*** Sydney changes topic to 'Thanks and welcome to our visitors from Oddworld! Please pay them the courtesy of directing your comments and questions through Abe_Babe and Sydney (by double-clicking their names) to be posted into the chat rather than privately messaging our guests. Set a nickname by typing /nick desired_name'

*** Sydney sets mode: +m

Fatpo : Neat
cheddar : Cool
Fatpo : <--is dazzled by pretty color easily
Abe_Babe : Welcome Oddworld Inhabitants. If you would like to briefly introduce yourselves while people are asking us questions
Dandan : Hello all. I'm Dan Kading, and I'm a raging alcoholic. In my hobby-time, I do game design for Oddworld.
Marquise : mmmm tasty
Kyndra : Kyndra, Quality Control.
Jeff : Jeff, lead designer
Fatpo : <--Rob, Art Director
Marquise : Sean, Animator
Jeff : I design lead.... formerly aluminum designer
Jess : I'm Jessica, junior game designer
cheddar : Mark, RT Modeler
Marquise : Marquise, lead of realtime
Abe_Babe : OK let's start the questions.
Dandan : Lets do!
Abe_Babe : [Elum] what have you done with Elum in MO so far?
Fatpo : Rdy. gtg.. full manna
Kyndra : *bonks Fatpo*
Jeff : he's typing furiously>
Aimee : Hi, this is Aimee the Art Wrangler...sorry I'm late! I was trying to finish some stuff.
Dandan : Personally, I've laid out a few levels that include Elum, or more appropriately, -herds- of Elum. That's the design end of it; I'm not sure what all else has been done with him in Programming or Art.
Sydney : [Mudos] Can you describe a new enviorment in Munch's oddysee?
Jeff : dan is typing.......
Jeff : still typing.....
cheddar : Hurry Dan
Dandan : A new environment? Hmmmm.... there's the Vykker's Labs, which is everything that the PETA folks have ever made you believe exists in an animal testing laboratory, right down to the walls covered with racks full of rusty, bent syringes... there's the polluted, dried plains covered with the tracks of new, gas-guzzling vehicles produced by Magog Motors...
Kyndra : COMMON DAN
Dandan : Quiet, you!
Kyndra : *hides*
Abe_Babe : [XBoxAddict-Ben] Thanks for coming! :) We really appreciate your time.. Gotta question for you.. Will munch have any different kinda vehicles other than a wheel chair?
Jeff : dan is writing war and peace about 2 feet to my right.....
Jeff : get on with it man!!!
Dandan : We've planned some, yes indeedy! Basically, the rule is going to be this: If it runs on gas, it'll be drivable by Munch. If it runs on food, it'll be drivable by Abe. Hence, Elums are Abe's territory while the Magog Cartel's machines of war may be able to be 'hijacked' by Munch...
Sydney : [Dark_Hood] If you are able to posses Sligs and Glukkons, can you deposses them this time instead of exploding them?
Dandan : Yes sir.
Dandan : Yes sirree bob.
Dandan : Yes indeedy.
Jeff : Yes-a-roonie?
Dandan : Something like that, ya. Basically, the longer you hold down the 'chant' buttons when depossessing will directly correspond to how much it hurts them.
Sydney : [MrBigsack] How much does the Xbox help you achieve your vision of the Oddworld universe?
Fatpo : <-- Is a fan of the Xbox already
cheddar : Xbox is just like the PS2... only it works.
Kyndra : *gasps*
Dandan : The difference between the XBox and the PS2, as far as how much they've helped our development, is similar to the difference between, say, a Dodge 2-door and an Aircraft Carrier. In otherwords, it's helped a -lot-. Sorry, I seem to be 1 question behind.
Abe_Babe : [Sligface] will flying sligs appear in MO, and if they do will they have statuses?
Dandan : At the moment, we don't plan on flying sligs.
Fatpo : all view are soley the responsibility of the chatter and do not directly reflect the opinions of Oddworld Inhabitants Inc. (by the way)
Dandan : Sligs get airsick too easily, so the ones who're high-ranking enough to have gotten copter-packs now get to be big-bros.
