Beta + Cancelled FPS Video Games - Page 49 of 68

Unreal is a FPS developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes and published by GT Interactive in 1998. Originally, Unreal was going to be a Quake-style shooter: earlier screens showed a large status bar and centered weapons, similar to Doom and Quake. The main character was also going to be a woman, however in the final version the main character’s gender is selectable in the game’s “player setup” screen, though the default is a female character named Gina. One of the weapons shown in early screenshots was the “Quadshot”, a four-barreled shotgun. The model remains in-game, while there is no code for the weapon to function. Another weapon shown was a different pistol, however this may have just been an early version of the Automag. At one point the rifle could fire three shots at once, which is wrongly stated as the alternate fire in the Unreal manual that comes with the Unreal Anthology.

As development progressed, various levels were cut from development. A few of these levels reappeared in the Return to Na Pali expansion pack. A number of enemies from early versions are present in the released software but with variations and improvements to their look. One monster that didn’t make the cut was a dragon. [Info from Wikipedia]

Various Unreal beta builds were leaked online and thanks to Leo some of those files were fixed to play them better. You can download these files in here. Some other early demos can be find at Unreal Services:

Unreal TechDemo 1995 (Size: 2.27 MB)
A unique piece of Unreal’s history: A playable technology demo from 1995. The demo contains 5 never seen before maps with textures and music that did not make it into the final game.

Unreal Beta 1997/98 (Size: 141 MB)
Big Unreal demo from 1997, leaked in 1998. An entire beta Unreal version including UnrealED. With many working levels and some levels that are not working or not completed yet. It’s really nice to see how some levels have been improved from this beta on and sad to see that some very good levels have been scrapped later. It also included levels of Return to NaPali, but at that time it was still one game.

Also, if you have some free time you can check this long thread at the Beyond Unreal Forum, in which there are many info on the various beta versions.

Thanks to Leo for the contribution!

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Videos:

Leaked, Others, PC / MAC

Duke Nukem (Lame Duke) [PC – Beta]

U64 Staff & Contributors

07-06-2009

4 Comments

Duke Nukem 3D is a FPS developed by 3D Realms and published by Apogee Software. It was released on January 29, 1996. LameDuke is an early beta version of Duke Nukem 3D, which was released by 3D Realms as a “bonus” one year after the release of the official version. It has been released as is, with no support, and is currently available to download from Fileplanet. LameDuke features four episodes: Mrr Caliber, Mission Cockroach, Suck Hole and Hard Landing. Some weapons and levels were removed and/or altered in the final game. [Infos from Wikipedia]

As we can read from the official 3D Realms website:

What most of the public does not know is that the game was several years in the making, and the development started almost immediately (to the day) after the release of Duke Nukem II (December 10, 1993).
On January 29, 1997, 3D Realms has decided that for the one year anniversary of Duke Nukem 3D, we’d release a sneak peek into the development of the game. Released now is LAMEDUKE. What’s LameDuke? LameDuke is a beta version of Duke Nukem 3D from December 1994.

In the galleries below you can see many images from different Duke Nukem beta builds. The “Older Gallery” contains images that appear to be from a build somewhere between Lameduke and what became the final Duke Nukem 3D, the “Newer Gallery” seems to be a build that can’t be too much earlier than the v0.99 beta that was leaked.

Treasons made a list of the main differences in these screens (check below):

Older Gallery:

These have a different hud, there is a Kill counter in the main hud and it is in what appears to be single player, this is not present in any build I have seen, there is also an orange shape either side of the hud which appears to light up, this may work like the skulls on the hud in Blood where the eyes light up sometimes. the weapons in the hud are 1 to 9 instead of 2 to 10, in some shots the hud has no “Keys” section.
The Silver-gray robotic enemy did not appear in the final game, his art occupies the same tiles as the Assault Trooper in the final game.
Duke1.png has an older version of the scuba gear.
When there is no Hud in the shot it appears duke has an old-fashioned army torch at the lower left, not seen in the final.
In some shots there is a colored dot in the ammo count.
Enforcer enemies have a strange red design that is not present in the final game.
Recon Patrol Vehicles appear different and also seem to be flown by enforcers rather than pig cops.
The overall palette seems marginally different.
The chaingun graphics in later builds are based upon the plasma gun in Duke2.png

Newer Gallery:

In the newer folder, the shots are not too far different to the v0.99 beta
More old scube gear graphics.
the space suit is on in one screen shot (24.png), code exists for it in v0.99 but no build I ever saw had the hud graphics for it that appear here.
The HUD is still a little different but closer to the final, the levels also closely resemble the final build, being marginally different from V0.99.

