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Eric Chahi's classic 'Another World' coming to iOS
Timed to coincide with the conclusion of Eric Chahi's GDC 2011 postmorterm on his adventure classic Another World, comes the announcement that the game is being ported to iPone and iPad, courtesy of DotEmu and publisher BulkyPix. The game won't hit iOS until later this year, but is evidently up-and-running according to Chahi himself. "The first prototype looks beautiful on iPad; they are doing a great job on it," he said in the announcement. It's unclear whether the iOS version will be based on the 1991 original or the 2006 15th anniversary remastering (or both!), although DotEmu founder Xavier Liard promises his team will "put a lot of love and care to insure that the gamers get best user experience playing this game on iOS."
'Classic postmortems' unveiled for 25th Game Developers Conference
Beyond the plain ol' postmortems taking place annually at the Game Developers Conference, this year's event features a special 25th anniversary spin: "classic" postmortems. Famous developers will take the stage to speak about their classic games -- everyone from Pac-Man's Toru Iwatani to Doom's John Romero -- and an eager crowd will bask in the light of their classic game knowledge. 11 classics are being given the treatment, though we're putting Will Wright's Raid on Bungeling Bay talk at the very top of our priority list. Another highlight (among a list made up entirely of highlights) is Eric Chahi -- developer of currently in-progress From Dust -- speaking about the development of Out of This World. Check out the full, incredibly impressive list after the break and start planning accordingly. Or rather, clear your schedule. If you can't make it to GDC 2011, the postmortems will be filmed and made available via GDC Vault at some point after the event.
Sales will dictate if From Dust gets multiplayer, level editor
Eric Chahi, designer of the action-adventure classic Out of This World and Ubisoft's upcoming downloadable god game From Dust, has told Joystiq that sales of his latest creation will determine if it receives additional modes and content. "For the first release, it will be a solo experience," Chahi told us, explaining that, "We plan to have a major release where we can enhance the experience by adding an editor and a multiplayer mode, if the success is there." "Xbox Live Arcade, PSN and Steam are good for us because we can offer the solo experience priced around 15 Euros or so," he added. "Then if it works we can enhance it in those ways I mentioned." Chahi confirmed that he has "many ideas" for how to expand From Dust, and that multiplayer and others already exist in some stage of development. It's good to know we weren't alone in thinking there's nothing wrong with a volcanic eruption or tsunami between friends. Chahi's latest game hits in 2011.
How 'From Dust' turns manipulating nature into a game
We already know quite a bit about how From Dust (née Project Dust) uses a few layers of basic elements to create a highly realistic and malleable virtual world. What's been less clear was how Eric Chahi and his team were going to make an actual game out of this lava-filled sandbox. Until today, that is, when Chahi and producer Guillaume Bunier presented the first details of From Dust's gameplay in a Gamescom demonstration.%Gallery-99786%
Project Dust, working title becomes From Dust, actual title
It seems like it was just yesterday that Ubisoft was still referring to its mysterious, Eric Chahi-led game by its working title, "Project Dust." Oh, what a difference a day makes. Introducing: From Dust, as elegantly illustrated on the above sign adorning a Ubisoft meeting room at Gamescom this morning. Perhaps the just-scribbled-in-Sharpie aesthetic was what they were going for but, in case it was an act of curious vandalism, we asked a Ubisoft press liasion who confirmed that, yes, From Dust is the official, just-announced title. Unfortunately, the above image is the closest we've been able to get to any kind of announcement from Ubisoft so you'll just have to trust us. [Update: Ubisoft has just forwarded a fact sheet for "From Dust."]
How Project Dust's world-building world was built
We're still not entirely sure what kind of game lies underneath the virtual-sandbox-with-lava of Eric Chahi's Project Dust, but after a GDC Europe talk today, we do know a little bit more about the underlying system that makes that sandbox work.
Chahi: Project Dust is like building sandcastles, with more lava
Speaking to Joystiq during E3, legendary Another World designer Eric Chahi gave us a bit more information about the mysterious Project Dust, revealed at Ubisoft's E3 presentation. First, it's important to know what inspired him to make the game: volcanoes. " I took a trip to an active volcano to see eruptions," Chahi said, "and since that time I'm crazy about volcanoes. When an eruption is announced somewhere, I take my bag and take the first flight to see this kind of thing." According to Chahi, Project Dust is a God game based on manipulating nature. " The foundation of Project Dust is a simulation. It's like playing 'sandcastle' on the beach, except you have more material to use, like lava." Lava, he reminded us, isn't purely a destructive force -- it can also be used to shape the land and even create areas of land. Interaction with your tribe of people is done through manipulation of the land, which mainly involves picking up materials and moving them around. The Ubisoft rep with Chahi explained that when you pick up something like water, it forms a free-floating sphere that the people can see and react to -- and they don't understand it. Right now, he said, the in-world significance of the levitating material is a mystery even to Ubisoft. %Gallery-95207%
Chahi: Project Dust a spiritual successor to Populous
With the slim details we have about Ubisoft and Eric Chahi's "Project Dust," we're happy for anything that might shed a little light on the spring downloadable release. In a Q&A Ubisoft released, Chahi compares his game to Populous, the strategy classic that casts players as a deity caring for a tribe of people through divine intervention. In the as-yet-untitled "Dust," the tribe of humans live on a version of Earth ravaged by an extreme number of natural disasters, disasters the player can harness to help the people of Dust expand and migrate. Lest you think you've got "Dust" all figured out, Chahi lists influences on the game ranging from a visit to Vanuatu's Yasur crater to Godfrey Reggio's film Koyaanisqatsi. So yeah, we're still a little more in the dark than we'd like, but we can't wait to find out more.
Eric Chahi's Project Dust coming digitally distributed in spring 2011
If that title didn't fill you with joy, we're very sad for you. You also need to stop reading and go play Eric Chahi's brilliant Another World and Heart of Darkness. If you are squealing like a little girl, we've got the details for you, fresh from Ubisoft's E3 press conference. Chahi, who's been practically absent from the industry since 1998, is creating the not-yet-titled "Project Dust," which will be digitally distributed this spring on unnamed platforms. The only other information we have comes from the short clip shown at the event which showed shows a tribal group living in a world on the verge of extinction. Also of note: Yes, please.
Another World 15th anniversary edition now on GOG.com
You see that beautiful, HUD-less vista above? It's from Another World, the European name for the beloved Amiga game from Eric Chahi (later ported to PC, Mega Drive / Genesis, SNES, GBA, among other platforms). Released stateside as Out of This World, the game's 15th anniversary edition (featuring a remastered version of the game, as well as a "making of" video and some other neat bonuses) has just landed on GOG.com for $9.99. As is the case with other titles on GOG, you're all set to run it in Windows XP or Windows Vista (both 32 and 64-bit). If you've yet to play Another World, well, what's wrong with you? Seriously, it's a great game (not to mention highly influential). Speaking of platform support, why hasn't this made its way to XBLA or PSN yet?
Out of this World remastered with high-res graphics
A high resolution version of Eric Chahi's 1991 masterpiece Out of this World (that's Another World for gamers outside North America) has become available for the Windows platform and can be downloaded here. The shareware demo can be unlocked for 7€ (about $8.50). The project, hosted at www.anotherworld.fr, appears to be the work of Magic Productions, the group responsible for porting Out of this World to the Symbian cell-phone operating system last year.The remastered version is Windows only, but Mac users know what they can do. This looks beautiful ...[Via Waxy]
