An RTS set in the Oddworld universe?

[Auriel]

So, just a few days ago, I was looking through my old manual for Oddworld Abe's Exoddus, when I came across a page describing a new series of games dubbed the Habitales. From the short description that was there, I figured that it was a planned series of real-time strategy games in the Oddworld universe that never came to fruition. Now, I just recently became aware that the development studio is actively working on new projects for the first time since 2005, so I thought, would it not make sense for them to bring this idea of an RTS into life at around this point? There are many gamers today that have not experienced the old games from the 90s and what better way would there be to introduce them to the series, and the universe as a whole than through an interactive experience encompassing a variety of creatures, locations, etc, which show up in the more "traditional" platforming installments of the franchise? Of course, considering this is a fan forum for the series, this has probably been discussed and rediscussed dozens of times but from a quick glance I did not find much recent topics on the subject so here we go.
Also hi, I'm new here.

[Fred The Fuzzle]

So, just a few days ago, I was looking through my old manual for Oddworld Abe's Exoddus, when I came across a page describing a new series of games dubbed the Habitales. From the short description that was there, I figured that it was a planned series of real-time strategy games in the Oddworld universe that never came to fruition. Now, I just recently became aware that the development studio is actively working on new projects for the first time since 2005, so I thought, would it not make sense for them to bring this idea of an RTS into life at around this point? There are many gamers today that have not experienced the old games from the 90s and what better way would there be to introduce them to the series, and the universe as a whole than through an interactive experience encompassing a variety of creatures, locations, etc, which show up in the more "traditional" platforming installments of the franchise? Of course, considering this is a fan forum for the series, this has probably been discussed and rediscussed dozens of times but from a quick glance I did not find much recent topics on the subject so here we go.
Also hi, I'm new here.

Hand of Odd was thought to be an RTS.
Oddworld Wikia
IGN
Website

[Kyle]

Wasn't HoO meant to be a part of the Habitales series?

[Fred The Fuzzle]

Wasn't HoO meant to be a part of the Habitales series?

It was supposed to be the first in the Habitales series.

[Xavier]

From what I understand Hand of Odd was designed to be a RTS in the same way Brutal Legend was, which means there was a playable leader giving orders to the factions while being able to kick some ass himself.

This of course was only one of the concepts and we have no way of knowing what HoO will turn out to be when it's finally released.

[Fred The Fuzzle]

From what I understand Hand of Odd was designed to be a RTS in the same way Brutal Legend was, which means there was a playable leader giving orders to the factions while being able to kick some ass himself.

This of course was only one of the concepts and we have no way of knowing what HoO will turn out to be when it's finally released.

As long as it doesn't turn out to be that 'social networking' iteration that I heard a while back, I'll be satisfied.

[Connell]

Oddworld manuals are full of unfulfilled promises and dreams.. used to check the official site daily when I was younger in the hope that there would be some announcement or something, quite sad really.

[Phylum]

The OWI website used to be my homepage because I was waiting for whatever was "coming soon"

[Jordan]

The day that was discovered was one of the most exciting days of my life. That "Coming Soon" was both evil and glorious.

[DarkHoodness]

I think I remember posting a screenshot of AE's manual waaay back in '08. *checks* Yep:



It makes me wonder what else OWI were thinking of while they were still a games company.

[Jbot123]

I remember Lorne said he had an idea for a game about forcing slaves to fight each other or something.

[Auriel]

Hand of Odd was thought to be an RTS.
Oddworld Wikia
IGN
Website

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I just recently became aware of plans for new Oddworld games, but I have no clue why I have not yet spent the sufficient time in order to find out about this. This is of course wonderful news (although I presume it isn't news to the rest of you :P)
I have not played Brutal Legend myself but the idea of blending the mechanics of a real-time strategy and more traditional adventure games into a single multiplayer experience is something I would very much like to see in the Oddworld series.
I do wonder if the open-ended "story" approach will have any effect on the main series (a la the multiple endings of the original games?) or if it will be set entirely separately from it (although that would be rather difficult if Bigface and Raisin are to be incorporated).

I remember Lorne said he had an idea for a game about forcing slaves to fight each other or something.

Not sure if a game devoted entirely to such a concept would work but I see this type of gladiator match concept as a quality addition to the rest of the series and the universe as a whole.
All those Glukkons do have hobbies outside of sitting in their boardrooms obsessing over their cash, do they not?

[Jbot123]

All those Glukkons do have hobbies outside of sitting in their boardrooms obsessing over their cash, do they not?

No, they are lazy clumps of purple flesh.

[Auriel]

No, they are lazy clumps of purple flesh.

And what better hobby is there for lazy clumps of purple flesh than to sit back and watch their slaves violently murder each other in gladiator matches? :P

[DarkHoodness]

I have not played Brutal Legend myself but the idea of blending the mechanics of a real-time strategy and more traditional adventure games into a single multiplayer experience is something I would very much like to see in the Oddworld series.

Gotta be careful with mixing genres together in one game if you do it in sections and make them mandatory to proceed... Tim Shafer got away with it in Brutal Legend but it didn't go down so well with some people.

For me the RTS parts were a nice surprise and added variety even if the gameplay change was sort of abrupt, but my friend I was playing it with really disliked those parts even though they were simple.

