lorne lanning
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'Oddworld: Soulstorm' will really, finally hit PS4, PS5 and PC on April 6th
After four years of delays, Abe finally has a homecoming date.
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath PS4 version a possibility, according to creator
Abe's Oddysee may not be the only game in Lorne Lanning's Oddworld series to be getting a makeover - Lanning told Eurogamer at this year's Game Developers Conference that he'd like to bring the 2005 Xbox title Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath to the PlayStation 4. Stranger's Wrath HD already exists on the PlayStation 3 and Vita, but Lanning said this version would be "a new SKU with some new dynamics." Of course, wanting something doesn't necessarily make it so. "We're still going over budgets and schedules and stuff like that," Lanning cautioned. This makes sense, considering Lanning also stated that the upcoming Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty would need to sell at least a quarter of a million units to fund more HD translations of the franchise. [Image: EA]
Oddworld New 'N' Tasty gameplay video shows Abe's return Oddysee
Oddworld: Abe's Oddyssey for the original PlayStation is getting a fresh coat of paint - and new window curtains, and fresh carpet, and a redone kitchen, and okay we're gonna stop here. Point is, it's getting a serious overhaul with the upcoming Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty from Just Add Water. And now, thanks to the recently-released gameplay trailer, we can all see what this atypical adventure looks like in motion. Spinning sawblades and electric shocks may not be the biggest obstacles in Abe's path, mind you. Oddworld series creator Lorne Lanning told Eurogamer that the game will need to sell a quarter of a million copies to fund an HD remake of Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, and half a million to revive The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot. No pressure, buddy. [Image: Just Add Water]
Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty must sell 500K to fund new game in series, creator says
Just Add Water's upcoming remake of the PSone-era adventure game Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee needs to sell half a million units in order to fund the creation of a new Oddworld game, series creator Lorne Lanning told Eurogamer today. "If I'm doing a new Oddworld game, I'm not going to do it for $2 million. I might do it for five or six," Lanning explained. "People keep asking me, 'Why don't you Kickstart Oddworld? You could get at least $1 or $2 million.' And I'm like 'What would I do with a couple million on Kickstarter? On a new Oddworld title?' Not much. I could redo Exoddus for a couple million. I could do that. But a new title, which means new characters doing new things and controls that are great - that's where the real time and expenses come from." Lanning additionally revealed that Oddworld: Abe's Oddyssey - New 'n' Tasty will be priced at $30 when it hits digital platforms this spring. He notes that sales in excess of 250,000 will fund the creation of Just Add Water's next planned remake, Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus HD. 500,000 copies sold would earn enough revenue to revive the stalled Oddworld series project The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot, which Lanning estimates is "a $5 million title" at minimum. Lanning is optimistic about hitting the target, given that the self-published Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD has sold around 600,000 units across the PlayStation 3, PS Vita, and PC platforms. Sales for the remake eclipsed the original EA-published Xbox version of Stranger's Wrath, which only "sold about half a million units," according to Lanning. [Image: Just Add Water]
'Two different possibilities' for brand new Oddworld content, says Lanning
Oddworld Inhabitants' return to the gaming scene has been limited so far to remastering and porting old content to new systems, content like Munch's Oddyssee and Stranger's Wrath. Although, as the name suggests, the upcoming New 'n' Tasty is more than a HD remake of Abe's Oddysee, featuring 3D visuals to provide 2.5D platformer gameplay. With all that in mind, I asked Oddworld co-founder and president Lorne Lanning about when totally brand new content will feature in the series' future. "[There are] two different possibilities," Lanning told me. "I don't want to say what they are, because we've talked way too many times and not actually delivered a title. Now, we've talked about Hand of Odd in the past, we've talked about Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot; we started production then we stopped it. Those were the two that got out there and people didn't really see anything new." Lanning, who also told me about his hopes for co-creating Oddworld content with fans, said he's considering crowdfunding options like Kickstarter, but he'd prefer not to have to do that. He noted crowdfunding allows developers to engage with their communities early and involve them in the development process. Oddworld Inhabitants asked fans to come up with a name for the now-christened New 'n' Tasty, a step Lanning says has provided names that could be used for future Oddworld games.
