Unreleased games

[sirbod]

Soccer Kid (Krisalis) - Shareware version never started, commercial version never finished?

Some more info on Soccer Kid in Acorn User Nov 96 p81:

A gauntlet has been thrown down to any Acorn games programmers stalwart enough to attempt the challenge. Shaun Hollingsworth of Krisalis Software has announced to the Internet at large that the company is willing to allow the release of Soccer Kid as a shareware title - providing an individual or a team of programmers steps forward and offers to code it. Shaun explains that Krisalis is performing this gesture as a sign of good will in return for the support that the Acorn community has given in the past. This is an excellent opportunity for any budding coders out there to get into the scene - the source code is available for both the Amiga and 3DO versions of the game, and perhaps most attractive of all for the first-time programmers, you don't have to think of a storyline.

The article then describes the game and prints Shaun's personal eMail address.

I contacted Shaun in 2011 or 2012 and he was adamant that all Krisalis source code was lost.

[Dunkinator]

I think it was the 1989 one Jon - attached! Thanks so much been wanting to find it for a while! Shame the full never game never got complete...

I remember there being a one page ad for the full game in an Acorn User or another magazine. Had unreleased screenshots I don’t remember being in the Flight Trainer.

Have never found it does anyone recall it or have a copy?!

There's ads for Karma in various Acorn User's. If memory serves me correctly (I've read over 200 AU's in the past few days so its a bit of a blur!) There was a half page ad in 1989 when it was originally unveiled, then full page ads leading up to the Flight Trainer release in the tail end of 1991, followed by rather cheap looking ads that didn't depict the game itself just after the release in 1992.

Would you like me to find them and post the scans?

[VectorEyes]

I bought the flight trainer when it was released, on the basis of the adverts and the hype about how amazing the final game would be. Played it for about 10 missions and then got bored and stopped. The Flight Trainer, as released, was an interesting experiment but really quite boring. It's a real shame that the full game was never released, but with the benefit of hindsight I'm not sure a two-man team (let alone a one-man team, given the tragedy that occured) could ever have made a game that delivered on all that was promised by the magazine articles.

Nevertheless I would have loved to see the in-development versions of the 'real' game!

[Dunkinator]

Yeh I recall finishing it but only through persistence! The final game would have been great - wonder if there's a copy floating around out there! I dug up an Acorn User (issue 112) where they did an article on it and Tales of Anubus, have attached for anyone interested in a read!

I bought the flight trainer when it was released, on the basis of the adverts and the hype about how amazing the final game would be. Played it for about 10 missions and then got bored and stopped. The Flight Trainer, as released, was an interesting experiment but really quite boring. It's a real shame that the full game was never released, but with the benefit of hindsight I'm not sure a two-man team (let alone a one-man team, given the tragedy that occured) could ever have made a game that delivered on all that was promised by the magazine articles.

Nevertheless I would have loved to see the in-development versions of the 'real' game!

[jms2]

I bought The Flight Trainer, and I also found it boring to play. Beautifully presented, and brilliantly programmed, but dull.

On reflection, I can't imagine how the full game as described would have been possible on an Archimedes. The thing is, it's pretty obvious that the programmers were highly competent and not setting out to deceive anybody, so I'm struggling to think how they were planning to implement a kind of "impression" of the level of complexity being described.

[qUE]

Re: Tales of Anubus

There's a similar looking game on the Panasonic 3DO called Seal of the Pharaoh, not sure if there's some relation. 3DO is also ARM and a lot of the major title unreleased games you mention made it onto that system, maybe developers went over to that??

[davidb]

Ian Robinson and I nearly crossed paths in 2011 when the company he worked for was bought by Nokia. Those with LinkedIn access can see what he has been doing over the years. Around that time I wondered what he thought about Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen given that Karma was aiming to bring an open world model to the Elite style of game many years earlier.

[VectorEyes]

I bought The Flight Trainer, and I also found it boring to play. Beautifully presented, and brilliantly programmed, but dull.

On reflection, I can't imagine how the full game as described would have been possible on an Archimedes. The thing is, it's pretty obvious that the programmers were highly competent and not setting out to deceive anybody, so I'm struggling to think how they were planning to implement a kind of "impression" of the level of complexity being described.