Sydney : [yemmling] how will munch utilize the x-box's controls?
Dandan : I'll let Jeff answer that.
Jeff : every damn button
Jeff : sometimes twice =)
Dandan : Jeff is a man of extreme eloquence.
Jeff : but seriously, the controls are vastly simplified
Abe_Babe : [General_Dripik] I'd really like to see more of Oddworld history. I know a lot will be revealed in further games, but what can you tell us now about Oddworld's history?
Jeff : tolstoy is still working on his response =)
Jeff : I tease him because I love him
Jeff : not like that!!!
Marquise : He even uses both fingers
Kyndra : Hey! You take that back!
Dandan : Hm. In the beginning, there was Lorne, and Lorne spake, and he said "Hmm. You know what would be really cool?" And lo, there was much rejoicing, and Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus happened. Beyond that, it's anybody's guess about the history of Oddworld... each bit of history will make the game all the more interesting when it happens, after all!
Sydney : [olpha] Ask about their inspirations, music, and movie, and suggested movies\games for Oddworld fans....
pally : *
Kyndra : Kungfu movies!
Fatpo : The artist pulls a lot from movies tv and music
Dandan : Inspirations? Lessee... I think Lorne is inspired by some sort of imp that was bound to him by a curse 300 years ago, it's just that -wierd-. He loved Star Wars, Jim Henson, Joseph Campbell, and all forms of alien contact. He aspires to have Munch reach 'Star Wars' popularity in time, but knows that it's a long road to travel first.
Jeff : designers play tons of game (all on our own time!!!)
Kyndra : Riiiiight Jeff.
Kyndra : We all like boardgames, card games, D&D... we play every week!
Fatpo : Dark Crystal is great btw.
Fatpo : *looks for spellcheck
Dandan : On the other hand, Lorne's favorite video game is "Driver", which I don't think has -too- much influence on Oddworld's development, other than the rather crazy way that the Wheelchair handles. I like Squaresoft games, personally, but everybody else here hates them.
Aimee : No we don't Dan!
Kyndra : *loves Square games*
Marquise : The way Henson brought life to those creatures in Dark Crystal has inspired many here
Fatpo : I enjoy Eq, D2, SF2
Abe_Babe : [ichmari] the outdoor areas in the abe games showed immense variety. all i've seen from munch is a sort of mountainous plain type region. are there gonna be more areas?
Dandan : Yes, the Regions won't only be diverse as you move among them, but they'll change right beneath your feet. You may start out in a desert surrounding a Flubco Fuels depot, and when you leave, it'll be a lush forest, thanks to your diligent nurturing of the environment.
Dandan : Okay, next question!
Sydney : [yemmling] how do sligs become big bros? steriods? vykker ilk?
Kyndra : Too many twinkies.
Jeff : no, thats the answer to "how did jeff get so fat"
Kyndra : Oh sorry. one question ahead.
Dandan : Exactly... a promising looking slig is picked out of the bunch (he hasn't been popped from depossession yet, and seems to -really- enjoy hurting things) and then the Vykkers shoot him up with the kind of stuff you see whistleblowers talking about on '60 minutes'.
Abe_Babe : [Rick] Are the Habitales (Hand of Odd) and Fearietales games still on the way?
Dandan : A lot of things are in the works. Hand Of Odd is definitely still on the radar, but we're extremely dedicated right now to Munch's Oddysee.
Aimee0 : Whoops, sorry about that...lost my connection there.
Abe_Babe : [Ho3j_MSXbox] hi.. I was wondering how close the Oddworld Showed at the CES is to the final product graphically.... thanks! :)
Dandan : Heh heh... according to Microsoft themselves, 'it's only using 1/5th of the power of the final system!' If that's true, then I guess that the final game will run at about 365 frames per second... which will likely cause most conventional TV sets to spontaneously combust.
Fatpo : err, what he is saying is that we can add more I think
Dandan : Thanks Rob!
