The History of Working Designs

Craftsmanship, quality, and entertainment: all words that describe the Working Designs experience. For over a decade, the folks at Working Designs have been providing the gaming community with first-rate gaming experiences beyond compare throughout the industry. There’s something special about a Working Designs’ product - something that gives one a feeling of care and devotion to the craft. Whether it is the charming, top-notch translations, or the deluxe packaging treatment their games get, when one purchases a Working Designs product, a grand gaming experience is assured.

Working Designs’ gaming seed was planted in the Turbografx-16, a system that barely made it through the 16-bit wars. Starting out as an accounting software company, Working Designs quickly changed gears when Victor Ireland was brought on board in 1988. Ireland, a passionate gamer, saw the potential in the gaming market and convinced company owner, Sylvia Schmitt, to move in the direction of gaming software.

After some preparation, Working Designs signed its first publishing agreement with Taito to translate and localize the Turbografx-16 game “Parasol Stars”. The game, based on the popular Bubble-Bobble series, featured 2-player action and over 70 levels. Parasol Stars was a hit with the small Turbo fan base, and Working Designs quickly began work on their next Turbo game, “Cadash”, making them only the fourth Turbografx-16 third-party developer. The two games became favorites for Turbo owners and the gaming press, and Working Designs, pleased with their initial success, started work on a game that would begin their reputation as one of the finest gaming companies in the U.S.

“Cosmic Fantasy 2” featured the fantastic voice work and translation that Working Designs would become famous for over the years. Released on the Turbografx-CD system in 1992, this Telenet game boasted an epic story of a young boy named Van on a quest to save his childhood love and his home planet of Idea. Cosmic Fantasy 2 also introduced the witty sense of humor that would become a recognizable trait of most Working Designs games. The game was a landmark in the history of the company, as great investment was needed to acquire the proper recording equipment and studio space to properly translate the audio for CD-ROM. It also provided Working Designs with the distinction of being the first-ever third party for CD-ROM video game software in the United States.

After the release of Cosmic Fantasy 2, Working Designs moved on with two more Turbografx-CD Telenet games, “Exile” and “Exile 2: Wicked Phenomenon”. Both games continued the epic RPG style and further enhanced the company’s reputation as a budding developer with enormous talent. After localizing two games for Hudson Soft and releasing the translated Human Entertainment game “Vasteel”, Working Designs bid the Turbografx a fond farewell and moved on to the Sega CD platform.

While not necessarily more successful than the Turbo systems, the Sega CD definitely provided more exposure and a bigger gaming name to be associated with for the still small company. After receiving third party approval from the Sega behemoth, Working Designs began work on converting the now legendary “Lunar: The Silver Star” for the U.S. market in June 1993.

A Game Arts masterpiece, the conversion and release of Lunar for Sega CD took a mere six months. The game - so revered that it almost received a re-release on the Sega Saturn in 1996 and was later given the deluxe treatment on the Playstation in 1998 - revolves around the charming story of Alex, a young hero on a quest with a group of friends bound to change the course of history. An extraordinary translation of an already incredible game convinced the gaming world that Working Designs is a force to be reckoned with.

Working Designs went on to produce some of best Sega CD games ever released stateside, including Popful Mail, Vay, and Lunar: Eternal Blue, which went on to become the best-selling game for the Sega CD in 1995. Alas, the Sega CD was doomed to a similar fate as the Turbografx systems, and Working Designs was forced to move on to the newly released Sega Saturn and the Playstation juggernaut.

The 32-bit consoles were really where Working Designs hit their stride, churning out such classics as Albert Odyssey, Sega Ages, and Dragon Force for the Saturn, and Alundra, Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, and RayCrisis for the Playstation. However, it is the company’s dedication to the Arc the Lad project that proves their dedication to producing a first rate product. The game is the culmination and the one product that can define the entire history of Working Designs.

With a development process which lasted years, Arc the Lad features a deluxe boxed set containing six CDs, four immense RPG experiences, leather-bound booklet, a making-of, twenty-two mini character standees, an Arc the Lad memory card holder, four custom analog thumb-button covers, and more.

This deluxe treatment is what Working Designs fans have grown to expect from the company. With Working Designs, a top-notch package coupled with a top-notch gaming experience is a given and with a translation of the PS2 Goemon game as well as Growlanser in the works, this dedication to quality doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon.

The following is a complete list of Working Designs games released in the United States.

Feature by John Luedtke