Vanishing Point Dreamcast prototypes
Vanishing Point was developed by an English studio called Clockwork Games. We owe them for games like Lemmings 3D and Rush Hour.
Vanishing Point offers everything we were entitled to expect from a racing game at the time (races, time trials, championships), while adding a Stunt mode. In this mode, comprising about fifteen events, many acrobatics must be performed to obtain the most points possible.
The choice of vehicles from prestigious licenses was one of the strong points of the game. Thus, driving a hippie bus Volkswagen brought real happiness, with the impression of bringing our band of friends to Woodstock to soar while listening to Jimi Hendrix.
As is often in the racing genre, you had to wait a while before getting more interesting cars and fully enjoying the game. About thirty cars were available on about ten circuits. You had to pilot your vehicles in road traffic, avoiding collisions with other motorists, slaloming between users and other competitors.
In terms of piloting, Vanishing Point was resolutely intended to be an arcade experience.
The specificities of builds:
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To get to the Vanishing Point title menu, 4 different screens follow one another in a precise order. In this prototype version, 3 are missing: the one with the copyright concerning the title of the game with the brands of the licensed cars, the one with the logo of the VP game starting with "Acclaim Entertainment.Inc Presents" and finally, the loading one with the VP- logo displaying "Accessing Data".
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The title menu is also slightly different. There should be a box containing the logos of the publisher, the studio and the game. In the prototype, the image is uniform, without cuts and without a box. The name of the game Vanishing Point is not present, the copyright is written in a different way, "Clockwork Games Limited 2000" instead of "TM 2000 Clockwork Games Limited".
prototype
Final
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At the main menu, at the bottom right, it's shown the version number of the build, the time and the date of its creation.
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By leaving the game on without pressing a button on the controller, it should go to sleep with the crests of the various car manufacturers. The screen saver does not seem to be implemented.
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In the box at the top of the menu windows, the one that changes color with the different brands of vehicles, the Acclaim publisher name, the Clockwork studio name, and the Vanishing Point game name should appear alternately. Nothing happens in this beta.
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When selecting Extra from the main menu, the "Secret" option is missing.
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The Credits in the Extra selection are basic. The names of different people having worked on the game and their role (written primarily in yellow) are not present. There are only acknowledgements to people and companies outside of Acclaim and the studio.
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Following this path "Option" - "Records" - "Tournaments" - "Single Race", the last option "1 Lap" should be "2 Lap". By selecting it, 3 choices open (1 Lap, 2 Lap and 3 Lap) instead of 2 for the final version. "1 Lap" is specific to this build.
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By going to "Sound Settings" in the "Option" menu, the default values for music and sound are not the same as in the commercial version. "Music Volume" is set to 60% instead of 90% while "Movie Volume" is set to 90%, which should be 100%. These differences in values, for music, are also found in the pause menu once in game.
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In "Controller Settings" for "Player 1" in the "Option" menu, "Steering Sensitivity" is set to Normal and not Low.
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In "Visual Settings" of the "Options" menu, the choice "Rival Makers" does not yet exist.
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By going through the different menus, some options are selectable when they should not be; others are not when they should be. It would take too long to list them all.
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At the end of the creation of a profile in order to play on the Internet in "Internet Challenge", a warning screen appears. The word Warning should be in red and not the same color as the rest.
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When wanting to play the "Head 2 Head" mode, 3 choices should be presented to players, including "Single Race", "Balloon Buster" and "Chicken Race". In this beta, these 3 sub-modes are not there; we come directly to the choice of vehicle. This problem is also found in "Multiplayer" mode, the player will arrive directly to the "Multiplayer Setup" window in which some information is missing.
Prototype
Final
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When playing the "Stunt Jump" mode in "Arcade", at the Objectives screen, the font is larger, some text is missing and the game offers another car to drive. The allocated time is 13 seconds instead of 12 and the objective to reach is 60 meters instead of 80.
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In-game, in "Stunt Jump", the remaining time at the top-left includes hundredths, it should be just seconds. Another time count, the one spent in the race, should be present at the bottom-left.
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After the time has elapsed in "Stunt Jump", the "OUT TIME" window appears. The distribution of points to win is not the same: 25 points for "Time Remaining" (it should also be called just "Time") instead of 75 for example; it's reversed.
It's up to you to look for other subtleties, especially in-game!
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You can download Vanishing Point Dreamcast builds below
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VANISHING POINT (Nov 10, 2000 prototype)
I have not analyzed this build in detail, the dates being close to one another
Acclaim Prototype from the " Duff'y Dreamcast Collection " Project: Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX - Dead or Alive 2 - Ducati World Racing Challenge - ECW Hardcore Revolution - F355 Challenge - Fur Figthers - NFL Quarterback Club 2000 - Re-Volt - South Park: Chef's Luv Shack -South Park Rally - Spirit of Speed 1937 - Vanishing Point
Acclaim prototype of the project "Duffy's Collection Part 2" : Shadowman (Unreleased) PC - Shadowman Ps1 - South Park Rally Ps1 - South Park Rally PC - Re-Volt Ps1 - The Red Star (Unreleased) Xbox - NFL Quarterback Club 2002 Ps2 - NFL Quarterback Club 2002 Gc - Heaven's Drive (Unreleased) Ps2 - Crazy Taxi Gc - Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M. Ps1 - Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX: Maximum Remix Ps1 - Forsaken PC - Machines PC - 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker Gc - All-Star Baseball 2003 featuring Derek Jeter Gc - Aggressive Inline Ps2 - Jeremy McGrath Supercross World 2002 Ps2 - XGIII: Extreme G Racing Ps2 - XGIII: Extreme G Racing Gc
More than 200 prototypes, documents, press kit have been dumped or scanned, you will find them in free download in the "Releases de prototypes et documents"
