Help to rediscover another unknown Ami game!

Bernd · 27 August 2003, 22:58

Recently BTTR colleague Bobic attended a software tradeshow where he had the oppurtunity to speak to the management director of a certain (relatively unknown) company.
This person reported about three lost Amiga games on which he had worked. According to him any titles were technically
brilliant and were sold to various reputed companies including Psygnosis, who however never released any of these games
due to the well known situation on the Amiga market in the mid 90's.

Two of these games (there are btw no names for them) are probably definitely lost. At least that guy does not have copies anymore. The third and best title exists as a beta/demo version. However, there is a problem: The game consists of two ASM code fragments. One is of the above person, the other part of his coder fellow who has unfortunately already passed away. He is now looking for an Amiga ASM specialist who could get into these sources, put them together and compile the game. According to what he has said it is probably no trivial job at all.

So if you are experienced in ASM and would like to help please get in contact with Bobic (bobic@back2roots.org). He will then give you further details. But please note that we cannot promise anything. Probably it will already take a long time until that manager will get back to us and provide the source files. You know how busy these people are...

Some final motivation to get it done is that the game is allegedly even better than the milestone Lionheart! Some key features of that games are 100s of colours and higher resolution than 320*256 even on a 1MB A500 (something like "Universe"), parallax scrolling and 2-player splitscreen mode.

Once again I would like to stress that any information was provided by that developer and now managing director. It sounds so stunning we sometimes think he must lie or dream

But why should he?

Please contact us if you can help. Thank you for your attention.

Amiga1992 · 27 August 2003, 23:55

You think we can repeate the level of success of Liquid Kids? I do

with help of CodyJarrett I will knock up a site for this joint alliance of Amiga preservationists. I suppose the CAPS team's participation in this is very necessary!

Fred the Fop · 28 August 2003, 02:38

Liquid Kids was found?

Amiga1992 · 28 August 2003, 03:46

Quote:

Originally posted by Frederic
Liquid Kids was found?

Do you live in an oyster?

clicky!

rattus · 28 August 2003, 05:18

flipping hell!

I wasn't told about this!

someone quick! make a WHDload install!

I know it's still not as good as New Zealand Story but this is still pretty cool

Amiga1992 · 28 August 2003, 05:40

Quote:

Originally posted by rattus
someone quick! make a WHDload install!

Do you live in a tulip?

Clicky!
Work on the slave started only minutes after the game got released here. Talk about fast, just like in the good old days!

BTW, it's MUCH better than TNZS. Smoother and nicer.

7-Zark-7 · 28 August 2003, 17:19

If Psygnosis was involved, maybe someone should alert From Within & see if he knows anything about these unnamed games?

Bobic · 28 August 2003, 17:41

Galahad or Codetapper, what do you think about this project? Do you think you could help this manager with compiling the source code?

You should also know, that this guy has created a copy protection, which - he said - really is uncrackable! He's 100% sure about that. His copy protection reads the magnetic track of the disk. If something is changed there, or if anyone tries to copy the game, it will never load again. He told me so much about this protection. Unfortunately I can't remember all features and I'm not an expert when it comes to technical things, but everything sounded very impressive. As far as I can remember this copy protection is also part of this source code.

Is anyone interested to beat this challenge? Come on and help this former Amiga programmer.

Amiga1992 · 28 August 2003, 17:50

Uhmm...

I'm not the most knowledgeable in coding, but if he has the source code, there's nothing to 'crack' in there. Unless he was extremely dumb and encrypted the source code, for god knows what daft reasons.

He might have the source to teh copy protection in there, otherwise, i don't understand what he';s talking about.

and let's remember nothing is uncrackable (read: CPS2 boards encryption

)

Looking forward to this new challenge!

fiath · 28 August 2003, 18:11

Doesn't that mean you would not be able to assemble the thing and have it work without removing the protection checks...?

I can't see how it can be uncrackable though. When the game is mastered - it is set in stone - it is only a matter of time before somebody finds where the protection checks are and NOP's them - even if the code is encrypted, these things can (usually) be traced to see what the loader is doing to find out.

Galahad/FLT · 28 August 2003, 21:36

Give me what you can and we'll go from there.

There is NO such thing as an uncrackable Amiga game

Twistin'Ghost · 30 August 2003, 10:09

Quote:

Originally posted by Akira
Do you live in an oyster?
clicky!

I have been in an oyster and this was my first reading of the game being released. I obviously missed the Zone appearance, as well as the announcement. Be still my beating heart!

So, who will name this new game if it actually all comes together?

Bobic · 02 September 2003, 18:03

The game (the one which is technically better than Lionheart and has this "uncrackable" copy protection) is called "Dämonenburg" (english name: Demon Castle). More news about this game and the process to rescue it will follow in the next weeks.

