Startopia

Startopia
Developer: Mucky Foot Productions Publisher: Eidos Interactive Platform: Windows Released internationally: June 15, 2001 This game has unused areas. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused text.

Your old pal Arona says that Startopia has unused content that fell off the back of a transport.

Unused Areas

Mission 1 - The Groulien Workers Party

This, glistening before you like a jewel, is the Groulien Waystation. This first mission has Copy of mish01.txt in the mission folder, containing a prior but functional version of the mission.

The previous version of the mission has the following differences from the main version:

• The stationmaster doesn't passively receive energy from peep happiness, as it doesn't include peepenergy00.txt.
• The stationmaster doesn't automatically lose the mission by demolishing the energy collector and running out of energy.
• Upon receiving the first two scuzzers and port hardplan, the camera is centered on the three crates. The official version instead has the camera offset to encourage the player building on empty terrain.
• After getting the objective to hire four residents, Arona arrives ~8 seconds sooner.
• Arona is no longer restricted from offering replacement scuzzers after the mission is won. However, his speech is broken saying "lev01_aronascuzzer01." instead of his correct line.
• Arona's "supervisors come and go" speech has the stellar icon rather than the arona icon, due to the speech arguments being in the wrong order.
• Messages for hiring the gray doctor are swapped. The initial message says to make hiring one a priority, and the objective message.
• The messages for demolishing or rotting a facility don't function, although the trigger itself is fine.
• The port rotting trigger moves the camera.
• The messages for losing all scuzzer droids is missing, because it tries referencing the text in Mission 01 rather than Mission 03.
• Various triggers (including one listed above) don't activate if the mission is won or lost.
• All win/lose triggers activate after the associated text is given in-mission, rather than displaying the text at the end-mission screen.

Mission 2 - The Gray Council

Similar to the previous mission, Copy of mish02.txt is a prior version of the mission.

This unused verison has the following changes, overall making things more difficult:

• The lose condition is to have 10 peeps die rather than more than 10.
• No passive energy gain from happiness, nor automatic loss from energy collector removal.
• Lamp, clock and screen aren't auto-discovered.
• Stage 2 (where patients start looking for rest, recuperation) starts when 7 or more are cured, rather then 9.
• The sick peeps arrive more frequently (every ~200 second rather than ~250). On stage 1, they have lower vitality (500 + rnd%2000, compared to three of them having 2000+rnd%1000). On stage 2, they have slightly more vitality (500+rnd%2000 vs 500+rnd%1000 or 500+rnd%1500).
• Some text is hardcoded into the mission file, rather than being in the localized text file.
• Reminders on adding doctors appear in the left-hand message queue rather than being a status message at the bottom.
• The triggered emergencies automatically activate. You don't have a choice of ignoring them, and they may be missed if you lack a comstation.
  • The mining casualties have less vitality (-1000 each).
  • The eight suffering from food poisoning have more vitality (2000+rnd%4000 vs 2000+rnd%2000).
  • The contagious disease, exploding disease and radiation poisoning all have more vitality in their patients (2000+rnd%3000 vs 2000+rnd%2000).
• Health inspectors:
  • May come earlier, activating when two patients are cured (compared to 5).
  • Rely on fixed amounts of litter rather than applying a quota per segment.
• Arona only stays for 30 seconds rather than 60.
• Solar flares:
  • Don't require the comsensor.
  • Appear at random intervals rather than being based on how many residents you cured.
  • Provide half the amount of energy.
• Victory text is shown in-mission rather than post-mission: "TEMPTEXT Congratulations. You've completed the level. Hurrah!"

There are a few commented out sections in the older mission file, some of which using the same labels that appear live:

• When Stage 2 activates, entries :intro100, :intro200 display some unassociated reference text, while :peeps150 and :peeps200 adjust the rate at which peeps enter the station. Risk of race condition in the latter two functions. :techcrates100 and :techcrates200 would have placed the necessary crates, but this is handled by :intro200 and :intro300. :sirens100 makes a comment if you have low energy and enough buildings. :sirens110 and :sirens120 are duplicates of live code.
• The commented out win conditions required 6 or more star motels, 2 general stores, 2 music shops, and 50000 energy.
• Tourists were scheduled to appear once you built a star motel.

Unused Text

Pressing F1 gives context-sensitive help from <path-to-game>\text\English\handbook.txt.

The oroflex has two entries, because its internal name is "orophux" rather than the displayed name "oroflex":

// Er... the game doesn't call them oroflexes.

Oroflex: This is plant/creature hybrid which enfolds any being in gentle, caressing pseudopods, including the insertion of one to the customer's mind, and provides a mental and physical session of sensation and enjoyment. Oroflexes are extremely difficult to mate in captivity, producing infrequent seedpods, and are therefore highly prized and rare. They are often bought and sold at huge prices.

// This is what it's really called.

Orophux: This is plant/creature hybrid which enfolds any being in gentle, caressing pseudopods, including the insertion of one to the customer's mind, and provides a mental and physical session of sensation and enjoyment. Oroflexes are extremely difficult to mate in captivity, producing infrequent seedpods, and are therefore highly prized and rare. They are often bought and sold at huge prices.

Likewise, the factory is named "workshop" in the code:

// The game doesn't call them this:

//factory: Installed Groulien Factories enable a Station to construct goods from raw energy. Compact and ingeniously-designed, each Factory is staffed by up to four Salt Hogs, who are the only beings capable of working in them.

// ...it calls them this.

Workshop: Installed Groulien Factories enable a Station to construct goods from raw energy. Compact and ingeniously-designed, each Factory is staffed by up to four Salt Hogs, who are the only beings capable of working in them.

Something about a Gyro.

// Not used.

Gyro: Gyro.

Mission names in text/English/FrontEnd.txt indicate support for additional missions and tutorials:

Mish11: Mission 11 - Test Mission

Mish12: Wayne testbed 2 Mish13: Wayne testbed 3

TMish5: Tutorial 6 TMish6: Tutorial 7 TMish7: Tutorial 8 TMish8: Tutorial 9 TMish9: Tutorial 10

Development Text

In general, there's comments next to various English text, explaining certain Sci-fi terminology, scattered in the various text\English\*.txt files.

Handbook.txt has // WAYNE! FIXME! in one line. There are three blank lines towards the previous entry (lovenest), and one blank line ahead to the next entry (lift), but as both choices seem to work fine.