JUDGE DREDD - THE MOVIE 

WHY SHOULD WE DO THIS ? 

      Judge Dredd the movie is a 70 million dollar extravaganza starring Sylvester Stallone, due to be released in September 1995.  It has already started pre-production for a shooting schedule starting spring '94.  So far two scripts have been released to us, both describing an action movie much in the mold of Demolition Man and Terminator 2.  In communication with the agency handling the Judge Dredd product, we have been informed of a mass media presentation for the movie timed for the release, along with many third party vendors releasing toys, books and music.  This is going to be a big movie, and we already have a head start ! 

      We already have the Judge Dredd comic book licence for use in coin-op, and the agency responsible for the Judge Dredd licence (Surge) has expressed satisfaction with our design and implementation of the original project.  Currently we have a verbal agreement to go with the movie.  If we put this agreement on paper, it would grant us full access to the set as well as any and all materials required (E.g. Props, Music etc).  It would also seem at this time that the home rights are still available for purchase.  However, this licence will not remain free for long, once press releases go out, so we need to be on top of this now.  If we decided to go with this licence, we could conceivably be starting the project in January '95, with a release date of Christmas. 

      We have experience of dealing with a movie licence which would help us, along with an already sterling reputation in the movie community garnered by T2.  This means that we would be taken seriously, and given access to the materials we require.  On the part of Sylvester Stallone, he has already partaken in a Williams Pinball, as well as worked with a home development company for the home games based on Demolition man and Cliff Hanger, so there's no reason to believe he wouldn't work with us also. 

      One last reason for doing this is that Williams has already sunk significant amounts of money into the Judge Dredd licence without significant payback.  The pinball did okay, but not brilliantly, so I'm sure we would all like to see a decent payback on this white elephant. 

      On a more personal note, I have personally spent almost 18 months trying to get this game together and I would very much like the opportunity to actually make something of it, rather than having it all wasted. 

 

 

HOWS IT GOING TO LOOK ? 

      It is envisaged that the lessons of the first project be taken to heart, along with those lessons learned from T2 and Revolution X, and used to make Judge Dredd a gun game.  The movie heavily stresses the gun that the Judges use in keeping order, so it seems logical to follow their lead. (In fact, this plays a critical part in the resolution of the movie plot)  The gun itself would make an excellent control mechanism, and could hopefully use the same mechanical design that Revolution X uses.  Kit wise, the game would kit into the already numerous T2's and Operation Thunderbolt's, and also into the Revolution X units as well.  Both two and three player versions are intended. 

      As we are talking about a gun game here, it would be best to take a moment to describe the play mechanic.  As it stands now, the game would have a feel somewhere between Revolution X and the Atari game StunRunner.  Both Rev X and T2 have a stop - go quality about them.  This is not necessarily bad, but makes for harder differentiation on first inspection.  With Judge Dredd we intend to make a far faster moving and more visually active game. 

      Tunnels will be traversed at high speed, journeys threading through Mega city one's city blocks in the sky using all three dimensions will occur, Motor cycle chases on high city highways will transpire, along with a trip into the Cursed Earth, the nuclear wasteland full of mutants that surrounds Mega City one.  We will retain the decision making capability that Rev X has, along with an added feature of map building to add to those decisions made.  As we decide to go one way, a map is slowly built up of our surroundings, which allow enables us to navigate a way out of a maze.  

      One important new feature we will add is that of being able to turn corners.  Steel Gunners has this feature and very visually impressive it is too. 

      Music from the movie can be incorporated too, as well as purpose written incidental music. 

      Boss monsters will include some characters not included in the movie, but are included in the Judge Dredd mythos, such as The Angel Gang, as used in the first project.  Mean machine would make a great boss monster, head butting the screen etc.  Obviously the main stream of the game would follow that of the movie ala T2, but, as with T2, we will incorporate other elements into the game play. 

WHAT'S THE HARDWARE ? 

      In order to make this game happen, we must move our development platform from that of the Texas Instruments X unit to the VR system currently under development by Ray Macikia.  It was envisaged originally that we would build a hybrid of the current X unit with the new 3D dma on board, but upon further investigation of this development path it became apparent that this system would cost the same as the new VR system, but would be inferior in performance.  At that point it became obvious that if you want VR capability, go with the VR system.  By the time this project gets going, there will be enough experience of the VR system, as well as a proven operating system, that this project will not get bogged down in learning curves.  It seems to me that sooner or later all those in the video department are going to have to get involved in 3D, so in my view the sooner the better.   

WHO DOES IT ? 

      Currently, this project has John Vogel and Jake Simpson championing it.  John has done some preliminary sketches to give a rough idea of the game mechanic, although obviously not much indepth can be described until the set has been visited and more details are forthcoming from the moviemakers.

      It is projected at this point that it would take a year to complete, but at this point, with the inexperience the video dept has in development on the VR system, it is impossible to be certain.  Similarly, it is projected that the two named above should be enough to complete the project, but it is very possible that this might change once the project gathers momentum.

      Those people in the Department with the most experience have been approached on this subject and all have agreed that this seems like a good idea, and we should be on this now.

      For now, the projected start date revolves around NFL Football.  I am confident that Football can and will be finished around Jan '95, indeed I am planning on setting a finish date in order to stop this project from becoming another 18 month black hole.