UFO (Saturn V08)

From Sega Retro

For the American video game publisher, see U.F.O. Interactive.


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UFO
System(s): Saturn V08[1]
Developer:
Sega Saturn
Sega Technical Institute
Development timeframe: 1995 Fall[1]

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UFO is an unreleased Saturn V08 technical demo developed by Don Goddard around Fall 1995 to evaluate the capabilities of NVIDIA's prototype 32-bit hardware.[1]

History

Development

...I had developed a really cool UFO game prototype that Michael Hara says he still remembers to this day (I had inteviewed there about 3 years later and said that was the only demo done with their curved surfaces that was a real game.) I had even floored a group of Japanese execs from SOJ (first time they came out to SOA) who were supposed to be stone faced and never crack a smile. When I presented the UFO game to them they were stoned faced until I turned on a TV with my demo and they could play it—they were smiling motherfuckers and couldn't believe they could play with it. They were like little kids.


After they dropped the nVidia, I think I gave up on Sega. They had 'green-lighted' the whole UFO project, but two weeks later they werent going with nVidia and only had the Saturn. I thought 'oh well, there goes that game', but they said they 'loved the UFO game, do it for the Saturn.' I just shook my head. They had no idea how hard it would be to even do a crappy version of it on the Saturn. The UFO demo had not only curved surfaces but deformable mesh terrain, real-time scorch marks and up to 32 dynamic lights.

Programmer Don Goddard[1]


UFO was programmed by Sega Technical Institute's Don Goddard during the development of Sonic X-treme, with the demo being created to evaluate the Saturn V08 as a potential target platform for Sonic's 3D debut. Unfortunately, a number of issues resulted in Sega of America management quickly dropping the platform and concentrating on the Sega of Japan-produced Saturn.[1]

Legacy

About two years later, a Sega Technical Institute-developed Saturn game of the same name appeared in Sega of America's 1997 fiscal year overview listed for a May 1997 launch.[2] Whether this is Goddard's demo or a different project entirely is unknown. A similarly-named game, UFO: Aftermath, was also proposed for the Saturn, but ultimately went unreleased.

Production credits

Source:
Developer statements


References