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World of Goo

World of Goo is a physics-based puzzle video game developed and published by independent game developer 2D Boy. The game was released on Microsoft Windows and Wii on October 13, 2008, with releases on Nintendo Switch, Mac OS X, Linux, and various mobile devices in subsequent years. World of Goo has the player use small balls of goo to create bridges and similar structures over chasms and obstacles to help other goo balls reach a goal point, with the challenge to use as few goo balls as possible to build this structure.

World of Goo
Developer(s)2D Boy
Publisher(s)
Producer(s)Ron Carmel
Designer(s)Kyle Gabler
Programmer(s)
  • Ron Carmel
  • Allan Blomquist
Artist(s)Kyle Gabler
Writer(s)Kyle Gabler
Composer(s)Kyle Gabler
Platform(s)
Release
October 13, 2008
  • Wii
    • NA: October 13, 2008
    • EU: December 19, 2008
    • JP: April 21, 2009
  • Microsoft Windows
    • NA: October 13, 2008
    • PAL: December 12, 2008
  • OS X
    • WW: November 2, 2008
  • Linux
    • WW: February 12, 2009
  • iOS
    • WW: December 16, 2010
  • Android
    • WW: November 28, 2011
  • BlackBerry OS
    • WW: January 21, 2013
  • Nintendo Switch
    • NA: March 16, 2017
    • PAL: March 23, 2017
    • JP: May 25, 2017
Genre(s)Puzzle
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

The game was nominated for numerous awards—the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, Design Innovation Award, and Technical Excellence—at the Independent Games Festival, and has gone on to win several other gaming awards. The game was critically acclaimed and became one of the earliest examples of a commercially successful indie game.

Gameplay edit

Overview edit

 
Placing a goo ball to construct a bridge.

The game is built around the idea of creating large structures using balls of goo.[4] The game is divided into five chapters, each containing several levels. Each level has its own graphic and musical theme, giving a unique atmosphere. There is also a bonus meta-game called World of Goo Corporation, where the objective is to build the highest tower using goo balls which the player collected through the course of the game. Players from all over the world can compete, as the height of the tower and number of goo balls used are being constantly uploaded to the 2D Boy server.

Objective edit

The main objective of the game is to get a requisite number of goo balls to a pipe designed to represent the exit. In order to do so, the player must use the goo balls to construct bridges, towers, and other structures to overcome gravity and various terrain difficulties such as chasms, hills, spikes, windmills, or cliffs. There are several types of goo balls in the game, each of which has unique properties. The player must exploit combinations of these goo balls in order to complete each level. Extra goos recovered in the pipe are pumped through to World of Goo Corporation, a sandbox area where the objective is to compete with other players worldwide by building the tallest tower possible.[5] Players can also try to achieve the "Obsessive Completion Distinction Flag" for each level by completing the level under more stringent criteria, such as collecting a larger number of Goo balls, finishing under a set amount of time or using as few moves as possible.

The WiiWare version includes multiplayer with up to four people on the same Wii. This facility is also available, albeit unsupported, in the Linux port.[6]

Levels edit

World of Goo is split up into four chapters and an epilogue, each containing a number of levels. The chapters are set over the course of a year in the World of Goo. Each chapter takes place over one season, beginning in the start of summer, and ending at the end of spring the next year.[note 1] The 4th chapter is seasonless, and is set in a virtual world. Levels and chapters in the game are interspersed with cut scenes.

An additional location reached from the main menu is the World Of Goo Corporation. Goo balls collected above and beyond the required amount to pass a level are piped out of each of the played levels to here. Starting from just a single triangle of Goo, the aim is to build the highest possible tower. The Goo balls in the World of Goo Corporation are unique in that they can be repositioned like Ivy Goos but are black and can only form two connections at once like Common Goos.

In the World of Goo Corporation, towers built by other players of the game are represented by clouds bearing the player's name, nationality and height of the tower, including details on the total number of balls collected by the player and how many were used in constructing their tower. The altitude of each cloud represents the height of that player's tower. An online leaderboard charts the heights of the top 50 towers, as well as the top 10 players for each level of the game.

There are a total of 48 levels in the game, including World of Goo Corporation.

In an interview the developers stated that the retail version released in Europe would receive an additional sixth chapter, set on the Moon.[7] Few details were disclosed, but reportedly this chapter would have featured a freeform sandbox mode, similar to that of the World of Goo Corporation. This addition was canceled for Wii when 2D Boy announced they were releasing the game on WiiWare in Europe.

Plot edit

The story is told primarily through cut scenes and signs encountered throughout the game, which were left by an unseen character known as the Sign Painter.

Initially, pipes appear throughout the land, waking up many sleeping Goo Balls who have gone undisturbed until this, as they are filled with a childlike sense of curiosity and naivety they build themselves towards the pipes. Upon reaching the pipe entrance, the Goo Balls are sucked by the pipe system into the "World of Goo Corporation" main building where they are processed into many products, for example an energy drink. The excess Goo Balls are left outside the Corporation headquarters where they together begin to build a giant tower. At the end of the first chapter, some Goo Balls escape from a Corporation building by attaching themselves to eyeballs which have the ability to fly. The chapter ends with the Goo Balls "seeing far away new lands".