It is also worth mentioning that a code exists in v0.99 for a flamethrower weapon, dropped from the final game.

There are also some more beta shots on the box of the game, which are different from the actual game, you can find them with more info on Treason‘s website: www.freewebs.com/hctreason/duke3dstuff1.htm

More infos on LameDuke can be found at Planet Duke and GameFAQs! Thanks to SquarePulse for some of the videos and to Treason and JudgeDeadd for the contributions!

More Lameduke Images:

Videos:

Unseen News

The removed Left 4 Dead 2 characters

U64 Staff & Contributors

07-06-2009

No Comments

As we can read from this article from Kotaku, it seems that Valve decided to cut a couple of characters from the original Left 4 Dead 2 cast, changing them with 2 other ones that look more appropiate:

Two characters that didn’t make it into the final version were a female DMV worker-amiable, not stereotypically surly-and a fireman, someone who would know how to expertly use those axes players can now pick up for melee attacks.
But the scrapped DMV employee just wasn’t turn out to be as interesting as originally hoped, dashing Faliszek’s dreams of being able to appeal to real-life DMV workers that he “was the guy who put a nice DMV employee into our game.”
That firefighter just didn’t seem to fit into the world of Left 4 Dead, Faliszek said, not like the new cast, a group of Survivors who will have a more noticeable arc.

Sadly they did not released any image of the 2 removed characters…

Others, PC / MAC

Serious Sam [PC – Beta]

U64 Staff & Contributors

05-06-2009

1 Comment

Serious Sam is a FPS created by the Croatian development team Croteam. originally released for the PC in 2001. My friend Optik found an interesting video from the SS beta in Shadow1665’s Youtube channel, in which we can notice various differences from the final game:

Sounds are different from the final
High score option in the main menu
The Kleers are gold instead of Silver
A more Bright looking Coach Gun Model
Different jump sound for Sam
Rocket Launcher Model
Sams Model

Video:

Leaked, Playstation, Sony

Unreal P [PSX – Cancelled]

monokoma

03-06-2009

3 Comments

The original Unreal is a FPS developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes, released for PC by GT Interactive in May 1998. A playstation port was in development by Pterodactyl Software with new exclusive levels and weapons, but it seems that Infogrames decided to cancel the project for some reasons.

In may 2009 Leo from the Beyond Unreal community was able to get in contact with Kagle, a developer that worked on Unreal PSX: Kangle decided to share some unfinished maps from this unreleased game and Leo edited the original files to make them to work with Unreal PC. Those files can now be downloaded in here, to be preserved and played by the fans!

Here’s a little description of the 2 beta levels:

In the first level, you break into an archaeological excavation where they are digging out a giant alien ship that was buried millenia ago. In part 1, you run across to the ship and turn on its main generator. The generator activates a laser that was removed from the ship and lets you blast through to the elevator shaft to the lower level. In part 2, you have to activate an umbilical tube to connect to the ship, which lets you reach the bottom of the excavation, where you can get inside.
In part two, you enter the ship, which is an alien universe, to contact the alien (I think his name was J’Rath). In part 1, you find yourself in a 3D maze. You have to travel to the end of the maze by removing the barriers blocking you. Each barrier can be removed by going to one of the small pocket worlds and throwing a switch. In part 2, you have to reach the heart of the ship, a pulsing sphere. You follow a short path, fighting tiny monsters and turning switches, until you can get inside. Inside the heart is a series of chambers you have to swim through until you get to J’Rath’s chamber (he appears as a giant eye). The second set of levels is rougher than the first.
These two missions (broken into two pieces each) were set to be played at the end of the second of three acts in the game. Since these levels were so late in the game, they were designed to be difficult for the player to complete.
Since these levels were designed for the PlayStation 1, the levels had to be scaled down to fit into the existing hardware. The limitations placed on the levels were quite draconian and included: a maximum of 3000 polygons per level, low number of visible polygons per room (STAT FPS), a maximum of 3 monsters per room and fewer in rooms with high polygons.
With such restrictions in place, I agreed to create levels with a less combative and more puzzle-oriented approach. In order to avoid large-scale combats, emphasis was placed on jumping puzzles. Levels were organized so the player would have to return to the same locations repeatedly to save space and give the impression of longer gameplay.

Huge props to Leo and Kagle for preserving these lost levels and sharing them with the community!

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