Ferazel's Wand

Ferazel's Wand
Developer: Ambrosia Software Publisher: Ambrosia Software Platform: Mac OS Classic Released internationally: December 23, 1999 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text.

To do: There seem to be more unused graphics and dialogue boxes.

Ferazel's Wand is considered by many who've played it to be one of the best side-scrolling platformers on the classic-era Macintosh.

Unused Music

A few tracks were left unused for some reason or another, likely because there weren't enough levels where these could be used.

Track Number	Music
7
11
14
19
20

Unused Sounds

A pause sound used in many of Ambrosia's other games, such as Harry the Handsome Executive.

Frog Jump Sound

Unused	Used

Frog Hit Sound

Unused	Used

Frog Death Sound

Unused	Used

The frog enemies had their sounds redone at some point, but their old sounds still remain in the final game.

Unused Graphics

While this screen does appear in the demo version, even the oldest demo version of the game lists a release date of January 2000 and the currently available demo says it's available now. It's also missing the "CD" graphic.

The zoomed-out map tiles from Harry the Handsome Executive. No zoomed-out map exists in Ferazel's Wand.

Tilesets

Tilesets are composed of three PICT resources: foreground tiles, background tiles, and wall textures.

Foreground Tilesets

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  Unused outdoor tileset with placeholders for later details.

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  Similar unused tileset with placeholders.

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  A stone/cave tileset.

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  A stone/cave tileset.

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  A stone/cave tileset with railway tiles.

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  Alternate Ends of the Earth tileset.

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  An early ice tileset?

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  Unused outdoor tileset.

Background Tilesets

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  Background tileset with tree trunks.

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  The same background tileset, but with a different water surface tile.

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  Background tileset with trees, bridge, and unused liquid graphics.

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  Very incomplete background tileset containing early liquid graphics.

Wall Textures

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  Dirt similar to Unemployed In Greenland.

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  Dirt

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  Rocks

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  Rocks

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  Texture for alternate Ends of the Earth tileset.

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  Rocks

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  Rocks

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  Rocks

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  Rocks

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  Rocks

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  Rocks

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  Rocks

Level Backgrounds

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  Possibly an early River of Fears.

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  Another early River of Fears.

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  Overcast mountains.

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  Savanna

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  Snowy tall mountains.

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  Abstract background, possibly for the alternate Ends of the Earth tileset.

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  Some unused foggy mountains and abstract backgrounds.

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  Possibly another abstract level background.

Front-Layer Graphics

These usually show up near the bottom of the level and obscure the bottom few rows of tiles.

• 

  Desert rocks.

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  Snowy rocks.

Unused Sprites

Sign-Like Objects

These sprites behave like signs - they trigger a conversation when approached.

The book object has a conversation portrait, but the others don't.

Object Sprites

Small objects:

Graphics	Notes
	It looks like at some point, rope objects had anchors on the end. These were probably removed because they would look odd when rotated.
	An unused type of rollable rock that can be used to hold down switches, just like the gray and yellow ones.
	An unused variation of the common pile of rocks that contains a health or magic crystal.
	A couple of unused scythe variations.
	A bale of hay. Probably behaves similarly to the large crate.
	A cauldron. Since it's split into two pieces, it's likely that Ferazel could jump inside.
	Only the upper-left type of block in this sprite sheet was actually used. The rest were never placed in-game.
	There appears to have been a way to destroy these blocks at some point, but in the final game, they're indestructible.

These stalactites fall when touched. Only the leftmost one was used in-game.

Partially-destroyed versions of these bridges appear in-game, but there are also these sprites for the complete versions.

This bridge never appears in-game. It's split into two sprites since one would render behind Ferazel, the other would render on top.

Scenery Sprites

Urchin-like things? These have no animations and appear to be static scenery.

Various small plants.

Some larger rocks and plants.

Some wall decorations.

A rat hole and rat. The rats were probably just moving scenery and not enemies; there are no attacking or death graphics for them.

Some dead habnabits and an unused gravestone.

Some furniture with spiderwebs.

There are lots of variations of rocks you can stand on, like these. These are all the unused variations.

Various unused mushrooms.

A fallen tree. Similar standing dead trees were used in Storm Valley.

