From what I understand the source for this game was found on a Atari Test Department computer that was purchasaed, possibly one of the several we saw go for sale over the past year.
Apparently it was produced between 1993 and 1995 and was never picked up just because Atari decided to focus on the Jaguar, but would have been released if they continued to fully support the Lynx.
The game was very close to completion. All of the tilesets are finished, all that is left is to create a boss for each world after the first and generate new levels with the existing tileset. A note to the producer (found in-game) suggested this could be done in as little as a month. Apparently most of Lore Design games shared a very flexible engine (Kung Food, Fat Bobby), which this game also used.
Unfortunately, neither of the original developers still have any code, dev hardware or protos of this game but still have their Atari Lynx consoles and were happy to see this found.
This release was done with the permission of the authors too and considering it was an original property created by a small company, it was a little more straightforward than many protos found.
Buddybuddies and I are happy to announce the upcoming licensed Lynx title Hotdog! Hotdog is a fully playable platformer that is scheduled for release before the end of the year (around the 14th if everything works out).
This is a demo sent to Purple Hampton for review, and contains 8 levels, several bonus rounds, and a boss encounter- all spanning accross 6 distinct worlds (Cheese, Aqua, Ice, Palm and Factory; plus a hidden castle level). It was designed and programmed between 1993 – 1995 by Paul Johnson using an engine created by Steve Mitchell (Lore Designs).
Similar to Poker, this will be fully packaged in a clamshell with custom foam and a double sided insert and vinyl label. We are also going to be using custom blue boards that use small PLCC chips.
Big thanks to everyone involved, credits on this release are as follows:
Paul Johnson – Individual level scripting, art and design. Permission to distribute
Steve Mitchell- High level macro code. Permission to distribute.
Tim Harper- Music and sound
Willard*- Packaging and printing, released by.
Buddybuddies*- Released by.
Lynxman- PCB design and production, soldering.
Sage*- Beta Phase Games logo replacement.
Distributed under exclusive worldwide license by Beta Phase Games LLC.
*Actual names will be credited in the manual
Special thanks to Thunderbird for coordinating extra soldering in case there is a additional demand past the first batch.
Looks to have a price of about $35.00 and intended for an initial run of 75 copies.
For more info, there are announcement threads on JaguarSector and AtariAge.