In the second chapter, more pipes appear in a hostile wasteland where World of Goo Corporation turns out to be searching for a new power source due to wind power not being sufficient anymore. However, the location and appearance of the power source was forgotten, because in the past, it stopped producing electricity.[note 2] A new Goo Ball is introduced, which is ground up by the Corporation into a facial cream. Near the end of the chapter, the power plant, which looks like a giant woman, is discovered. It is revealed that for many years, its remarkably powerful "beauty juice" powered the world. Yet with age, her beauty and consequently her electric output began to die. However, unrefined beauty goo was injected directly into her forehead, as to restore her youthful beauty once more. At the expense of her ability to move her face, power was restored to the entire world. With this newfound energy, World of Goo Corporation was able to open a factory, aiming to complete their most compelling new product.

During the third chapter it is said that the Corporation is developing a mysterious "Product Z." It eventually turns out that the mysterious Product Z is actually the third dimension (Product Z is the Z axis in mathematics). This causes much commotion amongst the general population who cannot see where anything is now. World of Goo Corporation tells them to contact tech support in the information superhighway after all life is rendered "incompatible with the world".

In the fourth chapter the Goo Balls set out to find the mysterious "MOM" program amongst a vector style environment. Shortly after the beginning the Goo Balls find the object responsible for rendering all the graphics. After pumping many of their own kind into the object, the graphics rendering improves, creating a more realistic environment (and the Pixel Goo Balls). Near the end they encounter MOM's computer, who turns out to be a spam bot, and supplies the Goo Balls with an "undelete" program. The Goo Balls try to overload Product Z by sending every message in the history of spam to everyone at World of Goo Corporation. After venturing to the Recycle Bin and un-deleting everything, World of Goo Corporation receives the mail and, unable to deal with so much spam and mail, explodes, shutting down Product Z while creating a massive layer of smog, dust, smoke and debris that envelops the entire world.

In the final chapter, it is revealed that all Goo Balls, except "scientifically pure" ones, have been sucked away to the "Tower of Goo Memorial Park and Recreation Center". The remaining Goo Balls decide to work their way up the world's tallest island to reach a site where the telescope is located. The final level of the game reveals that the Goo Balls are now completely extinct, all the remaining having been sucked away to the shattered remains of World of Goo Corporation and added to the tower, and the gigantic telescope at the site has been rendered useless as it cannot see past the layer of smog. The Sign Painter reveals in his final sign that he has now become the Telescope Operator. Some balloon-like fish in the sea connect to the telescope and lift it out of the ground, where it breaks through the layer of smog and sees the tower of goo that has been built at the former World of Goo Corporation Headquarters, which can also see past the smog. The telescope falls back to earth before it could see what the Goo Balls were building towards. A final and last cutscene reveals their goal; the camera pans up into space to reveal that the Goo Balls that escaped at the end of Chapter 1 have managed to reach a far-off planet populated entirely by Goo Balls.

An additional chapter, located on the Moon, was initially planned for the European retail version of the game. This idea was put on hold as the developer felt they were rushing to finish extra content to justify the price, "If we release any additional content, we will make it available on all platforms, to all people, at the same time. No more of this 'region' nonsense".[8]

Development edit

 
Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler, founders of 2D Boy and creators of World of Goo

World of Goo was developed by 2D Boy, a team based in San Francisco consisting only of former Electronic Arts employees Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel. The game's development was started in January 2005[9] as a graduate student project at the Entertainment Technology Center of Carnegie Mellon University.[10] Gabler created this initial prototype in four days and submitted it under the title Tower of Goo for the Experimental Gameplay Project at the university[11] as a response to the prompt "make something with springs".[12]

Carmel and Gabler estimated that development on World of Goo lasted two years and cost US$10,000 of their personal savings, which included equipment, food, and rent.[13] Actual development was usually carried out in coffeehouses equipped with Wi-Fi hotspots.

World of Goo was programmed using available open-source technologies, including Simple DirectMedia Layer, Open Dynamics Engine for physics simulation, TinyXML for configuration files, Subversion, Mantis Bug Tracker, and PopCap Games Framework.[14][15] Allan Blomquist, a friend of Gabler and Carmel, was responsible for porting and optimizing the game for WiiWare.[16]

On July 6, 2010, 2D Boy, Capybara Games, and thatgamecompany started a program called the "Indie Fund", which aims to support game development, by helping independent developers become financially independent.

Release edit

World of Goo was released both for Windows and WiiWare in North America on October 13, 2008.[17] The Mac OS X version was released on November 2. The Linux version was released on February 13, 2009.[18] After the initial release, 2D Boy announced a bonus patch called "Profanity Pack", which would "[replace] the normal voices in the game with naughty words." The patch would be made available to users who pre-ordered the game.[19] The patch was never released.[20]

2D Boy decided against placing digital rights management (DRM) protection on the PC versions, stating that "DRM is a futile attempt to prevent piracy, and it's expensive. Every game for which there is demand will be cracked and find its way onto the scene, so why waste time and money trying to prevent the inevitable?"[21] 2D Boy later reported that between one in five and one in ten copies of the PC versions had been legitimately purchased.

