The Oddworld Library is a fansite, developed by Max the Mug and Xavier De Coster, for the Oddworld series, and is intended to provide fellow fans of Oddworld with an easily‐accessible agglomeration of news, encyclopædic resources, and media archives. Currently it comprises OddBlog 3·0, The Oddworld Encyclopædia 1·5 and The Oddworld Archives 2·0 to provide each service respectively. Each of these is divided into further components to aid navigation, as detailed below. See also the site map.

The Oddworld Librarians are mindful of the accessibility and legality of the content they provide. Every effort is made to conform to Web standards, and we are respectful of artists’ wishes; in the past, we have removed content upon request, and seek artists’ permission to include their work. We cooperate fully with Oddworld Inhabitants’ fan legal department, although we are not affiliated with them in any way.

The Oddworld Library is not intended to produce a community of Oddworld fans—​for this there already exist the Oddworld Forums. Nor do we yet provide a medium for fan artists to share their work. This can be done on the Oddworld Forums at the risk of forfeiting your rights as an artist.

The Bulletin Board is used to detail the latest updates to TOL, and these listings are often accompanied by an editorial. The Atrium is the term used to describe the pages on TOL that don’t fit into any section, such as those that address the site as a whole.

Backstory

Pre‐2006

TOL is conceived as ‘The Shaman Network’, a site to combine Max’s OddBlog, Xav’s TOGG, and Oddsville’s Archives.

Saturday 1^st April, 2006

The Library is formally opened on the day that The Oddworld Encyclopædia finally joins OddBlog, TOGG and TOA on the network.

Thursday 26^th October, 2006

In anticipation of the release of Oddworld Inhabitants’ first feature film, The Oddworld Library is relaunched having been given a visual and technological refit.

OddBlog is The Oddworld Library’s news‐reporting service. It has quickly established a reputation as a reliable, accurate and fast service, and is used by fans and Inhabitants alike. Outside of the Oddworld Forums, it is currently the only dedicated and live source of Oddworld‐related news. OddBlog predates the formal opening of The Oddworld Library by 18 months.

OddBlog’s stories are provided by Xav and Max, who are both mindful of the ethics and standards of news journalism. Wherever possible they journalists strive to report news reliably and without bias. Credit is always given to sources of information unless anonymity is requested. Rumours are reported, but are always identified as such.

Backstory

Saturday 23^rd August, 2003

OddBlog was originally created by Max on uJournal as a personal outlet for Oddworld thoughts and ideas, but as the OddBlog Archives show, this soon developed into a news‐reporting site at the suggestion of Xavier.

Saturday 6^th December, 2003

Xavier was employed as a reporter, originally just to stand in for Max during a short absense. Avatars were created to visually distinguish the two reporters, and they remained unchanged for almost three years until the late‐2006 relaunch of TOL. The use of personal avatars has since spread to the Bulletin Board.

Thursday 22^nd January, 2004

The very first post was made on OddBlog 2·0 when the entire collection of OddBlog’s posts were moved from uJournal to Blogger in preparation for the public opening. The design was significantly updated into a form that has proven successful, and from which the designs of OddBlog, The Oddworld Encyclopædia and The Oddworld Library Atrium are based to this day.

Tuesday 27^th January, 2004

The last post is made on the original OddBlog, redirecting users to OddBlog 2·0. This is one of several posts made to OddBlog 1·0 which never appeared on OddBlog 2·0, although all of these were ported to OddBlog 3·0.

Sunday 1^st Februrary, 2004

After a few days of teasing Oddworld Forumers, OddBlog was formally opened at the address oddenc.blogspot.com. It was instantly awarded five Mudokon heads on Alf’s fansite listings.

Monday 12^th April, 2004

Thanks to HaloScan, OddBlog was able to receive and display comments from users for the first time. This feature was never admired by Max, who disliked the popup window and lack of customisation. It eventually disappeared, but all comments made on it are archived.

Monday 13^th September, 2004

Just 26 hours before The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants became preorderable, OddBlog was given its own dedicated domain, oddblog.net. The design was again updated, and the menu was separated from the main content, a feature which still remains. Not quite coincidentally, this was also Oddworld Inhabitants’ tenth birthday. The relaunch was celebrated by the publication of an exclusive interview with Mark Snoswell, president of Ballistic Publishing.

Saturday 1^st April, 2006

The OddBlog design is updated once again when it is formally identified as a site within The Oddworld Library upon TOL’s formal opening on this date.