In the original Elite, there were a small number of what seemed like pre-set 'scenarios' you could encounter. You jump towards a planet, and come across pirates fighting police. Or some asteroids. Or a bunch of pirates. Or you hyperspace and it goes wrong, and you're stuck with a bunch of Thargons to deal with.

Then in 16/32-bit versions there were more scenarios. Miners mining asteroids, etc.

Perhaps one way to do it would just be to have hundreds of different scenarios, with each of them randomly varying along a set of parameters. Plus allow for multiple scenarios to be happening at once. And make some rarer than others so the player wants to keep playing to see what else there is to see.

You could also base which ones apply to each solar system on the characteristics of the system.

If you designed them well, I can imagine that it could give the impression of a richer galaxy than the previous Space Sim games. It wouldn't have been the deeply simulated universe suggested by the magazines, but it still might have been pretty enjoyable.

[Dunkinator]

It's funny how a lot of the intentions are similar to the ones in Elite Dangerous - as much as I love that game, it too has failed to meet that same level of engagement!

I bought The Flight Trainer, and I also found it boring to play. Beautifully presented, and brilliantly programmed, but dull.

On reflection, I can't imagine how the full game as described would have been possible on an Archimedes. The thing is, it's pretty obvious that the programmers were highly competent and not setting out to deceive anybody, so I'm struggling to think how they were planning to implement a kind of "impression" of the level of complexity being described.

In the original Elite, there were a small number of what seemed like pre-set 'scenarios' you could encounter. You jump towards a planet, and come across pirates fighting police. Or some asteroids. Or a bunch of pirates. Or you hyperspace and it goes wrong, and you're stuck with a bunch of Thargons to deal with.

Then in 16/32-bit versions there were more scenarios. Miners mining asteroids, etc.

Perhaps one way to do it would just be to have hundreds of different scenarios, with each of them randomly varying along a set of parameters. Plus allow for multiple scenarios to be happening at once. And make some rarer than others so the player wants to keep playing to see what else there is to see.

You could also base which ones apply to each solar system on the characteristics of the system.

If you designed them well, I can imagine that it could give the impression of a richer galaxy than the previous Space Sim games. It wouldn't have been the deeply simulated universe suggested by the magazines, but it still might have been pretty enjoyable.

[jms2]

Perhaps one way to do it would just be to have hundreds of different scenarios, with each of them randomly varying along a set of parameters. Plus allow for multiple scenarios to be happening at once. And make some rarer than others so the player wants to keep playing to see what else there is to see.

I think you're right - it has got to be something along those lines. Basically a clever trick (just like the procedurally generated galaxies in the original Elite) which gives the impression of depth.

I do think they went too far with the claim that the Karma universe is modelled to an accuracy of 3.9 microns. Apart from being a pointless level of accuracy, this makes it obvious that there is some sleight of hand involved. Bell and Braben limited Elite to 8 galaxies to avoid falling into a similar trap.

[sirbod]

I just found a list of Arc games supposedly available to buy, in a ReadMe on a game floppy from 1990. Quite a few of these are titles we've not mentioned before:

Blood of the Mutineers (Robico) £24.95
The Plague (Robico) £24.95
3D Pool (Rainbird) £19.95
Joan of Arc (U.S. Gold) £32.95
Karma (Periscope Software) £54.95
Rom Wonder 1/2/3 (Cambridge International Software) £19.95
Time Lords (Cambridge International Software) £19.95
The Year 3000 (Cambridge International Software) £19.95
Footy (Cambridge International Software) £24.95
Arcade Construction (Cambridge International Software) £32.95
Jimmy (Cambridge International Software) £64.95
Ooze (Dragonware) £24.95
Hard Drivein (Domark) £24.95

Geez, weren't some games expensive back in the day!

I'd be interested in knowing more about the Robico and CIS titles - did any of them existed?

EDIT: The README is dated 24-09-89

[VectorEyes]

I certainly don't remember those last five ever having been released for the Arcs or Risc PCs.

[SarahWalker]

Randomly found a screenshot of Frak 3 in The One - issue 15 (December 1989), page 32. The text also mentions Archimedes 3D Pool as in a 'state of limbo'.

