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Looking Glass Studios: Greatest PC game development company of the 90s?

dejan said:
Ok, my usual answer would be Origin, but I'm going with Microprose this time:

- Railroad Tycoon
- Civilization
- Formula One Grand Prix
- Gunship 2000
- Master Of Orion
- Master of Magic
- Colonization
- X-COM: UFO Defense
- X-COM: Terror from the Deep
- Transport Tycoon
- Master of Orion II
- Falcon 4.0
- MechWarrior 3

BOOM
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TBH some of those games weren't developed by Microprose, just published by them (MOO, X-Com, MW3, MOM).
Too bad you didn't list Darklands on there. Sure it was buggy for most part of it's lifetime, but it was great concept of a game. I would like sequel to that.
 
1990s? Nope. Best PC dev EVER.

Also, Ultima Underworld was released before Wolfenstein 3D and had more advanced tech but no one has really truly recognized it.

The fall of Looking Glass was the greatest loss for PC gaming.
 
-SD- said:
Also, Ultima Underworld was released before Wolfenstein 3D and had more advanced tech but no one has really truly recognized it.
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Come one, Castle Master was released before Wolf3D and had more advanced tech (well not really, but it was actually 3D game).
Wolf was revolution, because how efficient engine was. You couldn't really play UU on 286 or 386SX, but Wolf worked like a beast on them.
 
I spent the summer of 93 or 94 playing UU2 on my 486SX25 and Might and Magic II on Genesis (well, Megadrive actually).
Best gaming summer of my life, so I can totally get behind the OP.

What I can't remember is whether I had to spend as much time tinkering config.sys / autoexec.bat as I had to for Origin Games.

edit: just remembered there were cutscenes with the guardian and tied into U VII. Damn, it was really great.
 
The correct answer is SSI. Still waiting for GOG to gain access to their catalog.

Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday 1990 A science-fiction computer role-playing game set in the TSR Buck Rogers XXVC game setting
Champions of Krynn 1990 A fantasy computer role-playing game; the first in a three-part series of a Dragonlance Advanced Dungeons & Dragons "Gold Box" series
DragonStrike 1990 A fantasy computer role-playing game; part of the Dragonlance Advanced Dungeons & Dragons "Gold Box" series
Eye of the Beholder 1990 An Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy computer role-playing game
Renegade Legion: Interceptor 1990 A direct translation of the original board game
Second Front: Germany Turns East 1990 A strategy video game of part of the European campaign of WWII[18]
Secret of the Silver Blades 1990 An Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy computer role-playing game, part of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting
Waterloo 1990 A strategy video game of Napoleon's Battle of Waterloo
Conflict: Middle East 1991 A turn-based government simulation game
Death Knights of Krynn 1991 A computer role-playing game; part of the Dragonlance Advanced Dungeons & Dragons "Gold Box" series
Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon 1991 A computer role-playing game based on Dungeons & Dragons, the second game in a series
Gateway to the Savage Frontier 1991 A computer role-playing game; a Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box series game
Medieval Lords 1991 A medieval version of SimCity
Neverwinter Nights 1991 The first graphical MMORPG
No Greater Glory: The American Civil War 1991 Strategy video game of the American Civil War
Pools of Darkness 1991 A computer role-playing game; the 4th in the four-part Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box series
Shadow Sorcerer 1991 An Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy computer role-playing game; sequel to Heroes of the Lance
Tony La Russa Baseball (1991-1993) 1991 A sports game of baseball
Western Front: The Liberation of Europe 1944-1945 1991 A grand strategy game of the Western and Italian fronts of WWII[23]
Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed 1992 A computer role-playing game set in the TSR Buck Rogers XXVC campaign setting
Carrier Strike: South Pacific 1992 A tactical naval warfare strategy game of the WWII Pacific theater[6]
Conflict: Korea the First Year 1950-1951 1992 A computer wargame focussing on the first year of the Korean War[9]
Cyber Empires 1992 A strategy game of world domination and robotic combat
The Dark Queen of Krynn 1992 A fantasy computer role-playing game; the third in a three-part series of a Dragonlance Advanced Dungeons & Dragons "Gold Box" series
Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor 1992 A computer role-playing game based on Dungeons & Dragons, the third and final game in a series
Flashback: The Quest for Identity 1992 A cinematic platformer of investigation
Gary Grigsby's Pacific War 1992 A naval warfare strategy game of the WWII Pacific theater
Great Naval Battles: North Atlantic 1939-1943 1992 A naval warfare strategy game of the North Atlantic Naval warfar of WWII
A Line in The Sand 1992 A translation of the original board game by TSR[13]
Prophecy of the Shadow 1992 A fantasy computer role-playing game
Spelljammer: Pirates of Realmspace 1992 A science-fiction/fantasy computer role-playing game using Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition, Spelljammer rules
The Summoning 1992 A fantasy computer role-playing game; the sequel to DarkSpyre
Treasures of the Savage Frontier 1992 A Gold Box Dungeons and Dragons computer role-playing game
Clash of Steel: World War II, Europe 1939-45 1993 A grand strategy computer game of Europe in WWII
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands 1993 A computer role-playing game; Dungeons and Dragons' campaign setting of Dark Sun
Dungeon Hack 1993 A computer role-playing game roguelike; Advanced Dungeons and Dragons world of Forgotten Realms
Fantasy Empires 1993 A fantasy computer role-playing game; set in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons world of Mystara.
Gary Grigsby's War in Russia 1993 A strategy video game covering the war on Europe's Eastern Front from 1941-45[11]
Great Naval Battles II 1993 A strategy game of naval warfare in the WWII Pacific theater
History Line: 1914-1918 1993 A turn-based tactics computer game of various battles of World War I
Stronghold 1993 First 3X real-time strategy game
Tony La Russa Baseball II 1993 A baseball sports game
Unlimited Adventures 1993 A computer role-playing game
Veil of Darkness 1993 A horror/action/adventure game
Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse 1994 An action role-playing game; Al-Qadim campaign setting of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
Archon Ultra 1994 A strategy-action game; an updated remake of Archon: The Light and the Dark
CyClones 1994 A science-fiction action game[10]
Dark Legions 1994 An action strategy video game; similar to Archon and Archon Ultra
Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager 1994 A computer role-playing game
Great Naval Battles III: Fury in the Pacific, 1941-1944 1994 A naval warfare strategy game
Menzoberranzan 1994 A fantasy computer role-playing game based on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
Panzer General 1994 A computer wargame set during WWII
Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession 1994 A fantasy computer role-playing game based on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons; set in the domain of Barovia
Skyrealms of Jorune: Alien Logic 1994 A science-fiction computer role-playing game
Wargame Construction Set II: Tanks! 1994 A "construction set" application that let the user build wargame scenarios and play them, this one featuring armored combat
Blood Bowl 1995 A turn-based strategy video game adaptation of Games Workshop original game
Clash of Steel: Future Edition 1995 A grand strategy computer game; fixed many bugs in Clash of Steel: World War II, Europe 1939-45
Entomorph: Plague of the Darkfall 1995 An action-based computer role-playing game; sequel to World of Aden: Thunderscape
Ravenloft 2: The Stone Prophet 1995 A fantasy computer role-playing game; a Dungeons & Dragons game, sequel to Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession
Renegade: The Battle for Jacob's Star 1995 A space dogfighting simulator
Steel Panthers 1995 A tactical-level turn-based computerized wargame
World of Aden: Thunderscape 1995 A swords & sorcery computer role-playing game
Allied General 1996 A World War II turn-based strategy video game
Fantasy General 1996 A turn-based fantasy computer wargame
Great Naval Battles 5 1996 A naval warfare strategy game
Necrodome 1996 An action vehicular combat game[14]
Silent Hunter 1996 A World War II submarine combat simulation
Star General 1996 A science-fiction strategy video wargame
Steel Panthers II: Modern Battles 1996 A tactical-level turn-based computerized wargame; second in the series
Su-27 Flanker 1996 A flight simulator with some air combat aspects
War Wind 1996 A real-time strategy video game
Wargame Construction Set III: Age of Rifles 1846-1905 1996 A "construction set" application that let the user build wargame scenarios and play them, this one featuring the eponymous years
Buccaneer 1997 A strategy/action game focussing on naval pirating[5]
Dark Colony 1997 A sci-fi real-time strategy game
Final Liberation: Warhammer Epic 40,000 1997 A turn-based tactics video game set in the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe
Imperialism 1997 A turn-based strategy game with the goal of building an empire
Pacific General 1997 A computer wargame depicting famous battles of the World War II Pacific campaigns
Panzer General for Windows 95 1997 A conversion of the computer wargame for Windows 95
Panzer General II 1997 A turn-based strategy computer wargame set during World War II
Steel Panthers III 1997 A tactical-level turn-based computerized wargame with World War II and modern warfare settings
War Wind II: Human Onslaught 1997 A real-time strategy computer game
Panzer Commander 1998 A tank driving and wargame set in WWII
People's General 1998 a.k.a. Dynasty General; a turn-based strategy wargame focussing on early 21st century warfare in Asia
Soldiers at War 1998 A turn-based tactics set during WWII
Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate 1998 A turn-based strategy wargame set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe
Close Combat IV: Battle of the Bulge 1999
Fighting Steel 1999
Flanker 2.0 1999
Imperialism II: The Age of Exploration 1999
Panzer General 3D Assault 1999
Warhammer 40,000: Rites of War 1999
Warlords Battlecry 1999
Panzer General III: Scorched Earth
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LocoMrPollock said:
The correct answer is SSI. Still waiting for GOG to gain access to their catalog.
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I still can't fathom how fast the (A)D&D license has lost its impact so quickly. I know other great devs have worked on it since then and there are games every now and then (including this week) but somewhere in my mind, it's still tied to SSI and their onslaught of D&D games.