For the game's European release in December, 2D Boy depended upon the community to translate and localize World of Goo into the appropriate languages, including Dutch, French, German, Italian and Spanish.[citation needed] During the 2009 D.I.C.E. Summit, Nintendo announced that it would publish World of Goo in Japan during the second quarter of 2009;[22] the game was released on April 21, 2009, under the title Planet of Goo (グーの惑星, Gū no Wakusei).[23]

World of Goo was made available through Microsoft's Windows Games on Demand marketplace as a Games for Windows – Live title on December 15, 2009.[24][25] World of Goo was also ported to iOS, to iPad in December 2010 and to iPhone in April 2011. On October 3, 2011, 2D Boy announced that they would port World of Goo to Android, which was released on November 28, 2011. It was available to both Android phones and tablets with demo and full versions available. Tomorrow Corporation, formed by Gabler in 2010 along with his former EA colleagues Allan Blomquist and Kyle Gray, would develop and publish World of Goo for the Nintendo Switch which was released in March 2017.[26] The Japanese version was later released in May 2017 by Flyhigh Works.[citation needed]

According to 2D Boy, Epic Games reached out to them to release World of Goo as a free promotional title on the Epic Games Store. The developers decided to use this opportunity to create an updated version for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems, incorporating changes and improvements made from the console versions. This includes supporting widescreen and higher resolutions that have become the normal since the game's original release, and stripping out the game's digital-rights management to make it amendable to modding. These updates will be offered free to users on other digital storefronts like Steam and GOG.com, with the patches to be released around the same time that the Epic Games Store promotion starts in May 2019.[27][28] Netflix released a remastered version on May 23, 2023. It requires a Netflix subscription to play but is free to subscribers.[29]

Soundtrack edit

The World of Goo soundtrack was created by Kyle Gabler, who also designed, wrote and illustrated the game. It was released as a free download on January 20, 2009.[30]

The song "World of Goo Beginning" was created with the intention of resembling Libertango by Ástor Piazzolla. "Regurgitation Pumping Station" was originally written for a friend's short film about going on a date with the devil. "Threadcutter" was originally written for a game called Blow which Gabler made available on his site. "Rain Rain Windy Windy" was originally written for the soundtrack for a short children's film, commenting that writing children's music is difficult. "Jelly" was originally written for a short film about a virtual reality world. "Burning Man" was written for a friend's drama/mystery series. He made it by recording two friends singing single notes, and then using a keyboard to make it sound like a choir. "Cog in the Machine" was originally written for another game of his called Robot and the Cities who Built Him.[30]

World of Goo Soundtrack
No.TitleLength
1."World of Goo Beginning"1:09
2."The Goo Filled Hills"0:25
3."Brave Adventurers"1:07
4."Another Mysterious Pipe Appeared"1:18
5."World of Goo Corporation"0:17
6."Regurgitation Pumping Station"3:40
7."Threadcutter"0:55
8."Rain Rain Windy Windy"2:45
9."Jelly"2:38
10."Tumbler"1:52
11."Screamer"1:36
12."Burning Man"1:49
13."Cog in the Machine"4:03
14."Happy New Year (tm) Brought to You by Product Z"0:55
15."Welcome to the Information Superhighway"1:56
16."Graphic Processing Unit"1:06
17."Years of Work"3:39
18."My Virtual World of Goo Corporation"1:05
19."Hello, MOM"0:06
20."Inside the Big Computer"2:21
21."Are You Coming Home, Love MOM"3:02
22."Ode to the Bridge Builder"1:25
23."The Last of the Goo Balls and the Telescope Operator"1:00
24."Best of Times"3:41
25."Red Carpet Extend-o-matic"4:04
26."World of Goo Corporation's Valued Customers"0:13
27."World of Goo Ending"1:09

Reception edit

Both Wii and Windows versions of World of Goo received critical acclaim, holding an aggregate score from Metacritic of 94/100 and 90/100 respectively.[32][31] Eurogamer called World of Goo "Physics' latest, purest, and most brilliant gift."[37] IGN said of the Wii version "World of Goo is an amazing WiiWare game that you simply must buy for this is exactly the type of software that needs both recognition and support", finding only minor fault with the camera controls and lack of a level editor.[39] 1UP.com called World of Goo "one of just a handful of truly excellent original games for the Wii".[35] Nintendo World Report criticized the "slow start" of the game, but otherwise praised it as "easily the best WiiWare game to date and, perhaps, one of the best this generation."[40] Resolution Magazine referred to it as "an instant classic", awarding it 90%.[42] Official Nintendo Magazine awarded the Wii version a score of 95%, claiming it to be "Virtually flawless".[41] The magazine also ranked it as the 83rd best game available on Nintendo platforms. The staff called it the best WiiWare game "by a long shot."[43]

