Unreleased games

[wmd]

I was just flicking through an old Acorn Action Games Guide from Spring 1994 and came across something I don't recognise:



Even more curious, there's no mention of the game on the page it's on:



Does this look familiar to anyone? It has the words "High Risc" on the side in the screenshot but not sure if that was meant to be the name of the game? It looks a bit like Chuckie Egg.

[davidb]

Perhaps related to High Risc Racing? Aha! There it is.

[sirbod]

I was just flicking through an old Acorn Action Games Guide from Spring 1994 and came across something I don't recognise:

That would be K.V. - game-play video here.

[Sophira]

Yeah, there was a demo of it on the Acorn Computing December 1993 cover discs. I've never seen the full version but it was definitely being sold.

[MatthewThompson]

That will be K.V - I still have my copy - it was a full commercial release and came in a CD album box.

nice little game.

What I don't recognize is the magazine the scan is from - Acorn Action - what was that ? I don't remember it , must have been a one off or a supplement to something ?

[sa_scott]

That will be K.V - I still have my copy - it was a full commercial release and came in a CD album box.

nice little game.

What I don't recognize is the magazine the scan is from - Acorn Action - what was that ? I don't remember it , must have been a one off or a supplement to something ?

This was from about late 1992, and was a one off issue, that either came with Acorn User, or from Acorn themselves, when they were running the Clan. Remember this was the year Acorn made the A3010 and A3020 machines, and attempted to compete with the likes of the Amiga and ST. I remember a feature on the 3 machines in an episode of GamesMaster. Acorn didn't come out of it very well, which was no surprise to be honest.

[qUE]

That will be K.V - I still have my copy - it was a full commercial release and came in a CD album box.

nice little game.

What I don't recognize is the magazine the scan is from - Acorn Action - what was that ? I don't remember it , must have been a one off or a supplement to something ?

This was from about late 1992, and was a one off issue, that either came with Acorn User, or from Acorn themselves, when they were running the Clan. Remember this was the year Acorn made the A3010 and A3020 machines, and attempted to compete with the likes of the Amiga and ST. I remember a feature on the 3 machines in an episode of GamesMaster. Acorn didn't come out of it very well, which was no surprise to be honest.

To be as kind as possible about it, it didn't help Acorn they had someone quite wooden presenting the machine's specifications. That and the whole thing was unsurprisingly weighted to Amiga. IIRC I don't think they highlighted the ARM was at least twice as fast and complete 32-bit memory transfers (over 68000's partial), although I don't think anyone would've cared about this unless it was shown off with some stunning graphics, which unfortunately the Amiga scene was mature in by comparison. I think I remember Commodore conveniently omitting Truecolour on the Amiga was only for static pictures.

[SarahWalker]

IIRC I don't think they highlighted the ARM was at least twice as fast and complete 32-bit memory transfers (over 68000's partial)

Do you really think such stuff was of any interest to Gamesmaster's audience?

[wmd]

Can't remember how I acquired it, but I suspect it was free with one of the Acorn magazines that I used to buy in the 90s.

[davidb]

Can't remember how I acquired it, but I suspect it was free with one of the Acorn magazines that I used to buy in the 90s.

Or possibly from an Acorn show?

[wmd]

No, I never attended any of those unfortunately.

[MatthewThompson]

I think this must of been a sampler issue - given away with new machines or available at dealers for £1.00 - i am pretty sure it was never included in any of the high street magazines (Acorn User etc) as I used to buy them all and never had this magazine.

Looking inside it was clearly planned as a subscription only magazine, the address is the same as Beebug/RISC User, but I think this was the only issue ever produced - unless anyone knows different.

It's an interesting read (and look back now) says the first issue will have a cover disc with Flashback demo - i seem to remember that was on an Acorn Computing cover disc instead.

I don't recognise the screenshot of the game on the cover.

[paulb]

Looking inside it was clearly planned as a subscription only magazine, the address is the same as Beebug/RISC User, but I think this was the only issue ever produced - unless anyone knows different.

Obligatory archive link including first (and only?) issue: Acorn Action Games Guide

Some relevant background: "Risc Developments RIP", Acorn User, October 1994.

[qUE]

I think this must of been a sampler issue - given away with new machines or available at dealers for £1.00 - i am pretty sure it was never included in any of the high street magazines (Acorn User etc) as I used to buy them all and never had this magazine.

Looking inside it was clearly planned as a subscription only magazine, the address is the same as Beebug/RISC User, but I think this was the only issue ever produced - unless anyone knows different.

It's an interesting read (and look back now) says the first issue will have a cover disc with Flashback demo - i seem to remember that was on an Acorn Computing cover disc instead.

I don't recognise the screenshot of the game on the cover.

Apparently Chaos Engine.
https://www.lemonamiga.com/games/media/ ... _(aga).png

Lemon Amiga have a similar screenshot which is oddly convenient in finding it
Although I did take a punt it was a Bitmap Brothers game due to it's graphics style.