[VectorEyes]

Hello @SirBod,

Did you ever manage to get hold of the Scorpius source or a build with a playable ice level? It’s one of those games that I remember being really excited by, all those years ago.

[sirbod]

Did you ever manage to get hold of the Scorpius source or a build with a playable ice level? It’s one of those games that I remember being really excited by, all those years ago.

No, I've not received any source or build beyond what was publicly released.

[nytrex]

Someone posted a video of the playable level of Scorpius on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4hfPKWM4Mk

It really did look good. No wonder we all remember it so fondly even after so many years.

[Naomasa298]

I was digging through some of my old files recently, and found a list of unreleased games that I'd collated from various sources (mainly Usenet), with a view to making a "Games That Weren't" site that never happened. Thought I'd post the list here. Does anyone have any more knowledge about any of these games?

Legend (Micro Power) - Shown at an Acorn World show, Micro Power went under?

@sarahwalker - I hope you see this message.

Was this a Bard's Tale - style RPG? If it is, then I would very much like a copy of that because I'm the person who wrote it. I submitted it to MicroPower but uni got in the way and I lost all the source code around 1997.

[wmd]

I found mention of an unreleased game by TBA Software, it's mentioned in one of the intro screens for Dragon Ball (Archimedes World cover disk version). The game was called "Psyco Squadron" and was to be a "fast-paced horizontal arcade action action game":



Phillip Lund (graphics artist for the unreleased Oblivion) is a friend of mine, although I have not heard from him in many years. I was working on some of the music for Oblivion, and Phil would send me disks with updates of his graphics and animations for the game during development. I don't think I was ever sent any working demos though. I will have to have a look through my old disks.

[Sophira]

I found mention of an unreleased game by TBA Software, it's mentioned in one of the intro screens for Dragon Ball (Archimedes World cover disk version). The game was called "Psyco Squadron" and was to be a "fast-paced horizontal arcade action action game":

The game appears to have been mentioned in a few Acorn User magazines before the planned release date, including a screenshot:

TBA Software has another couple of games in development: a futuristic racing game called Free Run, where you pilot a spaceship like the landspeeders in Star Wars, and a Uridium-style shoot-em-up called Psycho Squadron.

Enthusiastic new software house TBA Software, which launched itself with the abysmal Breakout-clone Dragonball, and followed with the excellent shoot-em-up maze game Axis, has two more games in the pipeline. The first is Psycho Squadron, a vertically-scrolling shoot-em-up with an extended battle area and bonus rounds. As well as the usual power-ups, pilots can collect extra wingships to hype up their fire power, and there is also a training programme for new pilots.

Then, in the November 1993 issue on p58 we see more information on the Acorn World show debut that's mentioned in Dragonball, along with a screenshot of the game:

TBA SOFTWARE

There's nothing 'to be announced' about this one: here's the lowdown... TBA, still revelling in the success of its shoot-em-up maze game, Axis, which stormed the Acorn games world last spring, is all set to release Psycho Squadron at the World of Acorn show. Although it is of the horizontally-scrolling variety (Xenon 2 is vertically), Psycho is two screens high, so there is room for vertical manoeuvre. The usual array of power-ups avail themselves for collection but TBA deliberately hasn't gone over the top with bolt-ons, so skill is still required! There are, however, extra 'wingpersons', bonus rounds plus a training programme for new pilots.

Finally, it was also featured in the Games Review supplement (p26) of the December 1993 issue as an upcoming Christmas game, though it should be noted that the screenshot here is from Axis and not Psycho Squadron:

PSYCHO SQUADRON

Power Station has been fairly quiet since it released the very-good-indeed tank game, Axis, so hopefully Psycho Squadron will make a bit of noise and wake everyone up.

As a shoot-em-up, it's got that potential but we shall have to wait and see, eat the proof, in the pudding, so to speak, before placing the cat among the pigeons and saying it's so good it'll turn the tables on the competition. Horizontally scrolling, Psycho Squadron promises power-ups, wingmen, bonus rounds and a training mission for new pilots.

The name of the game gives a pretty good indication as to what this one is all about. Suffice to say the aim of the game is not to spread universal love and harmony and get everyone living together in mutual tolerance and respect. The aim of the game is to stay alive... and kill people. Hang in there!

