Dungeon Keeper 3

Last updated
Dungeon Keeper 3: War for the Overworld
Developer(s) Bullfrog Productions
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Designer(s) Ernest W. Adams
Nick Ricks
Zy Nicholson
Nick Goldsworthy [1]
Series Dungeon Keeper
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
ReleaseCancelled
Genre(s) Real-time strategy, god game
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer [1]

Dungeon Keeper 3: War for the Overworld [1] is a cancelled PC strategy game by Bullfrog Productions for Microsoft Windows. Dungeon Keeper 3 was set to be the next installment in the Dungeon Keeper franchise. Players were charged with managing evil creatures in an underground dungeon and protecting it against the stereotypical righteous and goodly adventurers that conventionally appear in role-playing video games. The series won praise from reviewers for its innovative design and devilish humor. The sequel to Dungeon Keeper , and Dungeon Keeper 2 , it was set to lead the player to do battle in the surface realm of the goodly heroes. A short trailer for the game is included in Dungeon Keeper 2. [2]

Contents

A Dungeon Keeper 3 inspired game, War for the Overworld, was released in 2015. This originated as a fan endeavour to develop the third game in the franchise, with the developers moving away from the Dungeon Keeper IP in 2011. [3]

History

High-level conceptualisation and design documentation formally began after the release of Dungeon Keeper 2 in June 1998, with a small design team drawn from the same development staff. Game designer and scriptwriter Zy Nicholson resigned from the studio in late 1999 and was replaced on the project by Ernest W. Adams. Though never officially announced by publisher EA, development was acknowledged by a website update from the DK3 team in early February 2000. [4] [5] Development was cancelled in March 2000, [1] though it was not until August [6] [7] of the same year that Bullfrog Productions revealed that the game had been cancelled. At the time, Bullfrog's website explained that it had cancelled production to work on other projects:

A third episode of the Dungeon Keeper saga was underway, but opportunities to develop new intellectual properties on new platforms such as PlayStation 2 have meant that DK3 has been put on hold. There are currently no plans for another Dungeon Keeper game, however it remains an important franchise and there may be opportunities for us to pursue that direction in the future. [8]

The projects that provoked Dungeon Keeper 3's cancellation were EA's Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings games. [1]

Related Research Articles

Lionhead Studios Defunct British video game developer

Lionhead Studios Limited was a British video game developer founded in July 1997 by Peter Molyneux, Mark Webley, Tim Rance, and Steve Jackson. The company is best known for the Black & White and Fable series. Lionhead started as a breakaway from developer Bullfrog Productions, which was also founded by Molyneux. Lionhead's first game was Black & White, a god game with elements of artificial life and strategy games. Black & White was published by Electronic Arts in 2001. Lionhead Studios is named after Webley's hamster, which died not long after the naming of the studio, as a result of which the studio was very briefly renamed to Redeye Studios.

A god game is an artificial life game that casts the player in the position of controlling the game on a large scale, as an entity with divine and supernatural powers, as a great leader, or with no specified character, and places them in charge of a game setting containing autonomous characters to guard and influence.

Peter Molyneux English video game designer and game programmer

Peter Douglas Molyneux is an English video game designer and programmer. He created the god games Populous, Dungeon Keeper, and Black & White, as well as Theme Park, the Fable series, Curiosity – What's Inside the Cube?, and Godus. He currently works at 22cans.

<i>Syndicate</i> (video game series) Video game series

Syndicate is a series of science fiction video games created by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts. There are two main titles: Syndicate (1993) and Syndicate Wars (1996), both of which are isometric real-time tactics games. An additional first-person shooter Syndicate title was released in 2012, and a spiritual successor to the series, entitled Satellite Reign, was released in 2015.

Bullfrog Productions British video game developer

Bullfrog Productions Limited was a British video game developer based in Guildford, England. Founded in 1987 by Peter Molyneux and Les Edgar, the company gained recognition in 1989 for their third release, Populous, and is also well known for titles such as Theme Park, Magic Carpet, Syndicate and Dungeon Keeper. Bullfrog's name was derived from an ornament in the offices of Edgar's and Molyneux's other enterprise, Taurus Impact Systems, Bullfrog's precursor where Molyneux and Edgar were developing business software. Bullfrog Productions was founded as a separate entity after Commodore mistook Taurus for a similarly named company.

<i>Dungeon Keeper</i> 1997 strategy video game

Dungeon Keeper is a strategy video game developed by Bullfrog Productions and released by Electronic Arts in June 1997 for MS-DOS and Windows 95. In Dungeon Keeper, the player builds and manages a dungeon, protecting it from invading 'hero' characters intent on stealing accumulated treasures, killing monsters and ultimately the player's demise. The ultimate goal is to conquer the world by destroying the heroic forces and rival dungeon keepers in each realm. A character known as the Avatar appears as the final hero. Dungeon Keeper uses Creative Technology's SoundFont technology to enhance its atmosphere. Multiplayer with up to four players is supported using a modem, or over a local network.

