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Oni: Difference between revisions
Evans was a co-founder of the project; fleshing out reasons for Oni delays
(→Development: turns out Evans was the real boss of Oni post-Pease, not LeBel as I used to think) |
(Evans was a co-founder of the project; fleshing out reasons for Oni delays) |
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==Development== | ==Development== | ||
Work on Oni began in 1997 when Bungie decided to found a second studio, Bungie West. The concept for their first project was devised by Brent Pease, whose primary influence was [[wikipedia:Mamoru Oshii|Mamoru Oshii]]'s animé film [[wikipedia:Ghost in the Shell (film)|Ghost in the Shell]]<sup>1</sup> (adapted from [[wikipedia:Masamune Shirow|Masamune Shirow]]'s [[wikipedia:Ghost_in_the_Shell_(manga)|manga series]]). The name "Oni" (originally intended only as a codename during development) is evidence of the connection; Pease considered its meaning to be "Ghost"<sup>2</sup>. | Work on Oni began in 1997 when Bungie decided to found a second studio, Bungie West. The concept for their first project was devised by Brent Pease and Michael Evans, whose primary influence was [[wikipedia:Mamoru Oshii|Mamoru Oshii]]'s animé film [[wikipedia:Ghost in the Shell (film)|Ghost in the Shell]]<sup>1</sup> (adapted from [[wikipedia:Masamune Shirow|Masamune Shirow]]'s [[wikipedia:Ghost_in_the_Shell_(manga)|manga series]]). The name "Oni" (originally intended only as a codename during development) is evidence of the connection; Pease considered its meaning to be "Ghost"<sup>2</sup>. | ||
The designs for [[Konoko]] and Commander [[Griffin]] can be seen to resemble the characters of [[wikipedia:Motoko Kusanagi|Motoko Kusanagi]] and [[wikipedia:Daisuke Aramaki|Daisuke Aramaki]]. Early development even presented Konoko as a [[wikipedia:cyborg|cyborg]], which, together with the tech-crime-fighting setting, bore a strong similarity to the premise of Ghost in the Shell. In August of 1999, Hardy LeBel was brought in as Design Lead, and revamped the story<sup>3</sup>. The final version of Oni abandons the cyborg heroine and instead introduces original concepts such as [[Daodan]] and [[SLD]]s. | The designs for [[Konoko]] and Commander [[Griffin]] can be seen to resemble the characters of [[wikipedia:Motoko Kusanagi|Motoko Kusanagi]] and [[wikipedia:Daisuke Aramaki|Daisuke Aramaki]]. Early development even presented Konoko as a [[wikipedia:cyborg|cyborg]], which, together with the tech-crime-fighting setting, bore a strong similarity to the premise of Ghost in the Shell. In August of 1999, Hardy LeBel was brought in as Design Lead, and revamped the story<sup>3</sup>. The final version of Oni abandons the cyborg heroine and instead introduces original concepts such as [[Daodan]] and [[SLD]]s. | ||
Oni was originally expected to be released in the fourth quarter of 1999, but as that date approached, the release date was pushed back. This occurred repeatedly, until finally the rumored release date was as late as March 2001. Much of the uncertainty over Oni's status came from Bungie's well-known reluctance to disclose or adhere to fixed release dates. Some of the delay may have come from staff turnover; Pease left at the end of 1999 (with | Oni was originally expected to be released in the fourth quarter of 1999, but as that date approached, the release date was pushed back. This occurred repeatedly, until finally the rumored release date was as late as March 2001. Much of the uncertainty over Oni's status came from Bungie's well-known reluctance to disclose or adhere to fixed release dates. Some of the delay may have come from staff turnover and development issues; a Design Lead position was created in the summer of 1999 for newcomer Hardy LeBel, who immediately began rewriting the story. Pease left at the end of 1999 (with his Project Lead title being passed to Michael Evans) and Bungie West also lost one of their two level designers and replaced the AI programmer in the same six-month period between the summer and the end of 1999. | ||
Possible additional factors were the introduction of the development of a PS2 port to be released in tandem with Oni for Windows/Mac, a deal struck with [http://www.take2games.com/ Take-Two Interactive] in August of 1999, and the acquisition of Bungie by Microsoft, which was announced in June of 2000. It is also possible that the acquisition of the Oni IP by Take Two in 2000 also interfered with any plans for a more timely release. The details of the MS/T2 situation are explained in the "Post-release" section below. | |||
==Hype== | ==Hype== | ||
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==Post-release== | ==Post-release== | ||
''Oni and the makers of Oni went their separate ways. First we look at the | ''Oni and the makers of Oni went their separate ways. First we look at the direction Bungie took, then we come back to the game.''<br> | ||
'''Bungie'''<br> | '''Bungie'''<br> | ||
