Hi all,
I'm currently researching games that were earmarked for the CPC but which, for one reason or another, never got a release.
Anyone have names/developer details of such games that I need to check out and track down?
Love to hear. Best wishes.
Dave
rim runner - Palace
Judge Dredd and Judge Death
Mega Twins?
Street Fighter 2?
Great subject, I hope you manage to find out some info on these games that never quite made it.
CPCWiki: Category:Vaporware
... give it a look. :)
Here is a link to the category that TFM mentioned:
Category:Vaporware - CPCWiki (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Category:Vaporware)
Just looking over that vapourware list, it seems to be missing Taking Tiger Mountain (http://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&onglet=pub&num=7234). It sounds like it used to be (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/games/taking-tiger-mountain/) on there though and cpc power doesnt have it. Does anyone know if it was found and removed from the list?
One that springs to mind was the original Outrun Europa. It made prototype stages in some 8 and 16 bit machines (remember reading about this in C+VG bacon in 88), but it got shelved at the 11th hour, and Sega released Turbo Outrun in the arcade instead, which then became the sequel.
Outrun Europa surfaced in 1991, but it was nowhere near the same game.
I've mentioned the Frak! (http://cpcwiki.eu/imgs/8/84/ACU8506-006.jpg) game before which wasn't released on the Amstrad, I'm unsure if it qualifies for Vaporware though cause I'm not even sure if anything got started. I remember Kev having an interest in this game, though the author didn't want anyone to rewrite it. :'(
Pretty sure Radical's Lethal Moves would make it on to this list too. I remember phoning 'em in 1995 to see what was happening to it, only to be told they ceased further work on the project.
Thanks so much to everyone for their help!
Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 07:00, 05 January 14
Pretty sure Radical's Lethal Moves would make it on to this list too. I remember phoning 'em in 1995 to see what was happening to it, only to be told they ceased further work on the project.
Rob Buckley at Radical had a game called
Butch Cowardice: The Undersea Adventure which I recall being in development for nearly 3 years before it was abandoned. According to a post by Rob on comp.sys.amstrad.8bit (https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.sys.amstrad.8bit/2NpPiLYBTDQ/6noYLjidhF4J), a lot of work had been done on it. I would love to see some screenshots of what had been accomplished - if anything still exists.
Great find, Nich... thanks for the memories of csa8 :)
Ah CSA8bit. A lot of fun memories of chatting on that thing!
On a college computer (in a campus I wasn't even a part of), using my ex girlfriends account using Lynx, a text only browser using dumb terminals. :D
Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 06:07, 07 January 14
Ah CSA8bit. A lot of fun memories of chatting on that thing!
On a college computer (in a campus I wasn't even a part of), using my ex girlfriends account using Lynx, a text only browser using dumb terminals. :D
I have fond memories of csa8 as well in the late 1990s, back in the days before web-based discussion forums. :) I also accessed it through a text-based Unix terminal using a program called 'tin'. Luckily my university was blessed with a pretty decent Usenet server!
I actually found that post on csa8 while researching information on
Lethal Moves nearly three years ago for a CPCWiki article (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Lethal_Moves).
Odin's Robin of the Wood was previewed in issue 5 of AMTIX!, complete with screenshots, but it was never released for the CPC.
[attach=2]
I'm sure I can unearth many more Games That Weren't if I had time to browse through my collection of magazines...
yes I was looking forward to that my Brother had the Spectrum version and I was sure the CPC version had to be better, unless of course they did a Spectrum port of course.
I absolutely hated tin. slrn was the way to go :D
Quote from: Nich on 21:38, 07 January 14
Odin's Robin of the Wood was previewed in issue 5 of AMTIX!, complete with screenshots, but it was never released for the CPC.
[attach=2]
I'm sure I can unearth many more Games That Weren't if I had time to browse through my collection of magazines...
please add the list to the wiki.
I've been doing my best to find lost CPC projects for the main GTW project.
A full game of Mega Twins is required as a preview version is in existence.
Demos of Judge Dredd, Amazing Spiderman and Never Ending Story 2 must exist somewhere as ACU previewed/reviewed them with CPC screenshots.
Hm, Robin of the Wood surely looks good!
The spectrum version was fun my brother had it, I was looking forward to the Amstrad version hint to redoers of old games:
robin of the Wood Amstrad version....
Just thought I'd give a bit of context on why games get cancelled...
Even if a game is finished and it seems to everybody strange when the game isn't released, it can take a massive amount of money to get the games out to customers. It's not uncommon nowadays for development costs to be only 10-25% of actual cost of making the games.
One game I worked on a few years ago, the advertising budget was many, many times the development budget and the even cost of music licensing for our game was higher than the development costs, again an expense that only becomes payable at the point the game ships. This kind of massive budget situation is much more common nowadays with AAA games, but would also have been true to an extent in the 8-bit days - any game will need some advertising, making up the tapes, getting them out to the stores, etc. So even if the game is finished, it might still be cheaper to drop the game completely than get it out to customers.
You might argue that they could give the game away for free, but in business eyes this would devalue the normal game price, maybe give people something to play with so they didn't need to buy your next game, or worse releasing an unfinished game (or "complete" but not properly bugtested) could actually negatively affect the reputation of the company. All of these negative outweighs the positive of building customer goodwill with a freebie for a lot of companies.
