Odd Piece of the Week: The Song Engine

[JayDee]

Hello everyone, let's get this week’s Odd Piece of the Week started.

Previous threads:

• Nathan Interviews Lorne Lanning Again
• The Delicate and Docile Meep
• Molluck’s Vault
• Scrabs

The Song Engine

The Song Engine. A giant, assumedly, Mudokon creation which through the power of music awakens a large wooden Sentinel. The power of the water surrounding the engine rings the bells, a chorus of horns echoes out through the forests as the ancient machine whirrs to life.

When looking through TOGG and various other sources trying to find inspiration for something to include in my fan projects I stumbled across The Song Engine. It immediately piqued my interest as it's distinctly war-like in it's presumed purpose, unlike anything we've ever seen made by Mudokon paws. The only references we find of its existence are within The Art Of Oddworld The First Ten Years.

Music is very important in creating the depth of tone and mood in Oddworld. Though there’s rarely been opportunity to show it, music is also an important aspect within the characters and cultures. For the native Mudokons across Mudos, beats and melodies reflect the rhythm and pattern inherent to nature. The "Song Engine” is an example of ancient Mudokon technology that is meant to harness nature’s energy to create spiritual music that, in turn, reinforces and protects the natural spirit world. As the living waters of the river flow through the Song Engine, music plays to welcome friends and ward off enemies. If a threat persists, the giant wooden sentinel can be brought to life with the chimes and drums as its heartbeat. However, far the music carries, the sentinel can bring its strength to bear.

From the concepts it seems as though passing by The Song Engine was an important step in what was planned to be Abe's full journey with Munch, and it likely it would have played a very important role in the story of the liberation of the Mudokon race.

The importance of music within Mudokon society is no new fact. From the slingshot-wielding Mudokon Natives to the Bells and Chimes deep with Monsaic lines, even the low droning melody of a chant; all of these represent the importance of music to the Mudokons, and how they are able to connect to their spirituality and live a harmonius existence through harmonies.

A lot of the details surrounding this creation are largely up to debate, and that's why I decided to include it as my featured Odd Piece Of The Week, and hopefully put some of the lesser known pieces of Oddworld Lore in the spotlight. I'm curious what your guys' thoughts are concerning this Mudokon mechanism. What do you think it would have been used for? Would it have had any plot significance at all? Or would it lay dormant as a reminder of the power the Mudokons once held? Who knows. I sure don't.

[UnderTheSun]

I took a (poorly-taken) shot of that page of the book while all your post said was "RedactED" (I was confused).

Since you have an image of your own now, what I did was unneeded, but why's the one in your image so green?

The one in my book is brown, with a purple-ish sky.



Anyway, I wonder if the Song Engine would be some kind of late-tier unit for the Tree Hugger faction in Hand of Odd?

EDIT: Welp, the image screws up on a computer monitor; flipped over. Looks fine on mobile though.

[JayDee]

Anyway, I wonder if the Song Engine would be some kind of late-tier unit for the Tree Hugger faction in Hand of Odd?

I'd considered the idea of The Song Engine appearing in Hand of Odd, it would've certainly been satisfying to watch as this thing awakens and decimates the battlefield. Perhaps we could've seen it duking it out with an equally titanic Land Mugger sentinel.

I took a (poorly-taken) shot of that page of the book while all your post said was "RedactED" (I was confused).

Since you have an image of your own now, what I did was unneeded, but why's the one in your image so green?

The one in my book is brown, with a purple-ish sky.

And as for the image, I'm actually unsure why the one I have saved is different. I'd say that the image I got was the one I found on TOGG and then reuploaded to imgur but that one's the same as yours. I've edited the post to include the TOGG official picture but here's the one I originally posted so there's no confusion. Thanks for pointing that out! I would have never noticed myself.



I guess it was the wrong green.

[UnderTheSun]

I guess it was the wrong green.

They should have made it scarlet red.

[Lord Vhazen]

Honestly this is the most wonderfully disney-esque thing they ever came up with. I can just picture this dude coming to life like a gargoyle and singing Friend Like Me or something.

