Family Guy: Road To Death (partially found prototype build of third-person shooter based on Fox animated sitcom; 2010-2011): Difference between revisions

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{{InfoboxLost
{{InfoboxLost
|title=<center>Family Guy Road To Death</center>
|title=<center>Family Guy: Road To Death</center>
|image=FamilyGuyCancelledGame.png
|image=FamilyGuyCancelledGame.png
|imagecaption=Official Prototype Logo.
|imagecaption=Official Prototype Logo.
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}}
}}


Family Guy is an animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, produced since 1999 and cancelled in 2003, then being brought back on air in 2005.   The popularity of Family Guy made the show have a lot of merch and even videogames, like "Family Guy VideoGame!" and "Family Guy Back To The Multiverse".
''Family Guy'' is an animated sitcom for Fox created by Seth MacFarlane, and originally ran between 1999 and 2002, with the show being revived in 2005 thanks to unexpected popularity and is still going today. The show's popularity would bring out merchandise, including books, toys and games, including two made for home consoles.


Family Guy Back To The Multiverse is a multiplayer shooter based on the show that turns around on Stewie and Brian traveling to the multiverse. This game was available on Xbox 360 and PS3 (Also, ports for the 3ds and Wii were being made, but got cancelled.)
In 2010, Heavy Iron Studios and Fox would start development for a third-person zombie shooter entitled '''''Family Guy: Road to Death''''', set for release sometime in 2011. However, due to concerns about it being "too dark" for the show's standards and objections from Seth himself, the game was retooled twice, once to tone down the content, and again to what would eventually become ''Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse''.<ref name="AG">[https://assemblergames.org/viewtopic.php?t=12360 ASSEMBLERgames thread on the game]</ref> These changes in development caused the game to be delayed by a whole year, and would finally release on November 20, 2012 on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.


Originally this game was totally different in story, going under the title "Family Guy: Road To Death"
==Plot==
Death is on vacation amidst a zombie invasion in Quahog, and it's up to the Griffin family and various other ''Family Guy'' characters to find Death and "get his ass back to work".


== Production and development ==
==Gameplay==
Heavy Iron Studios was contracted by FOX to produce a game based on Family Guy who wanted to be about zombies, Initially there were dealing with FOX. There's not to much information about the story, but it originally involved zombies and thanks to a trailer, maybe the story was about the Griffin family and their friends trying to get Death to make all the unliving people back to the death. The game was being made around the years 2010-2011 and the programmers spent 6 months producing this game. They put together a prototype of this game, which included story/sandbox, multiplayer, deathmatch and many more modes. The Producer (who gave some more information about the game) doesn't own a prototype of the game, but the person who upload the trailers of the game said that in National Videogame Museum in Texas has one of the prototype builds. It was mentioned by that producer that the game had two iterations of development, and he confirm that the one we see on the only two trailers we have in youtube were part of the second iteration of development. (We can say that the first one is actually Lost) The producers of the game ask FOX and Activision to have Fuzzy Door (Seth Macfarlane's production company) provide writers from the show and then they meet Seth in person, who got actually surprised by the game, but not in a good way. He literally thought this game was to dark and violent for having blood everywhere and talking about zombies, and thanks to that he only hired two writers from the show to do the game and ended up re creating the game's story and turning the game into "Family Guy: Back To The Multiverse". Technically, Seth made the entire producers work on the game for other six months again just because he didn't like the idea of Family Guy having too much blood, violence and a dark story about zombies. In words of the producer, it was to hardcore to make the first two iterations of the game and then ending up re-making the game once again with another story.
Like what eventually became ''Back to the Multiverse'', the game was a third person shooter. Zombies were mainly featured as enemies, and also to riff on popular games like ''Call of Duty'' and ''Left 4 Dead''. Throughout the game, characters could gain different weapons to fight against the zombie invasion. Melee combat is also included. The graphics were cel-shaded to make it resemble the cartoon. Much of the show's humor was featured, with pop culture references spread throughout and iconic quotes being reused from the show.


