Shinto was kind enough to get back to me and once again, AVP producer Purple Hampton gives a more detailed account than Jane Whittaker.
Retro Gamer magazine issue 57, page 30.
"In some instances what may have been a limitation turned into
an identifying feature in the game. So when we found that the
memory limitations weren't going to let us have a movie-like
symphonic score, we opted to go the other direction, and create
an eerie soundscape from the ambient space station noise. The
result added a lot of dramatic tension and captured the spooky
feeling of being alone – until a threatening Predator clicking sound
appeared nearby."
I'm really not sure what Whittaker is playing at, claiming lead coder status, never a Rebellion employee, game more an Atari product than a Rebellion one (Atari gave Rebellion the AVP Development contract), Mike Beaton flying home to UK to finish coding as homesick.
Purple states Mike stayed till the very end in the USA, giving up months of his life..
And now the variations on why no music.
Sadly Whittaker isn't alone, Kingsley Brothers have changed the story of how they became Jaguar developers, so many times, with the 2 different accounts now merging into one, they want to take credit for coming up with the 3 Seperate campaign ideas.
I'm used to a lot of ill feelings from development teams on big titles within the games industry, but AVP on Jaguar has been one of the worst ever to ry and get a true sense of what really went on.
Quote from: molasar on Apr 10, 2021, 05:28:16 PM
Quote from: lost dragon on Apr 10, 2021, 09:40:56 AM
Yet they found room to include those digitised photos of programming team holding up mugshot cards and other unused assets.
They are from one of prototype versions.
Also there is this "test theme" but I do not know if it was extracted from a ROM.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvZL_xDGrFY
I'm getting very confused what has and hasn't been found on what versions, with code been releases, then apparently no longer available.
Has anyone ever found evidence of this Easter Egg Jane Whittaker has referenced in interviews?
Early accounts had it chasing you, giving up, leaning against a wall and lighting up a cigarette, as it was knackered...
He changed that in his infamous Mastercast TV Interview Part One, to the Predator sitting down on a chair and drinking a pint of Newcastle Brown Ale, but tells Andrew Rosa, show host, code made it into retail version, is unlockable by a key press combo.
Whittaker has fabricated so much regarding Cyberdreams Dark Seed and Working with H. R GIGER, being digitized for main character (that was Mike Dawson), doing Amiga version graphics.. In reality whittaker never worked for Cyberdreams, just briefly play tested the Amiga whilst at Mirage
He's fabricated claims of various games whilst at Graftgold
Fabricated claims of involvement with Mike Singleton..
The Sam Tramiel AVP bonus story changes from account to account..
$20,000 cash?
$40,000 cash?
Keys to Sam's new sports car?
Sam's Daughters new sports car?
During AVP Development?
As a completion bonus?
At this stage this Predator Easter Egg sounds very, very suspect.
Quote from: SiL on Apr 10, 2021, 12:07:13 PM
Two meters might have been a simple error of someone trying to use metric, as two feet would be more accurate.
The wall climbing thing is weird at there would be no point in it regardless; all the rooms are boxes, as you say, so there's no actual benefit to bring sideways or upside down.
I'd be interested to hear what the answer is with the soundtrack. That sounds more like variations on a theme than lying - they wanted one, found there was no room, and decided to abandon it rather than try to fit it?
Also, developers using valuable resources for easter eggs rather than game content is hardly unique - ACM, released decades later, had a perfectly functioning donut easter egg even when the rest of the game was a buggy mess
🤣 I doubt ATARI had the best Q+A Department, they usually used errors as a basis to reject a game and delay payment to the external development teams, so many horror stories out there.
Lynx Wolfenstein was canned by John Romero as the Tramiel family first milestone payment was 3 months late.
I just can't get my head around Whittaker claiming Wall climbing Xenomorphs were dropped due to Cartridge space limitations, my understanding is due to way the game engine is built, box-like rooms as you say, you wouldn't have any benifit, nor would it be technically possible.
The Xenomorph path finding A. I itself had them getting stuck behind objects, when trying to reach you.
A most odd statement for Whittaker to make, as was the claim they weren't ALLOWED to show the Xenomorphs side-on.
The SNES, GB Activision 2D AVP games do just that.
Aliens by Electric Dreams and Activision on the C64 does just that.
Capcom's AVP has them side on..
SNES, MD etc Alien 3 have them side-on..