Also, damn you all for pulling these lists to choose one dev over another. It's like being 7 all over again and being asked if you prefer your mom or your dad. With 10 parents.
 
Oh man, I'm getting chills and misty eyes reading this thread. I absolutely adored everything LG put out during the 90's. I still remember the day a friend of mine brought me the first System Shock on what must have been at least 10 3,5" floppy disks. He's been telling me how fucking amazing it was for days and we wanted to try it on my brand new 486 beast (8MB of RAM!). The graphics, the atmosphere, the gameplay, Shodan, the recordings, the virtual reality stuff ... It was so far ahead of its time it's not even funny. I basically *lived* in that game for at least two weeks and kept going back to it for years. The same thing happened for UW1 & 2, then there was Thief, Terra Nova ... Yeah, LG is probably my favourite PC dev of all time, although I'd be probably saying the same things if this was a thread about Origin. Best decade for PC gaming indeed.


Xemu said:
I was lucky enough to be part of LG from the tail end of the Ultima Underworld era up through System Shock 2 (well, technically I was with Irrational for that).

It was really an amazing place to work, the talent and creativity of the other folks there was astounding. I learned so much, and it's no exaggeration to say that experience changed my life.

It wasn't all roses, of course, but I'm really proud of the games I helped make there.

I still kick myself every time for not thinking of putting mouselook into System Shock or realizing how hard it was for people to learn the controls.
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That's ... great. I'd love to hear more LG related stories. :) Actually, does anybody know of any great retrospective articles / videos / books / whatever that cover Looking Glass studios, the games and the people that were involved?
 
Zabojnik said:
Oh man, I'm getting chills and misty eyes reading this thread. I absolutely adored everything LG put out during the 90's. I still remember the day a friend of mine brought me the first System Shock on what must have been at least 10 3,5" floppy disks. He's been telling me how fucking amazing it was for days and we wanted to try it on my brand new 486 beast (8MB of RAM!). The graphics, the atmosphere, the gameplay, Shodan, the recordings, the virtual reality stuff ... It was so far ahead of its time it's not even funny. I basically *lived* in that game for at least two weeks and kept going back to it for years. The same thing happened for UW1 & 2, then there was Thief, Terra Nova ... Yeah, LG is probably my favourite PC dev of all time, although I'd be probably saying the same things if this was a thread about Origin. Best decade for PC gaming indeed.




That's ... great. I'd love to hear more LG related stories. :) Actually, does anybody know of any great retrospective articles / videos / books / whatever that cover Looking Glass studios, the games and the people that were involved?
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Here's a cool interview with Austin Grossman about the making of System Shock
 
Wait if games made during the 90's count then throw Shiny Entertainment up there with 3D realms. Sacrifice was a decade ahead of it's time, such as amazing RTS.

It's not quantity that matters folks, it's quality. Shiny wins.
 
Looking Glass, hands down, is the best game developer of all time. When EA goes out of business, I'm going to assume it was karma for killing them.
 
