Proto:Shadow Warrior (1997)/Prototype 1996-06-11

This is a sub-page of Proto:Shadow Warrior (1997).

The June 11th, 1996 Shadow Warrior prototype shows the game after development was moved in-house to 3D Realms. Some radical new features are already appearing in the game, such as usable vehicles, and a few rough prototypes that would become the final's modern urban and industrial areas. More weapons that are in the final game appear in this prototype as well. Some sprites are slowly starting to be replaced with modern props. The spell system is almost close to being totally removed, with only two spells left.

This prototype is packed with levels that have not appeared in previous prototypes, along with some new ones that appeared in previous prototypes. Many of these “new” maps were cut from the final game. The levels themselves appear to be a mix of temple maps designed for the “old” Shadow Warrior style seen in previous prototypes and experiments by the Duke 3D team, such as areas to drive vehicles around, an airport, and a very rough outline for a mall level that does not appear in the final game.

General

Player sprite

The player has gained a new sprite in the June 11th prototype. This is an all-new design that features a man with a blue cowl covering most of his face, no shirt, a belt around his body, blue pants, silver gauntlets on his hands, and a tattoo on his back.

This design is similar to the guy seen in the game's title screen and old promotional art.

The new design itself only has sprites for walking. If the player performs an action the new design doesn't have, the game will use the enemy Ninja sprite's animations, but with the default color instead of the green color the September 1995 prototype used for the player.

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  Back.

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  The new player design in-game...

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  ...but reverting to the enemy Ninja sprite when performing an action the new design doesn't have sprites for, such as jumping, seen here.

Prototype	Pre-release image

Prototype	Pre-release image

Title screen

This prototype now has a proper title screen. It features a shirtless ninja fighting the Serpent God boss on a mountain with a yellow sky. At the bottom of the screen are the words “No Fear. No Mercy. No Return.” with some Japanese symbols behind them. This title screen appears in some other prototypes.

The screen itself comes from scrapped box art for the game that also appeared in some magazine previews and ads.

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  The image the title screen is based on.

HUD

This prototype features a new HUD. This one seems to be a reworked version of the HUD seen in the previous prototype in that it keeps the marble theme. Tee boxes containing information are much larger and the kill and ammo graphics have been removed in favor of plain text. The left side of the HUD contains a box showing all of the player's weapons and ammo for them in text format, but this is broken in the June 11th prototype. An armor count has been added as well. The spell box (now called Inventory) still has the spell/item's text bleeding past the right-hand side of the screen.

The key readout is still somewhat broken. If the player uses a cheat to gain all of the keys, the game will not show the keys obtained unless the player removes the HUD, then brings it back.

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  HUD in-game.

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  Blue key graphic

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  Red key graphic

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  Green key graphic

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  Yellow key graphic

Vomiting after death

This prototype also contains the ability to vomit after being gibbed. It behaves nearly same as in September 1995 prototype.

The player's head has been updated to use the new head design and the puke sprite has been updated as well.

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  A dead Baby Ripper that was killed by vomit. He is floating away in shame.

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  The new and improved puke sprite.

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  Head puking.

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  Head.

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  Side view.

June 11th, 1996	September 1995

Demos

This is the first prototype to feature demos playing if the game isn't started.

• The first one is in $scene.map. The game starts normally, but the video seems to desync around the time the boat goes through the double doors. The player will run a little bit past the doors, then stay in place and shoot walls until he's killed. Then, he'll puke his brains out while swiveling around until the player manually ends the demo, presumably because the demo is still recording someone firing a gun, but he's dead.
• The second one takes place in $yamato. This one deyncs pretty quickly once he gets in the warehouse area and tries to jump up a crate, but can't because the crates were moved. He is then quickly killed while shooting the air.
• The third one is in $boss1. This one doesn't seem to desync too bad, but it ends with the player's death somewhat early on in the level at the wooden bridge.
• The fourth one is in $tank. It has the most amount of synched footage, as the player manages to drive and shoot the tank well, including using the turret to enter a goodie room. Once he gets off the tank for good, the demo seems to desync and it ends with him killed by a Baby Ripper while throwing Shurikens at and humping walls.
• The final demo is in $prison. It starts out fine, with the player picking up an Uzi and avoiding an enemy Ninja, but is quickly killed, presumably due to a desync.

