Darkest greetings Underlord,

The work on War for the Overworld marches on, and we’re really starting to make headway on the huge changes that will be due as part of our final major updates. But in the meantime, we have a small content update to unleash, and some improvements to our expansion and DLC offerings on the Steam Store.

We’ve also been working on our next project, which is really exciting for us, and marks the next step in our company’s journey! This has allowed us to reflect on where we’re going with WFTO’s final expansion, so we’ll also be talking a bit about that as well.


Patch 1.6.3 is now bounding its way to you through the bowels of the Underworld. Within you’ll find a bunch of new maps for Skirmish and Multiplayer, kindly donated by our volunteer QA team, to help fill out the default map roster. There are also additional multiplayer stability improvements, as well as a number of bug fixes.

You can read about the maps and the full patch notes here.


We’ve made some changes to how the content on our Steam Store page is laid out and presented, offering easier ways to get multiple pieces of content. This won’t affect most of our existing customers, but we thought it prudent to inform you just in case!


We’ve packaged the game’s content expansions into a single discount bundle, offering a small bargain if you’re yet to pick up Heart of Gold and My Pet Dungeon. Frankly, there’s never been a better time to complete your WFTO experience!

Naturally, when we release the final expansion, we’ll be adding that as well.

All the content, easier to manage!

To make it easier to distinguish purely cosmetic content from gameplay expansions, we’ve decided to group the cosmetics into a bundle as well. This means that both the Underlord Edition content and Worker skins can now be found in a single purchase and at a small discount.


We’ve decided to group the seasonal Worker skins together into a single DLC, aptly titled “Seasonal Worker Skins”. This is to help simplify the DLC list by compressing them down into a single item.

The gang, together at last!

If you already own all the Worker skins there’s no need to worry, as you certainly won’t have to repurchase - your current purchases will continue to work. If you don’t yet own them all but have picked up any Worker skin and want to complete your collection, then you’ll find this package 50% off for the next six weeks. For those of you yet to take the plunge, you’ll find the skins slightly cheaper than they were before.


We always endeavour to make sure that all our fans remain informed of where WFTO’s development is headed, and today we’re going to do just that. From our previous posts on the subject, the situation is largely unchanged; so for anyone who has read those, you can feel safe knowing that there’s still something in the works!

A thing in the works!

Over the past year, we’ve made no secret of the fact that WFTO’s development cycle is coming to an end, and that we have one more big content drop in the works, which we refer to collectively as Patch 2.0 and Expansion 4. The release date of this content is as yet unconfirmed, but it’s still our aim to have it out between Q4 2017 and Q2 2018.

Why such a large window? We’ve learned from the past that we don’t want to promise a release date too quickly, but we at least want to give you an idea of what we’re aiming towards.

In addition, as we look towards the future, we’ve had to dial down WFTO’s development temporarily, while we focus on prototyping our next title. This has given us an opportunity to refine our processes as a developer, and we’re looking forward to bringing the fruits of this experience to WFTO, when we come to place the final touches upon our much loved firstborn.

For us, this is a thrilling experience of being able to look forward not in terms of weeks and months, but years, something that we’ve never had the opportunity to do before now. As always we have to thank our fans for their patience and support over the years, and reaffirm our promise to ensure that WFTO’s final major update will be the most definitive yet. To that end, here is some idea of what you can expect:

• New single-player campaign with a focus on Underlords and replayability
  
• New Underlord AI
  
• New Aspects in the Veins of Evil
  
• New Dungeon Themes
  
• And much more

And there we have it. So until next time, Underlord: Keep it evil.

Cheers,

– Brightrock Games Team

Discuss this update on the Steam Discussion Boards

Click here to chat about this update on our Discord
Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

The work on War for the Overworld marches on, and we’re really starting to make headway on the huge changes that will be due as part of our final major updates. But in the meantime, we have a small content update to unleash, and some improvements to our expansion and DLC offerings on the Steam Store.

We’ve also been working on our next project, which is really exciting for us, and marks the next step in our company’s journey! This has allowed us to reflect on where we’re going with WFTO’s final expansion, so we’ll also be talking a bit about that as well.


Patch 1.6.3 is now bounding its way to you through the bowels of the Underworld. Within you’ll find a bunch of new maps for Skirmish and Multiplayer, kindly donated by our volunteer QA team, to help fill out the default map roster. There are also additional multiplayer stability improvements, as well as a number of bug fixes.

You can read about the maps and the full patch notes here.


We’ve made some changes to how the content on our Steam Store page is laid out and presented, offering easier ways to get multiple pieces of content. This won’t affect most of our existing customers, but we thought it prudent to inform you just in case!


We’ve packaged the game’s content expansions into a single discount bundle, offering a small bargain if you’re yet to pick up Heart of Gold and My Pet Dungeon. Frankly, there’s never been a better time to complete your WFTO experience!

Naturally, when we release the final expansion, we’ll be adding that as well.

All the content, easier to manage!

To make it easier to distinguish purely cosmetic content from gameplay expansions, we’ve decided to group the cosmetics into a bundle as well. This means that both the Underlord Edition content and Worker skins can now be found in a single purchase and at a small discount.


We’ve decided to group the seasonal Worker skins together into a single DLC, aptly titled “Seasonal Worker Skins”. This is to help simplify the DLC list by compressing them down into a single item.

The gang, together at last!

If you already own all the Worker skins there’s no need to worry, as you certainly won’t have to repurchase - your current purchases will continue to work. If you don’t yet own them all but have picked up any Worker skin and want to complete your collection, then you’ll find this package 50% off for the next six weeks. For those of you yet to take the plunge, you’ll find the skins slightly cheaper than they were before.


We always endeavour to make sure that all our fans remain informed of where WFTO’s development is headed, and today we’re going to do just that. From our previous posts on the subject, the situation is largely unchanged; so for anyone who has read those, you can feel safe knowing that there’s still something in the works!

A thing in the works!

Over the past year, we’ve made no secret of the fact that WFTO’s development cycle is coming to an end, and that we have one more big content drop in the works, which we refer to collectively as Patch 2.0 and Expansion 4. The release date of this content is as yet unconfirmed, but it’s still our aim to have it out between Q4 2017 and Q2 2018.

