ATMachine Posted September 20, 2003 Share Posted September 20, 2003 This is not a thread to debate the merits of Loom. Rather, it shows off a piece of vandalism in the game itself. In the PC CD version of Loom, there are several 256 color close-ups of the characters. These are not used in the game, but they exist nonetheless. One of them, that of Elder Atropos, has had a secret message added to it. Here is a picture of the close-up in question: It's very hard to see because it's printed in dark gray on black, but it is there. Here I've recolored it in red: Yes! Some disgruntled LEC graphic artist wrote "Loom Sucks" in Elder Atropos' face! Apparently, the game was an object of scorn even within LucasArts itself. I'd like to say that I did not add this message. I'm not trying to fake anything here. I also personally love Loom, and I can't fathom why anyone would want to add this silly message. But there it is. By the way, if any websites are using this picture on a page of "Characters in Loom," I advise them either to edit the picture to remove the graffiti or replace it with this one from the FM Towns version, which has no such graffiti. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HenryJonesJr. Posted September 20, 2003 Share Posted September 20, 2003 hmmmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinkie Posted September 20, 2003 Share Posted September 20, 2003 Funny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drigo Zoxx Posted September 20, 2003 Share Posted September 20, 2003 Are you sure you got it from an original Loom CD? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATMachine Posted September 20, 2003 Author Share Posted September 20, 2003 Yes, I'm quite sure. On this Loom fanpage and this one as well, there are closeups displayed of the characters. The ones of Atropos in both places also have the "Loom Sucks!" message hidden in them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owl Posted September 20, 2003 Share Posted September 20, 2003 How did you find that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drigo Zoxx Posted September 20, 2003 Share Posted September 20, 2003 Personally, I do not own Loom 256 CD version, but can anyone on this forum who owns an original copy of this game's cd confirm this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted September 20, 2003 Share Posted September 20, 2003 Wow! It's very easy to hide messages like that in pictures. In anything no more than a 256 color picture you can hide messages in black on black that will never be seen by anyone unless they alter the color of one of the backs. I've seen it before but never in a commerical game. Wow! Well spotted!! To think it's taken over 10 years for that little message to appear! ~ John BTW - I don't know of anyone with the technical skills required to alter graphics WITHIN a old LEC game. Confirming it from the "original CD" seems rather pointless to me. One question though: Which came out first: The FM Towns version or the PC 256 color version? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted September 20, 2003 Share Posted September 20, 2003 Just checked: That picture isn't even seen in the LOOM PCCD version!?!?!?! Methinks we are being hoaxed Ever notice that Cob is called "Cobb" in MI? ~ John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATMachine Posted September 20, 2003 Author Share Posted September 20, 2003 There is no hoax here. The background in question is not in the Loom CD gameplay, but it does exist in the Loom CD resource files. Don't believe me? Use ScummVM to start Loom CD, press Shift and ~ when the intro ends, and type "room 54" in the debugger. You'll see the room. The fact that the background is not in normal gameplay means that this message was very easily able to remain undiscovered. The black on black of the text means that even when the closeups were found, the message was not noticed. That's how it's remained hidden for over ten years! BTW, the FM Towns version came before the PC CD, and it's just like the disk version, only in 256 colors with CD music (no voice). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drigo Zoxx Posted September 20, 2003 Share Posted September 20, 2003 'just curios, how did you found out this secret mess? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATMachine Posted September 21, 2003 Author Share Posted September 21, 2003 I had a picture file saved to my HD of this closeup at 2x this size. I happened to look at it a little more closely than normal, and suddenly the message jumped out at me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drigo Zoxx Posted September 21, 2003 Share Posted September 21, 2003 I bet it would have been noticed easily if programmers used that cu in the game... when you draw it in full screen mode to 2x the LOOM SUCKS writing, all in capital letters, is quite big. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omer Mor Posted September 22, 2003 Share Posted September 22, 2003 I just checked this cool easter egg: I opened loom cd, jumped to room 54, viewed in full screen, and... couldn't see nothing! so I took a screenshot, opened it in microsoft's photo editor, added lots of gamma correction, and - voila! "LOOM SUCKS!" in all it's glory! unbelievable... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 Wow, so it was added by someone converting the FMTowns version to the PC? Well who knows why they did it, they were probably very pissed off though Check the credits and search for an email... that's how I found the guy who put a secret message in the MI Amiga game icon. He was very nice too! ~ John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omer Mor Posted September 23, 2003 Share Posted September 23, 2003 Can you tell what was that secret message, and what did the man tell you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Savage Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 Okay, I just opened up my original Loom CD and screen captured room 54 in SCUMMVM in my powerbook. I tried to apply a lot of gamma correction to Atropos and even did a red colour fill on his face. No message. Either there are two versions of the game or .... (the next part of the message was self banned) The different version theory is valid because my Original Version is quite different from the other ones I have seen on ebay. In particular my CD was pressed by Creative Labs and not Software Toolworks/Mindscape. For example, my original Monkey Island CD was pressed by Software Toolworks. Creative Labs also appears to have screwed up the batch that my Loom came from since the CD is silkscreened as being the Audio Drama Disc and not the Game Disc. Any more thoughts on the subject? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omer Mor Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 your version sounds interesting. i can assure you that this easter egg is not a hoax. did you see the difference in the pictures between the pc cd version and the fm towns version? can you tell what your version looks like? sounds like your version is extremely rare... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 I too have just checked it... it sure is there! Was that picture ever used in the FM Towns version or was it hidden too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainDread Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 Originally posted by ThunderPeel2001 I too have just checked it... it sure is there! Was that picture ever used in the FM Towns version or was it hidden too? The FM-Towns version was a 256 color update of the floppy version, so all scenes are present. The 256 color PC version cut some scenes in order to fit with the game's dialog, which was changed from the floppy version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omer Mor Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 the fm towns version had the pictures, and there's even a link to a screenshot in the end of the first post on this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Savage Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 Originally posted by Omer Mor your version sounds interesting. i can assure you that this easter egg is not a hoax. did you see the difference in the pictures between the pc cd version and the fm towns version? can you tell what your version looks like? sounds like your version is extremely rare... I didn't mean to imply that this was a hoax. I wish I had web space right now so I could post my capture to the boards. I have seen the screen captures for both the FM Towns and other PC CD versions. My PC CD version looks almost exactly like the other PC CD one. I say almost since, of course, mine does not have the hidden graffiti. The background has the same purple gradient, etc... On a somewhat related note, I remember reading a long time ago (back around the time that the original LOOM PC CD was released) that the reason that the close-ups were removed was that the programmers and artists couldn't figure out a way to consistently sychronize the facial movements to the audio without it looking like a badly dubbed movie and they didn't want a static nonmoving head on the close-ups so, they cut them out. The Atropos message could be from one of the frustrated artists that worked on the synch problem only to be told to forget about it. My guess would be that my version was a later version that was corrected before it was duplicated by Creative Labs. And since Creative Labs only pressed CDs that it bundled with their CD ROM kits the distribution of my version of the CD could be quite limited. Based on the time frame the CD Kit would have been one of the original 150kb/sec CD ROM (single speed) kits which definitely did not sell as well as the later kits. I remember the sales of the 300kb/sec (double speed) was when the sales really picked up for those kits. I bought one of those when they first came out and they came with Creative Labs pressed copies of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Rebel Assault. No sign of poor old Loom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talya Posted September 26, 2003 Share Posted September 26, 2003 Don't get me wrong, I totally believe this entirely, but the original picture Atmachine attached w/o the red coloring, well, I copied it over to PSP, and decreased the colors on several different levels, all of which on the area where there should be a different hex color for the text it was just 000000, or, black. Maybe I did something wrong *most probable* Blah, just wanted to see for myself -Sunday- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drigo Zoxx Posted September 26, 2003 Share Posted September 26, 2003 Originally posted by Talya Don't get me wrong, I totally believe this entirely, but the original picture Atmachine attached w/o the red coloring, well, I copied it over to PSP, and decreased the colors on several different levels, all of which on the area where there should be a different hex color for the text it was just 000000, or, black. Maybe I did something wrong *most probable* Blah, just wanted to see for myself -Sunday- The picture ATMachine attached is jpeg compressed and is low quality, so you can't reveal anything from that. You'll have to try that on the original uncompressed picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Savage Posted September 26, 2003 Share Posted September 26, 2003 Originally posted by Drigo Zoxx The picture ATMachine attached is jpeg compressed and is low quality, so you can't reveal anything from that. You'll have to try that on the original uncompressed picture. Good point Drigo. Here is a somewhat unconventional way to see the hidden message in ATMachine's unhighlighted picture. I'm working on some printers at work today and found that if you have access to a good quality grayscale printer like an HP LaserJet 4000 or 8000 you can just print it out and the printer will do it's magic. For some models you might have adjust the toner density to increase the contrast between the two shades. It's a Friday and I just found out I have to work tonight! Sucks to be me! Message to Drigo: "I am your father" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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