The prototype also contains a glitch: if the player starts a new game while demo is played in the third person then the game will not show first person weapon graphics.

Menu

The menu now has the game's title on top of the screen. The shuriken icon is animated as well.

This prototpye has the load save game screen working, so one can see it how it looked like.

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  Load save game screen.

Cheats

This prototype uses the same cheats that the September 1995 prototype has.

Exit messages

The June 11th prototype contains the same messages that are displayed if the player tries to exit that the previous prototype had.

Vehicles

This is the first available versions of the game that has drivable vehicles. Several vehicles that appear in the final game, such as the motorboat and turrets, are already in this prototype in some form. There are also many different types of turrets and a bulldozer the player can drive as well.

Rippling water effect

The rippling water effect seen in previous prototypes is now broken.

June 11th, 1996	September 1995

Flying

The ability to fly is now active only when the God Mode cheat has been activated. This carries into the final version.

"Key needed" message

Most of the game will display text for messages near the top-center of the screen. However, if one attempts to open a door without having the right key, the text will be printed like the health bar was in the January and February 1995 prototypes. This is fixed to use the same format as the rest of the messages in the next prototype.

Level order

Unlike the previous prototype, one can select and play the game by using the "New Game" option in the menu. The player will start out in the level $shadow. Beating $shadow will take the player to $prison, which can be used to access $tank. There is no way to access any other levels past $tank because $tank's exit switch does not work.

Press F10 to crash

Pressing the F10 key will crash the game. In the September 1995 prototype, it sent the player to a level called TITLE.MAP.

Spells

The spell system from the previous prototype has almost been completely gutted in this prototype. The only spells left are the Shadow and Night Vision spells, which seems to now be classified as "items". Even though mana is no longer shown on the HUD, mana is still tracked and required to use the Shadow and Night Vision spells/items.

Shadow

Shadow behaves the same as it does in the previous prototypes.

It still costs around 400 mana to cast.

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  Item sprite.

Night Vision

Night Vision can also be cast, and this time shows a graphic near the upper left center of the screen, like other items and the Shadow spell do. Otherwise, it is the same as it is in the September 1995 prototype, down to costing 50 mana to cast.

It has received a unique sprite in this prototype. This sprite is much closer to Doom's Light Amplication Visor than the final's design, which is a more traditional pair of night vision goggles.

The same bug from the September 1995 prototype can also be done in this one.

Prototype	Final

Other spells

The scroll item from the previous prototype can be found, but the spells it gives are unique to this prototype. They are Dragon Skin, Icon of Flight, and Shadow Spell. None of these do anything.

Graphics

Removed graphics

Graphic	Tile Number	Notes
	252	Used on some battleships in various prototypes.
	577-582	Tile 579 is a duplicate of tile 577.
	558-560	Used in $yamato for the TV in the kitchen area. Footage reused from Duke Nukem 3D.
	2659	Located with airplane tiles, so likely for $airport.
	2660	Located with airplane tiles, so likely for $airport.
	2661	Located with airplane tiles, so likely for $airport.
	2662	Located with airplane tiles, so likely for $airport.
	2663	Located with airplane tiles, so likely for $airport.

Changed graphics

Several graphics in this prototype have either been altered, improved, or outright chagned with a new sprite following the original sprite's design between this prototype and the final game.

June 11th, 1996	Final Game	Tile Number	Notes
		81	Completely new sprite.
		624-627	Shading added to the numbers
		2206-2210	Rocket lightened slightly. Tip and fins switcehd to blue, presumably so the tip and fin colors could be changed via palletes.
		613	Top swapped to blue for same reason as rocket sprites.
		647	Completely new sprite.
		648	Completely new sprite.
		648	Completely new sprite.
		2656	N/A
		2657	N/A
		2658	N/A
		2664	N/A
		2665	Slightly darker in the final game.

Sky textures

This prototype contains two new sky textures compared to previous prototypes. Both of these are used in this prototype, but were removed in the final game.