Thursday 26^th October, 2006

OddBlog 3·0 is opened as part of TOL’s late‐2006 relaunch, using a brand new, custom content management system named OddBlogger 0·9. For the first time it features news syndication, conformance with ISO‐8601 and new (but familiar) avatars for Max and Xav. The design is updated to be clearer and contain more information while still being an evolution of the original design.

The Oddworld Encyclopædia is a compendium of knowledge pertaining to the Oddworld franchise, its rôle in the entertainment industry, its creators, and the fictional backdrop of the series. It is written by Max the Mug, once described by members of the Oddworld Forums as ‘The Oddworld Encyclopædia’ and winner of the award ‘The Oddworld Forums Member With The Best Oddworld Knowledge’ for the last four years.

All of the information presented in The Oddworld Encyclopædia has been written to be accurate, objective and reliable to the best of Max’s ability, and corrections are accepted warmly. With regards to the articles that address fictional characters and events, TOE reports on all known aspects of the Oddworld mythos regardless of whether they have been represented in any videogame or film in the franchise. Thusly, some information printed may be liable to become inaccurate in the future. In additional, since Oddworld has been rendered in a number of different media, the canonicity between each is liable to be flexible.

Backstory

The Oddworld Encyclopædia was first conceived over six years ago. Its first version was titled ‘The Scrabacombs’ and featured a short tour of a zoo owned by conjoined Glukkons, which featured all the known creatures of Oddworld at the time. After this, the project was continually worked at by Max by many years, but was never released until April 2006. Shortly before this release, the work done on TOE by Max was the major contributing factor to the formation of The Oddworld Library.

TOE was given a small design update on 2006‐10‐???????? with relaunch of the Library; however, the content updates were minimal. The Oddworld Encyclopædia will receive a large amount of development in the very near future.

The Oddworld Archives are an online preserve for Oddworld texts, images, music, videos and websites. Almost the entire contents of the Archives have been preserved thanks to the foresight of Xavier, who has designed much of the Archives and keeps them updated. There are several subsites specialising in their own medium, listed here:

The Oddworld Scriptures

Originally named ‘The Oddworld Archives’, this site preserves dozens of interviews, features and designer diaries.

The Oddworld Graphics Gallery

This database contains a plethora of Oddworld conceptual art, renders, promotional images and screenshots.

The Oddworld Cinema

The Cinema is the Library’s largest section, containing a stunning array of trailers, gameplay footage and video interviews.

The Odd Wide Web

A second chance for promotional Oddworld websites to sit in public view.

Almost all of the contents of the Archives are likely to be copyright or otherwise registered to parties that are in no way affiliated with The Oddworld Library. All images in TOGG are displayed with permission from Oddworld Inhabitants and, in several cases, their respective individual artists. No images are scanned from The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants. Various articles in TOS may be copyright to printed and/or electronic media; all sources are identified, and original articles are linked to wherever they still exist. We have never been asked to remove an article from TOS.

Accessibility

The Oddworld Librarians are constantly aware of the need for their work to be accessible by all users and conform to international standards. If you feel TOL lacks usability in a certain area (e.g. navigability, readability, language), we are eager to hear from you. Your constructive criticism, ideas and suggestions will be considered seriously and we will strive to reply to any mail we receive, so please make use of the Library’s contact form.

Extended Disclaimer

The Oddworld Library and all of its component sites (OddBlog, The Oddworld Encyclopædia, The Oddworld Graphics Gallery, The Oddworld Scripture Repository) are completely fan‐created, and are in no way officially affiliated with any of the companies or organisations identified on the site, including Oddworld Inhabitants, Infogrames, Microsoft, Electronic Arts and Ballistic Publishing.

Most images are used and borrowed with permission from Oddworld Inhabitants, Inc., and are copyright and right‐protected and/or trademarks. Oddworld is wholly the intellectual property of Oddworld Inhabitants.

The following terms may be used throughout The Oddworld Library, but particularly on this page. For your convenience, these definitions are provided.

TOL

n. abbr.
The Oddworld Library

TOE

n. abbr.
The Oddworld Encyclopædia

TOA

n. abbr.
The Oddworld Archives

TOS

n. abbr.
The Oddworld Scriptures

TOGG

n. abbr.
The Oddworld Graphics Gallery

TOC

n. abbr.
The Oddworld Cinema

TOWW

n. abbr.
The Odd Wide Web

Odd Lib

v.t.
To take information and place it in The Oddworld Library.

v.i.
To update The Oddworld Library in any way.