World of Goo has won many awards. At the 2008 Independent Games Festival, World of Goo won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, Design Innovation Award, and Technical Excellence.[44] As a result, 2D Boy found publishers that previously had rejected them approaching them to publish the title.[45] It won Best Independent Game from the Spike TV Video Game Awards show,[46] and won six Wii-specific awards and one for the PC, including Best Puzzle Game, Best Artistic Design, Best WiiWare Game, Best New IP, Most Innovative Design, and Game of the Year from IGN.[47] GameSpot awarded it as the Best Game No One Played.[48][failed verificationsee discussion] The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awarded World of Goo with "Outstanding Achievement in Game Design" (along with a nomination for "Casual Game of the Year") at the 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards.[49] It was featured in Eurogamer's top 50 games of 2008 in the tenth slot.[50] Peter Moore, the head of EA Sports, in a rant about FIFA 09 being missing from Eurogamer's list, commented that he was surprised World of Goo was included up so high in the list, despite not having played it.[51] 2D Boy responded by saying they were honored that World of Goo had this much mainstream awareness, and that it derives sick pleasure from the "industry big-wig's indignant, self-righteous incredulity". In 2010, the game was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.[52]

Sequel edit

2D Boy initially stated that they would not be producing a sequel.[53] In a November 2010 entry on the World of Goo blog, Kyle Gabler stated that "a second World of Goo is a possibility and something we would enjoy working on."[54]

Notes edit

  1. ^ The last winter level, Product Launcher, has "happy new year" as its tagline. This is similar to Northern Hemisphere seasons.
  2. ^ "Lately, its output has been less than satisfactory." – Fly Away Little Ones, Little Miss World of Goo, World of Goo