[dangermouse]

There was another site called something like "Acorn Gaming '98" too, which had a big preview, although that whole site has vanished.

Found on wayback machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20001011200 ... index.html

Heh, that review for Skirmish brought back memories, notably for the mention of "TANKS":

not a bad game, but no where as high quality as the original game Worms

To be pedantic, TANKS wasn't a Worms clone, it was a "Scorched Earth" clone Several features were "borrowed" directly from (inspired by) the DOS game, notably the Funky Bomb weapon.

It started out as a way to teach myself C, and I drafted the help of some more-artistic-than-me friends to do some of the graphics. Some of the sound effects were sampled from the 1988 Hawkwind album "The Xenon Codex"

I always wanted to do "TANKS 2" which would have had more Worms-like graphics with a zooming, panning play area, but as so often happens, getting a real job took up too much of my time!

[wmd]

I may have found mention of two more unreleased games. In the Archimedes World demo for Formula 2000, the "FTT" text file lists two games as currently available - Cyber Ape (released), and A.R.L. - "An aerial combat shoot-em-up, driven by the same software as in FTT". I don't believe A.R.L. was ever released? Odd that it should be listed as "also available". Additionally, the text file lists two more titles as "coming soon" - The Cobalt Seed, and Trip out! The text for Trip out! reads "A Game to put blisters on your trigger finger in this unashamed, glorious blast". Anyone have any other info on these (A.R.L. and Trip out!)?

[Sophira]

A.R.L.'s name was "Acceptable Rate of Loss", but other than that I can't find much information about it. It was listed in an advert in Acorn User from December 1994 to May 1995, but that was likely speculative as in the April 1996 issue, the Game Show column said TBA were still working on "a title in the After-Burner style named Acceptable Rate of Loss".

On the other hand, I'm almost certain that Cyber Ape was released. It was advertised in issues from December 1994 right through to November 1998. Here's a picture of what it looked like, taken from the feature on TBA's closedown in Acorn User's June 2006 issue, which described it as "one of TBA's early platform games":

Cyber Ape

The plan was for TBA to release most of the source code for their games, but I don't see that having happened at all. Does anyone know what happened there?

Edit 1: Oops, I misread - Cyber Ape wasn't one of the games you were asking about! One moment, I'll do more research on those other games.

Edit 2: Some more information about ARL from Acorn Computing's November 1994 issue:

Due for release at the same time [as Formula Two Thousand] is Acceptable Rate of Loss (£24.99), another 3D extravaganza filled with ballistic missiles, fighter aircraft and a lot of explosions over 20 levels as you fly-by-wire a stealth aircraft to tackle the defences hounding your assault on the four refusion motors that power the planets defences. lt's your planet, so save it from the tyrannical rule of Jehosaphat.

Edit 3: I'm looking to see what I can find out about Trip Out! but I'm coming up with absolutely nothing. No mentions in either of the magazines I'm looking at as far as I can see (Acorn User and Acorn Computing). I see the mention in the text file you're referring to, but that's all I can find, strangely.

[paintings]

Looking inside it was clearly planned as a subscription only magazine, the address is the same as Beebug/RISC User, but I think this was the only issue ever produced - unless anyone knows different.

CCH has the July/August 1994 edition.
https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det ... gust-1994/

[paulb]

CCH has the July/August 1994 edition.
https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det ... gust-1994/

Or just click on the "Acorn Action v01n01 - C.pdf" section of the previously mentioned archived material...

"Acorn Action Games Guide"

...to get here:

"Acorn Action July/August 1994"

[wmd]

"Acorn Action July/August 1994"

Interesting. There's a Network 23 game on pages 8/9 - Sentry. Looks like a futuristic version of Warlocks.

[wmd]

May have found another one - HiOctane by Frank Isidor, a top-down racer similar to Fine Racer but far more refined. There's a demo on the arcarc.nl archive, but can't find mention of the full version. The demo is quite strange in that the game plays itself, but you can partially control the CPU-controlled car while it's moving around the map. The !Help file says this:

"Probably the last demo release before the full version, most probably on a Acorn Computing coverdisk..."

Not sure if that means the demo was for an Acorn Computing coverdisk, or he intended to release the full version on an Acorn Computing coverdisk. The demo is very slick, running at 50fps, and even has a 4-player split screen mode, so would be very surprised if it wasn't meant as a full commercial game.

[qUE]

The plan was for TBA to release most of the source code for their games, but I don't see that having happened at all. Does anyone know what happened there?

I suspect Martin Piper and Alan Peters are probably a bit busy. Martin runs a Youtube channel where he's upgrading his Commodore C64 to do crazy stuff with a custom board, and afaik Alan works in printing, weirdly IIRC I'd met him several times in the past printing nightclub posters at Minute Man local to me but never knew he was RISC OS scene

Also from what I gather Martin ended up working for Argonaut after showing them the Starfox demo he/they(?) did for the A5000, so I suspect there's some NDA/licence cageyness with Nintendo.

They probably filled this all in, in the interview they did.

Edit: Found this - https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2022/03/wing-star/