Death Trap demo disk

[kremiso]

i don't know if it's rare
i see on HOL there is a disk scan of a demo of this game :



where i can find it? as a disk image i mean

also, the hol infos lack about Chris Huelsbeck being the sfx's composer (of the final release)
maybe can be added?

[Crashdisk]

Hi kremiso,
I couldn't find the demo on my side. On the other hand, maybe the demo is also copy protected and I'm not sure that was the priority of the crackers at the time...
In any case, I am also interested!

[kremiso]

thanks anyway Crashdisk
wondering what was in the disk, maybe just the intro rolling demo?
seems rare, btw

[Crashdisk]

It would also be interesting to know how it was distributed

[dlfrsilver]

If anyone can send me this demo disk dump, i'll do the magic

[rygar]

In this tread is info about Death Trap.
https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=80324
It seems this guy provided screenshots for HOL

"And about the "Death Trap Demo Disk": this is one of strangest disks that I have. It basically contains a "beta version" of Death Trap, which randomly showcases all of the game levels, with the hero being controlled by some sort of an AI...and you can press various keys on the keyboard to change the hero's weapon, switch the level being showcased, and even skip straight to the level bosses. But you can't actually play it yourself; you just watch the computer play it. As a kid I really hated this demo because it didn't let me play that great looking game lol. "

[Master484]

It seems this guy provided screenshots for HOL

Yup, that's my disk scan in the HOL.

But I have no idea where that disk might have originally came from, or how rare it is. The only thing that I remember for sure, is that it came with the Amiga that my dad bought back then, some 30 years ago. It was a pre-owned Amiga with a set of random disks included in the deal, and that demo disk was one of them.

---

So yes, it's basically a demo of Death Trap.

This is what I remember:

Almost the whole game is in there. It starts with the exact same intro sequence and music as the full game. And then comes the title screen, but without music. And then I think it played the intro one more time, and then started to showcase the levels.

The levels were the same as in the full game, but in some areas you would see large sections filled with tiles that read "DEMO VERSION" or something like that. But all the enemies were there, fully working, and all the sound effects too. And also it has the spellbook, the potion system and all the player magic weapons including the helper bird. Also it has the chests, the traps and the switches that open the doors.

The player character moves by itself, and you can't actually control it yourself as far as I know. (And trust me, back then as a kid I tried every trick to gain control of this cool looking game, and no, switching joystick to the mouse port didn't help ) Sometimes the actions of the computer controlled player clearly follow a set of pre-recorded inputs, and it manages to actually progress quite far in the levels. And sometimes it just keeps jumping in place like an idiot, or moves randomly without any logic, or gets stuck somewhere.

You could press the number keys to change the player's weapon, and also you could press space to open the spellbook screen, just like in the full game.

Also at any time you could press the F1-F5 keys to jump into the beginning of any level. And also you could jump straight into the bosses, either by pressing the same level key again, or by pressing F6-F10, can't remember for sure.

And the bosses too are all there, fully working, acting exactly as in the full game. And sometimes the AI controlled player actually managed to beat the bosses, and when this happened, it just loaded the next level, just like in the full game. One time I think that it actually managed to beat the last boss in level 5, and I think that after this the demo loaded a little bit, and then crashed.

And the fifth level was the most unfinished of them all, with those "DEMO VERSION" texts right in the beginning, and possibly it didn't even have enemies, and the AI couldn't play it really well, easily dropping into chasms with DEMO VERSION texts all over the place.

Some other things that I remember are that sometimes it seemed to be possible to control the spellbook, although you couldn't control the player. So by hammering the mouse keys or something, you could probably buy power ups, but this was a very random process, and even though you could open the spellbook at any time, often the AI would instantly try to close it. But sometimes it did nothing.

Also I still remember that if you watched the intro sequence twice before selecting a level, then you were more likely to get the "good AI" that could actually progress through the levels. But if you just selected a level right away after it had loaded, then the player would act in a random fashion and couldn't get anywhere.

---

Okay, that's all that I can remember now.

No wait, one more thing came to my mind: In the third or fourth level (the skull place), I think that the demo had a tendency to crash. In my mind I have this hazy video file, where the hero jumps up into a platform, hits the wall with the fireball powerup active, and then an explosion sound comes off, and at this point the demo hangs.

Okay that has to be all.

Does anyone else have this disk, the ADF of it, or knows anything about it origins ?

Or am I the guardian of the last known copy of the Death Trap Amiga Demo Disk in the whole world ?