Why such a large window? We’ve learned from the past that we don’t want to promise a release date too quickly, but we at least want to give you an idea of what we’re aiming towards.

In addition, as we look towards the future, we’ve had to dial down WFTO’s development temporarily, while we focus on prototyping our next title. This has given us an opportunity to refine our processes as a developer, and we’re looking forward to bringing the fruits of this experience to WFTO, when we come to place the final touches upon our much loved firstborn.

For us, this is a thrilling experience of being able to look forward not in terms of weeks and months, but years, something that we’ve never had the opportunity to do before now. As always we have to thank our fans for their patience and support over the years, and reaffirm our promise to ensure that WFTO’s final major update will be the most definitive yet. To that end, here is some idea of what you can expect:

• New single-player campaign with a focus on Underlords and replayability
  
• New Underlord AI
  
• New Aspects in the Veins of Evil
  
• New Dungeon Themes
  
• And much more

And there we have it. So until next time, Underlord: Keep it evil.

Cheers,

– Brightrock Games Team

Discuss this update on the Steam Discussion Boards

Click here to chat about this update on our Discord
Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

We’ve just unleashed another patch for War for the Overworld upon the unsuspecting citizens of Kairos. Within you’ll find a bundle of new maps for Skirmish and Multiplayer, constructed by our incredible volunteer QA team, as well as a number of stability improvements for Multiplayer and a few bug fixes.

We’ve also prepping a short statement on our future plans, and an explanation of some changes to our Steam Store, which we'll be uploading if not tonight then tomorrow!



Loose Ground - 1v1 - by Biervampir



Keeping your footing here is the least of your worries - what with artefacts just waiting to be seized.


Eutharia’s Realm - 1v1 - by Fireeye



Underlord Eutharia dwelt here in eons gone by. Would you and your opponent care to poke through her carcass?


Sub-Zero - 1v1 - by nutter666



Within the freezing depths of this tundra, you'll find all you need to dig in and build a well-fortified dungeon. But your rival is not the only thing that stirs beneath the ice.


Blood Hazard - 1v1v1 - by Biervampir



A particularly potent Underlord met their end here. Will it be you, or your enemies, that donate to the pool of blood?


Borehole - 3P FFA - by Biervampir



A newly-discovered realm which is unfortunately short on gold. It stands poised for an epic showdown of Underlord frugality.


Populace - FFA or 2v2 - by Green.Sliche



Peopled by you and your fellow Underlords, this realm is a pressure cooker of gold and ambition. But only one can rule. Prepare for a battle of biblical proportions.


Stardust - FFA or 2v2 - by Green.Sliche



Deep in the Aether, where gold twinkles like stars and chasms gape like black holes, four Underlords try to avoid oblivion.


Rituals

• Assembly ritual now completes all defences in one cast, with the exception of the Sentinel and Stone Knight, which only take 5 Defence Parts per cast

• Improvements to targeting checks mean that units should now respond to attacks more reliable

• Drastically improved main menu performance
  
• Improved the FPS in pre-rendered cutscenes

• General improvements to multiplayer stability

• Removed gap in Hero and Hero Crypt Chasm border

• Cian Noonan, our QA Analyst, is finally credited in the game’s credits! Yay for him
  
• War for the Overworld Level 5 speedrun achievement is now set to 23 minutes

• The Possession camera should no longer become locked and broken if a Spirit Worker expires while being possessed
  
• Doors will now correctly display their locked state in Multiplayer

• Playing the game with the official Russian translation will no longer crash the Crucible

• The Eternal now correctly absorbs 90% of damage done to the owner's Dungeon Core
  
• The Eternal now correctly resists 50% damage, down from an unintended 75%

• Fixed a few broken elements from when we made under-the-hood changes to Multiplayer - fixes Blood Money, and potentially the torture workflow
  
• Clients in Multiplayer should once again be able to toggle defence states

• War for the Overworld Level 5’s Shifting Bond ritual now goes slower over time, rather than being suspended for a fixed period and then going at a fast pace (attempt #5894 to fix this rare issue)
  
• Fixed incorrect rotation on the Siege Doors in War for the Overworld Level 13
  
• Increased the height of the Emperor's throne in War for the Overworld Level 13; now he can sit up straight and see the throne room once more
  
• Fixed an issue where the Emperor's throne would disappear after loading a save of War for the Overworld Level 13
  
• Fixed a critical issue where the Drawbridge on War for the Overworld Level 13 would become impassable following a save and load in which it was lowered

• Prevented duplicate VFX on Research Shrine
  
• Prevented the Empire Arcane Core from having a brown Underlordy base
  
• Fixed a material on the Bafu projectile that became corrupt in a build
  
• Fixed a broken defuse on the Behemoth, which would cause him to pop out of existence instead of fading upon death
  
• Fixed a missing material in the Chasm on War for the Overworld Level 3
  
• Evil Arcane theme Possession Door is now correctly team coloured

• Improved sound disable on prop death to be more robust

• The Disable Payday mutator will now correctly disable Payday when checked

• Additional minor performance improvements which can yield up to 15% increased FPS in extremely late games, and minor improvements throughout earlier stages

• Fixed "corpses" typo on Crypt info panel
  
• Corrected an issue that could cause offline saves on GOG versions to become unloadable
  
• Fixed My Pet Dungeon level name ordering for IT, ES, PL, and RU languages
  
• Improvements to the GOG Leaderboards for Crucible; should now display more consistently
  
• Small typo correction in the overwrite message for save games
  
• Fixed an issue where Skirmish achievements would not be awarded if the name of the opponent AI was translated
  
• Fixed missing non-English versions of a narrator line on War for the Overworld Level 6
  
• Fixed an issue that would prevent the Steven Fright achievement from being awarded
  
• The achievement for defeating Kasita on Master difficulty has been correctly renamed in-game to "Yanis Varoufakis", to match the achievement list
  
• Fixed a typo in the Wither ability description for the Cultist
  
• Removed a broken miscellaneous line from Mendechaus
  
• Fixed a typo in certain abilities on the Firebreather and Behemoth

Cheers,

– Brightrock Games Team

Discuss this update on the Steam Discussion Boards

Click here to chat about this update on our Discord
Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

We’ve just unleashed another patch for War for the Overworld upon the unsuspecting citizens of Kairos. Within you’ll find a bundle of new maps for Skirmish and Multiplayer, constructed by our incredible volunteer QA team, as well as a number of stability improvements for Multiplayer and a few bug fixes.

