Another World (computer game)
| Another world | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio |
 Delphine Software Interplay Entertainment (console) DotEmu (new edition)
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| Publisher |
Interplay BulkyPix Focus Home Interactive The Digital Lounge |
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| Senior Developer | Eric Chahi | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
Original: 1991 15th Anniversary Edition: 2006 20th Anniversary Edition: 2011 |
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| platform | Amiga , DOS , SNES , Mega Drive , Mega-CD , Atari ST , 3DO , GBA , Symbian OS , iOS , Android , Jaguar , Nintendo 3DS , Wii U , Xbox One , PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation Vita , Windows | ||
| genre | Action-Adventure , Jump 'n' Run | ||
| control | Joystick , gamepad , touchscreen , mouse & keyboard | ||
| medium | Floppy , game module , CD-ROM , flash memory , download | ||
| language | English , French , Italian , Spanish , German | ||
| Age rating |
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Another World (US title: Out of this World ) is a computer game by Éric Chahi , which was published in 1991 by Delphine Software International for Commodore Amiga . It is an action adventure game for one player. A sequel, Heart of the Alien, was released in 1994, a technically improved remake of the original in 2006.
Game design
Even if Another World was not a great commercial success, the game achieved a certain cult status with the players. The game was one of the first with fully animated cutscenes and an intro. Small background animations such as flying birds, swinging lianas and the lion-like creature that quietly ambushes the player in the first section create the impression of a real, living world. The characters communicate using facial expressions, gestures and actions, the aliens sometimes communicate in their own incomprehensible language. But not a single (understandable) word is spoken in the whole game. A HUD for food or energy advertisement does not exist, all the necessary information is conveyed directly through the game world, so a red light spot signals on the weapon that their power is exhausted.
The game world is two-dimensional and the characters are based on polygons, which creates a pseudo-3D effect. The rotoscopy method was used for animation of the figures , in which the polygon characters move much more realistically and fluidly.
The player can suffer a sudden, unexpected screen death at any time, which is often shown in a short film. The player often finds himself in a completely new situation in which he has to react quickly. As a result, many points have to be studied carefully before they can be mastered, which is partly reminiscent of quick-time events , but most of the time takes place with the normal game mechanics. The level of difficulty seems very high, but the player has an infinite number of lives available to start the last section again. In addition, the difficulty is more in figuring out the solution to a section than in actually executing the solution.
action
The player slips into the role of Lester Knight Chaykin, a young, brilliant, red-haired physicist. When he dares to try an antimatter test in his high-tech laboratory on a stormy night, his particle accelerator is struck by lightning and the professor finds himself in a parallel world. There he meets unsociable planet dwellers who, after successfully escaping from a lion-like creature, capture him (Although the humanoid beings appear primitive, they have impressive technology such as laser weapons and anti-gravity devices. These could, however, have been stolen from a previous civilization be). In the labyrinthine alien city you first have to free yourself from a cage, skillfully distract guards, avoid traps, find a prisoner as a helper, use means of transport and weapons to successfully get from one screen to the next. It is switched "screen by screen".
Development history
The game was conceived, designed, programmed and rendered by Éric Chahi himself ( Jean-Francois Freitas worked on the sound effects ). Also the artwork of the game box comes from him. In order to obtain natural animations , Chahi filmed himself and transferred the movements into the game with the help of the rotoscopy process. As a result, the character's movements appear very realistic.
In the US , the game was released under the title Out of this World to avoid confusion with the ongoing soap opera Another World . Ironically, at the same time as the game's US release, a sitcom called Out of this World was on the air. It was later ported to other platforms such as MS-DOS , SNES , Game Boy Advance ( freeware ), and Sega Mega Drive .
Flashback , a 2D action adventure game by the same publisher, has often been mistaken for its successor, but has nothing to do with the latter other than using a similar technique for animation.
The Paris based publisher, Delphine Software , went bankrupt after 2002.
At the end of 2006, a new edition was published to mark the 15th anniversary of the game's appearance. The style of the old graphics was retained, but resolutions of up to 2,048 × 1,536 pixels and a higher color depth were made possible.
In 2011, the source code of Another World was reconstructed via reverse engineering , which was possible because the game had been developed with a thin layer of abstraction or bytecode interpreter for good portability on many platforms.