[rygar]

Originally Posted by Master484

Yup, that's my disk scan in the HOL.

Does anyone else have this disk, the ADF of it, or knows anything about it origins ?

Or am I the guardian of the last known copy of the Death Trap Amiga Demo Disk in the whole world ?

It seems you are the last hope for Amiga Empire

Could you try to make a copy of your disk?

[kremiso]

now i'm even more interested
thank you guys

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by Master484

Yup, that's my disk scan in the HOL.

But I have no idea where that disk might have originally came from, or how rare it is. The only thing that I remember for sure, is that it came with the Amiga that my dad bought back then, some 30 years ago. It was a pre-owned Amiga with a set of random disks included in the deal, and that demo disk was one of them.

---

So yes, it's basically a demo of Death Trap.

This is what I remember:

Almost the whole game is in there. It starts with the exact same intro sequence and music as the full game. And then comes the title screen, but without music. And then I think it played the intro one more time, and then started to showcase the levels.

The levels were the same as in the full game, but in some areas you would see large sections filled with tiles that read "DEMO VERSION" or something like that. But all the enemies were there, fully working, and all the sound effects too. And also it has the spellbook, the potion system and all the player magic weapons including the helper bird. Also it has the chests, the traps and the switches that open the doors.

The player character moves by itself, and you can't actually control it yourself as far as I know. (And trust me, back then as a kid I tried every trick to gain control of this cool looking game, and no, switching joystick to the mouse port didn't help ) Sometimes the actions of the computer controlled player clearly follow a set of pre-recorded inputs, and it manages to actually progress quite far in the levels. And sometimes it just keeps jumping in place like an idiot, or moves randomly without any logic, or gets stuck somewhere.

You could press the number keys to change the player's weapon, and also you could press space to open the spellbook screen, just like in the full game.

Also at any time you could press the F1-F5 keys to jump into the beginning of any level. And also you could jump straight into the bosses, either by pressing the same level key again, or by pressing F6-F10, can't remember for sure.

And the bosses too are all there, fully working, acting exactly as in the full game. And sometimes the AI controlled player actually managed to beat the bosses, and when this happened, it just loaded the next level, just like in the full game. One time I think that it actually managed to beat the last boss in level 5, and I think that after this the demo loaded a little bit, and then crashed.

And the fifth level was the most unfinished of them all, with those "DEMO VERSION" texts right in the beginning, and possibly it didn't even have enemies, and the AI couldn't play it really well, easily dropping into chasms with DEMO VERSION texts all over the place.

Some other things that I remember are that sometimes it seemed to be possible to control the spellbook, although you couldn't control the player. So by hammering the mouse keys or something, you could probably buy power ups, but this was a very random process, and even though you could open the spellbook at any time, often the AI would instantly try to close it. But sometimes it did nothing.

Also I still remember that if you watched the intro sequence twice before selecting a level, then you were more likely to get the "good AI" that could actually progress through the levels. But if you just selected a level right away after it had loaded, then the player would act in a random fashion and couldn't get anywhere.

---

Okay, that's all that I can remember now.

No wait, one more thing came to my mind: In the third or fourth level (the skull place), I think that the demo had a tendency to crash. In my mind I have this hazy video file, where the hero jumps up into a platform, hits the wall with the fireball powerup active, and then an explosion sound comes off, and at this point the demo hangs.

Okay that has to be all.

Does anyone else have this disk, the ADF of it, or knows anything about it origins ?

Or am I the guardian of the last known copy of the Death Trap Amiga Demo Disk in the whole world ?

Hi Can you dump your disk with the kryoflux dump disk if you have an A1200 ? Thanks !

[Master484]

Hi Can you dump your disk with the kryoflux dump disk if you have an A1200 ? Thanks !

Unfortunately I don't have a kryoflux or an A1200. Only an A500 with no HD or even an extra disk drive. So I can't make ADFs or disk dumps myself.

However, one guy here has made ADFs from some of my disks in the past, so I could try asking him. So at least we could get the ADF, if the disk still works. But he doesn't have a kryoflux machine either as far as I know, so for that I would need to send the disk to someone else.

---

I have a feeling that this disk might not even be something that was meant to be distributed for the general public.

It's more like something that could be played at some kind of game exhibition, where different developers showcase their games for people and potential publishers.

A few things would support this theory, such as the way how easily you can select any level or any boss, literally showing almost everything in the game. And also the disk doesn't yet have the publisher's name in it, although I can't remember if the actual demo had one.

