Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee.

Sub-Pages#

Concept ArtLooking quite handsome there, Abe.

Development Timeline#

1995

• January - Production begins under the working title, "Soul Storm".¹

1996

• May - Soul Storm is shown privately at E3 1996.
• September - GT Interactive acquires the publishing rights. Soul Storm is renamed to "Oddworld Inhabitants: Epic 1 Starring Abe"²
• Unknown Date - Game gets renamed to "Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee". Launch window is set for Spring 1997.

1997

• April - The game gets delayed to September 1997.
• June - Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee is officially shown to the public at E3 1997.
• September 19th - Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee is released in North America and Europe.
• December 11th - Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee is released in Japan.

Original Plans#

Initially, it was planned that Abe would have started his life as a native Mudokon living in the wildlands, instead of being born as a slave into an industrial environment. He would live as a fisherman, self-sustaining himself from the fat of the land, and he would witness the rise of the Glukkons taking over the lands of Mudos. In addition, Abe's most noble steed, Elum, would play a bigger role in the story as his pet and together they would traverse through the musty banks of the continent and put a stop to their plans. Well... before eventually getting captured by them, that is.

It was ultimately decided that the game's narrative would be stronger if Abe came within a factory existence and his character developed to be one of a rebellious, self-sustenance as the story progressed. Thus his role was reversed. Elum's role on the other hand, was reduced into small gameplay segments primary due to time restrictions and technical limitations as he was a very memory-intensive character.³⁴

In another alternate scenario, the GameSpeak mechanic was not going to be utilised until Abe had reached the Monsaic Lines. The idea was that Abe's mouth stitches would have been so tight that prevented him from speaking, in order to save his fellow Mudokon brethren during his escape from RuptureFarms. Once Abe had reached the Monsaic Lines, Big Face would remove his stitches and he would taught Abe about the full extent of his spiritual abilities, once he had proven himself through the trials of Scrabania and Paramonia. Despite the fact that this would make more sense narrative-wise, it was decided that Abe would be able to speak and possess his foes right from the start of the game.⁵

The Shrink#

One of the more infamous characters within the Oddworld community, the Shrinks (also known as Guardian Angels) were sentient robots with sophisticated artificial intelligence. Manufactured by the Vykker's Conglomerate, these mechanical spider-like units were assigned in various industrial facilities and were tasked to keep high-valued captives being productive on their jobs. In addition, they would also be used as diplomats to do business with other industrial families around Mudos such as the Magog Cartel.⁶

While it never actually appears in the final product, a Shrink unit is featured in an unaired commercial trailer for the game, harassing an imprisoned Abe. In May 2012, an alternate version of the same trailer was released by Just Add Water Ltd. which featured a couple of differences. Besides the higher resolution, the Shrink's voice sounds slightly different with a lighter tone and its last line was changed from "You need to look within... if you wanna be FREE!" to "You need to look within... it's time to CONFESS!". In this version, it sounds like it was trying to torture Abe in order to acquire a confession from him, although it's unclear about what exactly.

According to William Bunce-Edwards, they received multiple versions of this FMV from Oddworld Inhabitants and the final line was the alternative one in every version they had access to. This strongly suggests that the line for the original trailer was changed for promotional reasons.⁷

It remains unknown whether the specified Shrink would appear at all in the game. However, in an interview with Youtuber Caddicarus, Lorne Lanning revealed some info about what its purpose would be on RuptureFarms.

What the Gaurdian originally was is something we never got to do, cause we never so much got into the Mudokon lifestyle. So that was who a Mudokon would be sent to see if they started to have moral problems at work. It was like a robot face analyzing psychologically what you need to get productive. Sometimes saws and syringes are motivating. He'd say: "Get an 'A' or your test or we're going to pull some teeth."

— Lorne Lanning⁸

Allegedly, the Shrink was meant to make a cameo appearance in the 2014 remake of Abe's Oddysee, but due to the complexity of its model it was scrapped once again. ⁹

Scrapped Cutscene#

In an interview with series creator Lorne Lanning, it was revealed that there was an additional scene planned when Abe escapes from Rupture Farms. There was supposed to be a scene that shows a meteor shower crashing on the moon which would then form the hand-shaped crater that Abe sees later on in the game, hinting at the mysterious powers that guide him throughout his *ahem* ...oddysee. The scene was scrapped however, due to budgetary problems.

SoulStorm Brew#

That's right! The highly addictive energy drink favoured by the Mudokons was in fact planned to make an appearance in the first part of the original Oddworld Quintology. Like many other elements, SoulStrom Brew had to be dropped to reduce the time and budget for the game's development but it was later used as a central plot point in the sequel, Abe's Exoddus. In regards to how it would affect the story of Abe’s Oddysee, Lorne had the following to say:

In the original story of Abe’s Oddysee, SoulStorm Brew was a very important part. But because of time and production limitations, we had to cut SoulStorm Brew out of Abe’s Oddysee. However, with Abe’s Exodus, we had the opportunity to tell the story of SoulStorm Brew, which happens to be a very important part of the overall Quintology. But because it was originally written to happen with Abe’s Oddysee, it had to be completely re-written to be able to stand on its own and ultimately take place after the events of Abe’s Oddysee. When this happens to us, then our internal writers get involved creatively on what should happen, when, and how. Then we work as a team to create something that works with the overall flow of the universe of Oddworld.

— Lorne Lanning¹⁰

Fast forward 17 years later, references of the brew were added in the New n' Tasty remake such as labeled crates and bottles that can be seen throughout the environment. Therefore, foreshadowing the events of Exoddus's 2021 re-imagining, Soulstorm.

Early Screenshots#

GamePro Issue #99 (December 1996)#

Scrabania - Screen ID: D1P02C02

Prerelease	Final

At the beginning of the second section of Scrabania, there was initially a device strapped onto the rocks that would trap Elum within an energy field, holding him in place. Additionally, the two small rocks where Elum is standing in the final version are absent in the prerelease.

Joystick (France) Issue #78 (January 1997)#

Paramonia - Screen ID: F1P01C02

Prerelease	Final

Underneath the big banner was a blue crystal object hanging from a rope which was removed in the final version. Similar crystals appear a couple of times throughout Paramonia, possibly used as cultural decorations of some kind. In its absence, a directory console was added close to the banner in the final version.

PlayStation Magazine (France) Issue #7 (January 1997)#

Scrabania - Screen ID: D1P02C03

Prerelease	Final

A rock sack was originally placed here and the Mudokon which grants you the Spirit Ring power was replaced by a... pebble?

P.S.X. Issue #15 (July 1997)#

Scrabania - Screen ID: D1P04C03

Prerelease	Final

There are quite a handful of differences here. Most notably, there was another one of these energy field devices that was seemingly replaced with a destroyed beehive and mounds of honey lying on the ground that distract Elum in the final build. The upper level is closed off and there are a couple of pulleys connected together next to the rock on the right side of the screen. Furthermore, there are a couple other differences in terms of aesthetics such as the glyphs on the rocks and some additional flora.

Stockyard Escape - Screen ID: E1P06C03

Prerelease	Final

A Paramite was originally roaming around in this screen of the Stockyards, which was replaced by a Scrab later on. The light poles were shortened and the passageway in the background is missing, likely because the secret areas weren't implemented yet.

References#