Official site updates!

***Xavier*** · #1 12-01-2003, 03:08 AM

Yay we got lots of tasty thingies:
interview from Lorne Lanning by Alf
Daily Deception Online (with hints for the new game!)
Dear Alf
Profile: Raymond Swanland Production Designer

damn, why do I have to go to shool right now?

oddguy · #2 12-01-2003, 03:16 AM

Alf also incuded a pretty good quote by Sea Rex. Looks like he's doing a quote of the month. Now I must try very hard to be quipy!

EDIT: Hickens are now officialy known as *drumroll* "Clakkerz."
Upon reading the Lorne interview, it seemed that Mr. Lanning was a little upset at the overcritism of the new game, and MO for that matter. For now on, I say we should be polite to those nice kids over at OWI. They send us Christmas cards and this is how we reward them? I'm not pointing fingers, but I know that for now on I'm going to keep and open mind and not be so quick to judge. Oh, and on a lighter note, Alf hinted that AO and AE will be put on Xbox in zee future. Okay, I'm done.

-oddguy

TheKhanzumer · #3 12-01-2003, 03:52 AM

The interview with Lorne was great. It's been a while since we heard the big cheese directly respond to our concerns and questions.

So Stranger is a steef, the hickens are clakkerz, OWI plans on making a game a year after OW4 and something beyond games keeps being hinted at.

***Wil*** · #4 12-01-2003, 05:06 AM

:

Every time I go outside I hear talk about how I look and it ain't right!

Hahaha, oh dear...

It's great to see Lorne making a public appearance for us, it does symbolise the true respect they have for us and how much they're willing to do, even if they're still trying to keep a certain distance in order to remain secretive. The Daily Deception Online wasn't any better or worse than I expected, meaning I've shoeved it over to one side to remain calm. Alf's questions remain as infuriatingly evasive as ever, excluding the early days when he did actually give sensible straight answers, of course.

Raymond Swanland was obviously an ideal pick for an inhabitant interview because of how controversial his work is right now, but he's a good guy and so on. Those questions need to be updated, though. Who the hell is still dismally upset over the move to Xbox?

And congratulations to Buddy for his recovery, and best wishes to him for the future.

:

...massive speculation as to whether the female gender even exists in Mudos...

They're talking about me again.

atusiya@ · #5 12-01-2003, 05:37 AM

Yes, Re-innovation, Great!!
OWI is not"Abe and Munch company"...heheh..

***Cloverfield*** · #6 12-01-2003, 07:16 AM

I just saw the updates now ... awesome!!! I haven't had a chance to read everything yet myself. But the interview with Lorne is where I am going to read first.

*waves to Lorne and Alf*

I think a lot of people thought that it might have been okay to criticise Munch's Oddysee because we heard Lorne being dissapointed in it on the X-Factor. But I guess it can be really dis-heartening to hear such from the fans, even though he might be personally dissapointed in it himself from a company view.

Abe Babe...

***Alcar*** · #7 12-01-2003, 08:11 AM

Has anyone noticed that in the Daily Deception, in the bottom right hand corner an advertisement with excessive-capitalisation rests? It sounds as if the advertisement is for the Clakkerz, but could it be the capitalisation is spelling something like the Raisin Rants did? Although, because the word "and" is not capitalised, I am lead to believe it is not a hidden message.

Either way, for those that wish to decode it, here it is as follows in two forms.

:

Single Line Format
R F F S R F F F L N K R D L M M E B O T B S N E

:

How It Appears On The Image Format
R F
F
S R
F F
F
L N K
R
D L M
M E B
O T
B S
N E

Alcar...

atusiya@ · #8 12-01-2003, 11:28 AM

......It is really harily....

paramiteabe · #9 12-01-2003, 11:47 AM

That quote is obvieously hinting about Abe in search of Sam. the clues are as follows: Nest keeping, no eggs, Feathery fella, fethery female. That all describes Abe and Sam.

