Fangus
 

Howdy, everybody! I'm new to the forums here, but not to Oddworld. I was wondering, though, if anyone had more information than I about the abandoned "The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot" project. Here's the Wikipedia entry about it:

An April 2005 issue of Game Informer revealed a character named Fangus, a buff-looking character who serves as a type of shepherd on Oddworld, watching over a flock of particularly demonic-looking sheep. While OWI did not confirm the game (many suspected it as an April Fool's joke), the article briefly outlined the plot: Fangus is a shepherd who dutifully wards off predators, until one day, invaders arrive. Fangus is then forced to rise to the occasion, assuming the role of savior of all Oddworldian nations. Meanwhile, rabies slowly begin to turn him mad, and he must make haste in thwarting the invaders' plans before his mind is completely lost. A Mature rating (by the ESRB) was expected due to dark tones and themes throughout the game, and Majesco was expected to publish the game for the Xbox.

However, recent interviews have stated that Oddworld Inhabitants will no longer be producing any games within the confines of their company and will be aided by other companies in their production (though OWI will still be producing the storylines, concepts, and basic ideas). Oddworld will also be moving from video games to film, although any details are so far unrevealed. Consequently, the Fangus project (if it was, in fact, in development) will not be produced.

**end Wikipedia entry**
So, any light to be shed?

See ya around. Stay odd.
-Sam

Yeah, Fangus was cancelled. TOGG has some concept art for it, though:

http://www.oddworldlibrary.net/togg/...php?menu=CABB1

Fangus looked like a really distasteful concept anyway. I'm glad they cancelled it.

I thought it would have been interesting to see how OWI would have handeled a game like Fangus. And some of the conceptd loked really cool.

i thought the concept arts looked like medal of honor

The more I realize I won't be able to, the more I want to play it!

I really didn't give two damns about the game. It just looked like another version of Stranger with an even worse design. Silvio cannot create characters for shit. If Farzad saw what has become of Oddworld's conceptual designs, he'd kick Lorne in the ghoulies.

I love what silvio does for oddworld when he does mechanical stuff, architecture and vehicules... but I have to agree he's not as good as Farzad for the characters design...

on an other hand What Farzad does now isn't as excelent as what he did before.

Bring Steven Olds back to design a few characters :)

I agree. Steven Olds did some excellent stuff.

That is not fair. All that waiting turns to nothing at all. Disappointed! I suppose that they official confirm its realease. I have said before their absence/silence is slowly killing my spirits.

Although I am glad I am member of this forum. I can express my views and get answers through the world of oddworld so I am not that deprived.

Some of what Lorne was trying to do with Fangus sounded quite interesting, particularly the dark, political themes of the experience and the army-controlling GameSpeak, but the visual design would have destroyed its Oddworldness. Oh, and a plasma gun?

As I've said before, Steven Olds' influence helped make AO dark, gritty, and mysterious. The "Abe's Moon" anim pretty much says everything about what that game had, and other games didn't (AE still had some.)

I mean, the humour that was developed further in and after AE was great, and I want it to stay, but does anyone else want more AO type darkness? Does anyone else want Steven Olds back doing Oddworld Art?

sorry for being a bit off topic, but does someone knows what he's working on now? I know he did some design for Walt Disney's Treasury Planet... but after that no trace of the man

I read somewhere Steven Olds was working on most of the GTA titles, including Red Dead Revolver to GTA LibertyCity Stories.

I still don't understand how designers with an imagination and originality such as Steven Olds's and Farzad Varahramyan's can go on to ‘design’ humans. I just don't.

I would love to see these fantastic artists back steering Oddworld back in its dark, gritty and unique direction.

I'd also like the classic OWI writing style to come back. “Gunned-up slugs in mechanical pants with itchy trigger fingers and room temperature IQs.” What could possibly beat that description? And I'm sure our favourite OW manual was AO's.

Varily.

The manuals after AE really were terrible. MO's manual was awful when it came to Odd Objects and Inhabitant descriptions, but at least it was in color. Thanks again, EA :dodgy:

Meat Saws: Big Fun! ;)

I know, it's so annoying how they ruined everything for that game. IMAGINE what Stranger's Wrath would have been like if EA was never involved in it!

My favorite manual was, by far, the one for Abe's Exoddus.

