Lorne Lanning
{{short description|American game designer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{BLP sources|date=March 2012}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Lorne Lanning
|image = Lorne lanning.jpg
|caption = Lanning in 2009
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1964|02|20}}
|birth_place =
|death_date =
|death_place =
|other_names =
|known_for = Oddworld
|occupation = {{csv|Game designer|writer|voice actor}}
|nationality =
|title ={{ubl|Board Director at Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.|Advisor to Academy of Art University President (San Francisco).|Advisor to the CGSociety Board.|Director on Advisory Board for Gnomon School of Visual Effects.}}
}}
Lorne Lanning is an American game designer, director, writer and voice actor. He is also co-founder and president of the video game developer 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, Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! and Oddworld: Soulstorm.{{Cite web|url=https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-05-13-oddworld-soulstorm-the-quintology-is-back-on|title=Oddworld: Soulstorm - the quintology is back on|last=Purchese|first=Robert|date=2019-05-13|website=Eurogamer|language=en|access-date=2019-08-29}}
His creative vision in game design and property development at Oddworld Inhabitants has gained him worldwide recognition, including several documentaries and his character creations featured on the cover of Wired Magazine.{{cite magazine|magazine=Wired |title=Cover of the March 2002 issue of Wired Magazine|page=Front cover |date=March 2002 |url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.03/full.html |access-date=2013-03-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427202836/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.03/full.html |archive-date=April 27, 2011 }}
Lanning has said he has always had a fascination with video games, stating that his father was an engineer for Coleco.{{cite interview |last=Lanning |first=Lorne |interviewer=Robb Guido |title=An interview with Lorne Lanning |date=September 6, 2000 |access-date=2013-03-12 |url=http://www.happypuppy.com/features/interviews/oddworldmu-in-1.html |website=Happypuppy.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001031164809/http://www.happypuppy.com/features/interviews/oddworldmu-in-1.html |archive-date=October 31, 2000}}
Career
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 in Redondo Beach, California, Lanning later moved to Rhythm & Hues Studios in Hollywood, where he would later meet producer Sherry McKenna through his work. After McKenna joined Rhythm & Hues through Lanning, he later convinced her to co-found a video game development company with him.
= ''Oddworld Inhabitants'' =
{{Main|Oddworld Inhabitants}}
In 1994, Lanning and McKenna co-founded Oddworld Inhabitants together in Los Osos, California, before later moving to San Luis Obispo, California. While at Oddworld Inhabitants, Lanning designed, scripted and voice acted all four of the studio's games, which earned the company widespread success and acclaim.{{cite web |url=http://www.oddworld.com/about/ |title=About |work=Oddworld Inhabitants website |access-date=2013-03-14}}
Following several disputes with game developers, including companies such as Electronic Arts,{{cite web|url=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-10-01-oddworld-spending-USD30m-on-games-not-ferraris-and-private-jets |title= Oddworld: Spending $30m on games, not Ferraris and private jets |work=Games Industry International |date=October 1, 2012 |access-date=2013-02-05}} Lanning and McKenna shuttered Oddworld Inhabitants' game development studio in 2005{{cite web|url=http://spong.com/article/8571/Oddworlds-Lanning-Quits-Savages-EA |title= Oddworld's Lanning Quits – Savages EA |work=Sprong |date=April 11, 2005 |access-date=2013-02-05}} and relocated to the San Francisco Bay area, with the goal of shaping Oddworld Inhabitants after a traditional Hollywood production company.