I love the road OWI is takeing right now. I love the fact Lanning has new things up his sleeve other then the wimpy hero scenerio. And I love the fact they want to produce a game for us every year instead of two years. I think we won't see the quintology for a little bit. Stranger is going to be the first of probabally a bunch of games with different characters with different delemas. And most importantly creative new game play. But these character's won't be apart of the quintology but happening in the same time period. Got to remember that Oddworld is vast and we have only scratched the surfice and not fully explored the full depths of the odd. How can we do that in 5 games? We can't there will be tons of games that explore the depths of the odd to fulfill that goal. Quntology based and outside of the quintology aswell.

The quintology will come back guaranteed but OWI wants to expierement with their technolgy. I knew this from the beginning with AO. That opens the door to all kinds of new and original ideas. If you ask me everything OWI is doing right now is actually better for them business wise. We don't need the hype and we don't need the same stuff over and over again, We need outstanding, new and different games everytime. Its boreing to see Abe and Munch over and over again. Oddworld is not just about Abe and Munch only an aspect of Oddworld is. Oddworld is an entire universe of different Inhabitants and their interactions with each other. Stranger is another view of the odd. I give cheers and my respect to OWI and their road they are following right now. In finnish I believe we as the fans need to respect that of them and stop critisiseing their product when its not even out yet. We need to be opened minded about this new design and future designs aswell. If we keep critisiseing about the way things look then your going to be disappointed in every single game. Once again Stranger is another view of the Odd and well after Stranger there will be another character with even more outreagious designs than the previous. Thats how I feel about this whole new change.

Paramiteabe...

Esus · #10 12-01-2003, 12:42 PM

I disagree about the hidden message in the advertisement on the daily deception, it has simply capitalised the letter at the beginning of each word, except words such as "and"...

it was a good update, the Lorne interview was really good and very informative... I likes it.

Fez · #11 12-01-2003, 03:26 PM

did i read that the title for this game was "stranger"?

***Wil*** · #12 12-01-2003, 03:29 PM

I'm going to have to insist you sort OWF out, I typed shtloads of fantastic stuff there, and it's just all gotten eaten. I can't tell you how pissed off I am right now. Give me an hour and I'll calm down and give it another go.

Sekto Springs · #13 12-01-2003, 03:45 PM

notice how spring was a favoured word this month
Spring hats
Spring
Spring spring.......maybe it comes out in spring 2004, but i guess there is a blockaide over that theory seeing how Lorne himself said there was no specific release date yet, just some time in 2004. I would love it did release in spring, so close to the beginning of the year.

***Xavier*** · #14 12-01-2003, 03:54 PM

wow I think I have to say mea culpa to OWI
I'm again at 100% with them, even if there are some minor things that could be better... they do have all my faith!

realy I'm now convinced they know what they are doing and I will try to critize less in the future

:

5. What's in store for Oddworld in 2004?

LL: We'll see the completion of Stranger and the start of a couple of more projects that utilize our latest technology and cast. We've built an incredible engine and we want to get more games out to our fans without them having to wait for two years. We'd like to release a game a year. We also hope to have some really exciting news to release in 2004 about Oddworld in general, but it's too early to touch upon any details.

I nearly cryed of joy when I saw that!
Oh god this upload did boosted my confidence in Oddworld Again

Sekto Springs · #15 12-01-2003, 04:42 PM

i dont think the game is called "Stranger", but it possibly has the word "Stranger" in it. Like on the Xfactor video, Lorne referred to Munch's Oddysee as just "Munch".

***Wil*** · #16 12-01-2003, 05:06 PM

I'm not doubting the intent and spirit of the Inhabitants, I'll just make that clear before I try to replicate my post that got eaten. Also Spring would coincide with April, so maybe it's just a projected release date.

Now I can't be bothered to type all that out again, so I'll try to cut it short, but who knows where it'll lead. The Classad-type thing at the bottom doesn't contain any code, as Esus explains, and it's clearly about Clakkerz: Mudokons are neither rotund nor feathery, and Abe wouldn't want Sam not to have eggs. The thing about Abe wanting to find Sam is described in the text above, which is quite sweet.

