Abe HD Ideas

[JennyGenesis]

Isn't that the idea of all the music in the game?

To be like ambience.

[Nath]

I've always found the Paramonian music more pleasing to my ears. Use to go to those levels just to leave it on in the background for hours. But that's an amazing thing about those games, the music fits in perfectly for every scene and environment.

[Manco]

I don't think it is personally, I'm not saying it's a bad piece of music either, It's just not my favourite. My favourite music is the chase music from the Scrabanian Nests.

The way the percussion flares up every time a Scrab jumps at you gets me every time.

[JennyGenesis]

Even when there is nothing happening on screen in that level, I love the random drum slap, it tends to occur a lot when respawning.

[Nath]

Even if there's nothing happening on screen, there'll still be some background noise occasionally, and I like that. Paramonia doesn't so much have music as opposed to Scrabania, but it has that something.

[Connell]

I can't believe people are actually arguing about how Abe might've been misinformed due to bad slave-communication about Rupture Farms' size or any shit like that. I personally take it as 100% canon, simple as that. That's some pretty ridiculous over analyzing there.

Also, If it's possible the original music should stay, or if not it should be as close to the original tracks as possible. The oddworld atmosphere is so very engrossing and the music plays a major part in that. I don't need to tell you guys that though!

Another thing I want to touch upon is how the majority of the Sligs seem to just be standing about doing nothing after the announcement has been made that Abe is on the loose. The only one that seems to care is that one that chases you for half a screen at the start of the game. I know people have talked about the AI of the sligs being upgraded but I think there should be a few more chasing you through Rupture Farms at different points in the first few levels.

[JennyGenesis]

Another thing I want to touch upon is how the majority of the Sligs seem to just be standing about doing nothing after the announcement has been made that Abe is on the loose. The only one that seems to care is that one that chases you for half a screen at the start of the game. I know people have talked about the AI of the sligs being upgraded but I think there should be a few more chasing you through Rupture Farms at different points in the first few levels.

Well, maybe they are trying to catch him using stealth, yeah I know Sligs make a lot of noise and they don't hide in shadows, but think about it, maybe they are not standing there doing nothing, they could be standing there on the lookout for Abe, but of course some do fall asleep.

But the first Slig you mentioned, perhaps he was just standing there doing nothing, but since Abe was spotted by a camera looking at the boardroom meeting they probably told him to chase Abe since he was nearby.

[Jordan]

I can't believe people are actually arguing about how Abe might've been misinformed due to bad slave-communication about Rupture Farms' size or any shit like that. I personally take it as 100% canon, simple as that. That's some pretty ridiculous over analyzing there.

It's hardly over-analysis. It makes sense. If you think of Oddworld as a story like it was intended, you could say Abe is an unreliable narrator because he has been sheltered for all of his life by being forced to grow up then work in a meat processing factory. He is clearly going to exaggerate if that's all he's seen in his life. Rupture Farms is pretty big, and for all he knows it could be the biggest thing in the world. It's not like Glukkons will tell Mudokons most things because they don't give a shit, to them they're only slaves.

[Connell]

It's hardly over-analysis. It makes sense. If you think of Oddworld as a story like it was intended, you could say Abe is an unreliable narrator because he has been sheltered for all of his life by being forced to grow up then work in a meat processing factory. He is clearly going to exaggerate if that's all he's seen in his life. Rupture Farms is pretty big, and for all he knows it could be the biggest thing in the world. It's not like Glukkons will tell Mudokons most things because they don't give a shit, to them they're only slaves.

Do you honestly believe that is the case though?

[Jordan]

Do you honestly believe that is the case though?

I'm all for it, to be honest. Fans often tend to analyse what they love because it allows them to look for deeper meanings. These meanings may not necessarily be true, but there is still enjoyment in talking about them and having an opinion.

[Manco]

Do you honestly believe that is the case though?

Abe (some dude who grew up in the factory) says: biggest plant on Oddworld

Lorne (mastermind of series) says: Molluck got shafted out to the third world

who do you believe

[JennyGenesis]

Abe never says it is the biggest plant...

