I'm split on what this could be. On one hand, it does seem pretty bizarre and isolated in multiple aspects.
However, Radical Sheep does hide a few things about themselves. There used to be a show I'm somewhat looking into by the name of Panda Bear Daycare that they produced that they never seem to mention. That being said, if we do get in touch with Radical Sheep, how can we be sure that they're telling the truth if they say there wasn't such a game in development? Hate to be like this, but it is a possibility.
I'm split on what this could be. On one hand, it does seem pretty bizarre and isolated in multiple aspects.
However, Radical Sheep does hide a few things about themselves. There used to be a show I'm somewhat looking into by the name of Panda Bear Daycare that they produced that they never seem to mention. That being said, if we do get in touch with Radical Sheep, how can we be sure that they're telling the truth if they say there wasn't such a game in development? Hate to be like this, but it is a possibility.
I think it's more likely that they simply wouldn't reply than outright lie about it. I think the bigger concern is, we don't know who would've been in charge of the videogame related work at Radical Sheep and perhaps it's unlikely whoever that was is still at the company all these years later.
If this is confirmed unofficial, it'd still be great to learn where these screenshots came from in reality.
Last Edit: May 16, 2018 6:22:57 GMT by tomysshadow
I'm split on what this could be. On one hand, it does seem pretty bizarre and isolated in multiple aspects.
However, Radical Sheep does hide a few things about themselves. There used to be a show I'm somewhat looking into by the name of Panda Bear Daycare that they produced that they never seem to mention. That being said, if we do get in touch with Radical Sheep, how can we be sure that they're telling the truth if they say there wasn't such a game in development? Hate to be like this, but it is a possibility.
They don't own Panda Bear Daycare, Picture Box Distribution does.
From the credits of the episode I posted online (sorry for the terrible quality):
It's very blurred, but it states here that the show is "A Radical Sheep Production".
They don't own the copyright to the program anymore, therefore, it can't be put on their website.
Basically, Radical Sheep still owns the copyright for it. Picture Box Distribution made a deal with Radical Sheep to distribute "The Big Comfy Couch", "Panda Bear Daycare", "Amigo and Me", and "Land O'Hands". Picture Box owned the distribution, not copyright. In 2016, Picture Box Distribution was bought by Sinking Ship Entertainment, and it folded into that company, so the distribution rights reverted back. At the same time, Radical Sheep Productions was bought by Boat Rocker Media. The copyright goes to Radical Sheep Productions, and it is distributed by Boat Rocker Media. Hope this clears things up.
They don't own the copyright to the program anymore, therefore, it can't be put on their website.
Basically, Radical Sheep still owns the copyright for it. Picture Box Distribution made a deal with Radical Sheep to distribute "The Big Comfy Couch", "Panda Bear Daycare", "Amigo and Me", and "Land O'Hands". Picture Box owned the distribution, not copyright. In 2016, Picture Box Distribution was bought by Sinking Ship Entertainment, and it folded into that company, so the distribution rights reverted back. At the same time, Radical Sheep Productions was bought by Boat Rocker Media. The copyright goes to Radical Sheep Productions, and it is distributed by Boat Rocker Media. Hope this clears things up.
Damn, what a mess. And this is one of the less complex licensing nightmares I've seen.
Something else I find odd is that Molly (the name of the doll in the title screen) isn't really...well, Molly.
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That doll there? I don't think it was ever used in the actual series. I double checked and looked through random episodes between four seasons, and it all seems to be the same doll here:
Why they would use a mock Molly rather than the real deal confuses me, even for a test build of the game.
I think they may have changed the Molly puppet when they started Alyssa's run as Loonette, but the one in that photo has a seam in the middle of her face and her hair is wrong. Maybe the photo was taken from an ad for the doll.
As for the other two images, each of them looks wrong in some way. In the first one, her legs are the same green as the ground. The background is probably meant to be Granny Garbonzo's garden, but it looks nothing like her garden at all! In the second one, the dust bunnies don't really look like themselves and the clock stretch room is very oddly proportioned. The mini-map appears to be overlayed with the clock rug for no reason. Overall, it seems like at the very best, it was a proof of concept. A troll seems much more likely.
Edit: regarding the fight image, I tweaked the colours. It clears some things up.
1) The arm closest to the camera is clipping into the body. The weird mouth could be caused by the same issue. 2. The dust bunnies DO have faces.
"Ok, so firstly I can tell you that this was 100% within the capability of the xbox classic.
The actual world textures are very low res, well below what the xbox 1 was capable of, bordering on N64 quality.
There is very little in the way of actual geometry in any of those screenshots.
So that leads us on to characters/actors.
Other than the player character, whom as a guess has the highest polygon count, those dust bunnies are the most complex mesh's seen.
