[TheZombieKiller]

Manhattan Project has a first person mode

[Marphy Black]

Just happened to stumble across a decent quality scan of that high resolution Cycloid Emperor that's been seen floating around from time to time:



Source: 64 Solutions 03

[MrFlibble]

Here's a little trivia that is hopefully appropriate here. A while ago I got interested in Pie in the Sky's 3D Game Creation System. There are quite a few titles of varying quality created with it, but probably the most well known one that Pie in the Sky developed themselves is Lethal Tender. However, the company also released several demo games to promote 3DGCS and showcase its features.

What seems to be the earliest of these demos is a one level game called Meltdown. It was found on a certain gamazine cover disk thanks to Hallfiry's cover CD catalogue. Meltdown is a one-level demo which shows some basic gameplay (find weapon, shoot stuff, find keys, find exit etc.).

Now for the interesting part. The level design and texture artwork in the demo are credited to one Terry F. Hamel. MobyGames has a developer called Terry Hamel in their database, and this person was involved in the production of Blood. I decided to check if it was the same guy or not, and luckily Google Groups preserved a copy of Terry Hamel's virtual resume which confirms that it is indeed the same person:

Quote

Created and updated textures, animated characters, objects and segments,
splash pages and storyboards for Blood, a first person 3D action for the PC
developed by Q Studio's for 3DRealms.

Developed computer demo for Pie in the Sky Software, including sound effects,
textures and levels.

Here's a couple of shots from Meltdown:

Spoiler

The game itself can be downloaded here:

• early version: MELTDOWN.ZIP
  
• later version: gsdem2.zip

Additionally, the readme which is included with the game indicates that Terry Hamel developed an industrial-themed texture pack for use with the 3DGCS called Styx & Stones. This pack is featured on the Pie in the Sky Software's website (Wayback Machine copy) as the GCS Industrial Theme Art Pack.

[brullov]

I have found this disc.





From txt:

ANTI 		<DIR> Antiviruses
DUKEATOM 	<DIR> Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition 1.4
HUNTER   	<DIR> Hunter Hunted
LORDS2   	<DIR> Lords of Realms 2
ORION2   	<DIR> Master of Orion 2
REDALERT 	<DIR> Command & Conquer: Red Alert
SWIV3D   	<DIR> SWIV 3D
TOMB 		<DIR> Tomb Rider
UTILS    	<DIR> Microsoft DirectX 3 („«п § ЇгбЄб  ЁЈа ў WINDOWS 95)
WARWIND  	<DIR> War Wind Version 1.0

On the disc you can see Duke without sunglasses. May be it is unused illustration for DN 2?

[Daedolon]

That's a generic picture used in many shovelware CDs. I have a Command & Conquer shovelware CD with that picture on it. No way related to Duke.

[brullov]

Daedolon, on 27 March 2015 - 01:15 PM, said:

That's a generic picture used in many shovelware CDs. I have a Command & Conquer shovelware CD with that picture on it. No way related to Duke.

Oh, but this guy has the same style of clothes.

[Fox]

http://tvtropes.org/...ryColorChampion

[brullov]

Fox, on 27 March 2015 - 01:39 PM, said:

http://tvtropes.org/...ryColorChampion

Ok, but what about his body? Only hair have wrong colour. Anyway he reminds me Duke. No one else.

[Daedolon]

Artem Nevinchany, on 27 March 2015 - 01:29 PM, said:

Oh, but this guy has the same style of clothes.

The CD you just showed was just colorized.

I'm not at home so I grabbed one picture from eBay:


I'd show you the Duke Nukem 3D version of the Action Ware shovelware CD if I was at home as well.

Here's another character that's used in several shovelware CD releases:


I think there might've been a shareware version of Duke Nukem II with this cover art as well.

[Fox]

Spoiler

[Lunick]

Fox, on 05 April 2015 - 10:29 AM, said:

Spoiler

Omg, there is so much to discuss and question about those screenshots.

