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Prerelease:The Chaos Engine (Amiga)

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This page details pre-release information and/or media for The Chaos Engine (Amiga).

Famously The Chaos Engine started off as a three player title, rather than only two player as it was released. There is a large amount of pre-release coverage of the game in this form in various magazines, and unusually, even TV coverage of the game.

GamesMaster Footage


An early build of The Chaos Engine was demonstrated by Bitmap Brothers/Renegade Project Manager Graeme Boxhall on episode 5 of series 1 of the UK TV show GamesMaster, aired on the 4th February 1992. Most significantly, this build is from a stage where the game would feature not two but three characters on-screen simultaneously. The footage shows scenes from both the first world, but also the second, with graphics mostly identical to the finished game. Other differences:

  • The title of the game is shown using the same font and colours as used in the demo of the game
  • There is a very different HUD with three player status panels at the bottom of the screen, with the node count and clock displayed on the far right, rather than the middle of the screen as in the final game
  • The spider enemies used in the third world of the final game appear in the footage of the first world in the video. Rather than emerge from hives as in the final game, they simply appear from thin air and run about.
  • There is a brief glimpse of some golden coloured rocks that are not present in the final game in the footage of the first level.
  • Once the characters enter a level exit they explode
  • The shop naturally shows the portraits of all three characters. The character portraits are different, notably the Gentleman has an almost Rockabilly hairstyle. The third portrait appears to be an early version of the Mercenary, and is different from the Thug picture shown in-game in the footage. Also the weapon graphic for the Navvie is different to that of the final game.
  • Footage of the second world shows the gun emplacement enemies in use that are only found in the fourth world in the final game
  • The Gentleman's weapon behaves very differently. Rather than fire a projectile as in the final game, it seems to be a short range flamethrower using small explosion sprites to create a flame effect.
  • One of the character portraits at the bottom is that used in the final game for the Thug, but the corresponding actual character sprite and behaviour in game appears the same as the final game's Mercenary. It's not clear if this is a bug and the wrong portrait was shown, or if there was some kind of state where the two characters evolved from a single starting point.
  • There is a spiral jewellery treasure pick up that is not present in the final game.

Joystick Magazine Coverage

  • Joystick Image 1)


An early preview from the French Joystick magazine, issue number 18, August 1991. What appears to be a very early mocked-up screenshot of the second world of the game.

  • Note the early version of the Gentleman's sprite,
  • The flying gargoyle enemies on the left of the screen that are not in the final game
  • Shows a different control panel design (different even to the GamesMaster version) and character portrait art
  • The Gentleman seems to have some kind of key-related special power (the Navvie has the Mercenary's bomb special, too).
  • Neither character has a weapon in their hands, and the Gentleman is firing generic bullets rather than the flame themed weaponry he has across all versions of the game.
  • The article rather optimistically states the game will be released in November 1991 for Atari ST and Amiga, and in February 1992 for PC.


A later preview in October 1991 includes some of the same screenshots of an early version used in better quality in other magazines like the Games-X coverage below. However it also has an even earlier version of the shop screen that shows a number of interesting changes.

  • Joystick Image 2)

  • No extra life button unlike in the final game
  • The skill purchase button doesn't seem to exist, but the skill hand icon is still used on the item description box at the right of the screen
  • All stat purchase icons have the usual arrow to their left to buy them, but also a larger second arrow to the right. It's not clear what this does.
  • Rather than the generic fixed weapon power up path as in the final game, there seem to be multiple different firepower/ammunition types available for the characters' weapons that can be bought via a cut extra panel at the bottom of the screen. It's confirmed by the article text that it was possible to buy different projectile types for a character's weapon this way.
  • There are three letters "C,S,F" at the left of the screen in a panel that is removed in the final game. In the GamesMaster footage and the Games-X screenshot these are present but replaced with what look like the firepower power up and other collectible item icons.


(Source: Grzegorz Antosiewicz/Games That Weren't website)

Games-X Coverage

  • Games-X Image 1)

  • Games-X Image 2)

Preview of the game from Issue 26 of Games-X from October 1991.

  • Image 1: This seems to be from around the same build as the GamesMaster demo. Same control panel artwork, and the spider enemies are also still present in the first world of the game. Note the turquoise (not yellow) Thumper enemies in the top right as found in the demo. There is also a syringe power up that is not present in the final game on display. you can also see the same gold rocks as visible in the GamesMaster video on the left.
  • Image 2: An early version of the shop screen. Again, this seems similar to the GamesMaster demo, with three characters on display, but also the items to the left of the screen have icons unlike earlier pictures of the shop that use letters to represent whatever these items were.


(Source: Grzegorz Antosiewicz/Games That Weren't website)

The One Amiga Coverage

  • The One Image 1)

  • The One Image 2)

  • The One Image 3)

An extended relatively late preview from The One magazine October 1992. Mostly uninteresting screenshots identical to the final game, but also includes some concept art.

  • Image 1: Concept Art of an unknown masked player character. This is also reprinted in Duncan Harris' The Bitmap Brothers: Universe book.
  • Image 2: Early sketch of the Gentleman
  • Screenshot of the first world of the game with the same turquoise Thumper enemies as found in the demo. It seems their change to yellow as in the final game was a very late stage change for the game.

Bitmap Brothers: Universe Concept Art

Duncan Harris' The Bitmap Brothers: Universe book has a substantial amount of Dan Malone's concept art for the game, including the unused "fencer" looking early character design first printed in The One above, a second cut female character armed with a sword and pistol, and many sketches of an early version of the CD32 version's intro sequence.

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