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Music

No music plays in this prototype by default, but Music can be enabled in the setup executable. Majority of the music in the grp file is identical from the previous prototype, however some have been removed or replaced. FANFARE2, INTRO12, SPOOK, TEST, TKYO2005 have been removed. EXECUT11, HOSHIA02, INTRO131, KOTOKI12, NIPPON34, NOKI41, SANAI, and TKYO2007 are unchanged. KOTEC2 was renamed to be KOTEX, though the files are identical.

Two new songs were added with this prototype. All audio here is exported using the soundfont included with RAZE.

TYTAIK16

SIANRA23

HROSHMA42 seems to have been worked on further between these two prototypes, becoming HROSHMA6. The majority of the song is identical, but parts near the end modified to add more sounds in the background.

HROSHMA42 September 8th, 1995	HROSHMA6 June 11th, 1996

YOKOHA02 was also worked on, becoming YOKOHA03. Same thing of it being nearly identical, except for it's last section, mostly being a change in octave on parts of the song, with the pan flute being added to the mix much earlier, and an electric synth layer added right near the end.

YOKOHA02 September 8th, 1995	YOKOHA03 June 11th, 1996

Sound

To do: Not really much of a sound guy. Anyone else wanna take a crack at this?

The prototype comes with a lot of sounds, and many of them are played this time around, unlike the previous prototype. Most notable is that the grunt sound from the Duke Nukem 3D prototype Lameduke is used whenver the player uses something or either the player or a ninja takes damage. Ninjas will also occasionally use the "shoot him!" sound from Rise of the Triad.

Weapons

The weapons in this prototype are a lot closer to the final's than they were in previous prototypes. Most of the final game's arsenal is in this prototype in some form.

This prototype also has an early version of the arm designed used in the final game. It lacks the details, such as the yin-yang symbol and spikes, than the final's design has.

Katana

The Katana uses the previous prototype's sprite.

In-game, the Katana can be swung as fast it is can be in the September 1995 prototype. It swipes left and right like it does in the Sep. 95 prototype as well, but will occasionally do a quick diagonal swipe as well. It also kills enemies without gibbing them, unlike the previous prototype.

Shuriken

The Shuriken's view model sprite is almost the same as final's, with the major difference being the arm band. It behaves the same as it did before as well.

The September 1995 prototype sprites for this weapon are still in the proto's files, but unused. They will continue to linger for several prototypes longer.

Prototype	Final

Uzi

The Uzi behaves the same as the September 1995 prototype's Uzi, but has a suppressor attached to it. This does not affect it's in-game performance. This is the second of two weapons that uses the old black ninja outfit hand used in previous prototypes.

The regular unsupressed graphics from the September 1995 prototype are still in the game's files, but go unused.

The only way to dual-wield Uzis in this build is to spawn directly into a level, get an Uzi by any means, then enter another map and obtain another Uzi. Doing this shows that dual-wielding is quite bugged; the player will be able to fire only 50 shots before having to reload (instead of the final's 100) and the second Uzi will disappear once the reloading animation is complete. Otherwise, it behaves the same as it does in the previous prototype.

Prototype	Final

Prototype reload animation frame.	Final reload animation frame.

Prototype	Pre-release image

Riot Gun

This prototype marks the first appearance of the Riot Gun, and it has a lot of differences compared to the final Riot Gun.

The Riot Gun's first person sprite is angled differently, has a differently-designed body that lacks the lights on the gun, a magazine jutting out of the gun's left side, longer barrels, and a carrying handle.

When fired, the Riot Gun will actually fire rockets instead of shotgun shells. These rockets appear to be slightly less lethal than the arrows fired by the September 1995 Crossbow, but it still gibs most enemies in one or two hits.

When the gun is first picked up, the gun will have a brief cooldown and the gun's sprite will retract after four shots. However, after those four shots have been done and the cooldown is over, the game will let the player shoot 12 rockets before the cooldown and sprite retraction initiates again.

If the “4” key is hit while the Riot Gun is already out, the gun will switch positions on the screen and activate it's alternate firing mode. In its alt-fire more, then Riot Gun will shot shotgun blasts, like in the final game. These blasts are more powerful than the rockets fired by the Riot Gun's primary fire and have a fairly low pellet spread. The gun will always initiate a brief cooldown and the game will retract the sprite for a second after four shots have been fired.