A couple of unused chandeliers. These behave like torches and have a health or magic crystal inside.

Character Sprites

It looks like there were to be forest nymphs in this game at some point. The blue robed figure has no conversation portrait.

• 

  Taryn

• 

  Sara

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  Forest Nymph Matriarch.

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  Blue robed figure.

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  Taryn conversation portrait.

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  Sara conversation portrait.

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  Forest Nymph Matriarch converstion portrait.

Enemy Sprites

Some kind of worm.

HUD Graphics

This may have been used after a boss was defeated. In-game, the skull icons on the map remain colored after bosses are defeated.

Unused Items

Unused Spells

These are all the spells in the game, as they would appear in the inventory. Ice Crystals and everything to the right of VBlade are unused. Unfortunately, none of the unused spells actually do anything - Ferazel makes a spell-casting motion, but nothing happens.

Unused Items

This comparison shows the full items sprite sheet (top) and the unused items (bottom).

This is what the unused items would look like on the field.

The Ice Pick also has a field graphic, though it never appears on the field in-game since it's bought directly from a character.

There's also an alternate Red Xichron sprite. This one is a little lighter than the one used in-game and does not spin, but it behaves like the used Red Xichron when you pick it up.

Only two of the unused items actually do anything. The Vorpal Dirk replaces the Dagger when obtained; it's used the same way but does twice the damage. It looks like this when used in the field:

The Mist Potion turns you into a ghost for a short time, allowing you to pass through walls and floors and collect items, but not be attacked by enemies. However, if you don't make it back to your body before the time runs out, you die.

In addition to silver coins (worth 1) and gold coins (worth 10), there are unused platinum coins that are worth 100 silver coins each.

Unused Projectiles

These look like some pretty powerful spells, like the Fire Guardians' fireballs.

A drop of acid. Might have been meant to appear in The Labyrinth or the caves.

A ninja star of some kind.

Early fireballs?

Unused Dialog Windows

Continue Screen

In the final game, a unique screen appears upon death instead of a dialogue box.

Level Warp

A level warp dialogue box. In both Harry and Ferazel's Wand, option-clicking on new game brings up a dialog box with a small anti-cheating message.

Harry Leftovers

As Ben Spees, the main creator of this game, worked on Harry the Handsome Executive, it should come as no surprise that some leftovers from that are still in Ferazel's Wand.

A warning about unsupported processors. Ferazel's Wand wouldn't even need this, since it only runs on PowerPC Macs.

Copying machines were used to save in Harry, but they're completely absent here.

This was used in Harry for the general preferences, but they are completely different in this game.

Unused Level Features

Many levels are missing wall tiles in places where the player cannot see them, presumably due to developer laziness. One level, Western Reaches, is missing wall tiles in a place that the player can actually see - just go to the upper-right corner of the level.

A Scent Of Peril

There is an unused room on the right side of the map containing a ziridium brine pool and teleporter. The teleporter doesn't have a valid destination, so it's not obvious where this would have fit into the level. There is also what looks like a partially-overwritten testing area below this unused room, containing some breakable walls and a large pool of water.

Rendering this level with the foreground tiles partially transparent reveals some detail on what the level may have looked like in earlier versions. The background tiles extend a ways through the wall in the top-left starting area, implying that that room used to be larger in an earlier version of the level. Hidden background tiles also imply that the shield alcove left of the level's center used to be larger as well, and the level exit may have been in a pit beyond the archway, but was later moved to the archway.

Western Reaches

Rendering this level with the foreground tiles partially transparent reveals some curiosities:

• The small secret Xichron pool near the end of the level probably used to be deeper.
• The shield alcove may have been much bigger at some point.
• The water pool near the beginning may have been twice as deep originally, and may have been acid in an earlier version since there's one acid tile under the floor there too.
• In two different places, there are a few random background tiles behind the wall, some under the first mine cart track and some above the large ziridium brine pool secret. These may have been used for testing various tile behaviors.

Unemployed In Greenland

There is a large system of caverns at the upper-right of the map. Some of the slopes' corners have non-matching tiles and it contains no sprites, so it's likely it was scrapped early in development.

Also, the pool of water in the lower-right corner of the level has discontinuous edges due to several misplaced tiles. These tiles are normally hidden behind the foreground parallax texture.