When Bungie was going to be bought by Microsoft in 2000, there was one big catch: Seropian and Jones did not fully own their company; they had already sold 19.9% of it to Take Two previously. In order to reclaim that stake and be able to sell 100% of Bungie to Microsoft, Bungie traded [[Myth]]'s and Oni's IP and publishing rights to Take Two in exchange for getting their stock back. | When Bungie was going to be bought by Microsoft in 2000, there was one big catch: Seropian and Jones did not fully own their company; they had already sold 19.9% of it to Take Two previously. In order to reclaim that stake and be able to sell 100% of Bungie to Microsoft, Bungie traded [[Myth]]'s and Oni's IP and publishing rights to Take Two in exchange for getting their stock back. | ||
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At first, Take-Two intended to make both an Oni 2 (for PS2) and an Oni prequel (for [[wikipedia:Wireless_Application_Protocol|WAP]]-enabled cell phones), but the games were canceled at an early stage of development, possibly because Oni itself did not meet T2's expected sales quotas. | At first, Take-Two intended to make both an Oni 2 (for PS2) and an Oni prequel (for [[wikipedia:Wireless_Application_Protocol|WAP]]-enabled cell phones), but the games were canceled at an early stage of development, possibly because Oni itself did not meet T2's expected sales quotas. | ||
The acquisition of Bungie by Microsoft also | The acquisition of Bungie by Microsoft also meant the dissolution of Bungie West as Bungie moved their employees to Redmond, Washington. Some Oni developers stayed with Bungie and went on to work on the Halo series, while others ended up at independent game studios, such as [http://www.giantbite.com/ Giant Bite] (co-founded by Chu & Evans) and [http://www.tyrantstudios.com/ Tyrant Studios] (founded by LeBel). | ||
In October of 2007, Bungie separated from Microsoft and moved from Redmond to the nearby city of Kirkland. | In October of 2007, Bungie separated from Microsoft and moved from Redmond to the nearby city of Kirkland. | ||
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While Bungie merged into Microsoft, and Take Two was assuming command of the Oni IP, Mac users were in a delicate position: transitioning to Mac OS X. Having been in development years before OS X released, the original build of the Oni application was a Carbon app, meaning it was written primarily for Mac OS 9 with only basic OS X compatibility. Unfortunately the Carbon build was not without issues when running in OS X. | While Bungie merged into Microsoft, and Take Two was assuming command of the Oni IP, Mac users were in a delicate position: transitioning to Mac OS X. Having been in development years before OS X released, the original build of the Oni application was a Carbon app, meaning it was written primarily for Mac OS 9 with only basic OS X compatibility. Unfortunately the Carbon build was not without issues when running in OS X. | ||
Then, at the end of 2001, [http://www.omnigroup.com Omni Group] [http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/archive/omni-press/2001/000008.html released] a Cocoa (native OS X) build of the game which they had produced for free. However, Apple would later switch to Intel processors, moving away from the PowerPC chip that Oni was | Then, at the end of 2001, [http://www.omnigroup.com Omni Group] [http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/archive/omni-press/2001/000008.html released] a Cocoa (native OS X) build of the game which they had produced for free. However, Apple would later switch to Intel processors, moving away from the PowerPC chip that Oni was built for. This and other elements of the OS and hardware have changed over the years, making the Omni port unable to run on modern Macs without fan-devised patches. Recently, Feral (the Mac version's distributor outside of the U.S.) has expressed an interest in putting out an Intel-native build of Oni in 2011. | ||
Meanwhile, on the Windows side, Oni has also shown its age, but it continues to run in the latest version of the OS, provided the player uses the [[Daodan DLL|Daodan patch]]. | Meanwhile, on the Windows side, Oni has also shown its age, but it continues to run in the latest version of the OS, provided the player uses the [[Daodan DLL|Daodan patch]]. | ||
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==The future of the property== | ==The future of the property== | ||
Take-Two has sold off some dormant franchises to outside developers, although there is no evidence that Oni is one of them. Upon the separation of Bungie from | Take-Two has sold off some dormant franchises to outside developers, although there is no evidence that Oni is one of them. Upon the separation of Bungie from Microsoft, there was fervent speculation about Bungie returning to their older franchises (since, after all, Bungie could buy back an IP from Take-Two if they desired). In an [http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/trans/4players_hr_sk_interview.html interview], Bungie's CEO, Harold Ryan, was asked specifically about Oni: | ||
:;4Players | :;4Players | ||