There is evidence that suggests that the Riot Gun replaced the Crossbow, which explains why it behaves so similar to the Crossbow in it's primary fire mode. It occupies the same key the Crossbow did in the September 1995 prototype, its item sprite is in the same location that the Crossbow's, and its ammo sprites occupy the same slots the Crossbow ammo's sprites did.

Its item sprite has a grip where the ammo drum would be and has the carrying handle removed from the final design.

Several pre-release images show the Riot Gun from this prototype in action.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Pre-release image

Grenade Launcher

The Grenade Launcher makes its first appearance in this prototype. It's similar to its final incarnation, but the explosion effects are different. Instead of making a large explosion effect that makes balls of fire spew upward, the explosion makes a plus sign-shaped set of explosions. It is also a bit weaker than its final equivalent; a direct impact will not kill a Blue Ninja with one shot, but in the final version, it will kill a Brown Ninja, the final's take on the Blue Ninja, with one hit.

Its first person graphic is a little bit lighter than in the final game, which includes the grenades shown in the gun during the firing animation.

This weapon's item sprite uses the same design as the one seen in the final, but the sprite itself is different. Its body is black instead of gray, it has a rounded rear instead of a square one, the handguard and barrel are longer than in the final design, the handguard itself is darker and has some details the final version lacks, and there is a box-shaped lump at the top (sight?) cut from the final design.

The projectile shot by this weapon is gray in this prototype, but is changed to be bronze-colored in the final game.

Prototype	Final

Prototype firing aniamtion	Final firing animation

Prototype grenade	Final grenade

Prototype	Final

Sticky Bomb

The Sticky Bomb makes its first appearance as well. The graphic keeps the final's orb design, but lacks the spikes coming out of it. While the spike-less design is used for the first person sprite in the final game as a part of the draw animation, the world sprite will never not have spikes in the final game. In addition, the stripe on the bomb is blue instead of the color the player's pants are, like in the final game.

The band on the orb will always be blue. This is changed in the final game so that it reflects the player's pants color.

It cannot attach to anything except floors. This makes it a bit harder to use, as laying traps is harder without the ability to stick bombs and walls nor can one stick bombs on enemies for a little surprise for them. However, it does not have an arming time, letting the player blow up enemies with it as soon as the bomb has been tossed.

Of note is that the weapon lacks the draw animation, showing Lo Wang press the button on it. In other words, when its drawn, it already has Wang's thumb on the button activating it. There is a graphic of Wang's thumb not on the button, but it goes unused. The final game does use it as a part of the draw animation, however.

The graphic featuring Wang's thumb on the switch, but without the spikes out, is still in the final game, along with a frame of the spikeless Sticky Bomb. Both go unused.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Guardian Head

The Guardian Head has different sprites compared to the previous prototype. When idle, it appears to be 3D rendered and has more details than the one in the September 1995 prototype. When fired, it switches to what appears to be a back view of the same model and will stay that way until the player stops firing, whereupon it will revert to the idle sprite. The third firing mode for this weapon uses a variation of the firing head sprite, but with the ponytail cut off.

This version has three firing modes that behave the same as they do in the final game.

When the head is fired, it will tilt upwards a little bit and will stay there until it is put away.

Its world sprite is the same as the final's, but will occasionally shift left, then move back into position. This might be a remnant from the older world sprite, which was animated.

Prototype head idle	Final

Prototype head being fired	Final

Prototype alternate head	Final

Prototype idle head	Pre-release image

Prototype head being fired	Pre-release image

Arm Blade

Graphics for the Arm Blade weapon from the previous prototype are still in this one, but the weapon cannot be used. Most of them, except for the WIP graphic, were removed in the next prototype.

Ripper Heart

The Ripper Heart's behavior is similar to the Ripper Heart in the previous prototype, but has a noticeable difference.

Unlike the September 1995 prototype, the Ripper Heart will only shoot one projectile. When an enemy is hit by the projectile, he will jerk around and bleed, then die, like in the Sep. 1995 prototype. However, once the enemy dies, two tiny Baby Rippers will jump out of where the victim was. These mini-Baby Rippers will attack the player like any other Baby Ripper. They are too small to hit with the Ripper Heart's projectiles. Crouching is required to hit these Baby Rippers with projectiles.