We also have a chance to get another unreleased Amiga game from this programmer. The company who bought this game doesn't exist any longer. He might have a copy of this game in his archive, but he needs time to look carefully through all his stuff... This could also take a while.

Btw - did you know that there was another Amiga game from Team 17? Another one which was finished, but which has never been released? It was done by Andreas Tadic and Rico Holmes. Unfortunately it seemed that the source files, source code and the master disk is lost forever. Nobody at Team 17 has it any longer :-(. Just wanted to mention that.

Amiga1992 · 02 September 2003, 20:28

Bobic:

Please talk with BernD about what I sent him through PM. I am answsering to him and will CC to you, so you are aware of everything.

the wolf · 03 September 2003, 00:35

Quote:

Originally posted by Bobic
Did you know that there was another Amiga game from Team 17? Another one which was finished, but which has never been released? It was done by Andreas Tadic and Rico Holmes.

Hmmm... from my knowledge the missing Team 17 titles are:

Final Over (a cricket game)
King of Thieves (a medieval Alien Breed clone)
Pussies Galore (platform with a cat)

All titles were in project between 1994 and 95...
Andreas and Rico surely have worked on King of Thieves...

Codetapper · 03 September 2003, 00:47

Rulio (who works at Team 17) asked Martyn Brown for me about "Final Over" - it will never be released as the programmer that was working on it just disappeared one day. Team 17 tried to contact him and got hold of his father who told him that he had vanished. Martyn reckoned it was about 70% complete but not ready for release. They never managed to contact him again.

However these lost games are not quite so bad if they were never actually finished. It's the completed games that are lost that are the real worry!

Galahad/FLT · 03 September 2003, 18:13

and Witchwood didn't get very far beyond having different graphics in the Alien Breed game engine.

Witchwood was delayed, and then canned for good when a bunch of muppets sauntered in with The Speris Legacy.

the wolf · 03 September 2003, 20:55

Quote:

Originally posted by Galahad/FLT
Witchwood was delayed, and then canned for good when a bunch of muppets sauntered in with The Speris Legacy.

Uh? Sorry, but Witchwood isn't the pre-working title of Speris Legacy?

DrBong · 03 September 2003, 22:03

Quote:

Originally posted by Codetapper
Rulio (who works at Team 17) asked Martyn Brown for me about "Final Over" - it will never be released as the programmer that was working on it just disappeared one day. Team 17 tried to contact him and got hold of his father who told him that he had vanished. Martyn reckoned it was about 70% complete but not ready for release. They never managed to contact him again.

However these lost games are not quite so bad if they were never actually finished. It's the completed games that are lost that are the real worry!

You've obviously been watching too much rugby!!!

This is an Amiga cricket game you're talking about!!!

And a bloody good-looking one by Team 17 no less!!! Finished or unfinished......all Amiga cricket nutters should be extremely disturbed that it never saw the light of day!!!

Right! I'm off to whack some sixes in Gooch to soothe my nerves!

Codetapper · 04 September 2003, 01:19

Quote:

Originally posted by DrBong
You've obviously been watching too much rugby!!! This is an Amiga cricket game you're talking about!!! And a bloody good-looking one by Team 17 no less!!! Finished or unfinished......all Amiga cricket nutters should be extremely disturbed that it never saw the light of day!!! Right! I'm off to whack some sixes in Gooch to soothe my nerves!

Of course I know it's a cricket game! Team 17 actually had nothing to do with it other than getting Bjorn Lynn to do some music for it. It was all coded by one guy who didn't actually work at Team 17 so I don't really see it as a real Team 17 release. Otherwise if there is a version at Team 17 I'm sure we would be able to get our mits on it...

Martyn was also sad that it wasn't released as he thought it would do well...

27 August 2003, 22:58	#1
Bernd Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 164	Help to rediscover another unknown Ami game! Recently BTTR colleague Bobic attended a software tradeshow where he had the oppurtunity to speak to the management director of a certain (relatively unknown) company. This person reported about three lost Amiga games on which he had worked. According to him any titles were technically brilliant and were sold to various reputed companies including Psygnosis, who however never released any of these games due to the well known situation on the Amiga market in the mid 90's. Two of these games (there are btw no names for them) are probably definitely lost. At least that guy does not have copies anymore. The third and best title exists as a beta/demo version. However, there is a problem: The game consists of two ASM code fragments. One is of the above person, the other part of his coder fellow who has unfortunately already passed away. He is now looking for an Amiga ASM specialist who could get into these sources, put them together and compile the game. According to what he has said it is probably no trivial job at all. So if you are experienced in ASM and would like to help please get in contact with Bobic (bobic@back2roots.org). He will then give you further details. But please note that we cannot promise anything. Probably it will already take a long time until that manager will get back to us and provide the source files. You know how busy these people are... Some final motivation to get it done is that the game is allegedly even better than the milestone Lionheart! Some key features of that games are 100s of colours and higher resolution than 320*256 even on a 1MB A500 (something like "Universe"), parallax scrolling and 2-player splitscreen mode. Once again I would like to stress that any information was provided by that developer and now managing director. It sounds so stunning we sometimes think he must lie or dream But why should he? Please contact us if you can help. Thank you for your attention.