It's a shame that these games don't often make it out into the open years later when they'd be seized upon as prized "archaeological" finds, but that's almost to be expected - by the time such an unfinished product would no longer negatively affect the company if it was released there's probably nobody left who particularly remembers where to find the source code any more.
I've been quite lucky working in games - in 5½ years, I've only spent a total of 9 months working on 2 different games that got cancelled fairly early into their lifespans. But I've got friends who worked in the games industry for over 10 years before a game they were working on shipped and have 7 different games listed on their CV with "unreleased title" that they can't even talk about because it's still covered by NDAs! It seems strange, but it's actually fairly common.
Quote from: ralferoo on 13:50, 19 January 14You might argue that they could give the game away for free, but in business eyes this would devalue the normal game price, maybe give people something to play with so they didn't need to buy your next game, or worse releasing an unfinished game (or "complete" but not properly bugtested) could actually negatively affect the reputation of the company. All of these negative outweighs the positive of building customer goodwill with a freebie for a lot of companies.
Near the end of the 8-bit magazine era that became a job for the covermounts, clearing the decks if you had something reasonably good that didn't fit with the current corporate image. Games that popped up like
Subsonic on the C64 were developed but not signed to a publisher and there was even C64 Fun and Amiga Fun importing good games to the UK from European publishers.
There are other factors too; my friend wrote a C64 game, got the contract sorted out from Mastertronic for publishing on their the £1.99 range, cashed the cheque and they had a shift in focus so the budget arm was only being used for re-releases and the game never went on sale. (They were
very good about it too, the money stayed with my friend and the people who'd helped him and they released him from the contract to sell it elsewhere if he wanted.)
Thanks for the very nice and consise analysis, ralf :)
the Double dragon Mystery
Double Dragon Dojo: The Amstrad Mystery (http://doubledragon.kontek.net/features/amstradmystery.html)
Quote from: TMR on 15:47, 19 January 14
There are other factors too; my friend wrote a C64 game, got the contract sorted out from Mastertronic for publishing on their the £1.99 range, cashed the cheque and they had a shift in focus so the budget arm was only being used for re-releases and the game never went on sale. (They were very good about it too, the money stayed with my friend and the people who'd helped him and they released him from the contract to sell it elsewhere if he wanted.)
That sort of gesture would be hard to find now.
Quote from: dcdrac on 20:40, 19 January 14
the Double dragon Mystery
Double Dragon Dojo: The Amstrad Mystery (http://doubledragon.kontek.net/features/amstradmystery.html)
Going from memory, i remember there being a significant delay with Double Dragon's release. I remember seeing the promo posters for it to be released on all formats in C+VG, All versions surfaced as per original release except the Amstrad CPC.
Melbourne House acquired the licence (post Mastertronic buyout, pre Virgin buyout). The poor version never saw the light of day on a full price release, however did surface on a number of tape compilations around the same version of Richard Aplin's version saw release in 1989. First time I remember getting it was on the 100% dynamite compilation, and it was so sluggish that all playability was sucked out of it.
However, it gained popularity as it worked on the 64k systems, while Aplin's version only worked on 128k systems.
So between budget re-releases on tape, and compilations. It's not really surprising at the time that few people knew about Aplin's version of DD. :(
Quote from: ralferoo on 13:50, 19 January 14
I've been quite lucky working in games - in 5½ years, I've only spent a total of 9 months working on 2 different games that got cancelled fairly early into their lifespans. But I've got friends who worked in the games industry for over 10 years before a game they were working on shipped and have 7 different games listed on their CV with "unreleased title" that they can't even talk about because it's still covered by NDAs! It seems strange, but it's actually fairly common.
That's interesting. When I was at Revival 2013, one of the guest speakers (I think it was Philip Oliver - one half of The Oliver Twins) said that he knew someone who had worked in game development and programming for 12 years, and
every game he had worked on was never released, for one reason or another. I was astonished to hear that! :o
Maybe he should try a different career??
Quote from: Nich on 22:05, 20 January 14
That's interesting. When I was at Revival 2013, one of the guest speakers (I think it was Philip Oliver - one half of The Oliver Twins) said that he knew someone who had worked in game development and programming for 12 years, and every game he had worked on was never released, for one reason or another. I was astonished to hear that! :o
Was probably talking about himself (or an employee of Blitz Games)... ;)
Quote from: Puresox on 22:10, 20 January 14
Maybe he should try a different career??
It's frustrating when that happens, but the people involved are paid for their time and all experience is good.
Quote from: Puresox on 22:10, 20 January 14
Maybe he should try a different career??
Why? You can be a very good games developer and still be unlucky enough to spend 2 years working on a game that gets cancelled for a reason other than you as a person not being good at your job.
Sometimes the project is obviously going to fail, so it's probably time to move on before it does, but things do often get cancelled a long way into development because they no longer fit with what the company wants to do. The games I worked on that were cancelled weren't cancelled because they weren't any good but because the publisher decided they no longer wanted to work in that gaming sector as they didn't see a future in it beyond a couple of years. One of our games would have been out within the year and almost certainly still turned a profit, but releasing it would have been making the opposite statement to what they'd announced publically and so it was cancelled just because it no longer fitted with their lineup. Several years later, there are still fans asking for it!