Cheech said:
Looking Glass, hands down, is the best game developer of all time. When EA goes out of business, I'm going to assume it was karma for killing them.
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EA didn't kill LGS it was Eidos.

However EA does have Bullfrog, Origin and many other awesome developers blood on its hands.

EDIT: Well I should clarify that a bit, Eidos was the last publisher they worked with but it was their inability to get funding for a new project after Thief 2 that ultimately killed them. So I guess the industry as a whole killed LGS.
 
Sinatar said:
EA didn't kill LGS it was Eidos.

However EA does have Bullfrog, Origin and many other awesome developers blood on its hands.

EDIT: Well I should clarify that a bit, Eidos was the last publisher they worked with but it was their inability to get funding for a new project after Thief 2 that ultimately killed them. So I guess the industry as a whole killed LGS.
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Where have most former LGS members gone anyway? Irrational?
 
MrOogieBoogie said:
Where have most former LGS members gone anyway? Irrational?
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All over the place. Like the head of Harmonix (Greg LoPiccolo) was a designer at LGS for instance. Doug Church is working for EA I believe.

EDIT: Oh right Church joined up with Valve earlier this year. Doug Church + Valve is going to bring us some incredible shit.
 
Yeah, can't wait to see what Doug and Valve come up with. Hopefully he's given a lot of creative freedom.
 
Van Buren said:
Hard to say for certain since I can think of other notable developers like Black Isle, Origin Systems, Bullfrog, Westwood, Blizzard, Sir-Tech, New World Computing, id Software, Microprose, LucasArts, SSI, etc.
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Came in to say Bullfrog. They were incredible in the 90s.
 
They didn't have the quantity, but Shiny and Monolith put out some good games. I think most were in the 90's.

It's a shame nobody played Sanity: Aiken's Artifact. Great overlooked game.
 
I owe my teenage years to ID, I barely saw sunlight when I got hooked on Quake.

But others have already mentioned Sierra Online, Origins, etc,etc so I'll just be the oddball and say Trilobyte, because they made this:

T7G-Box-Cover.jpg


It was really the only thing they were known for in the early 90s and that was just fine with me.
 
Zizbuka said:
They didn't have the quantity, but Shiny and Monolith put out some good games. I think most were in the 90's.

It's a shame nobody played Sanity: Aiken's Artifact. Great overlooked game.
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I think I played that. It was a isometric action game with collectible card game combat mechanics right? If that's what it was, then yea it was pretty rad.
 
OchreHand said:
I owe my teenage years to ID, I barely saw sunlight when I got hooked on Quake.

But others have already mentioned Sierra Online, Origins, etc,etc so I'll just be the oddball and say Trilobyte, because they made this:

T7G-Box-Cover.jpg


It was really the only thing they were known for in the early 90s and that was just fine with me.
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Oh dear this hit the ol' nostalgia.
 
Zeliard said:
It was innovation after innovation after innovation. Much of it has become hugely influential as well, but not nearly enough, in my estimation. I still remember in 2000 when Deus Ex came out and System Shock 2 not too long before it, people were excited at the possibilities of gaming in the future, but very few games ended up following a similar path.
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And I could scarcely be more disappointed with how the video game industry has progressed since that period.

System Shock 2 --> Bioshock
Deus Ex --> Deus Ex Invisible War
Baldur's Gate II --> KotOR
Morrowind --> Oblivion
Freespace 2 --> genre death

So many important dev studios dead or going after the lowest common denominator.
 
This thread makes me depressed. Looking Glass was amazing. I remember showing my dad, a pilot, Flight Unlimited. It HATES video games but he was blown away.

Thief... I HATE stealth games but Thief was amazing and way ahead of its time.

The reason for depression = Look at all the lists of Sierra, Interplay, Looking Glass and Origin games. Then look at some of the more popular (and not so popular) games of the last little while:

COD every year (Soon to be more)
Dungeon Siege III
Madden every year
Gears of War
Fable III
Duke Nukem Forever

Depressing list to keep going on. Thank goodness there is Witcher 2...
 
-SD- said:
The fall of Looking Glass was the greatest loss for PC gaming.
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This.
Digitalforce said:
This thread makes me depressed.
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And this ):

Damn System Shock is so good. Thief is just plain amazing too.

