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Spy Fox 2: Some Assembly Required

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Title Screen

Spy Fox 2: Some Assembly Required

Developer: Humongous Entertainment
Publisher: Humongous Entertainment
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS Classic
Released in US: 1999


DevMessageIcon.png This game has a hidden developer message.
CopyrightIcon.png This game has hidden developer credits.
GraphicsIcon.png This game has unused graphics.
MovieIcon.png This game has unused cinematics.
SoundIcon.png This game has unused sounds.
TextIcon.png This game has unused text.
DebugIcon.png This game has debugging material.
LevelSelectIcon.png This game has a hidden level select.


Napoleon LeRoach has constructed a giant evil wind-up robot dog powered by the turnstiles of the World's Fair, and it's up to Spy Fox to stop it. Can he do it? Probably, but it may be too late for New York anyways.

Unused Text

Subtitles

As with most Humongous games, this one has subtitles but no option to turn them on. They can be enabled by adding TextOn=1 to the hegames.ini configuration file, or through ScummVM.

(Source: http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Humongous_Entertainment/Games/INI_Settings)

Debug Output

The game has a substantial quantity of debug console output, most easily seen by running the game in ScummVM and setting the debug level to 0 or higher.

Cheat Handler

CHEATER! You shouldn't have the cod talk balloon on the flytrap path!

Normally, the Caped Cod talk balloon only appears in the Restruct-O-Lux path. If it's obtained on the flytrap path (e.g. with the inventory debug) and used on Doll or Lee, the game pops up a dialog box with this message and skips the conversation.

Debug Mode

This game has two sets of debug features: the debug rooms and the engine debugging tools. Adding FoxTimesTwo=C (the last letter is case-insensitive, so "c" will also work) to the configuration file will enable only the debug rooms, while adding SputmDebug=82399 will enable both the rooms and the engine debugger.

(Source: http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Humongous_Entertainment/Games/INI_Settings)

Debug Rooms

Path Select

Spy Fox 2 Path Select.png

Activated by pressing Shift + C during gameplay. Allows the state of most puzzles and important settings to be modified.

Room Select

Spy Fox 2 Room Select.png

Activated by Shift + G. Clicking on a room warps to it. A few rooms, like SaveLoad and Intro, don't work.

Item Select

Spy Fox 2 Item Select.png

Activated by Shift + I. Clicking an item places it in the inventory. Items with multiple states have arrows allowing them to be adjusted.

Engine Debug

  • Ctrl + E: Brings up a series of dialog boxes that prompt for an internal variable number, give its current value, and optionally allow it to be changed.
  • Ctrl + F: Enables "fast mode", causing everything except sound playback run as fast as the hardware will allow.
  • Ctrl + G: Prompts for a room number to warp to.
  • Ctrl + O: Prompts for the number of an object to place in the inventory.
(Source: http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Humongous_Entertainment/Games/Debug_Modes)

Unused Scenes

Adding FryFox=BurnBabyBurn to the configuration file enables a rather grisly tribute to Dragon's Lair, triggered by clicking the electric chair in Napoleon's lab that normally leads to the main corridor. Note that this scene overrides the ordinary exit sequence, meaning it's impossible to leave normally until the setting is removed.

(Source: http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Humongous_Entertainment/Games/INI_Settings)

Unused Graphics

Intro

File Notes
Spyfox2-room-11-awiz-2-intro-sky.png An unused, unfinished background meant for somewhere in the Alps intro scenes.
Spyfox2-room-7-akos-35-sequence-0-fox-enter.gif These are drafts of some of Fox and the Chief's animations. The black-and-white graphics were meant to be placed over similarly colored WIP backgrounds, but since those backgrounds were overwritten with the finished versions, the final ones are substituted here instead.
Spyfox2-room-7-akos-35-sequence-2-fox-chief.gif
Spyfox2-room-7-awiz-21-chief-concept.png This is either concept art or an unrealized background image of the Chief. Either way, it differs significantly from the final design, with the top of his head visible and his desk on the opposite side of the chair.

Mobile Command Center

File Notes
Spyfox2-room-7-awiz-12-walter-bg.png Early version of the close-up of Fox shown when picking up Walter Wireless.

Wee World Entrance

File Notes
Spyfox2-room-16-akos-3-sequence-0-ww-havekey.gif This room contains a series of what seem to be test animations for the various ways of trying to enter Wee World. Unusually, they use full-color graphics instead of uncolored lineart.

Here, Fox approaches Wee World with one of the duplicated keys.

