Cemetery of Russian games. Domestic projects of the end of the nineties, never saw the light

In Gamemenia No. 5/152, we arranged an unusual tour of the cemetery, on which the computer games of Russian developers who did not live before the release, announced in the early nineties. Today we recall the projects created in the second half of the last decade – and also, for various reasons, have not reached the counter

Oh, where are you, Vseslav?

"Vseslav Sorcereta"

A good mistress usually gives her best dish at the end of dinner. We will not drag out the time and start right with the dessert: the first Russian game of all time is the first in our list – “” Vseslav sorcerer ".

In the fall of 1996 " 1C " And Snowball Interactive They developed two projects, the events of which unfolded in similar fantasy Old Slavic worlds. The company of Alexander Nikitin worked on RPG called " Prince: Dragon Amulet ", Later renamed" Prince: Legends of a forest country ", And the team of Sergei Klimov is over the strategy" Vseslav Porracia "(by the way, during the development of the main domestic long -building, the name changed the name several times: here you are and" Vseslav sorcerer: the Dragomir clan ", and just" Vseslav "and" Vseslav: Dolina ", Plus three names for the Western market – Warlord vseslav, FatherDale and FatherDale: The Guardians of Asgard).

“1C” and Snowball Interactive came up with a single universe, “Chronicle of the times” for their projects, and planned to release a series of games telling about different stages of development of the virtual world.

The tie was like that. Once upon a time, during the Titans, the blacksmiths made several magic objects, the so-called singing things-unusual swords or rings that endowed the owner with power. Then the Titans created their assistants, mortal bodies, but the eternal soul of the heroes, and bequeathed to them to keep singing things a secret, after which they left the world forever. Vseslav the sorcerer became the guardian of the Fiery blade – and, of course, he found an enemy, a warrior Dragomir, who hunted for an invaluable thing. The paths of the two heroes crossed in the territory of Ancient Rus', where Vseslav regularly served the governor with Prince Vsevolod: he repulsed the raids of the Polovtsy and the Vikings, fought with the nomads attacked in the villages.

Vseslav was very different from ordinary strategies in real time. No collection of resources, barracks and crazy races for the production of combat units. Imagine a huge world divided into several zones with complete freedom of movement. Life goes on as usual, events in each of the zones are developing regardless of whether the main character is there or not. Performing tasks, the player goes from one section of the card to another. For example, a messenger comes running to you and says that the local militia stumbled upon the Polovtsy at the river, and you decide, send a squad there, retreat to a neighboring village and calmly establish a defense or stay in the back of the way. The more tasks have completed, the more artifacts you have and higher combat experience for combatants.

In the summer of 1998, Snowball Interactive signed a contract with Monolith Productions. Western PR managers dubbed the Russian game "Assassin Baldur’s Gate ". However, the romance with the Americans did not last long – from published in 1998 the Games Monolith's profit was brought only by our " Allods: Printing Secrets "(Abroad, who went under the name Rage of Mages ). As a result, Monolith Productions abandoned Napoleonic plans to conquer the publishing market.

Why "Vseslav" never saw the light? In our opinion, the blame of the developers to constantly improve the game. Instead of once saying “Stop!", They came up with more and more new additions. Initially, Vseslav was a pure strategy and was most like Myth: The Fallen Lords from Bungie Software. Then the authors decided to ennoble the gameplay with RPG elements. The scriptwriters individualized all the key heroes and wrote a lot of dialogs. But this seemed a little, and the developers planned to add a nonlinear development of the plot. As a result, too much time was spent on the adjustment of the gameplay for the tasks of mission. And then the developers wanted to add horses to the game. It would seem nonsense. But because of this "nonsense" they had to calculate almost 200 thousand new animation personnel. Some plot details also changed. After consultations with specialists from the Historical Museum, the developers transferred the events of the game from the XII to the XI century, choosing a place of action located south of the modern Tula, the really existing city of Dedoslavl. In general, every time there was something new.

This continued until March 2002, until the producer Sergei Klimov decided to freeze the development of the game. However, we do not get tired of hope that someday we will still see Vseslav in the store.

Why were they waiting: The most important long -building of the domestic gaming industry.

