30 Years of God Game History | Populous, Dungeon Keeper, Black & White, Spore and more

Let's take a journey through time, from the beeps and bloops of the 1980's to the modern day in PLAYING GOD - a documentary covering 30 years of god simulation games. From industry legends like Peter Molyneux and Will Wright, to independent or even solo games, the God Game has been a beloved but underappreciated genre that deserves a thorough exploration.

This is my 2nd feature-length video and my longest and most ambitious production to date, so I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did making it!

Thumbnail artwork illustrated by Ransom:

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

00:00 - Introduction
02:10 - Defining the God Game
04:26 - The Genesis of the God Game - Populous
07:42 - The Bullfrog Era
08:47 - Powermonger
09:59 - ActRaiser
11:39 - Populous II
14:04 - Magic Carpet
16:36 - Magic Carpet 2
18:42 - Creatures
20:00 - Dungeon Keeper
25:22 - Populous: The Beginning
29:04 - Dungeon Keeper 2
31:26 - The End of Bullfrog
34:26 - The Lionhead Era
34:33 - Majesty
36:50 - Startopia
38:40 - Black & White
51:18 - Black & White 2
1:01:11 - Spore
1:08:12 - Clones & Successors
1:10:11 - From Dust
1:12:10 - Reprisal Universe
1:13:04 - Dungeon Keeper Mobile
1:14:57 - Impire
1:15:43 - Dungeons 2
1:16:48 - Dungeons 3
1:17:44 - War for the Overworld
1:20:37 - The Indie Era
1:21:35 - Godus
1:27:47 - Godus Wars
1:30:58 - Reus
1:32:09 - Rise to Ruins
1:33:54 - Deisim
1:34:57 - Tethered
1:37:04 - Townsmen VR
1:38:08 - Crest
1:40:16 - The Universim
1:42:19 - In Conclusion

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MUSIC CREDITS

Dungeon Keeper, Black & White and Magic Carpet II soundtracks by
RUSSELL SHAW

Populous: The Beginning and Dungeon Keeper 2 soundtrack by
MARK KNIGHT

Black & White 2 soundtrack by
PAUL ROMERO

Additional music tracks from the
YOUTUBE AUDIO LIBRARY and AUDIOBLOCKS

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FOOTAGE CREDITS

Deisim gameplay by Tommy Maloteaux

Townsmen VR gameplay by Klorinmannen

EGX - A Bullfrog and Lionhead retrospective

No Man's Sky gameplay by Video Games Source

Heart of Darkness gameplay by AdventureGameFan8

Evil Genius gameplay by Charmed

"16-bit Memories" Amiga artwork by Toni Bratincevic

Utopia footage by 5 Minutes of Every Game

Dungeon Keeper (Mobile) gameplay by Shadeslay

Idle Worship gameplay by TheMajorasMask

GDC Black & White talk with Peter Molyneux

IGN Interview with Peter Molyneux

Evolution gameplay by Franco

Hi-Octane gameplay by InsertDisk

Fable: The Journey gameplay by TatarKhan

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SOURCES

Job titles, credits, general game information

History of Bullfrog

Populous II

Information about cancelled Bullfrog projects

What happened to Spore's development

Lionhead and Black & White

Glenn Corpes' comments about Peter Molyneux and interviews:

Godus articles

Molyneux's criticism of DK mobile game

[Indigo_Gaming]

Thanks so much for watching this love letter to the God Game genre! Consider supporting my channel...

[brucelee]

The original Black & White was probably the pinnacle of the god game genre.

[allenr]

If someone would make a "remastered" version of Black and White, i'd snap that up in a heartbeat.

[gessie]

Things learned from the comments:
1. Dungeon Keeper was goddamn genius.
2. Black and White was goddamn genius.
3. Spore was horribly missed potential.
4. Fuck EA Games.

One thing I'd like to add: Creatures in B&W could get traumatized, then refuse to learn a lesson and act out against you. This was perhaps its most impressive feature; a lesson to pet owners, parents and even leaders alike. Sadly this was not mentioned in-game, and not present in B&W2 (a good game in its own right, despite paling in comparison to its predecessor).

