Missing presumed dead (a.k.a Development Hell ) - The Bear and Badger

three1ne

YOUTOTALLYWENTTHERE

three1ne

YES!

Bollockoff

YES!

Blue Swirl

I'LL HAVE WHAT THEY'RE HAVING.

Raiziel

dynamiteReady wrote:

Raiziel wrote:

Huxley.

Aldous?

It was named after him, yes.

I_R

Agent is an odd one because it's a developer who've managed a couple of games this generation. Even the PS3 exclusivity doesn't seem like an excuse, they'd have managed to bring it out on the 360 and PC a year later anyway. If it never appeared because it was bad, that means it was worse than LA Noire.

Mod74

Moot_Geeza

More dead and buried than presumed dead, but not a bad place to put this:

I used to fawn over screenshots of this in magazines, look at the state of it now.Â I even had an apprehensive letter printed in a Sega Magazine enquiring after its whereabouts when it dropped off the radar.

Blue Swirl

Just thought of a good one. Well, I think it's a good one.

Hogs of War. While Worms 3D was a bit pony, this game was immense. Hugely racist, but done in such a tongue in cheek manner it was hard to care - everyone was mocked equally. Plus, it had Rik Mayall doing all the voices, which is a win in a my book. I'm possibly viewing it through rose tinted spectacles, because it was about the only game post the Spectrum era that my Dad played, and I'd have epic three player battles with him and my brother. Good times.

I'd give my left nut for Hogs of War 2.

Bollockoff

If we're chatting older franchises that have become fossilzed i'd love for another of Origin's Crusader series. That was the first proper violent game I played as a lad on my Saturn.

Had some at the time super cool real actor FMV briefings as well. Made me feel even more like a mute engineered WEC killing machine defected to the resistance.

Subbax

Fuck yeah Crusader. That was the shit!

Vela

Recent dead/in limbo games I was once exited for include:

(City of) Metronome, which had some really interesting ideas based around recording sounds and using them to solve problems. Had a real vibe like Dark City to it. Apparently its still in development by Tarsier I think, but no word for a long time on it I'm afraid.

Oddworld Fangus was to be made after Oddworld Stranger, but that one got canned when OI shut down several years ago. I think it was meant to be a game where you played a shepherd who had rabies and was gradually losing his mind.Â

The last I remember is Chakan: The Forever Man which was going to be reborn on Dreamcast by some studio called Andnow, which had some of the megadrive game's developers working on it. Here's a video:

stormyskiesahead

Good shout on Fangus, aka The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot. More 1st / 3rd person action set in a soviet-like society with characters evolved from cats and dogs. The cats are evil, obviously.

The rabid shepherd himself:

Vela

Oh god, that would have been beautiful. Such a shame it will never happen I guess.

Slightly related, I've got the Art of Oddworld book lying around and the whole aesthetic of the games is simply stunning. I love the detail and atmosphere, even though at their heart, they are truly ruined, ugly and exploited worlds.

stormyskiesahead

Got that book m'self, 'tis a haunting and beautiful thing. Set me back a small fortune. There have been rumblings regarding Fangus not being as dead as previously thought btw. Fingers crossed.

Oh, and welcome to the forum.

Vela

Where did you get it from, if I might ask. The local arm of the publisher (ballistic) still has them for sale even of the numbered/certified leatherbound copies.Â

Just checking their site now and its apparently $170 USD. I forgot I paid that much for it!

I think at the moment Just Add Water are working on HD remasters of Abe's Oddysee and Exodus, maybe Munch as well and Hand of Odd is supposedly coming to mobile phones. So yes, it might be promising for Fangus somewhere down the line, fingers crossed.Â

And thanks for the welcome.

Mod74

Tangentially related, but what happened to those engines that were going to revolutionise graphics? The devil one that was on the EDGE cover and the infinite points one.

I_R

The curse of Edge: four cover stars that never saw release

stormyskiesahead

@Vela: I'd wanted that book ever since I first heard about it, and finally convinced myself It'd be okay to spend that kind of money last year. Got a secondhand copy of the hardback for about Â£70 including p+p from Amazon.

