Lobotomy Software - Powerslave and Ports

Powerslave and Ports

(main article Powerslave)

PowerSlave was similar to Doom though it featured an Egyptian theme. The PC version ran on 3D Realms' Build engine (the same engine that ran the Duke Nukem 3D on the PC).

PowerSlave received enough success to help Lobotomy secure a contract to port the game over to the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation. Lobotomy originally wanted to port PowerSlave from PC to Saturn and Playstation with no changes. However, the consoles' weaker hardware made this impossible. Instead, Lobotomy decided to recreate the game with new level designs and wrote their own engine, named SlaveDriver. The console versions of PowerSlave were a success.

Shortly after PowerSlave was released, Sega secured the rights from GT Interactive to publish Quake and Duke Nukem 3D. Sega originally handed the projects to two other developers but they were unhappy with their work. Once the media buzz around PowerSlave started to heat up, Sega saw potential in Lobotomy and let them work on the two games.

The Sega Saturn ports of Duke Nukem 3D and Quake both used the SlaveDriver engine and were well received. Lobotomy had ported Quake to the PlayStation but could not find a publisher, which exasperated their financial troubles.