Oddworld co-founder Lanning wants to give players 'clay,' get back 'sculptures'
During last week's DICE conference in London, Oddworld co-founder and president Lorne Lanning touched on the idea on having players co-create content. In his talk, he gave the example of polling players for the name of 'Abe's Oddysee HD' - now Oddworld New 'n' Tasty. The quality of the responses he received inspired him to ask fans to provide art and even credits music for the game. Speaking to Lanning after, I learned how his hopes for involving the Oddworld audience in content creation extend far beyond polls and art. While he was quick to note how far away any of this was from being decided or announced, he told me how he admired what games like Minecraft are doing. That's not to say Lanning is formulating plans for Oddworld-craft, but the veteran designer is certainly interested in how to adapt the Oddworld property to make the audience more involved. "First I'm speaking pie in the sky, but I love the model of being able to provide clay to an audience, and they provide back sculptures," Lanning told me. "That would be a great thing. I think that's what Minecraft did and in that way they did it more probably uniquely than most." "When you put the power of creativity in someone's hands, just like great designers we all like working within limited constraints," he added. "The wider the page, the more open the possibilities, the harder for the writer to write, the same with designers. That being said, I think the future is all about that, is all about people having a co-creative participation. The question is, with what you're doing, how adaptable is your property to be able to facilitate that to the audience. We're exploring that in different ways, and right now I think we have more questions than we do answers."
Hit List Q&A: Lorne Lanning, co-founder of Oddworld Inhabitants
In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: Lorne Lanning, co-founder of Oddworld Inhabitants. Lorne Lanning co-founded Oddworld Inhabitants with his partner, Sherry McKenna, in 1994. His Oddworld games, based in a universe where the dark side of globalization meets the consumer funny bone, have sold nearly 7 million units and garnered dozens of awards not only from the game industry, but also from the music, television, film, and animation industries - as well as illustration and design annuals. In 2008, Oddworld re-emerged as a self-published independent studio bringing its library of titles across various digitally distributed networks in over 20 languages. Their latest in-the-making game, a remake of Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, was showcased by Sony as an iconic representative of their support of the increasingly relevant self-published indie development communities. At the D.I.C.E. Europe conference, Lorne will be speaking on "Properties of the Apocalypse" where he will take attendees on a journey across the macro intent of his studio's design ambitions toward creating "trojan horse media." He will also discuss how and why Oddworld's character creations and story lines aimed to target an increasingly disillusioned audience.
Oddworld's Lanning on Xbox One indies: 'It's as if we don't matter'
"At the business level, Microsoft isn't acknowledging people like us. It's as if we don't matter." In an interview with VG 24/7, Lorne Lanning, creator of the Oddworld series, spoke to the lack of independent developers on Xbox One - stark in contrast to Sony's courtship of indies on the PS4. "We're not on the radar. We're little guys. It doesn't seem like any of the little guys are on the radar." At the Microsoft E3 keynote this year, the focus was on blockbuster games; Minecraft: Xbox One Edition was showcased, as was Capy's Below, but that was about it. Lanning said he doesn't expect a bright future for indies on the Xbox platform. "Ten years from now, the biggest banners out there, the hundred million dollar games, are going to be what happened in the indie community," Lanning elaborated. "That's the only place we're seeing real innovation because that's the only place people can really afford to." Lanning said it's the "smart people" who see independent games on equal footing with AAA games in the future. "I don't see any indication of that foresight up in Redmond. They do not seem to be listening to their audience." To Microsoft's credit, it's not entirely oblivious. After introducing the Xbox One and its DRM policies, the console was widely criticized. Microsoft later backtracked and made a dramatic reversal on Xbox One's policies. Lanning added Microsoft has "a pretty good understanding of who makes really expensive great games, but beyond that there's not really any insight into how people get there from nothing."
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee HD remake in development at Just Add Water
Though the studio is still hard at work on its HD renovation of one installment of the Oddworld Inhabitants franchise, Stranger's Wrath, it seems Just Add Water already has a second remake underway. EGM recently teased an interview (which will appear in its upcoming March 2011 issue) with series creator Lorne Lanning, in which he reveals, "Abe HD is going into production," later adding, "It's basically Abe's Oddysee being redone in a 3D physics engine as a 2D side-scrolling platformer." Though pickings are slim in the EGM preview, Lanning did mention that the studio is "not trying to reinvent any wheels. It's like, 'Can we make that experience in a new engine, with new tech, in the old way?'" We bet you can, if you really put your mind to it. We've got our fingers crossed that more details about the Odd remake will surface in the full interview, when the new EGM hits newsstands next month.
