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The Konix Multi-system Games
Here are the know games that were either in development for the Konix Multi-system or had been planed to be. Some have screen shots from magazines and some have videos provided with kind permission of Jon Dean (the guy that actually filmed them). Please don't distribute or re-produce these videos as they remain Jon Dean's Copyright.
Art and Music 'Toy' - Llamasoft / Konix Software
An interesting one this - Trip-a-Tron appeared on some list of KMS games, but without much supporting evidence. Whoever generated this initial list must have seen the Music and graphics 'toy' entry on the press release and put two and two together. I agree with those maths as Jon Dean recalls "The MUSIC & GRAPHICS TOY was a KMS project I was talking to Jeff Minter about - using the KMS to create a 'next-gen' Trip-A-Tron' - like experience, which could create wildly different effects through different use of all the KMS input devices." Fair enough Guv!.
This would have fitted quite nicely into the lineage of VLM's that Jeff had developed from Trip-a-Tron to the Atari Jaguar, VLM to Nuon, VLM 2 to Xbox VLM and finally the Unity project which was Gamecube bound. Jeff is a high profile pioneer of these technologies. That's not to belittle the effort put in by others who have developed Win amp visualisation plug-ins and the like. A great deal of effort goes into programming these graphic effects and music is used as the trigger mechanism or catalyst to alter the patterns and effects created.
Jeff Selling Trip-a-tron at a trade show
It's a sad state of affairs, but in terms of saleability, the significance of the product and its place in history don't help to ensure a commercial success. It's a difficult one to measure - after all it's not a game. There is no goal to achieve, you can't beat it. It's not competitive - it's purely a distraction. But should there be a place in a launch line up for such a product? A little light relief maybe? I'm going to say that even though I wouldn't have bought it myself, it offered something different. I must admit I do find myself playing sandbox games as a form of release. The freedom to not have to take missions and achieve objectives - to go you own way and do your own thing can be rewarding in its own right.
PRESS CUTTING BLURB: a MUSIC & GRAPHICS 'toy' (allows the user to easily create CD quality multi-channel music in stereo without the need to read or write music, whilst at the same time creating a dazzling kaleidoscope on screen with 4096 colours, shapes, star-fields etc.)
Screenshots
Sorry - none from the Multi-system to be found anywhere...