Quote from: redbox on 23:19, 20 January 14
Was probably talking about himself (or an employee of Blitz Games)... ;)
Heh. Surprisingly Blitz Games were amazingly prolific at getting games out of the door. I'd never heard of most of them, but from what I understand they usually had about 5 6-month projects on the go at any given time.
Well, I've been working for 13 years now as game developer, and sadly it's true I think that there has been more games cancelled than released.
The bigger the company, the worse it gets...
I've been working in games for 17 years and it just happens. The reasons vary.
Quote from: TMR on 09:34, 21 January 14
It's frustrating when that happens, but the people involved are paid for their time and all experience is good.
It was a flippant comment not meant to be taken seriously. Should have stuck a smiley at the end.
Quote from: CrookieMonster on 22:53, 03 January 14
Hi all,
I'm currently researching games that were earmarked for the CPC but which, for one reason or another, never got a release.
Anyone have names/developer details of such games that I need to check out and track down?
Love to hear. Best wishes.
Dave
Hi David,
The link posted (Category:Vaporware - CPCWiki (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Category:Vaporware)) is pretty comprehensive but a few could be expanded, mostly cart games. Which reminds me I need to do a proper article/section on GX4000 games MIA for the gx4000.co.uk site! So I'll do a big post that'll help me get started on that anyway! But firstly....
The big one first of all is
Street Fighter 2.
I covered the saga of it comprehensively in my video on my channel here -
[AMSTRAD CPC] Street Fighter II (HMC's #3) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YOKkSQcolk#)
Actually you might be of assistance here seeing as you did write for Amstrad Action occasionally freelance I believe?.... a lot of people and cynics assume that Amstrad Action's coverage and constant news article that the game was coming was false and a way to keep people interested in buying the magazine! Is there any truth to that at all?
Now - controversy time!!
The Amazing Spiderman! Was nearly complete! In fact review or more likely preview copies were sent out to certain magazines - or worse just screen shots - because the ACU magazine did a whole REVIEW of the game! Of a game that was never 100% complete which Amstrad Action found out and posted with glee in their news pages!
http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:ACU9103-039.jpg (http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:ACU9103-039.jpg)
So GX4000 games...
The BIIIIIG one is of course
Special Criminal Investigations : Chase HQ II!
I'm sure Martyn can give you all the details about that from his own Retro Gamer article!
Or see here - http://gx4000.co.uk/gamebase/games.php?game=specialcriminalinvestigations (http://gx4000.co.uk/gamebase/games.php?game=specialcriminalinvestigations)
The other big one, and I'm surprised this hasn't shown up yet is the GX4000 version of
Gazza II!
There IS a finished version of this because review copies were sent out, played and reviewed! And the Pickford Bros also confirm this on their own site!
http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/softography/index.php?game=44 (http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/softography/index.php?game=44)
I cover the magazine coverage of the game in the first minute of my video -
[AMSTRAD CPC] Gazza II - Review & Longplay (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMzAHR2JLmo#)
Next up are 3 that were very nearly in the can but pulled at the last minute before completion -
Toki - there's screen shots in an Amstrad Action magazine which I'll find later, there is this advert for it too - http://cpc-power.com/PictureZoom.php?extra=pub&fiche=3705&slot=3&part=A&type=.jpg (http://cpc-power.com/PictureZoom.php?extra=pub&fiche=3705&slot=3&part=A&type=.jpg)
A news article in Amstrad Action confirmed that Ocean informed them they've decided not to release it despite being far in development.
Similarly with
Robocop 3 which was planned and being worked on, but pulled probably less than 50% done into development. The only details to find about this game is 2 Amstrad Action news articles announcing it's being worked on, then announcing it has been cancelled.
There's a possibility of near completed version out there.
Battlestorm - supposedly a release for both CPC and Plus/GX4000 machines! It was advertised in French magazines by Titus for several platforms, however didn't even get released for Spectrum or C64 either. Amiga and PC definitely got one, and it was a rather dull multi-directional shoot-em-up. Can't see it being much better than Copter271 was on the GX.
http://cpc-power.com/PictureZoom.php?extra=pub&fiche=3700&slot=1&part=A&type=.jpg (http://cpc-power.com/PictureZoom.php?extra=pub&fiche=3700&slot=1&part=A&type=.jpg)
Amiga Longplay Battlestorm (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-NfkL_HATo#)
Cougar Force - this is interesting. Looks like a scrolling beat-em-up with first person flying bits, advertised for the Amstrad 'console' from Tomahawk who also released the awful No Exit GX game. Actually from looking at the PC DOS version it looks like a cross between No Exit and Aigle D'or: Le Retour!