Imagine if EA could have potrted it on the PS2 and done a huge marketing campaign

They could have, it would have just taken longer.

With retrospective knowledge, I still can't decide whether I'd prefer for that or not.

I'd prefer they have waited... OWI would still produce game I think

They would have produced Fangus. Now they're working on an Abe's Oddysee film. Tough call.

Fangus is canceled, which I find to be an infintely good thing. Fangus would have done to Oddworld what Shadow did to the Sonic Universe.

Yes, bring back Farzad and Steven Olds to design again. And bring back the dark and intricate Industrial backgrounds! Munch's Oddysee was rather disappointing in that aspect. Stranger's Wrath did salvage it quite a bit with Sekto Springs, though. I loved that part of the game.

Paramites - They're kinda like children.

Agreed, Nesher.

The massive industrial settings mowed face, but it would require a gigantic engine to support. Make it happen, Mr. Gates. *snaps fingers*

I think that Penny Arcade have somewhat gotten the right of it and Lanning has become much more interested in how he is going to fill his pockets. Otherwise I doubt we would have ever seen Stranger much less the humanoid Fangus.

Look at how beatiful mullock is
http://www.gamechronicles.com/guides...ld/rfarms2.jpg
How could oddworld possibly be prepared toruin their name and reputation by burying this sort of stunning artwork like this with some Dick with rabies called Fangus toting 2 smgs? Bring back rupturefarms , bring back mullock , bring back those cool backgrounds! Lifes to short to play bad oddworld games. Im glad they canned Fangus.

I found fangus' face... totally cougar:
http://www.oddworldlibrary.net/togg/...=CABB0018.jpg1

Oh dear. That IS hideous , it just doesnt feel oddworldish , not good at all .

A cat? I don't know how they can fit that face on oddworld. I bet it has some connection with the rabies.

actually the goats are worse... they are exactly the same as on earth.

A cat face? What, like Stranger?

I was pessimistic before Stranger, but Stranger turned out to be awesome in all sorts of ways.

Stranger was a mixture of feline and ape, all I see here is a pussy cat, it has most of the features of a cat. Actually, it looks like it has a bit of wolf in their with that jaw.

The goats faces, I think they look slighly more human than an averge goat, with demon characteristics.

*Without reading any of the above posts*
:fuzmad: AARgh! I am absolutely disgusted with the concept art!! Oh My Goodness! It's so horribly...unoriginal! It doesn't belong in Oddworld. It belongs in some common first-person shooter. Where are all of Oddworld Inhabitants' ideas!? This looks so freaking ordinary, I just want to scream.

This is kinda off topic, but I think maybe, at the beginning of the game, he starts out human-looking, and, as a result of the "rabies", he turns into that anthro-cougar thingie...
And, you have to admit, although it sounded lame in the original article in GameInformer, that might be because most people wouldn't have understood a bunch of Oddworldian terminology, so they described it in a way that the average Non-Oddworld fan would have understood...
My girlfriend, who is not a nerd like us, agrees. She says others of her kind would not have had enough of an attention span to sit through reading a lengthy description that would have made sense to any of us Oddworldophiles...

I must admit the environments look kick ass. The character concepts are god awful.

Man, that's what I've been saying all along.. They need to bring back that dark look to it. The humor of Munch's Oddysee was nothing compared to how truly dark and ominous the original 2 games were...Not to mention far more original.

So you are saying that Steven olds art were compelled in the 1 and 2 series of quintology.

And Farzad was dedicated to 3 and 4?

But Farzad created the glukkons?

Steven Olds did most of the character design in AO and (I think) AE as well. Farzad was also working for OWI at the time but Steve was the lead PD.

Farzad was the lead PD in MO and designed Munch and the vykkers.

Farzad had left the company by the time they were working on stranger. Raymond Swanland (sp?) designed stranger.

Steven Olds wasn't credited in Abe's Exoddus, but he did contribute designs for Munch's Oddysee, which started in 1996, such as the Chronicler. He definitely created Glukkons, but as OWI love iterations, Farzad would have worked on their designs later on.

I think Silvio Aebischer designed Fangus. He's responsible for Grubbs, Scuba Toads and lots of Outlaws.

Fangus looks way too human. I'm glad he got canceled too.

I'll cancel you, punk.