Looks like it might be encoded in code page 850, which was commonly used in DOS at the time for non-English locales, at least in parts of Europe.
On another note, it's interesting to see what appear to be some kinds of todo items or task assignments in the comments of fantasie.asm: things like testing on different kinds of displays and computers. I guess the project management toolbox was a bit less refined at the time.
I remember reading about the development of Baldur's Gate II - around 2000 I suppose, a rather big game, especially for its times - and they supposedly tracked all bugs using some kind of physical board and paper notes. I'm not sure if that is true of course.
Pinball Fantasies was likely developed probably around 1991-1992, so 8 years earlier. We are really rather spoiled by nowadays tools (when we are not complaining about Jira etc. of course). I also still remember rather horrible crudeness of tools like Bugzilla or Mantis which were one of the first tools in this area I worked with.
The whole set of credits for the original Amiga version is less than ten people: two programmers, one artist, one musician, and a couple of producers. This port was done by "FrontLine Design", who seemed to be three more people, according to the text in intro.asm.
I'm not sure you need a complex project management toolbox for a team that size.
(Digital Illusions grew into DICE, who certainly does need complex project management tools; I wonder how many of the original members are still there.)
Epic MegaGames tried to recruit Future Crew, but they declined. I remember reading from somewhere that one of the coders from FC made a technically impressive pinball game in a weekend out of spite and showmanship and showed it to Tim Sweeney that they could do it, but wont.
Wikipedia says this:
"Tim Sweeney saw some impressive 3D demos done by a group of Finnish developers that were members of the PC demogroup Future Crew and sent Mark Rein to Finland to recruit them. They declined except for Misko Iho who travelled to the US with Mark, bringing back an unfinished version of a pinball game.[5] Unable to convince them to allow Epic MegaGames to finish the game, Tim showed the unfinished game to James Schmalz in Canada. James developed Epic Pinball (with six pinball tables) from scratch in nine months while he was in college. Tim and Mark kept in touch with James to ensure he was on the right track.[6] The graphics were created using Deluxe Paint II and the music was composed using Scream Tracker.[7]"
On another note, it's interesting to see what appear to be some kinds of todo items or task assignments in the comments of fantasie.asm: things like testing on different kinds of displays and computers. I guess the project management toolbox was a bit less refined at the time.