After that, nothing as far as I can tell. It just kind of vanished. Kind of makes me wonder what the story was there...

[wmd]

I found a disk for Oblivion containing screenshots and four animations:

https://youtu.be/ZnMUGXVOe68

I'll upload the screenshots later.

[wmd]

Does anyone know how I can view a full screen sprite without the Paint borders?

[sirbod]

I've updated my previous post with the additional games I've come across over the past 5 years.

I seem to have neglected to note where I found out about some of them...so there's a few without attributable confirmation.

[wmd]

Does anyone have a copy of the Last Offence demo that works from a hard drive? I followed the instructions in the readme - copy folders in !LO_Demo2 into !LO_Demo, but when attempting to load I just get the message:

Code: Select all

Please insert disc 'IDEDisc4'

I suspect it's something related to the paths in the "Utility" BASIC file, or something more specific to running from ZIDEFS?

The copy I downloaded was from here: http://arcarc.nl/archive/Games/L/

[IanJeffray]

[*]Toybox Dreams (2001) (Paradise Games) - aka "Pocket Money". Unplayable demo on Acorn User 200th edition CD

Development was fatefully 'outsourced', but I wrote the editor for it...

Perhaps we should do the graphics justice and get this (re)written and released. Just a simple platformer, but with two players may be mildly interesting.

[wmd]

Definitely deserves to see the light of day. Way too much effort has gone into that for it just to lay dormant.

[Sophira]

Does anyone have a copy of the Last Offence demo that works from a hard drive? I followed the instructions in the readme - copy folders in !LO_Demo2 into !LO_Demo, but when attempting to load I just get the message:

Code: Select all

Please insert disc 'IDEDisc4'

As far as I can make out, the problem occurs because the "Utility" BASIC file uses an ADFS-specific SWI when detecting the disc type (Line 1130 uses the "ADFS_DescribeDisc" SWI).

You can fix it to run on non-ADFS hard discs by removing the disc detection entirely - remove lines 620-710 from the "Utility" file and replace with a single line (which can be whichever line number you like between 611-719, just make sure it's in that range):

Code: Select all

620 OSCLI "Set LastOffenceDisc$Type Hard"

[edit: Fixed typo in fix, sorry!]

[wmd]

Thanks, that fix worked. Actually a pretty decent game.

[dpsharp]

I was digging through some of my old files recently, and found a list of unreleased games that I'd collated from various sources (mainly Usenet), with a view to making a "Games That Weren't" site that never happened. Thought I'd post the list here. Does anyone have any more knowledge about any of these games?

Tellomere (?) - Written by David Sharp. 1998

Great list Sarah, thanks for compiling it, a lovely trip down memory lane with this thread!

Tellomere was my attempt at a rip off of Crystal Warriors on the Sega Game Gear with a few enhancements. The game is very similar to the better known Advance Wars on the Gameboy Advance, a turn-based strategy game where you match the strengths of your troops against the weaknesses of the enemy but in this case in a fantasy setting.

Tellomere screenshot

Tellomere was to be a point and click implementation using select/adjust to click on your friendly characters and move them around the play area and select the enemy to attack. I was using mode 28 to try and get higher res graphics on the A5000 I was using at the time and figured I could get away with it even on lower powered machines as the graphics aren't very demanding. I used Andy Southgate's gamesuite for a lot of the graphics routines but I never got round to the computer player AI or implementing the combat and it's pretty buggy (especially the route-finding) and nowhere near a playable game.

I had to pause working on it to finish my A levels over Summer 98, then with a combination of Acorn shutting up shop a few months later and me going off to start uni it wasn't destined to get finished.

I managed to dig out the unfinished game and it may as well be released now for the first time, it seems to run ok under rpcemu on RISC OS 3.7, YMMV: [https://davidsharp.com/riscos/tellomere.zip]

My original geocities web page from back in 1998 can still be found here [https://web.archive.org/web/19990117061 ... lomere.htm]

[michael]

Skirmish had a bunch of big previews.

* Acorn Gaming - Skirmish
* Acorn User - Skirmish

Acorn Arcade did too, although its archive seems to have disintegrated.

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

[michael]

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