Dungeon Keeper
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| Dungeon Keeper | |
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| Developer(s) | Bullfrog Productions |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Designer(s) | Peter Molyneux |
| Engine | Modified Magic Carpet engine |
| Release date(s) | July, 1997 |
| Genre(s) | Real-time strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Mature (M) |
| Platform(s) | PC (DOS, Windows) |
| System requirements | Windows: Pentium 75 MHz, 16 MB RAM, Windows 95 DOS: 486DX4 100 MHz, 8 MB RAM (16 MB for Hi-res) |
| Input | Keyboard, Mouse |
Dungeon Keeper is a PC strategy game released by Bullfrog Productions in July 1997. The game puts the player into the role of the "dungeon keeper": instead of valiantly storming a dungeon like a hero, killing monsters and taking the treasures, the player builds the dungeons, recruits the monsters, sets the traps, and fends off the (computer-controlled) heroes that regularly attempt to come in.
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[edit] Interface
The game interface is reminiscent of normal real-time strategy games: the player uses a mouse, represented in-game as a hand, to interact with a bar on the left-hand side of the screen, allowing him to select which rooms to build and which spells to cast. Rather uniquely, the player can use the hand to pick up creatures and objects in the dungeon and carry them around, allowing for tactics such as gathering an assault force and dropping off the creatures en masse once a beachhead has been established.
The hand also allows the player to "slap" objects and thereby interact with them: creatures will hurry up when slapped, chickens in a Hatchery will "splat," and some traps will be triggered. Prisoners in the Torture Chamber can thus be treated with a hands-on approach.
The main game view is in isometric perspective. This view can be zoomed and rotated. The player also has the option of possessing one of his creatures, and seeing the dungeon from that creature's first-person perspective.
The map is divided into a grid of (mostly invisible) rectangles: an arbitrary number of monsters can be on any element of the grid, but only one trap or room section. A smaller part of the map is shown as a minimap in the top left corner of the screen.
The world map demonstrates the programmers' detailed work: at the beginning of the game, the player is allocated one of the 20 regions of a fictional, idyllic country. As the player progresses through these regions (each of which represents a level), the areas previously conquered will appear ransacked, twisted, and evil. On completing the game, the whole map will look like Hell.
[edit] Concepts
The Dungeon Heart represents the Dungeon Keeper's own life. If it is destroyed, the player loses the level, and must re-start. Along with the heart, the player begins with a small number of imps, the generic work force for all dungeon activities: they can dig tunnels into the surrounding soil, capture enemy rooms and Portals, mine gold and gems, set traps, and even attack when desperate or threatened. Slapping creatures forces them to work faster for a while, but removes some of their health.
Once the Imps are busily working, the player must then set up a basic infrastructure: Lairs for monsters, a Hatchery (where chickens, which serve as food for the minions, are bred), and a Treasury for storing gold. After connecting the dungeon to a "Portal", monsters will arrive. The types of monster that will arrive depends on the rooms possessed, and how large they are: the Bile Demon, for example, requires both a Lair and a Hatchery of at least 25 (5x5) units. As the game progresses, the player moves along a technology tree, unlocking further rooms.
Some creatures are only accesable through special means. Creating a Prison room and leaving friendly or enemy creatures in it will result in a Skeleton. Having an enemy or friendly creature die in a Torture Chamber will result in a Ghost. Dead enemies taken to a Graveyard room will result in a Vampire being born.
The strongest creature is the 'Horned Reaper'. To obtain this creature a 'Mistress', 'Bile Demon' and 'Troll' must be sacrificed in the Temple Room at the same time. Horned Reapers are extremely difficult to control. They will go berserk and even kill the player's own characters. It is best to create a separate lair, hatchery, treasure room and training room covered by a locked door in order to keep a Reaper for any length of time. They are excellent in battle.
The dungeon has a fleshed-out ecology: some creatures are natural enemies. Flies and Spiders are often found at odds with one another, while a Horned Reaper, if it has gone berserk, will randomly attack any creatures in its path. The Horned Reaper does have one natural enemy though; if a lord of the land is seen by the Horned Reaper, the creature will, without any sort of regard for his allies (or his health for that matter), rush straight at him. At the same time, warlocks find it incredibly annoying if other races are cashing in on their research time, which often ends up in them attacking. Warlocks particularly dislike Vampires.
The goals for each level are fairly straightforward: they generally fall along the lines of eliminating the heroic force or destroying all other Dungeon Keepers on the level.
[edit] Sequels
[edit] The Deeper Dungeons
The Deeper Dungeons is an expansion pack that was released in November 1997. It features about 15 new levels and an improved artificial intelligence for the enemies.
[edit] Dungeon Keeper Gold Edition
Dungeon Keeper Gold Edition was not a sequel, so much as a repackaging. It contained the original game, Deeper Dungeons, the 3D patches, & a game editor. It also came with an additional novella of sorts, recounting the account of a hero killed while exploring the dungeons. Most of the additions were put on Bullfrog's website, and the Gold Edition was discontinued.
[edit] Dungeon Keeper 2
Dungeon Keeper 2 is a sequel released in June 1999. It featured an entirely new game engine that natively supported hardware acceleration, Dungeon Keeper (the original) supported Direct3D via an alternative executable, but not out of the box. DK2 also used full-3D models for the creatures and enemies, rather than sprites.
[edit] Dungeon Keeper 3
Dungeon Keeper 3 was not released. However, some Dungeon Keeper 2 CDs contained a trailer showing some features of Dungeon Keeper 3, amongst them above-land battles. One member of Bullfrog stated on his personal website that Dungeon Keeper 3 was going to be named: War for the Overworld. [1] This project was discontinued because, according to Ernest W. Adams (one of the developers), Bullfrog had decided not to do any other RTS of any kind. This decision was in effect the end of Bullfrog as a brand; the company had already been owned by EA for several years, and EA laid off some employees and put the remainder onto other projects such as the Harry Potter line.
