Planetfall 2 - cancelled Activision sequel from the mid-90s

[Infinitron]

Wow, I'd never heard of this. In the 90s, Activision attempted to make a sequel to the classic Infocom text adventure Planetfall. This was the era when they published the three graphical Zork sequels, trying to capitalize on the Myst fad of the time. Apparently there were a couple of versions of it. YouTube has two trailers:



In 2016, Agustin Cordes uploaded a prototype to the Internet Archive:



https://archive.org/details/planetfall-2-prototype

Planetfall 2 prototype
by Infocom

Don’t get your hopes up: this is a very early prototype from the cancelled sequel to Infocom’s classic text adventure. It’s barely playable, though it does provide an interesting look at how the game would have played with a realtime 3D engine. The prototype does introduce a puzzle (at least the only one I could find) and features voice acting as well as a pretty cool soundtrack tune. Judging by the puzzle, you were able to give orders to your robot companions similarly to how Infocom’s classic text adventures worked.
The prototype can be difficult to execute — I was only able to run this game on a pre-made Windows 95 VMWare machine with specific display drivers. The game has to be run in fullscreen as otherwise graphics look completely corrupt in window mode. When you launch the game, you are given the option to load one of three .SCP files (a seemingly proprietary level format), although only PAXTONRM.SCP works correctly; the rest will crash the loader.
VMWare is problematic for playing this prototype because it doesn’t give you the option to limit the CPU cycles. I recommend using a tool like CPU Killer compatible with Windows 95, or give Win95 on DOSBox a shot.
Interestingly, this ISO image has loads of assets in easily readable BMP format, many of which aren’t seen in the prototype. A sad coda to Infocom’s enduring legacy; we can only imagine what the final game would have been like.
* * *
And now, a bit of history about this piece: back in 2007, an alleged ex-employee from Activision was auctioning this CD on eBay. He couldn’t verify the contents of the disc, but many enthusiasts including myself still pledged hoping it was legit. My top bid was $40 (hey, it was a pretty decent sum at the time) but the CD was sold at a whooping $90. I wasn’t going to give up, so I contacted the seller who in turn put me in touch with the buyer. Turns out he was a nice guy who exchanged the same ISO I’m uploading right now for a physical soundtrack of Scratches and a signed copy of the game. It was a fairly good deal. This prototype brings back great memories.
It’s been almost ten years since that transaction happened, and I think the time has come to properly preserve this rare piece of software history. Enjoy!
Identifier planetfall-2-prototype
Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t3hx67t2g
Scanner Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1.6.3
Year 1995

And there was also a non-interactive demo released on a compilation CD in 1994: https://archive.org/details/Planetfall2FloydsNextThingDemo

This game is as obscure as hell. I found this very old post about it on the QT3 forums: https://forum.quartertothree.com/t/nice-dani-bunten-article-at-salon-com/2700/11

You wouldn't be the first. Activision has a few people that are holding on to their IPs for deal life because one day they are going to make a new game based on them. Planetfall is one that is near and dear to their hearts. In 95 Activision was working on "Planetfall: Floyd's Next Thing" and briefly in 2000 they kicked aound Planetfall again. All the while turning down more abled suitors. Ofcourse I don't think anyone who has asked to pay for the rights to do Planetfall game had deep pockets. That may of had more to do with it than anything else.

From a 1997 interview at Gamasutra with one Jeffrey Sullivan, who apparently made the transition from Myst clones to MMOs: https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131652/discussing_multiplayer_online_.php

Tell me, Jeff, what skills, interests or talents did you have when you started?

Bruce and I had been trying to break into screenwriting for several years; we had sold a script and done some rewrites, but the scripts had not been produced. We had also done some TV animation writing, and had a short film produced as part of an independent horror anthology film. So we'd met with limited success -- lots of A-list companies had met with us and told us we were very talented, but our feature film projects were not getting made.

During this time, we were working in the computer field to support ourselves: I was an AI programmer for a think tank (Information Sciences Institute) and Bruce was a database consultant. All along, we have been very avid gamers -- from card and board games up through paper role-playing games and computer games of all kinds. I had been playing a lot of games and reviewing CD-ROMs for a variety of magazines (CD-ROM World, Wired, MacWEEK, MacUser, etc.), and when MYST came out, my eyes were truly opened. For the first time, I saw an experience on CD-ROM that matched the quality of experience of a TV show or movie or book. This, to me, was more than just a fun game -- it was a mass-market quality entertainment experience. (Bruce had different opinions about MYST, but since he's not here, I get to present mine.) The long and short of it is that we figured "Hey, we've got three great backgrounds for this stuff (screenwriters, gamers, and techno-geeks), so let's do it."

We created a few original concepts, showed them to Activision here in L.A., and they didn't buy them. But they did like us, and a few months later, they brought us in to do a complete redesign of an espionage game then called "The Colby Project." It later became known as Spycraft: The Great Game, and has gone on to win many awards and tremendous critical acclaim. We moved on from there to start a design for Planetfall 2: The Other Side of Floyd (a graphical rebirth of a classic Infocom text adventure), but departed the project when our vision diverged from the producer's. At that point, we knew we wanted to have more creative control over projects, and on our next deal, for The Outer Limits Online, we signed on to write, design, and produce. We're still in production on that project, which is a massively multiplayer role-playing game based on a few of the episodes of the new science fiction TV show from Trilogy Entertainment.

