It's been ten years now. Did you know?

Franck Sauer, Yann Robert and Yves Grolet, each a videogame developer with a fascinating track record, had been working together at Art & Magic for a few years already creating coin-op games. They weren't doing bad – Ultimate Tennis was a major European success for instance - but it was getting somewhat limited. Creating simple arcade games wasn't enough, these men were thinking big. They wanted more freedom, more content, more creation. And so it came to be that Appeal was founded in the summer of '95, ten years ago. In order to celebrate this anniversary, this article covers the history of Appeal, its games and its rebirth in Elsewhere Entertainment. May the Yods smile upon you during your travels, for it’s a bit of a long read…

Chapter one: Outcast

Making the Twon-Ha walk

Saying farewell to the arcade games, Appeal was created for the sole purpose of developing blockbuster videogames. Soon after its founding Appeal teamed up with the French publisher Infogrames. The pieces were set, Appeal could start working on its flagship title, Outcast.

The first few years of development were spent on research and development. Outcast was to become a non-linear, immersive, innovative epic action / adventure game, and such a game demands cutting-edge technology. Appeal started researching things such as voxel rendering, polygon rendering, advanced animations and complex 3D scenery. Pretty soon, key words some Outcastfans might recognize started popping up such as GAIA (Outcast’s AI system) and Paradise (the graphics / sound rendering API), indicating just how ambitious this project really was. Inverse kinematics, bump mapping, true colour textures - nothing would prove too advanced for Appeal. In fact, in-between it all they even released the action game No Regret, in order to try out the technology that would eventually power Outcast.

Unlike many other developers, Appeal didn't just concentrate on technology or graphics alone. While Outcast's technology was going to push the boundaries of PC hardware, its gameplay would be at least as stellar. Mixing heavy action combat and adventure with a serene, realistic environment, Outcast's non-linear gameplay proved highly innovative and unconventional. Six different worlds to explore, interaction with hundreds of non-player characters, easy to learn controls, heart pumping action and mind boggling puzzles would set Outcast apart from anything out at the time. It was no wonder the game managed to swoop E3 awards and impress fellow developers at the Game Developers Conference.

The birth of the Ulukai

After years of pre-release hype, in 1999 Appeal had finally finished their biggest title ever after five years of work. The restrictive corridors of Quake and Unreal had met their match in the vast open landscapes of Adelpha. A year's delay, a relatively low maximum resolution of 512x384 and a somewhat unstable game were all eclipsed by the wonderful adventure of Cutter Slade jumping to an alternate world in order to save our own one. Many a gamer was captivated by the wondrous world, the fantastic sound track and exciting storyline.

The release in July was met with a lot of enthusiasm, especially in Europe, and Appeal scored plenty of awards for its masterpiece. Game of the Year awards, Editor’s Choice awards, an E3 award and dozens of raving reviews promised Appeal a great future. Unfortunately, while some 400.000+ copies were sold, this was not as much as publisher Infogrames had hoped for and a Dreamcast port was cancelled in 2000. This also killed any hopes of a 3D accelerated version of Outcast, which would have improved the graphics by quite a bit. Disappointing commercial success cut Outcast’s lifespan short.

Chapter two: Outcast 2: The Lost Paradise

The Lost Paradise

Soon after its release, while gamers worldwide were running around Adelpha trying to save two worlds at a time, the Belgian developers went a bit silent. Outcast may not have been the big hit everyone had hoped for, that didn’t stop Appeal from slaving away at the sequel. Outcast 2: The Lost Paradise was to be released on Playstation 2 and PC and promised to deliver an even greater adventure of next generation proportions.

Since this second game would be completely new to the Playstation 2 user base, Outcast 2: The Lost Paradise would cut many storyline connections with the previous game. While this didn’t particularly please fans looking for answers (are the Yods real? Will Marion return?), it was a decision Appeal had to make. Outcast 2 would accept the facts of its predecessor, but be an entirely new game at the same time.
Another important design choice Appeal had to make was the game’s core gameplay. This game was not to become another commercial failure, so it had to appeal to the Playstation 2 gamers as well. In order to do so, Outcast 2: The Lost Paradise was to contain more arcade-style gameplay, more stealth and combat, but less of the adventures, immersive exploring of the world and storyline that made the first game so special.

