RTS

State of Crisis [Cancelled / Prototype – PS3, Xbox 360, PC]

State of Crisis is a cancelled real time strategy first person shooter that was in development in 2010 / 2011 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC by french studio Darkworks. After Ubisoft took away I Am Alive from Darkworks in 2008 to make it finish to Ubisoft Shanghai, the team tried to create many different prototypes to pitch to publishers, to get another contract to survive. We can assume that at the time Darkworks tough that shooters were the most marketable genre to be greenlighted by publishers, so they conceived a few ones (State of Crisis, Black Dead, The Deep) with interesting / original features.

In State of Crisis players would have been able to switch to different teammates in real time, to use a satellite to get strategical information about the enemies and the area, to interact with electronic devices and to requests laser attacks from above. For example we could have been able to study the map of the building in which we would have entered to, checking if there were lights to deactivate to hide in the darkness, to mark enemies and see their position on the map, to place beacon to track an helicopter and destroying it with a powerful laser shoot from the satellite.

To use ammos, the satellite and to hack devices would have cost a certain sum of money from a limited budget for the mission and at the end of each level one could have seen how much the team spent to save the place from terrorists. As far as we can gain from the prototype demo, State of Crisis could have been divided in many different missions to complete as fast as possible and by spending as less money as possible, to gain an higher final score or to save funds to buy better equipment.

Unfortunately Darkworks were not able to find any publisher to fund State of Crisis and the game was quietly cancelled. In 2012 the company was placed into compulsory liquidation and then closed down. In about 15 years of activity, Darkworks were able to successfully complete and release only 2 games (Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare in 2001 and Cold Fear in 2005), while all their other projects were either cancelled or moved to other developers: a sad ending for one of the most interesting gaming studios in Europe.

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Terrorforge [Cancelled/Concept – PS Vita]

Terrorforge was a cancelled RTS game that was briefly being worked on at Cohort Studios in Dundee, Scotland during 2010. It was a concept developed in under a month for publisher, Sony Computer Entertainment. Had full development on the game been green-lit, it would have been a Playstation Vita exclusive title with a release targeted around the system’s launch in late 2011/early 2012.

The game was one of many concepts worked on by Cohort during their partnership with SCEE, which was originally struck when they collaborated to produce the Buzz! Junior series. According to our sources, it was a small secondary project pitched during production on The Shoot for PS3.

It was imagined as a strategy-action experience with similarities to a god game, in which the player assumes the role of mother nature to assist humanity in defending Earth from a highly advanced race of alien invaders. At your disposal would have been the ability to manipulate terrain, as well as the power to summon earthquakes, spontaneous volcanism, and other forces of nature like tornadoes.

It was planned to be controlled primarily using the Vita’s touch screen and pad. Although the Vita, which was then codenamed “NGP” (Next Generation Portable), had not been formally announced by Sony, Cohort’s staff were already privy to its existence and some of its features as a trusted partner. They joined a number of developers around the world introduced to the new system early to begin proposing games for it. Terrorforge never entered production, or even the prototyping phase, before being turned down by Sony’s management for publishing. 

Emperor [DS – Cancelled]

Emperor is a cancelled Real Time Strategy game that was in development by Frame Studios for the Nintendo DS. The player would have been able to control one of three important civilizations: Romans, Greeks or Egyptians, and start his campaign to build a new Empire, conquer the known World and change History. Probably Frame Studios was not able to find a publisher interested in the game and Emperor was never released.

Thanks to Celine for the contribution!

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Galaxy’s End [PSP – Cancelled]

Galaxy’s End is an unreleased science-fiction RTS developed by Tiki Games for the PSP. The game received Stage 1 Approval from SCEA but they did not found a publisher interested in releasing the project. With the introduction of the Playstation Store for the PSP, Galaxy’s End could be completed at some point. As we can read on Joystick:

“When we started Galaxy’s End we absolutely needed a publisher at some point – not just for the financial aspect but to get it into stores. Now that the PLAYSTATION Store has been added for the PSP we have the opportunity to finish the game and release it as a digital download (like NOVASTRIKE).”

“Quite frankly we don’t have the finances to finish Galaxy’s End right now. So we’ll likely have to look for another loan. And I’ll need to convince my family (who are presently self-funding Tiki Games) that there’s a large enough audience that would be willing to purchase a downloadable real-time strategy game for the PSP.”

In the gallery below you can see work-in-progress screenshots and a gameplay movie. If you are interested in learning more about Tiki Games, the team members and Galaxy’s End, you can check their website at www.tikigames.net

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Star Trek: Tactical Assault [Beta – PSP]

The only Star Trek game on the PSP, Star Trek Tactical Assault featured two mission campaigns based around the original Star Trek films era. However, there were a number of elements left out of the main game, but which remain accessible.

The first is a debug mode, where the player can select any ship on a particular level to play. It also includes a camera function to look at ships from different angles. Debug information such as FPS could also be seen.

The E3 demo is hidden in the game’s content and can be accessed through CWCheat codes. It is very similar to the first mission in the game.

There are two other unused missions (one Federation, one Klingon), as well as a “combat test”. This seems to be a Skirmish mode mission with a set number of ships.

The game has a number of unused models, which seem to be from the original TV show rather than the films. The main one is a planet killer from The Doomsday Machine. It is not to scale, though.


There are two shuttle models (albeit without textures), one from the original show and one from the first film. The models can be flown like any other ship in the game, although the animation is jittery at times.

There is more information at Edward Kirk‘s website:
http://zenade.angelfire.com/STTA/debug.html