Proto:Carmageddon (DOS, Windows, Mac OS Classic)

This page details one or more prototype versions of Carmageddon (DOS, Windows, Mac OS Classic).

To do: Check the other released demos, such as the Interplay ones available here

This game has as a couple of demos released, but the earliest known one comes from PC Format Número 9 magazine. The .zip file that contains this demo has the last modified date of 7th of February 1997.

(Source: archive.org)

General Differences

As expected, being a demo this version has limited features like:

• The player can only select Max Damage at the start of the game, being only the Driver Select screen the only appearance of Die Anna in this demo.
• Only the Red Eagle is available for the player to drive (although data for other vehicles are in the demo).
• Maim Street (Blood on the Rooftops in the final game) is the only race available to play.
• The "New Network Game", "Load Game" and "Save Game" (this one being in the Esc menu) buttons from the menu when clicked just shows a screen that says the demo features.
• When clicking the Parts Shop button at the Race Screen, the same as above happens.
• When the player ends a race, either by winning or losing, after leaving the Damage Gallery an animation showing some screenshots of the full game plays.
• The in-game prat cam doesn't have any sound.

Intro Video

Demo	Final

Most noticeable difference are:

• Neither SCi nor Stainless logos are shown at the start of the video.
• The absence of an announcer and Fear Factory music in the demo.
• The demo video has a shorter duration.
• An early logo of Carmageddon is shown at the end of the video.

Difficulty Selection Screen

Demo	Final

In the first difficulty, babies was changed to bunnies in the final game.

Race Screen

Demo	Final

In early versions of the game, you could check the race's map in the main race screen. This feature was removed in the final game.

Grid Position Screen

Demo	Final

In the final game, the black and gray part at the center is extended (and for that reason, the title is also moved up), but the position of the cars themselves doesn't seem to have changed.

Controls Option Screen

Demo	Final

The ability to select from 4 different configurations isn't implemented yet.
Joystick configuration isn't implemented yet, clicking the "More..." button just makes a noise and nothing more.
The "Change Up" and "Change Down" controls from the demo are missing in the final game.
The "Send Message" control is missing in the demo.

Unused Graphics

In the DATA/32X20X8/ANIM folder there's some unused graphics:

Network Menus

NEWNAWAY.FLI and NEWNCOME.FLI (Demo)	NEWNAWAY.FLI and NEWNCOME.FLI (Final)

NTSHSTIL.FLI (Demo)	NTSHSTIL.FLI (Final)

NTSCSTIL.FLI (Demo)	NTSCSTIL.FLI (Final)

The screens from the demo seems to be painted on top of the "Change Race" screen, since in the other frames in "NEWNAWAY.FLI" and "NEWNCOME.FLI" we can see the original frames.

Early Car Select Images

OTIS.FLI (Demo)	OTIS.FLI (Final)

SCREWIE.FLI (Demo)	SCREWIE.FLI (Final)

SCREWIE.FLI in the demo has a size of 165x96 instead of the usual 212x96 used by the other cars in the demo and the full game.

Text Files Differences

Like in the final game, the .TXT files in the DATA folder are encrypted. Decrypting that data reveals some interesting things.

DARES.TXT

Demo	Final
D'ya wanna trade places punk?	Have you got the guts to trade places, punk?
Same as final	Take my place. Don't worry, I'll be right behind you...
Not in demo	I don't think you can out-run me, even if we swap places...

DPOWERUP.TXT

File is almost the same, the only differences being at the end. The demo doesn't have the "Vesuvian corpses!" and "Gravity from jupiter!" powerups.

GENERAL.TXT

Most changes in this file are just the settings that were tweaked, but there's also these changes:

• Starting at line 24 in the demo, the config lines that ended with "(without peds)" were replaced (including their values) by the lines that start the same but ends with "(with peds)".

