Step out of your car into the streets of Old Montreal, and you step into the distant past. It's a place where narrow cobblestone lanes wind through a neighborhood that predates the invention of the automobile by 300 years. Massive stone buildings loom over your head like fortifications built for a war that was never waged. In the distance, you can hear the echoing clip-clop of horses' hooves. In this setting, it doesn't take much to imagine honeymooners being ferried to a candlelit dinner in a picturesque café.

In the very heart of all this living history are the headquarters of one of the most prolific developers and publishers of computer strategy games today. Strategy First, the upstart firm behind such recent critical hits as Europa Universalis and Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns, is located just a few steps--but perhaps also a few centuries--from the bustling Rue St. Paul street scene described above.

Strategy First vice-president Steve Wall

"I think the foundation of our building dates back to something like the 1640s," Wall comments as he sits down at a spacious boardroom table illuminated by modern track lighting. "The church used to own a good portion of the city, and still does, but they rent a lot of buildings out now. Even to software companies like us, who don't exactly fit the image of Old Montreal."

Back to the Future

While it hardly matches up to the history of the company's surroundings, Strategy First's history is pretty impressive. It was established in 1991 by Wall, Don McFatridge, Dave Hill, and Richard Therrien, a group of friends who shared both a banking background and a "love of games at heart." Their first project together was just what you'd expect from a Canadian software developer--a hockey simulation. Solid Ice, however, encountered difficulties from the very beginning with regard to a publisher, and it didn't wind up on store shelves until late 1996. By that point the dated product had no chance against heavyweights like EA Sports' NHL 97. Still, Wall has no regrets about the game, as it provided the growing corporation with "a great starting point and a lot of rewarding experiences."

Strategy First remained busy in other areas while the Solid Ice saga dragged on. Wall and his partners realized that they needed to diversify, so they developed an art department and sold its services to a number of leading game developers and publishers. Between 1992 and 1995, Strategy First provided artwork to SSI, Sirtech, ABC Sports Interactive, Empire Interactive, and Simulations Canada. The company's most noteworthy contributions were made to a number of SSI's turn-based strategy games, including the popular Steel Panthers series and Age of Rifles.