Oni

This is about the game. For the Japanese demon, see Oni (demon). For the Halo entity, see ONI

Even though the final logo is a stylized "ONi", the name of the game is generally spelled "Oni".

The game "Oni" was developed by Bungie West, a division of Bungie Studios, and released in January 2001. It was Bungie West's first and only game, as it was disbanded after Oni's release.

Development

The concept for Oni was devised by Brent Pease, whose primary influence was the animé film Ghost in the Shell. Designs for Konoko and Commander Griffin can be seen to resemble the characters of Motoko Kusanagi and Daisuke Aramaki. Early development even presented Konoko as a cyborg (see: 1998#Trailer), which together with the tech-crime-fighting context amounted to near-plagiarism of GITS. At some point, Hardy LeBel was brought in to revamp the story¹. The final version of Oni abandons the cyborg heroine and instead introduces original concepts such as Daodan and SLDs.

For a complete list of credits, see the Credits page.

Gameplay

Main article: Gameplay

The developers achieved a unique blend of third-person shooting and hand-to-hand combat, with full freedom of movement and a context-independent camera control. The complex melee component has flaws, but even so it makes for one of the most varied and rewarding gameplay experiences in the beat-them-up genre (see also: Lugaru, State of Emergency, ...). As for the gunplay, AI dodging skills were implemented, but not (yet?) set up in the final release, leaving it to the modders to reveal that part of Oni's potential (see: Anniversary Edition).

Hype

The online hype was deeply rooted in the existing Bungie community, notably Marathon fans¹. As the Oni project gained popularity, a dedicated online community emerged in the form of Template:Oni Central and its forum.

Despite or maybe because of the game's late release and a number of canceled features, there were a number of promotional actions around and after the release: artwork by Lorraine Reyes McLees, 4-volume comic published by Dark Horse.

Two trailers and some of the reaction to them are represented here:

• E3 1998 (authored in Max by Abeyta and Hughes, directed by Okita)
• E3 1999 (in-game action only this time, but still pre-beta)

Trailers and screenshots were analyzed eagerly for evidence of Oni's ground-breaking features. Ultimately, the game would look quite different in some parts from what was seen in the trailers. Characters were altered in appearance (not always for the better), and levels were redesigned and re-textured. The pre-beta content overview provides many before-after comparisons.

Reception

The general reaction to the game was inconsistent; Oni did receive some high praise, most notably the E3 1999 Game Critics Award for "Best Action/Adventure Game" (even though the game was still only entering beta stage at that point).

Upon Oni's release, many felt cheated because the game did not deliver on all of its promises (a not uncommon issue in game development. The most notable shortcoming was the absence of LAN multiplayer, revealed at the E3, then removed at beta stage on account of latency issues.

Some of the previously announced features were missing, such as smart gunfire dodging and alarm behaviour on the part of the AI. On Oni Central Forum, Hardy LeBel blamed this on Quinn Sandra Dunki, saying "She made a lot of boastful claims about what the AI would end up being able to do that she couldn't deliver on". (Actually, these features mostly are in Oni's engine, either implemented by Dunki or by her followers; however, the game content and level mission scripts don't take advantage of those features. So it would look like LeBel&Co underdelivered at least as much as Dunki in the end ^_^.)

Some of the game content was cut as well. This included the BGI level and the highly anticipated Iron Demon (large mech shown in the 1999 trailer in a gameplay situation). Also, the gaps in the numbering of the game files seemed to indicate that at least five chapters were cut from the story (actually, with the exception of BGI, the missing levels may have corresponded to test environments, multiplayer arenas, or obsolete mission parts, which were scrapped regardless of the deadline).

Reviews diverge over Oni's gameplay and storyline. Fans may object to Oni's dystopian architecture, or to the vastly understated plot punctuated by more or less digest/relevant data terminals, but they are essentially conquered by the hand-to-hand combat. Professional critics, however, tend to dislike the ambitious melee element, easily blaming the counter-intuitive or unresponsive controls (if they found the game too hard), or the redundantly rich array of combos (if they found the game too easy). Also, by lack of modding tools and multiplayer, Oni's replay value is not obvious. The overall consensus of the reviews was that the game was good, but not great: many 6s and 7s out of 10.

Post-release

When Bungie was bought by Microsoft in 2000, they sold Myth and Oni to Take-Two Interactive (that was before T2 got a reputation of sitting on franchises such as Max Payne). In the case of Myth, Take-Two had a sequel done by MumboJumbo, and granted NDAs after the source code for all Myths was leaked. As for Oni, Take-Two intended to make an Oni 2 (for PS2) in the wake of Bungie's Oni; the game was canceled at an early stage of development, possibly because Oni itself sold poorly and didn't gather a sufficient fanbase.

The acquisition of Bungie by Microsoft also coincided with the dissolution of Bungie West. Some Oni developers went on to work on the Halo series, while others ended up at independent game studios: Wideload (Seropian), Giant Bite (Chu, Evans), Tyrant Studios (LeBel), Certain Affinity (Hoberman).

The future of the property

Take-Two has been selling off some dead franchises to motivated developers, although there is no evidence that Oni is one of them. With the recent "separation" of Bungie and Microsoft (MS still having much leverage as a publisher), there has been fervent speculation about new games based on Bungie's old properties (since, after all, Bungie could buy back an IP from Take-Two if they desired). In an interview, Bungie's CEO, Harold Ryan, was asked specifically about Oni:

4Players

Since we're on the subject of strong franchises: is there perhaps a chance to bring back Oni?

Harold Ryan

(laughs) Oni isn't currently one of those projects we're looking at, but one should never say never.
We'd be happy to work with the individuals who made Oni.

One thing is certain: the current Bungie staff has little in common with the Bungie West that produced Oni (there are eight members² still working at Bungie at the time of this writing). There is probably little sentimental or monetary incentive for Bungie to produce a sequel.

However, there are fan projects which may or may not become unofficial "Oni 2"s.

Companies involved with Oni

The following information is to the best of our knowledge. While some agreements for distribution may have lapsed since the time period of Oni's release, this was the arrangement at that time.

IP Rights
Take-Two - IP Rights, PS2 distribution

Publishing/Distribution Rights
Feral Interactive - Mac distribution in Europe
Gathering of Developers - PC distribution worldwide

Developers
Bungie West - PC/Mac versions
Rockstar (part of 2K Games (part of Take-Two)) - PS2 version
OmniGroup - Mac OS X port

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¹MARATHON'S STORY : WHAT'S NEW. Marathon fans talking about the newly announced Oni (and the E3 1998 trailer) back in May-June 1998.

²The eight employees from Bungie West are Butcher, Dunn, Wu, the McLees, O'Donnell, Sinclair, and Staten. Oni's Story Lead, Hardy LeBel, is now president of his own company, Tyrant Studios.