Oddworld

Oddworld
Oddworld logo
developer	Oddworld Inhabitants Saffire (1998–2000) Just Add Water (from 2001)
Publisher	GT Interactive (1997–2000) Microsoft Game Studios (2001) THQ (2003) Electronic Arts (2005) Oddworld Inhabitants (from 2010)
Designer	Lorne Lanning
First title	Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (1997)
Last title	Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty (2014)
Platform (s)	PlayStation , Windows , Linux , Mac OS X , Game Boy , Game Boy Color , Xbox , Xbox One , Game Boy Advance , PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation Portable , PS Vita
Genre (s)	Jump 'n' run , action adventure

Oddworld is a fictional game world and namesake for the computer game series by the US game developer Oddworld Inhabitants .

development

In 1994, designers Sherry McKenna and Lorne Lanning, coming from the film industry, founded the Oddworld Inhabitants studio. In 1997 the studio released its first title, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee for the PlayStation console and Windows . The focus of the action was on the antihero Abe from the Mudokon people, who unexpectedly becomes a symbol of an uprising against the oppression of his own kind. McKenna's and Lanning's goal was to develop games similar to those in the film with moving plot and emotional character development. The game was also intended to be the prelude to an Oddworld series known as Quintology, which focuses on a different hero in each title. The title garnered great critical acclaim and numerous awards, the game was also ported and adapted to the Game Boy handheld console in 1998 under the title Oddworld: Adventures . Also in 1998 followed the successor with the title Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus , which was not included in the planned Quintology (German: Pentalogy ) by the developer Oddworld Inhabitants , but was referred to as a "bonus title". This title was also ported in an adapted version to the handheld console, the Game Boy Color , and published in 2000.

Logo for Munch's Oddysee

The second title of Quintology appeared in 2001 under the title Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee as the exclusive launch title for Microsoft's Xbox console . Another protagonist was introduced with Munch. This title was ported to Game Boy Advance in 2003 and to Windows PC in 2010. Munch's Oddysee is the last title of the originally planned Quintology . 2005 followed with Oddworld: Strangers Retaliation , also for Xbox, another offshoot and the last new development so far. The title turned out to be a financial flop for developer Oddworld Inhabitants, and there was also a disagreement with publishing partner Electronic Arts , which, among other things, stopped porting the game to the PlayStation 2 . Instead of the 1.6 million copies required to break even , just 600,000 copies were sold. These experiences prompted Lanning's management to turn their backs on the game industry. The next Oddworld title announced in April 2005 in cooperation with Majesco Entertainment , Oddworld: The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot , has been discontinued and the development of further games has been abandoned.

Stranger's retaliation logo

In July 2010, Oddworld Inhabitants announced a cooperation with the British developer Just Add Water . Just Add Waters was entrusted with the development of high-resolution HD versions of the previously published Oddworld games for the current gaming platforms. After the dispute with Electronic Arts, the games were supposed to be distributed by Oddworld Inhabitants using digital distribution without a publishing partner . The aim was to generate sufficient funds for further development of the series. The first new release followed in December 2011 with Oddworld: Strangers Vergeltung HD , followed in 2012 by Munch's Oddysee HD . The first games were also re-released, initially unchanged, and a collection called Oddboxx was offered with all the games. Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus then sold together over a million times digitally by March 2014. Of Munch's Oddysee HD , Stranger's Wrath HD and Oddboxx a million were also some copies will be sold, with Stranger's Wrath HD with around 600,000 copies, the numbers of first publication even exceeded. Overall, sales of the entire series rose to around seven million games sold.

Already in January 2011 Lanning announced for Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee that he wanted to publish the game in a completely revised version with new 3D graphics and physics engine. At the Eurogamer Expo in September 2012, the game with the title Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee - New 'n' Tasty was presented to the public for the first time.

Published titles

Single track

title	year	platform	developer	Publisher	Remarks
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee	1997	PlayStation , Windows , PS3 (2008), PSP , OnLive (2012)	Oddworld Inhabitants	GT Interactive	First title of pentalogy.
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus	1998	PlayStation, Windows, PS3 (2008), PSP, OnLive (2012)	Oddworld Inhabitants	GT Interactive	Bonus title on pentalogy and direct sequel to Abe's Oddysee .
Oddworld: Adventures	1998	Game Boy	Saffire	GT Interactive	Handheld version of Abe's Oddysee .
Oddworld: Adventures 2	2000	Game Boy Color	Saffire	GT Interactive	Handheld version of Abe's Exoddus .
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee	2001	Xbox , Windows (2010 / HD, 2012), PS3 (HD, 2012), PS Vita (HD, 2012), OnLive (HD, 2012)	Oddworld Inhabitants Just Add Water (Port)	Microsoft Game Studios	Second title of pentalogy.
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee	2003	Game Boy Advance	ART Co.	THQ	Handheld version of the Xbox game.
Oddworld: Stranger's Retribution	2005	Xbox, Windows (2010 / HD, 2011), PS3 (HD, 2011), PS Vita (HD, 2012), OnLive (HD, 2012)	Oddworld Inhabitants Just Add Water (Port)	Electronic Arts	Genre mix of action-adventure and first-person shooter .
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee - New 'n' Tasty	2014	Windows, Linux, Mac, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Wii U	Oddworld Inhabitants Just Add Water	-	Remake of Abe's Oddysee .
Oddworld: Soulstorm	TBD (2020)	Playstation 5, TBA	Oddworld Inhabitants	-	-

