another world (feature)

8/14/2019 Another World (Feature)

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ANOTHER WORLD

REMAINS OUT OF THIS WORLDW

HEN TALKING ABOUT A cult classic game,one always runs the risk of never

truly conveying what kind of an impact thegame had on the gaming consciousnessat the time. This is because unlike movies,games slide progressively further awayfrom modern conventions as time ticksby with new evolutions, advancements intechnology, game methodology and evencontrol schemes. The more time passes,the harder it becomes to convey an adequateframe of reference. A movie may becomemore difficult to watch the older it gets (alsodue to frame of reference and context). Citizen

Kane , despite being an absolute silver-screen

classic, is a little boring compared to modernofferings, but how you watch movies remainsunchanged. Only the timing, the pace andperhaps the lack of accepted improvementsin cinematography may impede potentialenjoyment, but you can still watch it despitetechnological advancements. The samecannot be said for games. The older the game,the more it lacks things current gamers havecome to expect from their entertainment:quicksaves; impressive, computer-generatedcut-scenes; full orchestral scores; infiniteresolution settings; and graphical adjustmentoptions, to name but a few. Technology hasprogressed much faster for games, wideningthe divide rapidly.

Another World (also known as Out Of

This World ) is such a cult classic - a gamethat practically anyone even remotelyinterested in gaming as a form of distractionor entertainment should play at least onceor, failing that, should watch someone playat least once. There’s no real way to express just how different, impressive and downrightgroundbreaking Another World was at thetime of its release. By today’s standards, itmay look a little like a quality Flash game(in part due to it s shared nature with vectorgraphics), but at the time, it was the de facto standard for cinematic gaming.

Released in 1991 along with roughly 1,079other games, Another World made its debut

on the Commodore Amiga. Its creator anddesigner, Eric Chahi, never even knew whathe had developed until the reviews startedcoming in. To him, Another World was simplyan expression: a work of art he wanted tocreate for the sake of creating. The unwittingdeparture from established conventions ofthe time made Another World somethingentirely different and new; something that just blew gamers away.

Working from of his parents’ home inFrance, Eric Chahi was a young graphicsprogrammer who got into programmingthrough computer science using his school’sZX81. Chahi was actually erroneously guidedtowards computer engineering and wouldonly much later shift his focus to his true

passion: art. In 1989, Chahi worked on Les

Voyageurs du Temps (also known as Future

Wars), which would be published by DelphineSoftware, a rare French entertainmentflagship. Chahi created the art and artdirection for the game, but longed to returnto programming his own games. However,he hated the prospect of the work involved increating a game from scratch.

The inspiration for Another World actuallycame from Dragon’s Lair , a game Chahi usedto play at a nearby arcade. When Dragon’s

Lair was released for the Amiga, it usedan unprecedented eight disks to store themassive amount of bitmap frames the game

required. Chahi hit upon the idea of storing theflat colour data as a series of connected pointsinstead (which would later form the foundationof Shockwave Flash), saving on disk spaceand allowing for unparalleled control of theimagery on screen. He quickly programmedhis own editor, a simplistic yet powerful toolthat allowed him to both create the artworkand set up the game logic that drove it, lettinghim test game ideas literally on the fly.

Chahi approached former school friendJean-Francois Freitas to help with themusic for Another World . The music fromBack to the Future was given to Freitas as areference, as it had a rhythm to it based on asnare drum - something Chahi liked becauseit created a military and overall inescapable

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FIFTEEN-YEAR ANNIVERSARY

ORIGINAL ANNIVERSARY

Not only does the Fifteen-year Anniversary Edition of Another World

have more save points (though still not enough) and a new level that waslacking in the original Amiga version (but found in the PC version), but it

also has improved backdrops and resolution options.



THE COVER OF

ANOTHER WORLD

Immensely frustrated at not having been able to

design the cover for Future Wars, Chahi illustrated

the box art for Another World himself. His love

for fantasy illustration is evident in the vast

vista portrayed via subtle tones. Chahi created

several quick colour mock-ups until he found the

perfect combination to express the dreamlike yet

nightmarish experience Another World represents.

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ANOTHER WORLD

Written in GFA BASIC, the editor Chahi created let

him adjust the game and play it instantly without

compiling. He could change colours, add or remove

background elements, add in new effects or draw

entirely new cut-scenes or levels and view them all

without leaving the editor.



DESIGNING

ANOTHER WORLD

Much of Another World was designed on paper as

sketches in Chahi’s notebook. Later, many of the

levels were conceived and designed directly in the

editor he created.

FUTURE WARS

As a point-and-click adventure, Future Wars

was very pretty but very shallow. You played

as a window cleaner who foiled an alien plot to

destroy humanity, and while the exact method by

which you achieved that was quite involved (you

travelled to the Middle Ages, the future as well as

the Cretaceous period), it wasn’t quite the same

class and quality as King’s Quest or Space Quest .