Waiting rating: 10/10

In the distant, distant galaxy

"Mercury-8: melting shadows"

The second project Snowball Interactive From the series " Chronicle of the times " – Industrial strategy" Mercury-8: Creaming shadows ". Unlike "Vseslav" and "Prince", the events of "Mercury" were to unfold not in the past, but in the future.

In the XXII century, earthlings, titans and sowers of stars fought on a distant deserted planet. In style, the game resembled the mixture Starcraft , Dune 2 And Fallout. The development started in July 1997, but for a year and a half, employees of the Moscow Snowball Interactive and the Oryol Hi-Reflex Interactive did not start assembling the working version of the game. The only thing that remains after the closing of the project is the approved script and a lot of concept artist Timur Matsayev.

By the way, "Mercury-8: Creaming Shadows" has nothing to do with the game published in the middle of the two thousandth Space Hack From the Polish company Rebelmind. Just during the localization process, Snowball employees had to draw a logo, so they decided to use the branded inscription molten mercury.

Why were they waiting: Our answer to the bourgeois Starcraft.

Waiting rating: 8/10

The missing girl

"Alice"

You have never thought about the motives of almost all popular Soviet cartoons created computer games, and the vast majority of them are quests?

In the fall of 1997 Publishing house " 1C "And the studio Gamos On the example of their “Pilot brothers: in the footsteps of the striped elephant” they showed the rest: the cartoons bring very good money. And went and went. On the track, beaten by investigators, the path of Leopold, Cheburashka, Wolf and Hare from “Well, wait a minute!"And many others. Alice, the heroine of the painting of Roman Kachanov, “The Secret of the Third Planet”, which, in turn, was created based on Kira Bulychev’s story “Alice's Journey”, was not an exception. In 2005 " Akella "Published Arkad" The Secret of the Third Planet ", then – the quests" Alice and the Space Dragon "and" The Secret of the Third Planet: Alice and the Lilac Ball ". It would seem that they have not forgotten anyone. But in fact, the collection will be incomplete if you do not recall the project of the company " Home computer ".

Game with the working name " Alice "Was supposed to consist of 27 screens with a variety of puzzles. For example, drive by car along the streets of the cities of the planet Shelezyyak without violating local traffic rules, help green find machine oil for repairing a robot in a slammed hangar for some reason a silent bird of a talker. According to producer Pavel Krivoruchko, about half an hour was required to solve one riddle. The developers used a two -dimensional cartoon graphics and a classic first -person view.

By the beginning of 1998, the script and a set of puzzles were completely ready. Famous among animators, artist Tatyana Karavaeva, it remained to draw part of the characters and background pictures. The release was outlined for the summer of 1998, but the crisis that erupted in August destroyed all plans – the company "Home Computer" never entered the computer games market.

Why were they waiting: the opportunity to meet with your favorite heroes of the time of barefoot childhood.

Waiting rating: 6/10

Naked Postkibergpank

Moron/nuts

After the success of the game " GAG: an anxious adventure " Auric Vision Continued her experiments in the frying of "Quests for adults". The Moscow company announced the addition " Gag+: Harry on vacation "And a new project under the working name" Jerk ". The first game safely reached the shelves of stores, but the second died in the summer of 1998, and even before the August crisis.

According to the producer Alexander Kopov, the “moron” is “a stem on very serious topics”. The game was created on a completely three -dimensional engine, the events unfolded in the distant post -kyberpanka future, and, unlike Gaga, the developers used both the view from the first and third -party, plus added the possibility of a circular review.

Is it worth waiting for the return of the "Steel on Very serious topics"? It is unlikely: for more than ten years, Auric Vision has been specializing in marketing research in the field of Internet technologies and has achieved considerable success in this direction. The company participated in the projects of the Government of Russia, the World Bank, the Center for International Private Entrepreneurship and the Association for the Protection of Investors' Rights. In general, developers are engaged in serious matters – but they are not staring over such.

Why were they waiting: Rebelled post -kyberpanka quest in the best traditions of the game "Gag: Help Office".

Waiting rating: 6/10

An alien menagerie

Bestiary/Bestiary

Officially announced Bestiary (Over time, the name was transformed into The Bestiary , and then in AWOLDE: Bestiary ) took place in the spring of 1998. In fact, work on the game began much earlier.

