Easy difficulty has tutorial LEDs. Normal has regular LEDs, and Hard has instakilling laser-firing LEDs.

Hard LED screens give you bad advice. "Hold grenades longer to charge them!!"

Why are all the mudokons the same size?

Because they are drones maybe? Ther are all hatched from eggs as 'males' or 'drones' or whatever, think of it like bees, they are drones apart from the queen so they are all the same/very similar size

Technically drones are the fertile males.

In bees they lack a sting because the sting is a modifying ovipositor which males lack by definition, but they still participate in colony defense by flying around pretending to try to sting you. Irrelevant but interesting.

Yeah, mudokons are the sexless workers. I guess that's a good enough in-universe reason for their identical size and palor. Of course, we all know the real reason is because it's much easier and cheaper to copy/paste one mudokon a hundred times than to make a hundred unique mudokons.

All the same, I think we discussed wanting to see slight variation in character size and color (for both sligs and mudokons). Their voices are already varied to some degree, so greater distinction was intended, just not within the budget.

Yes, in-univerese, their voices and personalities are different, therefore they are all different (can I say) people. They are all unique, so their sizes should be different too.

And if I'm honest, I didn't want to get into this. I really did not. I just wanted to piss off SpAM_CAN. But then scrabaniac went and got all serious.

Naah, I'm quite hard to piss off :P

But honestly, I'd like to try to justify everything in-universe too, but then we'd have to come up with reasons as to why RuptureFarms is made up of tiny narrow walkways and why entering a door can take you miles into the background.

Yeah, I get that. I was making the point (possibly not very well) to MeechCrunchies that it comes down to a decision about gameplay vs in-universe explanations. Moving all the tutorials to Rupturefarms makes as much sense as moving them all to the Monsaic Lines.

Whilst I think the LEDs in RuptureFarms are a clear gameplay device, I don't actually think they should be changed.

How will the directories be used? Because they represented screens as blocks but abe HD will be smooth scrolling, how will it display that?

I guess in the same way, since the Directories were basically cut away images and they just sat there statically, so they wouldn't be much of a problem to just have a fade away into a still image.

Oh right, what about in the temples when it told you the layout of every door? I guess it wouldn't be in blocks but maybe long rectangles to give an idea of the length? It's hard to describe without a drawing

Even if the levels don't segment up directly, the maps would probably still work fine.

Maybe there could be actual level maps, you know, an image of the level. Mind you, that would take somw of the jumpy factors out of it. You wouldn't be surprised if you saw a slig.

I think an image of the level without creatures and other entities will work fine.

I think getting rid of the directories entirely will be fine.

JAW shouldn't feel the need to replicate every single element of AO exactly. They should do whatever works to make the game as good as possible today.

I think removing them completely adds to the excitement of not knowing what's coming, especially for new players

Is it really that hard to work out controls for a game any way? If you don't get a tutorial do you honestly sit there and hyperventilate? Or do you actually maybe extend a finger and press a key, see what it does? Jesus.

Jesus christ leave the damn LED boards in. Yeah they don't make sense but at the end of the day it's a game, and if people needed them back then, this generation of brain dead morons is certainly gonna need some guidance. Psch the notion of removing them is fandom to the extreme. They're a normal function in a game, and Oddworld shouldn't be an exception just because it has a great atmosphere, they've never bothered me and they wouldn't if they were in Abe HD.

Also, get rid of the directories, those are guidances i've never once used, even as a new player.

On a slightly different subject, when you guys mean this remake will have 3D backgrounds, does this mean some in-game features might have this too? For example chant detectors or maybe things like CCTV cameras that turn when you move past them?

Well yes, because they will be no longer static CAM images, and since it's on a new engine they will probably be able to integrate actively moving backgrounds that aren't just gif images repeated constantly. It would truly be an evolutionary step up for oddworld and it would bring new meaning to A.L.I.V.E :D

Fictional universes are always cooler when they have their own made-up language system. Not to say that japanese is a fictional language, but if you don't speak it, you get that same feeling.

I always wished that there was more hieroglyphic work in the Oddworld games. There were some runes on the exterior of the Scrabanian Temple, but I think that was about it.

I have an idea. And I know its a long shot but this.is a thread for ideas.

Abe's Oddysee is a flashback, so how about you don't find out the reason of why he is escaping until later in the game. I just think it would add more to it, give it more mystery and depth, it will make people keep playing to find out what the hell is going on.

Although that's not a bad idea, I feel like it's been done too many times.

I'd like to leave the order of events the way it is. It's a good idea, but there's nothing wrong with the plot as is. It's unique and interesting.

Mhmm, perhaps ME would explain the start of AO any way? We don't know, but I had a hunch it might.

Huh?

I thought perhaps Munch's Exoddus - if it ever came to fruition - might shed some light on Abe's latent powers and how he has them whilst in the factory, before Big Face explains everything. Like, because then you can leave the AO story and canon/ fluff as is.

How is a sequal going to shed light on events that took place BEFORE the first part of the story?

"No, I am your father."

Abe has spiritual powers that haven't been explained beyond him being the Chosen One. There's nothing stopping a sequel shedding light onto that.

Does it need to be explained?

I love how your Avatar is a facepalm. Soooo appropriate. xD

Apart from the fact that a sequel can explain previous events. For example, Sam could explain to Abe why...it's really not so complicated.

It might be alright if most of the intro stayed as it was, but the Mudokon Pops bit was removed.

Posters on the return to Rupture Farms would give hints of what had happened to the sharp-eyed, and then have the final flashback, containing the reality of "New 'n' Tasty", a little bit before Abe shuts off the power.

IDK what you lot are on about but I just hope they "copy" the game but just make the graphics bigger.

Not as in new a modern day looking but how they would have looked if made that way back in 95.

The game is too good to change and to add more features would make is worst.

If something is working don't fix it.

If something is great don't improve it.


If the devs are going to make it in HD then don't change the game. Just the graphics. No need to go 16:9 either. Keep it just how it is in lovely 4:3 otherwise the retro feel will also go.

Peace.

If JAW wanted Abe to be retro they wouldn't be updating it. If you want retro, you can play the original.

"If something is working don't fix it."
Half the comments in this thread are things that don't 'work' in the original, which should be fixed in the remake.

"If something is great don't improve it."
What if you want to make it greater?

Its a whole remake, not just to improve the graphics, so of course they are going to change it. Hopefully for the better.

I don't think you can get a Windows 98 game and slap current gen graphics on to it.

Also the changes will be for the better.

Change is a never a good thing for Oddworld, look what happened to MO, but seriously, I think JAW would really have to go out of their way to fuck up AO. It's just a case of taking the best of AO and the best of AE and putting them together.