We’ve also prepping a short statement on our future plans, and an explanation of some changes to our Steam Store, which we'll be uploading if not tonight then tomorrow!



Loose Ground - 1v1 - by Biervampir



Keeping your footing here is the least of your worries - what with artefacts just waiting to be seized.


Eutharia’s Realm - 1v1 - by Fireeye



Underlord Eutharia dwelt here in eons gone by. Would you and your opponent care to poke through her carcass?


Sub-Zero - 1v1 - by nutter666



Within the freezing depths of this tundra, you'll find all you need to dig in and build a well-fortified dungeon. But your rival is not the only thing that stirs beneath the ice.


Blood Hazard - 1v1v1 - by Biervampir



A particularly potent Underlord met their end here. Will it be you, or your enemies, that donate to the pool of blood?


Borehole - 3P FFA - by Biervampir



A newly-discovered realm which is unfortunately short on gold. It stands poised for an epic showdown of Underlord frugality.


Populace - FFA or 2v2 - by Green.Sliche



Peopled by you and your fellow Underlords, this realm is a pressure cooker of gold and ambition. But only one can rule. Prepare for a battle of biblical proportions.


Stardust - FFA or 2v2 - by Green.Sliche



Deep in the Aether, where gold twinkles like stars and chasms gape like black holes, four Underlords try to avoid oblivion.


Rituals

• Assembly ritual now completes all defences in one cast, with the exception of the Sentinel and Stone Knight, which only take 5 Defence Parts per cast

• Improvements to targeting checks mean that units should now respond to attacks more reliable

• Drastically improved main menu performance
  
• Improved the FPS in pre-rendered cutscenes

• General improvements to multiplayer stability

• Removed gap in Hero and Hero Crypt Chasm border

• Cian Noonan, our QA Analyst, is finally credited in the game’s credits! Yay for him
  
• War for the Overworld Level 5 speedrun achievement is now set to 23 minutes

• The Possession camera should no longer become locked and broken if a Spirit Worker expires while being possessed
  
• Doors will now correctly display their locked state in Multiplayer

• Playing the game with the official Russian translation will no longer crash the Crucible

• The Eternal now correctly absorbs 90% of damage done to the owner's Dungeon Core
  
• The Eternal now correctly resists 50% damage, down from an unintended 75%

• Fixed a few broken elements from when we made under-the-hood changes to Multiplayer - fixes Blood Money, and potentially the torture workflow
  
• Clients in Multiplayer should once again be able to toggle defence states

• War for the Overworld Level 5’s Shifting Bond ritual now goes slower over time, rather than being suspended for a fixed period and then going at a fast pace (attempt #5894 to fix this rare issue)
  
• Fixed incorrect rotation on the Siege Doors in War for the Overworld Level 13
  
• Increased the height of the Emperor's throne in War for the Overworld Level 13; now he can sit up straight and see the throne room once more
  
• Fixed an issue where the Emperor's throne would disappear after loading a save of War for the Overworld Level 13
  
• Fixed a critical issue where the Drawbridge on War for the Overworld Level 13 would become impassable following a save and load in which it was lowered

• Prevented duplicate VFX on Research Shrine
  
• Prevented the Empire Arcane Core from having a brown Underlordy base
  
• Fixed a material on the Bafu projectile that became corrupt in a build
  
• Fixed a broken defuse on the Behemoth, which would cause him to pop out of existence instead of fading upon death
  
• Fixed a missing material in the Chasm on War for the Overworld Level 3
  
• Evil Arcane theme Possession Door is now correctly team coloured

• Improved sound disable on prop death to be more robust

• The Disable Payday mutator will now correctly disable Payday when checked

• Additional minor performance improvements which can yield up to 15% increased FPS in extremely late games, and minor improvements throughout earlier stages

• Fixed "corpses" typo on Crypt info panel
  
• Corrected an issue that could cause offline saves on GOG versions to become unloadable
  
• Fixed My Pet Dungeon level name ordering for IT, ES, PL, and RU languages
  
• Improvements to the GOG Leaderboards for Crucible; should now display more consistently
  
• Small typo correction in the overwrite message for save games
  
• Fixed an issue where Skirmish achievements would not be awarded if the name of the opponent AI was translated
  
• Fixed missing non-English versions of a narrator line on War for the Overworld Level 6
  
• Fixed an issue that would prevent the Steven Fright achievement from being awarded
  
• The achievement for defeating Kasita on Master difficulty has been correctly renamed in-game to "Yanis Varoufakis", to match the achievement list
  
• Fixed a typo in the Wither ability description for the Cultist
  
• Removed a broken miscellaneous line from Mendechaus
  
• Fixed a typo in certain abilities on the Firebreather and Behemoth

Cheers,

– Brightrock Games Team

Discuss this update on the Steam Discussion Boards

Click here to chat about this update on our Discord
Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

Today is an auspicious occasion for the denizens of the Underworld! For you see, twenty years ago today, a little game known as Dungeon Keeper was unleashed upon the world by Bullfrog Productions and Electronic Arts.

Evil certainly was very, very good - Dungeon Keeper - Electronic Arts - Bullfrog Productions

The brainchild of Peter Molyneux and the team at Bullfrog, Dungeon Keeper would be the progenitor of a whole new unholy sub-genre, now known as Dungeon Management, which melded together aspects of RTS, God Games and RPGs, to create a truly unique experience. Placed into the mind of an abhorrently cruel godlike being, you were charged with the creation and management of a deathly dungeon and its despicable denizens.

The pioneering gameplay of slapping Imps - Dungeon Keeper - Electronic Arts - Bullfrog Productions

This unique concoction of gaming flavours would go on to touch countless lives, and become a cult classic with a dedicated following all across the globe. It is now one of the most recognisable achievements of Bullfrog, which considering their success, is truly saying something.
A sequel, the aptly titled Dungeon Keeper 2, was released two years later in 1999. It continued the ignoble legacy, even promising a third title, before the series’ life was brutally cut short by a shifting industry direction, and the loss of core members of the Bullfrog team.