References edit

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External links edit

  • Official website

world, physics, based, puzzle, video, game, developed, published, independent, game, developer, game, released, microsoft, windows, october, 2008, with, releases, nintendo, switch, linux, various, mobile, devices, subsequent, years, player, small, balls, creat. World of Goo is a physics based puzzle video game developed and published by independent game developer 2D Boy The game was released on Microsoft Windows and Wii on October 13 2008 with releases on Nintendo Switch Mac OS X Linux and various mobile devices in subsequent years World of Goo has the player use small balls of goo to create bridges and similar structures over chasms and obstacles to help other goo balls reach a goal point with the challenge to use as few goo balls as possible to build this structure World of GooDeveloper s 2D BoyPublisher s 2D BoyBrighter Minds Media 1 2 retail USA Tomorrow Corporation NS Microsoft Game Studios 3 GFWL Producer s Ron CarmelDesigner s Kyle GablerProgrammer s Ron CarmelAllan BlomquistArtist s Kyle GablerWriter s Kyle GablerComposer s Kyle GablerPlatform s WiiWindowsOS XLinuxiOSAndroidBlackBerry OSNintendo SwitchReleaseOctober 13 2008 WiiNA October 13 2008EU December 19 2008JP April 21 2009Microsoft WindowsNA October 13 2008PAL December 12 2008OS XWW November 2 2008LinuxWW February 12 2009iOSWW December 16 2010AndroidWW November 28 2011BlackBerry OSWW January 21 2013Nintendo SwitchNA March 16 2017PAL March 23 2017JP May 25 2017Genre s PuzzleMode s Single player multiplayerThe game was nominated for numerous awards the Seumas McNally Grand Prize Design Innovation Award and Technical Excellence at the Independent Games Festival and has gone on to win several other gaming awards The game was critically acclaimed and became one of the earliest examples of a commercially successful indie game Contents 1 Gameplay 1 1 Overview 1 2 Objective 1 3 Levels 2 Plot 3 Development 3 1 Release 3 2 Soundtrack 4 Reception 5 Sequel 6 Notes 7 References 8 External linksGameplay editOverview edit nbsp Placing a goo ball to construct a bridge The game is built around the idea of creating large structures using balls of goo 4 The game is divided into five chapters each containing several levels Each level has its own graphic and musical theme giving a unique atmosphere There is also a bonus meta game called World of Goo Corporation where the objective is to build the highest tower using goo balls which the player collected through the course of the game Players from all over the world can compete as the height of the tower and number of goo balls used are being constantly uploaded to the 2D Boy server Objective edit The main objective of the game is to get a requisite number of goo balls to a pipe designed to represent the exit In order to do so the player must use the goo balls to construct bridges towers and other structures to overcome gravity and various terrain difficulties such as chasms hills spikes windmills or cliffs There are several types of goo balls in the game each of which has unique properties The player must exploit combinations of these goo balls in order to complete each level Extra goos recovered in the pipe are pumped through to World of Goo Corporation a sandbox area where the objective is to compete with other players worldwide by building the tallest tower possible 5 Players can also try to achieve the Obsessive Completion Distinction Flag for each level by completing the level under more stringent criteria such as collecting a larger number of Goo balls finishing under a set amount of time or using as few moves as possible The WiiWare version includes multiplayer with up to four people on the same Wii This facility is also available albeit unsupported in the Linux port 6 Levels edit World of Goo is split up into four chapters and an epilogue each containing a number of levels The chapters are set over the course of a year in the World of Goo Each chapter takes place over one season beginning in the start of summer and ending at the end of spring the next year note 1 The 4th chapter is seasonless and is set in a virtual world Levels and chapters in the game are interspersed with cut scenes An additional location reached from the main menu is the World Of Goo Corporation Goo balls collected above and beyond the required amount to pass a level are piped out of each of the played levels to here Starting from just a single triangle of Goo the aim is to build the highest possible tower The Goo balls in the World of Goo Corporation are unique in that they can be repositioned like Ivy Goos but are black and can only form two connections at once like Common Goos In the World of Goo Corporation towers built by other players of the game are represented by clouds bearing the player s name nationality and height of the tower including details on the total number of balls collected by the player and how many were used in constructing their tower The altitude of each cloud represents the height of that player s tower An online leaderboard charts the heights of the top 50 towers as well as the top 10 players for each level of the game There are a total of 48 levels in the game including World of Goo Corporation In an interview the developers stated that the retail version released in Europe would receive an additional sixth chapter set on the Moon 7 Few details were disclosed but reportedly this chapter would have featured a freeform sandbox mode similar to that of the World of Goo Corporation This addition was canceled for Wii when 2D Boy announced they were releasing the game on WiiWare in Europe Plot editThe story is told primarily through cut scenes and signs encountered throughout the game which were left by an unseen character known as the Sign Painter Initially pipes appear throughout the land waking up many sleeping Goo Balls who have gone undisturbed until this as they are filled with a childlike sense of curiosity and naivety they build themselves towards the pipes Upon reaching the pipe entrance the Goo Balls are sucked by the pipe system into the World of Goo Corporation main building where they are processed into many products for example an energy drink The excess Goo Balls are left outside the Corporation headquarters where they together begin to build a giant tower At the end of the first chapter some Goo Balls escape from a Corporation building by attaching themselves to eyeballs which have the ability to fly The chapter ends with the Goo Balls seeing far away new lands In the second chapter more pipes appear in a hostile wasteland where World of Goo Corporation turns out to be searching for a new power source due to wind power not being sufficient anymore However the location and appearance of the power source was forgotten because in the past it stopped producing electricity note 2 A new Goo Ball is introduced which is ground up by the Corporation