http://cpc-power.com/PictureZoom.php?extra=pub&fiche=3797&slot=1&part=A&type=.jpg (http://cpc-power.com/PictureZoom.php?extra=pub&fiche=3797&slot=1&part=A&type=.jpg)
DOS - Cougar Force (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPb1NpP3CBI#)
The following were advertised for console release but was probably a misinterpretation by mail order companies -
Crazy Cars 3 (the game was pretty awful on the CPC release and felt unfinished, I can't see how Titus would have bothered tarting it up for the GX),
Double Dragon (I remember reading somewhere that OCEAN of all companies was releasing this given that they did the C64GS cart release - http://doubledragon.kontek.net/games/dd/rddc64-2.html (http://doubledragon.kontek.net/games/dd/rddc64-2.html)),
Kick Off 2 probably came from the fact that a C64GS was planned (http://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/kick-off-2-cartridge/ (http://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/kick-off-2-cartridge/)) and the following were almost certainly mistaken information with mail order companies possible again because C64GS ports were planned -
Escape From The Planet Of Robot Monsters,
Outrun,
SDI,
Shadow Warriors. There's probably an advert from Amstrad Action you could pull up showing the above games for mail order in the early days of the GX4000 release.
About Toki, Dave Looker of DJL worked on it.
He said he asked Ocean for a larger cart and they refused.
Sometime after that it got shelved/cancelled.
He believes he has something of it sitting in the back of his shed.
I've not heard back from him about it recently, worth looking into?
Add to the list Never Ending Story by Linel and Judge Dredd.
Both appear to have been part way through development.
I think a lot of this highlights what we saw from UK companies, or at least in the UK press.
There may be more Games that Weren't from French, Spanish or German companies.
Well, I don't even know one example from Germany. Anybody any idea? IIRC what they advertised, finally got sold. But my memory may have a leak somewhere. :laugh:
Quote from: arnoldemu on 10:53, 22 January 14
There may be more Games that Weren't from French, Spanish or German companies.
Well, I remember 2 possibly games, not cancelled, even not started (i think), but... in 2 of the bests games that dinamic did here in spain...
In freddy Hardest in Manhattan south (not a good game, but freddy hardest 1 is one of the bests from dinamic), in the end of the game it says "We'll see in forbidden planet", this game was never released, but it seems that a "freddy hardest 3" could exist if the 8-bit market lasted more years...
same with the trilogy "army moves", "navy moves" and "artic moves", the last was not released on amstrad, but the pc version is a tipical arcade that could be made on amstrad without problem, I think that, same with freddy hardest, if the amstrad market lasted 2 years more, this games could
see the light of day.
Same with Trantor II - The revenge of the Storm-trooper. :-X
Quote from: arnoldemu on 10:35, 22 January 14
About Toki, Dave Looker of DJL worked on it.
He said he asked Ocean for a larger cart and they refused.
Sometime after that it got shelved/cancelled.
He believes he has something of it sitting in the back of his shed.
I've not heard back from him about it recently, worth looking into?
Not Ocean France? Interesting :)
Would be great to finish that Toki.
Quote from: TFM on 22:22, 22 January 14
Same with Trantor II - The revenge of the Storm-trooper. :-X
First that I hear of this. That's one I'd LOVE to see!
Oh yes, when you complete Trantor, then it states it in the end message. :)
Honestly got no idea of development.
Ahhh ok then, that's different, I thought there had been some development...
The article is in this months magazine (released to shops last Thursday)
Some interesting stuff about Toki! They found a disk of sprite designs! And Dave Looker confirms the first level WAS completed, so that disk may turn up too!
I'm really surprised the article didn't talk about The Amazing Spiderman though given all the controversy with ACU 'reviewing' it etc when it must have been in a playable state somewhat.
Also "Duck Tales" that was advertised for both CPC *AND* GX4000...
http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:ACU9103-076.jpg (http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:ACU9103-076.jpg)
I struggled to get to the bottom of Spider-Man this time around. We had to think about space too. But I'm continuing to plug away on this one. Thank you to everyone who helped on the forum and to Mr Campbell for some great steers.
Quote from: CrookieMonster on 18:34, 09 March 14
I struggled to get to the bottom of Spider-Man this time around. We had to think about space too. But I'm continuing to plug away on this one. Thank you to everyone who helped on the forum and to Mr Campbell for some great steers.
Any chance the sprites from the GX4000 version of Toki could be shared and put up on the wiki?
I'll get a message to Dave who I'm sure will be fine with that and whack it across.
I just watched Xyphoe's new video of the Retro Gamer issue with the "Amstrad Games that Weren't" feature... A bit pity that the article misses some abandoned projects of the homebrew community, like Rigor Mortis and 'Cannon Fodder' from Odiesoft, or Face Hugger's 'Contra' clone; and I'm pretty sure there's more to remember if I squezzed my brain harder.
That said, the feature seems fixed on the UK (sommercial) scene, so maybe it's kind of expected that homebrews from the continent would be forgotten entirely (pun :P ), but then there's mention of Killing Fist which is a surprise! I remember having first seen a playable version while visiting Thriller some... well.... many years back. I'm wondering if I still have a copy in one of my numerous 5.25 disks...
I don't know if there's mention in the feature, but the Killing Fist engine was used in the duel stages in Xyphoes Fantasy. In fact, the duel stages in XF, IS Killing Fist. ;)
rb
Quote from: rexbeng on 15:19, 10 March 14
I just watched Xyphoe's new video of the Retro Gamer issue with the "Amstrad Games that Weren't" feature... A bit pity that the article misses some abandoned projects of the homebrew community, like Rigor Mortis and 'Cannon Fodder' from Odiesoft, or Face Hugger's 'Contra' clone; and I'm pretty sure there's more to remember if I squezzed my brain harder.