In 1996, Vitaly Shutov, who had grown up in New Urengoy, entered the Moscow State Institute of Electronic Technology and began to look among classmates of brothers in mind – guys who, like him, loved computer games. Vitaliy was fond of three-dimensional modeling and even once made a few amateur games for Spectrum and PC. For about three years, he has heeded the idea to release a strategy in real time in the spirit Warcraft And Warhammer , where instead of people, elves, orcs and ogres were reasonable animals.

The idea was not accepted right away – the very first comrade -in -arms of Shutov insisted that the shooter should be done. Four months later, when the results began to appear, he offered to abandon the shooter and take up races. As a result, the developers' paths diverged, but, as they say, there is no empty place in a holy place: the idea of ​​Vitaly liked the programmer Alexander Sorokin, and together they founded a studio in Zelenograd Mist Land.

Initially, the developers wanted to make a flat landscape with spree units, but one day they realized that their engine was able to maintain a completely three https://fortune-clock-gb-casino.co.uk/ -dimensional picture. Gradually, more and more people were drawn into the project. By April 1998, the team consisted of six students of the mieta hostel.

Bestiary differed from other fantasy strategies with an unusual plot. In the distant future, people conducted experiments on growing intelligent animals, and once the ship with pets landed on the earth -type planet, Awolde. The animals created a kind of feudal society of the XII century, in which the enslaved mice rebelled against the empire of cats.

The Economic Model Bestiary resembled the good old Warcraft: chop the forest, extract gold, build buildings and stamping the army. But the battles were not like any other game. On the one hand, there are cavalry cats, armed with halberds and crossbowers, cats-cats, cats with peaks, mice, mouse-chamans, flying mice, sitting on the mouse pigs settled in the paws of mice, traveling on wild bulls Knights. Allies – otter, bears, dogs, sea cats and other "nationality". With each battle, units gained experience, improving about half a dozen of combat skills. It was also planned to create a non -linear plot with several endings and a duster tree from the stenic missions, which would be unfolding on dry air, and the rest – on the sea and underground.

The main technical feature of the game was a highly realistic physical model, which allowed to change the terrain in real time. The wind switched off the fire and burned huge forests to the ground, during the rain the water filled the dug pits, the snow that fell hidden traces – and so on. The engine supported up to ten thousand landfills in the frame. By the standards of 1998, this! In the late 1999 Quake 3: Arena on the frame accounted on average the same number of landfills.

The company laid their eyes on talented guys Electrotech Multimedia , And at first they worked very well. Alas, the financing of the project ceased in August 1998, and in January 1999, partners completely broke off relations. Each side has its own story. The publishing house accused the developers of a rude violation of the deadlines stated in the contract, and in response they stated that they would not have been out of the schedule if they had not been constantly forced to spend a lot of time on the assembly of new exhibition demo versions. For almost a year, Vitaly Shutov and the company tried to stretch the project on their shoulders, but could not reach the victorious end.

However, the works did not disappear in vain. In 1999, a foreign publisher paid attention to Bestiari, who proposed to make a completely three -dimensional wargam on the basis of the engine, in which the battles of the times of the Napoleonic Wars would be recreated. The developers created the game in a record short time – in six months. However Great Wars: Napoleon never appeared in the western market. For several months the game lay on a shelf until in October 2000 it was published by the Russian company Buka – under the name " War history: Napoleon ".

Why were they waiting: The alloy of advanced three -dimensional technologies, an interesting plot and a balanced gameplay.

Waiting rating: 9/10

In search of naked roundness

"Erotic life"

Surprisingly, but the fact: at the beginning of the two thousandth erotic video clinics " Randev with a stranger "I was in much greater demand in our country than many famous Western games. This is now on the shelves of stores full of discs with half -naked girls on the covers, and then such a project was a curiosity.

However, the first Russian "strawberry" was supposed to appear a couple of years earlier, just a Moscow company Sky-Studio could not bring the development of the Erotic life project to the end. In this game, you would have to chat with the girls who are meeting during the plot and spin them into striptease. The main goal was to order one lady with a very jealous husband. The date was scheduled for the fall of 1998, but it did not take place: in the fight “Macho-Machiner against the husband” won the latter-by technical knockout.

