He may be one of the most famous figures in gaming, and the second person to receive an OBE for his efforts in video games (after Argonaut and Ninja Theory founder Jez San), but it’s easier to recall Peter Molyneux’s lowest moments than his big ones today. The pulling ofGodusandGodus Warsfrom Steam has recently reminded players of their messy developments.
They bring his other pie-in-the-sky promises to mind as well, likeProject Miloand his real-time acorn tree growth inFable. But one of the reasons he made these big promises was because he and his studios were able to make good on them, no matter how outlandish they sounded. They not only turned out to be good either. They becamethe best games Peter Molyneux ever worked on.
As popular asBlack & WhiteandPowermongerwere, they weren’t the first of the kind. Molyneux and Corpes created the god game withPopulous, the first big hit for their company, Bullfrog Productions. LikeBlack & Whitea decade later, players had to overcome rival gods by increasing their follower count. The more followers they have, the more mana they gain. The more mana they gain, the more powers they can use to make their presence known.
With those powers, they could alter the landscape in ways to influence the world’s inhabitants. For example, they could form protective walls around their followers, or cast disasters like earthquakes on their enemies, among other options. Molyneux tried to bring its style back withGodus, right down to the landscape manipulation. But he never gave that game the care he gavePopulous, which is now much easier to access thanks to GOG and Origin.
7Theme Park
GameFAQs Score: 3.5/5 Stars
ThePopulousgames went dormant after 1998’s good but financially lackingPopulous: The Beginning. But they received a better fate than theTheme Parkgames. In the original game, programmed by Molyneux and future DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis, the player had to build their own theme park within their budget, then keep it in business.Kind of likeRollercoaster Tycoon.
Except players could micromanage every aspect of their park, like over-salting the fries to make everyone thirsty, then offer soda with a lot of ice. Or cranking up the caffeine in the coffee to make visitors move faster and make room for new ones. They could also negotiate with other parks, which involved getting two hands to shake before all the cookies on a plate ran out. The sequels gradually got rid of these quirks, making the series duller and duller until it was shelved indefinitely.
6Black & White
GameFaqs Score: 3.66/5 Stars
Black & Whitewas received rapturously back in 2001, and put Molyneux’s new company Lionhead Studios on the map. It was a combination of an RTS with the god game, where the player takes on the role of a deity that has to stop Nemesis from taking over their land. To do this, they have to encourage their villagers to expand, receive their worship and use it to cast Miracles. Often with their own custom monster to act as their direct aid.
But they have to teach the creature right from wrong, and the player doesn’t necessarily have to be good themselves. Advised by an angel and a devil, players could make their land a hellscape, paradise on Earth, or any mix between the two. Hence, “Black & White”. It eventually received backlash for being a little buggy and simplistic, but that didn’t stop it winning 24 awards, and gaining a spot in the Guinness Book of Records for its success.
5The Movies
GameFaqs Score: 3.82/5 Stars
The Moviesis one of those games that might’ve been more successful if it came out a year or two later than it did. Based on an idea Molyneux had around 2002, the game was a business sim based around a movie studio. Players had to manage their studio, look after their stars, and make movies to stay out of the red. If they did well, they could reach the present day and make bigger films. Otherwise, they could find themselves one and done in the silent era.
They could even upload their completed movies to the game’s official website for other people to view. But that was in 2005, right when YouTube went online. IfThe Moviescame out a little later, they could’ve let players upload their movies to the new website and reach a wider audience. It might’ve even beena precursor to Source Filmmakeror Garry’s Mod as a tool for making machinima movies. Instead, it had to make do with cult classic status.
Some might find this placement odd. For most people outside the UK, theFablegames were their first introduction to who Peter Molyneux is and what he’s like. He hyped the game to the heavens during its development, and often caused trouble in the process as he promised features the overworked developers wouldn’t be able to finish in time for its release. Like the real-time growing acorn tree, making a family, and instant multiplayer.
Yet he wasn’t the one who came up with the idea forFable. That would go to Dene and Simon Carter, founders of Lionhead satellite studio Big Blue Box. But it does have some Molyneux-like touches. For example, instead of being a straightforward open-world action RPG, the player can make moral choices that can make them good, bad, or somewhere in-between, a la his god gameBlack & White.
Black & Whitewasn’t Molyneux’s first strategic higher power game. Many of its elements can be traced back toPowerMonger, a game Molyneux oversaw alongside Glenn Corpes and Kevin Donkin. It’s an RTS where the player has to tip the balance of power in the land towards themselves. To do this, they have to take over the nearby towns, kill opposing captains, and expand their armies.
Being a game from 1990, it’s not as complex as, say,Civilizationor the like,given diplomacy is limitedto swaying neutral survivors of their battles to their sides. But for its time, it was very detailed and quite clever. Each NPC had their own names, stats, and hometowns, and acted according to their occupation and allegiance based on the game’s ‘artificial life’ engine. It made the game world feel more alive, and inspired future games beyond the genre.
Fable 2has more of the Molyneux touch. The morality system is back, as are some of the features he promised inFable 1’s development, like marriage (same-sex and otherwise), having children, etc. The player’s partner and kids have their own lives and actions, likePowermonger’s NPCs. They have to be kept happy to stay with the player, and can get in trouble on their own. In a way, they provide their own mini-story within the main story.
The most personal Molyneux touch comes in the lead character’s canine companion. Inspired by his own pet dogs, they can help the player out of trouble, and even find loot. But they’re not invincible. If they get hurt enough, they’ll have to be healed before they can fight again. They can even match the player’s good/neutral.evil alignment. The game is still theFableseries' high point,for dog lovers and otherwise, so the upcoming reboot has a tall order to match.
Thanks to the likes ofPopulous,Powermonger,Theme Parkand more, Bullfrog Productions became one of the most successful and beloved British game developers around. But Molyneux still chose to leave the company he founded, not enjoying the more hands-off role of an executive. However, he wouldn’t leave before finishing up his last big idea for Bullfrog:Dungeon Keeper, where the player took the role of the villain trying to stop the heroes.
In the short run, they haveto create a dungeoncapable of trapping and killing any fool, monster, or hero that enters. In the long run, they have to stop rival dungeon makers, and finish off the final hero, the Avatar (a spoof onUltima’s protagonist), to take over the world. Its dark humor and spin on RTS-management sims inspired a host of spiritual successors, likeStartopiaand theDungeonsseries.
