Coolsville (lost build of cancelled PC adventure game; 1994-1998): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:06, 23 July 2016

A screenshot of the cancelled game, from a magazine..

Status: Lost

Coolsville is a cancelled jazz-themed PC adventure game aimed at a children audience.

It was meant to be released in the fall of 1994, developed by Music Pen and distributed by Media Vision.

Plot

The game is set in Coolsville, a city populated with anthropomorphic cartoon animals who are into jazz music.

Coolsville is led by a council of six gurus who reunite each year for a concert known as "The Great Gig"; this concert gives energy to the city for a year.

One of the gurus has been abducted, and the player character is set on a quest to find him, picking up musicians to form a band along the way.

Staff

Brian Gaidry: art director/lead artist.
TRUE: character designer, background designer, animator and illustrator.
Jared Faber: musical composer.
Mo Riza: project champion and interactive art director.
Michael Foran: animator and designer.
Jean Pierre Dillard: animator.

Legacy

Coolsville's release was cancelled after Media Vision closed down.

The only visual signs of its existence that have ever been made public are a few screenshots, as shown in several magazines that were published before the game was cancelled. These screenshots seem to imply that the game may also have had music-creating gameplay, as well as classic point-and-click adventure.

No prototype, demo or concrete version of the game has ever surfaced to this day.
Back during development, the game had previews in French video game magazines Joystick and Gen4, which gave very positive feedback, strongly implying they played at least a prototype.

Artist TRUE showed two high-quality screenshots on his webpage, but he only worked on a small part of the game and doesn't have more material.

Music Pen developed educational games, most of them being The Magic School Bus licensees.

Music Pen trademarked the "COOLSVILLE" name as a trademark in 1996, which possibly means that they were expecting to resume development and eventually release the game. Several staff members mention in their résumé having worked at Music Pen from 1994 to 1996, which could support this theory.
However, the "COOLSVILLE" trademark was abandoned two years later without a statement of use.

A screenshot from a magazine.
A screenshot from a magazine.
A screenshot from T R U E's website, featuring the "Duck Ellington" character.
Other characters designed by T R U E.

References

http://www.abandonware-france.org/ltf_abandon/ltf_jeu.php?id=1476 A French website about this game's cancelled status

http://www.trueart.biz/music_pen_cd_rom_game_character_design_coolsville_1.html Artist T R U E about his work on the game.

http://www.trademarkia.com/coolsville-75065508.html Trademark status

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 |imagecaption=A screenshot of the cancelled game, from a magazine..
 |status=<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>}}
-'''''Coolsville''''' was a PC adventure game that was meant to be released in fall of 1994, developed by Music Pen and distributed by Mediavision. It was cancelled after the latter company sunk down.
+'''''Coolsville''''' is a cancelled jazz-themed PC adventure game aimed at a children audience.
+It was meant to be released in the fall of 1994, developed by Music Pen and distributed by Media Vision.
 == Plot ==
@@ Line 14: / Line 16: @@
 == Staff ==
-*Brian Gaidry: art director.
+*Brian Gaidry: art director/lead artist.
-*TRUE: character design, backgrounds, animations and other illustrations.
+*TRUE: character designer, background designer, animator and illustrator.
 *Jared Faber: musical composer.
 *Mo Riza: project champion and interactive art director.
@@ Line 22: / Line 24: @@
 == Legacy ==
+''Coolsville'''s release was cancelled after Media Vision closed down.
 The only visual signs of its existence that have ever been made public are a few screenshots, as shown in several magazines that were published before the game was cancelled. These screenshots seem to imply that the game may also have had music-creating gameplay, as well as classic point-and-click adventure.
-No prototype, demo or concrete version of the game has ever surfaced to this day. Artist T R U E also showed two high-quality screenshots on his webpage.
+No prototype, demo or concrete version of the game has ever surfaced to this day.
+<br/>Back during development, the game had previews in French video game magazines ''Joystick'' and ''Gen4'', which gave very positive feedback, strongly implying they played at least a prototype.
+Artist TRUE showed two high-quality screenshots on his webpage, but he only worked on a small part of the game and doesn't have more material.
-Music Pen developed educational games, most of them being ''The Magic School ''Bus licensees.
+Music Pen developed educational games, most of them being ''The Magic School Bus'' licensees.
-Music Pen trademarked the COOLSVILLE name as a trademark in 1996, which possibly means that they were expecting to resume development and eventually release the game. However, it was abandoned two years later without a statement of use.
+Music Pen trademarked the "COOLSVILLE" name as a trademark in 1996, which possibly means that they were expecting to resume development and eventually release the game. Several staff members mention in their résumé having worked at Music Pen from 1994 to 1996, which could support this theory.
+<br/>However, the "COOLSVILLE" trademark was abandoned two years later without a statement of use.
 <gallery mode=packed heights=175px>