Yes it is. Shut up Phylum.

jokes babe

You can wave the root of the word in my face all you want. I'm telling you that in modern speech, if you call anyone a mongoloid, they're going to think you mean retarded and not that they look indigenous to Mongolia.

Also, "Caucasian" doesn't have more than one meaning like Mongoloid does. Try again.

I've never heard mongoloid as a meaning for down's person. Mah bad blokes.

It does get used wrongly a lot, though. Not all white people are from south Russian euorpean/asian border.

Most aren't. In fact, I don't think "caucasian" is the agreed-upon PC term for white people anymore. All the work forms I've seen seen in the last few years that ask for personal information list it as "white".

Same. That may be as much to do with people not knowing what 'Caucasian' means as anything.

I'm pretty sure 'Caucasian' is still a commonly used term in Australia. For instance, this.

Anyway, let's get back on topic.

The Mudokons should be Caucasian.

One comment and the current of the whole thread shifts. lol

Is Glitch even still checking this thread?

Naturally we all are able to tell whether or not he is.

You probably can with all of your modly powers.
Your moldy powers...

In mod we trust. lol

Now we just need someone to sit and refresh and watch constantly! Piece of piss.

I love how you assume I don't know how to use the forums, being here for 8 years and all. I, of course, meant to see if he had checked it recently in the past. :p

As for my prior statement regarding Glitch, I meant it in the sense of "this thread has gotten so far off track why the fuck would he even bother?".

Maybe we need someone to summarise all of the key points discussed and send it to Glitch?

Sekto, I think your forum sarcasm detector is wonky.

Probably. This forum is so acrid with sarcasm that I can't even tell anymore.

So are mudokons Caucasian or Mongoloid?

Sorry for the absence, I assure you I am trying to read this thread, but I'm also trying to help get Stranger's Wrath's UI system through QA (damn foreigners with their long words messing up my lovely buttons)

If someone could summarise some of the best (read: funniest) suggestions into a new post that would help me a lot, but I will probably go back and read the whole thread anyway.

Since your last post...

Art:

Gameplay:

Side-scrolling:


Sligs & Posession:

Food for thought:

Hey, Glitch, you're like us, you like games, you probably don't like the way the whole pre-order exclusives thing is going. Why not make a statement? Actually put in an exclusive pre-order loincloth, just as a joke. Make it exactly the same as the old one, but with a dark stain on one side.

"PRE-ORDER EXCLUSIVE: Abe's Loincloth", the Steam announcement would say. Make it look like one of the Rupturefarms product posters, with an outburst saying "STAINED!".

Oh, go on. It'd take, like, three hours to implement.

SHOW US YOU LOVE US

Also,

A number of very nice suggestions here.

The only two I'm slightly dubious about is the quicksave reward for saving muds, because saving muds should be its own reward, and you get into sticky situations where the player gets lots and lots of saved muds all at the same time so it gets to the point where he's always got some quicksaves in the bank, so why not have them usable from the beginning?

The other issue is the pre-order stuff. It is definitely a sticky issue; companies do it because the sooner they get an indication of how well the game is going to do, the more they can push it at the appropriate markets (or do damage control if it doesn't look like it's going to sell well). We will probably do some kind of preorder stuff, but we will try very hard to make them appealing but not necessary (it'll likely be aesthetic rather than a bad ass Snuzi for abe to carry around).

In regards to the DLC discussion, we will likely be doing DLC, but definitely not in the style of a certain games "pay for something that should have been with the original game". Without going into too much detail, the DLC will treat the Abe game as a platform for more stories, not as a platform for squeezing pennies out of you.

I still love you guys!

I'm too lazy to go back and find it, but myself and Bullet Magnet brought up the importance of atmospheric fx and proper dynamic lighting, especially in levels like the stock yards.

I really want to see some use of particle physics to create smoke and mist. Collision detection on certain foreground elements that respond to Abe's movements, perhaps he brushes by a plant or some tall grass. Maybe apply the same thing to projectiles; when Abe lobs a rock or grenade at an enemy, it can bounce off of them accompanied by a rich thud followed by an appropriate WTF response from said enemy.

Also - if it at all helps with the slig gunfire issue - maybe add a reloading animation. It could buy Abe a few seconds of time to run from/slap the slig, and would add some realism (unless they're guns have magical, unending mags of ammunition).

This game should definetly support multiplayer LAN/internet. They should also make it so you can play with a bot and you can choose it's difficulty (How good it is at the game). If you set it on the highest difficulty, it will mostly get a perfect game.

There are a few things that are a given for this remake. Keeping the atmosphere is job number 1.

Things such as particle smoke and a generally more dynamic environment are things which, as far as I'm concerned, are going to happen.

The Slig issue is a problem that has many possible solutions; it will take a while to figure out and implement the best one.

I'm not really sure what kind of alteration you're suggesting. Do you mean some kind of Abe v Slig Deathmatch?

I mean the same multiplayer that was in Abe's Oddysee for the PS1, except it can be LAN, online, or NPC players. Maybe you could be able to change their difficulty which controls how good they are at the game.