Despite the radical changes in the game’s design, fans worldwide were still in complete awe upon seeing the latest screenshots and artwork. Adelpha’s previously hidden regions of Kizaar and Ganzaar would open up to the player, who would get to save the Talan once again, this time from an invading high-tech alien race (possibly humans themselves). Around 2002, Appeal released new bits of information every few weeks, promising videos soon and an estimated release date around 2003 or 2004.

Sankra

Dark clouds gathered over Appeal and Outcast 2. Due to the different scope of the game, Yves Grolet and several other Appeal members had left the company in 2000. Internally, Appeal was now struggling to find the right track to follow. Little progress was made on the development of the actual game, to the displeasure of publisher Infogrames. What exactly happened in this time period is still a bit shady, but eventually it lead to the demise of Outcast 2: The Lost Paradise. The game was put on hold.

A short time was spent on pre-production of a Tin-Tin game, but this did not last long either. In August of 2002, Appeal declared its bankruptcy, brutally ending all hopes of Outcast fans waiting for a sequel.

Chapter three: Elsewhere Entertainment

Hundred eyes and ears pointing Elsewhere

Elsewhere Entertainment, the new development company founded by Yves Grolet in 2001, had remained out of the picture until now. With Appeal gone, all eyes of Outcast fans worldwide were focussing on this new developer, especially since Yves had admitted to wanting to make a proper sequel to Outcast. Unfortunately, since Infogrames held on to their rights fiercely, this was not to be and Elsewhere Entertainment settled for creating all-new games.

Yves Grolet founded Elsewhere Entertainment in November 2001, after having separated from Appeal. The basic vision of Elsewhere matches that of Appeal quite well, as seen on the official website: “Elsewhere Entertainment was founded with the vision of creating world-class titles, bringing a new dimension to the action/adventure genre by generating emotions thanks to rich interactive storytelling and artificial intelligence technologies”.

Aiming at the PC and console platforms (Xbox, Playstation 2, Gamecube) Elsewhere Entertainment started, much like Appeal in 1995, by concentrating on technology. The first two years of Elsewhere Entertainment were marked by its NeoReality technology featuring five major components allowing for, among other things, advanced 3D rendering, realistic physics and real-time NPC behaviour.

Uneasy spirits

During the past few years, Elsewhere Entertainment worked on several projects. Project Beta, an action packed racing game using the NeoReality technology, was never believed to have gotten far in development. However, it is likely this endeavour did play a role in Elsewhere Entertainment getting an assignment at the German publisher 10Tacle Studios. Elsewhere was put in charge of the early stages of GT Legends, a racing simulation now in development at SimBin.

Project Alpha however was Elsewhere Entertainment’s main focus right from the beginning. Around 2001, the game had appeared on Yves Grolet’s personal website under the name The-Incident. As a squad-based first person shooter for Xbox, the game put the player in command of four team mates in a futuristic environment. The project was later unveiled on the Elsewhere Entertainment website itself, now under the name Symbiosis.

Symbiosis was, however, eventually cancelled in favour of Totems. Not much of this game is known yet, but it is a mixture of fantasy and realism, mixing our modern day world with the fantasy of native American religion. Rumour has it the game will see the hero, a native American by heritage, fight evil spirits in an alternate version of New York City. During the game, which should play similar to Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and God of War, the player finds out more and more about his heritage and acquires special powers that should help him in his quest. Totems is currently still in development and won’t be ready any time soon, but it is the future, it’s where we’re going. Good luck, Elsewhere Entertainment.


With that I conclude this look into the history of Appeal, its games and Elsewhere Entertainment. Hope you enjoyed it.

It’s been ten years since Appeal was founded, ten years since the big plan for Outcast started. Celebrate it, mourn it, move on… Move Elsewhere.



Links and sources:
http://www.google.com
http://web.archive.org
http://www.outcast-thegame.com
http://www.mobygames.com
http://www.elsewhere-entertainment.com