Fate - The Unreleased Capstone Game

[Impie]

 

I thought this demo was great when I was younger and got it from one of the countless software demo disks of the era. It still makes me sad that this game was never finished before it became abandonware. I loved that I got to play as a martial arts space monk, and had the option to use my brain or my brawn to escape my cell in the beginning: bash down the door or sneak out through the air vents. This was really the first time I truly enjoyed a Capstone game.

 

Share your thoughts about the demo, and the game that never was. Also, if anyone knows where to get the demo again, please share links. All the usual abandonware sites don't seem to have it anymore.

[CARRiON]

I know where to get the demo but I'm not sure if the mods want me to post links to an abandonware site? So unless one says it's okay I'll just PM the link to anyone that wants it. ^{(It's also a really badass abandonware site with full ISOs and doesn't require a fucking sign up process. I use it to grab games that aren't sold anywhere. They also have a partnership with GOG so don't feel too uneasy about them.)}

 

As for the game itself, I recall it being pretty average. Which is saying something for a Capstone game. They seemed to be a company that had potential and lots of cool ideas but never were able to execute them well at all. I dare say things like TekWar were even ahead of its time. I'm sure the company had passionate people though. Oh well.

[MFG38]

Eh, it looks kinda awkward to play...

 

Interesting seeing this, though. The only Fate game I knew prior to this was a Diablo-style RPG title with the same name. I love discovering obscure games, no matter whether they're hidden gems or not.

[Impie]

1 hour ago, CARRiON said:

[Capstone] seemed to be a company that had potential and lots of cool ideas but never were able to execute them well at all.

That describes Capstone to a tee. They had a lot of good ideas and just lacked the nuance to execute them.

[Teivman]

I loved the demo of this game! and to think that it was made by the same guys who made ObC Blew my mind!  :Heres a thread on the Duke4 fourms with demos of build engine games. You'll find the demo here, Along with some other oddities:https://forums.duke4.net/topic/5440-demo-versions-of-build-games/

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

Was it actually a Capstone game though?  I used to think so as well, but I seem to recall coming across a mention somewhere that while it was going to be published by Intracorp (the parent company to Capstone) it was made by a different team.

[Impie]

8 hours ago, ETTiNGRiNDER said:

Was it actually a Capstone game though?  I used to think so as well, but I seem to recall coming across a mention somewhere that while it was going to be published by Intracorp (the parent company to Capstone) it was made by a different team.

I'm pretty sure it was. They might've been developing it for Intracorp.

[MrFlibble]

On 27.01.2018 at 0:33 PM, CARRiON said:

I know where to get the demo but I'm not sure if the mods want me to post links to an abandonware site? So unless one says it's okay I'll just PM the link to anyone that wants it. ^{(It's also a really badass abandonware site with full ISOs and doesn't require a fucking sign up process. I use it to grab games that aren't sold anywhere. They also have a partnership with GOG so don't feel too uneasy about them.)}

The demo is perfectly legal to distribute, get it from the archived copy of Gamesmania Demo Depot. Also, here's an archived copy of the official page of the game.

[[McD] James]

I don't know this game, but Operation Body Count is legitimately the worst first person shooter I've ever played, with Corridor 7 not far behind it.

Edited January 28, 2018 by Ajora

[40oz]

I like those pixelated point source lights. I wish Doom had something like that.

[Impie]

7 hours ago, Ajora said:

I don't know this game, but Operation Body Count is legitimately the worst first person shooter I've ever played, with Corridor 7 not far behind it.

Try Nerves of Steel. It makes those games look like masterpieces.

[[McD] James]

32 minutes ago, Impie said:

Try Nerves of Steel. It makes those games look like masterpieces.

 

Never heard of that game before. It's always kind of a pleasant surprise to find out about a 90s FPS game that I didn't know existed. 

 

I'd be more interested in trying out your remake of Operation Body Count, which looks unironically looks like a lot of fun. I wouldn't mind seeing TekWar get a similar treatment, as I really love the look and style of the game, but wow did it ever play horribly. 