Now PA, I admit to having a go at you in the last version of my post, but I was stressed and I'm calmer now, so it was perhaps a blessing in disguise, but I still feel the same way.

:

finnish I believe we as the fans need to respect that of them and stop critisiseing their product when its not even out yet.

I haven't been keeping count, but really now, how many times do I have to repeat that I'm not criticising their product, ie the game? I'm criticising certain contents of the pictures, and you can be sure they've released them. In the end, the Clakkerz' (which isn't a name I like, by the way, but then neither is Interns or Ratz) isn't going to affect the game, but it does affect the entire Oddworld authenticy. OWI are themselves dedicated to the creation of unique creations.

:

We always try to create Inhabitants that do not look like anything we may have seen on Earth, but if you were to look at an Inhabitant, you would intuitively know what it may be, or what it's counterpart may be here on Earth. For example, our rat does not look like a real rat, but when you look at it, hopefully, you will intuitively recognize it as a rat like rodent.

I look at a Scrab or a Vykker and I think "Whoa!" and it would take me a decent amount of time to describe all the inspiration I could see. I look at a Clakker and I think "Yes, it's a chicken in dungarees with a Western drawl." Prove to me it's anything substantially more than that.

My other point was to call you a hypocrite for telling us to be open minded when you in fact have displayed nothing for obsession, supporting OWI in everything they do and say even before we had any real information about Oddworld 4. That is not being open minded, that is very narrow minded. The Inhabitants are people, not a religion, they can do things wrong you know. If you think they haven't yet, fine, but don't say you fully support them while we still know next to nothing about the next game.

All that aside...

:

Oddworld is an entire universe of...

No, it's an entire world of.

moodokon man · #17 12-01-2003, 05:38 PM

:

I love the road OWI is takeing right now. I love the fact Lanning has new things up his sleeve other then the wimpy hero scenerio. And I love the fact they want to produce a game for us every year instead of two years. I think we won't see the quintology for a little bit. Stranger is going to be the first of probabally a bunch of games with different characters with different delemas. And most importantly creative new game play. But these character's won't be apart of the quintology but happening in the same time period. Got to remember that Oddworld is vast and we have only scratched the surfice and not fully explored the full depths of the odd. How can we do that in 5 games? We can't there will be tons of games that explore the depths of the odd to fulfill that goal. Quntology based and outside of the quintology aswell.The quintology will come back guaranteed but OWI wants to expierement with their technolgy. I knew this from the beginning with AO. That opens the door to all kinds of new and original ideas. If you ask me everything OWI is doing right now is actually better for them business wise. We don't need the hype and we don't need the same stuff over and over again, We need outstanding, new and different games everytime. Its boreing to see Abe and Munch over and over again. Oddworld is not just about Abe and Munch only an aspect of Oddworld is. Oddworld is an entire universe of different Inhabitants and their interactions with each other. Stranger is another view of the odd. I give cheers and my respect to OWI and their road they are following right now. In finnish I believe we as the fans need to respect that of them and stop critisiseing their product when its not even out yet. We need to be opened minded about this new design and future designs aswell. If we keep critisiseing about the way things look then your going to be disappointed in every single game. Once again Stranger is another view of the Odd and well after Stranger there will be another character with even more outreagious designs than the previous. Thats how I feel about this whole new change

Couldnt hav said it any better. Good on ya mate your the kinda guy we all should take this advise from. Nicely said.

Help My computer wont bring up the new updates. Wat do I do?

oddguy · #18 12-01-2003, 05:40 PM

Nicely put, Max. I feel the same way, although you may find past posts of mine that would suggest otherwise. Anyway, just because we are OW fans doesn't mean we have to accept everything. Yes, I like Blobs, Salamanders, Grub Hunter and Stranger......however Clakkerz and that rediculous buck-toothed guy aren't my idea of ODD in any way. I could ramble on and on about this, but back to my point. The point is, OWI is making this game for us, so we should be respectful towards that, but at the same time we don't have to worship everything they touch just because it is OWI. I really appreciate the card OWI sent, so I'm going to be polite. In reference to the now famous Sea Rex quote, OW4 may be like a pizza to me. It has a bunch of good stuff on it, but then there are the olives that I don't care for. But in the end, I still eat the pizza and am grateful to have eaten it....err something like that. Okay....back to your lives!

