1989 Cinemaware
Platforms: Atari ST, Commodore 64, SEGA Mega Drive
A pretty famous Cinemaware title which was originally released on the Amiga and PC, but also had other versions planned that never saw the light of day. The Commodore 64 version we are already covering within the C64 archive, which has had mentions of being in development – but there is little evidence at this stage that anything was started.
For the Atari ST – ST Action mentioned in issue 11, 1990 that the game was coming soon for the platform, and may have showed a screenshot for that platform. It is very likely it could also just be a screen from the Amiga version.
Swedish magazine Datormagazin in 1989 also mentions both Atari ST and C64 versions and coming soon:
“The horror movies of the 50s will now appear as computer games. In “It came from the desert” we will get to experience giant insects which, in realistic 3D graphics, are trying to take over the world. Will be released for Amiga in July, with Atari ST and 64 versions later this autumn.”
So what happened to both of the conversions and how far did they get overall? The C64 we are still very unclear unfortunately. For the Atari ST version, thanks to Richard Hewison (who worked at Mirrorsoft at the time) we learn that it was to be a conversion from the PC version, written by Level 9 using their HUGE development system.
Sadly, when Cinemaware got into difficulties, this would result in a domino effect that then contributed to Level 9’s collapse. We’re not sure yet just how far any conversion had got and hope to learn more soon.
Then later in the early 1990s, a Sega Mega Drive version was in development, but with a different game design to make it more suited to console audiences, with more action sequences throughout. Sega-16.com features a brilliant interview with developer Matt Harmon that explains what happened.
According to Matt, the game was 99.99% complete and suggested that a fatal bug could have prevented its release. It is thought that EA also were looking to focus more on sports games and that could well have been a major contributing factor.
Eventually the game was distributed on the Cinemaware website in the early 2000’s, so thankfully we are able to see how the game should have been on the platform. Interestingly an extended cut version of the game was due to be released by WaterMelon in 2015, it has had no further updates since and is thought to be cancelled. More details on this soon hopefully.
With thanks to Anonymous Contributor for the suggestion of covering, Sega-16.com for information and Archive.org for the ST scan and Richard Hewison for information about the Atari ST edition.
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