I've not heard of any of those projects so would be quite curious to see them.
these attachments might be some cpc games that werent the articles are from AA mags.....
i also believe i saw the game i.o advertised for cpc in one of the game mags back in the day.
some others i thought were going to be released for cpc were the entire leaderboard series of gamesbut only a couple were released on cpc.
i am not sure but test drive was another we never saw on cpc.
i also believe i read that in an issue of AA there was a car game to be released on cpc micro machines or something like that but never appeared it was meant to be a great game on other formats.
some more attachments of possible games that werent on cpc
Quote from: cpc4eva on 18:27, 10 March 14
i also believe i read that in an issue of AA there was a car game to be released on cpc micro machines or something like that but never appeared it was meant to be a great game on other formats.
Micro Machines was a fun game. Had various versions of it on Amiga, Mega Drive and NES. Screen size and scrolling may be an issue with a CPC version but I can't see it being impossible to do to a playable and fun level of quality.
Well, for starters, everything you'd want to know about Odiesoft's games you can find here: Odiesoft's homepage (http://odiesoft.de/amstrad/games.html)
Face Hugger's Contra along with other products of his can be found here: Face Hugger - CPCWiki (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Face_Hugger)
rb
Thanks for the links. Some good reading there. :)
Could be wrong, but i'm almost certain that Re-Bounder was meant to be released on all 3 major 8 bits.
C64 was the only one that surfaced though in the end. All sorts of complications apparently took place with a Speccy version too, and given the amount of speccy ports Gremlin were doing in 87-88, the CPC version probably would have been ported from the speccy had it been a success.
Food for thought?
I have added some of these to the vaporware category page on the wiki.
im 100% that i read in one of the Amstrad mags that hewson had a games called Emmanuel due to be released and i believe had released it but it got censored and taken off shelves because of nudity GFX or something like that.
which is funny cause stormlord had a female with no clothes on go figure
Here's another one for ya...
Almost every Konami game that came out between 1985-1990 ended up on the CPC, I still remember getting Konami's Arcade Collection at the end of 1988 (only to have a fault in the second tape, but nothing a self duplicate didn't fix!). For some reason Jackal was replaced by Iron Horse on the Commodore 64, never quite understood why because it was actually released.
The same cannot be said for Iron Horse on the CPC though! The funny thing was, Imagine clearly had it planned.
Press release here, however I never saw it around anywhere:
(http://cpcrulez.fr/GamesAdvert/Iron_Horse.jpg)
Iron horse didn't appear on spectrum either.
So perhaps no spectrum version = no cpc version here.
Do you have any data for the Judge dredd game? Anything? Can you post me please?
Quote from: arnoldemu on 09:49, 12 March 14
Iron horse didn't appear on spectrum either.
So perhaps no spectrum version = no cpc version here.
It's one that's up for discussion anyway, because Imagine's guys weren't big on speccy ports back in 87 when you consider the differences between the likes of Nemesis, Renegade and Green Beret to name a few.
One more to have a look out for? Runes of Zendos. cheesy little half-graphical IF game - I know it got a release on Spectrum, but a CPC version was hinted at in issue 4(feb 86) of Amtix on page 55.
Does anyone know what happened to this one?
http://www.cpcwiki.eu/imgs/e/e8/Amtix_04_Page_055.jpg (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/imgs/e/e8/Amtix_04_Page_055.jpg)
Barbarian III ! Complete Barbarian 2 and it says to look out for Barbarian III
Quote from: Devlin on 18:53, 22 March 14
One more to have a look out for? Runes of Zendos. cheesy little half-graphical IF game - I know it got a release on Spectrum, but a CPC version was hinted at in issue 4(feb 86) of Amtix on page 55.
Does anyone know what happened to this one?
http://www.cpcwiki.eu/imgs/e/e8/Amtix_04_Page_055.jpg (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/imgs/e/e8/Amtix_04_Page_055.jpg)
Probably got pulled after that review
saw this ad in AA16 for terra kresta and had a look for the game in cpcgamescd and tacgr and couldnt see it so i would add this to the list of cpc games that werent
Do we know if any coding was started on Dalek Attack on the CPC? Dad wants to know.
iron horse and terra kresta were released on c64.
i have not played them but terra kresta seems to have got some good reviews
Terra Cresta was an odd on one me as well. I remember seeing that same ad in C+VG too.
It was the sequel to Moon Cresta in the arcades, and the prequel to Terra Force, which subsequently never got release on any format (There is a game called Terra Force on the Speccy, but it's not the same one).
I initially thought it was abandoned and they pushed Slap Fight in it's place, but that went to pot when C64 users had a copy.
was reading through AA#4 just now and saw 2 adverts of games that i could not find in the cpcgamebase or on TACGR downloads section.....
cosmic bakery and cyber run and battle stars
here are the ads i have attached the files.