’Twas still good to be bad - Dungeon Keeper 2 - Electronic Arts - Bullfrog Productions

Fans bayed for the promised third coming but it was never to be. Dungeon Keeper 3 would never be realised, and the original trailer and premise of the “War for the Overworld” would continue to taunt fans for well over a decade.

The deathly silence that followed was punctuated only by a few games inspired by the long absent king, many of which failed to meet the great expectations left behind in the void of Dungeon Keeper’s passing.

The years slipped away into the abyss, like so many Lords of the Land, but the Dungeon Management community grew in both size and age. With no sign of a new Dungeon Keeper on the horizon, it began to scheme and plan projects that could take up the reins of evil. If the industry would not fill the gap in our lives (with anything of value at least…) then we would do so ourselves.

This evil was less good - Dungeon Keeper Mobile - Electronic Arts

Dozens of projects coalesced and dissolved. One such project, first envisioned on the Keeper Klan forums in 2007, reformed in 2011, and successfully Kickstarted in January 2013, is now better known by a name that meant so much to every Dungeon Keeper fan: War for the Overworld!

We’ve never made any secret of how much Dungeon Keeper has inspired War for the Overworld. We wanted to create a game that held as true as possible to the DNA of Dungeon Keeper – a game that could truly be considered a spiritual successor, taking what we felt was best about the gameplay and finding places to evolve it into a modern Dungeon Management game in its own right.

We hope you’re having fun being evil again

This is a story we’ve told time and time and time again. But a story we haven’t told is how Dungeon Keeper has inspired us on a personal level, as developers, as people, and how it has shaped our lives in ways that we’re sure no one at Bullfrog could ever have imagined. So allow us to now share a few tales from our team:

My first experience of Dungeon Keeper was shortly after its release in 1997 when I was just a wee lad of 6 years. I remember my older brother bringing this game home and watching him play it on our old Windows 95 desktop that was primarily used for my father’s work – but also for such gaming classics as Doom, Theme Park and Command and Conquer.

As I watched my brother play I just knew I had to have a go! This game looked like nothing I’d ever seen – the incredible isometric view, dynamic lighting, unique creatures, and ability to dig, shape and build rooms captured my imagination immediately. I waited… and waited while my brother played. Days later I finally got my chance!

I sat down in the big seat, eager as you might imagine a 6-year-old would be, and played my first level. So eager was I to build that I forgot to give my Imps time to fortify the walls. My dungeon was destroyed by the invading heroes before it even began! Rather pathetically I had lost the first level.

Most decidedly not the screen I received on the first level - Dungeon Keeper - Electronic Arts - Bullfrog Productions

From then on I played the game on and off through the years. As I grew I became more and more competent. I finally beat the game and begged my parents to buy the sequel in 1999 (they eventually gave in). Since then I’ve played both games many, many times, most famously when I wrestled with the AI assistant on stream. I often look back on them as two of my favourite games ever made.

I remember for many years wishing for a third game, following various projects online (I’m sure you can imagine which!). For years I talked with friends about wanting to learn how to make games myself so I could work on something like that, but being pragmatic as I am, I decided to pursue a life in computer networking.

I jumped with joy when War for the Overworld’s Kickstarter happened, and backed £200 immediately. From there I became extremely active in the community, and the rest is history.

Dungeon Keeper played a huge role in my life, and without it I would not be where I am today – helping to shape a fantastic Dungeon Management game and a dedicated community around it!

Thanks for all the fun times and memories Bullfrog! You will always be missed!


From an early age I knew that I wanted to be a game developer, after all my father had been one for my entire life so it seemed like a natural fit. Back in those early days I never would have imagined I’d have been directly responsible for one of the most popular modern Dungeon Management games.

I don’t entirely remember how old I was when I first played a Dungeon Keeper game. I know that I was certainly quite young, perhaps 7 or so when I dove headfirst into Dungeon Keeper 2. I was always a big fan of strategy games such as Command and Conquer and Populous: The Beginning, and something about DK2 really called to me. Though I wouldn’t encounter the original until much later, I can truly appreciate how much is owed to it.

Keeper Klan is still a hot location for Dungeon Management fans!

I remember spending hours just working my way through the campaign and the disappointment that came in knowing that there would never be a third game. Over the years I watched games attempt to capture the magic, but nothing ever felt quite right. By 2007, at the tender age of 15, I knew that if I wanted to play a game that truly captured the feeling of total control, I’d have to make it myself. A decade and a whole lot of stress, sweat and graft later here I am, with something I’m proud to put my name to.


Dungeon Keeper was a game I played far before I ever considered becoming a game developer. It was a game I found myself reinstalling often to get that unique management game fix that only the DK series seems to have ever given.

My gamedev story in brief is one of self-learning and a lot of failed experiments. A lot. I have the DK series to thank for the high benchmark I pressured myself to achieve, and it was a constant inspiration and driving force as my attempts to make games became progressively more complex.


Although I never played DK1 as a kid, its sequel completely grabbed my attention. Atmospherically, Dungeon Keeper 2 was captivating. The gritty colours, the eerie sounds, the twisted style of the landscape, made the dungeon management experience so inviting and addictive.

Being introduced to the game by my friends, I was immersed into a dark world so unlike many other games. It felt as if few games were willing to explore the point of view of the bad guy, which made the whole experience even more exciting. For me, creating an army of my favourite creatures and traps meant playing so many hours of skirmish matches.

I feel games like Dungeon Keeper are so inspirational for their integrity of their vision and feeling.


Hello. Many years ago now I remember having an absolute blast when playing Dungeon Keeper 2 online with my friends. We’d almost every weekend get together and devise strategies to see who could crush the others first.

From my experiences playing I was inspired to teach myself programming so that I could develop video games, and started working on a prototype in the UDK engine with similar principles to Dungeon Keeper. I’m sure you can find footage of that if you look around. It was a huge challenge – Dungeon Keeper is an extremely unique game and honestly something of a technical marvel for its time.

What WFTO looked like circa 2007-2008

Shortly thereafter I discovered the WFTO project on Keeper Klan and I signed up to join the team. The rest is as they say is history!


