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Oni: Difference between revisions
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→Completion: moved some material around and tweaked wording; the only substantial change is that we can now say the final month of asset development was October 2000
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==Completion== | ==Completion== | ||
[[Image:MG_UK_cover.jpg|thumb|250px|A preview of Oni from 1999. There was seemingly much more coverage of Oni in 1999 than when it released.]] | [[Image:MG_UK_cover.jpg|thumb|250px|A preview of Oni from 1999. There was seemingly much more coverage of Oni in 1999 than when it released.]] | ||
As Bungie West reached the end of | Oni went through a short period of beta testing, starting just before September 2000,<ref>[http://carnage.bungie.org/oniforum/oni.forum.pl?read=4556 OCF thread, "New news groups?"].</ref> during which leaked beta builds of the game surfaced on the Internet.<ref>[http://carnage.bungie.org/oniforum/oni.forum.pl?read=6634 OCF thread, "Leakage?"]</ref><ref>[https://groups.google.com/g/alt.games.tombraider/c/vB9G_SbOrmU/m/i6D6zJQvNngJ Usenet alt.games.tombraider thread, "ok wtf!"]</ref> As Bungie West reached the end of development, Oni's publisher, Take-Two Interactive, granted them an extra month to polish the game, even though it would mean missing the holiday season.<!--No official citation for this because it's in the private full interview video with Hardy, but see 33:48 in that video.--> This final period of asset development apparently spanned October 2000, during which time the training level was added.<ref>See [http://carnage.bungie.org/oniforum/oni.forum.pl?read=5646 OCF thread, "Re: is the "new' movie really the old trailer"]. A candidate for GM produced on Oct. 30, 2000 already contained the training level. The timestamp on the retail game data is Nov. 3, 2000, so clearly all assets were done by that point.</ref> | ||
Development of the Windows version was finished in November 2000<ref>[http://carnage.bungie.org/oniforum/oni.forum.pl?read=6377 OCF thread, "ONI gone GOLD", Nov. 20, 2000].</ref> and the Mac version in December.<ref name=MacGM>See [http://carnage.bungie.org/oniforum/oni.forum.pl?read=7653 OCF thread, "Re: It's coming... soon", Dec. 18, 2000], which showed that the Mac demo would not be ready until the Mac version of the game reached Gold Master status, and [http://carnage.bungie.org/oniforum/oni.forum.pl?read=8412 OCF thread, "MAC DEMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", Dec. 22, 2000], celebrating the release of the demo.</ref> The Windows demo, released in mid-December,<ref>[http://carnage.bungie.org/oniforum/oni.forum.pl?read=7479 OCF thread, "ONI DEMO!", Dec. 17, 2000].</ref> contained Chapters [[CHAPTER_01_._TRIAL_RUN|1]] and [[CHAPTER 04 . TIGER BY THE TAIL|4]]. A later demo was released with Chapters 1 and [[CHAPTER 02 . ENGINES OF EVIL|2]] instead. The Mac demo, released a few days after the original Windows demo,<ref name=MacGM /> only ever contained Chapters 1 and 4. | |||
As Oni finally neared completion, Bungie resumed their advertising, now partnered with Take-Two | As Oni finally neared completion, Bungie resumed their advertising, now partnered with Take-Two, who were in the process of taking over the Oni [[wp:Intellectual_property|IP]] as Bungie prepared to join Microsoft (see "Buyout" section below). Promotional artwork was produced by Lorraine Reyes as well as artists commissioned by Take-Two, and a four-issue comic book was produced under Take-Two's supervision and published by Dark Horse. Take-Two's PR efforts, however, seem to have been focused mainly on the PS2 version of the game. | ||
''Further reading:'' [[Mac beta 4|Leaked beta]], [[Dark_Horse_comics|Dark Horse's ''Oni'' comic]], [[:Category:Promotional art|Promotional art]]. | ''Further reading:'' [[Mac beta 4|Leaked beta]], [[Dark_Horse_comics|Dark Horse's ''Oni'' comic]], [[:Category:Promotional art|Promotional art]]. | ||