The Mindwarp was an action video game that was been developed by Maxis for PC by 1997. It was the first non-simulation game made by Maxis. In this game you drive a space ship in an alien base that connects itself by tunnels. Your mission was to discover a secreat that could threat the whole human nation. In the development of the game they were using “new and innovative” programming and designing technology based on geometric calculations to achieve a never seem before 3D realistic experience.
Initially the game was been devoloped for PC with the possibility to be ported for other systems. According to some of the people that worked on the game, the development of The Mindwarp had issues from the beginning and the demo gameplay look a “bit buggy”. When Maxis was acquired by Electronic Arts it resulted in the cancellation of the game.
Wehrwolf is a cancelled World War II First-Person Shooter developed from 2003to approximately2006 by Ukrainian studio Electronic Paradise and published by Discus Games, only for PC.
Wehrwolf was officialy announced in February 2004. By the time, here is what we could read on the old defunct website about the game:
Wehrwolf is a first person 3D action-adventure game. It has two modes: singleplayer and multiplayer game. The style of the game is similar to the styles of Call of Duty and Medal of Honor but with up-to-date graphics.
Wehrwolf is creating on the basis of its own 3D engine having both indoor and outdoor. The main features of the engine are as follows: unlimited landscapes, realistic water, natural growth and other objects, dynamic light, soft shadows, animated clouds, interactive weapons.
The scenario of the game bases on the real episodes of the Second World war. The action takes place in the outskirts and inside the German top-secret military facility Hitler’s field headquarters Wehrwolf.(note: Wehrwolf – armed wolf, Werwolf – werewolf) not far from Vinnitsa. Even today this facility is covered under the curtain of mystery, secrets and myths. Until now Wehrwolf is one of mysterious and undiscovered places in Europe.
The player will have to act as a member of soviet special assignment squad “Victors”(this squad really existed during the Second World War), which was dropped deep beyond the enemy lines for diversions and to uncover the mystery of Wehrwolf…
There are to be 15 singleplayer and 5 multiplayer levels, 25 kinds of infantry weapons, more than 10 different kinds of vehicles, 20 kind of heavy equipment.
3D models of Wehrwolf bunker, villages and Vinnitsa of the 1940’s are being specially recreated for the game. 3D model of the weapons are created using real infantry weapons of the Second World War, which were neutralized on the military factory. The weapons in the game are as follows: PPSh-41, PPS-43, MP-40, PD-27, RPD-44, MG-34, Mosin riffle, Tokarev riffle, TT and revolver. Real Soviet and German military equipment were bought to recreate real textures in the game: uniform, helmets, flasks and others.
Shortly after its reveal, GenGamers was able to get an interview with Electronic Paradise’s director Sergei Melikhov, describing more about the game:
GG: When did you start the development for your game Wehrwolf and how many people are working on it?
SM: We started the development in September 2003. Our team consists of 6 people.
GG: Have you been inspired by other games or movies?
GG: Is Wehrwolf a typical shooter or will you implent interesting gameplay variations?
SM: Wehrwolf is not a typical shooter. We plan to add some adventure & stealth elements. The player will need to use his tactical skills to complete small missions, looking for the most suitable decisions. These tasks will have various salvations.
GG: How long will it take to finish the game?
SM: We plan to finish it by the middle of 2005.
GG: And what´s up with the mod community? Will they be able to create their own levels?
SM: We started the creation of the separate level editor. The players will be able to create their own levels and characters with its help.
GG: What kind of music will you include?
SM: We ordered musical compositions with war theme for the game. The composer is rather famous here in Ukraine and in England: Alexander Sparinskiy. We think there will be about 10 musical themes.
After that, the game occasionally showed up in the media through various screenshots as well as 2 gameplay videos, but wasn’t released in mid-2005. Thereafter, it seems that the project was put on hold and Electronic Paradise has instead developed what would be their only game: Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel, released in 2007 in Russia. We can assume that something didn’t work out as planned for Wehwrolf and its developer had to refocus on a more economically viable project. Electronic Paradise disappeared completely after that, as well as Discus Games, rather modest in its published games.
VIP Soccer was a football video game that was been developed by Virgin Interactive for PC by mid-1996. The game was described as similar as FIFA 96 or Actua Soccer but instead it used bitmap graphics. It was supposed to be a 3D game with different types of cameras which you could rotate. Also it had VGA & SVGA graphic resolution with the possibility of adjusting the detail and other video options so you could run it in lower PC’s.
No explanation was given for why the game was cancelled.
Putty Squad was a platform video game that was been developed by System 3 for MS-DOS by 1996. Along with the PC, a Mega Drive and Amiga ports were supposed to be released but only the SNES version was finally available.
In December 2013, the Amiga version was released on System 3’s website. In October 2015, the Mega Drive version was also released by a user who got a hold of a working prototype.
A playable demo was available in the CD’s that came along with some videogame magazines.
Black Powder Red Earth is a turn-based tactics game published and developed by Echelon Software and released on PC and mobile phones in 2021.
As we can read on Steam, the story takes place in the near present, where you step into the event horizon of a failed state in the Middle East, as Private Military Contractor – Cold Harbor, hunting jihadist terrorists in war-torn sprawls as a lethal surrogate for the host nation. The license is also available in tabletop wargames and graphic novels.
But before being released in this form, Black Powder Red Earth took a much different approach. The game was announced in June 2007 by its developers as a multiplayer First-Person Shooter, powered by the Unreal Engine 3 and taking place in the distant future as announced by FiringSquad:
“Rather than build an elaborate 3D world space, Black Powder Red Earth uses the same framework commonly found on the Web for social networking. Players are already used to creating and managing online identities on sites like Myspace and Orkut. They are also buying and selling real and virtual products on sites like Ebay, iTunes and Amazon. By using these familiar tools, Black Powder Red Earth keeps the learning curve as flat as possible,” says Jon Chang, president of Echelon. “Best of all, unbinding these activities from the game executable gives players access to the world of Black Powder Red Earth either from inside the game or from the outside via any Web-enabled device. Persistence is the real world, anytime the players want it.”
Set on Mars in 2043, Players act as mercenary soldiers executing contracts for warring corporations in a variety of urban/industrial sprawls, using bleeding edge weapons in hi-tech team based battles for virtual currency that can be used to purchase new weapons, upgrade existing weapons, buy armor and tactical enhancements to fine tune their in-game experience. As players rank up, they will also be able to open their own mercenary franchises. These franchises provide a base for recruiting other players into a clan, offer in- game advantages for members and allow the owners to open their own storefronts that compete against the game MSRPs and can generate “cash” from new players of the game.
Multiplayer-only, allowing up to 16 players to battle online together
Next-generation graphics powered by Unreal Engine 3
8 contract campaign plays out in a detailed near-future 3D environments
Earn “virt cash” to collect more than 100 parts and accessories
Customize weapons, browse for new items, and build a career in a familiar Web interface in- game or from any Web browser at any time!
Build a franchise private military company (PMC) with other players or create a competing store front to sell arms and gear to other players
Association with former PMC operatives ensures realistic game play
During the same period, a short trailer was also unveiled, but after that, the game fell completely into limbo before resurfacing in 2011, then 2014, in the form of a graphic novel, the background completely modified but using the same war-based themes.
If you know someone who worked on this version of Black Powder Red Earth and could help us preserve more screenshots, footage or details, please let us know!
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