SuperiorVersion

The Simpsons : Racing [Xbox / ?? ] [Unreleased]

Andrew Borman — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:25:03 +0000

Digging through some of my Alpha Xbox's files in my spare time (since I don't have access to the kit here), once in a while I come across something nice. And here was today's discovery:

Since it was in the Road Rage files, it's pretty safe to assume that Racing turned into Road Rage, but it's still an interesting look at the development of the game.

Travel through the Wormhole : A Stargate SG-1 : The Alliance Interview

Andrew Borman — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 00:46:05 +0000

The Stargate franchise began over 15 years ago with the release of the Roland Emmerich directed feature film, simply titled Stargate. While the film has yet to get any sequels from the original creators as it was intended, the movie has spawned three TV spin-offs: Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and the newest, Stargate Universe, which combined have had a total of 16 seasons, containing over 300 episodes, with more Universe on the way. Gamers have continually been left in the cold though, with little to show for their devotion to the series.

During the 15 years the Stargate franchise has existed, there has been a total of one video game that has officially been released, based on the movie that started it all, and one pinball game based on the same movie. It wasn’t without trying, however, as a game based on the SG-1 series was attempted and cancelled by Perception Studios, called Stargate SG-1: The Alliance, and a Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Game (MMORPG) called Stargate Worlds based on the television shows is on hold by its creator Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment while it finishes a third person shooter called Stargate Resistance. Popular Stargate fansite GateWorld.net has gone so far as to call this the “Stargate video game curse”.

I was lucky enough to have a chance to ask some questions to Viljar Sommerback, who was the lead designer on Stargate SG-1: The Alliance, and even discover an unknown game based in the Pegasus Galaxy!

SuperiorVersion : What was your primary roll on the project?

Viljar Sommerback : I was the lead designer on the project. That involved designing and tweaking the core gameplay, the user interface, designing levels with the level designers, writing and maintaining game design documents etc.

SV : How far along was the game at its cancellation? Was it at a state where it was playable for most of the way through the game, or were certain concepts and worlds still being worked on?

Viljar : We had just passed alpha when the game was canceled, so the game was playable most of the way. All levels and functionality were in, but there were a lot of polish and bug fixing left to be done.

SV : What sort of support did the team receive from MGM and others that had worked on the SG-1 TV show?

Viljar : The creative people from the show were very helpful. The actors themselves went to great lengths when they recorded the script, and I would say they went beyond the call of duity when it came to delivering one-lines, and variations on them, for the interative combat and ambience chatter. I really liked how that system worked out in the end, together with the voice work that the actors did. Peter DeLuise (Editor note: Served as a producer, writer, director, and creative consultant on SG-1, along with work on Atlantis and Universe) was there for the entire voice recording and directed/oversaw it.

The script we made was commented on. Some of the game features were also commented on, in order to make sure that they stayed true to the spirit and lore of the Stargate universe. We got 3d face scans of all the members of the SG-1 team. Richard Dean Anderson even went to E3 to promote the game! All in all I would say that we got great support with the production of the game from the creative talents that worked on the show.

SV : Was the game to end in a cliffhanger, or in a way that would leave the option of a sequel if the game was completed as it was intended?

Viljar : The game would come to a satisfying conclusion. however, as always, at least one of the main villains gets away. It is also possible that because of things that happened in SGTA, other enemies would come to possess knowledge that would send them earth’s way. I don’t know if a straight sequel would have been made, but it is possible that we would have used facets from the ending in future games.

SV : Something that was unclear based on the amount of media released, but were there any ties to the Stargate Atlantis TV show, whether it be a casual mention, or full-blown discoveries related to the Ancient city?

Viljar : There were no ties to Atlantis with the SGTA game, but we were in pre-pre production, if there is such a production stage, of an RPG that would have taken place in the Pegasus galaxy. It was very early days, but I thought the initial concept was very exciting. i was only involved with that indirectly at that stage, though.

There were talks about having the new enemy that we came up with, the Haaken, in the SG-1 TV series. Failing that, the Haaken would probably have gotten a brief mention in dialogue, at least. Either way would have been very exciting for us, as many of us at Perception were die-hard Stargate fans, and would have loved to contribute to the franchise in such a way.

SV : What was the final thing that caused the game to be cancelled? Was it a time issue, developmental, or something else entirely?

Viljar : We had a falling out with the original publisher, the deetails of which I am not completely sure of. It ended up with a legal battle after the game was canceled. We were trying to secure a new publisher for the game for as long as we could, but we didn’t manage to find anyone that MGM would approve of.

