Imperialism Demo

This is a sub-page of Proto:Imperialism.

This build is a pre-release demo dating back to June 5th 1997. A few months before the final game, it contains a treasure trove of unused content and differences with the main game.

To do: There's a lot more minor gameplay and graphical differences to cover.

General Differences#

• Demo limitations prevent a lot of standard features such as loading, saving, playing scenarios, generating new maps, etc. The game also ends after 10 years after fall 1824.
• There are demo specific goals, messages, and tutorials.
• The preferences menu cannot be access from the main menu
• Right clicking to receive tile information has not been implemented yet
• It is possible to invite Great Powers into your Empire and to form Pacts with them, something only possible with Minor nations in the final game.
• The towns of Minor nations look the same as those of Great Powers.

Bypassing Demo limitations#

The demo is based on an early prototype build. This can be seen by opening the Imperialism Demo.exe in a hex editor, go to 00175d29 and change the bytes 0F and 8D to 90 and E9. Doing this bypasses the 1824 demo lockout. The game will continue for ten additional years until this message appears in 1834.

This message can additionally be bypassed by going to 00576AF0 and changing 0F and 0C to 90 and E9. The game continues for a few more years but will crash when attempting to transition to the next technological era due to missing assets.

Sound Differences#

To do: Fill this in, there's a lot. The trade school sound, the trade menu sound, the prospecting sound, the prospecting discovery sound, the prospecting failure sound, etc.

Some sounds are completely different here.

Graphical Differences#

To do: Compare the Multiplayer session screens.

There are a lot of graphical differences between this build and the final game.

Scenario Menu#

While Scenarios are not accessible in the demo, the menu is completely different from the one in the final game, and shows never before seen scenarios.

The first thing of note is the two Tutorial entries, the final game has five tutorial scenarios.

"Recovery of France" is the only Scenario to be present both in this image and the final game.

"Balance of Power" is entirely absent from the final game, and the year can unfortunately not be read due to the Demo text blocking the book.

"Unification" seems to match the "Unification Movements" scenario in the final game, however while both start in 1848, Unification Movements ends in 1890 not 1880. They likely felt the Scenario was too short.

"Imperial Russia" is another cut scenario that would have taken place between 1860-1915.

"Naval Supremacy: Germany" and "Naval Supremacy: Great Britain" are both interesting as it seems to focus on the same era. In the final game there is a scenario taking place in 1882 called "Naval Competition" that deals with Germany and Great Britain's competition for naval supremacy. It is possible that this meant that Scenarios were similar to the tutorial in that you were only able to play as one nation per Scenario. This does align with other UI differences.

Development Tiles#

The Development Tiles in the demo are significantly different. The Silos are much simpler in the demo so they were likely redrawn, Iron ore has a silvery hue in the demo, and shading on a bunch of the sprites are different. The unused Fishing Boat tile is also present in both versions. The placement of the Ranch tile is shifted somewhat between the two.

Development Purchase Screen#

When you earn a Developer civilian, you normally get shown a piece of art. This art differs significantly in the demo with its style contrasting heavily with the artistic style of the final game.

Demo	Final

Village & Town graphics#

When a Hamlet receives the necessary resources to develop into a village and then a town, a graphic is shown. Like the Development Purchase Screen, it is completely different in the demo and appears to have been created using a 3D program. It depicts a crowd of people in a modelled plaza. The Town version adds more detail and signs of industry. In the final game a piece of art is instead used to depict the scene.

Demo	Final

Demo	Final

Launch Screen#

When Launching the game, a screen briefly shows up. This screen is significantly less detailed in the demo version. Even if we ignore the obvious demo label, the final game's screen has also been refined to show different aspects of the game.

Demo	Final

UI Differences#

There are some UI differences between the demo and the final game.

Resources#

The primary difference when it comes to resources, is that cattle used an entirely different icon resembling a traditional Holstein Frisian pattern cow as opposed to the brown cow of the final game. The capacity icon in the transport screen also did not include a ship icon but only the train wagon.

Demo	Final

Demo	Final

Demo	Final

Demo	Final

Diplomacy#

There are some differences with the Diplomacy screen icons. The Icon for Boycott is different, the subsidy icons lack the grainy filter, the icon for Total Boycott is missing entirely in the demo, and the consulate and embassy icons are likewise less detailed in the demo. In addition to this, an option entirely missing in the final game is present in the demo: Link Colony. This option was replaced with the Colony Boycott in the final game. It would have linked the Colony's trading policies to that of their ruler.

Demo	Final

Demo	Final

Demo	Final

Link Colony:

Cursors#

Several cursors embedded within the exe use much more simple and primitive icons.

Unused Graphics#

To do: Post the unused animated flags and early country selection UI.

These are graphics that got entirely unused both in the final game and in this build.

After Battle Screen#

Normally when finishing a tactical battle, an after-battle report is shown and it is fully functional in the demo. However the demo contains a mockup of the after-battle screen with an apology stating it is not implemented. Likely a leftover from an earlier build.

Unused Nation#

In the demo's files one can find some flags and UI elements pertaining to a nation that has been completely cut from the game and no assets for this nation exists in the final game. The lack of any player elements such as battle screens for victories or losses indicates that this was a minor nation.

The coat of arms appears to be depict a white star on a grey background while the flag consists of vertical dark grey and grey stripes, with a large black diagonal stripe on top.