Evening Star Studio

Christian Whitehead, also known as The Taxman, is an Australian video game programmer and designer. He is most recognized for his work creating updated ports of early games in Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series, as well as being a lead developer of an original game in the series, ''Sonic Mania''. In late 2018, Whitehead co-founded indie development studio Evening Star, which launched its first game, '' Penny's Big Breakaway'', in early 2024.

Career

In 2006, Whitehead worked as a freelance 3D animator with the company Kine Graffiti. Since 2009, he has focused on game development, developing various fangames based on the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series, starting with a 2007 fangame entitled ''Retro Sonic''. The game became notable after its release for its accuracy to the games, despite not being a ROM hack or modification to an existing ''Sonic'' game. ''Retro Sonic'' later merged with two other ''Sonic'' fangames, ''Sonic XG'' and ''Sonic Nexus'', to form ''Retro Sonic Nexus''.

In 2009, Sega asked fans for ideas on a game to port to iOS. As a response, Whitehead produced a "proof-of-concept" video of ''Sonic CD'' running on an iPhone using his own custom engine, the " Retro Engine". In an interview with Steven O'Donnell of '' Good Game: Spawn Point'', Whitehead proclaims that he spent "about a year or so" convincing Sega to let him work on the ''Sonic CD'' port. In 2009, a video regarding ''Sonic CD'' from Whitehead was taken down, leading ''Eurogamer'' to report that Whitehead possibly faced a cease and desist letter from Sega, which Whitehead claimed was false. The port was released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, iPhone and Android in 2011. His remake was so successful that he, along with developer Simon "Stealth" Thomley of the studio Headcannon, would later be commissioned to remaster ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' and ''Sonic the Hedgehog 2'' for mobile devices.

Although he, along with Headcannon, released a proof-of-concept video for a ''Sonic the Hedgehog 3'' remaster in 2014, Sega did not greenlight the port, which Thomley assumed to be in part of Michael Jackson's contribution to the music. In 2015, it was announced that Whitehead would be involved in his first non-''Sonic'' game, ''Freedom Planet 2''. In 2017, Whitehead, in collaboration with Headcannon and PagodaWest Games, developed and released their own original title in the ''Sonic'' series, titled ''Sonic Mania''. In 2018, ''Sonic Mania'' was re-released as ''Sonic Mania Plus'', which added additional content to the original game. ''Sonic Mania Plus'' was developed by Whitehead, Headcannon, PagodaWest Games, and the now included Hyperkinetic Studios. Whitehead also contributed to the development of ''Sonic Origins'', providing a new version of the engine used in the remasters.

In late 2018, Whitehead and other development members behind ''Sonic Mania'' founded their own studio Evening Star, where he serves as creative director and lead engine architect. In 2022, the studio signed a publishing deal with Private Division; their first title, '' Penny's Big Breakaway'', was released in 2024.

Retro Engine

The Retro Engine is primarily tailored for creating two-dimensional games like those released for 32-bit or below-era consoles, such as the Sega Saturn, Sega Genesis or the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. For this reason, the engine focuses more on raster graphics and palette manipulation, although it does feature support for widescreen graphics and online functionality.

Whitehead created the Retro Engine for use in ''Retro Sonic'' in 2007. He would also use the engine to develop remasters of ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' and ''Sonic the Hedgehog 2'' using the engine, released for mobile platforms in 2013. A proof-of-concept remaster of ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' proposed by Whitehead and Thomley but not approved by Sega was to use the engine. The engine went on to see further use with ''Sonic Mania'', as well as its downloadable content '' Sonic Mania Plus'', before being converted to full 3D for '' Penny's Big Breakaway''. This iteration was initially called the Star Engine, as it was revamped for the new game, but was changed back to strengthen ties with Whitehead's previous work, as well as to avoid confusion with another studio's engine named STARENGINE.

The Retro Engine was also used by Sega for their compilation ''Sonic Origins'' in 2022, which includes remakes of ''Sonic the Hedgehog'', ''Sonic the Hedgehog 2'', ''Sonic CD'', and ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' (with the music problems solved by compositions of original tracks); Whitehead updated the engine for the release but otherwise had no involvement.

Works

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitehead, Christian
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Australian computer programmers
Australian video game designers
Indie game developers
Sonic the Hedgehog
Video game programmers