After a lot of work, Family Guy Back To The Multiverse was finally released in 2012 for the Xbox 360 and PS3.
Modes included in the prototype builds include the game's story campaign, an online multiplayer mode, including a horde mode and deathmatch, and several others not specified by the developers. Most of these would transfer over to the final game, but online elements have been cut.<ref name="AG"></ref>
== Availability ==
There is not too much of information and stuff about the prototype game available.
But actually, it is possible that in the final game, some old files from the game's prototype version still in the games database, which was confirm by a person who ripped sounds from the game and found the zombie's sound files (I have to mention that Family Guy Back To The Multiverse doesn't have zombies, the zombies were only in the Road to Death version)


<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
==Development==
File:Zombiefamilyguy.png|Testimony from a YouTube User that confirms that the final game contains sound files from the original prototype.
Development started some time in 2010, with Heavy Iron Studios, known for ''SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom'' and their Pixar games, taking the mantle.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubm0RVlOfZI YouTube upload of the second build's trailer, confirming the known dates the original concept was being worked on]</ref> While development for ''Back to the Multiverse'' took roughly two years, the final product didn't start out that way. According to Brian, an ex-Heavy Iron employee on ASSEMBLERgames, there were three incarnations of the game. The first iteration for the game took six months in development in collaboration with Fox Interactive with several game modes included. The zombie concept was suggested by Fox themselves. It was only halfway done when Seth MacFarlane objected to the game's violent content and was shelved. Despite this, the development team started over and built another iteration of the game. On February 9, 2011, Activision announced during its fiscal year conference call that they were the publisher for the game and that the game would release later that year.<ref>[https://www.gamespot.com/articles/family-guy-returns-to-games/1100-6298400/ GameSpot article confirming that Activision would be the publisher]</ref> Said iteration was based on the original design, but heavily toned down in terms of content. This incarnation took six months and was only three-fourths done before it was shelved due to Seth objecting again. Despite this, the project restarted a third time, this time written by show frequenters Anthony Blasucci and Mike Desilets, as appointed by Seth MacFarlane himself. By that point the original concept was dropped and instead became a "sequel" for the show's iconic "Road to the Multiverse" episode. The game would eventually be formally announced on May 7, 2012 by an Activision press release for a Fall 2012 release, which it did meet.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120615161355/http://investor.activision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=670794 Activision press release on the announcement of the final incarnation of the game]</ref>
</gallery>


Only two videos on YouTube showing gameplay of the prototype are available (one is the prototype video and the other is the official trailer of the game)
== Availability ==
While the final product, ''Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse'', got a release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, the prototypes for the original concept are have been unreleased. A prototype build, although it was unknown which version it was, was donated to the National Videogame Museum in Frisco, Texas.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThcyZ6VEHgw YouTube video of another trailer in which the uploaded confirmed information about the prototypes]</ref> What remains of the game are two trailers on YouTube uploaded by an ex-Heavy Iron employee under the alias "ispeedonthe405", along with several other prototype videos from select Heavy Iron games under that timeframe. Both videos are based off of the second incarnation of the game. Several assets from the prototypes were reused in the final game, and sounds from the original prototype could be found in the files for the game, but unused.


===Gallery===
{{Video|perrow  =2
{{Video|perrow  =2
   |service1    =youtube
   |service1    =youtube
   |id1          =ThcyZ6VEHgw
   |id1          =ThcyZ6VEHgw
   |description1 =Prototype footage.
   |description1 =A trailer for the second iteration of the game featuring gameplay.
   |service2    =youtube
   |service2    =youtube
   |id2          =v=Ubm0RVlOfZI&t=1s
   |id2          =v=Ubm0RVlOfZI
   |description2 =Trailer showing more footage from the prototype.
   |description2 =Another trailer featuring gameplay and clips from the show.
}}
}}
The user who uploaded the two Family Guy Road To Death Prototype gameplays confirms that the ''National Videogame Museum in Texas'' has one of the prototype builds. (Is unknown that if this is real information or not, today there is not any proves of that)
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:Familyguyprototype.png|
</gallery>
===Images===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:Familyguy1.png|One of the game producers talking about the prototype. (1/5)
File:Familyguy1.png|One of the game producers talking about the prototype. (1/5)
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File:Familyguy4.png|One of the game producers talking about the prototype. (4/5)
File:Familyguy4.png|One of the game producers talking about the prototype. (4/5)
File:Familyguy5.png|One of the game producers talking about the prototype. (5/5)
File:Familyguy5.png|One of the game producers talking about the prototype. (5/5)
File:Zombiefamilyguy.png|Testimony from YouTuber rubinho146 that confirms that the final game contains sound files from the original prototype.
File:Familyguyprototype.png|The uploader of the trailers on YouTube confirming that a prototype is avaiable at the National Videogame Museum.
</gallery>
</gallery>


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== References ==
== References ==
# https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l29J7BtCGow
{{reflist}}
# https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubm0RVlOfZI
 
# https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThcyZ6VEHgw
[[Category:Lost video games]]
# https://www.reddit.com/r/familyguy/comments/beha88/family_guy_road_to_death_trailer_for_the/
[[Category:Partially found media]]

Revision as of 00:53, 14 June 2023

FamilyGuyCancelledGame.png

Official Prototype Logo.

