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Totally crazy, totally canceled indie games, and the people who made them
From World of Goo dev Kyle Gabler to Plants vs. Zombies director George Fan (and everything in between), GDC's "The Failure Workshop" panel was full of thrills. Each of the panel's developers brought a project that never managed to make our acquaintance, offering a detailed explanation of what went wrong. Gabler, of 2D Boy, kicked the chair out from under his studio's robot-based sidescroller Robot and the Cities That Built Him when he and his cohorts finally decided that it simply wasn't very fun. After months of mock-ups and brainstorming, the game was finally turned into a fairly basic prototype (playable here) that sealed the project's untimely fate.
What's in a Name: 2D Boy
It's time for another origin story of an industry presence. Today, Kyle Gabler explains how he and partner Ron Carmel came up with their studio name, 2D Boy, using the process of elimination: Ron and I bummed around for a few weeks throwing names back and forth. They were all either awful, a sexual euphemism or their domain was being squatted on. Some examples for you: "Funk Button": We thought that sounded pretty great! And in every game, we could have a "Funk button," where when you press it, all the characters drop everything and dance! But then we looked it up on Urban Dictionary. I recommend everyone search Urban Dictionary before naming their game/studio/baby/etc. "Power of 2": because we are two guys with powerful muscles. Unfortunately this was also the name of a Christian rock band. And a year or so later, another game related business named itself the same thing. "Big Kitty," "Milky Dolphin" and "Sassy Weasel": Basically, every possible combination of words in the form of "adjective plus animal" was already taken as a game studio in Australia or somewhere. There's even a group actually called Adjective Animal. "Huge," "Massive" and "Enormous": Every possible synonym of the word "big" is already a game studio. We're an industry of confidence. "2D Boy!" We liked that it was short, it immediately conjured up an awkward little 2D kid lost in a 3D world as a mascot, and it was not big or powerful or assuming in any way. And the 5-character domain was actually available. For a while, people (like our bank in San Francisco and my dad) thought this was some sort of gay porn business. But after we made World of Goo, that showed them! 2D Boy's World of Goo is currently available on WiiWare, PC, Mac and iPad. Like this feature? Be sure to check out the What's In A Name Archives.
Veteran indies announce Tomorrow Corporation studio
Kyle Gray and Kyle Gabler, of Henry Hatsworth and World of Goo fame, respectively, have formed a new studio, along with Experimental Gameplay Project co-founder Allan Blomquist. In announcing this new "Tomorrow Corporation," the group managed to lampoon both indie developers and large studios, with statements like, "The secret to a truly great indie game is that special human touch, which our producers have scheduled for insertion shortly before the product ships." Tomorrow Corporation has yet to announce a game, though it has been working on "an actual real game for months now." If only there was some sort of developer-centric event, maybe one with a specialized indie component, during which they could make an announcement. Perhaps ... tomorrow? [Via Gamasutra]
2D Boy's Gabler clarifies next project
2D Boy's Kyle Gabler tells Joystiq that the current project he's working on with Henry Hatsworth creator Kyle Gray and World of Goo programmer Allan Blomquist is not the next game from 2D Boy. Following up on yesterday's confusing reports on the new game, Gabler told us that he and 2D Boy co-founder Ron Carmel don't want to prematurely announce their next project, which he believes will have huge expectations following the plaudits plopped on World of Goo.Gabler explained the game he's working on with Gray and Blomquist isn't a 2D Boy or EA title, and he later sent us a link which goes into more detail on the Experimental Gameplay Project website. The game he's working on with the "EGP guys" will be high quality, though only a couple of hours long.
