Abe HD Ideas

[Havoc]

Just give me 10 dollars for the transaction costs and I'll send you 20.000 dollars.

[MeechMunchie]

Pay me 5 dollars for resources and I'll give you 5 dollars.

[STM]

I just saw this on a youtube comment for the FeeCo depot song:

In Fee Co DepoT should be a announcer voice. Like - Incoming train from Bonewerks arriving at Terminal 24.

All SoulStorm Brewry train connections are delayed , PERMANENTLY.

MunchyToast001 1 year ago

TRAVEL ANNOUNCEMENTS? Good idea?

[JennyGenesis]

The voice for that would be a Slig I assume?

[Sekto Springs]

I actually really like that idea. It could be a slig, or perhaps Aslik himself before he's blown up.

[STM]

I dunno if it would work for Aslik because he's the Vice President of a huge company but I can imagine having a slig, hell, even a shrink announcing.

Yo Glitch? Huh, huh, how about it? Huh?

[Sekto Springs]

even a shrink announcing.

That makes even less sense than what I suggested. It would be like having your on-staff therapist giving the announcements. It's not their function. At least Aslik is qualified to do that job, but you're right, he'd likely get a grunt to do it.

[STM]

Ah yeh, I sometimes forget what shrinks are for....it's in the name...but never mind.

[Crashpunk]

I have some Ideas i was thinking off whilst playing Abe's Exoddus again.
When Abe is in the shadows and waiting for a Slig to walk past, He could step back into the wall, flat him self out and let the Slig walk past whist looking at the Slig's movement. A bit like Metal Gear Solid


Another idea was whispering. whilst there is a sleeping Slog or Slig, you could whisper to a fellow Mudokon to follow you then sneek off. The Whispering could be automatic when a Sleeping enemy is near.

[Nate]

Another idea was whispering. whilst there is a sleeping Slog or Slig, you could whisper to a fellow Mudokon to follow you then sneek off. The Whispering could be automatic when a Sleeping enemy is near.

That would defeat the purpose of many of the puzzles, which is to do things without alerting sligs.

[LIJI]

I've always assumed Sligs have a very good sense of hearing; since they instantly wake up only by the sound of your step, they'll probably also wake up from a whispering voice.

[Admiral Zaarin]

I dunno if it would work for Aslik because he's the Vice President of a huge company but I can imagine having a slig, hell, even a shrink announcing.

Yo Glitch? Huh, huh, how about it? Huh?

They could have used standard pre-recorded announcements made in Aslik's voice. That would be logical since Alsik paid so much attention to Public Relations.

[Havoc]

I just saw this on a youtube comment for the FeeCo depot song:



TRAVEL ANNOUNCEMENTS? Good idea?

Hm, I dunno. To me FeeCo Depot always gave the impression that it was closed at the time Abe arrived there, in addition to locking all the gates. You could say it was a restriction of the engine, but no trains were ever departing until Abe unlocked the gates. No other creatures except security were ever there. Adding an announcer voice would take a lot of the atmosphere in Feeco Depot away I think. Especially if it's a slig it would become a cheap comical easter egg.

The announcer could kick in when Abe boards the train and the doors are closing. But not during gameplay, I think that would ruin the experience in that place.

[Phylum]

I think the place generally needs more ambient background noise, be it announcer or something else. It's a transport hub for fuck's sake.

[STM]

But then it might take a way from the simple music in the background. I love the FeeCo theme.

[Admiral Zaarin]

By the way how about adding train activity to some "action free" screens (like elevator screens in Bonewerkz terminal)? For example there's a screen with several locomotives parked in a "roundhouse depot" in the background. Showing one of these locs starting up (deisel sound, clouds of smoke etc.) could increase the immersion in depot atmosphere. Also it would be nice to add some ambient sounds like coupler clangs, distant deisel roar, shunting whistles. It's a railroad station afterall.

[Sekto Springs]

I second the Admiral's suggestions.

[Mikaeel]

Yea, I agree with that as well.

