Core Design

Background

Core Design Limited was a British game developer based in Derby, England, founded in May 1988 by Jeremy Heath-Smith and several employees of Gremlin Graphics. Before October 1988, the company's name was "Megabrite". In 1994, Core was acquired by CentreGold and finally became part of Eidos Interactive in 1996. The studio was most known for developing the Tomb Raider series from the original Tomb Raider in 1996 to Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (the latter of which failed so horribly that it almost killed the Tomb Raider series, and tarnished Core's reputation as well) before Crystal Dynamics took over development in 2005. On May 11, 2006, Core's assets and team were sold to independent developer Rebellion Ltd (Eidos, however, retained the brand and IPs). Rebellion closed the studio in Derby in 2010.

1st Logo (December 1988-1995)

Logo: The word "CORE" with a round "C" (Which is shaped like Pac-Man) and a solid "O" is seen standing on a bar with "DESIGN LIMITED" written on it. The bar has a tip contracted to the left corner.

Variants: Each game has its own variant. Sometimes there is no bar.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None or the opening theme of the game.

Availability: Seen on many games from the era.

2nd Logo (1995)

Logo: There is a small white rectangle where "CORE" in a different design appears in perspective, casting a shadow.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Only seen on Big Red Adventure. Much like a transition placeholder.

3rd Logo (December 4, 1995-July 7, 1997)

Nicknames: "The Factory", "The Core Factory"

Logo: We start around a factory surrounded with heavy machinery, panning above the Core-shaped form filled with yellow substance. A press comes to the form and creates the solid logo while everything else goes off. The logo zooms out with yellow clouds passing on its surface.

Variant: Some games have "PRESENTS" underneath the logo, which rather sloppily fades out-of-sync with the logo.

FX/SFX: The animation of the logo.

Music/Sounds: Soft industrial music with a choir ascension at the end.

Availability: Appeared on several games for the PlayStation and the Sega Saturn, namely Swagman, Thunderstrike 2, Blam! Machinehead, and Shellshock. It also appears on the original Tomb Raider as well.

4th Logo (October 31, 1997-February 22, 2002)

Nicknames: "The Solar System", "The Core Solar System"

Logo: After the 1997 Eidos logo animation is finished, it fades into the starfield with "PRESENTS" on it. The text fades out and we zoom out next to the sun with four orbiting planets. The transparent Core Design logo slowly comes into view, zooming out slowly with the solar system inside the "O" as the background very slowly fades out. The blue light remains when the logo completes itself. After the logo forms, the word "DESIGN" appears in spaced-out letters under the logo and a second later, the words "A" and "PRODUCTION", in small spaced-out letters, appear above and below the logo respectively.

Variant: The logo is animated differently on Herdy Gerdy. It's completely yellow and is seen rotating on a large tree.

FX/SFX: The animation of the sun and logo coming into view.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic background tune contracting from the Eidos logo.

Availability: Seen on games from the era like Ninja: Shadow of Darkness, Project Eden, Fighting Force, and Fighting Force 2. Also appears on the Tomb Raider series for the PlayStation and personal computers from Tomb Raider II to Tomb Raider: Chronicles.

5th Logo (June 17, 2003)

Logo: We see the new-design "core" logo with "design" below, which zooms in an orange shine. The logo then glows intensively and trembles as viewed through the hot air.

FX/SFX: The logo shining and trembling. Nothing amazing.

Music/Sounds: Background whooshing.

Availability: Seen on Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness.

6th Logo (May 10, 2005-April 5, 2007)

Logo: We get a closer look on the silvery parts of the Core logo lying on a blue table. We can briefly see all four letters until the whole logo zooms in.

FX/SFX: Parts of the logo made using CGI effects.

Music/Sounds: A background note.

Availability: Seen on Smart Bomb and Free Running for the PSP.