Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee - Development

Development

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee began production in January 1995 under the working title of Soul Storm. After GT Interactive acquired publishing rights on September 12, 1996, the title was changed, first to Epic and eventually to Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. The game had a private showing at E3 '96, but it was not until E3 '97 that journalists took note of the game and it was generally well received. The version of the game shown at E3 '97 was remarkably similar to the release version, and Abe's Oddysee had a reportedly smooth development cycle with few late changes.

The game saw its first release on the PlayStation, DOS and Windows on September 19, 1997, on a day dubbed as "Odd Friday" by the developer and publisher; over 500,000 units were originally released worldwide. The Japanese version followed in October. A Sega Saturn version was also announced by GT Interactive, but it was never released.

Abe's Oddysee was the first major GT title that the UK development team, that had been taken in by GT following the acquisition of Warner Interactive, became involved with. The testing process of the game was unusual for GT Interactive as the British team did game play testing whilst normally American games were only tested in Europe for language and other compatibility issues. The soundtrack features mostly ambient music composed by Ellen Meijers.

For the release in Japan, the title of Abe's Oddysee was changed to Abe a GoGo by the publisher SoftBank. Other changes included the art for the "Mudokon Pops!" packaging, which originally consisted of a Mudokon head speared on a stick. Due to undisclosed current events in Japan, the design was changed to a more ambiguous, "happier" image. The design for the protagonist Abe and other Mudokons was also significantly altered. Certain Japanese pressure groups were offended by the Mudokons having four fingers and most of them working in a meat-packing factory, due to a historic Japanese subclass of meat packers who were looked down upon in society. Four fingers, or showing four fingers to another person, came to insinuate the other was a member of the subclass, because it had become symbolic of the meat packers who frequently had work-related accidents. Oddworld Inhabitants had to alter the design of Mudokons to having only three fingers, or else face legal battles and large fines.

Oddworld Inhabitants made the altered designs a permanent feature; subsequent versions of Abe's Oddysee released outside Japan included both the changed packaging and changed Mudokon hand. Future games and media also recognise these changes as canon, although Abe's Exoddus oddly features four-fingered Mudokon sprites, and scenes from Abe's Oddysee shown in the game were not altered.

The Game Boy port was released as Oddworld Adventures; it was developed by Saffire Corporation and published by GT Interactive in 1998. The game is a significantly cut-down version of Abe's Oddysee, with only a few similar levels and a condensed plot (Abe starts out as a native Mudokon, so the opening levels in RuptureFarms are absent from this version).