:
|
ALf's name comes from some old dude who may or may not be dead.
|
Alf (the man) died a few years back. It was actually awkwardly embarrassing the way that the nerds on this forum were throwing their condolences out in to the ether.
Alf (the character) was named after
Alf Gamble. This is how Lorne
described him:
:
An Oddworld fan, Alf Gamble (age 72) was living proof of this back in 1998. Alf was a WWII vet, an upstanding citizen, and a strong man, but after and prolonged illness had taken his wife he had lost all hope, fell into despair, and turned suicidal. But somehow was not able to find the strength to pull the trigger on the gun he planned on ending it all with.
Feeling that maybe he couldn't do it due to still having a few hundred dollars left in his bank account, he decided he should do the most senseless thing he could ever imagine doing, and so he spent his last few dollars on... a Sony Playstation.
Also on the shelf, he felt a connection to the pathetic looking anti-hero on our cover and so he bought our game. He then brought his ultimate irresponsible purchase home and was of the belief that he was going to play senselessly until he could gain the inner strength to finally pull the trigger and just get it over with.
However, to his surprise, the game reminded him what is was like to laugh. To try again and not give in to failure, and to share more than bitter stories with his grandchildren. His life changed in a miraculous way.
We found out about Alf after he wrote us the letter explaining the uncanny relationship between our game, his step back from the ledge of doom, and the complete turn around that followed with his emotional, psychological, and social state in life. He got our character tattooed on his forearm as a reminder for him to always keep a light heart thru our darkest hours.
We were so inspired by his story that we created character based on him in our next game. It was called, "Alf's Rehab and Tea" and his alter-persona's moment on the stage climaxed in the games good ending. He was written about by several media outlets across the world.
When he died several years later, he was missed by thousands. Games can have this power. It was proven to us by Alf Gamble in 1998.
|
But going back to Mr. Bungle's post; Alf Gamble never worked for OWI and was never behind the Dear Alf column. He was simply the namesake for the character.