Why were they waiting: First domestic erotic video clinic.

Waiting rating: 5/10

Peaceful sky

"Su-35: Flight Academy"

The phrase “peaceful simulator of a military aircraft” sounds as ridiculous as “bitter sugar” or “dry rain”. But our life is good that the most incredible paradoxes are sometimes found in it. In the game " Su-35: Flight Academy »There were no air battles – the modern combat vehicle was used for single and group flights. Of course, employees Graphland Not opened America. Lovers of airplanes with experience will probably remember Blue Angels from the company Artech , in which the player performed as part of the Higher Assembly group on various air shoes.

The main highlight of the Flight Academy was to be a network mode that supports video recording. With the help of a special editor of aerobatic complexes, virtual pilots would create flight tasks and evaluate who will make this or that figure better. The project was advised by experts from the flight test center. Graphland employees also had extensive experience in creating simulators: until 1997 they worked at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, participated in the creation of a legendary game SU-27 Flanker and the training simulator of the Ka-50 helicopter, "Black Shark".

The release of Su-35: Academy was appointed to October 1998, but, unfortunately, did not work out.

Why were they waiting: peaceful flights on the most modern fighting fighter.

Waiting rating: 7/10

My beast

Nooks & Crannies

Even the burned computer scientists have probably heard about such a well -known console arcade as ECCO The Dolphin. Created it by the Ettore Annese, also known as Ed Anuzait. In 1996, the famous designer left the walls Sega And founded the company Andnow. What does a well -known foreign developer have to do when it comes to unremarkable Russian games? Yes, the fact is that the head office of the company was located in California, the second office in Budapest, and the third in Moscow, between the metro station Tula and Shabolovskaya. The Russian branch of the company was called Andnow East. It was in it that the development of two projects that did not see the light-cross-platform strategy Nooks & Crannies and three -dimensional arcade Virtual Ocean For PlayStation 2.

The Annusian came up with Nooks & Crannies in 1997. Imagine a strategy in which there is no mining of resources and construction. There are only two races of warlike animals: armed with axes, hammers and shotgun Nuki and Krenny, who travel through unusual worlds and perform various missions. It turns out a kind of turned out to the inside Creatures , into which cute little animals shred each other into small pieces. Each creature has a certain set of physiological needs and has a good memory. For example, an experienced unit will easily find the optimal way to the goal, and the “green” will circle with loops.

The authors of the game fundamentally did not use the numbers to describe the characteristics of the unit – everything could be understood by his behavior: how quickly he runs, fits aptly, focuses well on the ground, and so on. Moreover, all the learned skills were handed over to their descendants by inheritance. The player, like a breeder, deduced the perfect breed. It was even planned to organize a special network service that would help players from various parts of the world compare and exchange their pets-but, again, it did not grow together.

Why were they waiting: We grow ideal fighting animals ten years before the appearance of SPORE.

Waiting rating: 8/10

A guy from our area

"Outside"/Project overdrive

The young man of sports physique has just left prison and is now standing in the middle of the city. Around – at home and roads. Rustling with tires on asphalt, flocks of cars are scurrying back and forth. Pedestrians who stopped on the sidewalk are waiting for a green traffic light to light up. In the pocket of our hero, there are pathetic twenty dollars, and he does not know how to live on: to go to local bandits or get a taxi driver. A familiar picture? Absolutely true: something like this began Grand Theft Auto 3. In fact, we described the plot form of the domestic game " All law "(Also known under the name Projectoverive ).

Coincidences with the Grand Theft Auto series are so many that you just wonder. Here you have a showdown with several criminal groups, and in moderation of realistic races, and hiking in bars and shops, and love relationships. There can be no question of any plagiarism. Project Overdrive announced in the spring of 1999, long before the release of Grand Theft Auto 3. In September 2000, the game was shown at the London exhibition ECTS. Buka held six dozen meetings with foreign publishers. It would seem that everything went according to plan. But suddenly in January 2001 a press release was released, which said that the publishing house is turning all the work on the Project Overdrive, as it considers it appropriate to focus on more promising projects " Access code: Paradise "," Mascot " And " Spell ".

Why were they waiting: Russian action on wheels announced long before the advent of Grand Theft Auto 3.

Waiting rating: 8/10