- Cavedog Entertainment
Cavedog Entertainment, or Cavedog, was a
video game developer based inBothell, Washington . Cavedog released thereal-time strategy games "Total Annihilation " and "".Cavedog Entertainment was a label created in 1996 by
Humongous Entertainment , a developer of children's computer games founded byRon Gilbert andShelley Day , to pursue the creation ofmainstream games. Humongous Entertainment was originally independent, but was purchased in 1996 byGT Interactive , a video game publisher later acquired byInfogrames in 1999 (later renamed to Atari).Cavedog gained the attention of gamers and the gaming press alike with the
1997 release of "Total Annihilation" ("TA"), winning many accolades such as multiple "Game of the Year" honors. The game's creator, Chris Taylor, left the company shortly before the release of the 'expansion pack to found his own development house,Gas Powered Games . Despite this loss, Cavedog released one more expansion pack, ', as well as many freely downloadable enhancements and patches, and built strong community support with their own online service Boneyards (now shut down) that matched opponents and provided a continuing game campaign.In 1999, Cavedog released the eagerly anticipated "Total Annihilation: Kingdoms". "TA:Kingdoms" largely reused the "TA"
game engine , replacing thescience fiction theme with one offantasy . "TA:Kingdoms" did not resonate as well with critics or fans of the original title. One expansion pack was released, "The Iron Plague".The closure of Cavedog came as the game industry began to experience a downturn in sales, to which parent company GT Interactive, was no exception. Besides the "TA" franchise, Cavedog had three ambitious games in development, but only "Total Annihilation" and "TA:Kingdoms" made it to store shelves and their sales were much smaller than their user base.
The unfinished projects were "", a promising
first-person shooter ; "Elysium", a fantasy adventure title featuring a unique episodic distribution model; and "Good & Evil", an adventure title from Ron Gilbert. With GT Interactive spiraling intodebt and no ship dates in sight, all three were discontinued by the Fall of1999 . GT Interactive was purchased by Infogrames and the Cavedog label was discarded by Humongous Entertainment in 2000, which renewed its focus on children's games. Humongous Entertainment was shut down in 2005 by Infogrames (now called Atari). Atari owns the rights to all Cavedog material.Cavedog's developers have played significant roles at Gas Powered Games and
Beep Industries .External links
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