Hidden background tiles imply a few changes during the level's design:

• The entrance to the Escape Ring / Smite Ring secret room looks like it was originally not on top of a ledge.
• The Xichrons / rocks / torches secret room used to be a few tiles taller.
• The Boomerang room and the room before it may have been a much different shape. There is also a misplaced ziridium brine tile inside the wall near these rooms.
• The water pool near the right exit actually extends under the floor almost all the way to the edge of the level, even under the accessible ziridum brine pool.

Hangnabit

Past the actual end of the level to the right is another few screens of mean-looking obstacles, then another end of the level with a ziridium brine pool, save point, and some fire seeds to collect. It's likely this was the original end of the level, but the developer decided the level was too long and shortened it by adding the current end. Curiously, the wall above the unused level ending doesn't go all the way to the top and there's a little floor up there, implying that there may have been a secret there at some point.

(Note: the full-size map of this level appears to be too wide for TCRF; this is only the right half.)

Obfuscation & Edification

This level contains multiple inaccessible rooms:

• Just left of the top-center of the level, there's an unused, empty room.
• Beneath the archway that you come out of just before the secret exit to Purple Haze, there's a tiny room with enemies inside it. You can't see them, but you can kill them if you fire a V-Blade from the archway.
• Above the level's non-secret exit, there's a room containing a few goblins and other enemies. Some of these can also be killed with V-Blade if you're standing in the right spot below the room.
• Below the room with three generators, there's a tiny acid-filled room with nothing in it.

The monsters in the inaccessible rooms are the same types that come out of generators in other places in the level. One hypothesis for their existence is that generator sprites may require a sprite to copy in order to work properly, so these are the template enemies for the generated enemies.

The hidden background tiles on this level reveal some interesting clues about its history.

• It looks like the level originally was going to take place entirely over an acid pool. The acid pool near the beginning extends through almost all of the level, though about half of it is under wall tiles and completely inaccessible.
• The upper-left acid pool was likely much deeper in an earlier version of the level.
• The leftmost ziridium brine pool may have been water originally.
• The room after the spike climb may have been larger before - there are some hidden background rocks inside the left wall near the top.

The Labyrinth

Right near the beginning of the level in the lower-left corner, there are some empty tiles that are marked as destructible by explosions. (This has no effect if the tiles aren't solid.) It's likely there was once a wall here, but it was removed and the destructibility flags were never cleared.

The hidden background tiles in this level show some mostly liquid changes:

• There is a huge quicksand pool completely hidden under the floor of the starting hallway on the bottom-left.
• There are also small hidden quicksand pools in the upper-left and upper-right corners of the level.
• The large ziridium brine pool just below the level center may have been water in an earlier version.
• The tiny narrow vertical ziridium brine pool probably used to be wider - they likely made it narrow to force the player to be hit by the spiked ball if they dawdle too long there.

Manditraki Wizard

There's a large room above the boss arena. The walls around the boss arena are angled and not climbable, but it's possible to get up there with the Tree Trunk spell. The shape of the room and alcove on the right suggests hidden treasures, like in the Goblin Chief stage, but they were either removed or never added in the first place. The structure of this level does match some structures on the Goblin Chief stage; in fact, the ground floor, upper floor, and upper right alcove of MW appear to be the same as those of GC, but shifted down by 9 tiles.

The hidden background tiles on this level show some repetition on the right side, which implies that Goblin Chief was made first and this level was copied from it (and shifted down by one tile, nine times), not vice versa.

Flash Freeze

There are some extra hidden water surfaces inside the floors along the left half of the bottom of the level. There is also some hidden background structure inside the wall just left of Elber's warehouse, implying that the nearby rooms' shapes used to be different.

(Note: This level map is too wide for TCRF; it's split into a left-half and right-half image.)

Iceconoclasm

There is an empty unused room at the right side of the map.

There are some hidden background structures and water surfaces under the floor of the starting area on the left, implying that the area's shape used to be larger and more open.

Fire In The Hole

There's a large, empty, partially-overwritten unused area next to the secret areas on the right side of the map. It's likely this was scrapped early in development, since it contains no sprites. It looks like it may have originally been an extension of the end area at the lower-right, since its floor and ceiling could line up with the end area's floor and ceiling.

