Toonstruck 2 (lost build of cancelled PC adventure game sequel; 1996): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:22, 9 May 2021

Cover for the first game.

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 2021, however, 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 & Music

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; some music tracks can also be identified with the use of the APM database. The table below only includes the locations which weren't present in the original game; the full music list can be downloaded using a link in the "Links" section.

Location	Music
Swamp	William Trytel - Saw Theme
Cutopian Meadow	Peer Gynt Suite - Morning Mood
Island in the Sky Crossroads
Frank's Lab	Richard Myhill - Armies on the Move Alternate: The Dawn of Man - Richard Myhill
Frank's Cryo Crypt	Richard Myhill - Armies on the Move Alternate: The Dawn of Man - Richard Myhill
Fantasy World
Wild West Street	Dick Stephen Walter - Spaghetti Western Alternate: Dick Stephen Walter - Rodeo
Wild West Overhead	Dick Stephen Walter - Spaghetti Western
Van Gogh's Studio
Fearland
Creepy, Buggy Attic	William Trytel - Saw Theme Alternate: Tchaikovsky - Marche Slave
Dentist's Office	Tchaikovsky - Francesca da Rimini
Dark Bedroom	Steve Race - Whodunnit?
Inhuman Robots Inc. Workshop	Brian Laurence Bennett - Surveillance
Castle Overlook
Castle Ramparts	Richard Myhill - Benedictus
Castle Courtyard	Richard Myhill - Benedictus
PTP Headquarters Kitchen	Sydney Crooke - March of the Ants
PTP Headquarters Living Room	Sydney Crooke - March of the Ants Alternate: Trevor Duncan - Smouldering Fury (A)
PTP Headquarters Sleeping Quarters	Trevor Duncan - Smouldering Fury (A)
Tower of Power	Richard Myhill - Gothic Tower
Supply Center First Floor	Johnny Pearson - Graveyard
Supply Center Second Floor	Johnny Pearson - Graveyard
Supply Center Third Floor	Johnny Pearson - Graveyard
Thrown Room
King's Office
King's Office Balcony
Frank's Lighthouse Top	Gerhard Trede - Wildwasserfahrt Alternate: Richard Myhill - Armies on the Move
Light Bedroom
Interior house of Mirrors
Conductor Column
The Dentist	Henryk Kuzniak - Tango D'Amore
Good Credits	Edvard Grieg - Allegro Moderato e Marcato
Evil Credits

Current Status

Toonstruck VHS

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.

A lot of Toonstruck promo materials have been released in the 1990s, with some of them containing scenes from Toonstruck 2; from time to time, some of them resurface on the Web. In 2010, an Adventure-Treff user "Hanuka" stated that he had a disk with Toonstruck 2 materials from Toonstruck designer Laura Janczewski; however, there were no news about it since then. There were also reports about a Burst promotional disk which allegedly came with Broken Sword and included scenes like Drew's Wild West showdown with a giant chicken and "Picasso" played by Jeff Bennett, and a Toonstruck VHS cassette which could also contain scenes from the unreleased sequel; unfortunately, none of these materials have been published online so far.

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.

Gallery

Videos

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.

Some animations from the game, including the scene from the creepy bedroom.

Other deleted animations, including the Wild West scene and the cowboy.

Unused animation from the first game (wolves' cave).

Unused animations from Nefarious' castle.

Unused animations from Nefarious' castle (part 2).

Unused animation from Nefarious' castle (part 3)+Van Gogh scene from Toonstruck 2.

Unused animations from Cutopia.

Unused animations from Cutopia (King Hugh's palace)

Unused animations from Zanydu

Unused animations from Malevolands.