[Impie]

31 minutes ago, Ajora said:

I wouldn't mind seeing TekWar get a similar treatment, as I really love the look and style of the game, but wow did it ever play horribly. 

I kinda liked the show Tekwar honestly. Cheesy sci-fi fun, and Shatner was in it!

 

Hope you give OBC a shot in the near future. The next bad FPS i'm rebooting is Angst: Rahz's Revenge, another godawful one you may or may never have heard of. I'm kinda looking forward to it 'cos it'll give me a chance to go back to old school Doom map design.

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

I never understood the hate for Corridor 7.  It's probably my favorite Wolf-alike (especially if we consider Rise of the Triad as not falling entirely within that category).  I certainly enjoy it a hell of a lot more than Blake Stone despite that often being brought up as some sort of cult classic or something.  I suppose partly it had the misfortune, along with the likes of Bio Menace, of falling into the "arrived too late for the engine it was built on to still be relevant in its time" boat.  Putting a jab at Doom on the box cover probably didn't help people to look on it too charitably either.

 

I'll agree on Operation Body Count being pretty suck though.  I hear it gets better after the initial sewer section, but my motivation to get through that to see was a little too low.

[Impie]

4 hours ago, ETTiNGRiNDER said:

I'll agree on Operation Body Count being pretty suck though.  I hear it gets better after the initial sewer section, but my motivation to get through that to see was a little too low.

The only time OBC was ever any good was the demo. A one-level counter-terrorist assault mission you could randomize if you wanted. Kind of a fun romp. But doing that over and over for 40 identical levels, 5 of which are in the sewers with only rats and other unfitting monsters? Sometimes with the help of three AI partners who do most of the killing for you anyway? Not good.

 

Corridor 7 was just dull in general to me. It had some neat features but it didn't grab me like Blake Stone did. Part of it could be I'd rather search an abstract space station for a key, where the monsters are obstacles, rather than hunt down every little alien i need to kill in a sprawling, uninspired series of space-cubicles in order to go to the next level, like a pest exterminator. In Blake Stone I remember locations: I remember the creepy-ass cluster of labs with the operating tables, someof which had bodies that would rise and attack me; and the maze of one-way doors I had to figure out to get the key; and the warehouse with the roving tanks that chased me and exploded if they saw me; and the pod alien incubators; etc, etc. I don't remember a single area from Corridor 7, I just remember the glowy computers and walls of glass everywhere.

[Teivman]

14 hours ago, Impie said:

I kinda liked the show Tekwar honestly. Cheesy sci-fi fun, and Shatner was in it!

 

Hope you give OBC a shot in the near future. The next bad FPS i'm rebooting is Angst: Rahz's Revenge, another godawful one you may or may never have heard of. I'm kinda looking forward to it 'cos it'll give me a chance to go back to old school Doom map design.

With the angst remake i suggest you keep the style of having mixed cartoon/3d model sprites.

[SledgeNE]

I still have Angst Rahz's Revenge physical copy. :-) The game was funny, not more. :-)

[Ludi]

Don't talk trash about Capstone. They are the pinnacle of entertainment software, after all, ;^)

[Wadmodder Shalton]

I really wonder if anyone who once worked at DogBone Software or IntraCorp (the latter was the parent company owner of Capstone Software) have a almost near completed beta of the game in their Floppy Disk or CD-ROM backups with an additional chance of unseen artwork and sprites into the mix as well. Time Will Tell.

[Murdoch]

No one tell Civvie.

[7Mahonin]

I heard that this game was basically finished but was canceled right before it could see release, so the demo is all we have to remember it by. I don’t even remember this game being advertised at the time. 

[Asphalt]

A couple years ago, a talented user did a GZDoom remake of that game, with plans of expanding it with new levels and assets which I think never actually materialized. He basically recreated the original three-level demo, added some new maps and enemies to it (taken from other games, no original graphics), and released it as a PK3 IWAD for use with the latest Doom sourceports.

Quite good but pretty difficult, because most of the weapons are non-hitscan if I recall correctly. 

It's available on ModDB for those who are interested.