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Oni: Difference between revisions
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==Troubles== | ==Troubles== | ||
Oni was originally expected to be released in the fourth quarter of 1999,{{ref|name="advert"}} but as that time approached, the release date was pushed back. This occurred repeatedly, until finally the rumored release date was as late as March 2001.<!-- | Oni was originally expected to be released in the fourth quarter of 1999,{{ref|name="advert"}} but as that time approached, the release date was pushed back. This occurred repeatedly, until finally the rumored release date was as late as March 2001.<!-- | ||
--> | -->{{ref|group=note|Discussions on Oni Central Forum of: a [http://carnage.bungie.org/oniforum/oni.forum.pl?read{{=}}2533 fall 1999] release date, a [http://carnage.bungie.org/oniforum/oni.forum.pl?read{{=}}1129 summer 2000] release date, a [http://carnage.bungie.org/oniforum/oni.forum.pl?read{{=}}4084 fall 2000] release date, and finally a [http://carnage.bungie.org/oniforum/oni.forum.pl?read{{=}}4699 spring 2001] release date. These "release dates" were generally rumors, ephemeral dates used by online stores for pre-orders, or vague estimates by Bungie PR, not official statements. Nevertheless, it was clear that Oni was taking longer than planned to finish, which was a cause of some concern among Bungie fans.}}<!-- | ||
--> Some of the uncertainty came from Bungie's typical reluctance to announce or adhere to fixed release dates. | --> Some of the uncertainty came from Bungie's typical reluctance to announce or adhere to fixed release dates. | ||
However, unbeknownst to the public, development of Oni was troubled from the start. The team was young and inexperienced, and development suffered from a lack of direction. A great deal of code had been written and assets created without producing a story that was playable from start to finish. Transferring data from the professional software used for level modeling and animation into Oni wasn't even possible until the very end of 1997.<!-- | However, unbeknownst to the public, development of Oni was troubled from the start. The team was young and inexperienced, and development suffered from a lack of direction. A great deal of code had been written and assets created without producing a story that was playable from start to finish. Transferring data from the professional software used for level modeling and animation into Oni wasn't even possible until the very end of 1997.<!-- | ||
--> | -->{{ref|group=note|"After almost a year all they had were some stick figures walking in a box; hardly a killer demo, much less a new frontier in gaming. […] Eventually, Brent had a 'eureka' - just before New Year's Eve 1998, he had a breakthrough. He was able to match the power of these professional tools with their new engine." [http://web.archive.org/web/20010302193919/http://www.insidemacgames.com/previews/99/oni/oni2.shtml Inside Mac Games, "Sneak Preview: Oni", 1999].}}<!-- | ||
--> It became increasingly became clear to management back in Chicago that the game was not going to be ready by the end of 1999. | --> It became increasingly became clear to management back in Chicago that the game was not going to be ready by the end of 1999. | ||
When Hardy LeBel was added to the team as Design Lead in mid-1999, he leveraged his greater experience in game development to focus the development efforts and help produce a shippable product. At the same time, turnover at the Bungie West office began with the departure of the AI programmer in the summer of 1999 (a replacement would not be onboarded until January 2000).<!-- | When Hardy LeBel was added to the team as Design Lead in mid-1999, he leveraged his greater experience in game development to focus the development efforts and help produce a shippable product. At the same time, turnover at the Bungie West office began with the departure of the AI programmer in the summer of 1999 (a replacement would not be onboarded until January 2000).<!-- | ||
--> | -->{{ref|[http://carnage.bungie.org/oniforum/oni.forum.pl?read{{=}}1808 Oni Central Forum, "I'm pretty sure Chris Butcher has joined Oni", Jan. 23, 2000].}}<!-- | ||
--> The end of 1999 saw the departure of one of the level designers, and then Brent Pease himself (with his Project Lead title being passed to Michael Evans). | --> The end of 1999 saw the departure of one of the level designers, and then Brent Pease himself (with his Project Lead title being passed to Michael Evans). | ||
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In order to ship the game by year-end, the Bungie West staff worked massive overtime for several months straight.<!-- | In order to ship the game by year-end, the Bungie West staff worked massive overtime for several months straight.<!-- | ||
--> | -->{{ref|group=note|Michael Evans said, "Most of us were working 14 hours a day 7 days a week" in [https://web.archive.org/web/20010128191200/http://hypothermia.gamershardware.com/interviews/interview_oni.html this interview].}}<!-- | ||
--> During this "crunch" period, the unexpected departure of the graphics programmer led to his replacement and a minor overhaul of the graphics code to fix bugs with certain graphics cards and to improve performance.<!-- | --> During this "crunch" period, the unexpected departure of the graphics programmer led to his replacement and a minor overhaul of the graphics code to fix bugs with certain graphics cards and to improve performance.<!-- | ||
--> | -->{{ref|group=note|Stefan Sinclair tells the story in the Description section of [https://archive.is/njEe3#:~:text{{=}}Fun%20fact this eBay auction] of how he was sent in by Bungie to pick up where the previous programmer left off in August 2000.<!--We know that he replaced the previous programmer in August 2000 because that's when Stefan started asking questions on the Khronos.org forum about OpenGL ^_^. It can be confirmed by looking at the dates on his source files in the Oni codebase.--> After having rewritten much of the core graphics routines, he alluded to the massive performance boost he gave the game in [https://community.khronos.org/t/how-expensive-are-redundant-state-changes/38974 this forum post].}}<!-- | ||
--> Technical and/or gameplay issues required all 14 levels to have their geometry significantly altered over the course of 7 months.<!-- | --> Technical and/or gameplay issues required all 14 levels to have their geometry significantly altered over the course of 7 months.<!-- | ||
--> | -->{{ref|name="conquer"}}<!-- | ||
--> | -->{{ref|[http://carnage.bungie.org/oniforum/oni.forum.pl?read{{=}}19648 Oni Central Forum, "Re: Oni basic questionare", Jul. 6, 2002].}}<!-- | ||
--> | -->{{ref|group=note|Also see [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}4v_elVuwx0c&t{{=}}698s Hardy LeBel, "Learn Level Design Class 9 - Integrating Game Mechanics", Dec. 17, 2016], at 11'38", where he talks about a "month of weekends" spent adding the [[Jello-cam|jello-fix boxes]].}}<!-- | ||
--> According to Hardy LeBel, "It was as bad a crunch as there has ever been in the video games industry."<!-- | --> According to Hardy LeBel, "It was as bad a crunch as there has ever been in the video games industry."<!-- | ||
--> | -->{{ref|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}jbrPu15jjPs&t{{=}}960s mrixrt, "Bungie's Forgotten Franchise - Oni", Mar. 11, 2019], 16 minute mark.}}<!-- | ||
--> It is only due to this final push that a playable and enjoyable game was forged out of their years of prior work. | --> It is only due to this final push that a playable and enjoyable game was forged out of their years of prior work. | ||