Daydream Software
Their first game was "Safecracker", a point and click adventure game published by DreamCatcher Interactive. The game had a tumultuous production, starting when GT Interactive bought initial publisher Warner Interactive Europe. Daydream Software went public in late 1996. The company's goal was to increase its economic and decision-making freedom, and to secure the ability to select a publisher at the end of each game's development rather than at the beginning. President Jans Phersson-Broburg argued that self-financing Daydream's future games with money from Swedish investors, instead of obtaining "funding linked to specific projects" from publishers, would offer the developer more stability, flexibility and room for growth. For Daydream's public launch, roughly 20 million kr worth of shares, or 45.5% of the company, were offered to investors in Sweden. The initial public offering was a success, and Daydream opened on the Stockholm Stock Exchange's Stockholm Börsinformation (SBI) list in January 1997. Daydream was eventually able to buy back the rights to "Safecracker".
Spyro the Dragon
"Spyro the Dragon" was the second game developed by Insomniac Games, following the release of their first game, "Disruptor", in December of 1996. Although "Disruptor" was critically lauded, it was not successful financially; however, the game's praise was enough to impress Universal Interactive Studios and encourage the team to continue with their next endeavor. The idea of a game about a dragon was introduced by Insomniac artist Craig Stitt, who suggested the concept out of his own interest in the mythical creature. Initially, the game's tone was far darker and more realistic; according to Insomniac's COO, John Fiorito, who joined the company in 1997 during "Spyro"s development, inspiration was taken in part from the 1996 film "DragonHeart", and the game was initially "realistic and kind of dark and gritty" before the game took a more whimsical direction. Mark Cerny, an executive with Universal Interactive Studios, advised that the team create a game with more mass market appeal, as the demographics of the PlayStation were decreasing and its selection of children's titles were greatly outnumbered by the Nintendo 64's. According to programmer Peter Hastings, the dragon character was originally going to be named "Pete", but the due to copyright concerns over the name bearing similarities with Disney's 1977 film, "Pete's Dragon", the name was scrapped. After considering the name "Pyro," which was ultimately considered "too mature", they finally settled on "Spyro." During the development of the game, Spyro was originally going to be green, but the developers thought it was a bad idea because he would blend in with grass, so they eventually changed him to purple. During development of "Spyro", Insomniac had a very close relationship with "Crash Bandicoot" creator and fellow PlayStation developer Naughty Dog, who had their office located directly across the hall from theirs. The two developers would frequently work together, playing early builds of each other's games and later going on to share game technology. As a result, a hidden demo of "" was hidden in "Spyro", and vice-versa.