Ghouls & Ghosts Online was planned to be a MMO of CAPCOM’s cult classic Ghouls ‘N Goblins with platforming challenges and hordes of monsters to battle as well as community features like guilds. This project was announced at GDC in 2003 but the ambitious multiplatform MMO never saw the light of day.
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SimMars was a strategy game in development at Maxis around the same time as the release of the wildly popular Maxis game, The Sims. A trailer for the game was included on the SimCity 3000 CD. From the trailer, the premise of the game seemed to be a manned mission to the planet Mars, followed by a terraforming and colonization scenario, typical of the Maxis world-building game style. The game presumed to be an integration of previous Maxis titles presented in 3D, possibly including elements of SimEarth, SimLife, and SimCity.
In The Sims: Vacation, there was an arcade game titled SimMars and it had a detailed description about the game. This may or may not have been the real premise of the game:
“Direct mankind’s first mission to the red planet! Launch rockets and deploy robot probes! Deploy teams to search for alien resources! Establish and run a network of specialized colonies to create a self-sufficient civilization! Provide your colony with food, shelter, and power! Fast, furious, adrenaline-pumping action!”
As of May 12, 2000, Maxis has stated that “SimMars is on hold and we do not have staff at Maxis currently working on the game. With the phenomenal success of The Sims, we’ve decided to move resources to support that franchise as well as other titles that we haven’t even announced yet.”
Some elements of SimMars are used in the upcoming Maxis game Spore. – [Info from Wikipedia]
[Thanks to Solidshake for the contribute!]
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SimsVille was a cancelled computer game from Maxis that was to be a cross between The Sims and SimCity. It was announced before 2000, but cancelled in September 2001. The game was to offer the user control of a multitude of houses in a neighborhood in a fashion similar to The Sims. The cancellation came as Maxis decided to apply more of its staff to development of The Sims products. Many aspects of the game, such as a communal “downtown” area, were incorporated into the third expansion pack for The Sims, Hot Date. Also, several elements of Simsville, such as obtaining feedback from citizens, were used in Maxis’s next city simulation game, SimCity 4. Also, the fully 3D neighborhood view format was also used in The Sims 2.
The trailer can be seen on the SimCity 3000 Unlimited installation CD as well as The Sims: Livin’ Large expansion pack. – [Info from Wikipedia]
[Thanks to Solidshake for these images!]
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TECHNOSAUR was a cancelled computer game development project that started at Jim’s Restaurant late one night, when four game designers from Origin Systems got together to bitch about work over a cheap (and greasy) dinner. Amid ancient, hacking waitresses, soggy blueberry pancakes, and teenage vamps out way past their bedtimes, the idea of a conflict between the most elite military forces of the modern world and a culture of cybernetic, almost alien humans from Earth’s own future began to take form.
Real-time strategy from an overhead vantage, set in a simulated natural environment where rain would fall at random intervals, day would fade to night, fires would spread through fields and forests, and packs of cybernetically augmented velociraptors would shred anything standing in their way…it all sounded like fun. Exciting ideas made even better by an air of subversion.
Over the next 12 months, the project advanced and the team grew. However, things at the parent company “didn’t work out as planned” and the project was eventually cancelled.
[Contribute by Harvey Smith]
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Source: www.planetdeusex.com/witchboy/personalsite/tsaur.htm
The pre-alpha version of StarCraft was still very similar to Warcraft II in terms of user interface and style. After receiving much criticism on the 1996 E3 for this lack of technological improvement, Blizzard started to rework the game engine. This included changing the interface from the distinctive Warcraft II-sidebar to the now common bottom bar. Further improvements included pre-rendered sprites and backgrounds using 3D Studio Max. An isometric view was used, unlike Warcraft II’s top down perspective. – [info from wikipedia]
Thanks to MicroChirp for the contribution!
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[images from www.sclegacy.com]
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