It's the model used in Hollywood, the way a typical feature film production company works. Lorne's trying not just to get his stories told but shape the entertainment industry along the way.

Which is smart. Just not assuredly destined to succeed, nor the best thing for us chumps that just want to sit about and wait for more Oddworld.

So he's basically doing the "I have this idea, but I want you guys to do the really hard stuff" method, whilst peering over their sholders nitpicking.

Exactly like when he was the creative director of a game studio, yes, only more long-distance.

Except that isn't true. There are no companies out there that say "Oh, look. I have an idea. I have no money, and I have no staff, and I want you to do all this for me".

That's called a screenwriter. Not a company.

Actually, yes that does happen all the time. Producers don't bankroll films on their own; that's why they go to the studios and other investors to stump up the cash. That's exactly what Lorne has been doing for the last five years, and exactly why the films haven't been made; CS and AO are rather out-there concepts for films, after all.

Really? From what I read about Citizen Siege it seemed to be a pretty standard movie pitch. Almost like depressingly so.

Oh hey guys is the new oddworld game out yet

Heres the anwser that you can understand well :tard:

3D cutscenes can be outsourced to other companies. Like all the ones that make 3D cutscenes for those DS RPGs for example. I just hope Oddworld Inhabitants go multi-format this time, not getting tied down to one particular system.

Well, then OWI will provide ANOTHER third party company that will do it for them, unless the first third party is capable themselves.
The main focus OWI always had, was being good with movies/CG and have a high standard for that. So that is what they will expect to have the end product too I assume. So they will take the best from different companies and try to fix one same end product. It might not work, as communication is THE key to succes, and that will become hard if companies are spread all over.

But he isn't a producer. Producer's are producer's because they have the connections and the know how to get the creative team everything that they need to be creative. This is not the case with Lorne Lanning. No matter how much we may all want to think that Lorne's failed business model could have been a success if only those hollywood douchebags had seen his brilliance, it's just not true. He's a glorified screenwriter who wants a producer credit. That's it. There are millions of screenplays that haven't been made. His is just one more.


You're assuming that they have the money to do so. This probably isn't the case.

shame though OANST

Sherry is the producer. Lorne's the creative director. And their business model can hardly be described as "failed" when they're making new stuff right now using that model.

Movies are games rarely paid out of a companies own pocket anyway. Usually the projected development cost will come in form of a loan, either from a publisher like EA, another studio, investors or the bank. It's simple math to calculate how much a game will cost to make and how much profit can be made of it. The investors will get their money + profit first, and the rest is for the developing company(s).

Since Lorne is highly into digital distribution, physical publishers like EA are probably not involved. I doubt JAW has enough money to finance the entire thing by themselves so that leaves investors or the bank. And since OWI is in the process of making Citizen Siege, I bet they have quite a few contacts out there who would be willing to invest in a smaller project first before investing in a big project like Citizen Siege. Both to see if OWI still has it, and to get their name back into the public for the big project.

After all, Lorne was pretty clear earlier when he said he wanted to abandon the gaming side of things and go fully into making movies. Something had to make him change his mind, and that was probably it.

The movie side of it has been a fairly fantastic failure. That's what I was talking about.

I mean, you really can't call the business model of getting out of games to do movies a success when their first product to emerge is a game.

I don't think 'getting out of games and making movies' is the business model Max is talking about.

From what I know, Lorne's vision of storytelling is one where a movie tells the main story and games are there to compliment the story, either before or after. The thing he's very serious about is that the complimenting game's production ties in a lot with the movies production, possibly having the projects side by side and released around the same date so that certain resources like voice actors and writers can be used for both projects instead of just one. That does wonders for effeciency and saving money, but also for the final product which should be a lot better than the cheap 'games based on movies' crap we've become accustomed to.

That's OWI's new business model as far as I know, but it's not really a surprise that it's hard to find investors for something that new and untried.

Yeah. How did that work out?

Last I checked they're still in the middle of starting it up, little early to be making judgments on that don't you think?

You're right. Five years is a very reasonable amount of time to start a business model.

Are you kidding me, right now? Seriously, people. I like Oddworld games. I will buy any game they put out, and I would also go see any movie they put out, but, for Christ's sake, stop being so naive. Their current business model is to be idea people. In other words, they pitch an idea, and hope that somebody will make it. Not only do they hope that somebody will make it, they want full creative control. That's asinine.

If he had gone ahead and acquired the funds to start a CG movie production studio before shutting down the game studio, that would have been one thing. He didn't do that, though. He had a few conversations with people in the movie industry and just assumed that everything would be peachy. He shut down his company, a company that had a decent amount of clout, to go into another business without setting up that business first. What's the first thing that any sane person does before quiting a job? You secure another job, first. He didn't do that. They failed. No one was surprised.

Why does Lorne insist on reinventing or revolutionizing existing business models anyway?

Because Lorne is the type of guy who thinks he can improve everything. He has some decent ideas but I agree with OANST that he's a little naive sometimes.

Still, we don't know half of what went on in the past 10 years. We don't know how many companies Lorne talked to, how much money is in their bank account, what their next projects are, how many people from the original team are still involved, etc.

To pitch in a bit about JAW...

We have a core team that work on all our titles, as either leads or directors, for the rest of the work we either hire freelance individuals or outsource ;-)

I hope that helps clear some stuff up about us.

Read: Yes, there are cinematics of some kind. And yes, we're outsourcing them.

Long time lurker here, but have only just registered for the forum (hello everyone). Would just like to take this opportunity to say how thrilled I am about the forthcoming new Oddworld games. It's fantastic that you take time out to keep the members of this forum updated about the developments behind the scenes at JAW, your information is greatly appreciated I must say.

I've been a fan of the Oddworld franchise since it's inception, in fact I went out and purchased Abe's Oddysee the week it was released after being fascinated by one of the demos. I'm sure whatever you have planned for the future of the franchise will be brilliant, very best of luck to all involved (I'm sure you won't need it though!)

:)

I must have missed the part where he gave some decent info about the actual projects. You know, besides letting us know that they 'outsource certain stuffs, and keep in house other stuffs'.

"NO! YOU CAN'T APPRECIATE THAT OWI IS MAKING AN ATTEMPT AT KEEPING FANS INFORMED! YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED BECAUSE I SAY SO!"

Havoc is the worst Oddworld fan ever.

We should close this thread, as new Oddworld games are not coming.

They are coming, it's just going to take a little while.

Does this sound like they have the original oddworld developers working on the games? Sounds like it to me :D

i hope so, the two first games were the best.