Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee

• CPU: Pentium 120 MHz
• RAM: 16 MB
• Graphics Card: SVGA
• Windows 95 compatible sound card
• 4x CD -ROM drive

Oddworld: Abe 's Oddysee is a Jump ' n' Run of the U.S. computer game developer Oddworld Inhabitants and the first title of the Oddworld series. He was first published in 1997 on the U.S. publisher GT Interactive for PlayStation and DOS. It tries the character Abe from his captivity to escape in a meat factory and to free his enslaved people. The game was titled Oddworld: Adventures for Game Boy adapted. It also followed by several re-releases on other platforms. The title was the prelude to a series of other games in the Oddworld game world.

• 5.1 Oddworld: Adventures
• 5.2 Oddworld: Abe 's Oddysee - New 'n' Tasty
• 5.3 Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus

Action

Abe 's Oddysee is playing on the continent Mudos the fictional world Oddworld ( German about: weird world). The story is told as a retrospective by the eponymous character Abe. Abe is a being from the people of Mudokaner (English: Mudokons ) and actually an anti- hero. Like many of his people, he is a slave to the meat producers Molluck from the people of Glukkons. As such, he is responsible for the waxing of the gears in the food factory RuptureFarms (of English: to rupture = tear ) responsible. During his service Abe overheard a board meeting by chance. He learns that the company in response to the almost extinguished livestock holdings a new food product called " New 'n' Tasty" ( German: New and delicious) intends to bring to market. The basis for this is supposed to be the meat of the Mudokaner. Whether this realization comes Abe panicked and tried to escape. He is discovered and pursued. Abe's goal is to escape from RuptureFarm and then take care of their closure to prevent so that the production of New 'n' Tasty to start. He comes across in the course of the game on the traces of a prophecy, according to which he is chosen to deliver his people from slavery through the Glukkons. Another goal throughout the game is saving the maximum of all 99 distributed in the game occurring conspecifics. From the success of the player in this case the outcome of the game depends on where it is distinguished between a good end and a bad ending. There is also an extended version of the good end, if the player can liberate all 99 Mudokaner. The happy ending is considered canon and is the basis for the succession titles Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus.

Gameplay

The gameplay meets the essential features of Jump 'n' Run - genres. The player controls the game character Abe directly using the game controller or keyboard. The game is here presented from a side-scrolling perspective, the game world is made up of pre-rendered, two-dimensional images scenes. The transition between the scenes is animated or staged with the help of CGI cutscenes, giving the impression of a cohesive game world and a cinematic presentation is created. On the way through the game world, the game character needs to usual genre using certain movement commands such as running, jumping, climbing and stealth skill has various exercises that require precise timing and careful control by the player. A special feature of the game is the so-called ALIVE game engine ( Aware Lifeforms In Virtual Entertainment ), which determines the behavior of game worlds. With them the character Abe can communicate using a procedure called the GameSpeak dialogue system. In this way, Abe can be obtained, for example, simple commands such as " follow me " and "Wait ". This is used for example in the rescue of Abe's fellows used that need to be guided in this way by sometimes dangerous territory to defined vanishing points. Furthermore, Abe can take over the control of certain game characters using the GameSpeak functions, open portals to link otherwise inaccessible play areas and solve melody based tasks. This extends the usual genre principle for additional puzzles features. The player's decisions are monitored by a designated as Qarma routine and affect the outcome of the game.

Development

Abe 's Oddysee was the first title, founded in October 1994, development studio Oddworld Inhabitants. The founders Sherry McKenna and Lorne Lanning had previously worked as a specialist in Visual Effects for the company Rhythm & Hues in the film industry. Lanning's motivation for the industry change was the establishment of its own brand, which he was able to keep full creative control to implement its own narrative ideas. After being in the film industry saw no possibility to produce its own, generated with the help of computer technology story to Lanning opted to establish a development studio for computer games to break into the emerging game industry foot. The development of the game began in January 1995 under the provisional title Soulstorm. On September 17, 1996 Publisher Warner of Creative Programming and Technology Ventures, Inc. acquired a 50% stake in the company Oddworld Inhabitants, including world exclusive publication rights. The company changed the title of the game only to Epic and eventually to Oddworld: Abe 's Oddysee.

The team consisted of 35 employees, the development costs amounted to three million U.S. dollars. The subject matter is influenced by the Zukunftsdystopie Soylent Green. As a playful model Lanning called a retrospective entitled Flashback. In contrast to later Oddworld Abe 's Oddysee titles seemed quite silly. Series creator Lanning described this as a spirit of the times and the technical limitations due alignment. Thus were the work begins, no adult games like Grand Theft Auto have been a leader, but familientauglichere titles such as Super Mario and Sonic. Due to the limited resolution and limited computing resources also had to be put on a cartoon-like appearance.

The PlayStation version of the game was released on 19 September 1997. Was the release of the game with a ten million dollar expensive, global advertising campaign consisting of print ads, TV spots and online support. Furthermore, there was cross-promotion with console manufacturers Sony and the music channel MTV.

Reception

Reviews

The PlayStation version of Abe 's Oddysee received mostly positive reviews ( GameRankings: 87.94 % / Metacritic: 85 out of 100 ). The PC version was good, but lower average ratings ( GameRankings: 79.13 %).

"You can tell that the Oddworldler have learned their craft in Hollywood: camera work, background music, and characters are absolutely ready for film. "

" Only every few blue moon you may experience as an editor, as a new star on the rears and video game heaven is born. With the arrival of Oddworlds captivating space Estheticians Abe, the one without hesitation in the same breath as Donald Duck, the lemmings, EWJ [Note: Earthworm Jim ] can call or Donkey [ Kong ], a star is such landed on the Playstation ".

