 Oddworld Inhabitants was formed in 1994 by visual effects industry veterans Sherry McKenna and Lorne Lanning. Oddworld is a progressive studio, attracting talent from around the world and producing award winning animation with titles such as Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus and Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee. The current Oddworld title, Oddworld Stranger's Wrath, released on January 26th. March 3rd in Australia/Europe. The game introduces new and innovative gameplay mechanics, and a mysterious new hero known only as the stranger. In both first and third person, players will encounter vast regions of dust, forest, mountains, industrial structures, even snow and ice. They will meet a brand new cast of colorful and, at times, ornery characters who both help and harass the stranger.
Though the game is, in many ways, a departure from previous Oddworld titles, one pattern that remains the same is the dramatic storytelling of Lorne Lanning and the unique, signature look of the production design, presented through the CG movies and woven throughout the entirety of the game. In this interview we get a detailed look at two members of the Oddworld CG/FMV department who animate these sequences and bring the story of Oddworld to life, Technical Director Iain Morton and Sr. Animator Rich McKain.
Q: What attracted you to working at Oddworld?
 Iain Morton: My first tour of the Oddworld studio was what really sold me on the idea of working here. The walls are covered in art from the Oddworld games, ranging from rough concept sketches, highly detailed paintings, and completed renders from the movies. Oddworld is known for their attention to quality art and storytelling but I don’t think most people are aware of just how much art is produced at the studio that nobody outside the company gets a chance to look at. I’m really happy that we finally got it all together into an art of Oddworld book and know I’ll be using it as a source of inspiration and reference for a long time.
I’ve always wanted to get into feature film work. As a department within a game company the high resolution cinematic team at Oddworld is small in relation to the cg team on feature length movie. The ability to move around, interact with the rest of the production and get involved with many of the stages of producing a cinematic was a great learning environment for me after just leaving school. As a Technical Director at Oddworld I’m responsible for modeling, texturing, lighting, rendering and composting the high resolution cinematics. |
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 The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants
The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants: The First Ten Years 1994 - 2004 is a high quality art book featuring the artistic journey of the legendary game company Oddworld Inhabitants from its first ten years - from Lorne Lanning's vision of the first Oddworld hero in 1994 to the present. The book is an extraordinarily high quality fine art production depicting the story of the art and vision of Oddworld and how the company approaches the art/design process.
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