If no-ones mentioned it yet, but there was S.A.T.A.R. from Pandora that looks like never got finished and released.
http://cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=3890 (http://cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=3890)
There was a 'demo' of the game on the Into The Eagles Nest game. Looked like a Starstrike clone - 1st person space shooter.
not Cosmic bakery but Comic bakery... indeed... 8)
Quote from: AMSDOS on 06:32, 05 January 14
I've mentioned the Frak! (http://cpcwiki.eu/imgs/8/84/ACU8506-006.jpg) game before which wasn't released on the Amstrad, I'm unsure if it qualifies for Vaporware though cause I'm not even sure if anything got started. I remember Kev having an interest in this game, though the author didn't want anyone to rewrite it. :'(
Hi, I'm looking for more information about the Amstrad port of Frak! having found and scanned an advert for it (http://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=7583#p77048) in a miscellaneous collection of pages from old magazines. Unfortunately, I didn't think of scanning the other side of the page but I don't think there was any text that would help identify the publication.
Are there any other sources of information about the port? When you say you mentioned it before, are you referring to this post (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/games/missing-games-gtw/msg32099/#msg32099) or something earlier?
Quote from: dboddie on 22:13, 23 April 14
Hi, I'm looking for more information about the Amstrad port of Frak! having found and scanned an advert for it (http://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=7583#p77048) in a miscellaneous collection of pages from old magazines. Unfortunately, I didn't think of scanning the other side of the page but I don't think there was any text that would help identify the publication.
Are there any other sources of information about the port? When you say you mentioned it before, are you referring to this post (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/games/missing-games-gtw/msg32099/#msg32099) or something earlier?
Hello.
I did want to a port of Frak. Our family had a BBC B first before I got my Amstrad. I loved Frak!. I was planning to do a port to the Amstrad. I am sure I asked Orlando first but he didn't want me to make a port because he didn't have any interest in the CPC. At least that is my recollection of it. I never started it.
EDIT: The port I am talking about is not the one mentioned in the advert. The port I am talking about is one I wanted to start 5 years ago or so. Never knew a CPC version was actually advertised!!!
just going through Amtix #1 and found these games that werent -
Metabolis
Thunderbirds
Siege of Earth Trilogy
i looked around in TACGR couldnt find them and looked in the cpcgamescd they didnt show up in that.
Maybe they changed the names of Fornax and Gath in The Seige of War Trilogy ?
Firebird advertised Thunderbirds but it never got released but a Thunderbirds game came out in 1989 by Grandsalm
As for Metabolis no idea on that one never heard anything of it ?
Quote from: dboddie on 22:13, 23 April 14
Hi, I'm looking for more information about the Amstrad port of Frak! having found and scanned an advert for it (http://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=7583#p77048) in a miscellaneous collection of pages from old magazines. Unfortunately, I didn't think of scanning the other side of the page but I don't think there was any text that would help identify the publication.
Unfortunately I don't know much about this game, I only knew about Frak! from an Old Issue of ACU, I posted a link of it, but I guess people missed it?
It's on this page -> http://cpcwiki.eu/imgs/8/84/ACU8506-006.jpg (http://cpcwiki.eu/imgs/8/84/ACU8506-006.jpg) <-
It mentions the BBC version and was written by Aardvark Software, it would probably be useful to add that bit of information to CPC-Power, but I'm afraid that's all the information I have about the game.
QuoteAre there any other sources of information about the port? When you say you mentioned it before, are you referring to this post (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/games/missing-games-gtw/msg32099/#msg32099) or something earlier?
It was probably that post, but that post mentions another post which I think it was discussed even earlier on the now defunct CPC-Zone Forum.
Quote from: AMSDOS on 23:56, 24 April 14
Unfortunately I don't know much about this game, I only knew about Frak! from an Old Issue of ACU, I posted a link of it, but I guess people missed it?
It's on this page -> http://cpcwiki.eu/imgs/8/84/ACU8506-006.jpg (http://cpcwiki.eu/imgs/8/84/ACU8506-006.jpg) <-
Yes, I saw that in another post. It's interesting to read the plans for a competition because it makes it sound like there was something ready to release. :)
I've just read the 'review' of The Amazing Spiderman in ACU which includes a competition in which the game was part of the prize. I wonder if any of the ten winners actually GOT the game?
Also, how about Duck Tales. It was advertised as a Disney Software / Titus Software production and was advertised for the CPC and GX4000. The C64 version did come out so wonder if any work was done on the CPC version.
Quote from: cpc4eva on 13:58, 01 April 14
cosmic bakery
That reminds me! I was always going to complete the COMIC BAKERY musix... and here they are!
Oh yeah! Tune #3 is one of my all-time favourites... great job man!!!
(oh, and I did read the scroller :D )
Quote from: Jonah (Tasteful Mr) Ship on 12:02, 28 April 14
That reminds me! I was always going to complete the COMIC BAKERY musix... and here they are!
yeah i down loaded it and like gryzor said number 3 tune is very good.
Personally, I quite like TUNE 2; and with Dreamfish's (h0ffman) arrangement, it uses enough hardENV to sound different from TUNE 1, which is a traditional arcade-style theme. I did miss the GAME OVER & HIGHSCORE tunes, but they're pretty naff... so I'll only do them if I get bored (and considering I have 10+ projects on the go for CPC and VCS, I reckon that will never happen!)
