Toonstruck 2 (lost build of cancelled PC adventure game sequel; 1996)

Status: Lost

Toonstruck 2 was a sequel to the 1996 video game Toonstruck. Before the release, the game was split into two parts, but due to the commercial flop of the first game, the second part was never released. However, the game's music director stated in 2010 that he's still planning to release the game; as of 2019, its status remains unknown.

Premise

According to the game's lead designer Richard Hare:

"In the original story, once Drew escaped from Nefarious's castle, he and Flux were supposed to ride a "Train of Thought" up to an island in the sky. Here, Drew explores his own fears and fantasies within a carnival setting (there was a Wild West shootout, an encounter with Drew's artist idol, Van Gogh, and a visit to a maniacal dentist). Finally, Drew needs to kick-start his imagination/creativity (represented by a huge lighthouse) and defeat both Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun and Nefarious in the process.

If the first ToonStruck had been commercially successful, we would have used most of the content that had been cut from the first game and added in additional scenes to pad out the story. Drew Blanc would have been transformed into a "toon" at the outset of the game and would need to undo this by the end of the game. We also wanted to add in more physical-based puzzles, allowing Drew to physically push around objects in the scene and use them together to solve different problems".

Locations

Keith Arem published a list of music tracks for both Toonstruck and Toonstruck 2, with each music track corresponding to a specific location. It is, therefore, possible to conclude which locations were to be in the second game; they include "Swamp", "Fantasy World", "Fearland", "Frank's Cryo Crypt", etc.

Current Status

Since 2010, the game's musical director Keith Arem has been stating that he is interested in releasing the game; however, he needs to resolve the legal obstacles to do so. He is communicating news to the fans via a Toonstruck 2 Facebook group; as of 2019, the status of the game is unclear.

Cultural Impact

The game and its unreleased sequel acquired a cult status among fans of classical point & click adventures. A number of them attempted to create a Toonstruck 2 fangame based on the available materials from the original. Though the fangame itself is currently on hiatus, they published a Toonstruck launcher (a program which allows launching the first Toonstruck on modern PCs), and a Toonstruck extractor; with the use of the latter, they extracted a number of unused materials from the Toonstruck files, including some materials which were to be used in Toonstruck 2.

A Toonstruck 2 Creepypasta story was also written, centering around a young fan who bought the Toonstruck 2 disk from a mysterious man at a video game conference. According to the story, the game was based on drawings by a mentally insane cartoon animator who murdered his boss (an allusion to Drew's problems with his boss in the game), and the real reason for the cancellation of the sequel was that its contents were too shocking. Besides, his art and everything based on it (including the game) supposedly acted as the portal, allowing demonic creatures from other worlds to enter the human world.

Gallery

Some of the scenes from the second part can be seen in the promo trailer.

Another promo trailer, with several other deleted scenes (low quality).

Another promo with deleted materials, including a sketch of the crazy dentist.

Toonstruck 2 creepypasta.

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  The crossroads at the island in the sky

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  Drew and Van Gogh

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  Drew and Van Gogh 2

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  The creepy bedroom in the "evil" section of the island

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  King Hugh's castle?

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  Drew in the Wild West

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  Sketches of the evil dentist

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  Knife, which was probably meant to be an inventory item

References

• A Space Quest Historian article on Toonstruck 2. Retrieved 18 Apr '19
• An interview with Richard Hare. Retrieved 18 Apr '19
• The music track list for Toonstruck and Toonstruck 2. Retrieved 18 Apr '19
• The Facebook group on Toonstruck. Retrieved 18 Apr '19
• The music track list for Toonstruck and Toonstruck 2. Retrieved 18 Apr '19
• Webpage of Toonstruck designer Laura Janczewski with some unused art. Retrieved 18 Apr '19
• Materials extracted from Toonstruck files. Retrieved 18 Apr '19
• The Cutting Room floor page for Toonstruck. Retrieved 18 Apr '19
• The Toonstruck 2 fanproject. Retrieved 18 Apr '19
• The Creepypasta Wikia article on Toonstruck 2. Retrieved 18 Apr '19
• PAK extractor for Toonstruck source files Retrieved 1 May '19