golemLabs
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| GolemLabs | |
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| Type | Private |
| Founded | Sherbrooke, Canada (December 20, 2000) |
| Headquarters | Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada |
| Industry | Computer and Video Games |
| Products | SuperPower, SuperPower 2 |
| Website | www.golemlabs.com |
A developer of modern geopolitical strategy games for Windows-running personal computers, GolemLabs' slogan is "Games That Think". The company released its first title, SuperPower, in March 2002. SuperPower was perhaps best known for allowing the player to play nearly any nation on Earth--previous titles in its genre had limited "playable nations" to the United States, or at least one of the world's historically or currently powerful nations like Germany, Japan, or China. The game also was open-ended, rather than forcing the player to play through a scripted historical event (i.e World War I or the Vietnam War).
Superpower met with numerous mixed reviews. Some reviewers lauded the game for its originality (the modern geopolitical simulation genre had gone largely unfilled since Shadow President's release in 1994.) Others panned SuperPower for bugs and functionality issues. A persistent complaint of players was that not all of the advertised functionality actually worked, especially that of managing a nation's economy and research. The original SuperPower also met up with criticism over its incompleteness at release, which was also to resurface in SuperPower 2, its successor.
In 2004, GolemLabs released the successor to SuperPower, Superpower 2. In the vein of SuperPower, players could play virtually any nation on Earth, including the Holy See and Liechtenstein. Some players enjoyed SuperPower 2 immensely and sang its praises. Most fans delighted in the multiplayer mode that allowed groups to meet on the Internet, and each play a nation, almost invariably getting into a slugfest with custom-designed army, navy, air force, and nuclear units. Players would take pride in playing a relatively minor nation and conquering the world. (Some, however, pointed out that being able to play Kenya and take over the world in 30 game-years was an indication of how unrealistic the SuperPower 2 engine was.) The game's devoted fans have invested prodigious time and energy into creating their own mods. Most mods either address perceived shortcomings in the game's database, or create an alternate history where, for instance, the USSR never dissolved, or the South won the U.S. Civil War.
The technical depth of the geopolitical, economic, and political aspects of the simulation was groundbreaking. Unfortunately the title, like its predecessor, was bedeviled with stability issues. On the now-defunct discussion forums, many players complained that the economic component of the simulation broke down as the game progressed, sending the economy of whatever nation the player was running into autarky and collapsing GDP regardless of the player's management decisions.
Despite the innovation the games showed, GolemLabs' first two titles never managed to gain traction in the overall PC gaming market, attaining a cult following that may not have been sufficient to enable the company to prosper. During much of the last half of 2005, GolemLabs was largely dormant, with its official Web site untended and in disrepair. Conversations on the company's unofficial fansite speculated that GolemLabs was in virtual hibernation to deal with unspecified legal troubles, and would resurface with more titles. However, as time elapsed, more and more GolemLabs fans feared the company might be sliding into bankruptcy as yet another software developer that could not leverage its innovative visions into a viable business.
On November 30th, 2005, a tantalizing news article appeared where the GolemLabs official forum used to be, strongly hinting that the company had found an investor or other source of capital, and would resume operations soon. Because previous indications that the company would resume operations failed to pan out, this news was met with considerable skepticism by much of GL's userbase.
However, 2006 has seen much renewed activity on the part of GolemLabs; the corporate Web site returned, resuming full operation. On March 8th, 2006, GL released the highly anticipated SDK for SuperPower 2, which is a set of tools allowing users to edit game code directly and create more detailed, powerful mods. On March 15, 2006, the reorganized GolemLabs fora were unveiled, with new features to enhance usability and security. GL has also announced that a third title is under development. This title is known as The In-laws, and is to be a game outside the geopolitical simulation genre of SuperPower and SuperPower 2. The GolemLabs forums continue to be active, with many players sticking around in the largely popular off-topic section.
There have been numerous player-created fan sites relating to both SuperPower and SuperPower 2, but currently one of the only major ones still lasting for SuperPower 2 is GL-Portal, a fan-site/portal with a databank and a forum.
