Now for something we wouldn’t normally focus on, but in this case, we are looking at a particular title which was to be commercial.
With Project Argus, we were looking at a very ambitious SEUCK effort from Alf Yngve which was being developed for Psytronik Software back in 1994.
Apart from the usual enhancements which we have been used to with Twin Tigers, Archetype, Cops 3 etc… Project Argus was a multi-part SEUCK game with about 6-7 parts in total, full introduction and also full end sequences. All coded in SEUCK, and all featuring various tricks by Alf. The game would have been enhanced with title screens, music, password system, power-ups and intro linked pictures etc. It would have been like no other SEUCK title. All these enhancements were to be done by none other than Jon Wells, with music by himself and Feekzoid.
The game essentially follows a story which Alf wrote, which you can find a link to above. The game itself featured storyline dialogue in various places and was very close to the story written by Alf.
So what happened?… Well, we were greeted with Archetype and Cops 3, The SEUDS collection and other titles… But sadly Psytronik didn’t get the success it should have. Along with Visualize, support was quite low for C64 software around that time, and low sales made it hard effort to produce more software.
Eventually, The Last Amazon and Cosmic Combat (both mentioned with Project Argus and Psykozone) were tarted up slightly and popped on the Commodore Zone covermount. P.A and Psykozone were slightly more ambitous titles to enhance, and sadly got forgotten about.
Recently, Jason Mackenzie was asked about Project Argus and Pskyozone, and Jason replied by supplying GTW with the full remains of both games!… With full permission from Mr Yngve himself to distribute them for the first time.
We have actually held off the release for a few months, because GTW has been busy arranging enhancements to Project Argus (and Psykozone!) in the way they were originally intended to be.
Now it is fully complete, and GTW is proud to present Project Argus for the first time to fans of Alf’s work. It was felt better to wait until they were enhanced before letting the game out and hopefully you’ll all agree the same.
Although not as fully enhanced as would have hoped… with powerups and multiload features missing… Richard Bayliss has done a very good job and has managed to bring hopefully a good majority of Alf’s dream to reality. Maybe in the near future the Multiload and Powerup features can be implemented by someone?
The game comes with a special Intro picture which Kenz created, all linked to the first part. There is also a special music demo by Richard, which features a recently uncovered tune by Jon Wells which is what was intented as the end tune…sadly we couldn’t fit it in. But you can check it out, or download it as part of the Music download. It is an extension of the Project Argus End tune from HVSC, with an extra long intro part.
Added is a special Creator Speaks page, with Alf himself talking about the game and its plans. Links are also available to the story which relates to the game. The disk label can also be found here which Kenz specially produced when digging out the game.
Recently in 2011, Onslaught took the game and compressed it down to a single disk side. Well worth checking out thanks to the great work by Slator! (Which we’ve included now in the download)
Overall its one of Alf’s biggest and best C64 titles, and if like me, you are a fan of Alf’s work… you won’t mind the fact that its all made in SEUCK. It’s ambitious, and its fun… Hopefully you’ll enjoy what Alf wanted you to enjoy…
Case closed!
Contributions: Jason Mackenzie, Alf Yngve, Richard Bayliss, Andrew Fisher, Slator, Jazzcat
Supporting content
Available downloads
- Music_ProjectArgus.zip (zip)
- Game_ProjectArgus.zip (zip)
Gallery
Creator speaks
Alf Yngve speaks about work on Project Argus...
1. THE ARGUS PROJECT began sometime around 1990/1991, when a friend and I wanted to make a shoot'em-up game for the Amiga, then titled "Argus". I drew lots of sprites and design sketches on the Amiga, but the game was never completed.
2. Then I started to plan a comic strip/graphic novel based on the game-design, and the plot was fleshed out (see sketches). That comic also came to nothing - do you notice a pattern here?
3. In the 1990s I got in touch with Kenz and Jon Wells. Jon did some nifty enhancements of my SEUCK-produced game TWIN TIGER (covermount game in the mag COMMODORE FORMAT). I got the *completely insane* idea of making an ARGUS PROJECT game for the C64... using the SEUCK utility since I couldn't really code, and Jon Wells would tie together the separate levels into a grand multi-load whole. I made several actual game levels, most of them playable as separate SEUCK games, but it ended there.
4. Finally, in the year 2000, I wrote the novel THE ARGUS PROJECT. It contained the original game and comic-book designs, almost to the letter, and was posted as a web-serial on my homepage. (The novel is being revised and re-serialized in 2004-2005.)
I still believe. One day, there shall be an amazing ARGUS PROJECT game...or maybe not. Enjoy the little bits... ;-)
And here are scanned concept sketches for the comic-book version which also never was:
And a free ARGUS PROJECT wallpaper:
Feel free to use the cover pic for the web novel.
Cheers,
Alf Yngve .