28 August 2003, 05:18	#5
rattus Registered User Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Australia Posts: 328	woah flipping hell! I wasn't told about this! someone quick! make a WHDload install! I know it's still not as good as New Zealand Story but this is still pretty cool

28 August 2003, 18:11	#10
fiath Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: South East / UK Age: 46 Posts: 1,930	Doesn't that mean you would not be able to assemble the thing and have it work without removing the protection checks...? I can't see how it can be uncrackable though. When the game is mastered - it is set in stone - it is only a matter of time before somebody finds where the protection checks are and NOP's them - even if the code is encrypted, these things can (usually) be traced to see what the loader is doing to find out. Last edited by fiath; 28 August 2003 at 18:17.

28 August 2003, 21:36	#11
Galahad/FLT Going nowhere Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: United Kingdom Age: 50 Posts: 8,986	I'll take the challenge.... Give me what you can and we'll go from there. There is NO such thing as an uncrackable Amiga game

03 September 2003, 00:47	#16
Codetapper 2 contact me: email only! Join Date: May 2001 Location: Auckland / New Zealand Posts: 3,182	Final Over Rulio (who works at Team 17) asked Martyn Brown for me about "Final Over" - it will never be released as the programmer that was working on it just disappeared one day. Team 17 tried to contact him and got hold of his father who told him that he had vanished. Martyn reckoned it was about 70% complete but not ready for release. They never managed to contact him again. However these lost games are not quite so bad if they were never actually finished. It's the completed games that are lost that are the real worry!

27 August 2003, 23:55	#2
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,645	You think we can repeate the level of success of Liquid Kids? I do with help of CodyJarrett I will knock up a site for this joint alliance of Amiga preservationists. I suppose the CAPS team's participation in this is very necessary!

28 August 2003, 02:38	#3
Fred the Fop flaming faggot Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Versailles Age: 55 Posts: 2,808	Liquid Kids was found?

28 August 2003, 17:19	#7
7-Zark-7 Zone Friend Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Brisbane/Australia Posts: 1,270	If Psygnosis was involved, maybe someone should alert From Within & see if he knows anything about these unnamed games?

28 August 2003, 17:41	#8
Bobic Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Germany Age: 48 Posts: 103	Galahad or Codetapper, what do you think about this project? Do you think you could help this manager with compiling the source code? You should also know, that this guy has created a copy protection, which - he said - really is uncrackable! He's 100% sure about that. His copy protection reads the magnetic track of the disk. If something is changed there, or if anyone tries to copy the game, it will never load again. He told me so much about this protection. Unfortunately I can't remember all features and I'm not an expert when it comes to technical things, but everything sounded very impressive. As far as I can remember this copy protection is also part of this source code. Is anyone interested to beat this challenge? Come on and help this former Amiga programmer.

28 August 2003, 17:50	#9
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,645	Uhmm... I'm not the most knowledgeable in coding, but if he has the source code, there's nothing to 'crack' in there. Unless he was extremely dumb and encrypted the source code, for god knows what daft reasons. He might have the source to teh copy protection in there, otherwise, i don't understand what he';s talking about. and let's remember nothing is uncrackable (read: CPS2 boards encryption ) Looking forward to this new challenge!

02 September 2003, 18:03	#13
Bobic Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Germany Age: 48 Posts: 103	The game (the one which is technically better than Lionheart and has this "uncrackable" copy protection) is called "Dämonenburg" (english name: Demon Castle). More news about this game and the process to rescue it will follow in the next weeks. We also have a chance to get another unreleased Amiga game from this programmer. The company who bought this game doesn't exist any longer. He might have a copy of this game in his archive, but he needs time to look carefully through all his stuff... This could also take a while. Btw - did you know that there was another Amiga game from Team 17? Another one which was finished, but which has never been released? It was done by Andreas Tadic and Rico Holmes. Unfortunately it seemed that the source files, source code and the master disk is lost forever. Nobody at Team 17 has it any longer :-(. Just wanted to mention that.

02 September 2003, 20:28	#14
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,645	Bobic: Please talk with BernD about what I sent him through PM. I am answsering to him and will CC to you, so you are aware of everything.

03 September 2003, 18:13	#17
Galahad/FLT Going nowhere Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: United Kingdom Age: 50 Posts: 8,986	King of Thieves ..... and Witchwood didn't get very far beyond having different graphics in the Alien Breed game engine. Witchwood was delayed, and then canned for good when a bunch of muppets sauntered in with The Speris Legacy.

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