Spyfox2-room-16-akos-3-sequence-1-ww-rightkey.gif It's the right key, so he waltzes on in.
Spyfox2-room-16-akos-3-sequence-2-ww-wrongkey.gif Whoops, wrong key. He puts it back in the replicator for reuse.
Spyfox2-room-16-akos-4-sequence-0-ww-sign.gif On the Restruct-O-Lux path, Fox tries to enter the museum. The guard moves out from in front of the sign, revealing the museum is closed.

Wax Museum Entrance

File Notes
Spyfox2-room-20-akos-6-sequence-0-museum-enter.gif More test animations. Fox tries to sneak past the guard, who's watching the security monitor.
"Would you believe I have my own television show on public access called 'Entering the Wax Museum'?" Caught on camera.
Spyfox2-room-20-akos-34-sequence-museum-exit.gif Dejectedly back to the entrance.

Food on Sticks

File Notes
Spyfox2-room-34-akos-4-lenny.png A miscolored, poorly resized picture of Lenny.

Observation Deck

File Notes
Spyfox2-room-37-awiz-0-deck-sky.png An unused background for the observation deck. Seems to be a view directly up from the platform, which no situation in the final game warrants.
Spyfox2-room-37-awiz-1-deck-closeup.png Another unused background. This one seems to have been made by cropping and zooming an early sketch of the main background.

Caped Cod

File Notes
Spyfox2-room-38-akos-24-sequence-0-elmo.png Drafts of Elmo and Fox's reactions to the Cod's performance.
Spyfox2-room-38-akos-26-sequence-0-fox.png

Sewer (Fiji Side)

File Notes
Spyfox2-room-55-akos-3-sequence-0-gears.gif A rough animation of some gears, presumably meant to connect to the pipe-moving machine somehow. The way they're laid out doesn't really make any sense with the way the room is oriented in the finished game.

Ending

File Notes
Spyfox2-room-32-awiz-0-manhole.png Placeholder for one of the backgrounds showing the manhole Napoleon escapes into.
Spyfox2-room-7-akos-35-sequence-1-fox-award.gif Draft animation of Fox receiving his award in the best ending. As with the intro graphics, the original background was overwritten, so this uses the final one instead.

Credits

File Notes
Spyfox2-room-56-akos-9-inkcred.png A mock-up of the "Digital Ink & Paint" slide of the credits. "Nasker" is Steve Nasker, whose duty for this game should be apparent. This placeholder text actually is displayed, but it's drawn behind the main background and can't be seen.
Spyfox2-room-56-akos-11-assistants.png

Spyfox2-room-56-akos-11-assistants-anim.gif

A similar mock-up for the "Production Assistants" slide.

Interestingly, the game has animation data for a smooth transition from the "Sound" slide to this one, but the code skips it—instead, the game cuts directly from one slide to the next. If it didn't, the placeholder text would show up. Also notice how the placeholder graphics incorrectly flash by for a single frame during the transition.

Miscellaneous

File Notes
Spyfox2-room-1-rmim-0-interface-bg.png This is the background for room 2, which is just a storage room for the inventory interface components. There are similar placeholders in other Humongous games, such as Backyard Baseball and Pajama Sam 2.
Spyfox2-room-58-akos-0-sequence-0-saveload-temp.gif An animated placeholder graphic for nonexistent save/load pictures (the text is "TEMP", if you don't want to squint). There's a duplicate copy of this, probably for some situation that turned out to be impossible in the finished game.

Unused Dialogue

Like the first Spy Fox, this one has a good chunk of dialogue that's never heard due to programming errors and design oversights. These patches restore all the content that requires hacking, while the rest can be accessed using debug features. The video shows the material below in action.

Can't Let You Do That, Spy Fox

File Character Subtitles
Spy Fox That won't do me any good - it won't do me any bad, but it won't do me any good.
Spy Fox That won't do me any good, I need to get Walter into Wee World.

These extra error messages are skipped because of a script bug. The first one appears to have been meant to play under certain circumstances when Fox uses a spy gadget on an invalid target, while the second should play when Walter is used on most characters and objects that aren't Wee World.

Hmmm...
To do:
The gadget message is supposed to trigger when local variable 0 is set to 1, which in this case could only happen as the result of calling the script with 1 as the first parameter. Check the calling script(s) to see if anything can cause that to happen

Spy Watch

File Character Subtitles
Monkey Penny Where are you at in your mission, SpyFox?
Spy Fox I have the Activation Code and the Off Switch, I but haven't gotten into the Evil Dogbot yet.
Monkey Penny I'm sure it's much easier than you think.
Monkey Penny Don't look too hard.
Spy Fox I'll keep that in mind.
Monkey Penny Monkey Penny out.

