Native Technology
 

Someone else may have questioned this before, but, how do the "Wells" work in AO and AE exactly. They seem to be made of some sort of fabric but wouldn't they rip under Abe's weight?. Also how does pulling a switch fill them with air? Plus the Native Vending Machines in MO make no sense how would Mudokons have the ability to mass market their own beverages?

The wells are made of some material, perhaps wood or metal stolen from the Industrialists.

It's not supposed to make sense. You're not supposed to pick apart every little aspect of the game. They were both meant for game play reasons.

One word: oddworld.

I believe the wells are made from hides, sewn together with leather staples.

(That one I can answer :p)

The wells are made from animal skins and/or fibres made from plant materials, and supported by plant fibre ropes or wooden beams.

Though the exact mechanism is unknown (modern Mudokons have all forgotten their ancestors great prowess, and have barely a fraction of the technological advancement they did), I believe they employ some sort of vacuum created by some sort of technology, or at a stretch, a/some Mudokons have put spiritual energy into the well, to make it able to create a vacuum of wind.

The way Abe is sucked through it means that Abe likely doesn't touch the sides much, if at all, and/or otherwise, the material used is much tougher than it appears. It's lasted well enough so many years, hasn't it?

This could've been in the Q&A thread, BTW.

A good video game should make sense thats part of the gameplay

Oddworld makes more sense than alot of video games, you know. It's thought out realistically and such.

It's just that not every single little thing has been explained yet, if ever. OWI are busy as it is, and they didn't think it worthy enough to spend time telling us how the wells work in a game manual or anything.

Maybe you could email Matt Lee about it...?

Wells are a natural feature of Oddworld. Mudokons have managed to control this phenomenon and build a country‐spanning transport network with them. Obviously it has also been mimicked by Industrialists, who have created from scratch their own, artificial well networks (as those in Vykkers Labs couldn’t possibly use natural wells).

As for how they work, it obviously involves constant, powerful air flow, but the exact mechanisms are left unexplained. Something like the Big Well must draw all that air from somewhere, maybe many smaller wells that feed it: if so, maybe natural wells are a kind of underground air river, powered (judging by the red‐hot interior of the Big Well) by geothermal energy.

This is entirely feasible enough for Oddworld’s audience to suspend any disbelief about the technology, but leave it a mystery enough for us to find Oddworld fantastic and magical; this is the perfect balance, and I don’t expect OWI ever to explain wells in perfect detail any more than they would explain bird portals, storm circles, possession, any of the Mudokons’ psychic powers, or any of the Industrialists’ more exotic technology (like those gravity‐defying chant suppressors, cameras, and zappers).

hmm you just made me think of somthing i'd like to see, a modifed chant supressor with a seat/controls on the top for a slig to fly around in, maybe some one could mspaint a picture of that for commical effect ;D

You mean sorta like this?
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/3...antsliglr3.png

The original picture of the chant suppressor was a screen shot so its not very good. If you can find a better image I'll use that.

Makes sense if it's geothermal

No it doesn't, because how would it get its heat power from the ground when it's hovering?

If they can possess others, teleport and morph into gods I think they have the right to extract energy from wherever they want.

I was talking about the wells not the chant suppresors

Ah, gotcha.

Hmm, feasable, but about the vending machines, I guess they were originally just a soft drink branch like SoulStorm brews possibly made by the same company, and maybe after the destruction of the brewery, the muds could of stolen alot of supplies, and after noticing the side effects, used it for themselves.
The industrial facilities would also incoperate these drinks, apparently unaware of their powers, and how could it hurt having a mud working for you with those powers anyway?
Maybe all creatures experiance different side effects from these drinks.
Of course, my theory only makes sence if you ignore the fact that the labels on the drink dispencers are obviously aimed at muds/ gabbits, and they obviously know of the sideeffects.
Maybe they thought it would increase their performance, but then again, gabbits don't work for anyone, so they don't need their own dispencers.
Unless the Vykers were planning to use the gabbits they had left as a slave race of something, as I believe was originally intended.

I thought with the wells that they were just natural holes in the ground but some muds just built around them. Look at the Big Well for example.

Exactly. Thanks for pointing that out.

That sort of thing is merely game mechanics, it's not actually canon. In fact, when the MO movie comes out, I doubt the vendos will be anything more than cameo appearances, and probably redesigned to make sense.