Welcome to the Software wing of the 2024 Shacknews Hall of Fame class. This category recognizes programs that contributed to gaming in some way, and in some cases, made it possible. Some entries include Further Reading sections where you'll find features and other stories that further illuminate this year's inductees.
When you're finished, use the Table of Contents links below to visit other areas of the Shacknews Hall of Fame Class of 2024.
ZBrush
In 1999, the ZBrush gave an impressive form to 3D digital sculpting as we know it. Specifically, software company Pixologic worked to create a suite of tools that would allow digital artists to sculpt 3D models with capabilities of handling models with up to 40 million polygons. Originally designed by Ofer “Pixolator” Alon and Jack Rimokh, ZBrush allowed creators to utilize a wide variety of 3D brushes to sculpt, stretch, and otherwise manipulate pixels into detailed models.
Since its conception and release, ZBrush has been used a wide variety of high-profile projects, Lucasfilm and Weta Digital have used the program in the creation of films and animation while groups like Epic Games, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, The Pokemon Company and more have used it to craft video games. ZBrush might not be the most pinnacle tool of game design, but for the breakthrough in digital 3D modeling and creativity, it deserves its spot among the greats.
GameMaker
Released as an extensive suite of game development tools aimed at budding game programmers, GameMaker was developed by Mark Overmars in 1999 and has been developed by YoYo Games since 2007. The toolkit incorporates a visual programming language that allows users to design games without writing much or any code, as well as an advanced scripting language needed to create more advanced games. Later iterations have catered to more sophisticated developers while retaining the focus on aspiring creators.
GameMaker excels at 2D game development with support for features such as raster and vector graphics, skeletal animations, and more. It’s quite sophisticated, with support for cross-platform play and the ability to create games in virtually any genre. Games built using the software can be played on multiple platforms including the PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and other portable platforms such as Android and Apple phones.
Today, GameMaker is still hailed as one of the most user-friendly and versatile game development toolkits. Successful games built with GameMaker include Hotline Miami and Undertale, among others.
Bleem!
At the center of multiple lawsuits and famous (and infamous) for being a commercial product available for purchase alongside the platform it emulated, Bleem enabled users to play PlayStation One games on PC or Dreamcast. Whereas most emulators are for older, defunct hardware, Bleem was released and marketed during the PS1’s lifecycle.
The emulator was written in assembly, a low-level programming language that has more direct access to a platform’s hardware; writing the program in assembly allowed it to run games at faster speeds. It also included the usual run of features one expects from emulators such as higher display resolutions and more options to save and load games. It's part of the bedrock of emulation and game preservation, and deservedly takes its place in the Shacknews Hall of Fame.
MSN Messenger
MSN Messenger was released on July 22, 1999. Before too long this instant messaging software was one of the most prominent ways for people to communicate over the internet. No, it wasn’t the first software that allowed for text-based communication over the world wide web, but it was one of, if not the, most popular messaging applications for most of the 2000s. During its time of prominence, Microsoft would rebrand the program Windows Live Messenger in 2009, before merging that iteration into what we know as Skype in 2013.
