Let's Remember a Game Studio that changed Video Games Forever.

Looking Glass Studios was founded by Paul Neurath and Ned Lemer, back in 1992. Before that time, RPGs used to be in top down perspective. Back then Origin used to make Ultima games, which were pretty ground breaking. Looking Glass (which also contained talent from Origin) approached them to bring a new kind of RPG on the table, that no one has ever made before, a First Person RPG.

Their goal was to make an immersive non linear, player driven game where you can directly interact with the environment and affect it in First Person Perspective. Origin decided to let them make a game that takes place in Ultima universe. Hence, the father of modern RPGs, Ultima: Underworld was born.

With Ultima: Underworld, Looking Glass introduced the world, an entire new genre, that revolutionized huge part of video games forever. Ultima: Underworld was a Fantasy RPG, that was followed by a sequel. Not only that but then the studio used this formula to make a horror game called System Shock.

Later, same mechanics were used to make a Stealth game, Thief. Looking Glass guys also opened a lot of other studios around the globe and started to work on their own projects. In late 90s, in partnership with Irrational Games (also founded by ex Looking Glass employees), they released System Shock 2, which is still considered as one of the best games ever made.

Industry legend, Warren Spector also used to work at Looking Glass and he later founded his own studio called Ion Storm. Again, Ion Storm used same mechanics invented by Ultima: Underworld and used them to make Cyberpunk RPG called Deus Ex.

These legendary games continued to inspire many games and genres for many years, including hot favorites like The Elder Scrolls series and Fallout series.

Looking Glass Studio was closed in 2000, but their legacy lives on, and their previous work continues to inspire new devs.

The good news is that now founder of Looking Glass is back with the new studio called OtherSide Entertainment. What's their moto?

OtherSide Entertainment is currently working on sequel to Ultima: Underworld 2 called Underworld: Ascendant and System Shock 3. Underworld: Ascendant project is being overlooked by Warren Spector, while voice of Garrett from Thief, Stephen Russell is confirmed to be in the game as well.

Looking Glass was easily one of the best, and still is one of the most most important studios that ever existed in video game industry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPqwDGXxLhU

Share your thoughts. Tell us, which studios you think affected the game industry. And if you agree with my choice then tell us WHY you think that.

Was half expecting looking glass.

good post my brother

From Software.

Is this thread a discussion of Looking Glass, or can we volunteer our own suggestions?

Infogrames for Alone In The Dark, godfather of the survival horror genre.

Capcom for Resident Evil 4, introducing the tight over the shoulder came used in many TPSs these days.

Namco for Kill Switch, best first use of a cover combat system before made more popular by Epic's Gears of War or Naughty Dog's Uncharted.

Call of Duty 4 by Infinity Ward, now everyone wants to make a big SP/MP game, responsible for numerous tacked on MP and DLC.

LA Noire by Team Bondi, responsible for the season pass developers make people pay for but don't deliver on.

Excellent OP! I'm on my phone so I can't be added to wax philosophical on the subject but Ultima Underworld and first System Shock were gigantic milestones for gaming and still continue to directly influence other games.

Overall,if you also take Origin into account, you're looking at hugely creative and innovative studios which pushed the envelope of what gaming could be, technology and gameplay mechanics-wise.

3DRealms

Valve

Blizzard

Really enjoyed the video that you linked. Learned a lot of new stuff about game design.

Good post.

Black Isle deserves a mention; RIP.

Good post.

They were a great studio with a crazy amount of young talent onboard. Shame to see all that jettisoned due to some dodgy company dealings.

There's a nice interview with ex Looking Glass member, Chris Siegel, on 90sgamer92's YT channel, which reveals a bit more about the state of affairs with Underworld Ascendant.

Two developers that changed the face of gaming for me, never have I missed two developers more than Midway and Acclaim... In the mid to late 90's and early 2000's they produced some of the most beloved and memorable games as far as I'm concerned, they took risks and created great games, that's a rare quality these days.

Anything you want.

Absolutely. A lot of Origin guys also worked at Looking Glass. If you remove Origin from history then gaming of today will not be the same as it is right now.

R.I.P Bizarre Creations, and a big F U to Craptivision who destroyed them.

Looking Glass really was good.

I'd say Bioware was one hell of an influential studio as well, was because after DA2,and DAI I think they have died to me

Same here. Definitely not the same studio anymore.