I think I’m one of the few members of the team who didn’t play Dungeon Keeper as a child – you know, how sometimes a classic will pass you by for some random reason. Thing is, I loved Theme Park. Maybe my innocent childhood self just wasn’t ready to be the bad guy! But I think discovering it as an adult, without the aid of nostalgia, just shows how much of a timeless experience Dungeon Keeper is. In particular for me, the strength of the setting is striking: the innovative mix of weird and otherworldly creatures, some of whom just don’t get along; the happy and hapless world full of places called “Flowerhat” and “Lushmeadow-on-Down”. The black comedy is always there, and I can only marvel at the succinct wit of the script, and deadpan delivery of Richard Ridings. Who can forget the intro to the first level: “The people of Eversmile are plagued only by aching facial muscles, and not anthrax as we had hoped.”


These days there are dozens of Dungeon Management games, either released or in production, all inspired by a single progenitor to some degree. Dungeon Keeper is to us what games like Wolfenstein or Doom are to the FPS genre – a true genre-defining classic that has inspired countless people to carry the torch and get into game making themselves.

We’re proud to have been one of the most influential of the Dungeon Management games in recent times, and to have been the first to achieve a successful Kickstarter, Early Access, launch, and post-release support cycle that is still going to this day!

It is our honour to truly have been a project by fans of Dungeon Keeper, for fans of Dungeon Keeper.

Dungeon Keeper 1 and Dungeon Keeper 2 are available to purchase from GOG.com!

Cheers,

– Brightrock Games Team

Discover Dungeon Keeper on GOG.com!

Click here to chat about this update on our Discord
Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

Today is an auspicious occasion for the denizens of the Underworld! For you see, twenty years ago today, a little game known as Dungeon Keeper was unleashed upon the world by Bullfrog Productions and Electronic Arts.

Evil certainly was very, very good - Dungeon Keeper - Electronic Arts - Bullfrog Productions

The brainchild of Peter Molyneux and the team at Bullfrog, Dungeon Keeper would be the progenitor of a whole new unholy sub-genre, now known as Dungeon Management, which melded together aspects of RTS, God Games and RPGs, to create a truly unique experience. Placed into the mind of an abhorrently cruel godlike being, you were charged with the creation and management of a deathly dungeon and its despicable denizens.

The pioneering gameplay of slapping Imps - Dungeon Keeper - Electronic Arts - Bullfrog Productions

This unique concoction of gaming flavours would go on to touch countless lives, and become a cult classic with a dedicated following all across the globe. It is now one of the most recognisable achievements of Bullfrog, which considering their success, is truly saying something.
A sequel, the aptly titled Dungeon Keeper 2, was released two years later in 1999. It continued the ignoble legacy, even promising a third title, before the series’ life was brutally cut short by a shifting industry direction, and the loss of core members of the Bullfrog team.

’Twas still good to be bad - Dungeon Keeper 2 - Electronic Arts - Bullfrog Productions

Fans bayed for the promised third coming but it was never to be. Dungeon Keeper 3 would never be realised, and the original trailer and premise of the “War for the Overworld” would continue to taunt fans for well over a decade.

The deathly silence that followed was punctuated only by a few games inspired by the long absent king, many of which failed to meet the great expectations left behind in the void of Dungeon Keeper’s passing.

The years slipped away into the abyss, like so many Lords of the Land, but the Dungeon Management community grew in both size and age. With no sign of a new Dungeon Keeper on the horizon, it began to scheme and plan projects that could take up the reins of evil. If the industry would not fill the gap in our lives (with anything of value at least…) then we would do so ourselves.

This evil was less good - Dungeon Keeper Mobile - Electronic Arts

Dozens of projects coalesced and dissolved. One such project, first envisioned on the Keeper Klan forums in 2007, reformed in 2011, and successfully Kickstarted in January 2013, is now better known by a name that meant so much to every Dungeon Keeper fan: War for the Overworld!

We’ve never made any secret of how much Dungeon Keeper has inspired War for the Overworld. We wanted to create a game that held as true as possible to the DNA of Dungeon Keeper – a game that could truly be considered a spiritual successor, taking what we felt was best about the gameplay and finding places to evolve it into a modern Dungeon Management game in its own right.

We hope you’re having fun being evil again

This is a story we’ve told time and time and time again. But a story we haven’t told is how Dungeon Keeper has inspired us on a personal level, as developers, as people, and how it has shaped our lives in ways that we’re sure no one at Bullfrog could ever have imagined. So allow us to now share a few tales from our team:

My first experience of Dungeon Keeper was shortly after its release in 1997 when I was just a wee lad of 6 years. I remember my older brother bringing this game home and watching him play it on our old Windows 95 desktop that was primarily used for my father’s work – but also for such gaming classics as Doom, Theme Park and Command and Conquer.

As I watched my brother play I just knew I had to have a go! This game looked like nothing I’d ever seen – the incredible isometric view, dynamic lighting, unique creatures, and ability to dig, shape and build rooms captured my imagination immediately. I waited… and waited while my brother played. Days later I finally got my chance!

I sat down in the big seat, eager as you might imagine a 6-year-old would be, and played my first level. So eager was I to build that I forgot to give my Imps time to fortify the walls. My dungeon was destroyed by the invading heroes before it even began! Rather pathetically I had lost the first level.

Most decidedly not the screen I received on the first level - Dungeon Keeper - Electronic Arts - Bullfrog Productions

From then on I played the game on and off through the years. As I grew I became more and more competent. I finally beat the game and begged my parents to buy the sequel in 1999 (they eventually gave in). Since then I’ve played both games many, many times, most famously when I wrestled with the AI assistant on stream. I often look back on them as two of my favourite games ever made.

I remember for many years wishing for a third game, following various projects online (I’m sure you can imagine which!). For years I talked with friends about wanting to learn how to make games myself so I could work on something like that, but being pragmatic as I am, I decided to pursue a life in computer networking.

I jumped with joy when War for the Overworld’s Kickstarter happened, and backed £200 immediately. From there I became extremely active in the community, and the rest is history.

Dungeon Keeper played a huge role in my life, and without it I would not be where I am today – helping to shape a fantastic Dungeon Management game and a dedicated community around it!

