They aren't if one of the sligs knows you're possessed and you say 'hi' generally they just turn around and shoot you for alerting them. I think perhaps the sligs that can tell if you've been chanted whatever screen they're on must have some sort of higher intelligence from their counterparts allowing them to realise some sort of subtle change in the slig's demeanour.

That's not what my experience has been. If you are on one level and the sligs are on another, say 'Hi!', then jump down to where they are, they will never shoot you.

Perhaps, since they only respond to each other with their native
BS and S'Mo BS, the thought of another slig speaking in their industrial tongue is off putting and causes them to know something is weird.
This is what I love about the A.L.I.V.E engine, it was so fantastically designed that we're still debating these things 14 years after release ^_^

lol Nate. Yes, I have..

And might I add that film is fucking awesome!

EDIT: I wonder what it would sound like to record the slig speech in Abe's voice, and superimpose the Abe voice over the slig's voice, but only have abe's track quiet. It could be a cool subtle addition to the game which would make it that more immersive. Or, just leave the sligs with their voices, but alter the way they say things. Like, instead of a possessed slig saying 'Oi' it could say 'Hey'. (Just another thought)

I remember there being a sign in an area of Exoddus which read “authorised Sligs only beyond this point!”. Perhaps the Sligs which shoot you are the ones that are concerned when their bros are suddenly abandoning their patrol routes?

I think that was just so they could have a trickier puzzle where the sligs shoot to kill indiscriminately.

Well yes, but there’s no reason why it couldn’t apply in other areas in the game.

JAW is going to have to significantly re-arrange some of the puzzles to work in a scrolling 2.5d setting, so it might be useful. I can't think of a specific example though.

Having the game side-scrolling doesn't necessarily mean it must side scroll everywhere. I think they could use the side-scrolling where necessary and the 'boxed-in' effect where equally necessary, and to move from one boxed in screen to the next, the screen should have the same old animation as they had before (or at least very similarly simplistic and subtle).

That may work with one room puzzles, but I think it might disrupt the overall flow if they do it too frequently. One thing I'm wondering about is how they'll approach the one-hit kill aspect. You can't really run from slig fire without the flickscreen element.

Well isn't it something like if a slig leaves your LoS it can't hit you...or aren't they going to do like, that you can hide behind barrels and stuff? I forget.

Obstacles or allowing for multiple hits before dying seems like the only feasible way. I'd rather they avoid the latter by any means possible, as that would significantly reduce the suspense.

Although in AE I'm sure you could get shot once and live...like it had to be a sort of prolonged spray otherwise you could make it to the next screen, whereas AO you heard the gun sound...you were probably dead.

Simple solution: Sligs have a limited range on their guns, running away forces them to chase you.

A limited range of what, ten feet? Least effective weapon ever.

Shotguns.

I have trouble swallowing that concept without the use of hit points, or god forbid, showing the actual bullets flying through the air like they did in SW. I suppose it could work, but not incredibly well.

If Sligs' shots have high attenuation, I would imagine it's not because their bullets become harmless but their aim becomes poor.

Why would you hire guards incapable of aiming effectively at more than 10 meters?

Why would you hire guards that sleep on the job, beat the workers do death, and can be possessed and controlled by the workers, and can't climb the ledges that are all over the place?

It's a game. Fucks sake.

Because the Glukkon's knew the game dynamic wouldn't work else..

.. wait what?

At the end of the day, I'm sure JAW have some sort of idea to counter this...hell I hope so.

If we all adopted that attitude, I don't think any of us would be here. Yes, it's a game, an amazing game that defined our childhoods that we do not want to see deteriorate in the face of the HD generation.

...

Anyway, I had an idea that I quickly dismissed as being too much of a departure from the source material, but I'll throw it out anyway. Perhaps when Abe possesses Sligs, it switches to POV of the slig, FPS mode. It's a stupid idea, like I said. Far too gimmicky.

Call of Duty is a game. Oddworld is a piece of art.

Fucks sake.

I thought it was an interactive documentary? Choose your own alternative universe.

I thought it was a socio-political statement conveyed through the medium of art and black comedy...

It's easy to forget the intial reason for wanting the sidescrolling design. I believe it was to create a more continuous feel to the levels? Or was it so that the screens could be swept through and the 3D-ness be shown off as the scene moves from left to right, right to left, up-down, down-up? Or a mixture. Having had weeks with the continuous idea in my mind, I'm not sure it would be such a good idea. I think what made Abe great was that each screen was its own masterpiece. Would we lose the awe with a scene that sweeps across with the camera constrained strictly perpendicular it.

EDIT: The scrolling could work if the camera is elasticy (im such a noob)

I know this was a while ago, but how about just earning a quicksave every time you rescue a mudokon? As well as providing an extra incentive to play nicely, it would also simultaneously make rescuing all mudokons easier and killing all mudokons harder (in comparison to AOHD with unlimited quicksave). Which I think is good.

Make the move jerkily, like... well like something's controlling their brain.

I approve of this idea.

However, a bit of Visor Red or Chant Orb Blue bleeding in from the sides of the screen would be welcome.

'Cause they're cheap as dirt, isn't it? Like Battle-Droids from Star Wars. Terrible, but cheap enough to employ in enormous numbers.

The Magog Cartel have seemingly spent a lot of money tailoring their environments to suit the needs of the slaves and not the security. If Muds weren't raised from birth to be underfoot, they would be at constant risk of an uprising.

Like the Russians pre Bloody Sunday, they knew nothing better, and they look at the glukkons as these super powerful money bags. Why should they rise up? They don't know how nor do they know anything better.

Well I for one would either love an FPS vision for Sligs or even a Slig FPS in general. I mean heck, Team Fortress 2 sells like hot cakes. Imagine a class-based FPS set in Oddworld :P

Steefs vs Sligs!

Problem is TF2 has no story, I think I'd lose all faith in Odd if I ever saw an Oddworld online FPS where canonicity goes to shit.

I'd doubt that TF2 has no story. Nonetheless I really don't want and any new oddworld FPS

Once again that wanders too far into gimmicky gameplay territory. The second Oddworld feels too much like a game, it loses it's magic.

There should be a DLC code for a pre-order exclusive loincloth.

No there shouldn't. I HATE pre- and after-order DLC stuff. Just put it in the game from the beginning on!

Abe's classic ponytail would be DLC only. Three dollars extra.

Abe HD will be textureless. Textures are DLC.