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Oni 2 (Angel Studios): Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Oni 2 - Title screen.jpg|right|300px]] | |||
'''Oni 2: Death & Taxes''' was a sequel to [[Oni]] which was in development from 2001-2002 before being cancelled. The game was being developed by Angel Studios for the PlayStation 2 under publisher Take-Two Interactive before Angel was acquired by Rockstar and renamed [[wikipedia:Rockstar_San_Diego|Rockstar San Diego]]. An ISO of a late or final development build of the game leaked in 2016. The build was documented by the game preservation YouTube channel PtoPOnline [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZItobLIJJMY here]. The title of the game seen on the main menu was likely a working title or a light-hearted placeholder; the game data internally uses the name '''Oni 2: Rebirth'''. | '''Oni 2: Death & Taxes''' was a sequel to [[Oni]] which was in development from 2001-2002 before being cancelled. The game was being developed by Angel Studios for the PlayStation 2 under publisher Take-Two Interactive before Angel was acquired by Rockstar and renamed [[wikipedia:Rockstar_San_Diego|Rockstar San Diego]]. An ISO of a late or final development build of the game leaked in 2016. The build was documented by the game preservation YouTube channel PtoPOnline [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZItobLIJJMY here]. The title of the game seen on the main menu was likely a working title or a light-hearted placeholder; the game data internally uses the name '''Oni 2: Rebirth'''. | ||
==Development== | ==Development== | ||
[[Image:Oni 2 - Konoko profile.jpg|right|300px]] | |||
[[Image:Oni 2 - Konoko figure.jpg|right|300px]] | |||
Shortly after Oni was released, it was [http://oni.bungie.org/newsarchives/2001/apr01.html rumored] that Take-Two had put Oni 2 into production; however, no sequel was ever officially announced. In 2007, the rumor of a cancelled sequel was bolstered by [http://www.lostlevels.org/wordpress/2007/11/07/such-things-that-never-was/ a leak] which asserted that Oni 2 had been under development by Angel Studios for the PS2. In 2016, the full story finally came out when an actual development build of the cancelled game was leaked, documented by PtoPOnline, and covered by [http://kotaku.com/bungie-s-cult-classic-oni-almost-had-a-sequel-1789693658 Kotaku]. | Shortly after Oni was released, it was [http://oni.bungie.org/newsarchives/2001/apr01.html rumored] that Take-Two had put Oni 2 into production; however, no sequel was ever officially announced. In 2007, the rumor of a cancelled sequel was bolstered by [http://www.lostlevels.org/wordpress/2007/11/07/such-things-that-never-was/ a leak] which asserted that Oni 2 had been under development by Angel Studios for the PS2. In 2016, the full story finally came out when an actual development build of the cancelled game was leaked, documented by PtoPOnline, and covered by [http://kotaku.com/bungie-s-cult-classic-oni-almost-had-a-sequel-1789693658 Kotaku]. | ||
At this time, interviews with former developers revealed that the game had started development at the beginning of 2001 or even late 2000, which might mean that its development overlapped with Oni's. Since the development build is dated Dec. 10, 2002, that means that the game was in development for as long as two years. After all that time, it was apparently not even close to completion. The project suffered from a lack of clear direction, and when Angel was acquired by Rockstar and renamed as Rockstar San Diego in 2002, Oni 2 was cancelled in favor of other projects. | At this time, interviews with former developers revealed that the game had started development at the beginning of 2001 or even late 2000, which might mean that its development overlapped with Oni's. Since the development build is dated Dec. 10, 2002, that means that the game was in development for as long as two years. After all that time, it was apparently not even close to completion. The project suffered from a lack of clear direction, and when Angel was acquired by Rockstar and renamed as Rockstar San Diego in 2002, Oni 2 was cancelled in favor of other projects. | ||
Since Angel almost exclusively developed racing games at the time Oni 2 was started, it's difficult to understand why T2 assigned them a third-person brawler with a heavy focus on bipedal animation. It seems likely that Angel had to do a tremendous amount of coding to add support for this type of game to their engine. Interestingly, | The game binary contains various strings which demonstrate that it ran on the Angel Game Engine (AGE), the in-house engine used by Angel Studios. Since Angel almost exclusively developed racing games at the time Oni 2 was started, it's difficult to understand why T2 assigned them a third-person brawler with a heavy focus on bipedal animation. It seems likely that Angel had to do a tremendous amount of coding to add support for this type of game to their engine. Interestingly, Angel was apparently bought by Rockstar for their engine, and AGE became RAGE, the [[wikipedia:Rockstar_Advanced_Game_Engine|Rockstar Advanced Game Engine]], which Rockstar has used to power the Grand Theft Auto games from IV onward. | ||