Thanks for all the fun times and memories Bullfrog! You will always be missed!


From an early age I knew that I wanted to be a game developer, after all my father had been one for my entire life so it seemed like a natural fit. Back in those early days I never would have imagined I’d have been directly responsible for one of the most popular modern Dungeon Management games.

I don’t entirely remember how old I was when I first played a Dungeon Keeper game. I know that I was certainly quite young, perhaps 7 or so when I dove headfirst into Dungeon Keeper 2. I was always a big fan of strategy games such as Command and Conquer and Populous: The Beginning, and something about DK2 really called to me. Though I wouldn’t encounter the original until much later, I can truly appreciate how much is owed to it.

Keeper Klan is still a hot location for Dungeon Management fans!

I remember spending hours just working my way through the campaign and the disappointment that came in knowing that there would never be a third game. Over the years I watched games attempt to capture the magic, but nothing ever felt quite right. By 2007, at the tender age of 15, I knew that if I wanted to play a game that truly captured the feeling of total control, I’d have to make it myself. A decade and a whole lot of stress, sweat and graft later here I am, with something I’m proud to put my name to.


Dungeon Keeper was a game I played far before I ever considered becoming a game developer. It was a game I found myself reinstalling often to get that unique management game fix that only the DK series seems to have ever given.

My gamedev story in brief is one of self-learning and a lot of failed experiments. A lot. I have the DK series to thank for the high benchmark I pressured myself to achieve, and it was a constant inspiration and driving force as my attempts to make games became progressively more complex.


Although I never played DK1 as a kid, its sequel completely grabbed my attention. Atmospherically, Dungeon Keeper 2 was captivating. The gritty colours, the eerie sounds, the twisted style of the landscape, made the dungeon management experience so inviting and addictive.

Being introduced to the game by my friends, I was immersed into a dark world so unlike many other games. It felt as if few games were willing to explore the point of view of the bad guy, which made the whole experience even more exciting. For me, creating an army of my favourite creatures and traps meant playing so many hours of skirmish matches.

I feel games like Dungeon Keeper are so inspirational for their integrity of their vision and feeling.


Hello. Many years ago now I remember having an absolute blast when playing Dungeon Keeper 2 online with my friends. We’d almost every weekend get together and devise strategies to see who could crush the others first.

From my experiences playing I was inspired to teach myself programming so that I could develop video games, and started working on a prototype in the UDK engine with similar principles to Dungeon Keeper. I’m sure you can find footage of that if you look around. It was a huge challenge – Dungeon Keeper is an extremely unique game and honestly something of a technical marvel for its time.

What WFTO looked like circa 2007-2008

Shortly thereafter I discovered the WFTO project on Keeper Klan and I signed up to join the team. The rest is as they say is history!


I think I’m one of the few members of the team who didn’t play Dungeon Keeper as a child – you know, how sometimes a classic will pass you by for some random reason. Thing is, I loved Theme Park. Maybe my innocent childhood self just wasn’t ready to be the bad guy! But I think discovering it as an adult, without the aid of nostalgia, just shows how much of a timeless experience Dungeon Keeper is. In particular for me, the strength of the setting is striking: the innovative mix of weird and otherworldly creatures, some of whom just don’t get along; the happy and hapless world full of places called “Flowerhat” and “Lushmeadow-on-Down”. The black comedy is always there, and I can only marvel at the succinct wit of the script, and deadpan delivery of Richard Ridings. Who can forget the intro to the first level: “The people of Eversmile are plagued only by aching facial muscles, and not anthrax as we had hoped.”


These days there are dozens of Dungeon Management games, either released or in production, all inspired by a single progenitor to some degree. Dungeon Keeper is to us what games like Wolfenstein or Doom are to the FPS genre – a true genre-defining classic that has inspired countless people to carry the torch and get into game making themselves.

We’re proud to have been one of the most influential of the Dungeon Management games in recent times, and to have been the first to achieve a successful Kickstarter, Early Access, launch, and post-release support cycle that is still going to this day!

It is our honour to truly have been a project by fans of Dungeon Keeper, for fans of Dungeon Keeper.

Dungeon Keeper 1 and Dungeon Keeper 2 are available to purchase from GOG.com!

Cheers,

– Brightrock Games Team

Discover Dungeon Keeper on GOG.com!

Click here to chat about this update on our Discord
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Darkest greetings Underlord,

The last few weeks have been incredibly busy for us here in the depths of the development dungeon, with the recent launch on GOG.com dominating much of our work. We have to say that it’s been an absolutely incredible success, and we’re extremely pleased that we can now finally offer War for the Overworld as a solid DRM-Free experience!

With this huge launch now behind us we’ve taken a step back and thought even more about what we can offer, to improve the experience of players that don’t want to participate in the Steam platform.


At Brightrock we consider community content to be one of the greatest things in PC gaming, and something we can’t get enough of. We want to bring this experience to our GOG.com players as well, and that brings us to the Foundry.



Whilst Steam has the Steam Workshop on which WFTO has thousands of custom creations, we knew that there was no place where non-Steam players could share and download maps and translations from. This is what we’re looking to solve with the Foundry.

We’ve set up this special page on our website as a repository for players to share, download and discuss their creations. We’ve already filled it up with some of the most important and popular maps and translations from our Steam community, to help you get your hands on the best content developed so far.

Now we’d like to invite you, our players, to help populate the Foundry with awesome content, and we look forward to helping you develop even better community content in the future! If you’d like to find out how to use the Foundry, then click through to this knowledgebase article.

As we move forward towards the last updates of WFTO, we’re keen to see what our community comes up with in terms of content, and we’re very interested to hear what improvements you’d like to see to the content creation tools. We’re also looking to resurrect our community spotlight, to reward the very best content in the community with small gifts and news spotlights, as our way of thanking the dedication and commitment of creators. We hope this new initiative will inspire everyone to get involved!

Cheers,

– Brightrock Games Team

Discuss this update on the Steam Discussion Boards

Click here to chat about this update on our Discord
Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

The last few weeks have been incredibly busy for us here in the depths of the development dungeon, with the recent launch on GOG.com dominating much of our work. We have to say that it’s been an absolutely incredible success, and we’re extremely pleased that we can now finally offer War for the Overworld as a solid DRM-Free experience!

