Lorne Lanning is an American game designer, director, writer, and voice actor. He is co-founder and creator of Oddworld Inhabitants. He is best known for creating the Oddworld series including the games Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, and Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty. The next Oddworld game titled Oddworld: Soulstorm will be released on April 6, 2021.
Initially studying photo-realism and commercial illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Lanning soon attended the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California, where he graduated with a BFA in Character Animation.
Working as a Technical Director at TRW, Lanning later moved to Rhythm & Hues Studios in Hollywood, where he would later meet producer Sherry McKenna, who helped co-found Oddworld Inhabitants.
Topics Discussed In This Episode:
Lorne’s journey from fine art into developing video games The change of perception within art Perceiving the value of art Art as a form of commerce “Fragility of the perishable” The dark side of globalization Lorne’s passion for environmentalism The genesis of emerging technology in the late 80s The power of visualization and how to sell big ideas Making your own luck Lorne working for a military defense company Marketing yourself as an artist Following an intuitive pursuit Staying hungry within your craft Understanding “what your audience is eating” Being a talent vs. being a creator Finding business opportunities Video games Artists’s unique perception and ability to express that The symbiosis of engineering and art Compromising with a team while making a video game Understanding various subjects and adjacent industries Empathy within video games Game speak The impact of George Orwell’s “1984” and “Animal Farm” on Lorne’s storytelling process “Lo-brow access points to high art.” Emulating the player interacting with real-world objects. Self-publishing Oddworld’s latest release, “Soulstorm” The depth of character creation, controls, and tone of the story The new generation of gaming technology Systems of monetization within emerging technologies