-oddguy

Sekto Springs · #19 12-01-2003, 05:48 PM

nice pizza anology, Oddguy, and i agree with you and Max.

Esus · #20 12-01-2003, 05:51 PM

I've read a lot in this forum, and I have a responce to ParamiteAbe's post, where he said that people should stop criticising the game.
I disagree completely with what that statement means. It means that people have been criticising the game, and some people obviously think a lot of the criticising is happening, because in nearly every thread, someone has said to stop criticising the game - whether or not and criticisms have been given.

The most that has happened, is that people have shown their opinions towards some of the characters in the new game, such as the chicken-like creatures we saw months ago, and more recently on the oddworld website and christmas card. Poeple have also shared their distaste for the character with the bucked teeth, and a few other designs. But no body has criticised the game. The design of characters are not the game. We only saw seconds of the game on X-Factor and nobody criticised it, though some did say that they didnt want an FPS... The point is that I think people should stop saying to stop criticising the game, people are allowed to give their opinions of character and environment designs, as they have been seen.
hmm... I dont think i wrapped that short paragraph up very well

Ill just shut up..

oddguy · #21 12-01-2003, 06:02 PM

Thanks, SS!

You know what, Esus....you're right!

Come to think of it, hardly anyone has critisised the actual game. From the quick prototype I saw in X Factor with Stranger rowing his boat across the water, I was drooling! It looked amazing! The truth is, I think people miss Farzad, the previous artist that made evrything look so odd. So, in the end, we aren't really upset at the game, more like a couple character designs.

-oddguy

Oddsville · #22 12-01-2003, 06:36 PM

Well, it appears that I was late again. I wanted to post it all last night but eventually fell asleep.

Anyways, on to the updates. I am excited to see how OWI is breaking away from the Quintology (not that I don't love the Quintology.) and creating a whole new cast for, what sounds like, a "new type of Quintology".

Im also glad that we are finally getting a more steady flow of new game treats lately. We should thank Alf and crew for all their hard work and Hopefully it'll keep up!

***Wil*** · #23 12-01-2003, 07:04 PM

Thank you everyone who's backed me up. As I was saying with Xavier, I am looking forward to Oddworld 4 and I am excited about the great landscapes we'll be seeing, the marvellous graphics, the gameplay potential, the temporary breakaway from Abe and Munch (although I don't know if I'm entirely enthralled with the idea of the Stranger having his own series of games. We'll wait and see how this one turns out), and most of what we've seen, but in a way quite the opposite to what paramiteabe is doing, I'm focusing my passion on trying to help Oddworld, point out inaccuracies in the same way I did with the Oddworld Map, and I didn't hear anyone say I was being disrespectful or tedious then, although even I myself thought I was being just that. I just wanted to help.

Al the Vykker · #24 12-01-2003, 09:00 PM

:

Reported by D.D. Staff. Mudos) That's right - it's time to leave that drab loin cloth - only look for something a weency bit more fabulous! Every MetroMud knows that in order to create a more polished look, you've got to throw in a necklace or two, maybe a bag, open-toed shoes, and any type of hair accessory or hat is an absolute must! Take it from us and don't get left in the dust - accessories are THE thing for next spring!

Well it looks like this article in the daily deception, shows that we will be getting OW4 probably sometime in the spring. Plus all the hats shown in the picture are from characters on the christmas card. Ill be posting my thoughts/and or comments a bit later, Im just trying to finish reading all the new stuff on the website, and the replies in this thread.