With this huge launch now behind us we’ve taken a step back and thought even more about what we can offer, to improve the experience of players that don’t want to participate in the Steam platform.


At Brightrock we consider community content to be one of the greatest things in PC gaming, and something we can’t get enough of. We want to bring this experience to our GOG.com players as well, and that brings us to the Foundry.



Whilst Steam has the Steam Workshop on which WFTO has thousands of custom creations, we knew that there was no place where non-Steam players could share and download maps and translations from. This is what we’re looking to solve with the Foundry.

We’ve set up this special page on our website as a repository for players to share, download and discuss their creations. We’ve already filled it up with some of the most important and popular maps and translations from our Steam community, to help you get your hands on the best content developed so far.

Now we’d like to invite you, our players, to help populate the Foundry with awesome content, and we look forward to helping you develop even better community content in the future! If you’d like to find out how to use the Foundry, then click through to this knowledgebase article.

As we move forward towards the last updates of WFTO, we’re keen to see what our community comes up with in terms of content, and we’re very interested to hear what improvements you’d like to see to the content creation tools. We’re also looking to resurrect our community spotlight, to reward the very best content in the community with small gifts and news spotlights, as our way of thanking the dedication and commitment of creators. We hope this new initiative will inspire everyone to get involved!

Cheers,

– Brightrock Games Team

Discuss this update on the Steam Discussion Boards

Click here to chat about this update on our Discord
Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

It’s been on the Public Test Branch for little over a week, and now with the release of our GOG version we’re proud to say that Patch 1.6.2 is now finally going live! It brings with it a variety of improvements, but none more so than those for Multiplayer. So read on, Underlord, and discover what magic lies in the bowels of:

We’ve introduced some serious new netcode with Patch 1.6.2 which should drastically improve the quality of multiplayer matches. We’ve had this on the Public Test Branch for just over a week and the response has been positive so far. Want to give it a go? Here’s some tips to get you started!

Finding a Multiplayer Match
What would a multiplayer patch be without multiplayer matches? Head on over to our Discord and join the Matchmaking channel to find other players with whom to go head to head!

Don’t forget if you’re going to host you’ll need to port forward!

Reporting Issues
We’re looking to try and improve the experience for our multiplayer fans as much as possible, so if you run into an issue while playing please get in touch with a bug report via User Echo.


We’ve reworked our netcode to deliver significant improvements to the Multiplayer experience.

• Multiplayer behaviours should be much more consistent with gameplay, for example:
  
  • Constructs and defences are more reliable
    
  • Casting Recall on the Worker Rally no longer breaks the Worker Rally
    
  • Unit actions are now consistent between client and host
• We’ve implemented new systems to combat desyncs by slowing the game down, giving it time to catch up after network issues
  
• Visual issues have been greatly reduced, for example:
  
• Reduced instances of units visually teleporting
  
• VFX should be correctly synced to unit location
  
• “Ghost” units have been exorcised
  
• Possessing a unit should no longer cause unit shields to break for your opponent
  
• Unit shields no longer become detached from their unit
  
• Workers who are undertaking a task should no longer become lost
  
• Implemented support for cross-platform play with GOG Galaxy players

• Multiplayer code no longer runs in single-player, which yields a small performance boost for all players

• Improvements to the gold pile highlight
  
• Significantly improved the Crackpot/Gnarling working animation
  
• Improved the floor texture for the Empire barracks
  
• Campaign map highlighting improved
  
• Made some changes to the lights on the main menu scene to improve contrast between rendered objects and UI objects
  
• Small changes to the Archive Lectern lights
  
• Glowing runes are now present on Arcane/Evil Arcane theme door frames
  
• Fixed a number of significant issues with the Dwarven Core
  
• Arcane themes now use a new arcane portcullis frame
  
• Improved Archon emissive map
  
• Reduced the VFX height of the Necromancer’s heal which should improve combat clarity when they are present

• Made some slight visual tweaks to War for the Overworld Level 13

Units

• Shambler no longer incorrectly has a wage
  
• Porkzilla can now correctly deal damage to units and defences once more, praise the bacon!
  
• Corrected an issue that caused the Behemoth’s heal rate to be far higher than it should have been - it now correctly generates 0.75% health per second

Visuals

• Fixed highlight on all Archive props
  
• Evil Arcane theme glowing runes now match what is engraved in the wall
  
• Necromancers on War for the Overworld Level 8 now correctly use the Necromancer Possession effect
  
• Fixed team colouring on a number of objects:
  
  • Sovereign Theme door frame
    
  • Sovereign Theme connector
    
  • Sovereign Theme Midas Door
    
  • Santa Worker
    
  • Empire and Phaestus theme wall lights
• Kickstarter theme Dungeon Core will now display the correct damage states
  
• Kasita and Draven Cores on War for the Overworld Level 12 should now animate correctly
  
• Corrected highlighting on Empire and Phaestus themes
  
• Texture corrections on War for the Overworld Level 8 water gates
  
• Fixed Rocky Earth normal map
  
• Fixed Gold Shrine highlighting
  
• Overworld Gateway unit shields should now display more reliably
  
• Snowy Sacred Earth now uses the correct textures, instead of the Snow textures for Sand walls
  
• Phaestus theme now correctly uses the Underlord props rather than Empire props
  
• Fixed compression settings for some stray textures
  
• Fixed the transparency on the Overworld Gateway
  
• Improved the visuals of the standard theme wall torch
  
• Minor improvement to the lamps in the Empire Lair
  
• Fixed an issue with the highlight on small dropped gold piles

Rooms

• Heightmap data of Empire Slaughterpen and Barracks now matches that of their Underlord counterparts
  
• Destroyed and claimed Overworld Gateways can no longer be used to dismiss units

Levels

• Improved the effect that is played when Mira is capturing the Kenos on War for the Overworld Level 10, by fixing clipping and misalignment
  
• Further improvements to the Shifting Bond ritual progress on War for the Overworld Level 5, in an attempt to fix a long standing issue

Multiplayer

• Removed ping column in lobby due to it being unimplemented at this time
  
• Fixed an issue where the host would always try to send a copy of a map to the client even if it was not required
  
• Fixed an issue where the location of units and them taking an action would not be correctly synced

UI

• Improved floating emoticon compression quality to prevent pixelation

Miscellaneous

• GameText - Minor grammar corrections
  
• GameText - Fixed "Claim" Worker task type to correctly display as "Unclaim" when unclaiming enemy tiles
  
• Removed unused textures

That covers this update for now Underlord. We’re still working hard on bringing further under-the-hood improvements to War for the Overworld, and we expect a new UI middleware shortly, followed by Unity 5.6 in the near future! Stay tuned!