Of note is that any Ripper is immune to the Ripper Heart's projectile. There seems to be no cap on the amount of mini-Baby Rippers that can be spawned with it. It's possible to flood an entire level with mini-Baby Rippers.

It's rate of fire is the same as in the previous prototype.

This weapon's first person graphic is similar to the final's, minus the blood spewing out of the veins.

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  The red ninja on the left has been hit by a Ripper Heart projectile...

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  ...and the two mini-Baby Rippers that pop out once he blows up. It's the circle of life!

Prototype	Final

Rocket Launcher

The Rocket Launcher appears for the first time in this prototype. However, it looks and behaves differently than it does in the final game.

The weapon's first person sprite keeps the same design ideas that the final's has, but lacks a lot of details, such as the computer display on it, the round object on the left side of it. The metal it is made out of is lighter than the final's and it is angled closer to the camera, making it more scrunched up compared to the final design.

When fires, the Rocket Launcher will shoot a spread of about 15 to 20 rockets with a horizontal spread. The rockets seem to home in on targets. The spread is powerful enough that anything caught in the spread will be blown to pieces. It does not use ammo when fired. After it has been shot, there is a cooldown indicated by the weapon dropping down, briefly disappearing, then going back up. However, the attack has a significant flaw: the Rocket Launcher tends to crash the game when fired. The specific cause for this seem to be random.

This weapon's item sprite is a bit different as well. The prototype sprite lacks the such as the pipes on the side and has the arrow facing forward on the very front of the weapon, not on the back, like the final sprite does.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Pre-release image

Enemies

Ninja

The Ninja enemies are the same as they are in the September 1995 prototype. However, this prototype adds a new variant, the Green Ninja.

Of note is that if a Ninja is killed with any attack that will not gib him, he will fly back while dying.

Green Ninja

The Green Ninja is a spell-casting version of the regular Ninja enemy. He can cast the MIRV and Napalm spells from the previous prototype. However, his MIRV is much faster than the player's was and his Napalm causes more explosions that the player's did.

Interestingly, the final's Shadow Ninja has green pants and uses the same spells that this prototype's Green Ninja does. The Green Ninja's Napalm spell even behaves the same as the trail of explosions spell that the Shadow Ninja uses. It's very likely that the Green Ninja eventually became the Shadow Ninja.

Coolie

The Coolie is the same as the September 1995 Coolie.

Coolie Ghost

The Coolie Ghost is very similar to how he was in the previous prototype, but will occasionally sword up and above the player after getting hit and will occasionally rapid-fire projectiles, like in the final game.

Baby Ripper

The Baby Ripper now has his final sprite and behaves much closer to how he does in the final game. He still not not shoot a projectile, however.

Orange Baby Ripper

The Orange Baby Ripper behaves the same as the other Baby Rippers do.

Guardian

The Guardian now has his final sprite, but is otherwise the same as he was in the last prototype and the final game.

Skeleton Priest

The Skeleton Priest is the same as before.

Bee

The Bee is similar to how he was in the previous prototype, but will go up while spinning around in a circular pattern after hitting the player.

Accursed head

The Accursed Head is the same as the September 1995 prototype incarnation of it.

Serpent God

The Serpent God is the same as he was in the previous prototype.

Dragon

Art for the Dragon appears in this prototype as well, but he still cannot be fought.

Lava Boss

This prototype also contains the cut Lava Boss...boss. Now that his projectiles are visible, it's much easier to see how he would behave.

His only method of attacking is to fire large projectiles at the player from his head that arc towards the ground at a 45 degree angle. A direct impact from one of these will kill the player in one hit and will, strangely, spew gibs from the point of impact. If a projectile hits a floor, it will explode and spew a ton of mini versions of the projectile. While the mini projectiles are harmless, the explosion that happens can do a good amount of damage to the player.

He will occasionally jerk back and slightly to the left or right while fighting him. Rarely, he will warp behind the player.

The Lava Boss can also dodge projectile attacks by suddenly warping either to the side of where he was or behind the player. This seems to happen after the boss has been hit with a projectile once. Hitscan weapons, such as the Uzi and Riot Shotgun's alternate fire, will not trigger this, making him much easier to deal with.

