Exciting News! SOULSTORM!

[RoyalFreshness44]

You'd rather it be... crowdfunded??

I really don't think anybody's taking it that seriously beyond making a few forum posts.

I didn't say that?... I'm just happy its being made. Funding and whatever is not my problem, it's up to the Oddworld Team.

And good, so it should be haha.

[Michael]

Everyone's already said everything I'd suggest as feedback. Overall I like the teaser a lot. Am I correct that these cinematic assets are going to be used in-game with cutscenes running in engine? Or are cutscenes being pre-rendered again in Soulstorm?

On the Oddworld website Soulstorm page theres a new concept art for Necrum Mines that I'd not seen before. Not sure if you guys have seen it previously:

http://www.oddworld.com/soulstorm/

[Havoc]

The cutscenes are pre-rendered inside the Unity engine. The assets used during gameplay will no doubt be much lower quality than the ones we see in the cinematics.

[Nemin]

On the Oddworld website Soulstorm page theres a new concept art for Necrum Mines that I'd not seen before. Not sure if you guys have seen it previously:

http://www.oddworld.com/soulstorm/

Oh yup, this one is quite old. We first saw it in 2017 on EGX.

[Michael]

Oh yup, this one is quite old. We first saw it in 2017 on EGX.

Really? Haha I was there, didn't remember seeing that one though! I guess it's been a while

I'm very interested to see gameplay assets, how close the graphic quality will be to the cinematics. I suppose at this point we've only seen that one image from Lorne's Twitter which seemed to be a pretty early build.

[Bullet Magnet]

I liked it.

[Littleleeroy]

The cutscenes are pre-rendered inside the Unity engine. The assets used during gameplay will no doubt be much lower quality than the ones we see in the cinematics.

Yes, probably pre-rendered but they clarified that these were in-game cinematics. The quality is similar to other games I've played on PS4 Pro.
I figure PS4 Pro/Xb1 will look the same as their demonstration but less powerful consoles may be lower quality.

[Havoc]

Yes, probably pre-rendered but they clarified that these were in-game cinematics. The quality is similar to other games I've played on PS4 Pro.
I figure PS4 Pro/Xb1 will look the same as their demonstration but less powerful consoles may be lower quality.

Pretty sure they meant that they used the game engine to render the cinematics as opposed to some external application. Rendering these kinds of graphics in real time would be impressive, but it'd also be inefficient to do it that way.

[seriouslyoddfan]

Complaining about this cinematic not being "dark" enough, or silly, indicates false memories: Oddworld has *always* has always been imbued with comedy.

* Getting eaten alive by fleeches -> fleech burps
* Dialogue of Aslik, Dripik, and Phleg is disturbing, but mannerism funny
* When the shaman discovers Abe after his fall in AO, he says "whooa"
* Exploding farts

Oddworld manages to be simultaneously funny, weird, evocative, and subversive. Moreover, the comedy serves as an anchor to relatability.


Some of you guys spend too much time here. Not an insult, just a fact.

[Nepsotic]

It's so weird when people debunk arguments that nobody on the planet would make or have made, and then say that we "spend too much time here".

You clearly haven't spent enough or you'd know that our entire problem with the scene is how goofy and bad it looks. I can believe a Fleech would swallow a Mudokon whole and then burp. It's fucked up and hilarious at the same time. Toby's eyes look like some intern fucked up the animation by warping them too much.
You'll never find an instance of a Mudokon physically morphing their body in such a cartoony way in the old games, and now that this is supposed to be the grittiest, most realistic depiction of Oddworld yet, it gives me cause for concern.

Remember guys, if you can't beat em, just pretend they said something completely different and nobody will notice.

Moreover, the comedy serves as an anchor to relatability

You're right, it is relatable. I hate it when both my eyes choose not to conform to the physical limitations of my face.

[Michael]

I suppose there's a difference between the style of the characters now. Toby's eyes seem a bit strange to me too, I did find it jarring as soon as I saw his eyes go super wide.

The classic mudokon design was pretty simple. They had huge bug eyes with almost chameleon-like eyelids. Most of their emotion therefore came from manipulating these lids. Rather than frowning with a brow, which they lacked for the most part, the eyelids would be used like a brow to do the same job. And the result was something quirky but still understandable. The reason their eyes appeared to stretch at times in the past was due to the lids opening super wide (often asymmetrically).

What we have with this new and more realistic style, is an increased focus on showing emotion. This was a point Lorne made specifically, even regarding the Gluks and their more human eyes this time. As far as Muds go, their facial structure has developed - there's greater consideration for bone structure, especially around the eyes and jaw. As a result, they now have a brow, to increase the range of emotion they can display, presumably in a more realistic way than solely using eyelids.

Having looked again, it seems like Toby's wide eyed look is achieved by doing everything at once. The new brows move considerably, the lids open wide, and it does look like the eyeballs stretch though I'll admit it's not as much as I had thought. Mostly, it's the brows and eyelids. If anything, it seems like it's not the eyes stretching that's the issue, it's his brow moving so much. By comparison, Alf's brow movements are much more subtle.

[Varrok]

He's just trying to make the train go as fast as he can, Michael.