Game collections

title	year	platform	Remarks
Oddworld: The Oddboxx	2010	Windows	Digital distribution package, contains Abe's Oddysee , Abe's Exoddus , Munch's Oddysee and Stranger's Retribution

Advertised and discontinued titles

Planned titles

• Oddworld: The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot : In April 2005 announced successor to Stranger's Retaliation , which was discontinued a month later when the studio ceased development. With the resumption of business in 2010, Oddworld Inhabitants also took up the plans for The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot .
• Oddworld: SligStorm
• Oddworld: Squeek's Oddysee : The planned third part of Quintology .
• Oddworld: The Hand of Odd : A free-to-play online real-time strategy game under development by Just Add Waters .
• Oddworld: Soulstorm : The next title in the Oddworld series. Scheduled for 2020.

Discontinued titles

• Oddworld: Munch's Exoddus

Further references

In 1998, Oddworld Inhabitants released a 15-minute animated short film entitled Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus: The Movie . It consists of cutscenes from the game Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus and some scenes specially designed for the film. It is the first computer game film to be submitted for Oscar nominations . To qualify for the Oscar submission, the film was shown from October 27-29, 1998 at the Laemmle Theaters in Los Angeles.

The German electro pop and dance music project Music Instructor released the single Music Instructor feat. Abe - Get freaky , with scenes from the game Abe's Exoddus and a vocal part of the character Abe. The single rose to number 5 in the German single charts on January 5, 1999 and received a platinum award from the Federal Music Industry Association . The song also reached chart positions in Austria and Switzerland.

On the occasion of the release of Munch's Oddysee , the music single E-Pac Feat. Jean Beauvoir - Use Yur Imagination , whose video clip was composed of scenes from the game.

Web links

• Official website
• Oddworld series at MobyGames (English)
• Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus: The Movie in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fred Dutton: Behind The Classics - Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee ( English ) In: PlayStation.Blog . Sony . September 28, 2012. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
2. ↑ http://www.oddworld.com/about/
3. ↑ ^{a b} Matt Martin: Oddworld: Spending $ 30m on games, not Ferraris and private jets ( English ) In: Gamesindustry.biz . Eurogamer Network . October 1, 2012. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Ben Reeves: The Oddworld Game That Never Was: The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot ( English ) In: Game Informer . GameStop . November 19, 2010. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
5. ^ Andrew Yoon: New Oddworld games in the works at Just Add Water ( English ) In: Joystiq . AOL . July 15, 2010. Archived from the original on November 7, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 17, 2012. 
6. ↑ Jeffrey Matulef: New 'n' Tasty needs to sell 500K to fund an original new Oddworld game ( English ) In: Eurogamer.net . Eurogamer Network . March 18, 2014. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
7. ↑ Kyle Orland: Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee Getting HD Remake ( English ) In: Gamasutra . UBM, plc . January 31, 2011. Accessed March 24, 2014.
8. ↑ Wesley Yin-Poole: Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee New N 'Tasty! revealed at Eurogamer Expo ( English ) In: Eurogamer.net . Eurogamer Network . September 30, 2012. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
9. ↑ ^{a b c} http://www.oddworld.com/about/faq/
10. ↑ http://www.neoseeker.com/news/16331-oddworld-the-hand-of-odd-revived-strangers-wrath-hd-delayed/
11. ↑ http://www.gamesradar.com/just-add-water-reveals-oddworld-hand-odd/
12. ↑ Oddworld Inhabitants, Inc: Oddworld Announces Oddworld: Soulstorm - Oddworld Inhabitants. Retrieved August 19, 2018 . 
13. ↑ Oddworld: Soulstorm. Retrieved August 19, 2018 . 
14. ^ GT Interactive : For First Time, Video Games And Film Converge As Software Developer Enters `Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus' For Academy Award Consideration. ( English ) In: Press release . The Free Library. October 13, 1998. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
15. ↑ IGN editors: Oddworld Tries for Oscars ( English ) In: IGN . News Corp . October 15, 1998. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
16. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
17. ↑ Bundesverband Musikindustrie : Gold / Platinum Database (Music Instructor) , accessed on December 17, 2012.
18. ↑ http://austriancharts.at/search.asp?search=Music+Instructor&cat=s
19. ↑ http://hitparade.ch/search.asp?search=Music+Instructor&cat=s
20. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/E-Pac-Feat-Jean-Beauvoir-Use-Yur-Imagination/release/1320180