Comments on: Mmmm... Free Goo.

Mmmm... Free Goo.

Effigy2000 — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:33:05 -0800

World of Goo was released last year on PC and Wii and, despite an 82% piracy rate (previously), still went on to become one of the best selling games of 2008 and win a swag of awards. In a recent blog post (the first of seven) the developer, 2D Boy, has been detailing the early days of development for World of Goo. But just don't read about this proto-Goo... play it! They have made this early version of the game available to download for free. And don't forget that the soundtrack to the completed game is also still free and available for download.

By: amuseDetachment

amuseDetachment — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:31:47 -0800

I pirated it, then bought it. If you haven't heard of World of Goo, this video gives a good feel of all the hype around the game.

By: cmoj

cmoj — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:33:58 -0800

I did the same. This is the second time today that I've been given cause to praise a game unabashedly. This is one of the best games ever.

By: sourwookie

sourwookie — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:48:21 -0800

I have it for the Wii. I'm ashamed to admit how early on it kicked my ass.

By: palidor

palidor — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:50:09 -0800

Good timing, I was about to resume my goo-game I stopped when my previous video card died a few weeks ago. And earlier tonight I recommended the game to my roommate and he plans to buy it. Piracy is overrated.

By: lilkeith07

lilkeith07 — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:03:34 -0800

I first saw World of Goo at my friends house on the Wii. I don't have a Wii but when I got home looked it up and was pleasantly surprised that it was available for the PC. So I bought it and I'm addicted. The OCD parts are really killing me.

By: nadawi

nadawi — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:14:02 -0800

my god, the OCD. how.the.fuck.

By: disillusioned

disillusioned — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:41:37 -0800

World of Goo is absolutely fantastic. I loved the demo and bought it promptly, without even pirating it. I then showed three of my friends and watched as they purchased it as well. It's really great, and I love that it's two guys.

By: spiderskull

spiderskull — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:45:58 -0800

Related.

By: dickasso

dickasso — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:46:52 -0800

I've bought it three times. Nyaah.

By: Ritchie

Ritchie — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:12:01 -0800

I went to stay with my brother and his family over the Christmas holiday, and my gift to them was a Wii. First thing I did after helping my brother set it up was buy World of Goo for them. Pretty much the entire family got addicted - moreso when we discovered you can use multiple controllers simultaneously. I love that game - I think that was the reason they got a Wii and not an Xbox or PS3.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:51:20 -0800

my god, the OCD. how.the.fuck. I have OCD on most levels, which one are you having trouble with? There are tutorial videos for all of 'em on YouTube if you get really stuck. Some of them require exacting precision or amazingly quick action, but a good number rely on using a devious trick, some of them undocumented. World of Goo is becoming a very important game, nearly the first indie title to hit mainstream. It's telling that it does so much right that few commercial publishers would ever think to allow. As for the prototype version of WoG.... it's interesting, but I expect this would have been a better post if you'd waited until they'd released some more prototypes. (Also, then I'd have had a better chance of scooping you, heh.) Of course, an even earlier prototype was Tower of Goo, which is also free to download.

By: palidor

palidor — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:11:33 -0800

As an aside, a few years ago I was kind of down on the game industry as I lost interest in all of the big budget AAA-franchise titles and became a "lapsed gamer". Warren Spector's rant at the 2005 GDC really summed it all up for me, since it seemed like at the time we were doomed to see all of the money go to safe iterations of previous designs (can we just ban all future first-person shooters except for Half-Life please?). While this certainly played out in a lot of ways, I think games like World of Goo are emblematic of the wonderful parallel growth of Internet distribution, whether it be through Xbox or Steam or whatever. The "budget" titles made by smaller developers are where the real creative stuff is happening, and I'm no longer so worried about ballooning costs devouring innovation in the game industry. Maybe it's just that I've done more exploring and have found a layer that's been there all along, but I've gone in the opposite direction with my feelings toward the industry. People can have their Halos and endless sequels, and I'm not even saying games like that aren't fun. But I'd rather spend my time with different types of games and expand my horizons, and thankfully it seems like that's getting easier! Also, Warren Spector is working on a Disney game now, and I pray nightly that he is okay.

