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                    SOFTWARE THAT NEVER SAW THE LIGHT OF DAY...
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Today I want to write about a topic that is quite sad and I was brought to after
I was crawling through many magazines in a box in my cellars.
While I was digging in some old german  magazines, called "ST COMPUTER", esp. in
the Falcon Scene article series, in  former times maintained by  A.-t- of Cream,
I stumbled over a lot of  informations about  programs that  never made it to be
released in the end. But this isn't the only thing, nope, esp. the final release
of "PAINIUM DISASTER" brought me to a point, to  ask what happened  to all those
programs and could it be possible  to save them for the public in the state they
were smashed into the trashcan?!

One thing at first, the legendary french groups EKO as well as DUNE were more or
less responsible for the most of the coming things...


"H2O" - puzzle game for Falcon

Yes, you surely remember this game that was often announced but never made it in
the end. Already in 1994 this game, that was created by members of EKO, was said
to be finished. It  is some  kind of  Lemmings style  puzzle game, and  the only
reason for not  releasing it, was the fact that it  was tought to be released as
commercial  game but EKO never  found some  distributor for it... yes you've red
right here. So it  is the same situation  as it  was  with "Painium Disaster" in
some way. Anyway, A.-t- was the lucky guy who could test the game in short, that
contents 4o levels, VGA grafix and such stuff. He  presented several screenshots
in  the issue of the  ST Computer magazine  that were  exclusively taken. So the
question is, did he got a  playable, maybe even the  full version to test?! What
happened to the game at all since it was also  written that it could be released
as shareware if no distributor will be  found... After all lately  Frontier Soft
was called to  be the distributor and  with the vanish  of this firm  also "H2O"
disappeared.

So here one thing again... if anyone  got hold of  a playable or  even maybe the
full version because of some reason, please don't hold it back on your harddisk!


"INDYPAINT 2" - another pixel painter for Falcon

Yeps, this time we're talking about some other pixel painter. Happily, there was
a full useable  version of "Indypaint" around  and the latest public release was
version 1.59. But  did you  remember that  LAZER did one  further step  and that
there was a running beta version of "Indypaint v2"?! It wasn't told to be a full
running one, with still some missing  new features that have  to be implemented,
but A.-t- must have taken a closer look on it, since he  announced that the tool
came closest to his favourite "Deluxe Paint" on Amiga. So what?!

If  there is anyone  around who  got that  running beta  version, please make it
public in the end. I know that it wasn't finished at all, but after all the most
pixel painters on Falcon, weren't finished at all and so it doesn't matter since
the Falcon pixel artists, if they're using pixel painters on that machine at all
were all times stuck in previews and it doesn't matter if there would be another
one... esp. if it is a good one!


"S.P.A.S.M." - puzzle game for Falcon

And here is another project by DUNE/Frontier Software that didn't made it to the
end, at least it wasn't released at all, even if there were PC and Amiga version
in work too. This game was announced  in 1995, with grafix made by JADE of DUNE,
who was also responsible for the announcement of this game as well. As far as it
was announced, it was nearly finished. So what happened after all?!


"HEREDIS" - jump'n'run for STE and Falcon

Yet another  game project  by DUNE/Frontier Software  that didn't made it in the
end. But as far  as I know there was also a Jaguar version planned  but it seems
as also this project died with Frontier Software.


"NO MERCY" - 2D shooter for Falcon, Jaguar and STE

And another announced  game by DUNE/Frontier Software  that seemed to be stopped
in an earlier stage, at least  as we can say since the public was right from the
beginning very sparse informed with news and facts about this project. There was
the Frontier Software catalogue that contained a screenshot  of the game as well
as features it will have. It was announced to be released in late 1995... But as
we all know, nothing happened...


"POTHOLER" - realtime cave adventure for ST

This game was announced by 999 SOFTWARE and  was presented  with a screenshot in
the ST FORMAT magazine  back in 1995. Does  anybody knows  what happened to this
game?


"ZEEWOLF" - 3d shot'em'up for STE/Falcon

This game  by the  UK Team BINARY ASYLUM was  announced in 1994, showing up some
screen shot stuff and an  interview in another  issue of ST FORMAT... since this
game was in  development for  the Amiga as  well I wonder  if the ST version was
really started... At least the Amiga version was released and got even a sequel!


... and a few other questions... Has anyone  proove if  the works on the Falcon-
version of "Obsession" were really  started? And what happened to all the tables
in the  beta versions?! I can  remember seeing  the "Balls And Bats" table  in a
completely  different  design (not  as colourful) as  well  as "Desert Run" in a
changed  table  design. I wonder  if those  were  just mock-up screens  or fully
playable ones...

And so I could build up  this list  more and  more, remember "SPACE ACE STARIO"?
This is also a project  that died somewhere... together with a big wave of other
TOP BYTE productions... just  as "CYBER KNIGHT", "OUTRIDER", "FRUIT MACHINE FUN"
and "SCAPEGOAT", all those  games were  announced in 1995 but not one single bit
was released... Now  it is the question if those games ever reached a state that
can be  called "running betaversion" and  furthermore, if  it is possible to get
those leftovers back in action and released for public... As far as I know those
games were in parts announced to be ready "next month" and  I doubt that someone
is making such promises if not a single bit was finished...

If anyone has an idea, hints and  tips, if anyone  has maybe a  running thing on
his harddisk he forgot that he had it, please get in touch!
We got PAINIUM DISASTER so why shouldn't we get the one or other thing as well?

Contact me at... moondog@atari.org

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