Bullfrog Productions
|
Logo from 1991 to 2001 | |
| Industry | Interactive entertainment |
|---|---|
| Fate | Merged |
| Successor |
EA UK Lionhead Studios Mucky Foot Productions |
| Founded | 1987 |
| Founder | Peter Molyneux, Les Edgar |
| Defunct | 31st August 2001 |
| Headquarters | Guildford, United Kingdom |
| Products |
Populous series Syndicate series Magic Carpet series Theme series Dungeon Keeper series |
| Website | www.bullfrog.com (archived version until 2002-11-25) |
Bullfrog Productions was a British computer game developer, founded in 1987 by Les Edgar and Peter Molyneux.[1] The company achieved recognition in 1989 for their third release, Populous.[2] At the time of the company's founding, Edgar and Molyneux were already involved in an enterprise called Taurus Impact Systems.[1] Bullfrog's name was derived from "Taurus" (the Latin word for bull) and Edgar's daughter's love of frogs.
Electronic Arts, Bullfrog's publisher, acquired the studio in January 1995.[3] Molyneux had become an Electronic Arts vice-president and consultant in 1994, after EA purchased a significant share of Bullfrog. Molyneux's last project with Bullfrog was Dungeon Keeper and he left the company in August 1997 to found Lionhead Studios.[4] Other members of the studio founded Mucky Foot Productions in 1997.[5]
An early 1995 article in GamePro stated that "Bullfrog's work has been termed some of the most innovative by industry leaders, and it's pioneered different genres of software."[6]
Cancelled projects
As is common for a lot of companies in the games industry Bullfrog started development on but then cancelled many projects. These include The Indestructibles in 1996, Creation in 1997, Void Star in 1998, Theme Resort and Genesis: The Hand of God in 1999 and Dungeon Keeper 3: War for the Overworld along with Theme Movie Studio both in 2000.[7][8][9]
Closure
Following a move to Chertsey in 2000, the last titles to bear the company logo were published in 2001. Bullfrog Productions was finally incorporated and merged into EA on 31 August 2001 upon the formation of EA UK, effectively closing the studio. Bullfrog's website remained until spring of 2002, at which point the website link took visitors to Electronic Arts Europe instead.
Many former Bullfrog employees have remained within the games industry since the closure of the company. Peter Molyneux would stay on with Lionhead Studios until the formation of 22Cans in February 2012. Les Edgar later became EA's Vice President of European Studio, and although he has some involvement with the games industry, is now focused on other ventures.[2] In August 2009, Electronics Arts was considering revising some of Bullfrog's games for modern-day systems,[10] and in 2011 they signed a deal with Good Old Games in order to do this.
Key figures
- Gary Carr (Artist and Designer, 1989–1997)
- Sean Cooper (Designer and Programmer, 1987–1999)
- Glenn Corpes (Artist and Designer, 1987–1998)
- Mike Diskett (Director, 1993–1997)
- Les Edgar (Management, 1987–1999)
- Fin McGechie (Artist and Designer, 1990–1996)
- Paul McLaughlin (Artist and Designer, 1990–1997)
- Peter Molyneux (Designer and Programmer, 1987–1997)
- Russell Shaw (Music and Audio, 1992–1997)
- Guy Simmons (Programmer, 1993–1996)
- Mark Webley (Programmer, 1993–1997)
- Stuart Whyte (Producer, 1999–2001)
Games
| Release Date | Titles | Genres | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Druid 2: Enlightenment | Action-adventure game | Amiga (Conversion only) |
| 1988 | Fusion | Scrolling shoot 'em up | Amiga, Atari ST |
| 1989 | Populous | Real-time strategy, God game | Acorn Archimedes, Amiga, Atari ST, FM Towns, MS-DOS, Game Boy, Mac OS, Master System, NEC PC-9801, PC Engine, Sega Genesis, Sharp X68000, SNES |
