I played it I did, many days and nights
Merry went the hours and merrier were the fights

Few games since then got it all quite so right
I think of OMF now and a few words I write…

What is One Must Fall: 2097?

‘OMF 2097 (or simply 2097) is the best fighting game ever made for the PC, made in 1994 by Diversions Entertainment. It features an innovative pilot/robot combination similar to the Bushido Blade system, a completely unique RPG-like tournament mode, and oodles of secrets. (Not to mention a catchy soundtrack and 90-foot giant robots!)’

- Robyrt(robyrt@marney.org, http://robyrt.coolserver.net)

Back during the days when I was putting myself through a formal multimedia course, I’d happened to come across a few of my fellow students playing the demo version of OMF.

At first I was drawn to it due to my interest in animation and game programming, not to mention the terrific game title.  Later on though as I started playing the game I began to like it for the gameplay and music as well.

The storyline for the game went something like this: In the far future (2097), the world has changed as we know it. Governments are puppets of multinationals conglomerates. World Aeronautics and Robotics (WAR) is one such conglomerate that has decided to use Human Assisted Robots (HARs) to colonize Ganymede (Jupiter’s moon). WAR has decided to conduct a tournament of HARs to find out which of the executives will get the chance to lead the colonization.

The game has a series of competitions that progressively unlock powerful HARs to choose from. Each HAR has it’s own unique strengths and special moves, which are revealed through a combination of key strokes during combat. The best part of the combo moves is that, unlike other combat games, the key strokes are rather simple to remember and use.  This however doesn’t bode any good for the keyboard and my friends and I are guilty of ruining many a good keyboard in pursuit of this mad game. : P

A few of my favourite HARs included the Jaguar, the Thorn, Katana and the Shadow. I particularly liked the Jaguar and created a 3D model with a few animations of my own as tribute to the HAR. ; )

Though we initially played on the demo version a lot, we later got to play the full version thanks to it’s creators – Rob Elam and Ryan Elam of Diversions Entertainment, who released the full game as a freeware in 1999.

Being a die-hard fan of the game I have collected a few links and videos for you, dear reader, to enjoy and perhaps induce you into downloading the game and playing it as well! :D

OMF official site

Robyrt’s OMF Site

X-BoT’s OMF Universe

I was lucky to run into this very good discussion about the movie by Roger Ebert. It about nine minutes long and discusses a unique aspect of the story telling technique used in the movie called a pillow shot.

Roger Ebert on Grave of the Firelies and the “Pillow Shot”

I got some more information about this technique from this cinemaspace page

Grave of the Fireflies

Setsuko and the wonderful fireflies.

Seita and Setsuko by the riverside.

Magical Night of Fireflies

Setsuko and the Umbrella

A delightful short movie from Pixar.

Partly Cloudy is a delightful interpretation of the clouds and storks story of where do babies come from…

I have always felt that short 3D animated movies are the real gems to watch out for in the land of 3D animation. While the big budget, massive full length movies spread into the awareness of the masses, it is the short, sweet, powerful doses that Pixar delivers periodically that I look out for. From The Adventures of André and Wally B (remember Autodesk3DS2?) to the latest Partly Cloudy, it is like a time-line of how the art and craft of 3D Animated Movies has been pioneered and spearheaded by Pixar.

Partly Cloudy is a delightful interpretation of the clouds and storks story of where do babies come from. Gus,the lonely, insecure, dark cloud and Peck, his loyal delivery stork partner are two more delightful characters that Pixar has brought to us. The “dangerous” babies are a treat to watch. I loved the baby crocodile and the baby porcupine. Priceless!