This enemy has a very fatal flaw: he is harmless if the player gets right next to him. Since his projectiles come from his head, they can't hit the player if the player is right next to him, and he lacks a melee attack. With a hitscan weapon, the player can kill the boss by running right next to him and unloading any hitscan weapons available. He has a lot of HP, so it'll take a while, but it does work.

Even without the exploit, the Lava Boss is easy to deal with, since his only attack can be easily avoided. Constantly moving will make him harmless.

When the Lava Boss dies, he will stand still and the player can freely run through him, since he doesn't have a death animation or sprite.

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  Projectile fired by the lava boss.

Items

Red needle and red potion

The red needle and red potion are the same as they are before.

Blue vial and blue potion

The Blue vial and blue potion are in the game and can be picked up, but they give nothing, since the magic system appears to have been stripped out. In future prototypes, their sprites are replaced with a “DELETE ME” placeholder and can no longer be picked up.

Shuriken

The Shuriken ammo pickup now uses the final's sprite. However, it only gives 3 Shurikens.

Uzi magazine

The Uzi magazine has another new sprite. This one is similar to the September 1995 prototype, but the cartridges loaded into it can be seen via a cut-out in the enter of the sprite.

Prototype	Final

Uzi ammo box

The Uzi ammo box gives out 200 rounds instead of 250, like in previous prototypes.

Three rockets

A pickup sprite showing three rockets can be picked up. When obtained, it gives the player three rockets for the Riot Gun.

This item was removed in the final game.

Box of rockets

A large box of rockets gives 15 rockets when picked up.

This item was removed in the final game.

Green shotgun shells

A collection of three green shotgun shells can be found. When picked up, it gives the player 3 shotgun blasts for the Riot Gun's alternate fire mode.

This item was removed in the final.

Shotgun shell box

A box of green shotgun shells. When picked up, it gives the player 15 shotgun blasts for the Riot Gun's alternate fire mode.

This item was partially replaced by a magazine of shotgun ammo in the final game.

Grenade pile

A pickup showing three grenades near each other exists. When picked up, it gives, you guessed it, three grenades for the Grenade Launcher.

This item was removed in the final game.

Grenade box

It looks similar to the final design, but has "30mm" on it instead of the final's "40mm".

Prototype	Final

Pile of Sticky Bombs

A pile of Sticky Bombs gives a single Sticky Bomb when picked up.

Sticky Bomb box

This item cannot be found in levels, but its graphic can be seen in the game's files. The final game has a similar graphic for its Stick Bomb ammo, but the lid is open, exposing the bombs inside.

Prototype	Final

Silver potion

A item new to this prototype, but not in the final game, is a silver potion flask with an orange substances flashing out of parts of it. When picked up, it gives 60 charges for the Guardian Head.

Rocket Launcher ammo

An item that resembles the prototype's Rocket Launcher, but with ammo loaded in it, can be found in the game's art files. Since the regular rocket pickups fill up the Riot Gun and it shares the same tile that the final's Rocket Launcher ammo does, it seems this would be special ammo for the Rocket Launcher.

Prototype	Final

Red spark jar

The red spark jar from the September 1995 prototype has been repurposed into giving ammo for the Ripper's Heart. When picked up, it gives 5 charges.

Armor

Armor makes its first appearance in this prototype, complete with the armor sprite used in the final game. However, it cannot be picked up, despite the HUD having an armor point count, and the only armor that appears is blue armor, which does not exist in the final game. Blue armor is used as the graphic for armor in the final game, but in-game, gray or red palletes are applied to it.

Blue bottle

The blue bottle appears again, but it still does nothing.

White potion

The white potion appears again, but this time it does nothing.

Fire potion

The fire potion from the previous prototype can still be picked up, but again it does nothing. It lasts around 30 seconds.

Hawk

The Hawk makes a reappearance, but does nothing when picked up. It lasts 30 seconds.

Explosives box

The explosives box is still in the game and still does nothing.

Black can

The block of graphics containing sprites shown when an item is active contains a strange black can object not seen anywhere else in the prototype. The can has some sort of red text on it, but it is illegible.

Levels

To do: Everything. This is gonna require a subpage for sure.

This prototype is packed with many levels. They seem to be a mix of old maps that appeared in pre-release screenshots and prototypes for several final maps, such as Unfriendly Skies.