SV : And finally, is there anything that you would really like to see from the game incorporated into more games today? is there anything in particular that you were extremely proud of, whether it was something you worked on, the team itself, or otherwise that you know would have gotten the Stargate fans excited?

Viljar : SGTA was a 1st person shooter, but relying on tactical use of the NPC team members to progress. It was a linear game, so the path to follow was pretty straight forward. However, good gameplay is about interesting and meaningful choice, and we tried to provide that by giving players a wide array of options in how to deal with the various situations and challenges we threw at them, even if the environment didn’t allow for sandbox exploration.

That meant in most cases, if it moved, you would have to kill it. However, rather than only giving the player the choice to use a grenade, or a machine gun, or a melee weapon, we also gave the player the option to use some special abilities depending on which character he was playing as, or to use the NPC team actively. He could tell the other team members as a group to either take cover or shoot a designated target. He could order individual team members to take cover or shoot a defined target, or tell them to use their special abilities on the target. Situations that seemed similar to each other could play out differently depending on which character you were playing as yourself, and which characters were able to give orders to.

If the player wanted to, he could of course play the game as a straight forward shooter and ignore the team aspect, but that would have been his choice, in which case it is fine. It should be the player’s game, not the game designer’s game. But the “all guns blazing” approach would definitely not be the easiest option in our case.

The point I’m trying to make is that I would like to see some more interesting options in dealing with enemies in games, even 1st person shooters. By that I mean not just which gun to use, or taking the left or right path, but some actual choice. There are of course games that allow for more options, but it seems to me that many of the big selling titles don’t.

As for things for Stargate fans to be excited about aside from the fact it would have been a fun game, is attention to detail regarding the lore and the Stargate “feel”, I think. we had to take some liberties, it was a game after all, but I believe we stayed true to the spirit of SG-1, something that we had fans test the game for us, and when we showed it to journalists that were fans of the show. Also, we had a large variety of worlds/areas to visit--some that fans would recognize, and some that were of our own creation.

I’d like to thank Viljar for taking time out of his day during the busy holiday season to answer some of my questions, and for providing insight on a game that sadly none of us will likely get to experience ourselves.

Now all that we Stargate fans have to do is sit and wait for a game to finally release, by a different group of people of course, and hope it was worth the wait all these years.

Simpsons : Road Rage e3 50% Complete More Gameplay [Xbox Alpha - Prototype]

Andrew Borman — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:37:28 +0000

Xbox Alpha Development Kit : December 2000 Dashboard

Andrew Borman — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:26:37 +0000

Notice the ABC button layout, rather then the ABXY of the final Xbox that we all love or hate.

Dark Summit [Xbox Alpha - Prototype]

Andrew Borman — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:00:34 +0000

Debug version!

Simpsons Road Rage [Xbox Alpha - e3 50% preview]

Andrew Borman — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:24:48 +0000

A.I. The Circuit : Unfinished Stages [Xbox Alpha - Unreleased]

Andrew Borman — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:23:39 +0000

Managed to get some more levels loading, though the lighting is incomplete / non-existant. I tried to get you the best look at the backgrounds that I could manage, however.

A.I. The Circuit : Videos [Xbox Alpha - Unreleased]

Andrew Borman — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:15:40 +0000

This first one was posted in the updated article, but the other two are new for the site. Enjoy this exclusive look at A.I. The Circuit, by Radical Entertainment!

Read on to view the other two videos!

A.I. The Circuit [Xbox - Unreleased]

Andrew Borman — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:19:47 +0000

Update: Video is now available!

A.I. The Circuit is a game that was in development at Sleepytime Productions over at Radical Entertainment studios, quite some time before the Xbox launched. This prototype was found on an Alpha Xbox 1 Development Kit, which consists of a modified PC, in a special computer tower. It was found along with several other Radical Entertainment titles.

According to Monokoma over at Unseen64.net, this title may be the third and final of the planned series of games based on the A.I. movie, as the other two titles are known but also went unreleased.

Gameplay consists of what is basically a 3d fighter / brawler. The first character, Al, shoots flames out of the device on his arm, along with standard kicking and grappling. Keep in mind this is all extremely early code, so it doesn't always work all that well.

Want More Video? Click Me!

Below are screenshots taken from the game using the Xbox Software Development Kit. Unfortunately, the game does not always function correctly. The second character in the character select freezes the development box, while the other models seem to load, most if the time anyway. Most of the options in the menu are unselectable, or some that allow selection also cause the box to freeze up. Video will follow sometime after these screenshots.

Modnation Racers Beta Images 720p HD

Andrew Borman — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:25:30 +0000