| Space
Quest 3 Cancelled Stuff
 With
my copy of Space Quest 2 came the Sierra Game Catalogue Summer 1988.
It featured a page about the upcoming Space Quest 3. On the bottom
of each page was a small filmstrip
with some screenshots. When looking at one
of the screenshots in that filmstrip, I noticed something very
peculiar: A green bear-like creature wandering around in one of
the Garbage Freighter rooms.
 I
admit that the quality of the filmstrip screenshot scan is anything
but perfect, and do notice those weird colours. That's because the
original picture is just 2 by 1 centimeters! Can you see the red
spray-painted text on the wing of the left most spacecraft (actually
a Tie-Fighter from Star Wars)? I know, you can't read it, but I
found some information about this. It says: "the empire sucks!".
Ken Williams told the Two Guys to remove it, because of legal issues.
The
weird colors are probably the result of some printing error. FlashMaster80
explains: "All printed materials (like the Sierra catalogue)
are created using CMYK colors. That's a process in which the colors
Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and blacK, each take a pass at the paper
to create the colors you see. Looks like someone at Sierra's print
shop switched the color plates on the press (oops)! This mistake
created these weird colors! After changing a few things in Photoshop
you'll get this result as it should be:
We
can conclude the following:
-
The "bear" is slightly brighter (slimier?) than the catalogue
indicates.
- Roger is full brightness, indicating the shaded "dark zones"
weren't added to this scene yet, and, most importantly...
- Roger has yellow hair! This caused an uproar (well, sort of) when
it first appeared Space Quest 4. Perhaps it was decided at the last
minute that the gaming public just wasn't ready for a blond Roger?"
Some
months later, I acquired a PCGames Magazine December 1989, which
featured the same screenshot, only much larger and more detailed.
This time, with the colours printed correctly. It reveals much more
detail about our mysterious "bear"... Click
here for the complete screenshot (100
KB).
It
so happens that these screenshots are from a very early beta version.
It's unkown why the Two Guys didn't include the bear in the final
version. When playing Space Quest 3, type "Look around"
for a description of the page: "Various types of abandoned
spacecraft litter the floor of this intergalatic junkyard. All this
place needs is a junk yard dog. You shiver at the thought."
That's
not all, though! Using a tool called SCI
Studio I opened up Space Quest 3. SCI Studio enables you to
look around in the game's source code, animations and other graphics.
I found some stuff that shouldn't be there. Stuff that isn't used
in the actual game. Leftovers from early puzzles, jokes or animations
that didn't make it into the final version of the game.
 This
animation is part of the computer console from that garbage
freighter droid found in the intro movie. Although this
animation isn't there in the real game, you can see it in
the Space Quest 3 promo movie. |
 This
image originates from the Monolith Burger scene. It
isn't
used in the game, but it IS in Sierra's
1989-1990 promotional VHS tape.
 A
few the death messages in the source code isn't used
in the game. "A Slimmer, Trimmer You!", "A quick, but
painful, way to shed those extra inches" and lastly an
unused message from the Monolith Burger scene "Captain's
Log:
Funny,
I thought this was the last frontier, but
it seems like there's a fast food joint around the corner
from every star cluster."
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General