the cutting room mirror

Gearheads (Windows)

This article has a talk page!
view on tcrf.net

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Gearheads (Windows).

To do:
A lot of prerelease material seems to be cross-platform, so some of this might apply to the Mac version, too

Gearheads took 18 months to develop.1

Development Timeline#

  • Late 1994/Early 1995
    • Playable prototype created. It enabled the designers to make new toys and edit their stats, and featured pull-down menus with girds of each toys' statistics.
  • 1996
    • Late February-March
    • 23 May
      • RTM build.
    • June
      • Gearheads released.

Computer Gaming World adverts#

Gearheads-Computer-Gaming-World-141-blurb.jpg

Adverts appeared in March-May 1996. Issue 141 (April) advertised a spring release, and the CD had a demo. The screenshots:

  • Show the use of FULLMENU, whereas the final game uses SIGNMENU. FULLMENU is present in the final game, but inaccessible without hacking.
  • Show the Factory as having obstacles not seen n the final game.
  • Show the arrows are different to those seen in the final game.

SCORE Magazine CD 29 (May 1996)#

There are some early screenshots, showing some differences from the final game. Most notably:

  • The arrows are different (they look like Winding on Arrow arrows, as seen in the demo (from February 1996), but unbroken)
  • Toys appear higher in the toyboxes.
  • Some toys lack shadows.
  • The Factory gauge looks different.
  • The Factory teleporter effect is less eye-catching.

Prerelease

Final

Note: there are many variants of the Factory playfield, in terms of obstacle placement.

  • The Frozen Pond gauge also looks different. Namely, the early one has a red arrow whereas the final arrow is blue:

Prerelease

Final

The files are also included on the Gearheads Review X.42 CD. They are dated 22 January 1996, and are likely from an earlier build.

Other Pre-release Images#

A rather different Factory, with yet another gauge and obstacles not seen in the final game. Screenshot is present on the back of the North American box.
A rather different Factory, with yet another gauge and obstacles not seen in the final game. Screenshot is present on the back of the North American box.
Possibly a mock-up, but there are a few noticeable differences: Big Al's darker colours, Kangaruffian's punch, and the Handy graphic in the toybox. Screenshot is present on the back of the European box and jewel case, and on Frank Lantz's (Gearheads' designer) page.
Possibly a mock-up, but there are a few noticeable differences: Big Al's darker colours, Kangaruffian's punch, and the Handy graphic in the toybox. Screenshot is present on the back of the European box and jewel case, and on Frank Lantz's (Gearheads' designer) page.
Possibly a mock-up, but depicts a game that is ongoing despite right having 21 points, meaning the game ought to be over and won. Screenshot is present on the back of the European cover and jewel case, and on both Frank Lantz's and Eric Zimmerman's pages.
Possibly a mock-up, but depicts a game that is ongoing despite right having 21 points, meaning the game ought to be over and won. Screenshot is present on the back of the European cover and jewel case, and on both Frank Lantz's and Eric Zimmerman's pages.

Trailer#

Watch on YouTubeA Gearheads trailer was released. It is unclear when, but it shows a 1995 copyright notice on the title screen. This notice is not used in the final game (but is present). It also shows the small arrow. Therefore, the footage appears to be from an early version of the game.

References#

  1. Rules of Play. pp. 166–168. ISBN 978-0-262-24045-1. MIT Press. 2003.↩︎