Quote from: cpc4eva on 21:49, 24 April 14
just going through Amtix #1 and found these games that werent -
On that page, Wanted Monty Mole is listed as due for the Amstrad, but that also never happened. It's predecessor, Monty On The Run was the first to hit the CPC if i recall correctly.
Trantor 2
just saw on Xyphoes vid of trantor at the end screen they said Trantor 2 would be made but never did get released
How about games that could be......take a list of the ones that were not and make new versions?
Whatever happened to GEM SOFT? I'm still sitting here waiting for ROLAND'S REVENGE (the third in their ROLAND series) as promised at the end of ROLAND IN SPACE (http://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=1836).
Quote from: Jonah (Tasteful Mr) Ship on 12:17, 01 June 14
Whatever happened to GEM SOFT? I'm still sitting here waiting for ROLAND'S REVENGE (the third in their ROLAND series) as promised at the end of ROLAND IN SPACE (http://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=1836).
Here you go. ..
(http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/153/5/6/roland_returns_by_carnivius-d7km78v.png)
Ok not really. This just be a mock up of if I had made 'Roland in Space'. 8)
Quote from: dcdrac on 12:07, 01 June 14
How about games that could be......take a list of the ones that were not and make new versions?
Quote from: Carnivac on 18:40, 01 June 14
Here you go. ..
Ok not really. This just be a mock up of if I had made 'Roland in Space'. 8)
Ok, then... how about a CPC-Wiki "ROLAND'S REVENGE" game; using the same impossible gameplay of ROLTIME & ROLSPACE and modern graphics? "Down At Dollis Brook" we go once more! ^_^
EDIT: And when talking mock-ups... it always help to get a "working" copy as well! ^_^
Quote from: Jonah (Tasteful Mr) Ship on 19:16, 01 June 14
EDIT: And when talking mock-ups... it always help to get a "working" copy as well! ^_^
Heh, that's cute. :)
I dunno about 'impossible gameplay' though. I'd like to play one that wasn't insanely difficult and you could actually get to the end of it with some skill. In fact the reason there's a green retro looking ray-gun in the status panel was that I thought it would be nice to be able to stun certain enemies to give you a better chance of getting by them. Of course ammo would be extremely limited so the player would have to decide if it's worth using a shot then or save it for a potentially more tricky bit later. Also the stun effect would take effect maybe 2 seconds after the shot connects, this would allow to shoot a vertically moving enemy from the side and still give it time to move up or down out of your way before it freezes in place. The ray-gun could also have a lesser powerful but infinitely stocked smaller shot which is ineffective on enemies but is used to shoot at switches or other puzzle-related objects. In the mock up you can see green water by the right of the phone box and there's a switch object on the other side of the water with a small metal bridge bit. The idea there was that when you first come out of the phone box there is no bridge bit at all and you shoot across at the switch which makes the bridge extend but it's faulty and so the bridge keeps extending and retracting again automatically so it's still dangerous to cross but is of course much more possible than no bridge at all. I just like little extra gameplay bits like that in addition to the basic avoiding enemies & collecting gems. Of course have the game be completable for lesser skilled players where you don't need alllll the gems but have a special ending for those who perservered and collected 100% of the gems some of which would be in horribly difficult to reach locations. :)
Tell you what though, compared to my other CPC-style projects this one would be frickin' easy. Small sprites, most of which are lucky to have even 2 frames of animation (Roland himself has a 4 frame walk cycle already done... and frame 4 is just frame 2). If most enemies are simply going back and forth across plain black backgrounds (the green and magenta skull head things are moving vertically while the green faced walking things with the brain capsules walk left and right) then they don't even require masks. The flick-screen means no scrolling needed. The tiles are very simple (the rock tile is just three variations of a 4x8 tile... one for top (which works well on it's own as you can see above the phone box), one for wall, and a variation of the wall with grey rocks in it.
I'm quite happy with how Roland himself turned out being a 8x16 sprite and still have a recognisable face and is still using the general colour scheme of the Roland in Space sprite. I even doodled a pic of how he might look on the inlay art and he's turned out looking a bit like Marty McFly with a mixture of his Back to the Future Part 1 and Part 2 outfits in a slightly different colour scheme. And since this incarnation of Roland seems to be a time traveller from the 80's it all makes some sorta weird sense!
Quote from: Jonah (Tasteful Mr) Ship on 12:17, 01 June 14
Whatever happened to GEM SOFT? I'm still sitting here waiting for ROLAND'S REVENGE (the third in their ROLAND series) as promised at the end of ROLAND IN SPACE (http://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=1836).
added to the wiki.
I babble too much. :-[
Quote from: Carnivac on 16:34, 02 June 14
I babble too much. :-[
Less talking, more screenshots :D
Just kidding...
Quote from: CrookieMonster on 20:14, 09 March 14
I'll get a message to Dave who I'm sure will be fine with that and whack it across.
Any news on this, @CrookieMonster (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=340) ?
By the way, here's the RG article:
[attach=2]
It'd certainly be great to have these...
