Éric Chahi is a French

computer game designer Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules 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#P ...

and

programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

, 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'' (1899) is a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad in which the sailor Charles Marlow tells his listeners the story of his assignment as steamer captain for a Belgian company in the African interior. The novel ...

''.

Career

Éric Chahi started programming on

Oric Atmos Oric was the name used by UK-based Tangerine Computer Systems for a series of 6502-based home computers sold in the 1980s, primarily in Europe. With the success of the ZX Spectrum from Sinclair Research, Tangerine's backers suggested a hom ...

and

Amstrad Amstrad was a British electronics company, founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar at the age of 21. The name is a contraction of Alan Michael Sugar Trading. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in April 1980. During the late 1980s, Amstrad ...

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'' which was the first computer they ...

. He worked on games such as ''Jeanne d'Arc'' and ''Voyage au centre de la Terre'' 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'' and creating the cinematic platform game '' Flashback'', which bore a similarity to ''Prince of Persia'', both in gameplay an ...

to work on the graphics for ''

Future Wars ''Future Wars'', subtitled in Europe as ''Time Travellers'' and in North America as ''Adventures in Time'' and known in France as ''Time Travelers: The Menace'' (french: Les Voyageurs du Temps: La Menace) is an adventure game from Delphine Softw ...

'', a game designed by

Paul Cuisset Paul Cuisset (born 1964) is a French game programmer, programmer and game designer, designer of several video games. Career Paul Cuisset was the lead designer of Delphine Software International and the creator of ''Flashback (1992 video game), F ...

. 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 refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

. 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 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 graphics ...

. It suffered numerous delays, and was in development for six years. When Infogrames finally published it in 1998, it was negatively received by critics due to its short length and by-then dated graphics, though the graphics of the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

port were praised. 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 '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...

in the 2010s. In April 2005 he released a fre
Game Boy Advance
version of ''Another World''. It was created in collaboration with a programmer named 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 so ...

. 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 group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. 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 base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

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

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, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territ ...

3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

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 ''From Dust'' is a god video game, designed by Éric Chahi and developed by Ubisoft Montpellier. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live Arcade in 2011. Described as a spiritual successor to '' Populous' ...

'' was shown at E3. The game was released on July 27, 2011 on

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent ...

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 C ...

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

Black and White Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

''. 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 between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

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

Réunion Island Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island o ...

near

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

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

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) 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 to work on a new title '' Paper Beast'', a title set to be released on

PlayStation VR The PlayStation VR (PS VR, known by its code name Project Morpheus during development) is a virtual reality headset developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, which was released in October 2016. It is fully functional with the PlayStation 4 an ...

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 (; en, "Peak of the Furnace") 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 ...

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 group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

Games

*1983 ''Frog'' (

Oric 1 Oric was the name used by UK-based Tangerine Computer Systems for a series of 6502-based home computers sold in the 1980s, primarily in Europe. With the success of the ZX Spectrum from Sinclair Research, Tangerine's backers suggested a hom ...

; 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 ''Infernal Runner'' is a horror-themed platform game for the Commodore 64 published by Loriciel in 1985 and later adapted to the Amstrad CPC. Game designer Eric Chahi, who later created '' Another World,'' is credited on the Amstrad version. ''In ...

'' (

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 Sin ...

; 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 ''

'' (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 magnussoft Deutschland GmbH is a German computer game developer and publisher. The company is seated in Kesselsdorf, close to the Saxon capital of Dresden. In Europe magnussoft are well known, primarily for their releases of collections of sof ...

) *2011 ''

'' (

) *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 games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

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 Living people People from Essonne Year of birth missing (living people)