Zool Projects

The Before Time

1991 - George Allan, programmer for Switchblade II, has an idea for a quicker platformer for Switchblade III. In time this becomes Zool. (14) George Allan talks more about this in an interview with Amiga Lore. (15)

The Official Release Years

October 1992 - Zool for the Acron Archimedes, Amiga, Atari ST, Amiga CD32, Game Boy, Game Gear, Master System, Genesis, SNES

March 1993 - Zool for MS-DOS.

1993 - Zool 2 for Amiga, Amiga CD32, Blackberry, MS-DOS

1995 - Zool 2 for Atari Jaguar.

After the Release Years

While there have been quite a few attempts to bring Zool another game to date there have been no Zool project beyond Zool 2 has been completed.

2004/2005 - "Back in 2004/05 Zoo Digital Publishing attempted a remake of the iconic Amiga platformer - Zool. They worked with DDI (Data Design Interactive) on a 3D Gamecube/PS2 version of the franchise. The game sucked bad, and got canned (luckily). DDI changed the lead character in the game from Zool to a gingerbread man, and released the notoriously bad Ninjabread Man instead." - MasterSensible (formerly of Zoo Digital) (8)

July 2005 - Ninjabread Man originally began development as a planned third entry in the Amiga Zool series; not much is actually known about the pitch, though it is believed that Zoo Digital Publishing (Zool 's rights owners) weren't impressed by the tech demo and pulled the license. Evidence for this are some leftover Zool-themed levels, and a leaked intro that shows Zool crashing onto a planet that is clearly the one used in this game. (1)

The following Data Design Platformer Myth Maker saga was comprised of the unfinished worlds of this game, and each of those 'games' were originally one world in Zool (candy, desert, Toybox, city). According to tcrf.net, Ninjabread Man has leftover text from when it was going to be a Zool game… Ninjabread Man was the first world (Sweet), Trixie in Toyland was the second (Toy), Rock 'n' Roll Adventures was the third, (Music) and Anubis II was the fourth (Egypt). There's also text that mentions a fifth world, but unlike the four that saw the light of day, this one doesn't have a noun to mention its theme. Though it's probable it was recycled for one of DDI's unrelated games, like Billy the Wizard. (10)As this is not an official release but a possible Zool 3D, this is included in this list.

July 2005 - Anubus II (5)August 2005 - Myth Makers: Trixie in Toyland. (3)

September 2007 - Rock 'n' Roll Adventures (11)

October 2007 - Myth Makers: Orbs of Doom (4)

January 2008 - Zool Fushion (NessyTheBritishlad) (13)

2010 - The Game Maker's Companion (APress, 2010), a book on hobbyist game development, contains step-by-step instructions on how to remake the original Zool game using GameMaker Studio. (16)

December 2010 - The man behind the Broken Sword series of videogames has joined forces with Sumo Digital's creative director and the founder of Gremlin Graphics to give games development students at Sheffield Hallam University a unique industry insight. (2)

September 2012 - Zool Planets - (Steel Minions) Concepts. (9)March 2013 - Zool Planets - (Steel Minions) character demo.(6)

. April 2016 - Zool Planets - (Steel Minions) Tutorial Level Demo.(7)

September 2017 - Zool Ex - (MrmediamanX of 3mx digital). Two levels complete, but no longer developed. (12)

(1) https://web.archive.org/web/20110321131914/http://www.shu.ac.uk/news/release.html?ID=757

(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninjabread_Man

(3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_Makers:_Trixie_in_Toyland

(4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_Makers:_Orbs_of_Doom

(5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anubis_II

(6)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyrNPAS8zh0

(7) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5dwUmn3wdA

(8) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBxWhMcbzSk

(9) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgcX_eAjug4&t

(10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBxWhMcbzSk : Michael James / Nunof Yerbizness

(11) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_%27n%27_Roll_Adventures

(12) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2zdwhT-giI

(13) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLr11Zb0uBs

(14) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switchblade_II

(15) http://www.abime.net/interviews/view/interview/id/69

(16) https://web.archive.org/web/20110306192338/http://apress.com/book/view/9781430228264