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Revisiting Another World
The Delphine Software title Another World was a singular experience in early 90's gaming. The game is coming back to life in the here-and-now, in the hands of creator Eric Chahi. From the Edge Online article: "It's a collector's re-issue, not a remake ... When I created Another World I was already thinking that one day it would be able to run on higher end computers. The idea was to create something that respected the original release, so the enhanced backgrounds are in harmony with the flat polygon animations. And, of course, the game in its original 16 color form will be available too."
I didn't realize that there was a big demand for games based on soap operas. (I guess that's why the game was renamed in the US.)
Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
Since I'm 32, many of my favorite games are those that remind me of my gaming youth. Days playing Astrosmash on the Intellivision with pops, or playing Utopia on the Aquarius with my friends -- these were low res but very high fun-factor games that today's batches don't really compete well with (for me). Even newer games like Dreamcast's Chu-Chu Rocket tend to give me more hours of fun, mostly because the basic games seem to need less hardware, less overhead, and give me more playing time. I guess the lower resolution adds to the imagination-creation that tabletop gaming created, too.
I've been thinking often about how the old games could be refreshed and renewed, but I can't figure out if it would be feasible. MOST gaming companies will re-create the game with the mess of 3D animation, large storage needs and slow cut-scenes, probably destroying them in the process. Civ4 is the most frustrating game I've ever played, I even battled to return it to the store since the only way to get it to work was to pirate it (the boxed release didn't work on 6 different PCs). Sid can go choke on my box for all I care -- the love of the game is gone.
Yet I do see the "50 games for $5" that contain some of my favorite games of my youth -- Sinistar, Pole Position, Joust, Galaga, you name it. Thinking back, were these games my favorite because that is all we had at the local teen hang-out? I don't think so, we spent enough time at the super arcade to get our pick of 100 machines. Are they "the best" because they're from my childhood? I'm not sure, as my friend's 3 kids love to play them at our house, moreso than any of their X-box games. Are the games still powerful because they have some uniqueness to them? Not at all, there is just something about the story+gameplay+graphics that pulls you in.
I wish I could figure it out, I've been dying to create something similar to the old games, but without making a copy. Tying some of the best features together might be a real winner, especially now that almost every cell phone can run most older games with better speed, maybe there is a new market for bringing the old tech back.
Can you imagine Space Quest 3 on a Samsung d500?
I have really fond memories of this game. Although sporting frustrating gameplay by today's standards, back then the graphics and atmosphere were nothing short of breathtaking.
More recently I played through it again on Linux using the now-defunct raw that was shut down at the request of Eric Chahi.
I see no mention of any versions of this updated release for anything other than Windows XP unfortunately. I'm hoping there will be a version for Linux/OS X as well because I just don't want to believe the original author shut down any hope of anyone not using Windows of playing this amazing game.
This is the type of classic re-issue I like to see! It really looks likethey've kept the heart and soul of the original, while subtly updating things just enough to match my subjectively enhanced memories of what the original was like.
Yes, classic games industry, there are reasons why we liked the originals, and sometimes it's nice to revisit them without them being completely mutated beyond all recognition.
I am so grabbign this when it comes out.
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The original game was already beautiful, with stunning animation (achieved by rotoscoping, soon to become popular again when A Scanner Darkly comes out). It was really quite amazing considering it was all "conceived, written, programmed, drawn, and rendered by one individual" (see the Wikipedia link). This looks like an update that actually stays true to the original, making it closer to what its creator originally wanted to make had the technology existed at the time, only with a slightly slicker look. Let's hope it is as good as it looks.
Another World (known to me as Out of this World) was a truly great game. The graphics were something vastly different from anything else at the time, and were beautiful and immersive in an odd way. The game also unfolded a story without a single line of dialogue; you really felt like you were running through some alien world where you had no idea what was going on, but were too busy trying to stay alive to stop and figure it out.
Then there was the frustration. Many parts of the game are so frustrating that I remember wanting to smash my monitor with my keyboard. Being able to continue an unlimited number of times just meant that I had to perform an intricate series of jumps or combat moves hundreds of times just to get *to* the part where I kept dying. In the end it was worth it (the late part of the game and the ending music were pretty cool, although the open ending was a little bit of a letdown after the effort involved), but you can bet your ass I've never tried to seriously play the game since.
I'm not sure what I think of the idea of bringing this game back in an enhanced form. I looked at the screenshots and they weren't what I was hoping for. Something much more detailed is currently possible; the screenshots look like they just touched up the background art and rendered the flat polygon foreground models in a higher resolution, and it looks like something that would have run on Windows 95. What they really ought to do is render the game world in 3D from the same perspective, and place even higher-res, shaded flat polygon models into the scene. They could still easily retain the abstract polygon look of the original (I've seen it done in 3D console games) while achieving a much more immersive and higher quality effect. Unfortunately the current "touch up" will probably kill any chance of that, unless they turn this game into another Myst by releasing new versions every couple of years for the next decade (which I think is not feasible due to the game's more frustrating aspects, which will undoubtedly limit its mass appeal).
One final thought: I hope they also remember to touch up the sound and music. Some additional ambient background music during the actual game would be really really nice.
Arguing about vi versus Emacs is like arguing whether it's better to make fire by rubbing sticks or banging rocks.
I'd really appreciate it if Delphine not only published the game, I also want to play a sequel (and one with more levels, winning the game is possible in 30 minutes).
Also, Flashback ABSOLUTELY ROCKED. I WANT MORE!
I played this game back in the day on my Amiga 500. In the past couple years I discovered it was released for SNES, so I was able to play an emu version on my current PC.
It's one of the most beautiful games I've ever played, and the graphics style helps it look great even today, when most old games look old and crappy now.
But it was also the hardest game ever. Each and every scene required precise timing to get through, and you'd have to play several scenes over and over and over. I never even got halfway through until I discovered some cheat codes to skip ahead.
Beautifully frustrating.
Besides the time it took me to find out how to find out of water, or how to slowly smash the lil black worms, this game is like, either try to find out by yourself what you gotta do, or follow a walkthrough and do what you're told to do. It's like it's not a game, it's more like you're watching a show and you gotta find which buttons to press to get to the next scene. That's how it felt to me
You just got troll'd!