Proto:Shadow Warrior (1997)/Prototype 1996-08-12

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

Oh dear, I do believe I have the vapors. This page contains content that is not safe for work or other locations with the potential for personal embarrassment. Such as: Softcore 90s Japanese porn. For real.

The August 1996 Shadow Warrior prototype shows the game getting closer to the final game. While many of the levels are still either WIP or don't exist, the arsenal has been mostly finalized. Meanwhile, enemies, graphics, sounds, music, and items are mostly the same as they were in the previous prototype. It seems that the game is getting closer and closer to reaching the final Shadow Warrior as we know it, but still has a bit to go.

General

HUD

The main graphic for the HUD has been removed, but everything else works fine. If the player removes the HUD, then brings it back, the HUD will show a hall of mirrors effect.

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  HUD with hall of mirrors effect.

Broken Use Key

In many levels, the use key doesn't seem to work. This means that doors cannot be opened and switches cannot be pulled, making it very difficult to explore most of the levels. Most likely it was due to some kind of core change to sector functions with levels not being updated rather than something to do with the key itself. Thankfully, all of the levels affected by this are in earlier prototypes, so there's no real loss.

Turrets

Turrets now function, unlike previous prototypes. They cannot be destroyed.

The inability to destroy turrets will stay in the rest of the prototypes. Only the final game lets the player destroy them.

Cheats

This prototype adds the cheat "swclip", which allows one to fly through walls. However, this tends to crash the game if the player tries to go through a thick wall.

Graphics

Removed Graphics

Graphic	Tile Number	Notes
	2624
	2625
	2626 and 2627

Changed Graphics

June 11th, 1996	Final Game	Tile Number	Notes
		2620	Completely new texture.
		2621	Completely new texture.
		2681	Made blue so the palette can be adjusted by level designers.
		2682	Made blue so the palette can be adjusted by level designers.
		2683	Made blue so the palette can be adjusted by level designers.
		2684	Made blue so the palette can be adjusted by level designers.
		2685	Made a dark orange color.

Sounds and Music

Sounds and music are the same as the previous prototype.

Weapons

The weapon order has been changed a bit in this prototype. The Katana and Shuriken are both accessed with the 1 key, which moves down each weapon by one key. The final game undoes this and gives the Shuriken the 2 key, like in earlier prototypes.

Katana

The Katana is the same as it was in the previous prototype.

Shuriken

The armband on the Shuriken's first person sprite has been modified to better match the rest of the armbands in this prototype.

Prototype	Final

August 1996	June 11th, 1996

Riot Gun

The Riot Gun has received another new sprite that's closer to the final design. While the body design itself is similar to the final sprite, the barrels are longer, while the body itself is thinner than the final sprite and has a different rear.

In-game, it behaves the same as it did in the previous prototype.

Prototype	Final

Uzi

The Uzi is the same as in the previous prototype.

Rocket Launcher

The Rocket Launcher is much closer to the final design, but still has some elements from the previous prototypes' designs, such as the white dots in the center of the gun.

This prototype gives the ability to either fire a single rocket or the burst-fire more from previous builds. When the 20 rocket mode is selected, the number on the gun will switch to 20.

There is also a mode that can be accessed between single and burst-fire, but it is the same as the single fire mode. Since the game already has graphics for the final's HEAT rocket indicator, it's likely this mode is a placeholder for the final's HEAT rocket mode.

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  "20" indicator for the Rocket Launcher.

Prototype	Final

August 1996	June 27th, 1996

Prototype	Pre-release image

Grenade Launcher

The Grenade Launcher's first person sprite has had a yin-yang symbol drawn on it to match the rest of the first person sprites, but is otherwise the same as previous prototypes.

Prototype	Final

Sticky Bomb

The Sticky Bomb now has spikes sticking out of it and behaves like the final's, but the stripe on it is still blue instead of the player's color.

The ability to put Sticky Bombs on enemies is bugged in this prototype. A bomb can be stuck on an enemy, but will not follow the victim while he moves, making it appear static. It will still explode a second or two after being put on someone, however.

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  Sticky bomb stick bug in action. The Coolie Ghost in the center of the screen is supposed to have a bomb stuck on him, but the bomb is not following him. Instead, it is staying where the enemy was originally hit with the bomb.

Prototype	Final

Railgun

The Railgun has received a cleaned up first person sprite that is similar to the final design in idea, but differs in several ways, such as having a larger scope, a bigger and lighter blue portion that has a completely different design, and a smaller rear.

When fired, the Railgun shoots a projectile that explodes with a trail of smoke following it from the muzzle instead of an energy wave that causes little chunks to come out of a wall if it hits a wall, or blood if it hits an enemy. This is similar to how rockets were fired out of the Riot Gun and Railgun in the previous prototypes, but the Riot Gun's smoke trail had a small limit.

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Ripper Heart

The Ripper's Heart is the same as it was in the previous prototype.

Guardian Head

The Guardian Head has a new draw animation. When the weapon is pulled out, the head will turn toward the camera, open and close his mouth, then turn back. The head used in this animation appears to be from a different source than the one used for the regular sprite, and it's much darker and has different details than the other one.

It behaves the same as it did in previous prototypes, but the head graphic no longer changes position when changing the firing modes, making it difficult to see what firing mode the weapon is currently on.

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  The draw animation sequence.

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Enemies

The enemies are the same as the previous prototype, but with one humorous difference.

Red Ninja

The rocket the Red Ninja shoots is a flying graphic for the Railgun's first person sprite instead of the proper sprite because someone forgot to update his sprite definitions when the crossbow arrow/rocket sprite was changed. Ooops.

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  A Red Ninja throwing a first person Railgun sprite, hoping to use a post-ironic metaphor about first person games to kill the player.

Items

DELETE ME

Several items from previous prototypes, such as the old rocket ammo for the Riot Gun/Railgun, have been removed with their sprites replaced with a placeholder that says “DELETE ME” in red text.

Interestingly, one of the items deleted is the Uzi magazine item, but not the box of Uzi rounds item. It seems the developers replaced the box of ammo sprite with an Uzi magazine, then reduced the amount of ammo accordingly.

Shotgun Shell Box

The shotgun shells in the box of shotgun shells are now red to match the ones ejected from the Riot Gun. The box has been made lighter as well.

August 1996 prototype	June 27th, 1996 prototype

Environmental Suit

This prototype adds a new item, the Environmental Suit. This item protects the player from dangerous substances, such as lava, for around 60 seconds.

When the item is active, an icon of the items will be on the upper left-hand corner. It will begin to flash soon before it expires.

The sprite itself will blink in and out because it occupies a space for the white potion seen in previous prototypes, which did have an animation. Since the other frames no longer exist, the game will show nothing.

This item was removed from the final game, leaving the player with no way to protect himself against deadly liquids.

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  Environmental Suit in action.

Levels

The level $airport has received some touch-ups, but otherwise the levels are the same as they were in the previous prototype.