Even then, they are on par for something like Halo 1. They are, however, using bump mapping/normal mapping on their textures.
Believe it or not, thats actually going to be this games biggest performance hit. That and the HDR lighting we can see in bcc-12.
Post processing like that was the largest perf-hit to the classic xbox, but its still within its realms definitely. Deus-ex: Invisible war did this, and even had full dynamic lighting, and although this absolutely murdered level size (especially compared to the 1st game), it had larger, more complex and better textured levels than whats being shown here.
Additionally the (in my opinion highly under-rated game) xbox game Brute Force had pre-baked lighting like this, in very large levels.
This is 100% inside the xbox classics power, and if they removed the post processing, im not kidding, I think the n64 has a fair shot of running this."
"Weekend? It's Monday already."
LMWF God: (noun) a person who posts a lot on this forum
I'm under the impression the clock rug in the second screenshot is not actually because it's the clock stretch room. I am guessing that is the animation when you run out of health because she is out of health in the screenshot and she's laying on the floor, and because she's laying on the floor it's like she's doing the clock stretch - like a small joke kind of thing. I could see it being like that.
Also, I suspect the mouth is only meant to be viewed from the front of her model which would explain why it's floating off her face.
BTW - here is the link to the quoted Reddit page for anyone looking: https://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmyjoystick/comments/8le1mf/xbox2000fakedo_you_recognize_these_assets/
Last Edit: May 23, 2018 8:00:07 GMT by tomysshadow
Finally got a reply from Unseen 64, this is what he said-
"I can confirm we received those images from a developer who wanted to remain anonymous (he used a random email), who also sent us some screenshots from another cancelled xbox game titled "Power Rangers Legacy". Unfortunately at the time I did not ask them which team was working on those games, i was a fool Maybe there's something more online that could be found.."
Maybe looking into the Power Rangers game could point us in a better direction.
Finally got a reply from Unseen 64, this is what he said-
"I can confirm we received those images from a developer who wanted to remain anonymous (he used a random email), who also sent us some screenshots from another cancelled xbox game titled "Power Rangers Legacy". Unfortunately at the time I did not ask them which team was working on those games, i was a fool Maybe there's something more online that could be found.."
Maybe looking into the Power Rangers game could point us in a better direction.
Power Rangers Legacy isn't on Unseen 64 yet, and nothing else is online.
"Weekend? It's Monday already."
LMWF God: (noun) a person who posts a lot on this forum
I thought of this thread the other day, and it made me think about where to take the search....which I'm kinda clueless about.
I'd really like to dive deeper into the mystery, but with the only info about the game coming from a long gone anonymous developer, there's not really a trail of anything to follow.
I did reach out to everyone that had a hand in the Unseen64 article, but they couldn't give me anything else and admitted they should have asked the guy for more info at the time.
I thought of this thread the other day, and it made me think about where to take the search....which I'm kinda clueless about.
I'd really like to dive deeper into the mystery, but with the only info about the game coming from a long gone anonymous developer, there's not really a trail of anything to follow.
I did reach out to everyone that had a hand in the Unseen64 article, but they couldn't give me anything else and admitted they should have asked the guy for more info at the time.
So any ideas on how to pick up the search?
It sucks that the other game they worked on is a Power Rangers one, since there's so much Power Rangers "stuff." If it was a lesser known series we maybe could've asked someone who worked on it if they knew about it, but with Power Rangers, I mean it could be anyone. That's a particularly odd detail though, I feel like there are enough specific details here for this to possibly be legitimate.
It would also make sense for a Power Rangers game to be a fighting game, given they recycled some code from it I suppose that's why we can see leftover fighting elements here. They might've just swapped some models out which is why the dust bunnies have blood, which would be an otherwise strange detail.
It's too bad because I feel like they must've acquired assets or rights from someone involved with Big Comfy Couch's production because where else would they get those images from... but we've already counted out contacting Radical Sheep as an option...
Do you think it would be worth pursuing trying to contact specific people from the show's production instead of going through Radical Sheep's contact form on their site? I'd at least like an explanation of where the photo of Loonette with the not-Molly doll comes from. Maybe her actor would know what that photo was intended for, if it was a promo image or... but I know she probably has a busy schedule
Last Edit: Jul 31, 2018 3:41:22 GMT by tomysshadow
For the record, if it helps regarding the Molly doll in the start screen photo, that is almost certainly a doll made for merchandising, if not a prototype, as I have a Molly [found at a Goodwill] that is almost identical outside of the smile. The start screen's smile is much more curved, where the Molly I purchased has a much more subtle smile.
So, to put it simply, that Molly on the start screen is almost definitely a prototype Molly of some sort. I can provide photos for comparison on request.