I think game companies today realize that many gamers don't have the time to invest in really deep gameplay.

I'm not saying that's a good thing...I mean it can be and it can't.

But back in 2000 when we were in our 20's we had a shit ton of time. I know I did.

But now those gamers went on to have jobs, kids, wives/husbands/boyfriends/girlfriends, having to take care of older loved ones.....all sorts of time consuming shit.

Now there's a fine line. Thief 2014 was boring as shit. There was little to no actual gameplay other than "this has been set up this way so do it".

But games like Farcry or Batman allow you to get into these games easier but make no mistake....there is gameplay there. For me, just dying and having to start over is an annoyance. I don't mind a challenge but I don't have the time to really sink my teeth in a game to not die.

All that said....I LOVE games that have that deep gameplay. Getting immersed into a world not by characters or story but by the world and gameplay is a feeling some gamers have actually never felt.

I just don't have the time.

Unless said game was Tribes 3.

Then I would neglect all responsibilities in life. Which might not be a good thing.

Thanks for posting. Really excited to see old Looking Glass devs joining OtherSide Entertainment.

@Cloud_imperium: bruh , where's Troika ?

clickbait title

How?

Better to list it like this so people know what the thread is about.

"Let's Remember a Game Studio that changed Video Games Forever - Looking Glass Studios"

It's pretty simple what the title of the thread implies dude...

@nyadc: Naughty Dog? That's what I thought.

Yeah... I don't think so...

One half was expecting Origin, the other half was expecting Looking Glass.

That said, I dont think Looking Glass were the first to make an First Person RPG. I do believe some jRPGs actually beat them to the punch. And technically speaking, a lot of those blobbers could be described as using a first person perspective. However, Origin did invent the WASD layout with System Shock 1, they did create the immersive sim genre with Ultima Underworld, they did perfect the stealth genre with Thief. And their legacy has been developing excellent game after excellent game too.

What ND has revolutionized?

they turned a a medicore stealth game to gr8 movie and you saying ... it's not a Revolution ? ... god you're so ignorant

Nintendo :D

Sir Tech - They were perfectionists. Only one word describes Richard Garriott -- Legend. Sierra changed adventure games forever. Cyan - They brought us the MYST series, and helped jump-start the CD-ROM era of PC gaming into mainstream. Interplay Entertainment/Parallax Games - 6DoF FPS genre.

That's really a good title XD.

"King's Quest graphics & sound completely blew my mind back in the days", Neil Druckmann. Established in 1989, Naughty Dog started off making games for the PC, Sega Genesis and 3DO. Dude also a fan of Valve & id - evolution of FPS genre. ND fanboys can learn something from him. :D

SEGA. :P

Did you ever notice the first best/new generation consoles were always Sega's Genesis, came out before SNES. Sega CD came before Playstation 1 and was the first widespread CD gaming console. Dreamcast pre-dated PS2, GameCube, Xbox. The Game Gear and Sega Nomad came out way before Sony and Nintendo had hi-end portables. Truthfully, if Sega were around now, they might have something better than the current-gen stuff that pushes the others to put out new systems.

Awesome thread. i'm not so big on the history of gaming industry so i don't have much input to offer ...

i think the gaming industry has passed the revolutionary stage you know .... in recent years we haven't had titles which somehow changed the gameplay ... i'd say Batman's combat system was so fresh and after that more games used that fighting style , but it's just an element of gameplay (yet i consider it revolutionary in this era) ... Maybe the creators you mentioned shall bring us revolutionary title....who knows.

@kozio: Totally agree. Excellent post.

Meh.

I will name my own. That have arguably been just as influential as Sir Tech and Origin.

Those would be SSI or Strategic Simulations Inc. The ones who... as far as I am concnered, are the developers of what I feel is the first truly modern RPG. It is from their games most modern RPGs take their inspiration from. No SSI and their goldbox games, chances are Fallout and Baldurs Gate wouldnt exist, or if they would exist, they would have been radically different.

Looking Glass is the shit, Thief and Thief 2 are godly, and System Shock is a good game, albeit wildly outclassed by System Shock 2. Never cared for the Ultima games.

Personal pick.