Abe's Oddysee wasn't really multiplayer. It just had a mode that brought up an alternating "Player 1"/"Player 2" overlay every time you respawned.

I would love to see Time Trails. You could see a Ghost of a past player or yourself run though the path and see if you can beat him, A lot like Mario Kart's Time Trail system.

I thought it would be cool if they made multiplayer for the PC version, supported more players, and supported LAN/internet.

Maybe they could change it so the players play at the same time.

Maybe they could add more game modes.

Abe's Oddysee is a single-player game. It doesn't need online play and I think it would ruin it if it had it because what use would it have? just muiltple Abes running everywhere messing up the paths?

@crashpunk 'time trails'? i've been calling them time 'trials'.. Have I been wrong my whole life? o_O..

Multiplayer could work, but you couldn't just stick another player in the game as it is. You'd have to redesign the puzzles, and the layout, pretty much everything about the scene, to make it work for multiple players. What could happen is a second player could opt to control slave mudokons throughout the game and this would allow puzzles to be accessed and completed that are only accessible with the aid of the second player, enabling a '110%' game completion.

I think multiplayer could work in Oddworld depending on how the puzzles are designed. Maybe you handicap each player regularly throughout the game to leave them with certain abilities or skills, like being able to possess or talk to other Mudokons. This can make it so each player has their own importance and task throughout the game.

As far as multiplayer is concerned, I think it's an excellent idea, and I've got quite a few mates who'd love it as much as I would; but I do think it would require a seperate set of levels, possibly characters, much like Portal 2.*

I like the idea of the 'jittery' possessed Sligs. That would really add atmosphere and immersion! :)

I also like the time-trial idea, with the ghost player from a previous playthrough or some such thing.

Further levels through DLC etc. (SLIGSTORM PLX) would add to the longevity of the game, too!*

*You wouldn't have to worry much about making these levels if you included an easy-to-use and highly interactive level editor of some kind. Eh? EH? You know it has to happen ;)

Regarding user-generated levels, a level-editor is probably a bitchload of work considering how much it's likely to be used. After all, Abe HD will have fully 3D backdrops. How are you gonna make those in a level editor?

As long as the structure of the programme allows it to be modifiable, mods will appear if modders are interested. If the demand proves to be high once the game is out, then you can design a level editor built to cater to the emergent demand.

Going back to this briefly, I just wanted to explain why I hate the idea of Sligs having dialogue and conversations.

Maybe I’m turning into that fan who bemoans any changes made to a classic game, but I don’t see it helping the atmosphere. Think back to when you played AO for the first time.

Think about how the world is presented—our first landmark is a smoke-spewing megalithic factory, filled with production lines and cold, malicious machinery manned by emaciated slaves. RuptureFarms is built up in the player’s mind as an unpleasant and oppressive place, an amoral corporation whose only concern is its CEO’s pocket.

The way Sligs are presented in-game is, I think, an extension of that environment. In the original game, the are portrayed as callous and inhuman. Their presence and their loose trigger fingers are designed to make the player fearful; they are an obstacle and a threat. I think their (relative) silence accentuates that image of a cold and dangerous enemy, and I think giving them throwaway dialogue cheapens that image.

Imagine Combine soliders standing around a watercooler. Slig small-talk gives me the same sense of dissonance.

I can see what you mean, actually, OddHunter. Perhaps a middle-ground would be best, so as not to humanise too much; maybe they could occasionally engage each other in the same kind of chit-chat as when we see them conversing just as Abe enters the Stockyards. It's unintelligible and emotionless, much like the Metropolice radio chatter in the start of HL2... which makes me think.

In the first game, ALL of the industrialists spoke in low, obscure voices, and as far as I could work out, were not meant to be fully understood by the player. Kind of makes them seem much more merciless. I think as long as any Slig chatter was done like this, and the aforementioned cutscene, it could breathe a little more life into the environments while not breaking character.

Just don't make them speak with the same jive mannerisms as in Munch... I always thought that was awful. :p

Just two small things I thought of while writing this post;
1) I hope the Sligs still spam BS and S'Mo BS when they're about to beat the slaves silly. To me it's highly iconic.
2) Can't remember if we've had word on this, but I hope the Sligs use the visor mask from Oddysee. Looks way cooler and more emotionless.

I suppose Portal 2 styled co-op levels could work. @AvengingGibbons It is Time Trials, You were right.

Proper 2 player mode separate from the main story would be pretty cool, and could work somewhat easily on a PC. I could only wonder what complex and nightmarish puzzles you could create.

However, if it was done a la Portal 2 style, you have to wonder; can this puzzle be solved solo? Does it really require a second player? It'd take a while to make something like this but it'd enhance the experience alot. You could still rescue mudokons and sabotage industrial facilities and what not but it'd have to be separate from the main story, or editted levels from the main story made co-op style.

That would be something I'd very much like, along with co-op puzzle elements and achievements, but it sounds hard to implement correctly (but anything would be better than the "2-player" in Oddysee/Exoddus before this).