• There are some differences between some lines that hint at two scrapped network game modes which are also mentioned in TEXT.TXT:

Line 53 and 54 (Demo)	Line 55 and 56 (Final)
// Repair cost for each net game type (cred per % damage) 7.5,15,7.5,7.5,7.5,7.5,7.5,7.5,7.5	// Repair cost for each net game type (cred per % damage) 15,15,7.5,7.5,7.5,7.5,7.5

Line 55 and 56 (Demo)	Line 57 and 58 (Final)
// Recovery cost for each net game type 1000,1000,1000,1000,1000,1000,1000,1000,1000	// Recovery cost for each net game type 1000,1000,1000,1000,1000,1000,1000

• Also some lines are missing in the demo version (expected being it an early version):

Final game exclusive lines
2000,500,50 // Credits awarded for checkpoints for each skill level (with peds)
2000,500,50 // Credits awarded for checkpoints for each skill level (with peds)
///Car-to-car damage multiplier for each net game type 2.0,3.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0
// Score targets for each net game type 0,3,50,0,0,60,240
90 // Pickup respawn min time (seconds)
60 // Pickup respawn max extra time (seconds)

OPPONENT.TXT

All the opponents in the final game are present in the demo, there are minor differences between the opponents in the demo and the final game:

• Two opponents had different strength rating, this value indicated how far along in the game you had to be to encounter them, this value can go from 1 to 5:

OK Stimpson (Demo)	OK Stimpson (Final)
4 // Strength rating (1-5)	3 // Strength rating (1-5)

Stella Stunna (Demo)	Stella Stunna (Final)
1 // Strength rating (1-5)	4 // Strength rating (1-5)

• Some descriptions had minor changes:

Don Dumpster (Demo)	Don Dumpster (Final)
BIG TRUCK, BIG GUY... NO HEART. DON'S A DISGRUNTLED MUNICIPAL WORKER AND HE DRIVES A CUSTOMIZED EARTHMOVER - HARD, FAST & HEAVY.	BIG TRUCK, BIG GUY... NO HEART. DON'S A DISGRUNTLED MUNICIPAL WORKER AND HE DRIVES A CUSTOMIZED EARTHMOVER; HARD, FAST & HEAVY.

This change is interesting since in the final game, the font doesn't have the glyph for the ; character.

Ivan the Bastard (Demo)	Ivan the Bastard (Final)
WITH A UKRAIN- MANUFACTURED MONSTER TRUCK AND A VODKA- MANUFACTURED HANGOVER, IVAN'S BLACK MOOD MAKES HIM A DANGEROUS COMPETITOR.	WITH A UKRAINE- MANUFACTURED MONSTER TRUCK AND A VODKA- MANUFACTURED HANGOVER, IVAN'S BLACK MOOD MAKES HIM A DANGEROUS COMPETITOR.

This change just fixes a typo.

OK Stimpson (Demo)	OK Stimpson (Final)
HE SEEMS A FRIENDLY KIND OF GUY, BUT APPEARANCES CAN DECEIVE, AND THE WAY HE GUNS THAT CHEVY ALONG YOU'D THINK HE WAS ON THE RUN!	HE SEEMS A FRIENDLY KIND OF GUY, BUT APPEARANCES CAN DECEIVE, AND THE WAY HE GUNS THAT 4X4 ALONG YOU'D THINK HE WAS ON THE RUN!

The reference to Chevy was changed to 4x4.

OPTIONS.TXT

All the values in the demo version are present in the final game, the only difference being that the demo version doesn't have the joystick and network related values.

PARTSHOP.TXT

The only differences are the costs of the parts (which were cheaper in the demo), only the Armor parts will be shown, but the same prices apply for the other parts:

