At this point, anyone remotely interested in digitized fighting games heard of Galloping Ghost and the pending release of its sole title "Dark Presence," but the story goes even deeper than what pending reports have suspecting. The game's history goes all the way back to December, 1998. Gathering from the screenshots archived from that time (bear in mind a few links are broken), production appeared to have begun way back then before the creator(s) scrapped everything and started over.
You can browse any of the archived links from gallopingghost.com, but in the meantime, enjoy some screenshots released in 1998:
https://web.archive.org/web/19990101000000*/http://gallopingghost.comIs this retro enough?
1998 is retro, yes. Check the rules, no need to ask.
>>3309565
Good to know.
Anyway, enjoy some beta screenshots.
>>3309573
Yeah I'm checkin' them out.
This is interesting to say the least. How this was someone's dream and they really tried to not let it die. It even looks like they kept persisting to have it made well into the 2000s.
It is a serious undertaking for one man to do all the programming, but it's curious that little, if any, progress was made from the time production started. Absolutely no footage of gameplay surfaced and the new site is riddled with dead links. Even with the apparent success of the Galloping Ghost Arcade (that is, if the favorable standing on social media is to be trusted), completion does not appear to be forthcoming.
Also curious is that Galloping Ghost solicited for prospective investors as early as 2000:
https://web.archive.org/web/20000311102254/http://www.gallopingghost.com/dark/investors.htm
Interesting. Very interesting
>>3309564
>https://web.archive.org/web/19990101000000*/http://gallopingghost.com
Okay, these guys have me with the SHOCK BAND idea. Is there a place where I can read a rundown on the history of this project, or should I just stick to piecing it together from their own web site?
>>3309564
The fact that somebody other than me cares about this is pretty fascinating. See also: Death Cargo
>>3311569
There isn't much available aside from what Doc and Galloping Ghost has told us. I remember on a long-dead website which cataloged fighting game characters made fun of the whole project back in 2001, but beyond that, literally no media coverage of Dark Presence existed until 2009. Even now, the project has been met with skepticism.
>>3312130
It is fascinating. I remember being interested in it back in middle school. I think I might've IM'ed Galloping Ghost back then curious about the whole thing. I don't remember much of the conversation we had except pending release dates, which is long past due.
>>3312130
I don't know whether Dark Presence is the greatest joke or the most genius game ever conceived.
Is the game actually a joke? Or is this the worst case of procrastination ever?
If it's the latter that's really inspiring me to get back to work on my project.
>>3309564
>The game's history goes all the way back to December, 1998
So does DNF but that doesn't make the game retro now.
>>3314901
This "game", if this project can be considered such, has been in production since the days of Web1.0, so I think it's safe to call it retro.
We also had a thread on old Newgrounds flash games, so this fits the bill on that criterion, too.