As for what it's actually meant for, I suspect Lorne was gonna use this as a means of mustering up the Mudokons for a more organized war effort against their slavers. This probably had something to do with the way we would have generated warriors out of the lazy muds, which later got replaced by these weird and convenient stone totem zapper things. Something much more sacred and important like this would have made A LOT more sense as a way of generating soldiers to fight for us.

[JayDee]

Honestly this is the most wonderfully disney-esque thing they ever came up with. I can just picture this dude coming to life like a gargoyle and singing Friend Like Me or something.

I imagine the fights going something like this as the Sentinel blasts down Vykker Dropships.

[theraven]

I said this in another thread, but I hope we one day see the original plan for Munch's Oddysee come to fruition. Everything about the actual game sucks and everything we've ever seen that was cut from that game seems so incredible in how lore-expanding it is.

[Lord Vhazen]

I imagine the fights going something like this as the Sentinel blasts down Vykker Dropships.

OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS MUSIC STYLE SO MUCH

Alternatively, I think the musical antics of Harry Belafonte would be really fitting as well like



or as another example,



Yeah I like the Muppets....

[UnderTheSun]

Honestly this is the most wonderfully disney-esque thing they ever came up with. I can just picture this dude coming to life like a gargoyle and singing Friend Like Me or something.

Not just singing; it'd play its own instruments!


Anyway, back to Hand of Odd; I noticed something in one of these CG snippets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSAKNdhlesI

http://oddworldlibrary.net/archives/cinema/MO06.htm

The one above has the Last Legs soundtrack instead of the original music, while the link below has a download for the original video (with sound) at the bottom.

Anyway, I noticed something about the drummer; specifically, the scar/tattoo on his back. It's like a ring, but the top has something with two curved "wings," along with two other appendages on the head.

This is mindless speculation, but the symbol looks a bit like a Song Engine, with water cascading along its sides. If that's true, then the Mudokons around the fire may be performing some kind of ritual to awaken it (kind of like how a Storm Circle is operated).

[JayDee]

Anyway, I noticed something about the drummer; specifically, the scar/tattoo on his back. It's like a ring, but the top has something with two curved "wings," along with two other appendages on the head.

This is mindless speculation, but the symbol looks a bit like a Song Engine, with water cascading along its sides. If that's true, then the Mudokons around the fire may be performing some kind of ritual to awaken it (kind of like how a Storm Circle is operated).

I'd never noticed this, good find. Since it's the actual Song Engine which awakens the Sentinel, my head canon had always been that mudokon tribes would all drum or perform whatever ritual specific to their tribe to beckon it. Maybe these Mudokons were calling the Song Sentinel, with the added bonus of smoke signals from a massive bonfire.

[Nate]

I've never been sure about the Sentinel. Does the music wake the Sentinel, which then goes out and fights? Or does the water power the Sentinel, which plays the music, which then inspires the Muds to go out and fight?

[UnderTheSun]

I've never been sure about the Sentinel. Does the music wake the Sentinel, which then goes out and fights? Or does the water power the Sentinel, which plays the music, which then inspires the Muds to go out and fight?

Apparently, the Song Engine is literally a wooden mecha.

From what the book says, the music doesn't really awaken the Song Engine, since it still plays while it's dormant (driven by water power, of course). I guess it's powered by the spiritual energy given by its awakening ritual, which also gets the drums and chimes to play on their own (unless there's some kind of pilot for that).

[JayDee]

I've never been sure about the Sentinel. Does the music wake the Sentinel, which then goes out and fights? Or does the water power the Sentinel, which plays the music, which then inspires the Muds to go out and fight?

I feel like it might be the first, the engine itself makes all the noise whilst the sentinel can only really go as far as the music. Though I imagine any Mudokon would be considerably more inspired to fight with this thing marching alongside them.

As the living waters of the river flow through the Song Engine, music plays to welcome friends and ward off enemies. If a threat persists, the giant wooden sentinel can be brought to life with the chimes and drums as its heartbeat. However, far the music carries, the sentinel can bring its strength to bear.

[Nate]

My interpretation of 'the sentinal can bring its strength to bear' meant that the music it produced was sharing strength with muds.

