Video of WIP versions of old LucasArts games!
 

Thanks to the staffers at World of Monkey Island, I stumbled across an old TV program in the Internet Archive. It happens to contain rare video footage of several old LucasArts adventures in early, unreleased form.

Below are some of the differences I've noticed from the finalized releases.

Here, for instance, are two stills from the opening sequence of the VGA version of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It features a sparkling Lucasfilm Games logo, an effect seen in the original EGA release, but not present in the finished 256-color upgrade.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...lecbtsvid1.png

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...lecbtsvid2.png

This animation was replaced by a pair of moving trains in the final VGA release, in an effort to incorporate content that was cut out of the 16-color version due to lack of disk space.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ldleclogo1.png
However, the sparkly Lucasfilm Games logo effect survives in the rolling demos on the FM-TOWNS releases of Last Crusade, Zak McKracken, and Loom.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...lecbtsvid3.png
The main title. The copyright notice is for 1989, not 1990 as in the finished product. Plus, the copyright symbol is shown as (c) rather than ©, and the last line is white by mistake.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...lecbtsvid4.png

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...lecbtsvid5.png
Originally the VGA version was to use bold text over the characters' heads, as seen in The Secret of Monkey Island and most other LucasArts games. This effect was ultimately discarded in favor of putting the text in the black border above the backgrounds, as in the EGA original.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...lecbtsvid6.png
The "LeChuck's Office" screen from Monkey Island 2, in its original painted form, being touched up by an artist.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...lecbtsvid9.png
The early Fate of Atlantis title screen, with a temporary copyright notice in a different font. Notice the year: FOA was released in 1992.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ecbtsvid10.png

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ecbtsvid11.png

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ecbtsvid12.png
Placeholder dialogue was still in the script for Kerner's introduction scene.

In this version Kerner doesn't ask what took Indy so long to find the statue, so we don't get the mention of the Nazi's dubious alias "Mr. Smith."

Finally... *drumroll* ... a VGA port of the disk version of Loom!

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...lecbtsvid7.png

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...lecbtsvid8.png
These two images from the game's intro have dialogue from the original floppy release, but the graphics match those of the later PC CD version. I guess company management thought the VGA floppy port wouldn't sell as well as a release with full voice acting.

So I was searching the Internet Archive for other old videos that might have LucasArts game stuff in them, and I found a video covering the 1993 CES expo.

Among the attractions shown was LucasArts' booth, where Day of the Tentacle was being previewed.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ottearlypc.png
The computer with DOTT. There's an odd inventory icon just visible: it's the human anatomy chart Laverne finds in Dr. Tentacle's office, which can't be picked up in the final game.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../dottscan1.png
The same point in the game, and same extraneous chart, seen in a scan from Adventurer #5.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...arlyintro5.png

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...arlyintro1.png
The DOTT intro. The bird in the foreground is grinning stupidly at the camera, an animation not used in the final game.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...arlyintro2.png

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...arlyintro3.png

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...arlyintro4.png

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...arlyintro6.png
The bird, overcome by the pollution of the Sludge-O-Matic, collapses and dies.

Notice the right side of the screen, with the fungus-encrusted tree and bird nest. That part of the background was removed in the finished game, and the bird's death animation plays out farther to the left.

The Internet Archive also has some DVD-quality versions of the video: I downloaded them and took screenshots, but haven't posted them here out of courtesy for dial-up users.

Would it be possible to get the human chart via debug menu?

Can't, sorry. They took it out of the inventory image files entirely: I checked.

Of course, given a reasonably-sized scan of the original (which I have) and the knowledge that it uses the same palette as the tentacle chart icon, you could redraw it from scratch if you really wanted to.

Sooo cool! Love it. Especially the DOTT foreground tree shots!!

Did you see this?

http://www.archive.org/details/012360

I found that earlier this evening. Nice shots of the Sega CD MI1.

I saw in the ad that the early builds of the Sega CD version used the mouse cursor to select the dialogue lines, as in the PC releases. It would seem playtesters found this too cumbersome to do with a joystick, and the conversation trees were later changed to work by using gamepad buttons to scroll through responses instead. (Plus, the highlighted dialog choices were originally white instead of the final yellow.)

Also, check out that prototype box shown at the end. Solid cardboard and unnecessarily big, just like the good old adventure game boxes. The finished Sega CD version was instead released with a small, thin paper sleeve enclosing a tiny box. A disappointment for collectors, especially as most of the sleeves got very badly worn very quickly.

On another note, more Loom geekery:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...mcdmanual2.png
This is a photo of the scene with Fleece and the lamb from the Loom PC CD manual.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...dpicsmall1.png
The scene as it actually appears on the PC CD. Fleece's head has been redrawn, as well as the picture of the lamb in the bottom right.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...yvgasmall1.png
I managed to recreate the original screenshot, using the FM-TOWNS and EGA floppy versions for reference.

Fleece originally had blue eyes, but they were changed to green for the final PC CD release.

Have another question about DOTT. Is the debug password "Swordfish" located anywhere in the game text, and if so, in what room?

I can't say offhand, but probably not. It's more likely a reference to the Marx Brothers.