Games that Never Were

Fallout 3 ( Van Buren )

2010-01-17T14:07:00.002+02:00

Van Buren was the codename given to Fallout 3, a game that was being developed by Black Isle Studios before the parent company, Interplay Entertainment, laid off the PC development team on December 8, 2003, effectively cancelling the game. Prior to its cancellation, Van Buren was set to carry on the Fallout series as the sequel to Fallout 2. On May 3, 2007, the tech demo of the game was leaked onto the internet.

Black Isle Studios planned to include a dual combat system in the game that allowed for the player to choose real time or turn-based combat, due to Interplay's demands, though Josh Sawyer had stated that the emphasis would be on the turn-based version. Co-operative multiplayer was also going to be included in the game, again because of publisher requirements.

Van Buren took place in the American southwest (Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Utah). The westernmost sites on the game map are the easternmost borders of New California Republic, and problems with NCR have a lot to do with what's going on in the game. According to Sean K. Reynolds it was set "almost 250 years in the future", which places it in the 2250s, only 10 years after the end of Fallout 2. According to the van Buren design documents it was set in the year 2253.

An engine demonstration of an un-titled post-apocalyptic themed game (possibly Fallout 3) that was in the early stages of development before Troika Games closed its doors in February 2005.

An official Fallout 3 was developed by Bethesda Softworks after Interplay sold them the single player rights to the franchise. It was released October 28, 2008.

StarCraft: Ghost

2010-01-17T13:45:00.001+02:00

StarCraft: Ghost is a military science fiction stealth-action video game under suspended development by Blizzard Entertainment. Part of Blizzard's StarCraft series, the game was announced in 2002 and was to be developed by Nihilistic Software for the Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 video game consoles. Several delays in development caused Blizzard to move back the release date and the game has not yet materialized. Nihilistic Software ceded development to Swingin' Ape Studios in 2004 before Blizzard bought the company, and plans for the GameCube version were canceled in 2005.Blizzard announced in March 2006 that the game is on "indefinite hold" while the company investigated seventh generation video game console possibilities.

Unlike its real-time strategy predecessor StarCraft, Ghost is a third-person shooter, and was intended to give players a closer and more personal view of the StarCraft universe. Following Nova, a Terran psychic espionage operative called a "ghost", the game is set four years after the conclusion of StarCraft: Brood War and covers a conspiracy about a secretive military project conducted by Nova's superiors in the imperial Terran Dominion. Very little of the game's storyline has been released; however, in November 2006 after the game's postponement, a novel was published called StarCraft Ghost: Nova which covers the backstory of the central character.

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Hecatomb

2010-01-16T23:50:00.000+02:00

The third installment of the famed Heretic / Hexen series that was later abandoned by Raven Software after its acquisition by Activision and John Romero leaving id Software. A very few select ideas from Hecatomb made it's way into Raven's later titles (Hexen 2 and Heretic 2).

The player assumed a role of 3 different classes with 3 different types in each class. Similar to the Dungeons and Dragons Lawful/Neutral/Evil alignments each class had a good/bad side to it.

Fighter: Good = Paladin / Neutral = Warrior / Evil = Berserker
Mage: Good = Archmage / Neutral = Wizard / Evil = Necromancer
Thief: Good = Rouge / Neutral = Thief / Evil = Assassin

Depending on the players class/alignment and level of progress the game would randomly choose an automatic event to happen at certain points in levels.
The world design surrounding Hecatomb would be explored like one massive area divided into hubs (for it to run properly on systems). The player had to explore around the surrounding areas of a giant ages old castle, the various areas (such as swamps, caves, etc.) would naturally connect to central parts of the castle. After exploring all the areas the player would be given access to the deep regions inside the castle, where a dragon is guarding a powerful relic and treasure horde. After defeating the dragon and the player acquiring what they were after the area caves in and exposes and even older extensive underground network of catacombs -- at the end of which is a very old and evil Demilich that the player had to kill to escape. (source)

