Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty!, which debuts this week on PS4, remakes classic 1997 platformer Oddworld Abe's Oddysee for today's audiences.

Using the original game as a "template", it follows the same story and cast of characters, offers the same pace and feel in puzzle solving and exploration, and despite recreating the game with 3D environments - complete with dynamic lighting, animation and ragdoll physics - retains a side-on perspective.



But between new visuals and swapping the original's flip-screen progression between areas for continuous side-scrolling, developer Just Add Water had to make a number of tweaks and changes.

"Once you start playing it, it's a different era – now you're playing at 60 frames per second, you're continuous, you come across puzzles much faster. We had to deal with different things," president of Oddworld Inhabitants Lorne Lanning told Digital Spy.

For example, Sligs - Oddworld's iconic gun-toting, wasp-coloured sentries - now react differently to the way they did on when the game flipped between single screens.

"We had to [change] the Slig distances for seeing, hearing and sleeping," he said. "In the old game, when you come upon a Slig sleeping in the neighbouring screen, you can hear that before you had the threat of it, so you knew you had to sneak into that screen.



"Now you're running pretty rapidly, and if you come across a Slig sleeping, by the time you see the Zs, he's awake and you're upon him."

When a Slig is near, floating Zs will appear sooner so the player knows one is in the area. And when they're awake, a visor effect will let you know they're alerted and can see you, a feature that combats the game's scrolling screens and variable camera distances.

The team also found that shadow zones - dark areas where Abe could hide from Sligs and other sentries - were much harder to light in the game's 3D engine. These have now been swapped out with pockets of steam, which are more visible to the player.

"It took a while to figure that out, because it wasn't the original solution, but it retained the same type of play," Lanning said.



"You still had Abe sneaking with guys behind Sligs, and it looks funny. And that's a lot of reason that stuff has happened – not only should it be challenging, but it should actually have comedic value, an entertainment value besides from just gratifying challenge experience.

"It required a lot of thinking, and some scary times, because we didn't always of course have the solutions, so we had to come up with them creatively."

Lanning continued: "As a result, I think we ultimately met them, brought that up and made all those things work. But, I'd like to say 'We knew what from the beginning what we needed to do', but that was far from the truth."

Meanwhile, most puzzles in the game had to be adjusted in some form, and others "completely expanded upon or rethought".

Throughout development the team had to balance the demands of a loyal fanbase, who wanted a game that was as close to the original as possible, while ensuring it is as enjoyable to play today as it was back then.



"It's a tough balance because we're watching the forums, and you almost get the impression they just want the exact same game," said Lanning.

"It's a tricky balance to understand what [fans are] saying versus what they really want, wading through that to find out where the sweet spot is, or how far we can push [the remake].

"Now I think with the basic speed interaction, the responsiveness, the voice, the sound, all those things... It makes it a worthwhile endeavour."

While Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! appears to be sticking to the original as close as possible, Lanning suggested there will be some brand new content to be found, some of which is teased as a "big surprise".

The remake will debut first on PS4 on July 23, with PC, Xbox One and Wii U versions due later this year.

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