Another World was built around a practical experiment: could the Amiga draw large polygon scenes quickly enough to give one creator the cinematic look he wanted without storing long sequences of bitmap images? Éric Chahi’s answer was a hybrid system of polygon graphics, bitmap backgrounds, custom tools and scripted timing. The game debuted in 1991 and was also released as Out of This World in North America.
Another World began with a polygon-rendering experiment
Chahi wanted expansive, film-like scenes, but conventional bitmap imagery could consume substantial memory. He tested whether the Amiga could draw polygons at a usable speed; Game Developer’s account of his 2011 GDC postmortem reports a test at about 20 frames per second. That is a figure from a retrospective account, not a specification for Amiga hardware or an independently repeated benchmark.
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One early idea was to build backgrounds from “pixigons”—tiny polygons used like pixels. Chahi found that approach inefficient and switched to bitmap backgrounds. The result was not a pure polygon renderer: polygon shapes and bitmap scenery served different purposes in a hybrid visual pipeline.
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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →In a 2018 interview, Chahi explained the memory rationale in his own words: “It was born from a technical choice to create a game with 2D polygons, as the approach I used overcame technical memory limitations.” He was describing 2D polygon graphics, not modern 3D rendering. A relatively small set of points could describe broad shapes, which, in his account, used less memory than traditional bitmaps and helped make large animated scenes feasible. Nintendo World Report interview with Éric Chahi.
#1 Best Overall
- Rediscover the 90's cornerstones of adventure videogames, gathered together for the first time
- Another World is a pioneer action platformer that made its debut in 1991
- Attained cult status among critics and gamers alike
- Chronicles the story of a young scientist hurtled through space and time by a nuclear experiment that goes wrong
- Remastered presentation high definition graphics faithful to the original design.Flashback after feeling from a spaceship but stripped of all memory, a young scientist wakes up on Titan, a colonized moon of the planet Saturn.Help him find his way back to earth and encounter an extra terrestrial plot that threatens the planet.Rediscover this classic consistently ranked among the best 100 games of all time .Choose to play with the original graphics and sounds from the 90s and face unforgiving difficulty.Play with modern mode completely remastered sound and music, a new rewind function and post FX graphic filters
Custom tools turned the technique into a production system
Chahi did not have a ready-made polygon workflow suited to the game, so he made his own polygon editor and supporting tools. The GDC session record identifies the postmortem as Chahi’s account of Out of This World/Another World, and his slide deck lists the polygon editor among the tools. GDC Vault session record · Chahi’s GDC 2011 slide deck.
He also designed a small interpreted language to control scenes and game behavior. Game Developer’s report of the 2011 postmortem says the language had 20 instructions and 256 variables. A BREAK instruction divided execution into time blocks, so scripts could sequence events and animation timing. Those implementation details are Chahi’s reported retrospective account, not a published benchmark or full technical specification. Game Developer’s account of Chahi’s 2011 GDC postmortem.
Rank #2
- Rediscover the 90's cornerstones of adventure videogames, gathered together for the first time
- Another World is a pioneer action platformer that made its debut in 1991
- Attained cult status among critics and gamers alike
- Chronicles the story of a young scientist hurtled through space and time by a nuclear experiment that goes wrong
- Remastered presentation high definition graphics faithful to the original design.Flashback after feeling from a spaceship but stripped of all memory, a young scientist wakes up on Titan, a colonized moon of the planet Saturn.Help him find his way back to earth and encounter an extra terrestrial plot that threatens the planet.Rediscover this classic consistently ranked among the best 100 games of all time .Choose to play with the original graphics and sounds from the 90s and face unforgiving difficulty.Play with modern mode completely remastered sound and music, a new rewind function and post FX graphic filters
Polygon rendering and bitmap backgrounds solved different problems
| Approach | Role in the game | Practical trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| 2D polygons | Described large shapes and supported animated, cinematic scenes. | Chahi said a small set of points could represent broad imagery with less stored data than traditional bitmaps. His account also links the technique to animation and cuts without loading latency. |
| Bitmap backgrounds | Replaced the early pixigon experiment for backgrounds. | Chahi found tiny polygons used like pixels inefficient for this purpose; the available account does not quantify the memory or performance difference. |
The design was therefore not a choice of polygons instead of all bitmaps. It was a division of labor: polygons offered a compact way to describe large shapes, while bitmap backgrounds avoided forcing tiny polygons into a job for which they were inefficient. The available accounts do not specify exact data structures, file formats, memory budgets, CPU configuration or rendering algorithms.
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Rotoscoping informed selected animation, not the whole game
The lifelike movement can invite the label “rotoscoped,” but that overstates the technique’s role. Chahi said video overlay was useful for complex movement such as the car skidding in the introduction: “Rotoscoping turned out to be very useful for complex animations like the car skidding in the intro.” He also described the process as laborious; he had to superimpose video on the Amiga screen, and a VCR pause could fail, forcing him to rewind and reposition. For Lester’s walking and running, he used keyframe animation instead. Game Anim: Video Game Animation Explained, interview with Éric Chahi.
Rank #3
- Limited 15th Anniversary Collectors Edition
- CGW rated ANOTHER WORLD 'Its Highest Rated Game Ever!
- Play in High Definition 2048 X 1536 Resolution
- Redesigned game-play by original author ERIC CHAHI / Music and SFX re-recorded by the original composer / Totally customizable by the player
- Includes:The Making of Another World, The Development Diary, The Technical Handbook, The exclusive original soundtrack.
| Method | Use described by Chahi | Production implication |
|---|---|---|
| Video overlay / rotoscoping | Selected complex movement, including the opening car skid. | Useful for capturing intricate action, but the video-overlay workflow was laborious and could require rewinding and repositioning. |
| Keyframe animation | Lester’s walking and running. | Used for routine character movement; the source does not quantify its production time relative to rotoscoping. |
Technical choices shaped the cinematic pacing
Chahi said he initially pursued a cinematic style; the story developed progressively, level by level. He emphasized atmosphere, rhythm and narrative tension rather than beginning with a fully fixed narrative plan. In the same interview, he explained the appeal of the visual approach: “I had the desire to create a game with a movie flavor, so this approach was perfect thanks to its strong visual particularities.” Nintendo World Report interview with Éric Chahi.
Game Developer’s postmortem account describes brief cinematic inserts and pacing changes as deliberate ways to emphasize moments and build tension. Read alongside Chahi’s explanation that the polygon approach supported animation and cuts without loading latency, the connection is clear: the architecture helped the presentation move between action and cinematic emphasis without an intervening loading pause. That is an interpretation of the creator’s account, not a claim that every transition used an identical technical method.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the surviving accounts establish—and what they do not
The retrospective sources give a useful account of the production logic: Chahi tested polygon drawing, rejected pixigons for backgrounds, made custom tools, scripted timed events and mixed animation methods to create the intended style. They do not provide a complete engineering specification. In particular, they do not establish exact polygon formats, low-level rendering algorithms, memory totals or hardware configuration, so those details cannot be inferred from the reported frame-rate experiment alone.
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteFurther reading: The interview in Game Anim: Video Game Animation Explained discusses Chahi’s cinematic approach, polygon choice and selective use of rotoscoping.
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