Peter Molyneux was Dungeon Keeper's project leader.[1][2]
He came up with the concept during a traffic jam and became so preoccupied, that he hadn't realised when the traffic had moved. He wrote the testbed, the computer player, and the Computer Assistance.[3] In mid-1996, Molyneux tendered his resignation to Electronic Arts, who expelled him from its offices. The development team therefore moved to his house to complete the game's development.[4]
After the final build was put out, Molyneux (after having a quarrel during a jolly at the pub) played a multiplayer match with programmer Jonty Barnes against testers Andy Robson and Andy Trowers. Molyneux and Barnes applied a patch to the game, which they claimed improved the network code, but in fact enabled them to cheat by giving themselves more gold at will. Despite this, they lost.[5] As soon as Dungeon Keeper was released, Molyneux left Bullfrog to found Lionhead Studios,[6] who made games such as Black & White and Fable.[6]
Molyneux once claimed that there's an Easter Egg that turns the Mistress naked,[7] but no trace of it has ever been found. It is unknown whether he was making it up, or it was real but removed from the game without his knowledge.
He was not involved in the development of Dungeon Keeper 2, but said that he liked what was done with it. However, he also said that he would have focused on expanding the sense of building the best dungeon.[8]
He was very critical of the 2014 mobile game: he said he was shocked by the time it took to dig, describing it as 'ridiculous', and claimed Electronic Arts had got the game's balance wrong.[9]
As of 2025, Molyneux is the creative director at 22cans.[6]
References[]
- ↑ Dungeon Keeper Gold Manual. p. 81.
- ↑ "Born-Again Keeper". Bullfrog Bulletin (Guildford: Bullfrog Productions) (4): 8, 9. 1997.
- ↑ Prima's Official Guide To Dungeon Keeper Gold Edition. pp. 328,329. Prima Publishing. (1998). ISBN 978-0-7615-1581-4.
- ↑ "The Making Of: Dungeon Keeper". Retro Gamer (Bournemouth: Imagine Publishing) (143): 64–69.
- ↑ Trowers, Andy (18 January 2017). How I Beat Peter Molyneux at His Own Game – Literally. Kotaku UK. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved on 31 December 2021.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "The History Of Dungeon Keeper". Retro Gamer. No. 268. Bath: Future plc. January 2025. pp. 64–69. ISSN 1742-3155.
- ↑ Game Developers Conference (3 August 2017). Peter Molyneux Explains the Design of Black and White. Retrieved on 15 August 2019.
- ↑ "Behind The Scenes Dungeon Keeper". GamesTM (Imagine Publishing) (80): 134–137.
- ↑ Mark Ward (7 February 2014). EA faces criticism over mobile Dungeon Keeper game. BBC News. Retrieved on 12 June 2023.
External links[]
Peter Molyneux at Wikipedia
Peter Molyneux on IMDb
Peter Molyneux at MobyGames- Peter Molyneux at RAWG
