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Client
Big Boat Interactive/Oddworld Inhabitants
Oddworld Soulstorm
Pockets joined the Soulstorm team as a co-development partner to Bigboat, bringing technical and design improvements to the Enhanced Edition of Oddworld: Soulstorm.
Year
2021
Service
Co-development
Platforms
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Oddworld: Soulstorm / / CHALLENGES
The Challenge
Pockets came onto Soulstorm ahead of launch, supporting the team through the run-up to release and into post-launch patches. For the Enhanced Edition, the brief went further than a patch: a pass over the core of the game, how Abe moves, aims and reacts, without changing what the game is.
Our Role
What We Owned
Gameplay & Animation
Abe's animation state system reworked for the Enhanced Edition, so it read the world around him and responded naturally
Haptics & Controls
DualSense feedback built around Abe's heartbeat, rising with the tension of the moment
Platform Ports
Bringing Soulstorm to Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Steam
Optimisation
Getting a graphically demanding 2.9D game running smoothly on Xbox One, on top of a custom branch of Unity
Oddworld: Soulstorm / / CHALLENGES
Full Platform Technical Stack
What We Deliver
Platforms
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Steam
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PS5/PS4
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Xbox Series X/S
Engine
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Unity
Gameplay
Movement
Jumping Aim
Scavenging
Looting & Possession
Certifications
GDK & XDK
Steam
Technical
What Made This Hard
Custom Unity engine
The game ran on a custom branch of Unity, pushed to the limit of what the engine could do. Every change had to be made with optimisation in mind from the outset.
01
24-hour development
A worldwide team meant handovers happened while half the project slept. Communication had to be clear enough that work kept moving overnight, every night.
02
Animation in 2.9D
Players feel that in a new dimensional space they need a different way of thinking. Animation states and transitions had to be read as sensible from angles a 2D pipeline was never built for.
03
What Studios Say
Let's Work Together
Ready to ship something great?
We partner with studios that need technical depth and production confidence.