<i>Dungeon Keeper 2</i> 1999 video game

Dungeon Keeper 2 is a strategy game developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts in 1999 for Microsoft Windows. The sequel to Dungeon Keeper, the player takes the role of a 'dungeon keeper', building and defending an underground dungeon from the would-be heroes that invade it, as well as from other keepers. In the campaign mode, the player is charged with recovering the portal gems from each area in order to open a portal to the surface. The player can also construct a dungeon without strict objectives, and multiplayer is supported over a network.

<i>Theme Hospital</i> 1998 video game

Theme Hospital is a business simulation game developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts in 1997 for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows compatible PCs in which players design and operate a privately owned hospital with the goal of curing patients of fictitious comical ailments. The game is the thematic successor to Theme Park, also produced by Bullfrog, and the second instalment in their Theme series, and part of their Designer Series. The game is noted for its humour, and contains numerous references to pop culture.

<i>Syndicate Wars</i> 1996 video game

Syndicate Wars is an isometric real-time tactical and strategic game, developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for DOS in 1996 and for the PlayStation in 1997. It is the second video game title in the Syndicate series, retaining the core gameplay and perspective of the original Syndicate, but with a setting 95 years further into the future.

A spiritual successor is a product or fictional work which is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but does not explicitly continue the product line or media franchise of its predecessor, and is thus only a successor "in spirit". Spiritual successors often have similar themes and styles to their source material, but are generally a distinct intellectual property.

Rockstar New England American video game developer

Rockstar New England, Inc. is an American video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Andover, Massachusetts. The company was founded as Mad Doc Software in November 1999 by Ian Lane Davis, formerly of Activision. The company started out assisting Activision with the completion of Star Trek: Armada and led the development on its sequel, Star Trek: Armada II. Alongside multiple smaller projects, such as completing the canceled Jane's Attack Squadron from defunct Looking Glass Studios, Mad Doc Software achieved success through the Empire Earth series. However, its Empire Earth III was critically panned, leading to the termination of the franchise.

EA Bright Light was a UK-based video game developer founded in 1995 by Electronic Arts. The studio was primarily known for its work on licensed franchises such as the video game adaptation of the Harry Potter series. As of 2019, a subsidiary known as EA UK exists, albeit being a publishing operation.

Ernest W. Adams

Ernest Adams is a university professor, game design consultant, author on game development, founder of the International Game Developers Association, and a regular lecturer at the Game Developers Conference. He holds a Ph.D. from the School of Computing and Mathematics at Teesside University for his work on interactive storytelling. His work on interactive storytelling began in 1995 with the lecture "The Challenge of the Interactive Movie," delivered at the Computer Game Developers' Conference, and continued through a variety of lectures and articles for another 16 years. From 1997 to 2013 Adams was also a paid columnist for the Gamasutra game developers' webzine, writing a regular column called "The Designer's Notebook."

<i>War for the Overworld</i> 2015 video game

War for the Overworld is a real-time strategy video game developed by Subterranean Games, which changed its name to Brightrock Games based in Brighton, UK. The game started as a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, which ran from November 29, 2012, to January 3, 2013. In the game, players build dungeons containing deadly traps to kill adventuring heroes that enter. The game is inspired by Dungeon Keeper, StarCraft, Overlord, and Evil Genius. It includes a campaign, sandbox mode, and online multiplayer.

Dungeon Keeper, is a series of strategy video games released by Electronic Arts (EA). Two games were developed by Bullfrog Productions for the PC in the late 1990s, and a third was in development but was cancelled before release. A Chinese MMO was in development from 2008-2013 and achieved open beta release, but was cancelled before full launch. A free-to-play game for Android and iOS was developed by Mythic Entertainment and released in 2013.

<i>Dungeon Keeper</i> (2014 video game) 2014 video game

Dungeon Keeper is a freemium mobile massively multiplayer online strategy video game developed by Mythic Entertainment and released by Electronic Arts in 2014 for iOS and Android. A reboot to the Dungeon Keeper series, players construct and manage a dungeon, recruiting minions to run it, although the gameplay has a tower defence style, featuring frequent raids of others' dungeons and the defence of the player's. Players can participate in tournaments and leagues online.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Ernest W. Adams (August 2006). "Dungeon Keeper 3: War for the Overworld". PC Games That Weren't. Archived from the original on 2008-06-17. Retrieved 2008-06-17.
  2. "10 cancelled games we wish had been released - Dungeon Keeper 3". MSN Games UK. 2011-03-29. Archived from the original on 2012-10-25. Retrieved 2011-04-02.
  3. "News on the direction WftO".
  4. IGN Staff (2000-02-08). "The Demon's Out Of The Bag". IGN . Retrieved 2006-12-21.
  5. "Dungeon Keeper III". Electronic Arts. Archived from the original on March 11, 2000. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
  6. IGN Staff (2000-08-01). "Dungeon Keeper 3 Stuck in the Corner". IGN . Retrieved 2006-12-21.
  7. Sam Parker (2000-08-02). "Dungeon Keeper 3 Cancelled". GameSpot . Retrieved 2006-12-21.
  8. "Development On Dungeon Keeper 3 Has Ceased". Electronic Arts. Archived from the original on August 16, 2000. Retrieved 2009-11-02.


See also