Screenshots

The crossroads at the island in the sky.
Drew and Van Gogh.
Drew and Van Gogh 2.
The creepy bedroom in the "evil" section of the island.
King Hugh's castle.
King Hugh's castle 2.
Drew in the Wild West.
The swamp hen puzzle removed from the final version of the game
Drew's shootout with a Wild West cowboy (low quality).
Drew in the evil dentist's chair (low quality).
Sketches of the evil dentist.
Cutopian army knife.
"Mating Habits of the Wild Swamphen" (replaced with the squirrel mating book in the final version of the game).
A portrait of King Hugh among the customers of WACME, holding the WACME Safe and Insane™ item and its combination.
Sketches of the evil cowboy with whom Drew would have a showdown in the Wild West.
Sketches of monsters from the creepy bedroom.
Sketches of Jolly Juice Delivery Hyenas.
Sketches of the swamp hen ("a rather prissy hen who kept to her nest").
Sketches of baby kangaroo.
Rat from the pencil test patrol, the cockroach (original idea for Ms. Fit from the costume shop), two early bartender concepts from the Cutopia tavern (bottom), and the original design for Seedy.
The Timid Cheese-Eating Moose who hides in his moose hole.
Early sketches of Ms. Fortune
Some character from Zanydu

Dialogue Icons

Icon	Description
	Cutopian army knife
	Glass jar/container?
	A medical cot (possibly from the conversation with the dentist?)
	???
	From the conversation with Van Gogh
	Drew as a toon
	The lighthouse
	The book "Mating Habits of the Wild Swamphen"

Inventory Items

Item	Description
	A beach ball
	A bow
	A fishing pole
	Cowboy's hats from the Wild West location
	Deputy star
	Gun & holster
	Railroad crosing sign
	"Exceptionally sweet candy"
	"A wad of WACME Super Strength Bubble Putty. Yummy"
	Lugnut's hearing aid (which Drew would have to steal from him and give to Van Gogh to replace his missing ear)
	Feedback's mouthpiece
	Goggles' glasses
	Flux's glasses
	Cutopian army knife
	A burnt-out light bulb (maybe the one which represents Drew's creativity and needs to be replaced?)
	Mailing cartridge
	Reptile treats
	WACME Safe and Insane™ item
	Spark-plug half
	A bust of Nefarious (probably carved by Van Gogh in exchange for the hearing aid?)
	A teddy bear from the dark bedroom ("I don't go anywhere without my teddy bear. Especially not to a strange, cartoon world")
	Bunny slippers
	A toaster and a "super-toaster" (the latter is probably the one from the robot shop in Malevolands)
	A rope and a rope+plunger (actually an unused puzzle from the first Toonstruck: originally, Drew had to use it to fly over an abyss to the Malevolator)
	Bleach

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
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 Cutting Room floor page for Toonstruck demo. Retrieved 9 May '21
The Toonstruck 2 fanproject. Retrieved 18 Apr '19
PAK extractor for Toonstruck source files Retrieved 01 May '19
The music track list for Toonstruck and Toonstruck 2. Retrieved 18 Apr '19