==Playing the build== | ==Playing the build== | ||
The ISO, should you find it on the Internet (hint: search for the game's full name, and don't use Google), is playable in an emulator or on a modded PS2. The only mature PS2 emulator is PCSX2. Although PCSX2 is available for both Windows and macOS, the Mac version has poor performance and exhibits graphical glitches with this particular game. (Some visual problems occur even when playing on a PS2, so it's likely that graphics code was being worked on when this build was produced.) Thus, if you are on a Mac, you will want to use Boot Camp to run the game in PCSX2 for Windows. PCSX2 has also been reported to work on Windows | The ISO, should you find it on the Internet (hint: search for the game's full name as seen on the title screen, and don't use Google), is playable in an emulator or on a modded PS2. The only mature PS2 emulator is PCSX2. Although PCSX2 is available for both Windows and macOS, the Mac version has poor performance and exhibits graphical glitches with this particular game. (Some visual problems occur even when playing on a PS2, so it's likely that graphics code was being worked on when this build was produced.) Thus, if you are on a Mac, you will want to use Boot Camp to run the game in PCSX2 for Windows. PCSX2 has also been reported to work on Macs running Windows within Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion, but it does not seem to run in Oracle VM VirtualBox, which has problems with 3D acceleration. | ||
Once Oni 2 is running, there is only one level available by choosing New Game. | Once Oni 2 is running, there is only one level available by choosing New Game. Additional levels, however, can be chosen from the Load Game menu. These are documented under "Story and levels" below. Levels can take a long time to load, and some do not have loading screens, instead displaying a gray screen until they're done loading. The only levels that could be considered traditionally "game-like" are levels 1 (The Blast Chambers), 6 (Initial Attack), and 8 (The Rooftops). These were the primary levels used to prototype the game. The other levels were used by the developers to test features or scripting, but some are rather substantial, like level 14 (AI Abilities Test). | ||
==Gameplay== | ==Gameplay== | ||
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==Story and levels== | ==Story and levels== | ||
[[Image:Oni 2 - Initial Attack.JPG|right|thumb|300px|Characters will usually be "blacked out" due to an issue with the lighting code.]] | |||
[[Image:Oni 2 - The Rooftops.JPG|right|thumb|300px|The un-textured Rooftops level.]] | |||
[[Image:Oni 2 - WCG.JPG|right|thumb|300px|The WCG is still around in the sequel.]] | |||
It doesn't seem that the Oni 2 project actually had any writing done for it yet, so any story-like elements in the build are probably placeholders. This is the likely explanation for the fact that Konoko is depicted as working for the TCTF, an organization that previously tried to kill her, not to mention that Mai is called "Konoko" again instead of her real name (though that may be because she is working for the TCTF). Konoko is briefed on missions by an artificial being named Amaya who looks more like a robot than an SLD. The organization of bad guys is simply called the Neo-Syndicate, also likely a placeholder. The setting of the game is a traditional cyberpunk atmosphere. We see all sorts of cyborgs, as well as scavengers living off collected junk. | It doesn't seem that the Oni 2 project actually had any writing done for it yet, so any story-like elements in the build are probably placeholders. This is the likely explanation for the fact that Konoko is depicted as working for the TCTF, an organization that previously tried to kill her, not to mention that Mai is called "Konoko" again instead of her real name (though that may be because she is working for the TCTF). Konoko is briefed on missions by an artificial being named Amaya who looks more like a robot than an SLD. The organization of bad guys is simply called the Neo-Syndicate, also likely a placeholder. The setting of the game is a traditional cyberpunk atmosphere. We see all sorts of cyborgs, as well as scavengers living off collected junk. | ||