Status: Partially Found


Family Guy is an animated sitcom for Fox created by Seth MacFarlane, and originally ran between 1999 and 2002, with the show being revived in 2005 thanks to unexpected popularity and is still going today. The show's popularity would bring out merchandise, including books, toys and games, including two made for home consoles.

In 2010, Heavy Iron Studios and Fox would start development for a third-person zombie shooter entitled Family Guy: Road to Death, set for release sometime in 2011. However, due to concerns about it being "too dark" for the show's standards and objections from Seth himself, the game was retooled twice, once to tone down the content, and again to what would eventually become Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse.[1] These changes in development caused the game to be delayed by a whole year, and would finally release on November 20, 2012 on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Plot

Death is on vacation amidst a zombie invasion in Quahog, and it's up to the Griffin family and various other Family Guy characters to find Death and "get his ass back to work".

Gameplay

Like what eventually became Back to the Multiverse, the game was a third person shooter. Zombies were mainly featured as enemies, and also to riff on popular games like Call of Duty and Left 4 Dead. Throughout the game, characters could gain different weapons to fight against the zombie invasion. Melee combat is also included. The graphics were cel-shaded to make it resemble the cartoon. Much of the show's humor was featured, with pop culture references spread throughout and iconic quotes being reused from the show.

Modes included in the prototype builds include the game's story campaign, an online multiplayer mode, including a horde mode and deathmatch, and several others not specified by the developers. Most of these would transfer over to the final game, but online elements have been cut.[1]

Development

Development started some time in 2010, with Heavy Iron Studios, known for SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom and their Pixar games, taking the mantle.[2] While development for Back to the Multiverse took roughly two years, the final product didn't start out that way. According to Brian, an ex-Heavy Iron employee on ASSEMBLERgames, there were three incarnations of the game. The first iteration for the game took six months in development in collaboration with Fox Interactive with several game modes included. The zombie concept was suggested by Fox themselves. It was only halfway done when Seth MacFarlane objected to the game's violent content and was shelved. Despite this, the development team started over and built another iteration of the game. On February 9, 2011, Activision announced during its fiscal year conference call that they were the publisher for the game and that the game would release later that year.[3] Said iteration was based on the original design, but heavily toned down in terms of content. This incarnation took six months and was only three-fourths done before it was shelved due to Seth objecting again. Despite this, the project restarted a third time, this time written by show frequenters Anthony Blasucci and Mike Desilets, as appointed by Seth MacFarlane himself. By that point the original concept was dropped and instead became a "sequel" for the show's iconic "Road to the Multiverse" episode. The game would eventually be formally announced on May 7, 2012 by an Activision press release for a Fall 2012 release, which it did meet.[4]

Availability

While the final product, Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse, got a release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, the prototypes for the original concept are have been unreleased. A prototype build, although it was unknown which version it was, was donated to the National Videogame Museum in Frisco, Texas.[5] What remains of the game are two trailers on YouTube uploaded by an ex-Heavy Iron employee under the alias "ispeedonthe405", along with several other prototype videos from select Heavy Iron games under that timeframe. Both videos are based off of the second incarnation of the game. Several assets from the prototypes were reused in the final game, and sounds from the original prototype could be found in the files for the game, but unused.

Gallery

A trailer for the second iteration of the game featuring gameplay.

EmbedVideo is missing a required parameter.
  • One of the game producers talking about the prototype. (1/5)

    One of the game producers talking about the prototype. (1/5)

  • One of the game producers talking about the prototype. (2/5)

    One of the game producers talking about the prototype. (2/5)

  • One of the game producers talking about the prototype. (3/5)

    One of the game producers talking about the prototype. (3/5)

  • One of the game producers talking about the prototype. (4/5)

    One of the game producers talking about the prototype. (4/5)

  • One of the game producers talking about the prototype. (5/5)

    One of the game producers talking about the prototype. (5/5)

  • Testimony from YouTuber rubinho146 that confirms that the final game contains sound files from the original prototype.

    Testimony from YouTuber rubinho146 that confirms that the final game contains sound files from the original prototype.

  • The uploader of the trailers on YouTube confirming that a prototype is avaiable at the National Videogame Museum.

    The uploader of the trailers on YouTube confirming that a prototype is avaiable at the National Videogame Museum.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 ASSEMBLERgames thread on the game
  2. ↑ YouTube upload of the second build's trailer, confirming the known dates the original concept was being worked on
  3. ↑ GameSpot article confirming that Activision would be the publisher
  4. ↑ Activision press release on the announcement of the final incarnation of the game
  5. ↑ YouTube video of another trailer in which the uploaded confirmed information about the prototypes
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