Lorne Lanning laments 'The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot' that never was
Game Informer has posted its recent print interview with Oddworld Inhabitants founder Lorne Lanning, a (five-years-later) followup to the magazine's April 2005 announcement of The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot, OWI's would-be effort to delve further into the "more hardcore" elements of the Oddworld ... world. After finding the situation with EA (which published OWI's Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath on Xbox in 2005) "unworkable," Lanning recounted, OWI turned to Majesco to fund and publish the Fangus project, another Xbox game built on Stranger's core framework. But only a month after the game's announcement, "the shenanigans started" and OWI shut down its development studio. "Sometimes developers get fired by publishers and sometimes developers fire publishers," Lanning said coyly, "and that's probably all I should say about it." Publisher "incompetence" aside, Fangus did sound like an odd pitch: A "close to the Earth" dog-man herdsman turned "pit fighting" slave -- to the Russian-like cat mafia -- who escapes his years-long imprisonment a hardened killer dead set on vengeance and the liberation of his people ("the timeless mythical battle between cats and dogs," in other words). Also, Fangus has terminal rabies and "would control a flock of ravenous sheep-like creatures to take down enemies and solve puzzles," according to GI's description. "We wanted it to be really hardcore," Lanning concluded.
New Oddworld games in the works at Just Add Water
The long-dormant Oddworld franchise is ready to make its return. Just Add Water, developer of Gravity Crash, has been working with Oddworld Inhabitants on "multiple projects, across multiple platforms ... starring all of your favorite Oddworld characters." Just Add Water Managing Director Stewart Gilray has also revealed that franchise creator Lorne Lanning is involved in the new projects. While further details aren't yet available, a few more teases will be revealed on the PS Nation podcast tonight. To keep abreast of any breaking revelations, you can also follow AbeMudokon on Twitter.
New Oddworld on hold, old Oddworlds coming to Steam this year
A couple of years ago, Maxis co-founder Jeff Braun decided it was a good time to start teasing us with the prospect of a new installment in the Oddworld franchise. We've been desperately nurturing that little glimmer of hope since his announcement -- but we might have to extinguish our excitement for the time being. The series' creator, Lorne Lanning, recently told G4TV that the next Oddworld game has been put "on the shelf." "There's a lot of shakeup going on [in the gaming industry]," Lanning explained, "and in that turmoil, we didn't really want to put the Oddworld brand out there in the middle of it." Looks like our Oddworld desires will have to be sated by the Oddbox collection, which will bring the series' four console outings to Steam later this year -- or by purchasing the first two games on Steam together, right now, for $9.99.
Oddworld games coming to PSN, former console-exclusive entries coming to PC
It's been a full four years since we last controlled any of Oddworld's strange inhabitants, with the most recent entry in the series dropping on Xbox. We'll get another chance soon, however, as an interview with Bitmob earlier this week with series creator Lorne Lanning announced the inking of a deal with Sony to release "the original Abe games" on PSN "very soon" -- something an ESRB rating at least partially hinted at early last month.Furthermore, the entire series is getting packaged for digital re-release as The Oddbox (including Munch's Oddysee and Stranger's Wrath, previously console-exclusive games), available digitally "sometime this Winter." When pressed on a new game in the series though, Lanning kept mum, saying "We hope to have an announcement soon, but I've been saying that for a while now so I'll just shut up and hope for the best." Looks like we'll be mirroring Lanning's actions for now, unfortunately.[Via Big Download]
Lorne Lanning confirms he's on the new Oddworld
Recently confirmed by the head of Maxis and now effectively double-confirmed, the new Oddworld game will have involvement from the series' original creator. Previously thought to have left the World of Odd for aspirations in CG movie making, Lanning and his studio, Oddworld Inhabitants, are returning to the universe of their namesake with the next-gen Oddworld. While that game will still be under wraps for some time, it's good to know that the original creators are involved, even if they do have their hands full.
