Neon White

Neon White
Developer: Angel Matrix Publisher: Annapurna Interactive Platforms: Windows, Nintendo Switch Released internationally: June 16, 2022 This game has unused code. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused models. This game has unused music. This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material. This game has a prototype article This game has a prerelease article

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

To do: Add a contrasting background to the unused weapon icons

To do: Document and find more content: A bunch of unused weapons are present and functional Likewise, unused abilities Bizarre quirks in the code (One of the main player handling classes is called "MechController") Lots of metadata (but no scenes, unfortunately) for scrapped levels Lots of fields in data structures that have strange names or go unused Who knows what else?

Neon White is a lightning fast, first-person action platformer set beyond the pearly gates of Heaven.

Neon White has the player in the role of a Neon, a demon hunter in heaven, clearing all the demons on a given level in the fastest time possible. The game uses playing cards that represent weapons which can be discarded to perform special moves like double-jumping. For freaks, by freaks.

Sub-Pages

Prototype Info

Prerelease Info

Unused Data

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Lots to document here. TONS of level data structs for levels that don't exist anymore, lots of fields that go unused in existing data, the works.

Actor Data

Actor data is used by the game to define characters and their associated attributes. This is used by both the dialogue system and the relationship system. Some of the data fields aren't used in practice.

Character Descriptions

The data structure contains a description field, with several characters having one set despite these never being seen ingame. These seem to have been intended for use on character introduction cutins and the UI element still exists and correctly updated to contain the description but it remains disabled. Unusually, Blue's goons have a description set as well. Any character not listed either has a blank description or a default of "PLEASE WRITE SOMETHING FOR ME".

Character	Description
Believer	Residents of Heaven.
Gabby	Secratery for Central Heaven Authority.
Goon	Hired grunt.
Green	All-powerful Neon and previous winner of Days of Judgment.
Memory Merchant	Can you trust him?
Mikey	Cigar-chomping misanthrope with a heart of gold.
Raz	Ambivalent angel. Runs the Neon Bar.
Red	Mysterious fox. Deadly sniper.
Violet	Devilishly cute explosives expert!
White	Do I know you?
Yellow	Killer on the outside, chiller on the inside.

Furthermore, due to how the game handles character emotion sprites, characters that have distinct states with full emotion sets (Green with no Halo, Red covered in blood, all the flashback characters) are counted as separate actors with their own data. Two of these have descriptions set which appear to be early descriptions for the respective characters.

Character	Description
Green (No Halo)	Smiling demon with a mysterious past.
Red (Bloodied)	She knows more than she lets on... who is she really?

Chibi Sprites

The actor data structure contains a field to set a "Chibi Sprite" for the character that goes completely unused and isn't referenced by any code. 5 characters have this field assigned - Mikey, Red, Raz, Violet and Yellow - but all of them are set to use the Chibi Red sprite and no sprite exists for any of the other characters.

Unused Code

"Discard" Mimics

The Mimic enemy type's class contains "mimicType" field in the which flags a Mimic as either "Attack" or "Discard". Only "Attack" mimics are ever used in the final game. Setting this flag to "Discard" causes mimics to "curse" the player and destroys all of their cards except for the katana, complete with a special UI effect. This functionality goes unused.

Unused Graphics

Unused CGs

Violet's Sandwich

An unused flashback CG depicting a rather barren fridge containing a sandwich, clearly Violet's. Would've presumably been used in a memory that ended up getting cut. In the final game, this is only referenced in a test scene for CGs so the context is unknown.

Unused Portraits

Unseen Guardian Portrait

Similar to the Jumper portrait that appears in a dialogue in the Neon Bar, there exists one for the Guardian that isn't seen in the final game. Technically, this portrait actually is used in the ending cutscene of mission 5 - White is set to appear next to Red, flanked by these when he comes to help. While the script still does this an image covers the screen when this occurs and only disappears after the Guardians are gone, ultimately rendering this portrait impossible to see.

Memory Merchant

The also exists a portrait of a "Mysterious Man" that never appears in the game. His internal character data identifies him as "Memory Merchant" but the only reference to him in the game's script is in a test scene for character intros. His ID and various references in the code to money, shop purchases and a secret shop suggest that some point character memories may have been purchased via this merchant rather than unlocked through the gift system.

Violet - "Doll"

An odd and slightly creepy unused portrait for Violet named "Doll" in both the files as well as the game's actor data. It's unusual and not referenced in the game's script, so what it could've been for is a mystery.

Unused Models

"Angel

There is an unused "Angel" model in the game files, along with its animation. This mesh is used for the unused "Boxer" enemy type.

