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Published: 22 December 1999
Host: Videogames.com
Author: Paul O’Connor

The Designer Diary

Part Three: Family Secrets
By Paul O’Connor

Everybody has a mother, even the Inhabitants of Oddworld. I know it’s hard to imagine Molluck the Glukkon as having a mother, but he does… and you’re going to meet her in our next game, Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee.

Most of Oddworld’s mothers aren’t the kind of ladies that wrap you up with an extra scarf on a snowy day. They’re more like alcoholic, couch-bound wrecks that are negligently indifferent to their kids when they aren’t bombarding them with strident, emotional demands. They’re like trailer-park royalty. And that’s an apt comparison, because the mothers of Oddworld are queens in the literal sense.

The predominant communal and reproductive model on Oddworld is like a hive, with one mother and multiple offspring. We’ve seen this system with bees and mole rats. What kind of advanced society would emerge if continuing the line depended on a single entity? What awesome power would those precious queens wield? To what lengths would clans or corporations go to destroy or capture rival queens?

Come to Oddworld and find out.

You’ll meet Margaret, the Glukkon Queen. Margaret (or ‘Maggie,’ as her friends call her… NOTE: Margaret has no friends) is equal parts Mommie Dearest and Gordon Gecko. She’s the sole source of executives for the Magog Cartel. Her fiscal empire makes the portfolio of a 19th-century robber baron look like a starving student’s accumulation of ATM receipts. RuptureFarms, SoulStorm Brewery, Flub Fuels and more… they’re all under Maggie’s sway, and she profits from them all, thanks to the tribute paid by their Glukkon CEOs.

But that kind of power carries a heavy load of responsibility. Even Maggie has to account for the bottom line. If profits dip, someone has to pay the price, and it isn’t going to Maggie. It was a bitter pill for Maggie to swallow when her favorite son, Molluck the Glukkon, lost RuptureFarms and SoulStorm Brewery to a Mudokon slave uprising (of all things!). And while there may be hoards of Glukkon junior executives eager to step up and claim big shoulder pads and a corner office, there's no one willing to take the blame for flushing two profitable franchises down the tube. You think you’ve got problems? Maggie needs a fall guy, or her investors are going to start howling for her head. Too bad Molluck got himself barbecued before he could be made to stand trial for his mismanagement. Leave it to Molluck to take the easy way out and drop dead … or did he?

But what about Munch and Abe? Don’t they have moms, too? Sure they do! You see, Abe’s mom is part of this secret experiment that…

What? You want to hear about Munch? Sure. Munch may think he’s the last of his kind, but really ….

Whoops! Out of space for this month! Shucks, you’ll just have to play the game to find out more!