Their impact is on cats that are still making quality games today, and as far the WRPG is concerned, I'm a much bigger fan of these games vs the Ultima stuff. Bioware is considered at this point living legends on some level (at least that's how they are marketed), and with the old guard constantly going "back in the old days Bioware was great"...well the old days happen to include

That game and its predecessor, and it's not just publishing, Interplay played roles in developing that game. Blackisle specifically was an arm of Interplay, which brings us to

well yeah Blackisle, a certified fucking beast when it came to making RPGs. Fallout 1 and 2 are a given, and we're seeing that franchise become a megaton (get it? do you get it? do do you get it? right?) these days, but in the 90s those games were ahead of their time, and in a way Bethesda can't exactly match the tone in this politically correct era. That game tackled subjects like rape, cannibalism, and all around darker subject matters that Bethesda won't even try, and let's be real wouldn't be able to handle with the deft touch that Black Isle could. Throw in this other game

I've gone on record plenty of times with: video game stories are garbage. If you think for 5 seconds that gaming stacks up favorably to film, television, or literature in story telling and stories told (as in the quality of said stories and characters), it's either because you have shit taste or your ignorant towards the better works of those mediums, most likely both, because lets be real, gamers are idiots. But ever rule has an exception, and what an exception Planescape Torment is. Is it up its own ass? Of course it is, It's Chris Avellone the man can't write anything that isn't up his own ass, but the journey of discovering exactly who The Nameless One is, happens to be one of gaming's best, if not its actual best.

Throw in other games like Descent, Clayfighters, Free Space 2, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, MDK, and the original Wasteland, and yeah Interplay had a shit ton of range, was a quality publisher and developer, and their loss is still felt today. Because I would argue Obsidian never came close, outside of New Vegas, to actually living up to the idea that they were once Black Isle. To me that means the missing ingredient was the cats working at Interplay. RIP.

@jg4xchamp: I've been meaning to play that for some time now, considering I'm on an RPG rampage these days, but I've kind of been on the fence. If you don't mind, can you tell me if it still holds up as well today? If I play it for the first time ever in a few days, will I like it, or has it aged horribly the way some other classics (such as FF7 and OOT) have?

And what exactly is it that makes this game so good? A lot of people have told me it's probably one of the greatest WRPGs of all time, and that's a pretty big deal, I'd say. I just want to know if it will live up to its hype if I try playing it now.

Nintendo because home consoles were in the toilet be for the NES went to the U.S.; bungie because although there were competitive fps on a console before halo, that series mainly 2 made publishers say what??!!!; MS for Xbox live. Bitch and moan about a subscription price all you want, on consoles there has been no better.

Aww *sniff*

I miss Bullfrog.

They made some of my most beloved games.
And nobody big cared to make games like them again.
Except for Theme Park/Hospital right after they released it obviously.
Now these game franchises are little more than Facebook cash-ins.
Something I'm worried would happen to Nintendo franchises if they ever went out of business.
My pictures won't show up. Whatever, you know them. Populous, Dungeon Keeper, Syndicate Wars.

Interplay, Black Isle, Acclaim, Midway, Looking Glass, all great. I wonder whether there are gamers on SW who don't know them? That's weird to think about.

@KungfuKitten:

There are... Those who only play jRPGs.

I know they are all the talk at the moment....but CD Projekt RED is probably the single most significant developer when it comes to quality, at the moment. I don't know what mark they will leave on gaming and what changes they brought...but I'm sure that they made quite an impact after releasing The Witcher 3... No doubt.

I don't recall System Shock 2 looking that good?! The advances of modding!

I can always say that I was with CDPR before they were cool! I remember the original Witcher receiving such a lukewarm reaction and being called a flawed gem. And then out of nowhere they released the enhanced edition. Since then I knew CDPR was something of a special gem in the industry.

Have been playing Witcher games since the first one and love all of them. It's great to see huge leap in terms of tech and design among all three games.

Couldn't find HD screenshot for vanilla. So decided to post this image, only to replace it later. Then I was like "meh, let it be there, it's not like mods cost money".

Share your thoughts. Tell us, which studios you think affected the game industry. And if you agree with my choice then tell us WHY you think that.

So many developers should watch that video. Games today are fucking horrible compared to before.

Hehe... I edited the part after "Share your thoughts" after Charizard's comment.

Watched the video which is pretty damn good and all that came to mind if FROMSOFT. The saviors.

@faizanhd: That part wasn't there in the OP originally

Yup lol