Cancelled Projects

Here is a collection of visuals from some of the many Windows projects that were started but remain unfinished and abandoned.
 
   
 

Urusei Yatsura Collection
Beginning life as a Space Harrier clone (in which the gameplay was pretty much completed, with some success, in the development package DIV), this then branched into a series of titles based around the popular manga and anime.

The first title was originally called Harrier Angel, and featured a Lum-style character with wings, until the decision was made to tie it in with the Urusei Yatsura universe.

 
   
   
   
   
   
  The next title was a horizontal shoot 'em up featuring jetbike rider and all round weapons fanatic Benten. I mocked up some simple parallax in The Games Factory, which looked quite good, but it never got further than that. The backdrops were grabbed straight from the anime.  
   
   
   
   
   
  The third title was centered around the character of Oyuki. I don't even remember what this was going to be.  
   
     
 

Super Willow Crusher
Conceived as a horizontal shoot 'em up, then as more of a Cybernoid-style exploration shooter, this game never got past the initial graphic stages with some animation tests.

 
   
   
   
     
 

Thanatos
Only a brief start was made on this retro remake. It was going to be entered for a remake competition until we found out that they were probably more interested in 3D re-imaginings of old titles than faithful remakes.

 
   
 

Quiz PC Engine
Taking influence from the Japanese style multiple choice quiz games, Quiz PC Engine was a spiritual successor to my Amiga title 'Quiz Arcade'. It was to feature questions based around the games of the PC Engine (Turbografx-16) console. The concept for the main play area would be for the player to be represented by the PC Genjin (Bonk) character on a map, defeating enemies when questions are answered correctly. Many questions were written, and screenshots were grabbed which would appear on the right hand side of the display. The main play area is constructed of graphics from various games. Programming was never started (or if it was, I never saw any results of it). Below is a mock-up of the play area.
CLICK THE IMAGE FOR A LARGER VIEW

  
   
     
  Tiny Peter
The concept of this game was to take traditional Jet Set Willy style gameplay (precise platform jumping and dodging) and instead of many scrolling or flip-screens, have the whole area map on a single screen with tiny sprites. The plan was to have the game designed so people could easily create new maps - they would have a .bmp image made from simple colours (representing collision boxes, slopes, danger areas) and then a .bmp with the actual visuals. With some simplistic coding to set moving platforms, number of lives etc. it would have become a great way to make unique and interesting platform game levels. As usual, programming never got past some very basic initial tests. Years later, it seems something similar has been released on the Xbox (without the level creation tools). Most good ideas I have end up being made by someone else, years after I have them.
Such is life.
CLICK THE IMAGE FOR A LARGER VIEW		  
   
     
  Hyper Star Soldier
This was going to be an homage to the series of vertical shoot 'em ups by Hudson Soft on the PC Engine. I took various graphics from these games (Gunhed, Super Star Soldier, Soldier Blade & Final Soldier) and cleaned them up for a higher resolution. Nothing more than these images below was completed. The robot with wings was just recoloured from a large sprite, not redrawn. 		 
   
   
 

Space Harrier Sigma
This game was going to kick serious buttock. An authentic Space Harrier experience, but with graphics from PC Engine games, redrawn in high resolution. There were some great ideas for tunnel-like bonus stages and multiple endings and it looked like this was going to properly get done. Initial tests on getting the floor to look right were very promising. However, programming stalled which killed the project in its tracks.

You can download an early test .exe here. Use arrow keys to move and left Ctrl to fire. This may very well crash, and you run at your own risk.

Here is an initial rough of a title screen, with unfinished cutout. The Harrier image would have probably been traced and cleaned up when finished.

 
   
  Below are some samples of backdrops that would have been used. They are mocked up with the arcade floor so I could test what colour schemes were most effective.  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 

Here are many sprites that were redrawn at a higher resolution for the game. Some are unfinished.
CLICK THE IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW

 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Here are some of the boss concepts, redrawing was unfinished.