This would also explain why you can't control the player: maybe they were scared that someone might steal the disk or copy it behind their backs, and then the near finished game would be pirated before it's official release. So they protected themselves by making it unplayable.

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by Master484

Unfortunately I don't have a kryoflux or an A1200. Only an A500 with no HD or even an extra disk drive. So I can't make ADFs or disk dumps myself.

However, one guy here has made ADFs from some of my disks in the past, so I could try asking him. So at least we could get the ADF, if the disk still works. But he doesn't have a kryoflux machine either as far as I know, so for that I would need to send the disk to someone else.

---

I have a feeling that this disk might not even be something that was meant to be distributed for the general public.

It's more like something that could be played at some kind of game exhibition, where different developers showcase their games for people and potential publishers.

A few things would support this theory, such as the way how easily you can select any level or any boss, literally showing almost everything in the game. And also the disk doesn't yet have the publisher's name in it, although I can't remember if the actual demo had one.

This would also explain why you can't control the player: maybe they were scared that someone might steal the disk or copy it behind their backs, and then the near finished game would be pirated before it's official release. So they protected themselves by making it unplayable.

What you have is simply what is called a rolling demo. You can't play it, you can just watch it.

[kremiso]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

What you have is simply what is called a rolling demo. You can't play it, you can just watch it.

reading the previous @Master484 replies seems a little more into
like an hybrid, with some keys and scrolls menu interaction, and a randomly AI?

that disk need to be preserved

@Master484 do you know if the disk is copy protected?

[Master484]

It could indeed be classified as a rolling demo, but it doesn't feel like something that you would find in a magazine coverdisk or something.

Firstly it feels very strange that such a demo would show every level in the game, and bosses too. And secondly, the disk label doesn't have any magazine name in it, and looks like a prototype version of the actual label that was eventually used in the full game.

And those in-game keys are basically "game testing controls", so that the programmer and beta-testers can quickly access any part of the game. And I now remember that in addition of being able to choose the weapon, it was also possible to change the power level of the weapon by pressing some of the number keys. And I think you could also increase the ammunition for the current magic weapon.

So, a mysterious case indeed.

do you know if the disk is copy protected?

I'm not sure, but I think I once tried to make a safety copy from it with X-copy, and failed. So I guess that would be "yes".

that disk need to be preserved

Yes, an ADF at least would be nice. I'll see what can be done.

[Master484]

Okay guys here it is.

The ADF of Death Trap Amiga Demo Disk is now in the Zone.

---

I tested it yesterday, and almost everything is exactly as I remembered. The instructions on how to "play" it are listed below.

But first, here is the automatic "demo flow", that runs by itself if you don't do anything:

Intro sequence
Title
Intro sequence again
Level 2 movie, with pre-programmed AI
Level 2 boss
Fights the boss for a while, then goes back to title.
Title
Intro sequence
Level 4 movie, with pre-programmed AI
Level 4 boss
Fights the boss for a while, then goes back to title.
Title
Intro sequence
Level 1 movie, with pre-programmed AI
No boss fight, just back to title

And after this point the demo loops back into the "Intro, then Level 2" spot in the beginning.

---

And here is the list of keys that I found. But there could be more, hidden combinations and such, who knows.

During intro sequence:

Press fire or mouse button to skip into the title screen.

During the title screen:

F1 - Level 1
F2 - Level 2
F3 - Level 3
F4 - Level 4
F5 - Level 5
Shift - Level 1
Space - change between title and high score screens.

During a level:

F1 - skip to the boss fight
F6 - fill red potion
F7 - fill green potion
F8 - fill blue potion
1 - weapon type 1
2 - weapon type 2
3 - weapon type 3
4 - weapon type 4
5 - weapon power 0
6 - weapon power 1
7 - weapon power 2
8 - weapon power 3
9 - weapon power 4
Space - Open spellbook
ESC - Back to Title screen

You can also increase and decrease game speed by holding down the keys that come after "0".
I think these are the "minus" and "plus" keys in the Amiga keyboard, but I'm not sure. The numpad + and - keys don't seem to work.

Also anytime, if you press fire and right mouse button at the same time, you'll get a "Break Error" screen, which shows various data. Here you can press mouse button or ESC, and then it's guru time. This screen also sometimes appears when the demo crashes for other reasons.