Demo	Final
99,ARM1.FLI,500,1000,1500 // Image #1, cost for each skill level	99,ARM1.FLI,500,1000,1500 // Image #1, cost for each skill level
99,ARM2.FLI,30000,50000,75000 // Image #2, cost for each skill level	99,ARM2.FLI,100000,125000,250000 // Image #2, cost for each skill level
75,ARM3.FLI,75000,100000,125000 // Image #3, cost for each skill level	75,ARM3.FLI,200000,250000,375000 // Image #3, cost for each skill level
50,ARM4.FLI,125000,150000,200000 // Image #4, cost for each skill level	50,ARM4.FLI,300000,375000,500000 // Image #4, cost for each skill level
25,ARM5.FLI,200000,250000,500000 // Image #5, cost for each skill level	25,ARM5.FLI,400000,500000,750000 // Image #5, cost for each skill level
0,ARM6.FLI,500,500,500 // Image #5, cost for each skill level	0,ARM6.FLI,500,500,500 // Image #5, cost for each skill level

POWERUP.TXT

Some names have minor differences:

Demo name	Final name
Greased tyres!	Greased tires!
Pedestrians from Hades	You Killed a Kitten!
Grip-o-matic tyres!	Grip-o-matic tires!
Gravity from jupiter!	Gravity from Jupiter!

RACES.TXT

While all the races names are present in the file, unlike OPPONENTS.TXT this doesn't have descriptions (except for the first one, since it's the only one used in the demo).

Early race order

Demo race order
Maim Street
Coastal Carnage
Fridge Racer
Desert Storm
Avenue of Atrocities
MagnaChem Mayhem
Guerillas in the Mist
Industrial Injury
600ft Under
Beaches of Blood
Slalom Slayfest
Acid Bath Bloodbath
Death Valley
Downtown Devastation
Highway to Hell
Condominium Pandemonium
Chiller
Pit Stop
Ramp Rampage
Vacation Decapitation
Wall Street Crash
High Rise Hell
Shafts of Fright
Terror on the Trails
Factory Fatwa
Ring Road Rampage
I scream in the sun
Mine's a Large One
Shopper Chopper
Chemical Chaos
Erasing Arizona
Holiday Holocaust
By the seascythe
Roswell That Ends Well
Valley of Death
Blood on the Rooftops

Early race names

While the order is different from the final game, we can know the final name since it uses the same .TXT file, so here's a comparison (note that here is only the name that actually change):

Demo	Final
Guerillas in the Mist	Mist Me!
Shopper Chopper	Mangled at the Mall
Vacation Decapitation	I Scream in the Sun
Holiday Holocaust	Off Quay
Highway to Hell	Halfway to Hell
Factory Fatwa	Industrial Action
Ring Road Rampage	Top Gear Thrash
Acid Bath Bloodbath	Acid Reign
Valley of Death	Hitch hiker Harvest
Condominium Pandemonium	Slaughter City
High Rise Hell	High Rise Horror
Chemical Chaos	Fragged at the Factory
I scream in the sun	Beef Curtains

TEXT.TXT

• Like OPTIONS.TXT, the demo is missing some network related strings, but not all. There are also some minor changes between these strings:

Line 27 (Demo)	Line 27 (Final)
Every pedestrian murdered!!	Every pedestrian wasted!!

Line 66 (Demo)	Line 66 (Final)
FLAG ATTACK (TEAM)	FOX 'N' HOUNDS

Line 67 (Demo)	Line 67 (Final)
FLAG ATTACK (INDIVID)	UNUSED

Line 68 (Demo)	Line 68 (Final)
CUNNING STUNT	UNUSED

Line 76 (Demo)	Line 76 (Final)
SAVING AND LOADING OF GAMES IS NOT ALLOWED IN NETWORK MODE (NICE TRY...)	CAN'T SAVE A GAME IN NETWORK PLAY (NICE TRY...)

Line 77 (Demo)	Line 77 (Final)
SORRY, BUT NETWORK IS NOT ACCESSIBLE AT PRESENT (PLEASE CONSULT YOUR MANUAL)	SORRY, BUT NETWORK PLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE (CHECK CABLING, DRIVERS ETC)

Most notable lines are 67 and 68, which reveals the name of the two scrapped network game modes that were hinted at in GENERAL.TXT.

• Line 136 in the demo says TOTALLY FUCKING WRONG TEXT.TXT, which is nowhere to be found in the final game, just the standard "WRONG TEXT.TXT".