He says, "They say it's the biggest meat processing plant on Oddworld"

[Wil]

Well JG certainly shut you all up.

[OddjobAbe]

On an aesthetic rather than a functional level, I would like to suggest that the sligs keep the original visors (as depicted in this forum's industrial theme). They were much more menacing than those in Exoddus, and thus made the sligs seem like a bigger threat, thus contributing to the overall grim atmosphere present in the game.

Another important aesthetic detail was the Mudokon Pops image in the boardroom in the beginning of the game. The original was more of a shock, as it was much less euphemistic (in fact, it wasn't euphemistic at all), and so this also contributed to the game's overall mood.

[Sekto Springs]

I always just wrote off the original "gorey" Mudokon Pop logo as a prototype logo, which makes for a good in-universe explanation for why it's changed by AE.

[Nate]

I'm probably going to get complaints about saying this, but I would like the music in the Stockyards to be changed, I was never really fond of having the main menu theme playing.

Have you considered that perhaps the main menu music is the Stockyards music, rather than the other way round?

Jenny is the first person ever to not think the music in the Free-Fire zone isn't the best in the game.

Nuh-uh. Monsaic Lines is better!

Another thing I want to touch upon is how the majority of the Sligs seem to just be standing about doing nothing after the announcement has been made that Abe is on the loose. The only one that seems to care is that one that chases you for half a screen at the start of the game. I know people have talked about the AI of the sligs being upgraded but I think there should be a few more chasing you through Rupture Farms at different points in the first few levels.

They're lazy and they have guns. They simply don't believe that anything could possibly get past them.

Another important aesthetic detail was the Mudokon Pops image in the boardroom in the beginning of the game. The original was more of a shock, as it was much less euphemistic (in fact, it wasn't euphemistic at all), and so this also contributed to the game's overall mood.

I disagree. For one thing, the entire Mudokon head on a stick would be far too large to package and sell. And what would happen to the rest of the Mudokon body? What's more, I like the more cartoony image, because it looks more glossy and marketting-y. Like the Glukkons are trying to hide the horror of what they're doing through cutesy product design.

[Sekto Springs]

For one thing, the entire Mudokon head on a stick would be far too large to package and sell. And what would happen to the rest of the Mudokon body? What's more, I like the more cartoony image, because it looks more glossy and marketting-y. Like the Glukkons are trying to hide the horror of what they're doing through cutesy product design.

This is exactly how I feel. It feels far more duplicitous and sleazy to sell such a product under a cutesy label. It's also more apt, as this actually happens in real life. One of the jobs of a marketing executive is to make an item - no matter how shabby/cheap/disgusting it's contents - appealing and extremely buy-able.

[lloyd]

I know you guys probably wont like this idea but some sections of the game would work better if you had a moving camera. one that pan'd sidewards or up and down with abe.

I also have an idea to do with a clock but I'll save that for another time.


also +1 for the ice cream pop on a stick over the head on a stick design

[Nate]

This is exactly how I feel. It feels far more duplicitous and sleazy to sell such a product under a cutesy label. It's also more apt, as this actually happens in real life. One of the jobs of a marketing executive is to make an item - no matter how shabby/cheap/disgusting it's contents - appealing and extremely buy-able.

Yeah, but part of that is making the actual product cutesy. How is selling Mudokon flesh any less duplicitous and sleazy if it's been reshaped in to a cutesy form? It's still Mudokon flesh!

[JennyGenesis]

I agree with the marketing thing, just take a look at these.

The idea of marketing is to attract the customer, so having literally a severed head on a stick is probably not the best image to go for.

[STM]

^ These generally made me wanna teat scrab and paramite so the glukkons are doing something right.

If you want an in life example of the mudokon pop vs mudokon head debate, look at KFC/ McDonalds advertising. You really wanna know what that stuff probably looks like pre-photoshop/ cooking.

