Screenshots of Original Dark Forces Alpha Builds

[ATMachine]

While surfing around the Internet about a year ago, I came across a site on Angelfire (now sadly gone) which showcased six screenshots from early alpha builds of Dark Forces. Since the pictures are now gone I thought I'd post them here.

 

This picture shows an early HUD. The battery indicators are red instead of green and there is no "headlight is on" light. Also, there is no slot yet for "lives." Apparently the idea of getting several chances to play the level was introduced at a relatively late stage.

 

This picture shows some weird bluish lighting in the health and shield displays.

 

This picture shows a HUD that's almost like a mirror image. Notice that in this picture Kyle has 000 health! The game must be in some sort of "debug mode," otherwise he'd be dead.

 

This picture shows a map of an unused level in Kyle's PDA. This is rather complex to explain. The first level, where Kyle retrieves the Death Star plans, was originally set aboard a Star Destroyer. The team changed the design since it was felt to be too hard for an introductory level.

 

This image shows the HUD reversed again.

 

This picture shows an ammo count of 999! Even cheat codes can't raise it that high in the final game. This must be another case of the developers' "debug mode."

 

Click here for some similar pictures from Jedi Knight and Jedi Academy. They're neat too.

 

Also, I remember a long time ago when a forum member here posted a picture of the Macintosh port of Dark Forces with its 640x480 resolution. If he or she would permit me, I'd like to post that picture once again.

Much better-looking than the PC version.

 

Edit: Is there some prohibition on posting images in a post? I used the tag and it didn't work the same as it does on the Mixnmojo Forums.

[EnforcerSG]

That picture of the un-used map looks familiar, and I know why. It was on the original box! On the back of the original box to the game, I saw that map and played through the game again (when I first noticed it) trying to figure out where it belonged.

 

Some of the other shots may have been there too, I am not sure.

[SlicerDude]

Cool screenshots. It's amazing how much of a difference 640x480 makes.

 

I'd really like to see what that Star Destroyer level was like. I wonder if there's enough info on it to recreate it. Maybe there'll be a mapper who won't be tired of DF by the time this mod's finished. Or maybe I'll just have to create some free time and teach myself to map.

 

Interesting that they tried out the HUD with the sides switched, although I like it better the way it is in the final game. Also, in the shot where there's 999 ammo, the visual shield and health indicators appear to be empty even though the numeric ones indicate that they're not.

 

Looking at the forum rules at the bottom of the page, it appears that code is off for this specific forum. Now that I look at the options above the box where I'm typing my post, I'm thinking that perhaps they should disable the "IMG" button when it's not enabled on the forum.

[Stormtrooper X]

it says URL not found or something like that to me.

[ATMachine]

Ah. I took them down a while ago to save space on my web storage. If you want them back up, just give me a shout.

 

But basically all of the ones from Dark Forces that I wanted to showcase can be found at this site on DF-21.net and at this small page I threw up.

 

If you'd like to see the stuff I have for Jedi Knight, please ask.

[J_Bond]

I'd like to see the stuff you have for Jedi Knight.

[chris the cynic]

Does anyone know what happened to the star destroyer level? I know that it was never released, but was it deleted or is it still around somewhere like the infamous lost cut of Star Wars, well kept but out of reach.

[ATMachine]

J_Bond:

 

It took me a while, but I got the pictures up. Here, have a look at these pictures.

 

Chris, I don't think any copies of the official, original Star Destroyer level have been seen by anybody not in the Dark Forces development team at LucasArts about ten years ago.

 

As for unofficial Star Destroyer levels, there are several sites which allow you to download such levels. Check out The Admiral's Command Chamber and DF-21.net.

[SlicerDude]

I don't think that that's an alternate version of the Rail Detonator in the last JK picture; it's just missing the big spinny part. Note that you can see the ground through it. I wonder if in the final game there are models of the explosive charges "stored" inside the gun model, as seen in this screenshot. I guess I'd assume that that's the point of the picture, but I don't really know.

[J_Bond]

@ATMachine

Thank you very much. It was very interesting to see. The idea with the speeder bike level sounded promising. A pitty that it never made it to the final game.

[CortoCG]

The 999 boosted energy gauge is from a cheated Mac version of the game, where the cheats make the ammo infinite. The windows version doesn't have that particular cheat. If someone has the Mac version, the cheat is LAMAXOUT.