Harry the Handsome Executive

Harry the Handsome Executive
Developer: Ambrosia Software Publisher: Ambrosia Software Platform: Mac OS Classic Released internationally: September 19, 1997 This game has unused music. This game has unused text. This game has a hidden level select. This game has a prerelease article

Harry the Handsome Executive is an interesting platformer for the Mac and one of the more unique titles. Just don't use Quicktime 3.0 or newer using the default instrument set.

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Prerelease Info

Level Select

In Ambrosia's games, there is normally a level select or cheat menu available by holding Option and clicking on "(Begin) New Game". However, this does not work here, and instead a prompt with the text "Harry sez: No more cheating!" pops up. It still can be seen using a resource editor.

Cheat Mode

In addition, there's a small string indicating there's a cheat mode.

CHEAT MODE ENABLED

Unused Strings

Strings in the world data 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.

Unused World Strings

The following messages are present in the world data, but not linked to any sprite:

ID	String
3	Here's a memo on the desk.
14	Wow! The force of the swivel chair, just lying here on the ground! have the key to the incinerator room for me.
21	To whoever spilled all these tacks on the floor: Clean them up immediately! They pose a serious hazard to the feet of the management!
24	Note to myself: I’ve got to get some sunlight. If I stay under these fluorescents too long, I may lose my healthy, vibrant glow! Phew, I hope there’s a window SOMEWHERE in this building... — Harry
25	Sure is a lot of mail being delivered around here, eh, Harry? So much for the paperless office.
38	Whoever spilled all these tacks on the floor of this room: clean them up immediately. They pose a serious hazard to the feet of the management!
59	The Leap of the Swivel Chair. Only the man of faith shall pass.e visit by the health inspector. If we don’t immediately dispose of our reservoir of hallucinogenic water, we’ll be in big trouble. Pull the plug!

The following strings are linked to sprites, but their sprites appear only in the inaccessible secret level:

ID	String
83	Here's a short little message.
84	Longer message that goes on, and on, and on, and on and so forth and greater detail and blah blah blah etc etc etc
85	This message contains returns That was a big space, or shoulda been. See this one? Whoo-ee!
86	Long, long, long, long Long, long, long, long Long, long, long, long Long, long, long, long Long, long, long, long Long, long, long, long Long, long, long, long Long, long, long, long Long, long, long, long Long, long, long, long Long, long, long, long Lo

Used Strings with Longer Overwritten Data

These strings appear in-game, but leftover data from longer strings hints at what they used to say earlier in development.

ID	String
0	An inscription on the wall reads, “The Leap of the Swivel Chair. Only the man of faith shall pass.” doom, and desperation. Nearby is a storeroom containing items that will help you in your quest...n your journey.
1	I feel so alone in this remote corner... won’t you keep me company? Nobody likes me... sniff...ures on ScumCo’s new nuclear-powered microwaves?"
11	I’m... I’m floating on the air!me last night? Man, they had some really bad calls!
31	Caution! Experimental shrapnel stapler prototype. Bind and collate dozens of documents at once!ve revolted and are posing a serious threat. The PR guys have piled some water coolers in the hall to hold them off (I hope they don’t get in your way.) Good lu
55	Hmm... A sign on the wall displays the following cryptic message: “Scenic Corridor.”a breach of personal security!”
82	You can find a use for these staples nearby; there is a room filled with tacks. On the right side, the wall is not quite what it seems. Use your inner vision.journey.

Error Strings

There are a few STR# resources containing various error strings. These cover cases like QuickTime not being installed properly and other mundane failures. There appear to be several entries in the string table that are unused, since many of them say:

This space intentionally left empty.

The first entry in one of these resources was probably used for testing the error system. It reads:

This is a test of the emergency broadcast system.

There's also a string that presumably would appear if the game is launched on a PowerPC running a surprisingly old version of Mac OS. This is impossible to view normally because System 7.1.2 was the first release to even support the PowerPC architecture.

WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO? You are using a Power Macintosh, but you don't appear to have System 7.0 or later installed.

Unused Sprites

This may have been an early version of the Path of the Swivel Chair barriers. Or it may have been a movable obstacle, like the toxic waste barrels.

Level Oddities

There is a misplaced message object in Level 2 (To The Incinerator), located inside the wall. If activated, it shows message 0, which says

An inscription on the wall reads, “The Leap of the Swivel Chair. Only the man of faith shall pass.”

There is a similar misplaced message object in Level 3 (Seekers of the Sun), located inside the wall. It also shows message 0 if activated.

Hidden background tiles

In this section, the maps are rendered with the foreground tiles at 25% opacity to reveal the normally-obscured background tiles.

Level 3 has a small shadow hidden behind a wall, implying that the nearby room used to extend further northeast.

Level 13 has some more hidden shadows, implying the earlier existence of a room in the unused southeast corner of the level.

Perhaps the most interesting hidden shadows are on level 12, showing what looks like a few hallways and a room with some pillars in it.

Some levels have more than shadows behind the walls - in level 1, there are three hidden desks northwest of the starting room. Perhaps this level used to be longer, and the player started further north.

There's another ramp under the north wall of the eastern room that contains lots of ramps. It's likely this room was truncated to make room for the Ambrosia office Easter egg just north of it.

In one place, hidden background tiles are missing when they should exist. The secret passages in level 3 and level 7 are implemented by putting hidden (solid) desks on the background layer behind the (non-solid) foreground wall tiles. In level 7, the leftmost desk tiles are missing from the passage. Harry can carefully squeeze through either gap and navigate through out-of-bounds to either of the level's exits, allowing him to take both blue keys into the next level.

Secret Level

There is an unused, unreachable level with ID -1 titled "Secret Level". It appears to actually be a testing level rather than a secret level; it consists of mostly open space and a few objects - keys, staples, a stapler, notes, ramps, a plant, a water cooler, and an exit.

Dummy Music Track

To do: Get a better rip of this, in .ogg format.

This track is stored in the game itself rather than in the music file. This can only be heard by altering the Music file itself to replace one of the existing songs with this one.