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Limbo of the Lost was originally developed in the 90s by Steve Bovis and Tim Croucher. Using an initial prototype made on the Atari ST, the two pitched the concept to publishers. Unfortunately, as is often the case, the publishers wanted a finished product. This stymied the pair's efforts until 1995 when Bovis, Croucher and Laurence Francis began working on the game again this time as a point and click adventure for the Amiga A500. Rasputin Software picked up the title on the Amiga 1200 and Amiga CD32. Unfortunately, Limbo of the Lost never made it to store shelves since, by the time it was ready, the systems it was made for were dead.

Finally, in 2003, Bovis once again restarted development on Limbo of the Lost. Bovis, Croucher, and Francis redesigned and rebuilt the game. In 2007, G2 Games published it in Europe. Boxed copies, however, were extremely rare and the game was mostly available only through online distribution. Then, in 2008, Tri Synergy announced a wide release in North America.

Plagiarism accusations[]

On June 11, 2008 GamePlasma published an article comparing specific scenes in Limbo of the Lost with a nearly identical space in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The gaming community pounced on this revelation and soon discovered background and objects that appeared to originate from, according to Wikipedia: "The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Unreal Tournament 2004 and 2003, Diablo II, Thief: The Dark Project, Thief: Deadly Shadows, a CryENGINE2 Tech Demo, Silent Hill 4: The Room, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Painkiller and its expansion pack Painkiller: Battle out of Hell, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth, Hexen and World of Warcraft. Other scenes appear to be taken from live action films: one from the 1997 film Spawn, another from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and several more from its sequel, At World's End."

When the plagiarism was first discovered, many were incredulous that the developers could actually get away with such blatant copyright violation. Some posited that it may be an ARG (Alternate Reality Game).

Tri-Synergy has stopped distribution of Limbo of the Lost and says they were unaware that Majestic Studios (Bovis, Croucher, and Laurence) had plagiarized game content. Majestic Studios stated that they were unaware of the plagiarism and that a contractor was responsible for it. They have not, however, named this contractor and their claim appears spurious for many other reason listed below.

Laurence Francis and Tim Croucher, the only two founding members other than Steve Bovis, posted this message stating that they had nothing to do with the graphics and were withdrawing from Majestic Studios due to the actions of "certain team members"

Developer's claims[]

In their statement to the press, on June 23rd, 2008, the developers finally stated that the plagiarized art had come from a contractor that they outsourced to.

However, in December 2004, Steve Bovis posted on the Wintermute Engine forums stating that:

The backgrounds are created in 3D GAMESTUDIO A6 , they are textured, lit and then I place a camera at a certain position and grab a still. This becomes the initial background plate.

In this same post, he links to a gallery of screenshots that contain plagiarized assets from Return to Castle Wolfenstein. This suggests that he was referring directly to having created the precise screenshots linked to, with the method mentioned above. However, it is entirely possible that a third party created the plagiarised backgrounds and that he was simply taking credit for them, or that he was referring to the way in which he, specifically, worked. This does seem unlikely given his claims about his role in the development team shown below.

Limbo of the Lost

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Return to Castle Wolfenstein

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This lends credence to the theory that Steve Bovis deliberately stole copyrighted content from other videogames.

In addition, in an interview with Just Adventure, Steve Bovis listed the other team members as being Tim Croucher, Laurence Francis, Marko "Gravehill" Hautamäki, Lisa Highsted, and Heather Banks. None of them are attributed as being responsible for any art creation. Additionally, he is quoted as saying:

My job is to put the game together and create all the visuals, coding, sounds, models, marketing and basically make the game flow and work. As well as manage and try to motivate the team. A job that is hard enough at the best of times!

Not only does he not mention any outsourcing, he also states that his job is to "create all the visuals" for the game.

Some have posited that perhaps the developers didn't know that they were breaking copyright. Perhaps they were just that clueless. Bovis's claim that he created the backgrounds in 3D GameSudio, however, makes that theory very unlikely. In this statement, he clearly lies about creating the background art using a 3D package when comparison shots have proven that the ONLY way these screenshots could have been created is by taking a screenshot of Return to Castle Wolfentstein and then overlaying other images in Photoshop.