New Oddworld game in the works, may be 'years' off
It's been more than three years since we last frolicked about in Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, but according to Maxis co-founder Jeff Braun a new game set in Lorne Lanning's Oddworld universe is currently in the works. According to Wilfrid Laurier University student newspaper The Cord Weekly, Braun confirmed his involvement with developers Oddworld Inhabitants on the project during a presentation at the school earlier this week.Few details were revealed about the upcoming game, though Braun noted that the title will feature a "revolutionary new 3-D animation system" and "cinematic quality on a '1 to 1 scale' to that of computer-generated motion pictures," adding that the same assets could be used to create both a video game and film version in parallel. This isn't the first time talk of CG features and Oddworld have been mentioned in the same breath, with Lorne Lanning himself refocusing his company in 2005 to create both games and accompanying CG movies, the first of which was announced a year later as Citizen Siege. However, as that title has yet to see the light of day, it doesn't exactly surprise us that Braun admits that the next Oddworld release could be "years" away from seeing retail shelves, and may even be released in an episodic format when it's all said and done.
Live at the Jack Thompson debate in Philadelphia
We're live at the Philadelphia Convention Center, waiting for the panel discussion between Jack Thompson and Oddworld's Lorne Lanning – and moderated by Newsweek's N'Gai Croal – to begin. After watching Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat (more on that later), we returned to the same theater eager to hear the debate. 3:55pm - N'Gai lays out the rules (no cameras, sorry folks) and introduces himself and the participants. N'Gai asks Jack how he came to be involved with the film. Jack delivers what appears to be a sincere appreciation for the film and the opportunity to be involved with it. He commends both N'Gai and Lorne, as well as director Halpin, for being will-intentioned, and that's a major reason he was in the film and he's here tonight.4:00pm - How does Jack feel about Lorne's point in the film saying that it's easier for games to contain violence – canceling something out? Since Lorne's games aren't known for being the most violent on the market (Oddworld, Stranger's Wrath), how does he see himself in the debate? He wanted his games to be more "substantive" in their content, address socio-political issues he saw on the news, for example global warming. He points to the control over science regarding global warming, and how what used to be fact is now a grey area. Does what Lorne said resonate with Jack at all? "We've lost the idea of the public space, public square, whatever you want to call it." He argues for the common good, and encourages people to see things beyond money. He said a gamer thanked him for uniting gamers the world over (in opposition to him, obviously) and got a hearty laugh. He says the first time he saw the documentary, he wept. He's audibly choked up as he says that the film clearly shows both sides of this issue care about people.
Citizen Siege: Oddworld studio's new game & CG film project
Lorne Lanning has confirmed that work has begun on Citizen Siege, the new project from his Oddworld Inhabitants studio. "Citizen Siege was conceived as a game and film from the very beginning," Lanning told GamesIndustry.biz, revealing that John H. Williams will produce the CG animated feature, and Lanning himself will direct. The game concept is currently being shopped around to publishers.Lanning is interested in merging the game and film mediums, hoping that Citizen Siege will become a reference point for future ventures. The idea is that both parts are created simultaneously, influencing each other's courses; rather than one providing the basis for the other. While doing so, it will be important for Lanning and has team to create the right distance between the game and movie. If the finished products demand consumers invest in both, Citizen Siege will have lost a huge chunk of its potential demographic; the group that exclusively watches films -- and does not play games.
God of War's Jaffe inspired by Britney vs. Christina
Sure you knew that God of War was inspired by Clash of the Titans and Raiders of the Lost Ark, but did you know that Christina Aguilera influenced its development as well?In an interview conducted by Lorne Lanning for a session at GDC last week, David Jaffe revealed that thinking of (the workplace tension between him and) his lead programmer during a Christina Aguilera song about Britney Spears helped him get the game to work.So identifying with the arguably lesser end of the Christina-Britney rivalry helped Kratos make it out of development hell? Sounds like a surefire way to create a hit game! We also take it then that the song in question wasn't "Genie in a Bottle," 'cause that would've made for one interesting unlockable costume for our marked man. Cameo in the sequel, perhaps?[Britney 'n' Christina pic found via an old BBC MTV VMA story found here]See also: David Jaffe, blogger extraordinaire, WRU?!? God of War 2 GDC video leaked online Budget power from the Gods, under the hood