"The game developed by the seamless crossfading between 2D Plattforming and perfectly fitted 3D turns with impressive depth effect a breathtaking atmosphere, such as she had never experience. "

"It's easy to fall in love with Abe 's Oddysee, but do not go running off to get married without a second look. Yes, it's beautiful, funny, and full of personality, but be prepared to have to prove your worth over and over again before getting any prvileges. "

" It's easy to fall in love Abe 's Oddysee, but do not run blindly down the aisle without a second glance to throw it. Yes, it's beautiful, funny and full of personality, but you directed a fact that you have to prove your worth again and again 's new before you receive any privileges. "

" Abe 's Oddysee Represents one of the first successful meetings of Hollywood and Silicon Valley. It's of basically a collection of puzzles combined flawlessly to form a cohesive and interesting story line. "

" Abe 's Oddysee represents one of the first successful connections of Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Basically it is a collection of puzzles, perfectly combined to form a closed and interesting guide to action it. "

"Its been a while since a platformer Has evolved into something more than your standard run and jump fare type game. Abe 's Oddysee Has taken the standard platformer and made ​​it into a complete game. "

"It 's been a while that a platformer has become more than a standard racing and jumping game. Abe 's Oddysee has taken the standard principle of Plattformers and turned it into a completely new game. "

Sales figures and awards

On February 17, 1998 Warner was in the context of its quarterly report the sale of one million copies of the game known and valued the title as a great success. Overall, the first publication of Abe 's Oddysee was sold 3.5 million times. In addition, as of August 2011 an additional 1.5 million sold copies of the game via digital distribution.

Awards

• Best Director - CD ROM / Game Platform World Animation Festival, 1997
• Wire Award for Games - Multimedia Wire, 1997
• 1997 Video Game Approval - Parent 's Choice Foundation, 1997
• Silver Review Award - Electronic Gaming Monthly, 1997
• 1998 Best Voice Acting Award - Electronic Gaming Monthly, 1997
• Console Game of the Month - Nov Escape UK, 1997

2011 Abe 's Oddysee was one of the three PlayStation games, which proposed the Smithsonian American Art Museum for its exhibition The Art of Video Games as examples of the artistic design of action games on this console. After public voting, it was subject, however, to Metal Gear Solid.

The character Abe

The character Abe became an unofficial mascot of the Oddworld game world and the PlayStation console that looked about the game out.

At the Oscar nominations published in 1999, Oddworld Inhabitants an almost 15 - minute animated film titled Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus: The Movie. It consists of cutscenes of the successor title Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus and a few specially designed for the film scenes together. The film is the first computer game film, which was submitted as a possible candidate for the Oscar nominations. In order to meet the necessary criteria, publisher GT Interactive dropped the film from 27 to October 29, 1998 perform in the Laemmle Theater in Los Angeles.

On 16 November 1998, the German electro-pop and dance music project Music Instructor published the piece of music Music Instructor feat. Abe - Get Freaky, in which a short vocal performance of the player character is heard. Abe region also occurs in the accompanying video clip, which is located in the Oddworld game world. The single debuted on 5 January 1999 at number 5 in the German Single Charts and received a platinum award from the Federal Association of Music Industry. In Austria and Switzerland, the song reached the charts.

In March 2002, the technology magazine Wired Abe chose for the cover of its 10.03 Edition discussing progress in the development of artificial intelligence.

Follow-on projects

Oddworld: Adventures

Oddworld: Adventures is a specially adapted by the U.S. Development Studio Saffire on the Game Boy version of Abe 's Oddysee. It was published on 4 December 1998 and reflects the poor performance of the handheld games console statement. The game was GT Interactive's first release for the handheld games console from Nintendo.

Oddworld: Abe 's Oddysee - New 'n' Tasty

2010 announced Oddworld Inhabitants in cooperation with the British development studies Just Add Water revision and republication of all previous Oddworld games. Primarily the resolution of textures and character models have been increased for matches in Stranger's Wrath and Munch 's Oddysee. With the working title Abe HD, the two companies announced on 31 January 2011, however, a strongly revised remake of where the original two-dimensional game environments should be transferred based on the original templates in 3D graphics. On the Euro Gamer Expo in September 2012, the game titled Oddworld was: Abe 's Oddysee - New 'n' Tasty first presented publicly. The gameplay and the game structure - should be maintained - with slight adjustments. A change compared to its predecessor, however, are now contiguous level sections instead of permanent change of scene. Some actions that could be reset by leaving the screen in the first publication, therefore had to be adapted to this new game world design.

Speaking to the press expressed Series creator Lanning in March 2014 that a total of about five million dollars had been invested in the game, which, however, an estimated two to three million U.S. dollars fell to the proprietary and recycled more of Oddworld Inhabitants materials and only two million fresh capital corresponded. Lanning also stated that for the amortization of the project, about 250,000 copies sold would be needed at a retail price of around 30 U.S. dollars, enough money together would be around 500,000 copies sold in order to develop a new Oddworld game.

Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus

Abe 's Oddysee was planned as the first part of a five-part series about the game world Oddworld, the so-called Quintology, and each with different main characters. Due to the success of Abe 's Oddysee Oddworld Inhabitants GT Interactive published together with the plan notwithstanding after one year the title Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, but again with the figure of Abe in the lead role. The game continued the well-known principle of the first part continued without major changes. It was not until 2001 the band released Oddworld: Munch 's Oddysee, the originally planned second part of the Quintology.