By: davar

davar — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:44:32 -0800

If you have a Wii and a computer, is there any reason to prefer one platform over another for this game? Cost is about the same, where I live. I wish Wiiware games had demo's.

By: oulipian

oulipian — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:09:38 -0800

If you have a Wii and a computer, is there any reason to prefer one platform over another for this game? I'd say go for the Wii version - it's just such a perfect fit for the system.

By: DU

DU — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:30:28 -0800

~~despite~~because of an 82% piracy rate (previously), still went on to become one of the best selling games of 2008 FTFY I've accidentally achieved a few OCDs and hunted down a couple others. But yeah, a lot of them are impossible. I've thought of a few tricks but I'm not quite OCD enough to find them all, nor do I want to ruin it by watching the videos. So here I am, in a state of incompleteness but unwilling to take either route to completion.

By: DU

DU — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:33:02 -0800

Oh and you want the Wii version. You can tell it isn't native there, but I found the controls a little more intuitive. Using the WiiMote is like a long stick to direct the goo balls. Also, it's nice to work the game while lying back on the couch rather than hunched over a keyboard.

By: P.o.B.

P.o.B. — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:44:56 -0800

(can we just ban all future first-person shooters except for Half-Life please?) You didn't like Portal?

By: absalom

absalom — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:00:15 -0800

This post came 3 days too late: Steam had it on sale for 5.00 this weekend!

By: palidor

palidor — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:17:47 -0800

I loved Portal. Obviously that comment wasn't completely serious, although I don't really consider Portal a FPS in the same vein as something like Halo. Portal is an example of actually doing something new with that paradigm instead of just repeating the same stuff. Or at least that's how I see it.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:18:22 -0800

It's like Lemmings, but gooey.

By: East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:25:19 -0800

Of course, that 82% piracy figure is just for the PC game. Many more people have bought it on Wii.

By: bjrn

bjrn — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:33:45 -0800

> You didn't like Portal? To be fair, Portal is more of a first-person puzzle game than a first-person shooter.

By: Phanx

Phanx — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:07:23 -0800

I loved World of Goo. I think its classic appeal comes from the fact that the basic proposition is really simple but versatile. There's nothing to learn, nothing about the game gets in the way, but it generates enough complexity, novelty and difficulty to make it continuously rewarding. And then on top of that, it's really nicely presented. I even like the music, and I'm someone who regards turning the speakers off as an automatic preliminary to most games.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:10:59 -0800

DU: Only two OCDs are actually impossible. The last level doesn't have one. The level "MOM's Computer" can only be OCD'd on the first attempt unless you're playing a more recent build of the PC version.

By: mph

mph — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:24:49 -0800

Wow. It runs pretty well on a MacBook with one of those underpowered X3100 chipsets. Nothing I've seen in the demo would cause me to think it wouldn't, but the last small game I bought, "Hordes of Orcs," took several releases before I could play it at any but the most minimal settings. I happen to be reading Blood Music right now, so I'm feeling a little conflicted about helping the goo-kins.

By: P.o.B.

P.o.B. — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:27:44 -0800

Portal is an FPS before anything else. That's the genre it falls under. I agree it's also an escape/puzzle game, but you can't say it's not a shooter. I think this is one of the great things about that game, the non-killing aspect, and should be an aspect of FPS' that could be explored a little more in within that genre. It's a point I wanted to "tease" out of what palidor was saying, the idea that it is a genre that has been mercilessly drilled into a small niche with little creativity left to it. When the fact of the matter is: there is still room for it grow, such as a non-shoot-em-up shooter! ...I'll skip the rest of my art/subject-growth and 3rd-Person-Shooter blathering/derail.

By: palidor

palidor — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:03:54 -0800

My usual mantra is actually "no more violence" since that's probably holding developers back more than the viewpoint of the player character. I'm not going to start this debate, but the older I get the more I'm bothered by the prevalence of violence in games, both from the gameplay standpoint and with regards to any "moral" considerations. But essentially I think creativity happens when someone stops assuming what properties a game should have and just does some crazy shit, and violence is a pretty common assumed property.

