Back of Stunts box features prototype screenshots

[dukeofurl]

I was looking at the back of my Stunts retail box today and noticed that basically every image on the back had some notable differences to how that image would look in the final game.  Here's a picture showing comparisons.

https://imgur.com/a/sqVoiwG


And while I'm at it, what's up with the jumps on the main menu having red ropes instead of purple ropes

[Cas]

  Yes, the ropes are even blue in the internal track editor!  In Bliss, I designed the graphics trying to make them similar to the 3D models, so the ropes are purple.

[Duplode]

The boxy walls are quite interesting, given that in the actual game bridge walls have a separate physical model from regular trackside objects and, in particular, have zero width.

[KyLiE]

I've noticed these differences before and discussed them with members of the community, but the version used to take the screenshots is still a mystery to me.

[Daniel3D]

I also believe they were beta version pictures. (I remember discussing it).
That would fit the time pressure situation in which the game was made.

- i think color to the rail was added to look better. (the Amiga version has fewer colors, and there they are still white.)
- the rail is also a lot lower, a 4th of the height in the game, opposed to the box picture.
- i think they became thin to save on resources. (thinner looks better, but to thin would not justify the extra resources needed)
- lastly, the replay and car selection screen have quite a crude design. That has improved a lot.

It took me a while to figure out the middle picture track. They are two helix pieces (cork u/d) but with it seems off somehow.

[dukeofurl]

I also thought the middle picture looks weird! There's a bunch of things that look weird to me about it but I can explain them away:

-There is a lot of track that is up in the air but there are no strut supports shown, so there is just a ton of track suspended in the sky! However these suspended track pieces seem to be an elevated curve and a spiral, and in the final game, neither of these track pieces have struts under them, so they would also appear suspended in the air.

-The grass is a similar light green to that used on the top of hills in the final game and the horizon almost seems to hit the grass before the elevated track pieces appear, suggesting that the elevated pieces are placed on lower ground near the hill. This makes it seem like the player car is on top of a hill and somehow the elevated turn and spiral are even higher than the hill without themselves resting on it (it feels like they are suspended twice as high as they should be).  However, I think the light green grass in this screenshot is just a color difference from taking the picture with a camera, and there is nothing to conclusively say that the player car is on top of a hill. I also think it is just camera angle and perspective that makes the elevated curve and spiral seem to be at a higher than normal elevation.

-It kind of looks like the elevated turn and the spiral are placed at a 45 degree angle to where the player car is, which wouldn't be possible with the track editor the final game has.  However, I think the player car is on one of those flat ground track pieces that takes up 4 terrain blocks and briefly goes at a 45 degree angle.


Regarding the boxy walls on the jumps in the proto screenshot, maybe the added polygons needed to do the boxes dipped performance too much so it was just an optimization choice to make them paper thin. On the other hand, that's probably not right, as when you place a straight track on the edge of a hill (so it is inclined), it has boxy guardrails on it.  I always thought it was interesting how you can drive right through those boxy guardrails without crashing, while hitting every other track piece that has a guardrail or wall will result in a crash.

[Cas]

I don't know why each change was made, but one thing is pretty clear to me and that is the reason why, whatever the difference is, there is a difference between the final game and the images in the box. In my opinion, the boxes were made at a certain point in preparation for the moment the game would be ready, in parallel with the development of the game itself, so these images probably show the unfinished game or an earlier version or even perhaps, the images were "made-up" by combining the rendering at that time with something that could approximate what the end result would be.

When the game was ready, it ended up being pretty different, but the boxes were already printed, so the images were not changed.

[dukeofurl]

Looks like the 4D Sports Driving box had screenshots that look like the final product.

https://images.launchbox-app.com/0ac96e24-796d-4142-b83f-2825cf913353.jpg

[Daniel3D]

I noticed that to. But the 4D edition was later published right?

I also found a nice advertisement..
Stunts: so far ahead, it's not even a race you'll still be playing it in 30 years

[Daniel3D]

I've recreated the screenshots as good as I could.
The used a red jaguar in the one,
and a greenish yellow Porsche Carrera in the others, as far as I can tell.

The track shots of the original back cover here with the track i created that contains all locations i've used.

[Daniel3D]

Here are the ones from 4D sports

[dukeofurl]

Cool! Nice job!  I downloaded your test track, I'll add it to my collection 

[Daniel3D]

Cool! Nice job!  I downloaded your test track, I'll add it to my collection 

I hope you like it. I didn't have driving it in mind when I made it.

[dukeofurl]

I just noticed online that the dos version of stunts had a release in Taiwan. The back of the box is the same outside of Chinese text where the description is, but the front seems to be entirely new.