[Fox]

What I have noticed:

Duke 64
- The truck in Gun Crazy uses the firetruck texture, and the door on the back is different.
- The split screen game show icons instead of the weapons, and it uses the red menu font from the PC.
- The guy on the left in the Good Old Boys poster is not bald or is wearing a hat.
- The single-player status bar on two players split screen game.
- The cinema is playing "Attack of the 50ft Nukem".
- The Expander doesn't have the antenna and the crystal is red.
- A relatively small Cycloid Emperor on an unknown area.
- The shotgun is rendered from a different angle.
- A new pick-up sprite for pistol.

Total Meltdown
- A lot of PC sprites in 8-bit.
- Unknown area (I suspect it's an early design for the yellow access card room in Trackside Tragedy).
- An interesting rendering of the title screen.

[dnskill]

Also a bit OT but notice the Goldeneye 64 screenshot? It looks like a sprite HUD weapon instead of polygons.

Anyways, that pickup item for the pistol looks a lot like the concept art for DN64 you (Fox) posted in the past.

[LeoD]

Sounds quite familiar doesn't it? Why call it 'original'?

[Daedolon]

I'm not catching it and I'm usually hearing these things from the most subtlest of things that others don't pick up on.

[LeoD]

 Daedolon, on 10 April 2015 - 05:06 PM, said:

I'm not catching it and I'm usually hearing these things from the most subtlest of things that others don't pick up on.

Fire up E2L7.

[Daedolon]

I was thinking you were referring to Alienz, but I still don't hear it.

[brullov]

 Daedolon, on 11 April 2015 - 06:51 AM, said:

I was thinking you were referring to Alienz, but I still don't hear it.

Same for me, I remembered the Alienz, but the music isn't too similar.

[Hendricks266]

The "pulsing low synth" instrument is the only thing I hear in common. It can be found elsewhere:

[Salvation]

In my opinion, Hofbahn - Decay sounds more like a Lunar Reactor instead of College & Electric Youth - A real hero.

Btw, how old is that song?

[Rellik]

Near as I can tell, the Hofbahn - Decay song was included on a compilation album called Correspondant which was released on March 24 2014.

Also, According to their website, they started in 2012. So uh, case closed?

If anything, Alienz inspired Hofbahn.

Oh, and for reference:

[Hendricks266]

 Salvation, on 13 April 2015 - 09:24 AM, said:

In my opinion, Hofbahn - Decay sounds more like a Lunar Reactor instead of College & Electric Youth - A real hero.

 Rellik, on 13 April 2015 - 10:45 AM, said:

If anything, Alienz inspired Hofbahn.

There is no link between these two tracks, other than a coincidental use of the same instrument. Even that isn't particularly special: in the case of Alienz, it's just General MIDI instrument #38, Synth Bass.

[Fox]

Nightmare Zone with a different door texture.

Spoiler

[Daedolon]

Spin Cycle, yeah!

[Fox]

According to the magazine, Ministry of Fear is based on "Beverly Hills VIII" (I am not sure if that's movie, TV series or place, possibly an alternate name in French). Independence Day and Aliens is also mentioned as the inspiration for the new levels, which probably refers to Alien Rendezvous. So that's good to know.

Edit: The magazine mentions there are 6 new levels in the PSX version, however there are 7 in the final version if you including Quirk of Fate. And Quirk of Fate should count, since the magazine mentions the game has a total of 44 levels, which is only possible if you include Butt Kicking Zone. But if you include Butt Kicking Zone it makes a total of 45 levels. So one level was not made yet, which was Trackside Tragedy, Gates Motel or Quirk of Fate.

[Daedolon]

Isn't Butt Kicking Zone the episode name for the multiplayer maps?

[Fox]

Yes.

[Fox]

Does anyone know when was the first time the Devastator has been portrayed as a single-weapon with two cannons?

[Hendricks266]

 Fox, on 23 April 2015 - 10:13 PM, said:

Does anyone know when was the first time the Devastator has been portrayed as a single-weapon with two cannons?

If you ran the Computer Gaming World demo with v1.3D ART and edited the RAM of the game to select the "Cycloid Weapon", you may get a partial answer to your question.

[Fox]

I meant when it has been decided that the weapon is not an akimbo rocket launcher, as it could be interpreted back then.