Moot_Geeza

If I won the Euromillions I'd consider part funding Fangus, it's a massive shame it got shelved.Â Playing through Stranger's Wrath again has made me eager to replay Oddysee and look forward to Exodus even more (I only ever played a demo).Â

That Chakan tech demo looks interesting, I didn't know a sequel was on the cards.Â The original is one of those games I nearly bought three or four times as a youngster, but I've still never played.

Blue Swirl

I_R wrote:

The curse of Edge: four cover stars that never saw release

I remember each and everyone of those. Particularly Unity and EXO. The latter looked stunning, back in the day. The former is why I bought Space Giraffe.

However, I'm looking forward to the Anti Curse of EDGE, where they do an article about the >200 cover star games that did see release.

AJ

Blue Swirl wrote:

Just thought of a good one. Well, I think it's a good one. Hogs of War. While Worms 3D was a bit pony, this game was immense. Hugely racist, but done in such a tongue in cheek manner it was hard to care - everyone was mocked equally. Plus, it had Rik Mayall doing all the voices, which is a win in a my book. I'm possibly viewing it through rose tinted spectacles, because it was about the only game post the Spectrum era that my Dad played, and I'd have epic three player battles with him and my brother. Good times. I'd give my left nut for Hogs of War 2.

I think it's a good one, too. Many an hour spent on that. I actually find the recent 3D Worms games more enjoyable than the 2D ones.

Skerret

regmcfly wrote:

Lazychu

Asuka's gran. Â Sad times indeed.

Blocks100

WiSE FWOM YO GWAVE!

One that seems destined to stay in its grave is Capy game's 'Below'. Which was a pity, because it looked stunning.

Diluted Dante

~~No idea, what is it?~~

Ah you edited. Apparently it's still going, but they aren't updating people until they have a release date they can hit.

Diluted Dante wrote:

The last we heard of The Agent was earlier this year someone at Take 2 brushed the question aside when asked about it. I think that was essentially an admission it will never see the light of day.

The Agency went along with SOE Seattle.

The Outsider is in proper limbo. It's not actively in development, but it's not been cancelled. Why? Fuck knows. Maybe Braben thinks he can bankroll it with enough pish for Kinect.

Anyway, time for an update on Agent. I've no idea why I called it The Agent. No that isn't the update.

In July 2013, Take-Two Interactive renewed its trademarks of the "Agent" brand. In December 2015, a few new screenshots from between 2009 and 2010 were revealed by former Rockstar North artist Darren Charles Hatton. The artist said the art team was taken off the Agent project and re-assigned to Grand Theft Auto V, adding that he was "not sure if this project will ever be published." In mid-2016, Hatton's screenshots were pulled from his online resume for unspecified legal reasons. On 5 December 2016, Take-Two Interactive renewed the trademark for Agent. On 27 August 2017, images of concept art were allegedly leaked online, depicting a snowy alpine setting as well as apparent character sketches from the title.

So Agent, possibly not dead, but certainly still missing.

The Agency is still dead.

The Outsider is still in limbo, but is closer to death than last time we checked in. Apparently Kinect pish was not enough to save this, with Braben admitting in 2014 that it "probably is gone for good". It is however still officially on hold.

Blocks100

Funny that we did get Prey 2 and Thief 4 in the end, as listed in the OP. But they didn't turn out entirely as we'd hoped.

Webbins

I keep thinking back to Criterion's canned extreme sports/vehicle game teased back in 2014 and dead as of last year, so they can instead contribute to the charade that is EA's handling of Star Wars. Would have been a Pilotwings for a new generation. It sounded ambitious but certainly had my interest, even if the E3 teaser was full cringe.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-06-22-burnout-creator-criterion-now-working-on-eas-star-wars-projects-extreme-sports-game-canned

Escape

Blocks100 wrote:

Funny that we did get Prey 2 and Thief 4 in the end, as listed in the OP. But they didn't turn out entirely as we'd hoped.

Shenmue III's never happening, though.

WorKid

Escape wrote:

Funny that we did get Prey 2 and Thief 4 in the end, as listed in the OP. But they didn't turn out entirely as we'd hoped.

Shenmue III's never happening, though.

Biggest sham ever. I’m sure something will be delivered to avoid lawsuits but I would be surprised it if turned out to be any good.

g.man

BELIEVE

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