Cavedog Entertainment was a PC game developer and publisher based in Bothell, Washington. Founded in 1995 as a

division Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...

edutainment Educational entertainment (also referred to as edutainment) is media designed to educate through entertainment. The term was used as early as 1954 by Walt Disney. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has incidental entertainmen ...

game developer Humongous Entertainment, Cavedog was known for the 1997 release of ''

Total Annihilation ''Total Annihilation'' is a real-time strategy video game created by Cavedog Entertainment, a sub-division of Humongous Entertainment, and was released on September 26, 1997 by GT Interactive for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. Two expansion packs ...

''—which won several accolades, such as multiple ''

Game of the Year Game of the Year (GotY) is an award given by various award events and media publications to a video game that they feel represented the pinnacle of gaming that year. Events and ceremonies British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA Games Awards) ...

'' honors—considered one of the "greatest games of all time" in 2004 by ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

''.

History

Early days

Cavedog Entertainment was a label created in 1995 by Humongous Entertainment, a developer of children's video games founded by Ron Gilbert and Shelley Day, to pursue the creation of mainstream games. Humongous Entertainment was originally independent, but was purchased in 1996 by

GT Interactive GT, Gt or G-T may refer to: Arts and entertainment Games * GT Interactive, an American video game developer * GameTrailers, a video game website * ''Golden Tee Golf'', golf video game * ''Gran Turismo'' (series), a series of racing video games ...

. In the same year Squaresoft closed its office in Redmond, many of their former developers were hired for Cavedog, notably game

music composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

Jeremy Soule Jeremy Soule (; born December 19, 1975) is an American composer of soundtracks for film, television, and video games. He has composed soundtracks for over 60 games and over a dozen other works during his career, including ''The Elder Scrolls'', ' ...

and graphics designer Clayton Kauzlaric, who created the

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...

for Cavedog. After two years of development on Cavedog's first product, ''Total Annihilation'', it was presented at the 1997 E3 in Atlanta, and published on September 30, 1997.

After ''Total Annihilation''

''Total Annihilation's'' creator, Chris Taylor, left the company shortly before the release of the '' Core Contingency''

expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game or collectible card game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, characters, or ...

to found his own development house,

Gas Powered Games Wargaming Seattle, formerly known as Gas Powered Games, was a video game developer located in Redmond, Washington. The development studio was started in May 1998 by Chris Taylor and several other ex- Cavedog Entertainment employees. In 2013 th ...

. Cavedog released one more expansion pack, '' Battle Tactics'', as well as many freely downloadable enhancements and

patch Patch or Patches may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Patch Johnson, a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives'' * Patch (''My Little Pony''), a toy * "Patches" (Dickey Lee song), 1962 * "Patches" (Chairmen of the Board song) ...

es, 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 '' Total Annihilation: Kingdoms,'' largely reusing the ''Total Annihilation'' game engine, but replacing the

science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

theme with a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

one. ''Kingdoms'' did not resonate as well with critics or fans of the original title. One expansion pack was released, ''The Iron Plague''.

Closure

The closure of Cavedog came as the game industry began to experience a downturn in sales, to which parent company

was affected. Besides the ''Total Annihilation'' franchise, Cavedog had three other ambitious games in development, but only ''Total Annihilation'' and the related ''Kingdoms'' made it to store shelves, and their sales were much smaller than their user base. The unfinished projects were: '' Amen: The Awakening'', a

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the p ...

; ''Elysium'', a fantasy

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

title; and ''Good & Evil'', an adventure title from Ron Gilbert. With GT Interactive spiraling into debt and no ship dates in sight, all three were discontinued by the fall of 1999. GT Interactive was purchased by

Infogrames Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA) is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. It is the current owner of the Atari brand through Atari Interactive. ...

and the Cavedog label was discarded by Humongous Entertainment in 2000, which renewed its focus on children's games. Cavedog declared bankruptcy in 2000. Humongous Entertainment was shut down in 2005 by Infogrames (now called Atari). Cavedog's developers have played significant roles at

and Beep Industries.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Defunct companies based in Bothell, Washington Video game companies established in 1995 Video game companies disestablished in 2000 Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game development companies Video game publishers 1995 establishments in Washington (state) 2000 disestablishments in Washington (state)