Éric Chahi is a French

computer game designer Video game design is the process of designing the rules and content of video games in the Video game development#Pre-production, pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the Video game development ...

and

programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles Software development, ''software developer'' and Software engineering, ''software engineer' ...

, best known as the creator of '' Another World'' (also known as ''Out of This World'' in North America) and ''

Heart of Darkness ''Heart of Darkness'' is an 1899 novella by Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad in which the sailor Charles Marlow tells his listeners the story of his assignment as steamer captain for a Belgium, Belgian company in the African interior. Th ...

''.

Career

Éric Chahi started programming on

Oric Atmos Oric was a brand of home computers sold in the 1980s by Tangerine Computer Systems. Tangerine was based in the United Kingdom and sold their computers primarily in Europe. All computers in the Oric line were based on the MOS Technology 650 ...

and

Amstrad Amstrad plc was a British consumer electronics company, founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar. During the 1980s, the company was known for its Home computer, home computers beginning with the Amstrad CPC and later also the ZX Spectrum range after the ...

in 1983 for the company

Loriciels Loriciel (also sometimes Loriciels) was a French video game developing company that was active from 1983 to the early 1990s. The name is a combination of ''logiciel'', the French word for software, and ''Oric'', the first computer they wrote so ...

. He worked on games such as and published for ''Chip''. In 1989 Éric Chahi quit ''Chip'' to join

Delphine Software International Delphine Software International was a French video game developer. They were famous for publishing ''Another World (video game), Another World'' and creating the Cinematic platformer#Cinematic platform game, cinematic platform game ''Flashback ...

to work on the graphics for '' Future Wars'', a game designed by

Paul Cuisset Paul Cuisset (born 1964) is a French programmer and designer of several video games. Career Paul Cuisset was the lead designer of Delphine Software International and the creator of '' Flashback'', which was listed in the ''Guinness World Recor ...

. After this, over a period of two years, Chahi developed '' Another World'' (released in 1991) on his own, only soliciting help for the music score. ''Another World'' went on to receive critical acclaim for its atmosphere and minimalism, becoming a

cult classic A cult following is a group of Fan (person), fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some List of art media, medium. The latter is often cal ...

. After leaving Delphine, Chahi founded Amazing Studio and became one of several designers that were working on ''

'', a

side-scrolling game A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller) is a video game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling graph ...

. It suffered numerous delays, and was in development for six years. Chahi disappeared from the game industry for some years but returned to making games with

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

in the 2010s. In April 2005 he released a free

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

version of ''Another World''. It was created in collaboration with programmer Cyril Cogordan, who originally started it as a fan project. It can be played using a GBA flash cartridge or

emulator In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run sof ...

. A version of ''Another World'' for mobile phones was made with the help of developer Magic Productions and released in 2005. On April 14, 2006, Chahi and Magic Productions released an updated PC version of ''Another World'' which featured remade graphics and ran on modern versions of

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

. This HD version was ported to

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

PS Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...

, 3DS and

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

in June 2014 as a 20th-anniversary edition. On June 14, 2010, a trailer for Chahi's new game named '' From Dust'' was shown at E3. The game was released on July 27, 2011, on

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (or XBLA) was a video game Digital distribution in video games, digital distribution service that was available for the Xbox (console), Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles. It focused on smaller downloadable games from both major publisher ...

as part of the 2011

Summer of Arcade The Summer of Arcade, known as Winter of Arcade in the southern hemisphere, was an annual feature on Xbox Live Arcade that offered video game titles. , the feature finished its sixth year. 2008 *'' Bionic Commando Rearmed'' *''Braid'' *'' Castle Cr ...

, is described as a mix between '' Populous'' and ''

Black and White Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

''. It was also released on the PC later on August 17, 2011, and later was released for the Chrome web browser. In December 2012, ''Another World'' was added to the collection of the New York

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

. In November 2014, he made a 3D Interactive Lava Simulator for the Volcano Museum La Cité du Volcan on

Réunion Island Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the island of Madagascar and southwest of the is ...

near

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. In 2016, he created the indie video game studio Pixel Reef in

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

, France to work on a new title '' Paper Beast'', a title set to be released on

PlayStation VR The PlayStation VR (PS VR) is a virtual reality headset developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, which was released in October 2016. The headset works with the company's PlayStation 4 video game console and is forward compatible with PlaySta ...

in 2019 and

in 2020. This project came out of the work he did for the Réunion Volcano Museum while studying the island's

Piton de la Fournaise Piton de la Fournaise (; ) is a shield volcano on the eastern side of Réunion island, a French overseas department and region, in the Indian Ocean. It is currently one of the most active volcanoes in the world, along with Kīlauea in the Haw ...

volcano for these simulations. Chahi started Pixel Reef, along with Sahy and two others after the museum project was finished to work on this game, and as of 2019, the team now numbers 16. '' Paper Beast'' went on to release for PlayStation 4 on March 24, 2020 and on July 24, 2020 for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

Games

*1983 ''Frog'' (

Oric 1 Oric was a brand of home computers sold in the 1980s by Tangerine Computer Systems. Tangerine was based in the United Kingdom and sold their computers primarily in Europe. All computers in the Oric line were based on the MOS Technology 650 ...

; ASN diffusion) *1983 ''Carnaval'' (Oric 1; ASN diffusion) *1984 ''Le Sceptre d'Anubis'' (Oric 1; Micro Programmes 5) *1984 ''Doggy'' (Oric 1;

) *1985 '' Infernal Runner'' (

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for "Colour Personal Computer") is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spec ...

; Loriciels) *1986 ''Le Pacte'' (Loriciels) *1987 ''Danger Street'' (Amstrad CPC; Chip) *1988 ''Journey to the Center of the Earth'' *1989 '' Joan of Arc: Siege & the Sword'' *1989 '' Future Wars'' (original French title: ''Les voyageurs du temps'', Interplay) *1991 '' Another World'' (title in North America: ''Out of this World'', Interplay) *1998 ''

'' (Interplay) *2004 ''Amiga Classix 4'' ( magnussoft) *2011 '' From Dust'' (

) *2020 '' Paper Beast'' (Pixel Reef)

References

External links

Éric Chahi's personal site
where he released the updated PC version of '' Another World''
Rap sheet
for Éric Chahi on

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...

Idle Thumbs interviews Chahi about ''Another World''
27.8.2004

* ttp://www.grospixels.com/site/chahi.php Éric Chahi Interview(in French) o
Grospixels.com
25.7.2003, 17.11.2003
Edge Magazine online interviews Chahi
(in French) on ttp://www.factornews.com factornews 13.04.2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Chahi, Eric French video game designers 21st-century French people Living people People from Essonne Year of birth missing (living people)