Chill Manor

Chill Manor
Developer: Capitol Multimedia Publisher: Simon & Schuster Interactive Platform: DOS Released in US: November 1996 This game has unused code. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has unused text. This game has a prototype article

To do: In particular... Does the Debug Mode actually work? The actual game files need to be checked for unused graphics, sounds, and so on.

After the humiliating defeat of her boyfriend, I.M. Meen, Ophelia Chill decides to take over the world by literally rewriting history through the Book of Ages. It's up to you to infiltrate her humble abode, Chill Manor, and stop Ophelia before her extreme time-meddling results in her and Meen ruling over Earth!

This title isn't as well-known as Animation Magic (who at this point was in ownership of Capitol Multimedia)'s other offerings due to its very low amount of cutscenes - it prefers to have Ophelia talk through monitor walls instead.

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Prototype Info

Unseen Graphics

gamescr.pcx	int_scr.pcx

Within the file RESINT.LAB are gamescr.pcx and int_scr.pcx, two files which contain the graphics for the game's HUD. The HUD contains a placeholder sprite for the player avatar, which is covered up by the finalized avatar graphics and different from the ones that can be chosen.

Unused	Used

The early avatar is a fusion of the first two agents, having Allison Barnes' face and Kevin Leonard's clothes. In addition, the palette for the early avatar is brighter than either finalized face.

Unused Music

Every Chill Manor level data file contains three Extended MIDI files; the level's theme, some battle music, and a third unused song that served a now-unknown purpose. A few songs are always in the third category and never play in-game;

M2D1	M2D4

M2D1 is a groovy tune meant for Level 11. M2D4 is its variant - featuring a new lead instrument in the song's first half - and is loaded with Level 12 and 13's assets.

M2D5 (unused)	BODY6/M2D3 (used)

Loaded in Level 14, M2D5 is an unused variant of BODY6/M2D3, the screeching track used in Levels 8 and 18. They're quite similar in instrumentation, though M2D5 lacks the random tempo speed-ups the used version has.

In addition, there's an unused copy of Level 12's regular music, titled BODY4. It's loaded with Levels 8, 15, and 16.

Cheat Leftovers?

Within CHILL.ini are several key binding entries that seem to be related to a debug/cheat mode:

ENTER_CHEAT             0x2e                    VB_C
KILL_ALL                0x3f                    VB_F5
RECHARGE_LIFE           0x40                    VB_F6
RECHARGE_MAGIC          0x41                    VB_F7

Pressing C doesn't seem to do anything in-game, however.

Unused Text

CHILL.exe Strings

RES021.LAB
RES022.LAB
RES023.LAB
RES024.LAB
RES025.LAB
RES026.LAB
RES027.LAB
RES028.LAB
RES029.LAB
RES030.LAB
RES031.LAB
RES032.LAB
RES033.LAB
RES034.LAB
RES035.LAB
RES036.LAB

The level list at 8A6CF is an exact copy of the list found in I.M. Meen's executable. As such, it contains entries for Levels 21 to 36, which do not exist in Chill Manor.

dummy

This string can be found with the rest of the item names. It's unknown if it can be added to your inventory with hacking or not.

win1.ani
win2.ani
win3.ani
win4.ani
win5.ani
win6.ani
win.pcx
lose1.ani
lose2.ani
lose.pcx

black.pcx
logo.ani
win.pcx
win1.ani
win2.ani
win3.ani
win4.ani
win5.ani
win6.ani
lose.pcx
lose1.ani
lose2.ani

These text strings at 8AB40 and 8D10C suggest that originally the game had 6 ending videos and 2 game over videos. The second one also lists logo.ani, which was the name of the Animation Magic logo cutscene from I.M. Meen.

CHILL.ini Entries

WEAPON_6                0x7                     VB_6
WEAPON_7                0x8                     VB_7
WEAPON_8                0x9                     VB_8
WEAPON_9                0x10                    VB_9

Nine weapon selection keys are defined in CHILL.ini, but since Chill Manor has only five weapons, the last four can never be unlocked and used.

SWITCH_TOOLPACKS        0x14                    VB_T
TOOL_LEFT               0x1a                    VB_COLON  
TOOL_RIGHT              0x1b                    VB_QUOTE 

The file also defines completely different key binds for the player's inventory. (Chill Manor uses [ and ] for inventory selection and Enter for item usage, as well as the mouse.)

TEST.scn

sc08
sc58
sc59
sc30
sc71
sc31
sc32
sc34
sc35
sc33
sc51
sc52
sc21
sc69
sc22
sc09
sc63
sc10
sc11
sc64
sc12
sc53
sc54
sc13

derlet8a.pcx
fidd5859.pcx
gina30.pcx
dark71.pcx
gina31.pcx
gina32.pcx
gog3435.pcx
hatma33a.pcx
hatma33b.pcx
isis51.pcx
isis52.pcx
yevet21a.pcx
yevet21b.pcx
dark69a.pcx
dark69b.pcx
rich.pcx
dark6364.pcx
dark63a.pcx
rich11.pcx
tas5354.pcx
tas53.pcx
anabel_a.pcx
anabel_b.pcx

TEST.SCN contains a list of cutscenes (and their respective backgrounds) from an unknown game. Given the multiple backgrounds labeled 'dark' in the second list, it's possible that the lists originate from John Dark: Psychic Eye, an unreleased DOS title by Animation Magic that was developed around the same time as I.M. Meen.

Development Spreadsheet

Download STRETCH.DIF File: Chill Manor-stretchdif.zip (47 KB) (info)

A spreadsheet stored in the .dif (Data Interchange Format) format can be found on the root directory of the game disc, named STRETCH.DIF. It appears to have been automatically generated from around when the game was compiled, as it contains a significant amount of file paths and functions for the game's source code.