Oddworld Universe and Oddworld-Web had the fortunate oppurtunity of interviewing Mark Snoswell, the CEO of Ballistic Media, and the main man behind the Art of Oddworld.

There has been some confusion concerning the exact title of the book. It seems that every source we find has a different variation. Could you clear up this confusion?
The full title is: The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants: The First Ten Years 1994 – 2004

Did Oddworld Inhabitants approach Ballistic about developing the art book, or was it the other way around?
It was a happy circumstance that was totally unplanned by anyone. I was visiting Oddworld in San Luis Obispo to meet with Lorne Lanning just after we had finished the work on EXPOSÉ 2. We had invited Lorne to join the advisory board after he emailed us raving about EXPOSÉ 1 (the only fan mail Lorne has ever sent), which is a real compliment—you should see Lorne’s extensive library of art books!

After an excellent meeting over lunch where Lorne and I found we had much in common we were touring their offices and I was introduced to Cathy Johnson. Cathy had been bugging Lorne and Sherry to do a book for years… from there on it was a no-brainer. We all instantly agreed that we must do a book together—and so we have.

What was the experience like to work with Oddworld Inhabitants in this collaborative project? I understand that Ballistic Media is based in Australia, yet Oddworld Inhabitants is based in the United States. Did this have any impact on the project?
Everyone here in Ballistic is an expert at working in a virtual global office—in many ways I think it's almost more efficient than being in the same physical office. We are on MSN all the time and regularly talk by phone as well. Working with Oddworld people is fantastic. The project is truly collaborative, and we are thrilled with the work Cathy and the others put in at Oddworld—way more than we could ever have reasonably hoped for. During half of the production time I was down in LA as a CG Supervisor for work we did for the film: A Sound of Thunder. In the evenings I would be on the phone to my editor in Australia reviewing page layouts and other material prepared the previous day. Every month or so I would drive up the coast to visit Oddworld. They are a friendly-sized company with a passion for their work. It’s a pleasure to work with everyone there.

You've had a long history with Oddworld Inhabitants. Ballistic's flagship publication, the EXPOSÉ series, has seen a number of high quality Oddworld artworks included over the years. What is your personal opinion of these artworks, and Oddworld artwork in general?
Ballistic Media has only been going just over a year—so we don't have a long history dealing with Oddworld. Mind you, like many others we have long known of Oddworld and the fantastic creatures and artwork that appear in their games. This is one of the reasons that we have a unique opportunity working with Oddworld. They have a brand recognition that goes way beyond their user base. The artwork they have and the vision that ties it all together are truly unique—and excellent. They are as edgy as any game maker, but they achieve this based on a foundation of good sound morals rather than the baseless violence that characterises much of the current games world. These are the ingredients for a truly successful company that will probably be around in a generation when many (most) of the other games franchises will have long faded from memory. We intend to be around for as long and working with Oddworld.

Previous publications from Ballistic have been printed in a Soft Cover, a Hard Cover and a Limited Edition variation. Will all three variations of the book be available? And what is the estimated price for each?
There will be soft cover, hard cover and a limited hand bound leather edition for collectors. I can’t comment on final retail pricing or other potential editions at this time. We are aware that some Oddworld’s fans may have a limited budget, and we want to keep the price of owning a book down as much as possible. However, as with our other books, we will not compromise the quality of printing, binding, packaging or service one little bit. People remember the value and quality long after they have forgotten the price. This is a view that Oddworld and we share.

Could you give us any figures concerning the book? Such as the total amount of pages we can expect, the number of images included, how many Limited Edition copies will be available, or anything else related?
The book will be the biggest one we have made—getting towards the limit of what we can efficiently ship around the world—256 pages. It’s chock full of images and interesting information. For fans, there are lots of images and concept art that have never been seen anywhere else—this will be a world first! The book really does live up to its title and will take the reader through the history of Oddworld from its inception right up to a sneak preview from the upcoming game Stranger.

As for the number of books: There will be plenty for everyone and we will keep doing re-prints for as long as people want to buy the books… except of course for the limited collector’s edition. That’s strictly limited to the initial print run and every book will be individually numbered. We expect they will sell out fairly quickly and then go up in value pretty quickly—as a collectable item.

Pre-sales will commence very soon, and we will be doing a special delivery from our printers so that we can get pre-orders out to people in time for Christmas.

