If you appreciate the work done within the wiki, please consider supporting The Cutting Room Floor on Patreon. Thanks for all your support!
This article has a talk page!

LEGO Island

From The Cutting Room Floor
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Title Screen

LEGO Island

Developer: Mindscape
Publisher: Mindscape
Platform: Windows
Released internationally: September 26, 1997


MovieIcon.png This game has unused cinematics.
MusicIcon.png This game has unused music.
SoundIcon.png This game has unused sounds.
DebugIcon.png This game has debugging material.


DevelopmentIcon.png This game has a development article
ProtoIcon.png This game has a prototype article
PrereleaseIcon.png This game has a prerelease article

Hmmm...
To do:
  • Regional differences with versions released in different languages.
  • Document Beta prototype July 25, 1997
    • Document the newly leaked Pre-Alpha build

...And in any language,

WELCOME TO LEGO ISLAND!

— The Infomaniac while flying around, setting the tone for the entire game.

LEGO Island is a 3D open-world action adventure game themed around LEGO. One of the earliest LEGO games (the first was SEGA's LEGO FUN TO BUILD), LEGO Island would jumpstart a decades-long and still ongoing series of numerous LEGO games for ages to come.

But to actually describe LEGO Island would be like attempting to analyze a Dadaist painting.

Along with its troubled development, LEGO Island has become famous on the Internet for being an early open-world LEGO game with copious instances of surreal humor surrounding the island. Even if you're not familiar with LEGO Island, it's also known for having one of the most interesting ways to tell you to put the CD in your computer.

Sub-Pages

Read about development information and materials for this game.
Development Info
Read about prototype versions of this game that have been released or dumped.
Prototype Info
Read about prerelease information and/or media for this game.
Prerelease Info

Debug Mode

Type ogel during gameplay to enable an extensive set of debugging keyboard shortcuts.

Key Action
A Plays the diving cutscene from the Information Center elevator.
C + 00 - 69 Momentarily displays a scene; for instance, C and 0 will show the race track.
D Temporarily lowers viewpoint.
F Switches model quality to low.
G + 1-5 Skip to part of the Brickster quest:
  • 1: Spawns skateboard somewhere (only works after the Brickster escapes the jail).
    Collecting the skateboard too late crashes the game, as does enabling it before Brickster escapes.
    However, if you get the skateboard, you can pass through walls. Pressing J and K tilts the camera along the X-axis,
    while I and M tilts the camera along the Y-axis.
  • 2: Brickster escape.
  • 3: Helicopter mission.
  • 4: Good ending.
  • 5: Bad ending.
H Switches model quality to high.
L + 0 or 1 Changes lighting based on current camera orientation.
N Locks camera at the current position, though it's still possible to move around. Press again to return to normal.
P Makes scenery objects (trees, flowers, etc.) disappear.
S Stops music; press again and change scenes to re-enable.
U Temporarily raises viewpoint.
V + A Automatically warps to and plays each of the random mini-cutscenes in a pre-defined order.
X Switches model quality to normal.
Tab Shows the game's frame rate.
Numpad / Causes clicks on scenery objects to destroy them. Note that this will persist in the save file it's used on
and can cause the game to crash when trying to load the affected area.
(Source: GameFAQs)

There's also a debug feature accessible without the "ogel" code: press + on the Numpad and various character models will flip by. Each press will also cause the camera to temporarily jump up and to the right. Pressing - on the Numpad will go backwards. While the viewpoint is altered, it's possible to freely walk off paths and through walls. This mode is very finicky; sometimes part or all of it will stop working for no obvious reason.

Hmmm...
To do:
Is there more to this, or a better way to control it?
(Source: GameWinners)

Power Brick Cutscene

This unused prerendered cutscene with the filename of outro.smk shows the Power Brick flying off the top of the Information Center to heroic fanfare, which judging by the filename may have been the cutscene that plays when you exit the game, seeing as the Power Brick flies onto the Information Center in the intro. The only time the Brick comes off the Center in the final game is when the Brickster steals it using the helicopter, which happens in an ordinary in-game cutscene.

Music

A 22050 Hz version of the jail theme is stored with the rest of the music files, but only the lower-quality 11025 Hz version ever plays.

This version features an alternate arrangement with less melodic percussion, a slightly different tempo, and a different ending.


In fact, high quality versions and alternative arrangements for plenty of tracks have surfaced thanks to composer Lorin Nelson cassette tapes of his recordings.

Dialogue

Audio Character Transcription
Infomaniac Whoops! You have to put the CD back in your computer.
Infomaniac I just figured out why it isn’t working! You have to put the CD back into the computer!

This unused line is the original source of the message that plays when the game can't find the CD data. The used version has been edited (rather clumsily) to remove the word "back". It seems that the original idea was to play this message if the CD was ejected during gameplay, but doing so just crashes the game. Alternatively, there is a 2nd "CD back in computer" message.

Audio Character Transcription
Infomaniac Hmm… I think that name—yes, it is—that name is already used. If you want to use this name, you'll lose the old one! Maybe you want to type in another name instead. I would!

This would have played when a new user name was entered in the registration book that matched an existing one, but instead this just signs on as the existing user.

Audio Character Transcription
Infomaniac Do you want to save this game with a new name? Easy to do! *ahem* Select the green brick for "yes a new name please," or select the red brick for "no thank you, I'll keep the same name." Green: yes; red: no. Hmm, now that sounds rather familiar. Oh, I get it! Like a traffic light! Have I told you this one before?
Infomaniac Oh… do you want to load this game? Click on the red brick for no, and the green brick for yes. Green: "yes, go," and red: "no."
Infomaniac Oh… do you want to start a new game? Click on the red brick for no, and the green brick for yes. Green: "yes, go," and red: "nooo."

An earlier version of the registration book was more complicated and had features for manually saving, loading, or starting a new game where you'd be asked to click on red or green bricks. In the final game, you start a new game by typing in your name, load a game by clicking on a checkmark, and the game auto-saves. The red and green bricks were only used when asking if you want to quit the game.

Miscellaneous

An undocumented registry entry allows the game to be run in a window instead of fullscreen. Set the value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mindscape\LEGO Island\Full Screen to 0 to force windowed mode. This feature seems to be incomplete, though – it always uses the same rendering mode regardless of other settings.