"Hecatomb was supposed to be the 3rd game, but I left id before fulfilling that goal." ~ John Romero

Baldur’s Gate III: The Black Hound

2009-07-11T21:52:00.004+03:00

Code named Jefferson and FR6, was mentioned in early 2001 as a new game in the Baldur’s Gate series to be made by Black Isle Studios using a completely new 3D engine. BG3 was originally going to be a departure from the high-powered epic of the Bhaalspawn saga to a low-key, roleplaying plot. With protagonists progressing to around level four at the end of BIS’ typically enormous campaign and a hard cap at level eight, gameplay was refocussed to a flat and wide adventure emphasizing quests over combat.

The game appeared to be canceled in 2003, just before its engine was re-purposed for Black Isle’s ill-fated Van Buren Fallout 3 project. The Black Hound is currently under development as a module for Neverwinter Nights 2, being developed by Josh Sawyer, one of the designers of the canceled game.

On 2 December 2008, Atari stated in a press conference that the Baldur’s Gate series (among others) would be revisited after 2009.

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StoneKeep II: Godmaker

2009-07-11T21:20:00.004+03:00

Black Isle Studios worked on a sequel called Stonekeep 2: Godmaker for five years before canceling it in 2001. Sadly only this amazing cover artwork done by Vance Kovacs its all that remained.

Armalion

2007-10-24T12:24:00.000+03:00

As a successor to Realms of Arkania trilogy, Armalion was a fantasy RPG with a new twist back in 2001. With a clear focus on entertainment value instead of character stats the game mixes the best of role-playing experience with strategy and action game play. In-depth charater creation showed the attention to detail, while an easy-to-use interface took all the pain of boring stats away. The real-time mode of the game could have been interrupted at any time.
During the game the player could even command small warbands of up to 40 warriors to fight for his goals. Choose from 12 playable characters, encounter tons of quests, detailed landscapes and beautiful 3-Dimensional characters. Play over a LAN or WAN co-operatively with some friends or melee with up to 40 characters. The game was developed by Ikarion but they couldn't find a publisher so the whole thing gone bye bye... :(

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Ultima VIII: The Lost Vale

2007-07-07T15:29:00.000+03:00

This expansion to Ultima VIII was planned from the outset, and was much anticipated, but never released; it was cancelled when the main game didn't sell as well as had been expected, despite being all but finished and ready for duplication. Hints from texts in the main game suggested that the expansion pack would have added a new story regarding resistance to the Pagan gods and followers of the old religion known as Zealans.

Moreover, a unique Ultima VIII: The Lost Vale game box, whose authenticity was confirmed by former Origin Systems employee Denis Loubet, surfaced in September 2005. It was sold via eBay to a German collector for a final price of almost 2000 US$ shortly after. The game itself, however, seems to be lost forever. The developers at Origin Systems barely had a way to back up their machines at that time, so there is not much hope that a copy survived.

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Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans

2007-07-07T14:18:00.000+03:00

WarCraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans was a dark comical point-and-click adventure computer game under development by Blizzard Entertainment that was set in the Warcraft universe, and cancelled before its release.
Russian company Animation Magic located in St. Petersburg was out-sourced due to their experience in classical two-dimensional animation to produce the twenty-two minutes of fully-animated sequences, the game's artwork, the coding of the engine and the implementation of the sound effects.Blizzard then provided all the designs, the world backgrounds, sound recording and ensured storyline continuity.
After over a year of hard work, press tours, magazine covers, and fan fervor Blizzard announced that WarCraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans was cancelled days before E3.

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AMEN: The Awakening

2007-07-07T14:02:00.000+03:00

Amen: The Awakening is a first-person shooter/role-playing game with some stealth elements by Cavedog Entertainment. It was supposed to be the first FPS by Cavedog. It was cancelled in 2000.