By: We had a deal, Kyle

We had a deal, Kyle — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:08:36 -0800

Portal is an FPS before anything else. Eh? It's pretty damn light on the S, surely?

By: We had a deal, Kyle

We had a deal, Kyle — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:09:42 -0800

Oh, and the World of Goo soundtrack is fantastic, although I wish he'd fix the annoying MP3-ey glitches in a couple of of the tracks.

By: Nedroid

Nedroid — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:29:30 -0800

I just bought World of Goo on sale this weekend, and it's been a blast. Something about the goos squealing "YIPPEE!" when you connect them just cheers me up. It is a beautiful game.

By: owtytrof

owtytrof — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:32:32 -0800

Portal is an FPS before anything else. That's the genre it falls under. I agree it's also an escape/puzzle game, but you can't say it's not a shooter. I can and will say that Portal is not a shooter. FPS is the genre it's shoehorned into because it was developed in an engine known for FPS games, has the first person perspective, and FPPuzzler isn't really a recognized genre. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the portal gun is what supposedly makes it a shooter? That's akin to claiming practically every game ever made is an RPG in the sense that you play the role of the controllable character(s).

By: slimepuppy

slimepuppy — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:00:12 -0800

Keep an eye out for the Steam weekend sales. Goo was on sale for like five dollars/euros last weekend. I got every single id software game in a bundle for 35 euros in their January sale. (I practically buy all my PC games from Steam these days. What a great service.)

By: davejay

davejay — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:13:15 -0800

Love this game. Bought it for the wii for myself, and for a friend. And I got pretty far but am now stuck, and don't care. I WILL FIND A WAY.

By: graventy

graventy — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:43:29 -0800

I tried it, through various means, but I wasn't a big fan. Not for me. It is, however, a very well-designed game, and that really shines through.

By: djrock3k

djrock3k — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:55:58 -0800

Bought it after hearing so much hype about it. The Hype was right. I was a game and console agnostic until I got stuck with a Wii two christmasses ago. It is one of the few games I go back to regularly. Anything else from 2D boy is an insta-buy now. It's that good.

By: Effigy2000

Effigy2000 — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:29:57 -0800

Part two of the feature, which includes a newer version of the 2006 build to download, is now available.

By: P.o.B.

P.o.B. — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:35:00 -0800

Portal is a shooter, through and through. Shoehorned or not, (and honestly, saying 'shoehorned' is saying it would have garnered the same attention if it wasn't made that way - which is something nobody could say) the game was changed from a 3rd person to First Person, and the delivery system of the Portals was changed to...Ta-Daa: shooting. Unless someone actually can somehow prove these don't happen, how is it not an FPS? The Half Life series has a Gravity Gun, and a bit of the game requires doing things not killing but still is an FPS - nay? I think people would be singing a bit of a different tune if there were people you would have to dispatch with the Portal Gun right? So killing is what's required of an FPS? owtytrof, that's a pretty narrow definition of RPGs just as you seem to have a narrow definition of FPS'. OTOH, I think we can all agree Myst is not an FPS. Sorry for the derail. World of Goo = Awesome

By: We had a deal, Kyle

We had a deal, Kyle — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:21:06 -0800

Portal is a shooter, through and through. Not buying it. Core game mechanic of a shooter: shooting things. Core game mechanic of Portal: things going through portals. Yes, it's a gun shooting the portals, but the game is not about the shooting itself; it's all about the consequences of portal placement. (You don't even have the gun for the first few levels...)

By: P.o.B.

P.o.B. — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:24:34 -0800

You don't even have the gun for the first few levels... Just like Half-Life 1 & 2?

By: 0xFCAF

0xFCAF — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:28:11 -0800

Saying Portal is a shooter because it involves a gun is like calling Driving Miss Daisy a racing movie because it involves a car.