2D Boy's Gabler drops hints on upcoming WiiWare game
2D Boy's Kyle Gabler, speaking with Nintendo Dpad, mentions he's currently working on a new WiiWare project with Henry Hatsworth creator Kyle Gray. Programming things along will be World of Goo code guy Allan Blomquist. Gabler states that the trio hasn't mentioned "anything about it to anyone," but drops the gooey detail that the new game is based on an experimental title from their past. Hmmm.We're following up to find out if there's any further information on the title and whether Ron Carmel -- 2D Boy's other co-founder -- is also involved in the project. We'll update as soon as we receive more details.Update: Gabler let us know this is not the next project from 2D Boy, but a separate thing he's working on.[Via Go Nintendo]
Free World of Goo soundtrack gently caresses your ears
World of Goo didn't only look and play wonderfully -- we also fell in love with how it sounded. The cute squealing of gooballs was backed by one of the most varied and memorable soundtracks of 2008.And now, it can be all yours! 2D Boy's Kyle Gabler spent a weekend compiling and remastering several of the game's marvellous tracks "like they do to Snow White DVDs," and has put it up for grabs here (be warned: at the time of writing, the site is flitting on and offline). We're yet to download and listen to our copy, but we suspect it is the sweetest-sounding 85MB of anything we download this year.%Gallery-16000%[Via 2D Boy]
Oz to soon be covered in goo
It's no secret that we love World of Goo. The game is great and if you don't like it, we don't like you then we appreciate you giving the game the old college try. Now, 2D Boy's most excellent title has been rated by the OFLC, meaning a down under release is closing in. With the news that Europe would be getting the game, we're now happy to see just about every territory getting in the action. Any of our Aussie readers looking forward to this one? You should be!See also: Wii Fanboy interviews 2D Boy (World of Goo)%Gallery-16000%[Via Go Nintendo]
Wii Fanboy interviews 2D Boy (World of Goo)
After thoroughly enjoying 2D Boy's World of Goo, we decided that just playing and loving the game was not enough. So, we shot some questions over to Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler from the indie start-up. Imagine our surprise when they actually answered them all! So, head past the break and read our interview with these talented lads.%Gallery-16000%
World of Goo-d news for Europe
We love you, 2D Boy. Yes, you, Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler. As if the brilliant, brilliant World of Goo wasn't already enough to make us swoon, the hunky dreamy dynamic duo have done something that bigger companies should do more: they've actually listened to the people who buy their games.Before today, World of Goo was all set to be a retail title in Europe, a decision that brought about a backlash, due to the added expense. Carmel heard the outcry, because he recently told Gamasutra: "We've caught some flak for [the decision]. Gamers were kind of annoyed. Apparently, we had no idea about this, but European gamers often feel like they're getting screwed, because games arrive late and cost more." Too true!So now, World of Goo is coming to WiiWare in Europe also! A post on the 2D Boy blog reveals that it should be coming in December, and for probably the same price (1500 points, and worth every one). And what of the extra sixth chapter that Europe is getting as a consolation prize? We're going to totally speculate that it will be made available as DLC, in which case North America could get the missing section after all. Everybody wins!%Gallery-16000%
2D Boy discuss World of Goo pricing, dates, paranoia
World of Goo has been a squishy blip on our radar for ages now, but development will be wrapped up soon. WiiWare World got a chance to chat with 2D Boy duo Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler, who revealed that development for the U.S. version will be complete in September, and that they're hopeful the game will be released Stateside in late October. Oh, and it'll cost more than 1,000 Wii Points. Wait, what?So far, only Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King has dared to breach the 1,000 Wii Points mark, but Nintendo clearly thinks 2D Boy's gooey, beautiful puzzler is worth the extra pointage. On the bright side, North Americans won't be paying as much as Europe, where the game will be retail-only, cost €40 (£31), and has been delayed until Q1 2009. The European version will have a sixth chapter, however, one that takes place on the moon.Amongst all the new details to digest (also worth mentioning: the two-player co-op mode now accomodates four players), Gabler seems like he'll be relieved when the game is out of the door. "I like to hate the game as much as possible, and believe that it's ugly, with horrible gameplay, and that nobody will like it," he admitted. "If this were a human relationship, it would be very unhealthy, and World of Goo would cry a lot." Man, that brings back memories.%Gallery-16000%
Building a World of Goo
Back when we chatted to 2D Boy's Ron Carmel about World of Goo, he confessed to being "in awe" of his development partner and artist Kyle Gabler's "creative talents."It's easy to see why. We also really dig World of Goo's unique 'Tim-Burton-does-Loco-Roco' visual style, and so the video above, featuring (presumably) Gabler constructing one of the levels from scratch was an unexpected delight that we only just stumbled upon. The footage is actually a month old, but as we're yet to see this posted anywhere else, we felt it deserved some coverage. That up there is talent, people.%Gallery-16000%
Joystiq hands-on: World of Goo (WiiWare)
Cute graphics and sounds: Check. Clever puzzle mechanic: Check. Irresistible gameplay: Check. World of Goo hits the required bullet points to be an indie game darling. And comfortable Wii Remote controls make it a perfect fit to be in Nintendo's WiiWare lineup.Players build simple structures by pointing and dragging living, bouncing goo balls. These spherical wonders extend a few arms to their closest neighbors, becoming rigid when the Remote button is released. Gamers have to figure out how to build bridges, towers, and other structures without toppling them over, all while trying to use as few balls as possible. In the end, they're trying to lead the remaining balls to a mysterious pipe that sucks them away at the end of the level.I tried the action-puzzler at the Nintendo Media Summit and am anticipating its release sometime this year. (Developer 2D Boy says its work will be complete in the Summer, and Nintendo will schedule the release after that.) World of Goo felt great and could be poised to be an indie game that crosses over into commercial success.%Gallery-20573%
