Bullfrog Productions

Bullfrog Productions was a British video 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.[citation needed]

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] The same year, Next Generation similarly asserted that "Bullfrog has earned a reputation as one of the most consistently innovative and imaginative development teams in the world."[7]

Cancelled projects

Bullfrog started development on but then cancelled many projects. These include The Indestructibles in 1996, Creation in 1997, Void Star in 1998, Theme Resort, Extinction and Genesis: The Hand of God in 1999 and Dungeon Keeper 3: War for the Overworld along with Theme Movie Studio both in 2000.[8][9][10]

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,[11] and in 2011 they signed a deal with Good Old Games in order to do this.[citation needed]

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. ^ a b Dulin, Ron. "GameSpot Presents Legends of Game Design: Peter Molyneux". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 30 August 2005. Retrieved 26 April 2012. 
  2. ^ a b Porter, Will. "PC Feature: 30 in 30: Bullfrog Productions - ComputerAndVideoGames.com". Computer and Video Games. Future Publishing. Retrieved 27 April 2012. 
  3. ^ 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. 
  4. ^ Dulin, Ron. "GameSpot Presents Legends of Game Design: Peter Molyneux". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 1 September 2003. Retrieved 27 April 2012. 
  5. ^ Thorsen, Tor (3 November 2003). "Mucky Foot shutters doors - GameSpot.com". GameSpot. Retrieved 27 April 2012. 
  6. ^ "EA Kisses a Frog". GamePro. IDG (69): 147. April 1995. 
  7. ^ "75 Power Players". Next Generation. Imagine Media (11): 51. November 1995. 
  8. ^ Christian Donlan (2014-02-09). "The lost worlds of Lionhead and Bullfrog". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2014-03-03. 
  9. ^ Ernest Adams. "Game credits". Retrieved 2014-07-18. 
  10. ^ Alex Trowers. "Gameraki: The ones that got away". Retrieved 2014-07-19. 
  11. ^ Joe Martin (11 August 2009). "EA looking to revive classic Bullfrog games". Dennis Publishing Limited. Retrieved 26 March 2010. 

External links