrames Paul Rinde. It was later recycled again into an advergame for Jack Daniels.

The 3D Groove Alliance then developed a game called SkyDive! which was released by Electronic Arts on June 30, 1999, with their Gonzo Games label. It received mostly negative reviews.^[3] Shockwave.com announced a partnership with 3D Groove Alliance to develop new games. One of these was Tank Wars, a game where you drive around the city playing as a tank destroying other tanks. It was released in Spring 2000 and got over 1.5 million plays per month.^[4]^[5]

From January 2001 to August 2003, Joseph Varet became 3D Groove's CEO.

Kpe and the 3D Groove Alliance announced a partnership. The first title they released under this partnership was Otto's Killer Carvin Snowboard for NickArcade.^[6] RealNetworks announced a distribution agreement with the 3D Groove Alliance for their RealArcade platform.^[7] 3D Groove also made a sequel to Real Pool called Real Pool 2, which became the first game to use the new 3D Groove GX engine version.^[8]

By March 2002, the 3D Groove engine had been downloaded 40 million times.^[9] In early 2004, Peter Laufenburg left the 3D Groove Alliance.

3D Groove marketed a new Battle of the Planets game to celebrate the show's 25th anniversary. Transformers Battle Universe for the Net Jet controller was also made in the 3D Groove GX engine.

In early 2009, 3D Groove's site shut down, causing a lot of their games to be lost.

The exact reason 3D Groove no longer exists is unknown, although one blog post on A Tree Falling in the Forest about Jules Urbach, who worked at 3D Groove, wrote that he was "kind of screwed" by certain people in 3D Groove Alliance.^[10] The 3D Groove Alliance rebranded as OTOY, which is still around today, but has moved in a different direction, instead focusing on their OctaneRender engine used to create photorealistic graphics from within 3D modelling tools such as Maya, and do not acknowledge the existence of 3D Groove or its games.

Availability of Games

No 3D Groove games are currently available for purchase. However, several are still available to play thanks to various means, such as archive.org or people uploading a game that was on their computer. A list of games that are lost and found can be viewed below.

3D Groove Alliance Original Titles

9MM: Beer Bottle Shootout - Found
AlienX - Found
Death From Above - Found
High Roller - Lost
Sky Racer - Found (was renamed to SkyRacer: Impulse, which is found)
SkyRacer: Impulse - Found
Nothin' But Net - Found
Outpost - Lost
Piscean - Found
Real Pool - Found
Real Pool 2 - Found
Showdown: The gunfighting game - Found
SkyDive! - Found
Star Battalion - Lost
Tank Wars - Found
Tank Wars Multiplayer - Lost
World War I Ace - Found (was renamed to Death From Above, which is found)

3D Groove Alliance Advergames

3D Groove Bose Game - Lost
3D Groove FedEx Game - Lost^[11]
3D Groove Skittles Bowling Game - Existence Unconfirmed
At&T's High Roller - Lost
At&T's Unlimited Challenge/AT&T's Unlimited Challenge 2 - Lost
Cisco Broadband Game - Lost
Eight Legged Freaks - Found
Intel's Showdown: The gunfighting game - Lost
Jack Daniels Real Pool - Lost
Jeep Disk Dodger - Existence Unconfirmed
M&M's: Yellow Takes Tokyo - Lost
Mazda: Skyracer Impulse - Lost
Mountain Dew Skateboarding - Lost
Nesquik: Chocolate Mountain Challenge - Found
Pringles Pony Express - Lost
Pringles: Super Spud Boxing - Found
Radio Shack: RC Stunt Machine Showdown - Lost
SEMIs ChipsOnTour - Lost

Cartoon Network

3D Groove games developed for Cartoon Network.

Powerpuff Girls: Showdown in the Sky - Found
Toonami: Trapped in Hyperspace - Partially Found (Corrupted Director File, Missing Level 1-5)

Disney

3D Groove games developed for Disney.

American Dragon: Robot Pandemonium - Found
Dunk Tank - Lost
JetiXtreme - Lost
Johnny Kapahala: Island Grind - Lost
Kim Possible: Middleton Mayhem - Lost
Oban Star Racers: Great Race - Lost
Tarzan's Jungle Rescue - Lost
Yin Yang Yo: The Dangerous Comic Book of Dread - Lost

Ezone

3D Groove games developed by Ezone.com

Battle of the Planets - Peril of the Praying Mantis - Found
Farmer Giblet's Turkey Farm (Turkey 3D!) - Found
Lenny Loosejocks Boardin' - Found
Lenny Loosejocks in Snow Worries! - Found
Penguin Racers - Found
Santa Goes Buttboardin' 3D - Found
Super Mega Big Trucks - Arena - Partially Found (Missing Arcade Mode and Mission Mode)
Space Wombat - Found

NickArcade

3D Groove Games developed for Nickelodeon or Nick Jr.

All Grown Up Crazy Karts - Found
Adventures of Bleeposaurus - Found
Adventures of Bleeposaurus - Dragonfire - Found
Blues Clues: Joe's 3D Scavenger Hunt - Found
Danny Phantom Ghost Sweep - Found
Dora the Explorer 3-D Backpack Adventure - Found
Dora the Explorer 3D Driving Adventure - Found
Dora The Explorer 3-D Pyramid Adventure - Found
Dora 3D Soccer - Found
Diego's Rescue Adventure 3-D - Found
Fairly OddParents Information Stupor Highway - Found
Jimmy Neutron: Gotta Blast! Rocket Race - Partially Found (Missing Content)
Jimmy Neutron: Rescue Jet Fusion - Found
Jimmy Neutron Space Blast - Found
Otto's Killer Carvin Snowboard - Found
Rocket Power Big Air Mountain - Found
SpongeBob SquarePants 3D Movie Game - Found
SpongeBob SquarePants Pinball Panic - Found
SpongeBob SquarePants Saves the Krusty Krab - Found
Hey, Arnold! Runaway Bus - Found
Wild Thornberrys Movie Chopper Chase - Found