Guardian (Amiga CD32)

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Guardian (Amiga CD32).

Guardian has a long and quite peculiar history for a game that at first glance is seemingly quite straightforward with a clear vision behind its design (Defender but in full 3D. Oh, and make it look exactly like Star Fox).

The One Magazine Coverage#

The One issue 66, March 1994. The first published preview of the game. In the article text game programmer Mark Sibley claims the concept of the game was devised after playing Encounter on the C64 and he wanted to make a similarly simple and pure 3D shoot em up. He also readily admits the game's look was based on Star Fox (or Star Wing as it was called in the UK and New Zealand) and that the game had the development title of SibleyWing as a result. It's also said that at that point in development the player would have to destroy "enemy generators" to summon the mothership to end each level, unlike the final game where the objective is to destroy the drones the mothership drops off.

The screenshots and the commentary around them are much more contradictory and after the claim the game will be more of a straightforward shoot-em-up without any end (as per coin-ops and the actual final game), there are other ideas so that it may have extra "gameplay ideas" such as being objective based. Confusingly there are also screenshots of an early level that apparently is an "obstacle course" that again contradicts the simple fast paced arcade design. It's also said there was an idea to add a map screen to allow the player to pick and choose any level they wanted that didn't make the final game. The article also includes a screenshot of an asteroid bonus level... And notes that already this will almost certainly not be in the final game. Clear as mud.

• 1) This is said to already be from an earlier build where the player must negotiate an "obstacle course", whatever that would entail. Note what seems to be an early version of the radar at the bottom of the screen and the lack of any other HUD. Also the early ship design that is totally different from the final game.
• 2) This picture is said to be from the then latest build of the game. It still has the early player ship, but now has almost the same score panel/HUD as the final game. The counters for smart bombs, lives, etc. are different from the finished game.
• 3) The water level as seen in the final game.
• 7) A screenshot of an asteroid bonus level that was intended to separate main planet based levels. The caption notes that even at this stage it would likely be cut as Sibley was unsure how it fitted the pacing of the game.
• 8) A screenshot of what is apparently the 3D editor written to create the game's enemies, made in Blitz Basic 2.

Edge Magazine Coverage#

Edge magazine issue 7, April 1994. An article from the early days of Edge magazine, before they rightly dropped the CD32 like a rock when it obviously had no future (they never actually reviewed the finished Guardian after such a glowing preview). This is a lengthy preview in which the game is represented as being between StarGlider 2 and Star Fox. Shown are missions including objective based levels where certain targets must be destroyed, and also in-between level bonus stages where asteroids must be destroyed in space.

As with The One article, the design of the player ship is also totally different here, taking the form of what looks like a mix between a dart and some sort of bizarre space butterfly. Screenshots show several screens of the scrapped asteroids level, as well as what seems to be the same cut "obstacle course" level as in The One and CU Amiga articles. There is also an early minimalistic HUD at this point that was not in The One coverage and looks a lot like Star Fox. Another screen shows a more detailed radar screen that overlays over the main action in addition to the small circle radar at the bottom of the screen. There is also a mission briefing screen presumably from the scrapped mission-based iteration of the game. All of this is extremely odd as the article from the previous month's The One showed that a) this build of the game was already obsolete and b) most of the ideas shown in the article were already scrapped. None of them made it to the final game.

• 1) Another view of the mysterious "obstacle course" level mentioned in The One.
• 2) A different looking ship from the water level present in the final game.
• 3) Another screenshot of the already cut asteroid level.
• 4) A screenshot of a build of the game when there was a mission objective of destroying certain targets.
• 5) A complex looking full map screen, with what seems to be the location of certain targets highlighted.
• 6) The asteroid level again.
• 7) A screen from a cut level not in the final game. The blue pylons seem to be some of the targets from the cut map screen.

CU Amiga Magazine Coverage#

CU Amiga Magazine April 1994. A very short preview. The main ship still looks the same at this point, but despite being published the same month as the Edge article, it's said that the mission based gameplay has already been scrapped for simpler arcade blasting at this point. The Star Fox style HUD is also shown in one screenshot despite it already being confirmed as scrapped in March.

The article also has the first (and only) picture of the player ship from the front rather than back. It seems this design was scrapped but reused as one of the enemy designs in the final game with some changes made (see right of final game screenshot):

Early Player ship design	Enemies in final game

Amiga Power Magazine Coverage#

Amiga Power issue 37, May 1994. A later preview of the game. In this short preview it's noted again that at this point all the free roaming missions and bonus stages have been scrapped and the game simplified. The article notes how ugly the game looks in screenshots at this point, and indeed the main ship has been changed and now looks somewhat like the final game's ship, only squashed thin and with a different colour scheme.

The status bar now looks the same as the final game's one, although the counter graphics are still the ones from The One's preview.