A long long time ago, around 1994 some guys with too much free time on their hands started to create a DOS PC-Game called "Future Dimension".
The game was to be a Shoot'em Up. You know, R-Type, Gunhed, Katakis, X-Out.... that sort of thing... but of course better. 
Usually a Shoot'em up is scrolling from right to left or from top to bottom. FD had three graphical modes. Vertical Scrolling, Horizontal Scrolling and a pseudo 3D mode.
The main programmer, and leader of the project was Silvio Turello. Graphics (Pixel) and additional programming was done by Luc Haldimann, founder of Obtree Technologies, Graphics (Rendering) and Animations were done by me, Toni Birrer. Adrian Studer, aka Chicken was also involved in the production. Music was done by Mathias Ruch aka Silent Mode.
The game engine was written in pure assembler (about 250′000 lines code). Most of the graphics were done by rendering or by hand. e.g. each pixel placed manually using tools such as Deluxe Paint (Yes, the famous one) or Photoshop 2.0 for Windows 3.11.
The cut-scenes and some of the in-game graphics were done with 3D Studio 2.0 for DOS. (Damn, i remember that i actually had to buy a 80387 co-processor in order to run it!).
Against all odds we finished the project in 1995. Things started to look good, and it even seemed like we would be able to earn some money with the game.
The final game contained a large set of different levels and graphical styles. It ran smooth even on weak machines like a 386SX-25 with a Trident 8900. We even found the time to create some Easter Eggs and bonus levels. Most famous is the port of Star Battle from Silvios Commodore VC20 module, or the Pac Man spoof.
Unfortunately the publisher we choose was not, how shall I put it, a very good choice. First he delayed the release of the game for over 6 months, for no apparent reason (which is horrible, because in the Game Industry, half a year is a decade), and second he cheated us on our payment.
Still we've got good reviews from the Game Magazines. Power Play, a German game magazine, gave it a rating of 76%.
In the end the game sold around 5′000 copies, witch is not that much in today's standards, but was a great success for us, since we only created the game for the fun of it.
After the game was finished the group separated, since each of us had real-life things to finish. (finish the school, study Software Engineering, etc.). But 18 months later, Luc started it's own software company, called O.M.S. Open Mind Systems. Silvio worked as a freelancer for O.M.S. while he was still a student at the ETH in Zurich, and I joined the company by end of 1996. Adrian joined us a year later.
By the end of 1998, the company was re-named to Obtree Technologies, and we launched Obtree C4.
Nice, but will this game still run on my PC?
Yes, it should! But since it is a native DOS game, there are no guarantees. However it runs just fine on my Windows XP box. Hardware requirements are rather modest: Intel 386 w. 33 MHz and 590k free memory 
Installation
To install it, just unzip the archive into a folder on your hard disc. e.g. 'c:\fdd'. You can configure the game by running 'setup' or 'fdd /c'
Startup
There are some startup options:
fdd ++
starts up in English mode!
fdd /F:
will use the drive F: as CD-ROM (must be under Windows 95 or DOS mode) if you configured CD sound mixed mode.
If you want to make it permanently just edit the FDD.BAT file and change the last line to
FD.EXE ++ /F: %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
Special Keys
- Esc: Quit
- Pause: Pause
- Cursor: Direction Control
- Space: Smart Bomb
- Ctrl: Fire
- CapsLock: Permanent Fire
- Alt: Change Input Device
- F1 or F: Switch FX Mode
- F2 or M: Switch Music Mode
Sound
Note that on a W2K/WinXP box the sound will most likley not work, unless you still have an SoundBlaster Pro However you can use this free SoundBlaster emulator driver here:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/vdmsound/VDMSound-2.0.4-WinNT-i386.msi
Just start the setup.exe of FutureDimension, select SoundBlaster with setting 220, 1, 7. Then right click fdd.bat and choose "Run with VDMS".
Download
| Name | Size | Creator | Creation Date | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FutureDimension.zip
|
4.90 MB | Toni Birrer | May 25, 2006 20:04 |
You can download a ripped version. (Approx 5 MB). This version is missing the pre-rendered cut scenes (thank god!), and the CD-Quality Soundtracks. There is still tracked music, if you manage to get the sound running.
Optionally you can get from the Underdogs Abandon ware archive:
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=1770
Ah, and before you ask. Yes, this is actually a cracked version, but we don't mind. We could release the real version, but it would be 100 MB or more.
Disclaimer
Before you download it and install it on your office computer, please make sure that you are not violating any rules or policies. READ: Don't get yourself fired because your boss caught you gaming instead of doing your job.
Cheats
Here are some codes (you'll need them):
- FRONT242 (Start with more lives and weapons)
- MOREMORE (Extra lives and weapons in later levels)
- INSIDEPC (Gag Level)
- STARBATT (Hidden Level: Star Battle)
- PACMAN95 (Hidden Level: Pac Man)
- EXCITEME (Level 5)
- XTZ750L6 (The Final Fight)
- LETMESEE (Final Credits)
Just enter them as continue code. There will be an error message but it should work nevertheless. Of course there is also an absolut master code but hey, we don't want to dump the challenge.
And don't forget to post your high scores!
Some screenshots |
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