Several of Bovis's statements on the Wintermute Engine Forum document his personal involvement in various aspects of the game's graphics:

  • August 24, 2004: "You see I am a game designer, modeller, artist, sound technician, level designer, character designer, writer but not very good at the coding thang."
  • November 19, 2004: "I have created the compass as a sprite and the needdle spins in a loop."
  • November 29, 2004: [on Poser] "Remember though as with all graphic software you get out what you put in. You need imagination and artistic flare to really push these tools. (the tool itself is not enough!!)"
  • December 2, 2004: "I believe if you create excellent good looking models in a high poly modeller and then animate using, say poser 5. Then save as TGA or BMP, import into Sprite edit and then into the WME engine you would be surprised at the results. I was, and am using this method for all my NPC`s for my project LIMBO of the LOST."
  • December 9, 2004: "The backgrounds are created in 3D GAMESTUDIO A6 , they are textured, lit and then I place a camera at a certain position and grab a still. This becomes the initial background plate."
  • October 7, 2005: "I have thought of all that you have said and have gone with the complete copy of the main actor but cut off at the knees, the reason is that the water is highly deatailed and I want to keep it this way."
  • May 24, 2006: "Thanks for your input but I am not a scripter or programmer I am a Visuals and game designer, I can work out the mechanics and design scenes and any graphics you can think of, 2D and 3D, animate, story line etc etc but I cannot for the life of me script."
  • June 12, 2006: "I have created around 46 characters for my project from the main character to main NPC`s to background creatures."

Steve Bovis' sockpuppet, FABLE, demonstrated knowledge of Oblivion in a GameBoomers forum post on November 20, 2007: "I am mostly talking about full game reviews that you read on the web that in my opinion spoil some surprises, look at THE WITCHER, or OBLIVION reviews and you will see what I mean."

Given the amount of art stolen for LotL, it is possible that some of the remaining, unidentified, art comes from 3D Gamestudio project content.

Plagiarized design[]

One element of LotL's game design that is particularly surprising to note is that some puzzles are plagiarized directly from other games. For instance, in the screenshots below, you can see a comparison of LotL versus Enclave. The screenshots clearly shot a plagiarized environment, but beyond that, the PUZZLE associated with the environment itself is stolen in Lotl.

In LotL, there is a lever that the player can try to use, but it does nothing. Instead, they have to sever the ropes in order to drop an object on the floor below. The lever that they cannot use is actually from a similar puzzle in that environment in Enclave. In Enclave, the player must pull that lever to raise a gate held by those ropes. It boggles the mind -- LotL's puzzle uses elements directly from the Enclave puzzle, but the solution to the Enclave puzzle (the lever) is left as a red herring in LotL.

One final note -- the screenshot from enclave used for this puzzle is the ONLY screenshot in the entire game, as far as has been discovered, that is flipped horizontally (the reference image from Enclave below was also flipped to show the correlation). All other screenshots throughout LotL are used verbatim in their original in-game orientation. It is as if the developer knew that this was the most ludicrous piece of plagiarizm in the game and went out of their way to try to hide it by flipping the image.

Limbo of the Lost
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Enclave
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Feud with GameBoomers.com[]

On November 19th, 2007, a thread was created on GameBoomers.com named "Is Anybody Playing Limbo of the Lost?". The thread, started by user "Becky", asked if anyone else was able to access copies of the game, as Becky apparently lived in the USA and couldn't find copies that shipped to the country. This resulted in a page of responses of people trying to determine pre-order status, with some claiming an inability to obtain their pre-orders or cancelling them due to poor communication. User MSTUDIOS (run by Steve Bovis), communicated with some of the users via DM, and a user named "FABLE" joined the conversation to state they had obtained their copy and was enjoying the game. Conversation continued with user "Dyl'smom" stating that Majestic Studios offered to send a copy straight from themselves due to publisher issues. FABLE continued to sing the praises of the game as a "breath of fresh Adventure air in these times of poor and stagnent (sic) adventure titles".

This statement did not go over well with Becky, who responded somewhat annoyed at FABLE labelling all adventure titles as poorly made and admonished FABLE for insisting on no spoilers as Becky stated the reviewers did not need this reiterated. FABLE quickly apologized, and continued a conversation with user "infernoj13usa" (nicknamed Inferno) as the two exchanged public messages about FABLE assisting Inferno with completing difficult puzzles. Inferno intended on posting a review of the game, but was stuck and thus unable to fully complete the title. Several posts would imply that Inferno was helped by FABLE through numerous puzzles while others discussed difficulties in purchasing the title from various online retailers. The only thing of note until the inciting incident was Steve coming back online under the MSTUDIOS profile to explain that there were difficulties in obtaining UK retailers and in international shipping.

On December 12th, 2007, FABLE posted and noted to Becky that Inferno's review of the game contained various puzzle spoilers, and was disappointed in this fact, He criticized Inferno using his help to post a public review, and asked Becky to delete the pages Inferno posted and then reupload them without the offending puzzle hints. Becky responded with a hint of frustration, stating the game had been out for two weeks time and that Inferno had placed all hints under spoiler tags. Becky defending Inferno's tips to others as there were people stuck at varying points in the game, and asked FABLE if it would be rude to avoid helping these people. FABLE doubled down in it, venting that Inferno did not obtain knowledge of the games completion on their own, and thus should not have shared any information. FABLE then argued that had they known Inferno would have used the tips FABLE gave them, FABLE wouldn't have bothered helping. FABLE then asked if MSTUDIOS wanted to weight in the conversation (who, at time of posting on this thread, had not posted for four days). Becky refused to agree, stating that some players do not want to spend weeks stuck on a puzzle, and would appreciate help passing points they cannot solve. FABLE continued to argue that this was unfair to the developers, while Becky, trying to reach an agreement with FABLE, stated that it was great FABLE had completed the game, but FABLE needed to acknowledge players who do not have weeks or months to find solutions to singular puzzles.