I read somewhere that when you remake a game from PS1 to PS3, you gotta rewrite a few of the designs cause their different consoles.

[STM]

I third that, that's a really amazing idea!

[Crashpunk]

TRAVEL ANNOUNCEMENTS? Good idea?

Why not having a quick annoucment after every door you've come out of, Like if you've just come back from Slig Barracks/Bonewerkz. Make them funny too.

[Phylum]

No, don't. Make them believable else you'd risk to lose some of the immersion.

[STM]

I dunno, there was always humour in Oddworld, if it was the funny noises Abe made when he fell down the cliff in AO. Or Dripik's stupidity in the cut scenes of AE. Did you not smile when you Aslik called the mudokons 'stinking slaves'? I think the question is getting balance in any 'announcements' between funny ones and proper ones.

[Andrelvis]

Each one should be both proper and funny.

[Bodd T.W.]

I don't know, FeeCo always felt to me like an abandoned train company that links to stations that still have some activity going on, and announcements would make it feel like a combination of annoyance, modern(ness), and a feeling that everyone knows where you are. That's at least what I feel about announcements right now, but maybe if I heard some examples, I might be persuaded otherwise.

[Jordan]

I'm going to reiterate what has been said previously - make them pre-recorded announcements. I think if they were live then yes, it would kind of take away from the atmosphere and the feeling that Abe is sneaking around in places he shouldn't be. As an extra touch, why not make the announcements distorted and crackly as if the sound systems have been busted, adding to the fact that the place is abandoned and hasn't been maintained.

[STM]

I always assumed the station was relatively well used, you're perhaps just not in the main part of the terminus, nevertheless there are lots of posters around suggesting there is activity, and the platforms aren't very well guarded, so there must be semi-regular activity we don't see. I doubt very much Abe is the only one on the train.

[AvengingGibbons]

Oooh, make the character voices echo, and sustained, depending on the type of environment they're in

Also, have idle animations for Abe when the player is idle for a while. And also for the mudokons when Abe asks them to follow him and just stands still.

[Admiral Zaarin]

Distorted and crackly towerman's announcements may be a good idea. Like those you may hear at a train yard. But these announcements shouldn't be too often or too loud or they could disrupt the musical theme (better if they are triggered to fit in queter moments when music loops).

Also I always wondered why Abe rides in the locomotive's cab where a slig engeneer crew should be. Obviously he has no skills to run a freight train.

[Sekto Springs]

Feeco Depot is a main transportation hub and rail station. It's a main thoroughfare through which industrialists travel, as well as freighting supplies. It is not shut down or in disrepair. Judging by some of the backgrounds and the high security, it's safe to assume that Abe was just exploring all the places the public doesn't usually have access to. Remember that he got to where he was by falling off one of the handcars. Abe, a known terrorist to the industrialists, couldn't very well saunter through the main terminal where all the passengers were waiting.

Certain things in the background support this. One of my favorite screens comes to mind, where we see where all the cargo is stored in a giant warehouse. This isn't the kind of place that would be open to the average transient.



I think the announcements would be a nice touch. There are certainly some areas that should remain eerily quiet and just let the lovely music set the mood. Perhaps the closer Abe gets to a terminal, the clearer the announcements become.

It would also be a nice touch to add a scheduling board somewhere, with all the arrivals/departures listed. List some of the trains as "delayed", and mark that any trains departing for Soulstorm Brewery have been cancelled due to security risk.

[Admiral Zaarin]

Deriving from the FeeCo theme I'd say it would be nice to add background walkways, doors, levers to several screens in RuptureFarms and Bonewerkz. Some screens (even entire paths) of RF look as if the factory is built in a single plane. It's good to have walkways, doors, grinders (i.e. all the foreground scenery) being shown in the far background from different angles. Another good idea is to add railing to the back sides of the catwalks in some "open-air" places (where they don't obscure much of the background).

Also a good thing is to show mudokons do something other than scrubbing floor or walls. For example make them operate machinery control terminals or something.