By: graventy

graventy — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:37:04 -0800

Who cares? Just call it "genre-defying" palidor even took back his anti-FPS statement. Really, condemning one genre because there are a lot of games in that genre is pretty foolish. It could be argued that Gears of War innovated quite a bit with its cover system, now a standard. Halo standardized a control scheme for consoles still in use today.

By: P.o.B.

P.o.B. — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:14:21 -0800

Just call it "genre-defying" Couldn't agree more. That was part of my original point. Although not my intent, I just find it a bit amusing to see people compelled to rail vociferously against the obvious. As if I'm taking away from the game or people are upset they partook in something beneath them. I would agree with the point that Quake was never about shooting missiles, but about the placement of those missiles. *Gets in General Lee, hits the gas, leaves thread in smokecloud while Dixie horn plays*

By: owtytrof

owtytrof — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:31:08 -0800

That was part of my original point. Say what? Your original point(scroll up if necessary) is that Portal is a shooter. That's not exactly touting the game as "genre-defying." The Half Life series has a Gravity Gun, and a bit of the game requires doing things not killing but still is an FPS - nay? Right, Half-Life largely focuses on shooting and killing your enemies. It's a shooter with some puzzle/action sequences built around a gravity gun. It's not a gravity gun game with no convential dispatching of enemies being called a shooter. Subtle, no? Anyway, you're right that it ultimately doesn't matter what you call it.

By: P.o.B.

P.o.B. — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:57:32 -0800

*Drives back into thread, yells out window* It is an FPS, but it takes the general conventions and does something else with them. Thus a genre-defying FPS. Happy? Besides, cherry-picking what I say doesn't negate everything else I've said (scroll up if necessary). Agian, sorry for the derail people! *Drives off*

By: amuseDetachment

amuseDetachment — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:02:01 -0800

FPS is defined by the simple gameplay: "shoot anything that moves (that doesn't light up on your radar)".

By: slimepuppy

slimepuppy — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:34:56 -0800

Portal is hardly genre-defying. It's a first person puzzle game. It's not that far removed from Myst, which came out in '93 (god, I feel old). Mirror's Edge is a first person running game. Thief is a first person sneaking game. The Ship is a first person murder game. Plenty of first person role playing games out there too. You can argue anything else til you're blue in the face, but the operative word in FPS is the final Shooter part.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:36:23 -0800

Ok I downloaded and ran this and I can't figure out the goal. I've just got a bunch of black goggly eye balls that I can some times stick to stuff.

By: P.o.B.

P.o.B. — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:47:15 -0800

You can argue anything else til you're blue in the face, but the operative word in FPS is the final Shooter part. Yeah, it's crazy how you don't shoot in Portal!!! What?

By: palidor

palidor — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:47:24 -0800

Portal's genre classification is irrelevant! My original comment was about my satisfaction with the development of online distribution, since it seems to make games like World of Goo possible. In the absence of big names like Valve leading the way in creativity, I think a distribution model that encourages smaller teams and more risk-taking is exactly what the industry needs, at least in order to make me happy. I won't argue the value of FPSs or recycling genre conventions in general because, yes, dismissing an entire genre is stupid, but more importantly, because I'm not the audience for those games so long as all of the downloadable "budget" titles get my attention.

By: palidor

palidor — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:49:22 -0800

(Please start talking about online distribution so I can be relieved of my guilt for derailing the thread with an offhanded remark!)

By: graventy

graventy — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:06:47 -0800

Portal's genre classification is irrelevant! Portal is a comedy. Maybe a comedrama. There. I just wish the good independent games had more visibility. Steam needs like an IGF finalists weekend or something, and the XBLA community games desperately need a better search than "popular" or "alphabetical". The problem with online distribution is that services quickly get overwhelmed with a large volume of games. Separating the good stuff in the Wii's giant store of old games and WiiWare isn't really that easy.

