Another World Was Nearly Point 'n' Click

Well that was amazing. Eric Chahi just finished up a post-mortem of Another World (aka Out Of This World) at GDC. While the wider gaming press was writing all caps tweets about Another World coming out on iPad, I was wiping away a tear generated by powerful waves of unmitigated nostalgia, and Chahi's funny, moving explanation of how the game came to be as it was, which I will write up in detail a little later. What was most fascinating (aside from Chahi's admissions of existential entanglement with the project, and a description of his own loneliness being reflected in the loneliness of Lester's experiences - to the point where he gave the character red hair to dissociate the two of them) was that the game almost wasn't anything like the elegant work of side-on sci-fi that we remember, because Virgin Games - Chahi's first choice of publisher - almost persuaded him that it should be a point 'n' click adventure, because that is what was popular at the time. Chahi admitted that it was only his disinterest in redoing work that stopped it from disappearing down that parallel fate. A close call for all gaming kind. More on this, later.