Parched Earth

There's a little structure hanging from the ceiling near the beginning of the level. (It's possible to get up there with the Tree Trunk spell, but why would you bother?) There's also a hidden background wall behind the normal wall in the upper-left corner of the level. Also, the room under the spikes-and-cannons maze is inaccessible during gameplay (though partially visible).

(Note: This level map is too wide for TCRF; it's split into a left-half and right-half image.)

If You Can't Stand The Heat...

It looks like the end of the top layer of the level used to be about 10 tiles further to the right, since there's a room's worth of background tiles hidden inside the wall there. They probably changed this to force the player to quickly enter the archway; otherwise, the autoscroll would stop there and the player would have time to think, which would be unacceptable.

Fire Guardians

This level was likely started by copying Manditraki Warrior. The shape of the floor and ceiling to the right of the battle arenas are almost exactly the same between the two levels, and the decorative liquid caves under the arenas are mostly the same shape too. Fire Guardians even has some errant hidden background tiles that map to the water under the arena in MW and the hidden ziridum brine pool (though it is inaccessible in FG).

Ends of the Earth

The rooms on the left and right ends of the map appear to have been remade multiple times - there are multiple non-matching background tile arrangements around them. Also, there is a background layer "wall" inside the wall across most of the bottom of the level.

Unused Sign Strings

STR# resource 500 contains some unused sign text:

Index	String
0	The sign reads, “Travellers: Beware of vermin!” Vermin, indeed.
1	String number quote, two, unquote.
2	A battered marker reads, “Escape passage construction authorized by High Habnabit Authority, D.S. 489.”
4	Insert a merchant or interesting character in this alcove.
5	Congratulations, you finished the level. Exit goes here.
7	The sign reads, “Caution: Bottomless abyss ahead!” ...Gee. It can’t really be BOTTOMLESS, can it? Well, perhaps I shouldn’t chance a fall, anyway.
9	The plaque reads, “Hither lies danger.”
17	Caution: This level is not complete and is here just so the map won't have big gaps in it. It'll be here in b4. In the meantime, here is a teleporter if you want to skip it, and sorry if we broke your suspension of disbelief.

Conversation Remnants

Strings in the conversation resources are stored as Pascal strings. When a string is overwritten with a shorter string, the extra bytes of the original string are not overwritten, offering a glimpse into what some conversations in the game were like during development. In this section, the red text is from a longer overwritten string and is not visible in-game.

Some individual lines in conversations were changed:

Conversation	Speaker	String	Notes
Mcnv 201 (Geroditus; A Scent Of Peril)	Ferazel	Geroditus! Geroditus... oh no... what happened to you?	Ferazel instead asks "What happened?" in the next pane.
Mcnv 202 (Andrew Welch; Purple Haze)	Ferazel	Gadzooks. I'm impressed. like Frank Zappa.
Mcnv 202 (Andrew Welch; Purple Haze)	Andrew Welch	Lo! — for it is only fitting. I govern unswervingly and unblinkingly: my scepter is steady; my wits are true.eth not mine ability to govern unswervingly.
Mcnv 202 (Andrew Welch; Purple Haze)	Andrew Welch	Leave me in peace! — for I have matters of grave import to weigh.	There appears to be no way to reach this conversation pane.
Mcnv 212 (Jason; Purple Haze)	Jason	I'll talk about the person I met when I was young... Pay me heed and don't avoid/The counsel of a marketdroid.
Mcnv 212 (Jason; Purple Haze)	Jason	In 198X we've found the Badd's top secret material called Albatros which was never put into practice.seeds are the only way.
Mcnv 213 (Eric Speier; Purple Haze)	Ferazel	Er... never mind... Take care.	This used to show up after Ferazel's "What's a television network?" in Purple Haze, but they correctly decided that it's funnier without this.
Mcnv 260 (gravestone; Obfuscation & Edification)		The grave reads, “Here lies Nerogazel, who left this life at Manditraki hands two miles west of the Salt Pillar in the Western Mountains.”ins.”
Mcnv 280 (plaque; Purple Haze)		The plaque reads, “Welcome to the secret level. All who pass through here are sworn to secrecy! Reading of this notice constitutes agreement to this legally binding contract! We also get your children and home.”And we have lawyers and Doberman pinschers,
Mcnv 300 (Thedorus; Obfuscation & Edification)	Ferazel	Wait... you don't mean “Dimbo,” do you?uin your day!	Thedorus actually says "Don't let Xichra's henchmen ruin your day!" so probably this was just moved.

