Tornado Outbreak

September 17, 2009

Platforms

PlayStation 3 Wii Xbox 360

Companies

Konami Loose Cannon Studios

Genres

Adventure

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Tornado Outbreak uses an in-house engine that incorporates a heavily modified version of RAD Game Tools' Granny 3D SDK. Unlike most video games that make use of the Granny 3D SDK, assets are compressed into one ZLIB archive that uses the .bgw extension. The core engine itself is written in C++, but also makes use of Lua scripting as well.

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person Larrye calendar_month February 27, 2022

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Developer Shane Whitfield's experience on the project:
https://web.archive.org/web/20120801081454/http://www.shanewhitfield.com/ShaneWhitfield/Tornado_Outbreak.html

Scott Bilas's experience on the project and the usage of Lua:
https://this.scottbilas.com/#prj-tornado-outbreak

Simple unpacker and repacker for the .bgw files that document the game using the highest level of ZLIB compression:
https://github.com/SamuraiOndo/tornado-outbreak-bgw/blob/main/bgw.py

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In both the regular and alternate ending to Showdown With Omegaton, a Wind Warrior can be seen holding his helmet.

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person Larrye calendar_month February 28, 2022

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Two early names considered for the game during development were Tornado Alley, and Zephyr: Rise of the Elementals. The game was first pitched to Warner Bros. Interactive under the Tornado Alley name in July 2006. These early design documents, alongside the documents for the unproduced Dirty Harry: Excessive Force, were later trademarked in 2008.

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person Larrye calendar_month March 1, 2022

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Tornado Alley pitch bible:
https://uspto.report/TM/77202639/SPE20080304192012/

Tornado Alley sizzle reel variant with early title:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVDY1uNt3Ig

Engadget article with Zephyr: Rise of the Elementals title:
https://www.engadget.com/2009-06-01-konami-announces-zephyr-rise-of-the-elementals.html

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A sprite for the Wii Nunchuk exists within the game's files. The purpose of this sprite presumably relates to the cut Combo Moves mechanic, a mechanic in which players would've initially made use of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk combo to maximize their destructive potential. While Combo Moves were cut from the final game, motion controls would ultimately be reworked into Totem Battles.

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person Larrye calendar_month March 1, 2022

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Unused sprite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4POnvgHBwxA

Tweet by programmer Terry Franguiadakis:
https://x.com/TFranguiadakis/status/1805556049170112563

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The player can unlock an piece of concept art of what is assumed to be the inspiration for Tornado Outbreak; a poorly modeled tornado with a high polygonal model of a cow.