List of Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm pre-release and unused content

This is a list of pre-release and unused content for the game Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm.

Pre-development[edit]

Prior to development, Kenn Navarro^[1] considered a microgame collection in the style of WarioWare or a puzzle game. The former idea was shot down because of the genre's market oversaturation at the time.

Early iteration[edit]

Kenn Navarro's pitch concept art for how a Happy Tree Friends console video game would look like.

Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm was going to be developed by Secret Level, Inc. and it was going to be a puzzle game with 2D visuals similar to the show. The idea is that the player would be given a scenario and tools that can interact with the environment similar to The Incredible Machine. The player would pick a few characters to make a firefighter team, which would determine the powers the player can use in a scenario. For example, Lumpy can throw lit matches to burn flammable objects and Mole can use the fire hose to distinguish fires. A scenario would be designed to be solvable using various methods to encourage player thinking. Kenn Navarro also considered an additional challenge in the form of limited power use.^[1]

Though the final game also uses a map in the level selection screen, the first iteration had a different map design. It would have the levels represented as objects directly drawn on the map. The pins denoting level clear grade were given different colors compared to the final build, which uses colors matching the grade name. In the first iteration, Gold's pin was red, Silver's was blue, and Bronze's was yellow.

Unused concepts[edit]

After development was shifted over to Stainless Games, Kenn Navarro^[2] considered the idea of the player character, Lumpy, being equipped with a one-man helicopter rig and the player would directly control his movement and actions. The final build instead uses a "rescuer aim" cursor and Lumpy is only present in the HUD.

Early damage indicator[edit]

Most of the promotional screenshots have the Happy Tree Friends' damage indicators colored in a gradient of green, yellow, and red. The final build's gauge is instead colored entirely red, but turns blue if the gauge goes under 25%.

Unused content[edit]

HUD[edit]

The HUD.DDS file located in the game's /Common folder appears to be a spritesheet of an early HUD. It uses a simpler and flat coloring, the abilities are only color-coded blue for Action and Water and red for Fire and Nitro, the ability gauge is a white bar, and Lumpy is represented with a 2D portrait.

Loading screen message[edit]

The text files in the Localisation folder feature level loading screen messages that are never called in-game. In the actual game, it only uses the text "Loading the World" (LOADING_WORLD) and "Locating Happy Tree Friends" (LOADING_VICTIMS). The following lists the unused loading text in English (Text_Eng.txt):

"Loading SFX" (LOADING_SFX)
"Loading textures" (LOADING_TEXTURES)
"Creating Visual FX" (LOADING_VISUAL_FX)
"Creating Weapons Of Mass Destruction" (LOADING_WEAPONS)
"Packing BackPack" (LOADING_BACKPACK)

Scrapped characters[edit]

Cuddles and Handy were considered to be included as Happy Tree Friends that need rescuing. They ended up scrapped and have no 3D models and textures, but their HUD elements remain in the game files. Their HUD portraits can be seen alongside other existing characters' portraits in /Common/BottHUDPic.DDS and they also have "burned" and "frozen" states in /Common/HUDFireIce.DDS. The HUD.txt contained in /Common also defines Cuddles' and Handy's portraits including their frozen and burned states, but these definitions are never called in-game. Their full-body portraits are also defined alongside other existing characters in /FrontEnd/HTF_characters.DDS.