Cheers,

– Brightrock Games Team

Discuss this update on the Steam Discussion Boards

Click here to chat about this update on our Discord
Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

It’s been on the Public Test Branch for little over a week, and now with the release of our GOG version we’re proud to say that Patch 1.6.2 is now finally going live! It brings with it a variety of improvements, but none more so than those for Multiplayer. So read on, Underlord, and discover what magic lies in the bowels of:

We’ve introduced some serious new netcode with Patch 1.6.2 which should drastically improve the quality of multiplayer matches. We’ve had this on the Public Test Branch for just over a week and the response has been positive so far. Want to give it a go? Here’s some tips to get you started!

Finding a Multiplayer Match
What would a multiplayer patch be without multiplayer matches? Head on over to our Discord and join the Matchmaking channel to find other players with whom to go head to head!

Don’t forget if you’re going to host you’ll need to port forward!

Reporting Issues
We’re looking to try and improve the experience for our multiplayer fans as much as possible, so if you run into an issue while playing please get in touch with a bug report via User Echo.


We’ve reworked our netcode to deliver significant improvements to the Multiplayer experience.

• Multiplayer behaviours should be much more consistent with gameplay, for example:
  
  • Constructs and defences are more reliable
    
  • Casting Recall on the Worker Rally no longer breaks the Worker Rally
    
  • Unit actions are now consistent between client and host
• We’ve implemented new systems to combat desyncs by slowing the game down, giving it time to catch up after network issues
  
• Visual issues have been greatly reduced, for example:
  
• Reduced instances of units visually teleporting
  
• VFX should be correctly synced to unit location
  
• “Ghost” units have been exorcised
  
• Possessing a unit should no longer cause unit shields to break for your opponent
  
• Unit shields no longer become detached from their unit
  
• Workers who are undertaking a task should no longer become lost
  
• Implemented support for cross-platform play with GOG Galaxy players

• Multiplayer code no longer runs in single-player, which yields a small performance boost for all players

• Improvements to the gold pile highlight
  
• Significantly improved the Crackpot/Gnarling working animation
  
• Improved the floor texture for the Empire barracks
  
• Campaign map highlighting improved
  
• Made some changes to the lights on the main menu scene to improve contrast between rendered objects and UI objects
  
• Small changes to the Archive Lectern lights
  
• Glowing runes are now present on Arcane/Evil Arcane theme door frames
  
• Fixed a number of significant issues with the Dwarven Core
  
• Arcane themes now use a new arcane portcullis frame
  
• Improved Archon emissive map
  
• Reduced the VFX height of the Necromancer’s heal which should improve combat clarity when they are present

• Made some slight visual tweaks to War for the Overworld Level 13

Units

• Shambler no longer incorrectly has a wage
  
• Porkzilla can now correctly deal damage to units and defences once more, praise the bacon!
  
• Corrected an issue that caused the Behemoth’s heal rate to be far higher than it should have been - it now correctly generates 0.75% health per second

Visuals

• Fixed highlight on all Archive props
  
• Evil Arcane theme glowing runes now match what is engraved in the wall
  
• Necromancers on War for the Overworld Level 8 now correctly use the Necromancer Possession effect
  
• Fixed team colouring on a number of objects:
  
  • Sovereign Theme door frame
    
  • Sovereign Theme connector
    
  • Sovereign Theme Midas Door
    
  • Santa Worker
    
  • Empire and Phaestus theme wall lights
• Kickstarter theme Dungeon Core will now display the correct damage states
  
• Kasita and Draven Cores on War for the Overworld Level 12 should now animate correctly
  
• Corrected highlighting on Empire and Phaestus themes
  
• Texture corrections on War for the Overworld Level 8 water gates
  
• Fixed Rocky Earth normal map
  
• Fixed Gold Shrine highlighting
  
• Overworld Gateway unit shields should now display more reliably
  
• Snowy Sacred Earth now uses the correct textures, instead of the Snow textures for Sand walls
  
• Phaestus theme now correctly uses the Underlord props rather than Empire props
  
• Fixed compression settings for some stray textures
  
• Fixed the transparency on the Overworld Gateway
  
• Improved the visuals of the standard theme wall torch
  
• Minor improvement to the lamps in the Empire Lair
  
• Fixed an issue with the highlight on small dropped gold piles

Rooms

• Heightmap data of Empire Slaughterpen and Barracks now matches that of their Underlord counterparts
  
• Destroyed and claimed Overworld Gateways can no longer be used to dismiss units

Levels

• Improved the effect that is played when Mira is capturing the Kenos on War for the Overworld Level 10, by fixing clipping and misalignment
  
• Further improvements to the Shifting Bond ritual progress on War for the Overworld Level 5, in an attempt to fix a long standing issue

Multiplayer

• Removed ping column in lobby due to it being unimplemented at this time
  
• Fixed an issue where the host would always try to send a copy of a map to the client even if it was not required
  
• Fixed an issue where the location of units and them taking an action would not be correctly synced

UI

• Improved floating emoticon compression quality to prevent pixelation

Miscellaneous

• GameText - Minor grammar corrections
  
• GameText - Fixed "Claim" Worker task type to correctly display as "Unclaim" when unclaiming enemy tiles
  
• Removed unused textures

That covers this update for now Underlord. We’re still working hard on bringing further under-the-hood improvements to War for the Overworld, and we expect a new UI middleware shortly, followed by Unity 5.6 in the near future! Stay tuned!


Cheers,

– Brightrock Games Team

Discuss this update on the Steam Discussion Boards

Click here to chat about this update on our Discord
Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!