After leaving game development, Lanning and McKenna began work on animated movies, starting with a project named "Citizen Siege", and a tie-in videogame series named "Wage Wars".{{cite web|last=Boyes |first=Emma |url=http://www.gamespot.com/articles/qanda-oddworlds-lorne-lanning-and-sherry-mckenna/1100-6160661/ |title=Q&A: Oddworld's Lorne Lanning and Sherry McKenna |work=GameSpot |date=October 30, 2006 |access-date=2014-01-20}} Following difficulties in movie production, Lanning soon broke his hiatus from videogames when independent developer Just Add Water confirmed in 2010 it was working with Lanning and Oddworld Inhabitants to create a 2.5D remake of Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee which eventually was released under the name Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty.{{cite web |last=Willoughby |first=Shane |url=http://www.thegamingliberty.com/2010/07/its-official-new-oddworld-games-are-in-development/ |title=It's Official. New Oddworld Games Are in Development |work=The Gaming Liberty |date=July 16, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203031733/http://www.thegamingliberty.com/2010/07/its-official-new-oddworld-games-are-in-development/ |archive-date=February 3, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}{{cite web|last=Yin-Poole|first=Wesley|title=Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee New N' Tasty! revealed at Eurogamer Expo|url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-09-30-oddworld-abes-oddysee-new-n-tasty-revealed-at-eurogamer-expo|publisher=Eurogamer|date=September 30, 2012}}
In 2015, it was confirmed by JAW's CEO that the company will no longer be working on full-scale Oddworld projects. It was announced that in 2016 that Frima Studio is now the new developer supporting Oddworld in making new games. Their next game was announced at GDC 2016 with the title Oddworld: Soulstorm. In 2019, it was confirmed that Soulstorm will be coming in 2020 and it will be developed by wider development studios like Fat Kraken Studios and Sabotage Studio.{{cite web |last1=Nunneley |first1=Stephany |title=Oddworld: Soulstorm cinematic gives us a quick look at the upcoming title |url=https://www.vg247.com/2019/03/19/oddworld-soulstorm-video-tech-unity-gdc-2019/ |website=VG247|access-date=18 April 2019|date=March 19, 2019 }}
Games
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
!Title !Role !Notes |
|---|
| 1997
| Creator, director, writer, voice actor | Published by GT Interactive |
| 1998
| Creator, director, writer, voice actor | Published by GT Interactive |
| 2001
| Creator, director, writer, designer, voice actor | Published by Microsoft Studios |
| 2005
| Creative Director, writer, designer, voice actor | Published by Electronic Arts |
| 2011
| Stranger's Wrath HD | As in original | Published by Oddworld Inhabitants |
| 2012
| Munch's Oddysee HD | As in original | Published by Oddworld Inhabitants |
| 2014
| Original Creator, writer, voice actor for Abe, Sligs and Glukkons. | Developed by Just Add Water, first indie Oddworld game released in Unity |
| 2021
| Creator, director, writer, voice actor | Developed & published by Oddworld Inhabitants, second indie Oddworld game released in Unity |
Publications
Featured in the following books:
- "Reset: Changing the Way We Look at Video Games" by Rusel DeMaria / Berrett-Kohler
- "Opening the Xbox" by Scott Steinberg / iUniverse, Inc.
- "Gamers at Work" by Morgan Ramsey / Apress
- "Opening the Xbox" by Dean Takahashi / Prima
- "The Art of 3D Computer Animation" by Isaac V. Kerlow / Wiley
- "CGI: The Art of the 3D Computer Generated Image" by Peter Weishar / Abrams Inc.
- "High Score – Illustrated History of Video Games" by Rusel DeMaria, Johnny I. Wilson / Osborne
- "1000 Game Heroes" by David Choquet / Taschen
- "Inside Game Design" by Iain Simmons / Lawrence King Publishing
- "Williams Almanac Video Games" by J. F. Williams / IQ Guides
- "Game Design Workshop" by Tracy Fullerton, Christopher Swain, Steven Hoffman / CMPBooks
- "Expose : World's Finest in Digital Art" Volumes 2,3,4,5,6,7" / Ballistic Publishing
- "Video Game Art" by Nic Kelman / Assouline Publishing
Lanning has written the foreword to the following books:
- "The Art of Massive Black" Ballistic Publishing
- "The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants" Ballistic Publishing
- "Quantumscapes: The Art of Stephan Martiniere" Design Studio Press
- "Derelict Planet : The Art of Pascal Blanche" (releases 2012)
- "Spectrum Fantastic Art Live (re: The Art of Andrew Jones)" Flesk Publications (releases 2012)
References
External links
- [http://www.oddworld.com/lorne-lanning/ Oddworld Executive Profile]
- [http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/interviews/321/ Adventure Classic Gaming] interview with Lorne Lanning (April 2008)
- [http://www.gamesfirst.com/articles/lanning/lorne_lanning_interview.htm Games First] interview with Lorne Lanning
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7f0YtzWBG4 Ars Technica] interview with Lorne Lanning
- [http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/144203 Video Interview] with Lorne Lanning at Conceptart.org's Revelations
- {{IMDb name|0486973}}
{{Oddworld}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lanning, Lorne}}
Category:American video game directors
Category:California Institute of the Arts alumni
Category:School of Visual Arts alumni
Category:Visual effects supervisors
Category:American art directors
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
Category:People from Los Osos, California
Category:People from San Luis Obispo, California
Category:Academy of Art University faculty
Category:American male voice actors
Category:American male video game actors