“Every artist has thousands of bad drawings in them and the only way to get rid of them is to draw them out.”

Chuck Jones

Any artistic product will have early drafts or scrapped ideas missing from the final version. In the film industry, The Cutting Room Floor refers to a hypothetical space where all the unused footage for a movie is dumped.

True to the namesake, The Cutting Room Floor is an online community who collect cut or unused content in video games, instead of movies. Assets hidden in inaccessible locations or the code itself, shortcuts used by the developers, unusual easter eggs, incomplete levels — you name it!

What do they do?

The Cutting Room Floor primarily use their MediaWiki as a database to publish and/or document unused, unreleased or incomplete video game content. For a sample of TCRF’s discoveries, just taka a look at their “Did You Know…” section. Did you know that Dragon’s Lair for the Amiga actually has a hidden message to discourage people from cracking the game?

How do they do it?

For one thing data mining hidden content is a skill in its own right. While this is often an individual task it’s not an isolated one, TCRF provide thorough guides on how to get started and best practices for reporting new discoveries.

In cases where content is removed from the final release, TCRF work together with their sibling community The Hidden Palace who collect video game prototypes.

How do I sign up?

Consider registering on the Wiki, there’s plenty of to-dos to fill out! TCRF is spread across a number of platforms, but are currently most active on Discord.

Give the Cutting Room Floor a visit, today! And CUT!

Looking to discover other archiving communities? Just follow Data Horde’s Twitter List and check out our past Community Spotlights.