I have no hope for Thief 4 living up to it's predecessors considering the complete lack of LG alumni on it ):

Thief was so ahead of the game in terms of AI. Hell all of LG's games were, and still are, years ahead of the industry.

They were trying to create accurate simulations of worlds back in the 90's... and now we have tech far in excess of anything anyone had back then and all the industry can be bothered trying to simulate is ragdoll physics.

Damn.
 
EviLore said:
And I could scarcely be more disappointed with how the video game industry has progressed since that period.
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Fortunately Deus Ex HR is shaping up nicely. After so many losses at least one is coming back from the grave.
 
There are still some amazing developers (Blizzard, Valve, Irrational, etc) but their game releases are way too far and in between.

No Diablo III release date. No Half Life 3 announcement. Bioshock Infinite is still a ways off. (But hey, we got WoW and 3 expansions...)

Deus Ex, I am cautiously optimistic. I am tired of getting my hopes up about games and having them shattered in a consolized mess of mediocrity (DNF, Dungeon Siege III, Brink, Crysis 2)
 
Not really the best... but one of my top 5's including:

Microprose - from Sword of the Samurai and sims
Origin - Ultima VI and WC
Sierra - Space Quest/Police Quest... never got into Kings Quest
Infocom/Westwood - Discovered Battletech with Crescent Hawks Inception

@LocoMrPollock
Wow, I remember playing those SSI games. They just milked it with the DnD license. I remember reading the old CGW and Scorpia's column as a kid.
 
MrOogieBoogie said:
Just take a look at this catalog:

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, 1992
Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds, 1993
System Shock, 1994
Flight Unlimited, 1995
Thief: The Dark Project, 1998
System Shock 2, 1999
Thief II: The Metal Age, 2000
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Any effective ways to play/purchase these games today (I'm not opposed to going the ebay route)? I remember trying to play System Shock 2 on my old WinXP box, and it crashed every time I took more than a single step in the first level. :( Mostly interested in playing those games and the Ultima Underworld games.
 
MrOogieBoogie said:
Yeah, can't wait to see what Doug and Valve come up with. Hopefully he's given a lot of creative freedom.
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Possibly, but it wont be no LGS. Valve is too focus test happy for that.
 
djtiesto said:
Any effective ways to play/purchase these games today (I'm not opposed to going the ebay route)? I remember trying to play System Shock 2 on my old WinXP box, and it crashed every time I took more than a single step in the first level. :( Mostly interested in playing those games and the Ultima Underworld games.
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UU is on GOG. Thief 1 is on Gamersgate or D2D, i forget which.
 
EviLore said:
And I could scarcely be more disappointed with how the video game industry has progressed since that period.

System Shock 2 --> Bioshock
Deus Ex --> Deus Ex Invisible War
Baldur's Gate II --> KotOR
Morrowind --> Oblivion
Freespace 2 --> genre death

So many important dev studios dead or going after the lowest common denominator.
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I personally feel that the original Xbox carries 100% of the blame for this.
 
djtiesto said:
Any effective ways to play/purchase these games today (I'm not opposed to going the ebay route)? I remember trying to play System Shock 2 on my old WinXP box, and it crashed every time I took more than a single step in the first level. :( Mostly interested in playing those games and the Ultima Underworld games.
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The DOS games work fine with DOSBox, Thief/Thief 2/System Shock 2 all use the Dark Engine and some people have been kind enough to create mods to get Dark Engine stuff running on modern machines at higher resolutions and in widescreen. It takes a little work though. Not sure about Flight Unlimited (never played it).
EviLore said:
System Shock 2 --> Bioshock
Deus Ex --> Deus Ex Invisible War
Baldur's Gate II --> KotOR
Morrowind --> Oblivion
Freespace 2 --> genre death
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It's so true. Most of the major studios are creatively bankrupt these days.

On the other hand, we finally have a market for ambitious small to mid-range developers.
 
djtiesto said:
Any effective ways to play/purchase these games today (I'm not opposed to going the ebay route)? I remember trying to play System Shock 2 on my old WinXP box, and it crashed every time I took more than a single step in the first level. :( Mostly interested in playing those games and the Ultima Underworld games.
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I know you can get Thief 2 used from Amazon for 5 bucks or so. You will feel that you ripped the seller off after you play it.
 
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