Amstrad Action showed Toki and Judge Dredd
(http://img4.hostingpics.net/thumbs/mini_573874img003.jpg) (http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=573874img003.jpg)
(http://img4.hostingpics.net/thumbs/mini_431141img004.jpg) (http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=431141img004.jpg)
(you can even see how turrican 2 main sprites should have been better on the 2nd one)
Curious. I'd like to know why Turrican was changed from blue to green. I still think it looked great on CPC but just wondering what the reason was for the colour change.
There's a judge dredd game on the amstrad?
Have you guys heard about Excalibur by the Oliver Twins? In the latest Retro Asylum podcast Andrew & Phillip discuss and describe this game that they started developing on the Amstrad: http://retroasylum.podomatic.com/enclosure/2015-05-07T17_07_40-07_00.mp3 (http://retroasylum.podomatic.com/enclosure/2015-05-07T17_07_40-07_00.mp3)
wow, toki! love this game.
i have the original ocean graphics of Toki, and i'm also planning to properly rip the arcade sprites and map tiles :) .
I have the graphics that ocean france used and made on EDWRK (mainly sprites) on atari ST.
Even if he can't pull them out, i have 98% of those :)
There was a soul of Excalibur game i think it was called put out for the PC mastertronic did it for virgn games I think, I have not seen nor heard of a CPC version, mind you I think the CPC could have handled it from disc, it came on a single 3.5 inch disc and was VGA.
(http://img.squakenet.com/snapshot/4980/8725-SpiritofExcalibur.jpg)
Yes. I create own Mastertronic's games list for 1983-1992 years and this game not for CPC.
Virgin Mastertronic publish this game (Spirit of Excalibur) for ST Amiga and PC.
I add this list from my retro magazine - Legends of Bytes (#3).
I do wander if the CPC could have handled it, it looks like the kind of game that would have played to its strengths if a version had been written for it
Quote from: Swainy on 09:28, 09 May 15
Have you guys heard about Excalibur by the Oliver Twins? In the latest Retro Asylum podcast Andrew & Phillip discuss and describe this game that they started developing on the Amstrad: http://retroasylum.podomatic.com/enclosure/2015-05-07T17_07_40-07_00.mp3 (http://retroasylum.podomatic.com/enclosure/2015-05-07T17_07_40-07_00.mp3)
I was just thinking of this.. I saw it mentioned in a business plan they shared with me.. I meant to ask them if anything still existed..
Quote from: seanb on 23:37, 08 May 15
There's a judge dredd game on the amstrad?
Amstrad Computer User reviewed it!
Incidentally, a disc copy for the Spectrum Plus 3 turned up on eBay earlier in the year.. There's now a walkthrough video at :
Judge Dredd Walkthrough, ZX Spectrum - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYt3lnwqBDk)
Now judge dredd available for Speccy +3
I add file .dsk
Less MIA - Judge Dredd (1990)(Virgin Games)[+3 disk] - World of Spectrum (http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/discussion/comment/782622/#Comment_782622)
I'll have to dig out my ACU's to see if I have that issue.
now I'm gutted I only have a spectrum +2a.
Wonder if I can find those instructions to turn it into a +3
You can also load this game in emulators for pc, smartphones, consoles..
Its not the same.
That's why I try to own all the retro machines I intend to play.
In this case I think I'll use an emulator though
Ok. I also have some retro machines.
This game for Speccy is unfinished.
Hi. In my list of Matertronic's games there is no game - Super Car Trans Am (published by Codemasters, 1989 and re-released Virgin Mastertronic Ltd as American Turbo King). This game for ZX and CPC.
I also create a softography of Krisalis/Teque Softw. (from #4 of my magazine). If any want see it, I can post softography there.
Quote from: cherkasy on 16:19, 01 July 15
I also create a softography of Krisalis/Teque Softw. (from #4 of my magazine). If any want see it, I can post softography there.
Yes please.
Softography of Krisalis/Teque Software. I add it from my retro computers magazine - Legends of Bytes (October 2012, #4). Regards, Gennadiy.
Quote from: zeropolis79 on 18:40, 30 June 15
Amstrad Computer User reviewed it!
Incidentally, a disc copy for the Spectrum Plus 3 turned up on eBay earlier in the year.. There's now a walkthrough video at :
Judge Dredd Walkthrough, ZX Spectrum - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYt3lnwqBDk)
I found a full page advert for it including a screenshot for the amstrad in AA 62
just saw this on a FB group ...... Chris Abbott posted "Fun fact: I programmed a version of the "Milk Tray" theme for the Amstrad CPC for a Milk Tray game which was never made (Superior Software)."
the comments section ..........
Chris Abbott Well, "programmed" is a strong word, was using someone else's code.
July 9 at 8:35am
Patrick Furlong Did you code anything for Codemasters?
July 9 at 8:35am
Chris Abbott Nah, just Superior Software (C64, BBC Master Compact and Amstrad, only the BBC work got released) July 9 at 8:36am
Patrick Furlong Thanks.. July 9 at 8:36am
Dave Wyatt I'd love to know if a gameplay synopsis for that game was ever drawn up!
July 10 at 12:42am
Chris Abbott I never saw one, but conversations indicated that it was a load of heroic scenarios, presumably to reach a woman. No real surprises, basically. July 10 at 12:51am