n. A large three-masted sailing ship with a square rig and usually two or more decks, used from the 15th to the 17th century especially by Spain as a merchant ship or warship.
[Spanish galeon, from Old Spanish, augmentative of galea, galley, from Old French galie. See galley.]
ˈgælēǝn; ˈgælyǝnn. a sailing ship in use (especially by Spain) from the 15th through 17th centuries, originally as a warship, later for trade. Galleons were mainly square-rigged and usually had three or more decks and masts.
See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.
Treasure hunters found the remains of the Spanish galleonNuestra Señora de Atocha twenty years ago today. The ship sank off the coast of Key West, Florida, in 1622 when it was blown off course by a hurricane. Only five of the 265 members of the crew and passengers survived. Mel Fisher, the treasure hunter who found the ship, went through years of litigation to establish ownership of the items retrieved. The Atocha contained over $400 million in coins and silver ingots.
galleon, oceangoing warship used by the European naval powers in the 15th and 16th cent. A large, cumbersome vessel, the galleon was three-masted and square-rigged, usually with two decks, and with its main batteries in broadsides. Galleons were much used to transport treasure and other cargo from the Americas, particularly by Spanish and Portuguese traders. The military disadvantage of the typical galleon was shown clearly in the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588), when unwieldy Spanish galleons were outmaneuvered by the lighter, swifter English vessels constructed by John Hawkins.
Key designers of one of the most important and influential third-person 3D action games ever created offer up this adventure for the "next-generation." Former members of Core Design Toby Gard and Paul Douglas spent several years developing Galleon, which is designed to bring the same engaging playability and distinctiveness of character to the Xbox that their original Tomb Raider brought to earlier systems in the mid-1990s. Players take the role of Rhama Sabrier, a sailor, explorer, and warrior of great renown. The story-driven adventure begins when a strange vessel is uncovered near the port town of Akbah. The ship's origins and powers are a mystery to the town's wizened elder, who summons Sabrier to investigate further. Through a classic plot device at least as old as Homer, the seafaring swashbuckler must then travel to many odd and distinct islands, each offering its own unique adventure to challenge the hero.
~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide
Roots & Influences
Work began on Galleon in 1997, soon after the release of the original Tomb Raider. It is the first project from Confonding Studios, which is headed by Lara Croft designer Toby Gard. Gard's fellow former Core Design team member Paul Douglas also spent a few years at Confounding Studios working on Galleon, but left the firm long before the game's 2004 release.
~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide
Production Credits
Company 1: Confounding Factor; Director: Toby Gard; Senior Programmer: Andrew Howe; Game Testing: Tom Joseph; Website Creation: Tom Joseph; Head Tester: Luke Keen; Level Designer: Grace Lin, Harry Luck; Assistant Animator: Matthew Maggs; Senior Animator: Peter Meynell; Senior Programmer: Dr. James Miller; Systems Administrator: Dr. James Miller; Senior Programmer: Kevin Pateman, Andy Thomason; Level Artist: Matt Bell, Matt Brown; Additional Concept Art: Laurent Beauviler; Junior Programmer: Matt Davies; Animation Blending System: Paul Douglas; Level Artist: Hayden Duvall, Javier Leon; Programmer: Rhys Lewis; Level Artist: Sue Sharp; Lead Programmer: Chris Tector; Tester: Dan Waldron; Producer: Andy Wensley; Voice of Rhama Sabrier: Rodger L. Jackson; Voice of Faith: Jennifer Hale; Voice of Mihoko: Kim Mai Guest; Voice of Jabez: Michael Bell; Voice of Calverly: Michael Bell; Voice of Treasurer: Michael Bel; Voice of Darvill: David Lodge; Voice of Rhama's Crew: David Lodge; Voice of Villagers: David Lodge; Voice of Bosun: Kevin Michael Richardson; Voice of Sorcerer #1: Kevin Michael Richardson; Voice of Areliano: Tony Jay; Voice of Wei Long: John Fujioja; Voice of Merchant: Jess Harnell; Voice of Music: Lee Jordan; Company 2: SCi Games Limited; Chief Executive Officer: Jane Cavanagh; Commercial Director: Bill Ennis; Financial Director: Rob Murphy; Development Director: Darren Barnett; Creative Director: Patrick O'Luanaigh; Marketing Director: Dave Clark; Producer: Steve Morris; QA Manager: Marc Titheridge; Senior QA: Matt Friday, Dave Isherwood; Lead QA Engineer: Ian Rowsell; QA Engineer: Che Hamilton, Joe Best, Stuart Fallis, Allen Elliott, Neil Delderfield, Peter Evans, Karl Fentiman, Hugo Hirsh, Matt Ibbs, David Izzo, Carl Perrin, Joseph Pirocco, George Williams, Damian Bennett; Product Manager: Adrian Arnese; Creative Manager: Quinton Luck; Webmaster: Olaf Siebert; Head of Legal: Jo Murphy; Operations: Callum Jay, Jon Wild, Richard Lever, Nicole Beale
Galleon is a video game developed by Toby Gard and Confounding Factor. Famously announced in Edge magazine in 1997, the game went through various incarnations and publishers before eventually being published by SCi in 2004 to fairly muted critical response. The average score on GameRankings is 68% based on 43 reviews.
As the original designer of Lara Croft, Toby Gard left Core Design shortly after the first Tomb Raider game was released. Galleon was to be his first independent title following the original Tomb Raider. Galleon was delayed and eventually ported from the original PlayStation to the Dreamcast and later to the Xbox. Gard has since returned to Eidos as a design consultant for the Tomb Raider franchise.
There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life that he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.
- Mark Twain, in Tom Sawyer