Eric Chahi created all the stunning art for the

game and you can already see the beginnings of

Another World in the art direction of Future Wars.

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POPULAR GAMES OF 1991

3D Virtual Studio

4-D Boxing

Actraiser

The Adventures of Willy Beamish

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle

Alien Breed

The Bard’s Tale III: Thief of Fate

Battle Chess

Battletoads

Bomberman

Bubble Bobble

Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday

California Games

Carrier Command

Castle of Dr. Brain

Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge

Centurion: Defender of Rome

Chessmaster 3000

Chip’s Challenge

Chuck Rock

Commander Keen 4: Secret of the Oracle

Commander Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine

Commander Keen 6: Aliens Ate My Baby Sitter!

Commander Keen: Keen Dreams

Conan: The Cimmerian

Continuum

Crystal Caves

Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion

Double Dragon

Dr. Mario

Drakkhen

Duke Nukem

Dungeon Master

Elite

Final Fantasy Adventure

Final Fantasy II

Final Fight

Gods

Golden Axe

Hard Drivin’

Hero Quest

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Action Game

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I



feel; something that goes forward, but notbackwards. Chahi knew Freitas for fouryears, but had never mentioned to him that hedeveloped and sold games. Chahi admittedthat the reason for this was that he actually

didn’t like talking about Another World : hebelieves the game speaks for itself.

At the time, Another World lacked thecommon elements found in games of thatera, such as scoring points. Chahi didn’twant scoring in Another World , believingit would take the focus away from whatthe player was supposed to feel whileplaying the game. As a work of art, Another

World had many unintentional analogies toChahi’s own emotions at the time. The leadcharacter in Another World , Lester, is leftalone in a parallel universe unknown to himand with nothing to guide him. As a game,Another World was unlike anything else atthe time, and there was nothing to guideChahi in its conception.

Another World is a combination of many

inspirations, some logical and others surprising.During the opening scene of the second level,where Lester is caged in a prison, a guardmoves in from the side in the background asLester starts swinging the cage. The guard is

animated with a blur effect using lines, an effectinspired by Chahi’s love for a popular manga atthe time, Dragon Ball. He liked how the artistcould suggest a lot with very little. The powershot of the game (achieved by holding down the

fire key) was inspired by the Kameame attack inDragon Ball.

Much of Another World is more suggestionthan actual definition - the limited numberof colours and solid shapes naturally lendthemselves to stark and imagined detail. Theiconic black monster at the start of the gameis a typical monster - an outline filled withblack that players can project a lot onto. Itsstrong mass and wild creature movementsshowed no actual details, yet remains all themore terrifying for it, something Chahi to thisday still remarks on fondly.

Much of what made Another World

an experience comes from its cinematicconstruction, something previously donein only a single title: Karateka. By applyingideas and styles used in films, Karateka

draws the player in by setting the scenewith moody, poignant cut-scenes. Just likeAnother World , Karateka used the techniqueof rotoscoping to trace every frame of areference video to use as animations in the

game (which would later also be used for theinsuperable Prince of Persia). Chahi actuallygot the idea from the animated productionof Lord of the Rings by Ralph Bakshi, whichused rotoscoping for many of its impressively

animated scenes. The cinematic constructionof Another World comes across not only inits fluid cut-scenes made possible by vectorgraphics (full-motion video was unheard of atthe time and would remain so for many yearsstill), but also by the multitude of stunninglycrafted scripted events. These eventsoccur where players least expect them andinstantly create a sense of thrill becausethey’re so unexpected. Yet, they neverdistract you from the action or interfere withsuspension of disbelief.

It’s this unflinching dedication fromChahi to create a work of interactive art,instead of a traditional videogame, thattakes players somewhere they have neverbeen before and makes Another World a cult classic: a game that should never

be forgotten. High praise for somethingmany debunk as frivolous entertainment(usually the same people who argue thatgames cannot be art), but deserving fromthose who know bet ter. NAG

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The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards

Lemmings

Marble Madness

Masterblazer

Metal Mutant

Metroid II: Return of Samus

Micro Machines

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge

Ninja Gaiden

OutRun

Paperboy

Pit-Fighter

Pool of Radiance

Populous

Prince of Persia

Raiden

Rampart

Rick Dangerous

Scorched Earth

The Secret of Monkey Island

Sid Meier’s Civilization

Sid Meier’s Pirates!

Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon

SimAnt: The Electronic Ant Colony

SimCity

The Simpsons Arcade Game

Sonic the Hedgehog

Space Quest I: Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter

Star Control

Super Mario World

Tiny Toon Adventures

Toejam & Earl

Turbo Outrun

Turrican

Turrican II: The Final Fight

Ultima VI: The False Prophet

Where in Time is Car men Sandiego?

Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilr athi

Wizardry 6: Bane of the Cosmic Forge

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