Aventurine SA

Aventurine SA is a Greek video game developer and publisher. The company's first game, Darkfall (a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, also known as Darkfall Online), is currently active.

= History and creation = Aventurine began with the announcement of Darkfall by launching the official site on August 29, 2001, absorbing all five members of the Norwegian company Razorwax. Later, they met Tasos Flambouras, Spiros Iordanis and Jade El Mehdawi. Due to economical problems, the company's offices were moved from Norway to Greece. Aventurine was officially founded in 2003 in Athens, Greece, ostensibly to create the technologies that make games like Darkfall Online possible, and out of these, Darkfall was born. The game is currently under release for both North America and Europe.

= About Aventurine =

Technology
Aventurine's core technology consists of their cutting edge real-time 3D Engine, a system of tools allowing users to create custom 3D environments and scenarios, and proprietary network technologies which allow the internetworking of thousands of simultaneous users inside graphically intensive 3D environments.

Current Commercial Projects
Darkfall Online: A groundbreaking subscription based Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game for the global market of online games. Darkfall went live on February 25, 2009. It's published in Europe by Audiovisual Enterprises and self-published by Aventurine SA in North America. Most of Aventurine's resources are dedicated to the continued development of Darkfall and the release of free massive expansions to the game at regular intervals.

Research
Ground-breaking games can't be created without engaging in serious research. There's research happening at Aventurine every day but the company also participates in formal research initiatives in order to benefit from the collaborative research networks supported by European Union Frameworks. The following are some examples of what they've been doing so far:


 * Aventurine received development grants for Darkfall Online by the Hellenic Ministry of Development related to law 3299/2004 (Private Investment for Economic Growth and Regional Convergence)


 * The project "Development, Marketing and Distribution of the Subscription-Based Online Game Darkfall" was funded by the Information Society under Measure 4.3 "Advanced telecommunications services for the citizen", for the Action "Funding of Enterprises for Implementation of Advanced Broadband Services".


 * The Hellenic Secretariat of Research and Technology funded Aventurine's research proposal for the design and development of next generation 3D engine technologies.


 * Partner in a joint research proposal on Virtual Collaborative Environments with the University of Dublin, MIT's MediaLab Europe, Siemens, Fraunhofer-Gesellshcaft, and SINTEF Telecom and Informatics, under the EU Sixth Framework Programme's e-Inclusion research initiative.


 * Partner in a joint research proposal on the development, validation and promotion of a standard file format designed to support the efficient reuse of 3D data. Other partners include the Politecnico di Torino, Samtech Group, GiugaroSPA, CSA Spain, University of Dresden, Octaga, Living Solids, Instituto Technologico de Catilla y Leon. The research was part of the EU's Specific Targeted Research Projects.


 * Ongoing remote sensing research projects in cooperation with Biruni Remote Sensing Center.