| 1990 | Flood | Platform game | Amiga, Atari ST |
| 1990 | Powermonger | Real-time strategy | Amiga, Atari ST, Mac OS, MS-DOS, NEC PC-9801, Sega CD, Sega Genesis, SNES |
| 1991 | Populous II | Real-time strategy, God game | Amiga, Atari ST, Mac OS, MS DOS, NEC PC-9801, Sega Genesis, SNES |
| 1991 | Bullfrogger | Puzzle game | Amiga (magazine distribution) |
| 1993 | Psycho Santa | Scrolling shoot 'em up | Amiga (magazine distribution) |
| 1993 | Syndicate | Real-time tactics, shoot 'em up | 3DO, Acorn Archimedes, Amiga, Amiga CD32, Mac OS, NEC PC-9801, Sega CD, Sega Genesis, SNES |
| 1994 | Magic Carpet | First-person shooter | MS-DOS, PlayStation, Sega Saturn |
| 1994 | Theme Park | Construction and management simulation game | 3DO, Amiga, Amiga CD32, Atari Jaguar, Mac OS, MS-DOS, PlayStation, Sega CD, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, SNES |
| 1994 | Syndicate: American Revolt | Real-time tactics, shoot 'em up | Amiga, MS-DOS |
| 1995 | Tube | Action game, Racing game | MS-DOS |
| 1995 | Hi-Octane | Racing game, Vehicular combat game | Microsoft Windows, MS-DOS, PlayStation, Sega Saturn |
| 1995 | Magic Carpet 2 | First-person shooter | MS-DOS |
| 1996 | Genewars | Real-time strategy | Microsoft Windows, MS-DOS |
| 1996 | Syndicate Wars | Real-time tactics, shoot 'em up | Microsoft Windows, MS-DOS, PlayStation |
| 1997 | Dungeon Keeper | Real-time strategy, God game | Microsoft Windows, MS-DOS |
| 1997 | Theme Hospital | Construction and management simulation game | Microsoft Windows, MS-DOS, PlayStation |
| 1998 | Populous: The Beginning | Real-time strategy, God game | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation |
| 1998 | Theme Aquarium | Construction and management simulation game | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation |
| 1999 | Dungeon Keeper 2 | Real-time strategy, God game | Microsoft Windows |
| 1999 | Theme Park World / Sim Theme Park | Construction and management simulation game | Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, PlayStation 2 |
| 2001 | Theme Park Inc / SimCoaster | Construction and management simulation game | Microsoft Windows |
| 2001 | Quake III Revolution | First-person shooter | PlayStation 2 (Conversion only) |
References
- 1 2 Dulin, Ron. "GameSpot Presents Legends of Game Design: Peter Molyneux". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 30 August 2005. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
- 1 2 Porter, Will. "PC Feature: 30 in 30: Bullfrog Productions - ComputerAndVideoGames.com". Computer and Video Games. Future Publishing. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
- ↑ Business Wire (1992-09-21). "Electronic Arts to acquire leading European software developer, Bullfrog Productions Ltd.". AllBusiness. Archived from the original on December 5, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
- ↑ Dulin, Ron. "GameSpot Presents Legends of Game Design: Peter Molyneux". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 1 September 2003. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
- ↑ Thorsen, Tor (3 November 2003). "Mucky Foot shutters doors - GameSpot.com". GameSpot. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
- ↑ "EA Kisses a Frog". GamePro (IDG) (69): 147. April 1995.
- ↑ Christian Donlan (2014-02-09). "The lost worlds of Lionhead and Bullfrog". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2014-03-03.
- ↑ Ernest Adams. "Game credits". Retrieved 2014-07-18.
- ↑ Alex Trowers. "Gameraki: The ones that got away". Retrieved 2014-07-19.
- ↑ Joe Martin (11 August 2009). "EA looking to revive classic Bullfrog games". Dennis Publishing Limited. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
External links
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