This conversation can take place when Fox calls Monkey Penny with both the Off Switch and the activation code, but without having solved the heel puzzle to enter the Dogbot. This can never happen normally because in both game paths, the Off Switch can only be retrieved by solving a puzzle inside the Dogbot itself.

ID Maker

File Character Subtitles
Spy Fox That sign says, 'Job'.
Spy Fox Underneath it is the job title that will be printed on the ID card I'm making.
Spy Fox That sign says, 'Name'.
Spy Fox Underneath the sign is the name that will be printed on the ID card I'm making.

These messages are supposed to play the first time the "Job" and "Name" labels on the ID Maker are clicked, but they're skipped because the game marks the labels as clicked before it checks for which message to display. As a result, the shortened second-time-onward messages always play instead.

File Character Subtitles
Spy Fox I only need one ID card, so I'll just recycle the one I already have.
Spy Fox Since I only need one ID card, I'll just recycle the one I already have.

These have the opposite problem: It appears that one of the two was supposed to play at random starting from the second time Fox picks up a new ID card with one already in the inventory, but the first-time message always plays instead.

Wax Museum Entrance

File Character Subtitles
Cooper Over 80 degrees is not good!

This line is placed after "Oh no!" in the code for using the Spy Heat on the thermometer, but there's simply nothing in the corresponding animation code to trigger it.

Elmo

File Character Subtitles
One of these, depending on game path:
Spy Fox

What do you know about the ice skating move known as the Triple Greasy Axle?

What do you know about the ice skating move known as the Double Sour Cow?

What do you know about the ice skating move known as the Single Snow Boot?

Elmo Is that one of those word problems they give you in school?
Spy Fox I don't what you're saying but I like the sound of it.
One of these, depending on game path:
Spy Fox

Know anything else about an ice skating move known as the Triple Greasy Axle?

Know anything else about an ice skating move known as the Double Sour Cow?

Know anything else about an ice skating move known as the Single Snow Boot?

Elmo Enough to ask you what it is.
Spy Fox Well go ahead and ask.
Elmo Maybe later.
One of these, depending on game path:
Spy Fox

Can you tell me anything else about an ice skating move known as the Triple Greasy Axle?

Can you tell me anything else about an ice skating move known as the Double Sour Cow?

Can you tell me anything else about an ice skating move known as the Single Snow Boot?

Elmo In times like these I think about what the Cod would say.
Spy Fox What would he say?
Elmo 'Hand me my cape, son'.

Dialogue for using the ice skating move talk balloon on Elmo. Since Elmo only appears on the Restruct-O-Lux path and it's only possible to get the balloon on the flytrap path, this can never normally be heard.

File Character Subtitles
Spy Fox Do you know where I could get a rose for the nice Ladybug?
Elmo I don't know.
Elmo I'm into the Caped Cod not roses.
Spy Fox All roads lead to Cod.
Spy Fox So where could I get a rose for a ladybug?
Elmo Fox's got a crush on a Ladybug!
Elmo Fox's got a crush on a Ladybug!
Spy Fox Do you know where I can get a rose?
Elmo No but I can drink milk through my nose.

Similarly, the rose talk balloon only exists on the flytrap path, so these conversations are also left unused.

Things from Space

As with the previous game, the Spy Watch mini-game has a substantial set of debug features.

Level Select

Adding arcadecheat=1 to hegames.ini adds a prompt for the level to begin on when starting a new game.

Turbo Mode

Adding turbo=1 to the configuration file causes the game to run at double speed.

Level Editor

Spy Fox 2 Level Editor.png

Adding editor-enabled=1 to hegames.ini enables these extra keyboard commands during gameplay:

  • E: brings up the level editor
  • I: makes the ship invincible

The level editor seems to be the original utility used to make the game's levels, and it's quite comprehensive. It has three basic parts: the layout editor, the object editor, and the level map.

The layout editor pane in the middle allows obstacles to be moved around the level. The gridlines mark off each segment of the stage.

The object editor pane on the right shows the settings of whatever object is clicked in the layout editor. The arrows change the object's type and set its various properties. The "COPY" button clones the object.

The level map on the left shows which part of the stage is being edited. Clicking the arrows at the top or bottom moves the layout editor up or down by the height of the screen. The "SAVE" and "LOAD" buttons allow any level up to 10 to be saved or loaded.

Saving over one of the game's levels and accessing it while playing will bring up a dialog box with the message

Just so you know, this level is from your local machine. (You made it)
(Source: http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Humongous_Entertainment/Games/INI_Settings)