World of Goo

World of Goo is a computer game by 2D Boy. It was first offered as a download version for Windows and Macintosh on October 13, 2008 and was released in stores on December 11, 2008. The game is also available for Linux, the Nintendo Wii , Android and iOS. It was developed by Kyle Gabler, Ron Carmel and Allan Blomquist, who were previously employees of Electronic Arts . World of Goo won the 2008 Independent Games Festival in the Technical Perfection and Innovative Game Design categories and was nominated in the Seumas McNally Grand Prize category. The objective of this puzzle -Spieles is with small balls, so-called Goos to build a way to level the end, a tube. A certain number of residual goos must be sucked in from the pipe. Similar to the game Bridge Builder , the game principle is based on physics that must be taken into account when building.

The basic idea of the game emerged from the freeware game Tower of Goo , which the developer Kyle Gabler had programmed as a prototype a few years earlier.

Gameplay

Principle of the game: Placing a goos to build a structure.

The game is divided into 4 chapters and an epilogue, whereby each of the chapters uses a different scenery and is therefore played differently than the previous chapters. A bonus chapter actually planned for the European market has been postponed until further notice, as the game appeared earlier than planned. Within each level, a certain number of goos must be sucked in through a pipe from a given amount. This is done by connecting the goos to each other and, depending on the level, building a bridge in the direction of this pipe, for example.

In the so-called tower-of-goo mode, the goos that have been collected too much in the course of the chapters can be assembled into a tower and compared with other players on the Internet.

Black copies and sales

The developer 2D Boy did without copy protection and DRM in World of Goo . Kyle Gabler calculated that in early November 2008, approximately 82 percent of Goo games were illegal copies . He compared the sales figures with the game Ricochet , which was delivered with copy protection, and came to the conclusion that copy protection would only have induced one thousandth of current owners of illegal copies to buy an original. At first he assumed 90 percent illegal copies, but recalculated after doubts in the forum. He also assumed that a user would install the game on an average of 1.25 computers. Nevertheless, World of Goo was temporarily the second best-selling game on amazon.com behind World of Warcraft . World of Goo ranked number one in US WiiWare sales for several weeks.

On January 20, 2009, Kyle Gabler made the soundtrack available for free download.

The publisher Brighter Minds Media had to file an application for bankruptcy- related restructuring in 2009 . However, he made it clear that the illegal copies at World of Goo had not contributed to the financial problems, but the economic crisis , increased debt and generally lower sales figures were the main culprit. 2D Boy stated that there was no connection to the waiver of DRM in World of Goo and that the experiment would continue.

On the occasion of the first anniversary, the game could be purchased from October 13th to 25th as a downloadable title for PCs at a price freely selectable by the buyer. As of October 19, an average of $ 2.03 had been paid for more than 57,000 copies this way. During the same period, sales of the game for the other distribution channels also increased. In May 2010, the game was offered again together with five other games from independent manufacturers as part of the first Humble Indie Bundle at any price, which, however, could not only be donated to the developers, but also to two charitable organizations in proportions freely adjustable by the buyer . Almost 140,000 copies were sold in this campaign.

Reviews

For the websites MobyGames , Gamerankings and Metacritic, which determine an average rating from several reviews by specialist magazines, the PC version with 88% to 90.8% and the Wii version with 93.7% to 95% were awarded on January 16, 2009 rated. IGN recognized World of Goo in seven categories, including Wii Game of the Year , Best Puzzle Game for PC and Wii, and Best WiiWare Game for Wii. World of Goo was voted Game of the Year for Gametunnel and Rock Paper Shotgun, and Gamasutra was voted the second best game of the year behind Fallout 3 .

developer

Developer Ron Carmel
Developer and composer Kyle Gabler

Web links

Official website
World of Goo at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

↑ Tower of Goo by Kyle Gabler ( Memento from April 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

^ "Chapter 6 is on hold" . On: rockpapershotgun.com.

↑ Blog on 2dboy.com: 90% ( Memento of the original from January 26th, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . November 13, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / 2dboy.com

↑ ^a ^b blog on 2dboy.com: A Special Christmas Miracle ( Memento of the original from February 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . December 22, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / 2dboy.com

↑ See for example wiiware-world.com: Top 20 WiiWare Games in USA (28th Jan) . January 28, 2009.

↑ Blog on 2dboy.com: World of Goo Soundtrack Now Available ( Memento of the original from January 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . January 20, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / 2dboy.com

↑ slyck.com: Anti-DRM Experiment not to blame for Game Publisher Bankruptcy . February 2, 2009.

^ Pay-What-You-Want Birthday Sale Results. ( Memento of the original from October 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / 2dboy.com archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (2D Boy Blog)

↑ The Humble Indie Bundle (Wolfire Games)

↑ Retrieved were metacritic.com (90%), gamerankings.com (90.8%) and mobygames.com (88%).

↑ Retrieved were metacritic.com (94%), gamerankings.com (93.7%) and mobygames.com (95%).

↑ gamasutra.com: Gamasutra's Best Of 2008: Top 10 Games Of The Year . December 23, 2008.

[1] Tower of Goo by Kyle Gabler ( Memento from April 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

[2] "Chapter 6 is on hold" . On: rockpapershotgun.com.