---

The pre-programmed AI only does well in the levels if you don't mess up with things. For example some of the deaths are intentional. So if you give it better weapons, and then it doesn't die, this messes up the pre-recorded command order.

Also when you choose the level from the title screen, the demo seems to use whatever pre-recorded AI is present at that time. And this is determined by at which point you interrupted the "normal" demo flow. So if the normal demo has last played the ice level, then that AI seems to be used for the levels that you choose. But it's not necessarily always so.

And if you choose a level when the title screen appears for the FIRST TIME, then there is no pre-programmed AI present at all, and this way you get the "stupid AI", that just jumps at place, or moves in random fashion, if at all.

So it's a good idea to let the automatic demo run until the ice level starts to play (or just keep pressing fire to skip into it), and now you have the "good AI". And in fact, with this AI you can actually "beat the game", just give it the best weapon with "level 4" powerup, and with some luck it can beat the level 5 boss. It only takes a few hits from a level 4 powered sword to kill it. Although doing this crashes the demo almost instantly.

Have fun.

[wizard1]

Hi There, I have an ADF of this game, it is a cracked version it seems, but i cant get past the crack intro screen, intro and music play fine, till you ckick the mouse and then it freezes. dont know if it might be of any use to anyone??
Cheers.
screen shot included

Originally Posted by Master484

Okay guys here it is.

The ADF of Death Trap Amiga Demo Disk is now in the Zone.

---

I tested it yesterday, and almost everything is exactly as I remembered. The instructions on how to "play" it are listed below.

But first, here is the automatic "demo flow", that runs by itself if you don't do anything:

Intro sequence
Title
Intro sequence again
Level 2 movie, with pre-programmed AI
Level 2 boss
Fights the boss for a while, then goes back to title.
Title
Intro sequence
Level 4 movie, with pre-programmed AI
Level 4 boss
Fights the boss for a while, then goes back to title.
Title
Intro sequence
Level 1 movie, with pre-programmed AI
No boss fight, just back to title

And after this point the demo loops back into the "Intro, then Level 2" spot in the beginning.

---

And here is the list of keys that I found. But there could be more, hidden combinations and such, who knows.

During intro sequence:

Press fire or mouse button to skip into the title screen.

During the title screen:

F1 - Level 1
F2 - Level 2
F3 - Level 3
F4 - Level 4
F5 - Level 5
Shift - Level 1
Space - change between title and high score screens.

During a level:

F1 - skip to the boss fight
F6 - fill red potion
F7 - fill green potion
F8 - fill blue potion
1 - weapon type 1
2 - weapon type 2
3 - weapon type 3
4 - weapon type 4
5 - weapon power 0
6 - weapon power 1
7 - weapon power 2
8 - weapon power 3
9 - weapon power 4
Space - Open spellbook
ESC - Back to Title screen

You can also increase and decrease game speed by holding down the keys that come after "0".
I think these are the "minus" and "plus" keys in the Amiga keyboard, but I'm not sure. The numpad + and - keys don't seem to work.

Also anytime, if you press fire and right mouse button at the same time, you'll get a "Break Error" screen, which shows various data. Here you can press mouse button or ESC, and then it's guru time. This screen also sometimes appears when the demo crashes for other reasons.

---

The pre-programmed AI only does well in the levels if you don't mess up with things. For example some of the deaths are intentional. So if you give it better weapons, and then it doesn't die, this messes up the pre-recorded command order.

Also when you choose the level from the title screen, the demo seems to use whatever pre-recorded AI is present at that time. And this is determined by at which point you interrupted the "normal" demo flow. So if the normal demo has last played the ice level, then that AI seems to be used for the levels that you choose. But it's not necessarily always so.

And if you choose a level when the title screen appears for the FIRST TIME, then there is no pre-programmed AI present at all, and this way you get the "stupid AI", that just jumps at place, or moves in random fashion, if at all.

So it's a good idea to let the automatic demo run until the ice level starts to play (or just keep pressing fire to skip into it), and now you have the "good AI". And in fact, with this AI you can actually "beat the game", just give it the best weapon with "level 4" powerup, and with some luck it can beat the level 5 boss. It only takes a few hits from a level 4 powered sword to kill it. Although doing this crashes the demo almost instantly.

Have fun.

[Crashdisk]

@Master484
Thanks for sharing, indeed, it's an original style of demo!
it is now added to TOSEC

[rygar]

WOW...what a great find. Another rare game finally preserved

[kremiso]

Great!
thank you Master484
one of the most crazy running, for a demo