Each shop conversation appears to have been copied from a previous shop conversation. Rojinko's appears to have been the first made, then an unused conversation (Mcnv 204) was made on top of it, then Elber's, then Cedric's. These strings in the Rojinko conversation already contain some unused string bits, potentially implying the existence of an even earlier shop conversation:

Speaker	String
Rojinko	Well, hello there, Mr. Magical... looks like I have a new friend! I'm Rojinko. I like having friends, as long as they don't have big mouths... know what I mean? Heh heh... It's a pleasure...d matters of wizardry. Why, your spellcasting skills make me quak
Rojinko	So what's cooking inside that cute little hooded cranium of yours?claims to have seen the Great Western Desert with his own eyes.
Ferazel	I don't associate with your kind.e jerk. I don't associate with your kind.
Rojinko	Oh, you know. I just like hanging out in remote dead-ends. Heh, heh. Trust me, I have my reasons.se on the ziridium mining party.
Rojinko	Here you go. Let me tell you, you're going to be real happy with that purchase... fill your magic power right up, it will. Run along, now.hurry along. I have things to do.
Ferazel	Money or no money, you better just give me what I asked for, you low-life!na get hurt!

The next shop conversation appears to be completely unused. It's with a person aptly named "Unfriendly Fellow", and goes like this:

 

• (only first time) Hey, pipsqueak, did I ask you come in here? I have a new friend! I'm Rojinko. I like having friends, as long as they don't have big mouths... know what I mean? Heh heh... It's a pleasure...d matters of wizardry. Why, your spellcasting skills make me quak
• (only after first time) Bothering me again, are you? Sheesh.Didn't get enough of my winning personality last time, eh, pal?.
• What do you want, anyway?that cute little hooded cranium of yours?claims to have seen the Great Western Desert with his own eyes.
• Responses:
  1. Who are you? doing here?
     • Does it matter? Look, just because I don't live with the rest of the clan, it doesn't mean you can turn up your nose at me. You're not any better than me. I'm sick of this attitude.
  2. Happen to be selling anything?ing to trade for?
     • So it's all business, is it? Figures. I have a pretty good gathering of fire seeds, as it happens. I might be able to let some go — for the right price.terested in a health potion or a magic potion, I can do good by ya.
     • Responses:
       1. Buy 3 Fire Seeds (100 coins)
          • Three fire seeds. Careful where you throw these things, pal — they'll set off a good bang.r magic power right up, it will. Run along, now.hurry along. I have things to do.
       2. Buy 10 Fire Seeds (250 coins)
          • There you are, ten fire seeds for Mr. Deep Pockets here. I don't even want to know what you're going to use them for. Just don't use them around here!
       3. No thanks.
  3. You're very rude. I don't like you.jerk. I don't associate with your kind.
     • Oh, you are just soooo better than me, aren't you? You're just the good little apprentice, eh? Run along now, before you get hurt.ighten children, nothing more.
  4. I'll just be leaving, then...
     • Good! Get out of here!little life, then.
• (If you buy something but don't have enough money)
  • I don't take I.O.U.'s. Cold coinage only.n't have enough money to buy that! Get outta here and stop wasting my time!
  • Responses:
    1. Oops, sorry about that. I'll come back when I have the money.
    2. Ah, well, I didn't really want one of those anyway.
    3. Money or no money, you better just give me what I asked for, you low-life!na get hurt!
       • Hey... no one, and I mean no one, talks to me that way, especially not a little pipsqueak nestwetter like you! You can forget about ever getting any more help from me. Now get out of here!
• (If you picked 3 above and re-encounter him later)
  • GO... AWAY! Leave me alone.

Elber's conversation contains a lot of string fragments from Unfriendly Fellow's conversation, and finally, Cedric's conversation contains a lot of string fragments from Elber's conversation. All of them are repeats of the above.