into a facial cream Near the end of the chapter the power plant which looks like a giant woman is discovered It is revealed that for many years its remarkably powerful beauty juice powered the world Yet with age her beauty and consequently her electric output began to die However unrefined beauty goo was injected directly into her forehead as to restore her youthful beauty once more At the expense of her ability to move her face power was restored to the entire world With this newfound energy World of Goo Corporation was able to open a factory aiming to complete their most compelling new product During the third chapter it is said that the Corporation is developing a mysterious Product Z It eventually turns out that the mysterious Product Z is actually the third dimension Product Z is the Z axis in mathematics This causes much commotion amongst the general population who cannot see where anything is now World of Goo Corporation tells them to contact tech support in the information superhighway after all life is rendered incompatible with the world In the fourth chapter the Goo Balls set out to find the mysterious MOM program amongst a vector style environment Shortly after the beginning the Goo Balls find the object responsible for rendering all the graphics After pumping many of their own kind into the object the graphics rendering improves creating a more realistic environment and the Pixel Goo Balls Near the end they encounter MOM s computer who turns out to be a spam bot and supplies the Goo Balls with an undelete program The Goo Balls try to overload Product Z by sending every message in the history of spam to everyone at World of Goo Corporation After venturing to the Recycle Bin and un deleting everything World of Goo Corporation receives the mail and unable to deal with so much spam and mail explodes shutting down Product Z while creating a massive layer of smog dust smoke and debris that envelops the entire world In the final chapter it is revealed that all Goo Balls except scientifically pure ones have been sucked away to the Tower of Goo Memorial Park and Recreation Center The remaining Goo Balls decide to work their way up the world s tallest island to reach a site where the telescope is located The final level of the game reveals that the Goo Balls are now completely extinct all the remaining having been sucked away to the shattered remains of World of Goo Corporation and added to the tower and the gigantic telescope at the site has been rendered useless as it cannot see past the layer of smog The Sign Painter reveals in his final sign that he has now become the Telescope Operator Some balloon like fish in the sea connect to the telescope and lift it out of the ground where it breaks through the layer of smog and sees the tower of goo that has been built at the former World of Goo Corporation Headquarters which can also see past the smog The telescope falls back to earth before it could see what the Goo Balls were building towards A final and last cutscene reveals their goal the camera pans up into space to reveal that the Goo Balls that escaped at the end of Chapter 1 have managed to reach a far off planet populated entirely by Goo Balls An additional chapter located on the Moon was initially planned for the European retail version of the game This idea was put on hold as the developer felt they were rushing to finish extra content to justify the price If we release any additional content we will make it available on all platforms to all people at the same time No more of this region nonsense 8 Development edit nbsp Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler founders of 2D Boy and creators of World of GooWorld of Goo was developed by 2D Boy a team based in San Francisco consisting only of former Electronic Arts employees Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel The game s development was started in January 2005 9 as a graduate student project at the Entertainment Technology Center of Carnegie Mellon University 10 Gabler created this initial prototype in four days and submitted it under the title Tower of Goo for the Experimental Gameplay Project at the university 11 as a response to the prompt make something with springs 12 Carmel and Gabler estimated that development on World of Goo lasted two years and cost US 10 000 of their personal savings which included equipment food and rent 13 Actual development was usually carried out in coffeehouses equipped with Wi Fi hotspots World of Goo was programmed using available open source technologies including Simple DirectMedia Layer Open Dynamics Engine for physics simulation TinyXML for configuration files Subversion Mantis Bug Tracker and PopCap Games Framework 14 15 Allan Blomquist a friend of Gabler and Carmel was responsible for porting and optimizing the game for WiiWare 16 On July 6 2010 2D Boy Capybara Games and thatgamecompany started a program called the Indie Fund which aims to support game development by helping independent developers become financially independent Release edit World of Goo was released both for Windows and WiiWare in North America on October 13 2008 17 The Mac OS X version was released on November 2 The Linux version was released on February 13 2009 18 After the initial release 2D Boy announced a bonus patch called Profanity Pack which would replace the normal voices in the game with naughty words The patch would be made available to users who pre ordered the game 19 The patch was never released 20 2D Boy decided against placing digital rights management DRM protection on the PC versions stating that DRM is a futile attempt to prevent piracy and it s expensive Every game for which there is demand will be cracked and find its way onto the scene so why waste time and money trying to prevent the inevitable 21 2D Boy later reported that between one in five and one in ten copies of the PC versions had been legitimately purchased For the game s European release in December 2D Boy depended upon the community to translate and localize World of Goo into the appropriate languages including Dutch French German Italian and Spanish citation needed During the 2009 D I C E Summit Nintendo announced that it would publish World of Goo in Japan during the second quarter of 2009 22 the game was released on April 21 2009 under the title Planet of Goo グーの惑星 Gu no Wakusei 23 World of Goo was made available through Microsoft s Windows Games on Demand marketplace as a Games for Windows Live title on December 15 2009 24 25 World of Goo was also ported to iOS to iPad in December 2010 and to iPhone in April 2011 On October 3 2011 2D Boy announced that they would port World of Goo to Android which was released on November 28 2011 It was available to both Android phones and tablets with demo and full versions available Tomorrow Corporation formed by Gabler in 2010 along with his former EA colleagues Allan Blomquist and Kyle Gray would develop and publish World of Goo for the