[JennyGenesis]

This is why they didn't use the severed head for Mudokon Pops (minus the Japan situation)

[Jarrardo]

Unfortunately the original engine isn't 3D. It's pre-rendered images of 3D models. Everything you see in the original games exist as images, not 3D models on the game disk.

Obviously there are 3D models somewhere, but considering they were made in 1995 - 1997 I think we will be able to make them look a fair bit nicer.

Oh right. Well then I retract that suggestion and would ask of a sorta "imitation" as it were, of the classic engine, to "translate" it into 3D I suppose you could say.

[Sekto Springs]

Yeah, but part of that is making the actual product cutesy. How is selling Mudokon flesh any less duplicitous and sleazy if it's been reshaped in to a cutesy form? It's still Mudokon flesh!

If it doesn't make it any less sleazy, then why do it at all?

Because it's like the difference between calling baby cow flesh "veal" and calling it... well... baby cow flesh. Or marketing hot dogs as actual meat and not mechanically-compressed chicken anuses. The masses are too dumb to read what the product contains, and those who do would rather eat something that's at least aesthetically pleasing. Simply put, it makes it more marketable and more eatable!

Of course, RuptureFarms isn't always so subtle.

[OddjobAbe]

I disagree. For one thing, the entire Mudokon head on a stick would be far too large to package and sell. And what would happen to the rest of the Mudokon body? What's more, I like the more cartoony image, because it looks more glossy and marketting-y. Like the Glukkons are trying to hide the horror of what they're doing through cutesy product design.

I would agree with this in the grand scheme of things, but I thought that the head-on-a-stick design had far more of a dramatic effect in that opening scene and made it so explicit to Abe and to the player what the Glukkons were actually doing, which I thought was completely appropriate for establishing the mood of the game at this point where we know nothing about Oddworld.

[Fuzzle Guy]

Ever since I was a kid, I've always wanted to sink my teeth into one of those Scrab Cakes, based solely on Rupture Farm's advertisement image.

We do after all, buy chicken and fish, quite clearly slaughtered, from the Butchers or the Super Market - I don't see any reason why the people of Oddworld, who tend to have quite warped minds anyway, wouldn't purchase a fully skinned Mudokon Body for their Sunday Roast.

[Nate]

If it doesn't make it any less sleazy, then why do it at all?

Because it's like the difference between calling baby cow flesh "veal" and calling it... well... baby cow flesh. Or marketing hot dogs as actual meat and not mechanically-compressed chicken anuses. The masses are too dumb to read what the product contains, and those who do would rather eat something that's at least aesthetically pleasing. Simply put, it makes it more marketable and more eatable!

I think you misunderstand me, given that you're pretty much explaining my point.

I meant 'sleazy' with respect to us as viewers/gameplayers. We should be horrified that the Glukkons are prepared to chop up sentient beings regardless of how they're marketed. However, it makes more sense that on Oddworld, they use the cartoony imagery to hide from their consumers the horror of what they're doing.

I would agree with this in the grand scheme of things, but I thought that the head-on-a-stick design had far more of a dramatic effect in that opening scene and made it so explicit to Abe and to the player what the Glukkons were actually doing, which I thought was completely appropriate for establishing the mood of the game at this point where we know nothing about Oddworld.

True, but that leads to a whole other gameplay reasons/in-universe argument.

[Sekto Springs]

I meant 'sleazy' with respect to us as viewers/gameplayers. We should be horrified that the Glukkons are prepared to chop up sentient beings regardless of how they're marketed. However, it makes more sense that on Oddworld, they use the cartoony imagery to hide from their consumers the horror of what they're doing.

Ah yes. Sorry about that.

[Glitch]

I would say that the head on a stick advertisements were more sort of prototypical marketing images. I agree that, as a player, the head on a stick image had much more of an impact than the cutesy lollipop image did. But I also agree that as a marketing ploy, head on a stick isnt very appetising.

[Nate]

If I may sizzle slightly, Lorne discusses the head-on-a-stick in my interview with him. Which has been typed up and is in the editing and markup process.