Perhaps part of the problem was because the demo didn't hint at RTS sections being present in the game, and my friend thought it'd be purely an action-adventure thing.

People like to know what they're getting, I guess. But if JAW do something similar in a future game and advertise that it's going to be that way, maybe it won't be a problem.

[Auriel]

I may be wrong but Hand of Odd doesn't sound at all like it would divide itself into action/adventure and RTS sections, but rather merge the two genres. Then again, I have not played Brutal Legend so I can't be too sure how it was handled there.
I do remember BL being advertised as mainly an adventure game before it was released while searching "Hand of Odd" on Google yields many instances of the phrase "real-time strategy".

[Jbot123]

And what better hobby is there for lazy clumps of purple flesh than to sit back and watch their slaves violently murder each other in gladiator matches? :P

Fair point.

[SpAM_CAN]

Not a single thing that OWI promised to happen ever actually happened, at least until recently.

"Don't even think about playing [Munch] on your mesaly 32 Bit system"
- Munch came out on the only 32 Bit system of the generation, which makes me giggle every time I remember that fact

Munch was to use its own engine (ALIVE 2) and be exclusive to the PS2.
- Used NetImmerse (though still claimed to use ALIVE 2) and was exclusively on the Xbox

Munch was to have environmental changes as you slowly fixed the world
- The lighting gets a bit brighter, I guess.

Munch was conceived as a co-op game
- Haha, no. Though this feature seems to have been dropped near the end of development, because there are UI images and script files for a local multiplayer menu in the PC version (and presumably the Xbox version, but I obviously couldn't look at them there)

"Don't worry about your long lost Mudokon Mother. You'll learn about that when you meet Munch..."
- Never brought up again.

"Stranger will herald the return of Oddworld to Playstation hardware"
- Nope, Xbox.

Habitales, Faerietales. Never happened.
SligStorm. Never happened.
Brutal Ballad Of Fangus Klot. Never happened.
Hand Of Odd. Never happened.
Munch's Exoddus. Never happened.
The rest of the god-damned Quintology. Never happened.

I understand that some of this may finally happen thanks to the folks at JAW, but OWI were a studio that promised more than Peter Molyneux if he were to run for Prime Minister. It was lucky that they delivered quality more frequently than he does, or they'd have no fans left at this point.

[Jordan]

You do understand that that sort of thing happens a lot in the development of a game, don't you? Not every single idea promised by a developer will get put into the final game, especially when technical issues arise in relation to the console.

[Fred The Fuzzle]

especially when technical issues arise in relation to the console.

That's what Lorne wants you to think.




Edit: In relation to the switch between PS2 and Xbox for Munch.

[Vyrien]

Explaining the joke made that so much funnier than it already wasn't.

[Varrok]

Explanation: Vyrien just said that your joke wasn't funny.

[Auriel]

wall of rant

Dude, I'm just as annoyed as you are about the lack of Oddworld releases in the past 8 years but if you're going to complain every time the planned console for an upcoming release is changed you might as well quit playing video games altogether, and even if Oddworld Inhabitants spent every second of said 8 years producing games they still wouldn't have completed every single one of the the main quintology, bonus sequels, Habitales, Fearitales and miscellaneous games they planned by now.

[Connell]

Then they shouldn't open their fucking mouths too soon and get fans excited, dude. It was all talk, that's what people are annoyed about.

[Xavier]

That's what we end up seeing... in the meanwhile there was some very real struggle going on on OWI's side to make it happen. But then, you know, shit happened.

[Connell]

Of course I'm not saying they weren't trying to make it happen. I just find it astounding that a games company already having problems had the guts to announce so many titles and plans that never came to fruition. I can't think of any event or company that has had so many unfulfilled promises in recent history.

[Nate]

Of course I'm not saying they weren't trying to make it happen. I just find it astounding that a games company already having problems had the guts to announce so many titles and plans that never came to fruition. I can't think of any event or company that has had so many unfulfilled promises in recent history.

Bear in mind that most of those announcements were made around the release of AE, when they were massively successful, well respected, and world-renowned.

Also, they didn't happen in 'recent history'.

[Connell]

Bear in mind that most of those announcements were made around the release of AE, when they were massively successful, well respected, and world-renowned.

Also, they didn't happen in 'recent history'.

Leading back to my first point, they should not have opened their mouth so soon with so many plans. And the announcements continued to come well after they had entered into instability, Citizens Siege being a prime example.

I never said they happened in recent history, I meant I can't think of any games company that has come remotely close to so much disappointment to compare them to in recent history, as people were acting as if this sort of thing happens with games companies all the time.

I love Oddworld as much as the next schmuck, and it's a shame what happened to the company and for one reason or another these games never hit the shelves. But there was a big fuckup and not even the biggest fanboy can defend them on that one.

[STM]

I never said they happened in recent history, I meant I can't think of any games company that has come remotely close to so much disappointment to compare them to in recent history, as people were acting as if this sort of thing happens with games companies all the time.

*EHEM* Brink *COUGH* Aliens Colonial Marines *HACK*

[Varrok]

You should see a doctor about that, STM.

Also, Mass Effect 3.