Nintendo Switch which was released in March 2017 26 The Japanese version was later released in May 2017 by Flyhigh Works citation needed According to 2D Boy Epic Games reached out to them to release World of Goo as a free promotional title on the Epic Games Store The developers decided to use this opportunity to create an updated version for Windows Mac and Linux systems incorporating changes and improvements made from the console versions This includes supporting widescreen and higher resolutions that have become the normal since the game s original release and stripping out the game s digital rights management to make it amendable to modding These updates will be offered free to users on other digital storefronts like Steam and GOG com with the patches to be released around the same time that the Epic Games Store promotion starts in May 2019 27 28 Netflix released a remastered version on May 23 2023 It requires a Netflix subscription to play but is free to subscribers 29 Soundtrack edit The World of Goo soundtrack was created by Kyle Gabler who also designed wrote and illustrated the game It was released as a free download on January 20 2009 30 The song World of Goo Beginning was created with the intention of resembling Libertango by Astor Piazzolla Regurgitation Pumping Station was originally written for a friend s short film about going on a date with the devil Threadcutter was originally written for a game called Blow which Gabler made available on his site Rain Rain Windy Windy was originally written for the soundtrack for a short children s film commenting that writing children s music is difficult Jelly was originally written for a short film about a virtual reality world Burning Man was written for a friend s drama mystery series He made it by recording two friends singing single notes and then using a keyboard to make it sound like a choir Cog in the Machine was originally written for another game of his called Robot and the Cities who Built Him 30 World of Goo SoundtrackNo TitleLength1 World of Goo Beginning 1 092 The Goo Filled Hills 0 253 Brave Adventurers 1 074 Another Mysterious Pipe Appeared 1 185 World of Goo Corporation 0 176 Regurgitation Pumping Station 3 407 Threadcutter 0 558 Rain Rain Windy Windy 2 459 Jelly 2 3810 Tumbler 1 5211 Screamer 1 3612 Burning Man 1 4913 Cog in the Machine 4 0314 Happy New Year tm Brought to You by Product Z 0 5515 Welcome to the Information Superhighway 1 5616 Graphic Processing Unit 1 0617 Years of Work 3 3918 My Virtual World of Goo Corporation 1 0519 Hello MOM 0 0620 Inside the Big Computer 2 2121 Are You Coming Home Love MOM 3 0222 Ode to the Bridge Builder 1 2523 The Last of the Goo Balls and the Telescope Operator 1 0024 Best of Times 3 4125 Red Carpet Extend o matic 4 0426 World of Goo Corporation s Valued Customers 0 1327 World of Goo Ending 1 09Reception editReceptionAggregate scoreAggregatorScoreMetacriticPC 90 100 31 WII 94 100 32 iOS 96 100 33 NS 84 100 34 Review scoresPublicationScore1Up comA 35 EurogamerWII 10 10 36 PC 9 10 37 GameSpot9 10 38 IGN9 5 10 39 Nintendo World Report10 10 40 Official Nintendo Magazine95 100 41 Both Wii and Windows versions of World of Goo received critical acclaim holding an aggregate score from Metacritic of 94 100 and 90 100 respectively 32 31 Eurogamer called World of Goo Physics latest purest and most brilliant gift 37 IGN said of the Wii version World of Goo is an amazing WiiWare game that you simply must buy for this is exactly the type of software that needs both recognition and support finding only minor fault with the camera controls and lack of a level editor 39 1UP com called World of Goo one of just a handful of truly excellent original games for the Wii 35 Nintendo World Report criticized the slow start of the game but otherwise praised it as easily the best WiiWare game to date and perhaps one of the best this generation 40 Resolution Magazine referred to it as an instant classic awarding it 90 42 Official Nintendo Magazine awarded the Wii version a score of 95 claiming it to be Virtually flawless 41 The magazine also ranked it as the 83rd best game available on Nintendo platforms The staff called it the best WiiWare game by a long shot 43 World of Goo has won many awards At the 2008 Independent Games Festival World of Goo won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize Design Innovation Award and Technical Excellence 44 As a result 2D Boy found publishers that previously had rejected them approaching them to publish the title 45 It won Best Independent Game from the Spike TV Video Game Awards show 46 and won six Wii specific awards and one for the PC including Best Puzzle Game Best Artistic Design Best WiiWare Game Best New IP Most Innovative Design and Game of the Year from IGN 47 GameSpot awarded it as the Best Game No One Played 48 failed verification see discussion The Academy of Interactive Arts amp Sciences awarded World of Goo with Outstanding Achievement in Game Design along with a nomination for Casual Game of the Year at the 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards 49 It was featured in Eurogamer s top 50 games of 2008 in the tenth slot 50 Peter Moore the head of EA Sports in a rant about FIFA 09 being missing from Eurogamer s list commented that he was surprised World of Goo was included up so high in the list despite not having played it 51 2D Boy responded by saying they were honored that World of Goo had this much mainstream awareness and that it derives sick pleasure from the industry big wig s indignant self righteous incredulity In 2010 the game was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die 52 Sequel edit2D Boy initially stated that they would not be producing a sequel 53 In a November 2010 entry on the World of Goo blog Kyle Gabler stated that a second World of Goo is a possibility and something we would enjoy working on 54 Notes edit The last winter level Product Launcher has happy new year as its tagline This is similar to Northern Hemisphere seasons Lately its output has been less than satisfactory Fly Away Little Ones Little Miss World of Goo World of GooReferences edit Remo Chris February 2 2009 Publisher Brighter Minds Files For Chapter 11 Gamasutra Archived from the original on April 10 2019 Retrieved April 10 2019 Cavalli Earnest February 2 2009 World of Goo Publisher Files for Bankruptcy Wired Retrieved April 10 2019 Games on Demand coming soon to Games for Windows LIVE Games for Windows Microsoft Archived from the original on December 6 2009 Retrieved February 8 2018 The launch lineup will include new exclusive LIVE enabled versions of popular digital games like World of Goo and Osmos distributed by Microsoft Game Studios Bardinelli John March 5 2007 Tower of Goo evolves into World of Goo 2D Boy is born Joystiq Weblogs Inc Archived from the original on August 26 2009 Retrieved January 27 2008 Shea Cam January 22 2008 World of Goo Preview IGN PC IGN Entertainment Archived from the original on