***Cloverfield*** · #25 12-02-2003, 02:34 AM

Most definately a great interview to read by Lorne. It was good to read his reasonings about things (no release of info), and also how he was talking about the direction that the company is taking with releasing this game and why they went that way instead of going back to doing another Quintology game.

This particularly caught my eye.

:

We also hope to have some really exciting news to release in 2004 about Oddworld in general, but it's too early to touch upon any details.

Very intriging and sounds very exciting.

Great that we now have a name for the character ... Stranger. At least that's what I'm reading it as. I am sure this is the new character's name as he says "Stranger (new hero who is a "steef" by species) is strong on the outside but is confronting his weaknesses on the inside". Whether that will be the title of the game or not, I guess we will have to wait and see.

:

Originally posted by Max the Mug
I'm going to have to insist you sort OWF out, I typed shtloads of fantastic stuff there, and it's just all gotten eaten. I can't tell you how pissed off I am right now. Give me an hour and I'll calm down and give it another go.

*prods Alcar* Any progress on finding out about whether we can get the server problem fixed??

Abe Babe...

paramiteabe · #26 12-02-2003, 02:48 AM

Ok I understand what you mean Max and I agree with you aswell. Mann I am really taking these things way too far I really need to stop!

Paramiteabe...

***Alcar*** · #27 12-02-2003, 03:40 AM

:

Originally posted by Abe Babe
*prods Alcar* Any progress on finding out about whether we can get the server problem fixed??

I've recieved a response, but I haven't receieved one from my other response.

Alcar...

paramiteabe · #28 12-02-2003, 10:36 AM

Maybe its not the looks in which these characters are which makes them odd, maybe its the way they act among each other. hmm like they look normal and un Oddworldly like I guess on the outside, but as for their personality its all Oddworldian.

Dident Lorne mention that Stranger is strong on the outside but weak on the inside? That weakness could be the Oddworld behavior we all know and love. I dunno!

Esus · #29 12-02-2003, 12:25 PM

Stranger, the Steef, is representing another part of human nature. As Lorne said, both Abe and Munch have been relatively strong minded, with good connections, friends and help. Maybe in this one, Stranger is more of a loner, who is all brawn, with a somewhat damaged mind... thats my understanding of it.

He also said on X-Factor that the towns/villages will have inhabitants that are are bird like in appearance, so who knows what other birds we'll be finding in the towns of Western oddworld.

***Wil*** · #30 12-02-2003, 05:22 PM

:

He [Lorne] also said on X-Factor that the towns/villages will have inhabitants that are are bird like in appearance, so who knows what other birds we'll be finding in the towns of Western oddworld.

I think he was just describing the Clakkerz to Ed, I wouldn't expect there to be any other bird-like species. Not in Oddworld 4, but possibly in the future, of course.

:

Maybe its not the looks in which these characters are which makes them odd, maybe its the way they act among each other.

Yes, that is true, the only indication of the Clakkerz' personality, story and society is one short clip from the X-Factor video, and it would be unfair to judge them from what may very well have been a throwaway clip. That's not what I'm complaining about, OWI have always boasted a unique brand of characters. I think it was the brown Fuzzles when I started noticing things were sliding downhill a teensy bit. But if they're still capable of creations like the Steef, the Hunter and the 'mechanic', I guess I can't go on a massive rant.

Now before Al possibly beats me to it, I need to post an observation. I mentioned up there the Clakkerz' story. Well, nobody's spoken about this on here yet, so I'll assume no one figured it out.

The opening paragraph of the Daily Deception Online talks about niche businesses being over run by box stores (for those that don't know, niche businesses are those that target a gap in the market, they almost create a new line of products and tell people they want them - I think the DD Staff would have been better saying 'self-employed business', such as the barberss, the blacksmith's, the carpenter, the tavern owner - you know what shops Westerns are supposed to have; box stores are places that sell the populace products straight from transport boxes. In the UK we call them retail warehouses), and I think that may be the purpose of the Clakkerz: to compain about being driven out of business by larger companies.