By: slimepuppy

slimepuppy — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:54:18 -0800

Yeah, it's crazy how you don't shoot in Portal!!! What? From wikipedia: First-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, featuring a first person perspective, with which the player views the action as if through the eyes of the protagonist and in which the primary element is combat based around shooting. The primary act in portal is not combat or shooting. It's the creation of portals to bypass obstacles. The fact that you use a device that shoots the entry and exit points is irrelevant to the basic mechanic. If the main character used magic to have the portals appear to where the cursor pointed, it would cease to be a shooter by your definition. Does Thief become a shooter because one of the missions requires you to shoot an arrow into a ceiling but other than that there is no (need for) combat? Also, bear in mind that if you shoot the 'enemy' in Portal (the turrets) the projectile simply goes through them. Shooting the enemy directly accomplishes nothing. There are plenty of examples with games that have shooting in them without being shooters. Mario Galaxy, the aforementioned Thief, The Ship etc. A movie that has humour in it does not make it a comedy. If a movie has action in it it is not necessarily an action movie. And so on. And anyone who states that gameplay genre X has little creativity left to it is not paying enough attention. Just because MTV is not playing music you like it doesn't mean it isn't being made. It's just a bit trickier to find.

By: P.o.B.

P.o.B. — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:55:52 -0800

The fact that you use a device that shoots the entry and exit points is irrelevant to the basic mechanic. I would beg to differ. Shooting is intrinsic to the gameplay. I don't see how saying "Nope, no shooting - Lalalala!" changes that. Even if it was "Bioshock Portal Magic" (shooting portals from your hand), it would still be an FPS. I could think of a few ways of killing people with a Portal Gun (redirecting turrets, dropping people out of ceiling portals, etc.). I'm not strictly defining the game because it has shooting in it, but like I said it is intrinsic to the gameplay thus a shooter. Look, I could go on about other dynamics of the game, but I'm not going to keep this up. Either you agree or disagree with me . Cool either way.

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:30:11 -0800

We got the PC version from Steam, and the Wii version. The 6 year old LOVES WoG. Loves it. It's an absolutely genius bit of code.

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:51:30 -0800

I would beg to differ. Shooting is intrinsic to the gameplay. I don't see how saying "Nope, no shooting - Lalalala!" changes that. Didn't you zoom off in a cloud of dust? Can I call you a cab, bro? No, really.

By: dw

dw — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:23:40 -0800

The music is what gets me. The strange combo of pioneer epic and Triplets of Belleville. But I've been stuck on MOM's Computer so long I just gave up.

By: jaronson

jaronson — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:54:40 -0800

The download reminds me of Soda Constructor

By: JHarris

JHarris — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:16:58 -0800

Mitheral: The download is an early prototype of World of Goo. It's not really a game at that point, so there is no goal. dwWow, you got that far and gave up? What is the problem, you can't figure out what to do?

By: P.o.B.

P.o.B. — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 07:35:34 -0800

Didn't you zoom off in a cloud of dust? Can I call you a cab, bro? No, really. it's alright, you can act grown up. No, really.

By: jefftang

jefftang — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 07:47:13 -0800

Sadly, the publisher of World of Goo went bankrupt recently.

By: dw

dw — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:22:04 -0800

dwWow, you got that far and gave up? What is the problem, you can't figure out what to do? I can't get the tower to hold together. I'm not even sure building the tower is the right thing to do. The switch in game structure just threw me.

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 06:16:46 -0800

Well that makes one of us.

By: P.o.B.

P.o.B. — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:37:22 -0800

Flattery will get you nowhere.

By: P.o.B.

P.o.B. — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 05:11:31 -0800

I never realized the "82% piracy rate" was extracted from numbers exclusive to the demo. "by the way, just in case it's not 100% clear, we're not angry about piracy, we still think that DRM is a waste of time and money, we don't think that we're losing sales due to piracy, and we have no intention of trying to fight it." 2D BOY's Ron Carmel Interesting.

By: krinklyfig

krinklyfig — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 10:49:32 -0800

"Sadly, the publisher of World of Goo went bankrupt recently." Yeah, but they're restructuring, not shutting down. They're not even laying anyone off. It has a lot more to do with the broader economy than their game or particular distribution philosophy. Just bought World of Goo today.