January 24 2008 How do I use more than one mouse Archived from the original on July 1 2017 Retrieved May 2 2009 Calvert Darrent August 26 2008 2D Boy Interview World Of Goo WiiWare World Archived from the original on March 29 2009 Retrieved September 14 2008 World Of Goo d News Euro Release Imminent Rock Paper Shotgun November 12 2008 Archived from the original on July 13 2011 Retrieved July 10 2011 Old Prototypes zip Tower of Goo metadata Kyle Gabler Archived from the original on February 27 2023 World of Goo Carnegie Mellon University Archived from the original on June 13 2021 Experimental Gameplay Project Carnegie Mellon University Archived from the original on August 27 2005 Old Prototypes zip Tower of Goo about txt Kyle Gabler Archived from the original on February 27 2023 How the World of Goo became one of the indie video game hits of 2008 Venture Beat January 2 2009 Archived from the original on September 12 2019 Retrieved January 10 2009 Murphy Patrick December 31 2007 Road To The IGF World Of Goo s Suggested Emotional Journey To Wii Archived from the original on July 3 2017 Retrieved October 13 2008 Macarthy Andrew April 1 2008 World of Goo switches from Wii to WiiWare Nintendic Archived from the original on April 5 2008 Retrieved April 4 2008 Walker John January 15 2009 2D Boy s Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler Interview Eurogamer Archived from the original on May 13 2011 Retrieved May 7 2011 Two WiiWare Games and Two Virtual Console Games Added to Wii Shop Channel Nintendo October 13 2008 Archived from the original on October 15 2008 Retrieved October 16 2008 Pop Silaghi Daniel World of Goo for Linux Is Here Softpedia Archived from the original on February 16 2009 Retrieved July 25 2011 World of Goo preorders give you taste of game profanity pack arsTechnica August 8 2010 Archived from the original on June 29 2010 Retrieved August 8 2010 Frequently Asked Questions Where what is the profanity pack goofans Retrieved January 3 2013 Burch Anthony November 7 2008 Destructoid interview Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler creators of World of Goo Destructoid Archived from the original on October 13 2011 Retrieved May 7 2011 Harris Craig February 20 2009 DICE 2009 Nintendo to Publish World of Goo IGN Wii IGN Entertainment Archived from the original on February 24 2009 Retrieved February 27 2009 Wiiウェア タイトルリスト WiiWare Title List in Japanese Nintendo Co Ltd Archived from the original on May 27 2019 Retrieved May 7 2011 World of Goo Microsoft Archived from the original on November 3 2012 Retrieved February 5 2011 Games on Demand meet Games for Windows LIVE Microsoft Archived from the original on December 6 2009 Retrieved February 5 2011 Cork Jeff January 24 2017 World Of Goo Little Inferno Human Resource Machine Heading To Switch Game Informer Retrieved January 24 2017 Chalk Andy April 18 2019 World of Goo is getting updated and going free on the Epic Store PC Gamer Archived from the original on April 18 2019 Retrieved April 18 2019 Mackovech Sam April 19 2019 World of Goo is Epic Game Store s next freebie and all PC owners will get HD update Ars Technica Archived from the original on April 19 2019 Retrieved April 19 2019 Moon Mariella May 6 2023 Netflix is launching a remastered World of Goo on May 23rd Engadget Retrieved July 24 2023 a b Music from World of Goo Kyle Gabler Archived from the original on July 7 2018 Retrieved January 20 2009 a b World of Goo for PC Reviews Metacritic CBS Interactive Archived from the original on February 23 2010 Retrieved May 2 2011 a b World of Goo for Wii Reviews Metacritic CBS Interactive Archived from the original on February 24 2010 Retrieved May 2 2011 World of Goo for iPhone iPad Reviews Metacritic CBS Interactive Archived from the original on August 14 2018 Retrieved September 27 2018 World of Goo for Switch Reviews Metacritic CBS Interactive Archived from the original on October 10 2018 Retrieved September 27 2018 a b Hayward Andrew October 16 2008 World of Goo Review 1UP com Archived from the original on June 3 2016 Retrieved May 15 2020 Walker John May 1 2009 World of Goo Review Eurogamer Eurogamer Network Ltd Archived from the original on September 17 2020 Retrieved May 2 2011 a b Blyth Jon October 2 2008 World of Goo Review Eurogamer Eurogamer Network Ltd Archived from the original on December 5 2008 Retrieved October 13 2008 Todd Brett November 3 2008 World of Goo Review Archived from the original on September 7 2011 Retrieved May 2 2011 a b Casamassina Matt October 10 2008 World of Goo Review IGN Wii IGN Entertainment Archived from the original on October 14 2008 Retrieved October 13 2008 a b DiMola Nick October 17 2008 Wii Review World of Goo Nintendo World Report Archived from the original on January 17 2010 Retrieved October 17 2008 a b Official Nintendo Magazine Issue 38 p 95 Jones Graham February 2 2009 WiiWare Review World of Goo Resolution Magazine Archived from the original on October 6 2011 Retrieved May 15 2020 East Tom February 17 2009 Nintendo Feature 100 Best Nintendo Games Part One Official Nintendo Magazine Archived from the original on November 2 2013 Retrieved December 5 2013 2008 Independent Games Festival Winners Independent Games Festival Think Services Archived from the original on March 20 2016 Retrieved January 27 2008 Mysore Sahana January 2 2009 How the World of Goo became one of the indie video game hits of 2008 Venture Beat Archived from the original on September 12 2019 Retrieved January 29 2020 Best Independent Game Fueled by Dew SpikeTV com Archived from the original on July 24 2011 Retrieved November 8 2012 IGN Wii Best of 2008 Best of 2008 Awards IGN Entertainment December 18 2008 Archived from the original on December 20 2008 Retrieved December 18 2008 Best Game No One Played Best of 2008 GameSpot December 23 2008 Archived from the original on January 31 2009 Retrieved December 28 2008 D I C E Awards By Video Game Details World of Goo interactive org Academy of Interactive Arts amp Sciences Retrieved November 15 2023 Eurogamer s Top 50 Games of 2008 10 1 Eurogamer December 30 2008 Archived from the original on December 31 2008 Retrieved January 7 2009 Moore Peter December 31 2008 WTF Where The hell is FIFA 09 Peter Moore s Official Blog Electronic Arts Archived from the original on February 27 2009 Retrieved January 7 2009 Mott Tony 2010 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die London Quintessence Editions Ltd p 814 ISBN 978 1 74173 076 0 Hinkle David November 12 2008 Wii Fanboy interviews 2D Boy World of Goo Joystiq Weblogs Inc Archived from the original on February 20 2009 Gabler Kyle November 21 2010 World of Goo on iPad Releasing Soon 2D Boy Archived from the original on November 24 2010 External links editOfficial website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title World of Goo amp oldid 1185267820, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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