Oddworld has accumulated a great deal of artwork over the course of their ten-year existence. Obviously, not all of it can be displayed in the book. Who is responsible for deciding what goes in and what stays out, and on what grounds are the decisions made?
Oddworld has enough high quality material to fill a whole series of books. This first book comfortably tells the story of the history of Oddworld. The choices of what material got into the book was collaborative. Obviously it’s primarily Oddworld’s choice, but we also guided them in choosing material that works well in print. Cathy Johnson has been the biggest contributor. She has been with Oddworld forever and has done a stellar job putting the book together. Kristin Inman made a huge contribution to the text and Jenny Shaheen has kept us all talking and co-ordinated. However, the book is full of work from the whole Oddworld Inhabitants team going right back to their start 10 years ago… people too numerous too mention here, but they are all credited in the book. The first and final choice of what gets in is with Oddworld’s founders and current owners—Sherry McKenna and Lorne Lanning. As for the final reasons for what got in—whatever was best for the book. There is no single overriding reason. Some images get in because they look brilliant (lots) and some because they are historically important, and others because they have never been seen and they show how the development process works… what more can I say? Get the book and see for yourself. ;)

We've heard estimates of a possible release date in an October / November time frame, has this estimate changed, or is it still fairly accurate?
We’re doing everything humanly possible (and some more) to get the book launched and available for pre-order by the end of this month. It will then physically ship before the first week of December so that (depending on the reliability of your local post) people can get it in their hot little hands by Christmas. To meet this deadline we will have to fly books in by FedEx from our printers to our warehouse… so we may have to charge a small premium for books shipped in early December. The rest of the bulk shipment will be available in January to send out to people.

Previous Oddworld Inhabitants and are partly responsible for Oddworld's success. Were they contacted to make comments in the book?
The book covers the whole history of Oddworld (as much as you can in one book) and no one has been forgotten or missed out on due credit.

We've been led to believe that there will be a few extra features or surprises included. Can you give us any information regarding these extra features?
Lots of cool stuff that no-one has seen before. How’s that for a tease without actually saying anything?

The book is obviously, primarily a collection of artwork from Oddworld Inhabitants over the past ten years. Therefore, with each image, what can we expect in the way of accompanying titles, descriptions, artists, etc?
Lots more cool stuff. Again—you’ll just have to get the book and see.

Have you played any of the Oddworld games, and if so, what is your opinion of them, and which is your favourite?
Ha—I wish I had time to play games. Sadly, I have to admit that I really have not played much of any games for a long time. My kids have (9 and 10 years old) could give you a much better answer to this than I can. However, I have watched a whole lot of games cinematics and the Oddworld ones kick ass.

I would like to say that I am really impressed with the game philosophy behind the Oddworld games. I have spent a heap of time with Lorne Lanning over the last 6 months and had an opportunity to talk about gaming and his goals with Oddworld. Lorne told me that he strives to make games that reward the player for empathy. This is unique and completely opposite to a great number of games that reward the player for violence and aggression—which only serves to numb people to the world around them (my opinion there).

And, hey—I love the seriously twisted humour and weird characters.

Certain elements in Oddworld interest different people. The dark humour, the feeling of history and culture, the deep character development. What about Oddworld intrigues you the most?
It looks cool and twisted. It’s fun. It’s different. It’s got meaning and a moral. It’s all part of a bigger picture. It’s successful … Gee—to be honest I can’t think of anything bad and that’s a pretty unique thing to be able to say about a contemporary games company don’t you think?

This is the first book to be published by Ballistic that focuses on a single video game series. Are there any books being planned that are similar in this respect? Possibly, the 'Art of Halo'?
We named our company after the speed at which we work—Ballistic. It was less than 90 days from having the idea for the company and sending our book off to press! We really are doing things at ballistic speed! We joke that slogans like Nike’s “just do it” aren’t energetic enough—our slogan is “We just did it !”.

I don’t know if everyone realises that we also run and own www.CGTalk.com and www.CGNetworks.com . We have the world’s largest group of digital artists with over 600,000 unique people visiting our web sites every month. We are also involved in film 3D and effects work www.cgCharacter.com and with running events www.3Dfestival.com and awards www.3Dawards.com

In our first year, we released 5 titles in 9 editions. We have more titles lined up than you can poke a stick at—and more than even we can do. We don’t currently have books scheduled with other games companies but that could change in the blink of an eye. ;)

There are some really exciting and cool projects coming down the pipe that I really can’t talk about just now—so keep an eye on what we are doing and don’t blink or you’ll miss a whole exciting chapter!