On November 29, 2012, the Museum of Modern Art announced the purchase of 14 computer games, including Another World , for a new permanent design exhibition at the Philip Johnson Galleries from March 2013. The announcement identified the titles as outstanding representatives in the field of interaction design. In addition to the visual quality and the aesthetic experience, criteria were therefore all aspects that contribute to the design of the interaction, such as the elegance of the program code or the design of the player behavior.
In 2016, a special, strictly limited collector's edition was released exclusively in Germany, which was limited to only 30 official copies worldwide. This LIMITED COLLECTOR'S EDITION comprised the Anniversary Edition (incl. PC and DOS version, as well as poster + slipcase), a large EU Big Box in the classic retro look of the 1990s, as well as a postcard, matching envelope, handwritten certificate of authenticity , metallic lacquer business card and the exclusive HBE mini poster.
Heart of the Alien
| Heart of the Alien | |
|---|---|
| Studio | Interplay |
| Publisher | Virgin Interactive ( Avalon Interactive ) |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1994 |
| platform | Mega CD |
| genre | Action-Adventure , Jump 'n' Run |
| control | Gamepad |
| medium | 1 × CD-ROM |
Éric Chahi, the creator of Another World , had originally not planned a sequel. Heart of the Alien was only created after pressure from Interplay . However, this was not a sequel in the classic sense, but a different perspective on the story from Another World . According to Chahi, it is "much more interesting to play the original game again from the perspective of the aliens than to bring out a sequel". However, the game was then developed solely by Interplay and according to Chahi, both the animations and the entire game could not meet expectations.
The game was released in 1994 exclusively for Sega's mega-CD and included a bonus CD with an improved version of Another World . In contrast to its predecessor, Heart of the Alien was not implemented for any other system and could not follow on from old successes.
content
Heart of the Alien is similar to its predecessor in terms of gameplay and graphic style and takes place directly after the events of Another World . It again contains the "alien friend" who helped the human protagonist through the original. The events of the predecessor are only referred to in the extended introduction.
The story continues right at the end of the first part. Lester's alien friend lands the pterosaur in the ruins of his home village, puts Lester in a hut to rest and walks through the village, reminding himself of his past. This sequence contains many monochrome flashbacks that depict the events so far that lead to the captivity of the alien and his and Lester's escape from prison.
Throughout the entire game, the friend searches for the red-eyed alien who is responsible for the destruction of his village and the capture of its inhabitants. After Lester recovers, he helps his friend with this task. In the end, all prisoners are freed and the fortress burned down, but Lester dies and is cremated.
The alien friend controls itself for the most part similarly to Lester in the first part. He has some new movements made possible by his powerful energy whip. For example, he can swing himself off stalactites or similar objects and his shield is set up instantly, unlike Lester's shield, which has to charge a few seconds before it's ready to use.
Source ports
A source code version of Heart of the Alien was extracted by Gil Megdish in 2004 by reverse engineering . This project called Heart of The Alien Redux is hosted on SourceForge . A Symbian porting was also developed based on Heart of The Alien Redux .
Web links
- Website of the author with information about the original and the new edition (English, also in German)
- Another World at MobyGames (English) and Heart of the Alien at MobyGames (English)
- Binary Bonsai: Detailed blog entry about Another World ( Memento from November 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- Heart of the Alien - Review at Home of the Underdogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eurogamer.net: Another World: 15th Anniversary Edition. Retrieved April 1, 2018 .
- ^ Blake Patterson: A Fascinating Look Under the Hood of 'Another World' . toucharcade.com. December 26, 2011. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
- ^ Fabien Sanglard: "Another World" Code Review ( English ) fabiensanglard.net. December 23, 2011. Retrieved January 14, 2013: " I spent two weeks reading and reverse engineering further the source code of Another World (" Out Of This World "in North America). I based my work on Gregory Montoir's "binary to C ++" initial reverse engineering from the DOS executable. I was amazed to discover an elegant system based on a virtual machine interpreting bytecode in realtime and generating fullscreen vectorial cinematic in order to produce one of the best game of all time. "
- ↑ Paola Antonelli: Video Games: 14 in the Collection, for Starters ( English ) In: Inside / Out. A MoMA / MoMA PS1 Blog . Museum of Modern Art . November 29, 2012. Retrieved November 29, 2012.
- ^ Mat: Interview with Eric Chahi. Archived from the original on April 28, 2006 ; Retrieved April 18, 2011 (English).
- ↑ Author's report on the development of Another World , 2006
- ↑ Windows port
- ↑ Symbian Port (English)