[Lord Vhazen]

I think the bit where we see the Mudokons dancing around the fire may have actually been the original ritual which would have spawned the mudokon warriors in MO. It was probably connected to the Song Engine thing, like this was their way of becoming one with its spirit /from a distance/. That concept art though makes it look like actually finding the guardian thing would have been an important part of the story. Maybe actually finding it for real would have been the spark to a true rebellion?

[Vlam]

I said this in another thread, but I hope we one day see the original plan for Munch's Oddysee come to fruition. Everything about the actual game sucks and everything we've ever seen that was cut from that game seems so incredible in how lore-expanding it is.

By the way, Munch was meant to have a "flute-like tongue":

Munch was also going to GameSpeak with Scrabs and Paramites using his flute‐like tongue to imitate their language.

http://www.oddworldforums.net/showth...p?p=286301post

[kjjcarpenter]

I've never been sure about the Sentinel. Does the music wake the Sentinel, which then goes out and fights? Or does the water power the Sentinel, which plays the music, which then inspires the Muds to go out and fight?

The design does seems very stoic. I think Nate hit the nail on the head, although, from the description, it's also possible the music and the water could come together to create a spiritual barrier of some kind.

That concept art though makes it look like actually finding the guardian thing would have been an important part of the story.

What makes you say that? It looks more like a set piece to me, designed to give this locale more personality.

[Xavier]

Fun fact, this particular piece of Art was included in the 2005's selection of Into The Pixel:

http://www.intothepixel.com/artwork/...st_winners.asp

I was fortunate enough to see a reproduction of it while attending the GameCity event in Nottingham. I have to say, this piece of Oddworld Art is one of my favorite, it looks absolutely stunning when printed in large format.

[Manco]

My interpretation of 'the sentinal can bring its strength to bear' meant that the music it produced was sharing strength with muds.

The passage reads too literally to me – I think it means the sentinel can actually move and become a tool of war if required, but it needs to be within earshot of the music?

Perhaps the Song Engine and the sentinel are advanced constructions of the old Mudokon tribes, another art lost to their descendants?

Fun fact, this particular piece of Art was included in the 2005's selection of Into The Pixel:

http://www.intothepixel.com/artwork/...st_winners.asp

I was fortunate enough to see a reproduction of it while attending the GameCity event in Nottingham. I have to say, this piece of Oddworld Art is one of my favorite, it looks absolutely stunning when printed in large format.

Raymond Swanland has to be one of my favorite concept artists, and it’s still kind of amazing how many great artists OWI had under one roof during the original studio’s run. I’m glad Swanland was able to do more work with the new studio, and I hope that continues.

[kjjcarpenter]

I found this on the Oddworld Library:

The Mudokon mother tongue is a harmonious musical language comprising various whistled tunes. Their love of music, typical of all of Oddworld’s native races, is expressed in statues such as the Song Engine, which welcomes friends and wards off enemies with its mystic music.

[Yokai]

Dang, this thing looks amazing. It makes me want Oddworld Inhabitants to do an actual remake for Munch's Oddysee even more since, just like Abe's Exoddus/SoulStorm, a lot of content and story got cut due to deadlines.

[Nepsotic]

It's cool but the big wooden robot is pretty dumb

Still cool though

[kjjcarpenter]

It's cool but the big wooden robot is pretty dumb

It's a metaphor. There will be no robot warriors.

(I hope.)

[Acclivius]

The Song Engine sounds amazing and I would have loved to see it in action! Imagine being able to control that during gameplay! Well, I guess it'd be a bit OP but still.

[Nepsotic]

It would fit right in in Munch's Oddysee. Because of how dumb it is

[Vlam]

It would fit right in in Munch's Oddysee. Because of how dumb it is

Actually, you are more right than you think. There was this thing in the GBA version of MO:

[Xavier]

It would fit right in in Munch's Oddysee. Because of how dumb it is

Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

Actually, you are more right than you think. There was this thing in the GBA version of MO:

What exactly are we looking at in this GBA screenshot?

[Vlam]

20:18.

[Manco]

20:18.

Munch’s Oddysee remake confirmed for next year

[Varrok]

Quick! Let's kill ourselves!