What projects have you (Digital Arcana) already created?

We wrote and designed Spycraft for Activision, and did the initial design of Planetfall 2 (the project was canceled about a year after we departed), also for Activision. We also did a complete redesign on a FMV-based adventure game for a company on the east coast, but that will be uncredited. We are currently writing, designing, and producing The Outer Limits Online: Beyond Resurrection for MGM interactive. It's a massively multiplayer roleplaying game designed to appeal to the mass-market rather than just hard-core gamers. We have written and designed another massively multiplayer game based on the paper role-playing game Space: 1889. We licensed the rights from its creator, Frank Chadwick, who is well-known in the roleplaying game industry for his compelling game design. We're currently seeking a publishing deal for that. We have also designed an online sports game which we are currently in talks with investors to fund and develop internally. Finally, we have done some initial proposal work on several online multiplayer games for major studios which are currently being discussed.

A poster on the intfiction.org forums tried to sum things up and get more information a few years back, but got no response: https://www.intfiction.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15699

So, we all know there were two attempts by Activision to make a sequel to Planetfall/Stationfall.

So I engaged in a teeny bit of trivial pursuit regarding the first attempt here. Yeah, it's anoraky, but I thought why not share it.

And what I'm thinking of as a (promotional trailer) timeline is this:

1 - the non-interactive DOS demo. Infocom logo, original logo.
2 - the advert as seen on http://yois.if-legends.org/vault.php?id=957 - http://yois.if-legends.org/images/vault ... pfall2.jpg - Infocom logo, new Planetfall logo.
3 - this trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnek02h2fHw - Infocom logo now retired, game has same logo as 2.
4 - game mark 1 cancelled.

2 and 3 could well be either in the reverse order or at the same time, depending on what was going on at Activision at that point.

Anyone caring enough to chime in on this? Agree, disagree, think I should get a life, maybe supplie opinions and/or actual info about Planetfall 2 mk 1?

Cheers.

I bet you could dig up more information about this on Usenet archives.

 

[Infinitron]

Old ad for Planetfall 2 on an Infocom fan site: http://yois.if-legends.org/vault.php?id=957

Activision's infamous Planetfall game, better known as Planetfall 2: The Search for Floyd (yes, "Planetfall 2", even though Stationfall was already a sequel). It was never released, but here's the prototype cover. Some versions of either the Return to Zork or Zork Anthology CD-ROM (I forget which) have a demo of the actual game.

That's Activision's vision of Floyd hanging from your character's ankle. This is also listed as coming soon for "IBM and IBM CD-ROM". (Activision was really fighting the move to CD-only games, weren't they? Remember the billions and billions of disks that came with Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2 and the non-CD version of Return to Zork?)

Last I checked, Activision was still denying any knowledge of why the project was killed. Personally, I suspect the thing turned out a big bloated sucky mess like LGoP2 and Activision, rather than release another bomb, took the loss and quietly swept it under the rug, hoping we'd all forget. Steve Meretzky, you out there, bud? We'd appreciate hearing the Shocking True Story (TM).

And here's something weird - an academic paper about the game's AI scripting language from 1999, by Activision technical director Ian Lane Davis: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f2c5/290253048a7a0064ea1a447c5666edd98919.pdf

A Question of Character: Rules to Play by Ian Lane Davis, Technical Director

Almost every type of computer game has some sort of AI scripting language which enables level designers to script a story arc for a mission or game level and to provide personalities and individual responses to different characters in a game. And whether the "characters" in a game are 3D polygonal virtual actors the player explicitly interacts with or virtual generals who direct massive armies but are never themselves seen, the goal of the AI is to make the characters come to life. Many scripting languages in games have some serious problems in speed or ease of use. Thus, we created a character management system we call the CCA (Character Control Architecture) and an efficient and easy to use rules system we call the IIIE (Ian’s Improved Inference Engine) for an unshipped 3D action~adventure title, Planetfall 2: The Other Side of Floyd. The system was designed for maximal extensibility and flexibility, and currently we are using the CCA & IIIE for controlling the mission scripting and tactical ship Al for a 3D Real-Time Strategy game (RTS)

Introduction

Planetfall 2: The Other Side of Floyd was a 3D comical Action/Adventure game focussed around a hapless space traveler who had the misfortune to hook up with two dysfunctional robots named Floyd and Oliver. The original games that these characters came from (Plane(fall and Stationfall) were text-only games and the transition to a real-time 3D graphical game created AI challenges such as path planning in a 3D environment, inverse kinematics systems for motion planning, and strategic AI for the player’s foes. However, the biggest AI challenge was to create the logic and interaction with Floyd & Oliver, AI buddies who would be both part of the story and tools for the player. These robots were to follow the player around and perform a wide variety of tasks such as opening doors, fetching items, delaying enemies, and causing havoc. Towards this end, we created the CCA (Character Control Architecture) and the IIIE (Ian’s Improved Inference Engine).