Jeff : the artists here are awesome, I think you can look forward to a lot more great looking stuff
Sydney : [Guest95704] In AO and AE you controlled Abe and sligs running and sneaking with R1 and R2 and talked with L1 and L2. The Xbox only has two shoulder buttons, so how will you control the walking/running/sneaking and talking? Will it feel as fluid as the Pl
Dandan : Jeff's our controls guru... actually, he's a guru of a lot of things. So I'm gonna pawn this question off on him.
Jeff : The controls are, in many ways, a lot simpler in this game
Jeff : we are going away from "shift mode" buttons
Jeff : and analog controls are just 1000% better
Abe_Babe : [Sapphire_8400] I hear there is a good deal of swimming in the game... would we be able to be told what sort of creatures we'll encounter in the water?
Kyndra : That slack
Fatpo : hehe, Dan is typing still
Dandan : Done now!
Kyndra : And?
Fatpo : Hohoho, Dans typing was to no avail LOL
Dandan : Ack, wait a sec
Kyndra : *pokes Dan*
Fatpo : *casts resist lag on Dandan :
Dandan : There's a lot of critters in the water...and they all have jaws large enough to encompass Munch's entire body should they be feeling a bit peckish.
Dandan : My original response was a lot bigger, but the silly thing don't wanna cut-and-paste.
Abe_Babe : [Sligface] you seem to suggest that after depoession, sligs become less sadistic. can you elaborate on this?
Dandan : What I was saying about Sligs earlier was just a clever way of saying that when you hit the 'depossess' button,
Dandan : if you tap it, then the slig or glukkon walks away unharmed... if you hold it down, you get the results from AO and AE... they pop. Messily.
Sydney : [XBoxAddict-Ben] That rocks about the vehicles! :) One more question if you could.. Is the camera control customizable? I mean can you move the camera without the game controlling it? Or better yet, can you set the camera to a fixed position? :) Thanks!
Dandan : The camera is probably our biggest aspiration in this game... making it so it won't make people sick, but at the same time will show everything we need to.->
Dandan : They aren't customizable per se, but the camera at any given point where it's at a fixed location can be controlled by the player to look around.->
Dandan : When it looks around, it won't be from Munch's perspective, it will be from the camera's perspective... so you can often reveal secrets by pausing to have the camera look about.
Abe_Babe : [Elum] my 2nd and last question: What other interesting things can you tell us about Elums? By The Way, Have I told everyone that I love Elums!!!! lol
Dandan : Chicks dig them!
Dandan : They haven't lost an ounce of their sex appeal in the last 4 years!
Sydney : and finally, for our last question [Guest95704] Will there be any blood/gore in Munch's Oddysee like the last games?
Dandan : Well, one of the facilities is a logging-plant. Meaning there are lots of exposed sawblades, crushers, moving bits, gears, and the likes... so it's an inevitability. On the other hand...
Jeff : dan's nickname is "blood and gore"
Fatpo : ... I dunno gore and blood is overrated
Jeff : not as much as the guys that ran against them...
Fatpo : there are many creative options to blowing folks up in little bits
Dandan : ...rather than conventional weaponry that shoots bullets, many of the adversaries in the game will be armed with "Consumer Product Launchers" of various sorts... guns that shoot cigarettes which will send the target into a coughing fit...
Dandan : ... or beer cans that leave them lying on the ground in a drunken (and bruised, after all beer cans are pretty hard) stupor.
Abe_Babe : Well that is all for tonight. On behalf of Sydney, we would like to thank Oddworld Inhabitants for participating in this chat. Sorry to everyone out there who's question we couldn't get to tonight
Sydney : Thanks again Oddworld Inhabitants, and all the fans who came to chat today. One last thing, Sad Mudokon says HI, who sadly couldn't be here
Marquise : thanks everybody
Fatpo : Woot, glad to be here, thanks
Jess : see you next time
Dandan : I personally want to thank every single person out there who's played our games. I became a game designer because I loved games, and the best thing about the job is hearing that people actually enjoy playing it.
Dandan : Also, thanks for coming and having this chat have more people than Lorne's chat a few months ago. Ha ha ha.
Dandan : I'm off to get fired! Bye all!
Fatpo : Seeya Dan

*** Sydney sets mode: -m

Abe_Babe : Goodbye Dan!
Sydney : Bye Dan and company.