On the same day, only a few hours after the disagreement started, Steve would login again under MSTUDIOS and post a rant on how "I for one do not like stategy (sic) guides or hint books or walkthroughs as they do kill the gameplay created by the game no matter what the genre." Steve agreed with FABLE and took their side, citing that FABLE had made an agreement with Inferno for solutions not to be given in the review and that Inferno had broken that agreement. He stated that he wanted Becky to possibly enforce a rule where reviewers cannot answer questions to gamers looking for help. Becky responded confused, stating that the copy Steve had sent did not contain additional instructions or any desire for certain details to be left out. Steve further stated beliefs that reviewers should not use their knowledge to help gamers as it is an unfair advantage, that GameBoomers was created for adventure game lovers and this ruined the point of the fun, and that reviews should always stay neutral. User "BrownEyedTigre" then weighed in, stating they disagreed with the ideas that Steve espoused. They further clarified that they would not pick up a game in which they would be absolutely unable to gain help if they were truly stuck. FABLE then turned the same arguments towards Becky against Tigre, arguing still that it would be unfair to use reviewer knowledge to help others. Tigre disagreed and echoed Becky's sentiment that such a thing would be incredibly rude to those who need help. User "texaslady" then also joined the thread and pointedly stated that they would never spend months on a puzzle and that Inferno is well within their right to review as needed. User "MaG" then joined, arguing that if Steve's demands are this unreasonable, then the review should be trashed altogether.

It was also at this point that MaG revealed MSTUDIOS and FABLE shared an identical IP Address.

With this information public, the various users who had previously used the thread, along with many others, jumped in and condemned Steve for not only attacking Inferno's credibility, but also utilizing alternate accounts to falsely defend himself and pretend to be another person. Immediately users noticed how similar FABLE and MSTUIDOS posts were, and concluded there was no coincidence. Numerous users, offended by Steve's actions, also had their preorders canceled. A few users also claimed they would either refuse to play the game further, or would not open the copies they had received. The next day (December 4th), Inferno decided to post a response to all of the comments that Steve had been making under his FABLE and MSTUDIOS accounts. They chastised Steve for not listening as they never said they wouldn't post hints, just that they wouldn't make a full walkthrough. They also called out how hypocritical it would be for Steve to be angry at Inferno for using reviewer knowledge when Steve, the developer, helped Inferno under the guise of a regular user. Inferno then stated they would be removing their review before officially being submitted, and stated they would be sending the game back to Becky to be shipped back to Majestic Studios out of disgust. Steve, using MSTUDIOS, refuted that he and FABLE were the same person, instead stating FABLE was actually a playtester who was passionate about the title. He repeatedly referred to himself in the third person as "MSTUDIOS", and stated he had "asked (FABLE) to refrain from posting on this site under this topic as this clouds the matter." He ended his post with "I apologise for any ill feeling, this has been sorted now and I look forward to the review of the game. Kind Regards". Needless to say, users did not buy this and continued attacking him for his hostility, demanding a proper apology. Inferno also did not release the review, implying they did not accept the apology either.

Steve did continue trying to sway public opinion as further users cancelled their preorders, and insisted FABLE was not him. Users did not believe this regardless. Becky would later refute one of Steve's claims that GameBoomers had been given an exclusive review copy. According to Becky, the game arrived with no documentation. This was apparently normal with review copies, and it was forwarded to Inferno for a review. Earlier in the day, Inferno admitted that they had received a special request to withhold certain information which Inferno would continue honoring. Steve insisted that it was an exclusive review, but did not provide a response to Becky's claim that it came with no documentation, meaning that if this were true, whoever at Majestic Studios sent the copy had failed to inform GameBoomers of this fact. Steve would state, in the same post, that he had only informed Inferno of this via email. MaG would finally lock the thread on the same day at 9:59 AM. After reviewing all the messages, he concluded Steve acted in bad faith to deceive the forums. He also agreed that Steve had insulted their reviewer, and this was unacceptable. MaG would end his post saying "GameBoomers has a responsibility to the Adventure Community to present information and to help. Aside and of equal importance is the protection of our wonderful members and that includes the wonderful Staff that give their precious time, knowledge and love freely. Both these obligations were compromised by one person and one person alone - NOT by the company he represented, his fellow developers or the game he produced. So as a single entity, he and his multiple personalities are not welcomed in GameBoomers."

With the thread locked, Steve could not use either of his accounts to post further.

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