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Torn

2007-07-07T13:40:00.000+03:00

Black Isle's Torn is a computer role-playing game developed by Black Isle Studios, announced on March 22, 2001 and cancelled in July of that year. The game was to use a modified version of the SPECIAL role-playing system, which had been implemented in the Fallout series. Developed on various editions of the Lithtech engine, Torn possessed features unseen in previous Black Isle Studios games, such as 3D graphics and real-time camera movement.

In Torn, the player assumed the role of a wanderer, who was cursed to bring misfortune to people and places around it. Under a king's orders, the player undertook quests to clarify a series of conflicting prophecies. Unlike several other Black Isle Studios games, the game was to take place in an original world titled "Torn" instead of a traditional Dungeons & Dragons location.

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Sam and Max: Freelance Police

2007-07-07T13:03:00.000+03:00

Nearly a decade after the release of the original adventure game, LucasArts issued a statement to the press on August 23, 2002 announcing a sequel to Sam & Max Hit the Road, a new game titled Sam & Max Freelance Police.
The sequel — like the original — was to be a point-and-click adventure game, although this time utilising 3D computer graphics. Mike Stemmle, co-designer of Sam & Max Hit the Road, was the lead director on this project with Steve Purcell contributing story design and concept art. Bill Farmer and Nick Jameson also reprised their roles as the original voices of Sam and Max.

Although concept images, a promotional E3 teaser video, and screenshots were released, LucasArts announced the cancellation of the anticipated title on March 3, 2004, citing "current market place realities and underlying economic considerations" in a short two-sentence press release. The announcement was made near the end of the game's development, just before advertisements and previews for the game were scheduled to appear in magazines.

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Into the Shadows

2007-07-07T12:38:00.000+03:00

Into the Shadows was a computer game being developed for DOS in Sweden by the demogroup Triton, for release by Scavenger. A running (non-interactive) demo was released in 1995. The game featured a state of the art 3d engine with what appeared to be real-time shadows, and realistic skeleton movement made from motion capture.

The game was cancelled in 1997 when Scavenger went under. Some members later joined Starbreeze Studios to work on Enclave and other games.

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Duke Nukem Forever

2007-07-07T12:07:00.000+03:00

Welcome tot the Games that Never Were blog!
Here you'll find data about the games that were in development but were never released.
How else can i start with if not with Duke Nukem Forever - the longest in production game ever!

The original Duke Nukem PC game was released in 1991 and quickly became a popular title with its comic book pulp and innovative (at the time) game play. Two sequels were released in 1993 and 1996, establishing the Duke as a successful PC game franchise.

The fourth installment, Duke Nukem Forever (DNF), was intended to be the piece de resistance of the series, but instead the game has become notorious for its delays and internal struggles. Work began on DNF in 1997 on the Quake game engine, but later that year developer 3D Realms moved to the Quake II engine. Apparently, engine switches and upgrades would become a disturbing pattern for 3D Realms. After some preliminary screenshots and trailer footage was released in 1998, 3D dumped the Quake engine altogether and switched to the Unreal Engine, which caused some serious technical issues. Then, 3D upgraded to Unreal Engine 1.5, which led to more headaches.

Things got worse after 3D indicated DNF would arrive before the holiday season of 2000. Then, the publishing rights were moved from Infogrames to Gather of Developers, a Take-Two Interactive subsidiary, and the release date was moved to 2001. By 2003, many fans were wondering if the game would ever arrive. So did Take-Two and basically everyone in the video game industry. And in 2004, 3D announced that it replaced the game's Karma physics engine with a new physics engine from Swedish developer Meqon Research (later acquired by Ageia). At this point, it was widely assumed that 3D was creating DNF from scratch and that all content and material previously completed (if any was actually completed) had been dumped.

The numerous delays, postponements and false promises have left many gamers frustrated with 3D, which has been accused of spending more time on clearing its forum of all DNF complaints and criticism and trying to erase any traces of previously announced release dates for the game. Of course, 3D still has DNF listed on their Website with the feel-good statement "Coming when it's done."