Unused Background Locations

Concept Art

There are a few pieces of location art that which go mostly unseen. Most of these are used as backgrounds for the level info chart in each district, though Sheol's also doubles as the background for the "Sidequests" button in the character relationship screen. In all cases these are masked out and go largely unviewable, including the "Concept Art" marking in the top left corner of each one.

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  "Hanging Gardens"

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  "Heaven's Edge"

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  "Lower Heaven"

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  "Sheol"

Secret Shop

This location is technically used in-game, during the mining Heavenly Delight, though it is heavily darkened and hard to see. In addition the filename and internal ID of this location tell a different story - the location is labelled as being a "secret shop". This also corresponds with a dedicated music track for such a location in the files of the demo, as well as various things having prices assigned in their internal data. There's also the "Mysterious Man" portrait, a character whose internal ID is "memory merchant". All of this suggests that this may truly have intended to be a shop of some kind, though no code or dialogue remains.

Unused Cards

There exist a bunch of icons that were going to be used on cards that didn't make the final cut.

• 

  AR

• 

  Cannon

• 

  Chainsaw

• 

  Claymore

• 

  Grenade

• 

  Lance

• 

  Mace

• 

  Silenced Pistol

• 

  Rapier

• 

  Revolver

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  Shield

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  Sprint

• 

  Tac Knife

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  Throwing Knife

• 

  Whip

All of the weapons that correspond to these icons still exist in the game data and can be modded in (with the exception of the cannon, which is technically used but only by a projectile test weapon)

Level Thumbnails

In the game files, there are a few screenshots of earlier versions of some levels, as well as a placeholder in the same vein. The file names would seem to suggest that at one point in the game's development, the level select screen would be accompanied by thumbnails of each level.

• 

  LevelThumbnail_GRID_TRIPLEJUMP.png

• 

  LevelThumbnail_GRID_TUT_BARNACLERUN2.png

• 

  LevelThumbnail_SIDEQUEST_OBSTACLE_PISTOL.png

• 

  Neon_White_LevelThumbnail_Placeholder.png

Other

Chibi Red

A clearly placeholder rough sketch of Red in chibi form.

Red Gift Placeholder

A placeholder for Red's gifts.

Unused Dialogue

To do: There's a lot more than this. Also the Gabby and Mikey convo isn't the full thing.

In the script data for the game, there exist several conversations that exist solely for the purpose of testing. Most of these are humorous in nature. Examples of these are listed below, in human-readable format:

White: Testing my inner monologue.
Red: Well, just go for it then.
White: Here goes.
An inner monologue dialogue box appears.
White: Holy shit I just realized.
White: Fruit of the Loom...
White: The underwear is the fruit.
White: What is a Loom, though?

Gabby: Let's play a sound effect.
A jumping sound effect is played.
Mikey: That sounds like shit.
Gabby: Well too bad because now I'm going to play it like 5 times.
A jumping sound effect is played.
A jumping sound effect is played.
A jumping sound effect is played.
A jumping sound effect is played.
A jumping sound effect is played.
Mikey: Fuck you!!!

Green: What if two astronauts were on the moon
Green: And one astronaut killed the other with a rock
Green: Would that be fucked up?
Green: Or what
White: Sir i asked if you wanted a small or medium fry with that
Yellow: Oh man can you pick me up some chicken nuggets

This is just a test, my friend. I'm testing out having two lines of dialogue, and that's all you get. If you're really greedy, it will overflow and you won't know what hit you.

Audio

Unused Sounds

Though the story cutscenes contain no unused dialogue, there are severals audio files in the game that go unused.

There are 3 unused DIALOGUE_TEST files that were presumed to be used as a way to test voice lines being first implemented into the game. Most of them, voiced over by the Director of Neon White, Ben Esposito. These are used in a debug scene.

Voice over test 1
Voice over test 2
Voice over test 3

One line references White having his cards stolen. This is impossible in the final game; however, as the developers revealed during a speedrun reaction, mimics were at some point intended to steal the player's equipped card when killed, and this is most likely a holdover from that concept. While the phrasing of the video implies only the active card would be stolen, the code for this mechanic that still exists as documented above actually removes the player's entire deck, which seems more in line with this voice line (which doesn't actually play anyway).

White: "That thing stole my cards!"

In the final game, characters do not react when given gifts. However, unused dialogue hints that they were initially meant to play a voiceline. Interestingly, these voicelines exist even for Neon Green, who cannot be directly given gifts in the final game (the player instead throws coins in the ocean).

Mikey (cigars): "I'll make sure these get disposed of... properly."
Raz (lucky cat): "I'm feeling more lucky already!"
Violet (Tattletail): "I wish they'd make a Tattletail TV show!"
Violet (Tattletail): A Baby Talking Tattletail!"
Yellow (six pack): "Check it. I can open these with my teeth!"
Green (coin): "Make your own luck, kid."
Green (coin): "This'll be yours, someday."