[RetroGamingJunction]

You may not please the YT algorithm, but each time these drops, they are gems. Thanks and keep up the great work!

[jaktrosma]

I'm so happy to see someone talk about Black & White in 2019

[nicknackpattywhack]

I always felt like Spore screamed “needs a sequel”.

[MKaufman]

it's extremely disappointing that will wright's vision was disrupted by the so-called "cute team" at Maxis. I remember going to Applebee's with my brother on the way home from buying our copies of Spore, before we'd played. I said, "this might be the last game I ever buy" because I'd so bought into the hype. I've never been that excited for I think anything, and maybe not that excited since.

it was deflating to see how little depth it had and how little your actual creature designs mattered. the whole thing was just a backdrop for play-dough like customization. fun game, but not at all what they made it seem like. meanwhile they'd already chopped off content to sell separately in a "creature creation pack" so that there were maybe six kinds of legs instead of twelve. leave it to EA to do that of course, hideous company that they are.

[ranekeisenkralle]

Dungeon Keeper. That brings back memories - including one of the reasons why I have been boycotting EA for a long time at this point (with what they did to Command& Conquer being another)

[ScruffMcGruff]

I remember all the post-No Man's Sky articles comparing Sean Murray to Peter Molyneux. Difference is, Murray actually rebuilt his reputation from the ground up by working his ass off and releasing free updates to his, originally disappointing, game. Molyneux just passed the blame along to funding, publishers and the fans themselves.

[TheTruthAboutLemmings]

Spore was such a missed opportunity. The first stages had me really excited but merely spending a few hours in each stage rendered them meaningless and the stages afterwards played like games made for small children. Add to that you can effectively complete the game in two days and I came away feeling like I'd just been insulted.

[darknor]

The level of detail in Dungeon Keeper was amazing. Little things like monsters unable to sleep in same lair. To making your wizards study faster by putting one in the torture chamber. Even putting chickens in the training room to speed up training and even the payroll element. You could pay a lv 10 Vampire 50 gold and he would be so happy that's all he would take.

[ernestlam]

I loved Populous. I've never found that same feeling again.

[ethanlalli]

They should give you a Netflix series. The amount of time and effort that goes in to these must be nuts. Thanks

[EteamProductions]

Black & White and Dungeon Keeper were not only my childhood, but defined my whole personality. They defined my creativity, made me explore the building of the world beyond what general games allowed me to, and made me realize from a very early age that there must be a constant balance between efficiency in the system, and humane treatment of your employees or coworkers. They also taught me that there will always be consequences and I should be very careful with all my decisions. A misclick, a poorly aimed rock or an unwilling slap, could instantly lose me a lot of trust. And to preserve that hard work, you have to work hard to be cautious as well.

It's amazing how much Peter Molyneux has influenced my life, and he didn't even know me. Would he have thought that while he was creating his games, a 6 year old in Argentina, literally on the other side of the world, was learning how to be a better person from them? The power of games is amazing.

[Skyfox]

30:25 One of the funniest moments I had with this game was when I realized that the money spell was called "Expressus Americanus" (the voice over says it in this incredibly sinister tone)

[ZTheLastViking]

Keeping ants in massive terrariums that are like shrunken down avatar landscapes gives me the same feeling that city builders, working out, building a house and such things give me.

A very deep satisfaction of putting in work and see things grow and develop like putting a seed into the ground and watch it grow or seeing babies growing up week by week.

That hobby taps into a core instinct that most people can relate to in some way or another

[magiccarrot]

Bullfrog a very underrated and much missed developer.

[MahDryBread]

I love going back into your backlog and finding gems like this. Thanks for the video! I'm in a big Evil Genius mood as of late so this was awesome to watch

[ManKannonProductions]

Just replayed From Dust, it's beautiful....a spiritual experience. All of these games that I've played (90%) have been a joy.