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 |status=<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>
 }}
-'''''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, however, its status remains unknown.
+'''''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 2021, however, its status remains unknown.
 ==Premise==
@@ Line 164: / Line 164: @@
 Toonstruck2_Dentists_Office.jpg|Drew in the evil dentist's chair (low quality).
 Toonstruck2_dentist.jpg|Sketches of the evil dentist.
-Toonstruck2_knife.png|Knife, which was probably meant to be an inventory item.
+Toonstruck2_knife.png|Cutopian army knife.
+Toonstruck2_swamphen_book.png|"Mating Habits of the Wild Swamphen" (replaced with the squirrel mating book in the final version of the game).
+Toonstruck2_King_Hugh_Safe.png|A portrait of King Hugh among the customers of WACME, holding the WACME Safe and Insane™ item and its combination.
 TS2_Cowboy.jpg|Sketches of the evil cowboy with whom Drew would have a showdown in the Wild West.
 TS2_Monsters.jpg|Sketches of monsters from the creepy bedroom.
@@ Line 183: / Line 185: @@
 |
 [[File:TS2_Dialogue1.png]]
-  || Knife (the same which appears on the screenshot above)
+  || Cutopian army knife
 |-
 | [[File:TS2_Dialogue2.png]] || Glass jar/container?
@@ Line 194: / Line 196: @@
 |-
 | [[File:TS2_Dialogue8.png]] || Drew as a toon
+|-
+| [[File:TS2_Dialogue9.png]] || The lighthouse
+|-
+| [[File:TS2_Dialogue10.png]] || The book "Mating Habits of the Wild Swamphen"
 |}
 ===Inventory Items===
@@ Line 208: / Line 214: @@
 | [[File:TS2_Item3.png]] || A fishing pole
 |-
-| [[File:TS2_Item4.png]] [[File:TS2_Item5.png]] || Cowboy's hat and sheriff's star from the Wild West location
+| [[File:TS2_Item5.png]] [[File:TS2_Item27.png]] || Cowboy's hats from the Wild West location
 |-
-| [[File:TS2_Item6.png]] [[File:TS2_Item7.png]] || A chewing gum?
+| [[File:TS2_Item4.png]] || Deputy star
+|-
+| [[File:TS2_Item28.png]] || Gun & holster
+|-
+| [[File:TS2_Item29.png]] || Railroad crosing sign
+|-
+| [[File:TS2_Item6.png]] || "Exceptionally sweet candy"
+|-
+| [[File:TS2_Item7.png]] || "A wad of WACME Super Strength Bubble Putty. Yummy"
 |-
 | [[File:TS2_Item8.png]] || Lugnut's hearing aid (which Drew would have to steal from him and give to Van Gogh to replace his missing ear)
 |-
 | [[File:TS2_Item9.png]] || Feedback's mouthpiece
+|-
+| [[File:TS2_Item26.png]] || Goggles' glasses
 |-
 | [[File:TS2_Item10.png]] || Flux's glasses
 |-
-| [[File:TS2_Item11.png]] || The same knife as in screenshots and dialogue icons
+| [[File:TS2_Item11.png]] || Cutopian army knife
 |-
 | [[File:TS2_Item12.png]] || A burnt-out light bulb (maybe the one which represents Drew's creativity and needs to be replaced?)
 |-
-| [[File:TS2_Item13.png]] || A fuse?
+| [[File:TS2_Item13.png]] || Mailing cartridge
 |-
-| [[File:TS2_Item14.png]] || Grapes?
+| [[File:TS2_Item14.png]] || Reptile treats
 |-
-| [[File:TS2_Item15.png]] [[File:TS2_Item16.png]] || ???
+| [[File:TS2_Item15.png]] [[File:TS2_Item16.png]] || WACME Safe and Insane™ item
 |-
-| [[File:TS2_Item17.png]] [[File:TS2_Item18.png]] || ??? (probably the same two items that appeared in the dialogue icons above)
+| [[File:TS2_Item17.png]] [[File:TS2_Item18.png]] || Spark-plug half
 |-
 | [[File:TS2_Item19.png]] || A bust of Nefarious (probably carved by Van Gogh in exchange for the hearing aid?)
 |-
-| [[File:TS2_Item20.png]] || A teddy bear from the dark bedroom
+| [[File:TS2_Item20.png]] || A teddy bear from the dark bedroom ("I don't go anywhere without my teddy bear. Especially not to a strange, cartoon world")
+|-
+| [[File:TS2_Item30.png]] || Bunny slippers
 |-
 | [[File:TS2_Item21.png]] [[File:TS2_Item22.png]] || A toaster and a "super-toaster" (the latter is probably the one from the robot shop in Malevolands)
 |-
 | [[File:TS2_Item23.png]] [[File:TS2_Item24.png]] || A rope and a rope+plunger (actually an unused puzzle from the '''first''' Toonstruck: originally, Drew had to use it to fly over an abyss to the Malevolator)
+|-
+| [[File:TS2_Item25.png]] || Bleach
 |}