Goo! Extended Preview Video

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: October 20th, 2007

Oh boy, I’ve wanted to cover this one for ages! Perhaps you’ve seen it on the list of IGF entrants…

Goo! is a new and strange action/strategy game from PillowFort (previously Amorphous Games), which is actually TIGS regular Aubrey Hesselgren and Tommy Refenes (Bezzy and Tommunism on the forums, respectively). In Goo! you control an amorphous blob of goo trying to overwhelm and absorb opposing blobs of goo as they try and do the same to you.+ Actually, that’s just one of the many play modes planned for the finished game, but whatever. Watch the video.

Now, this video isn’t a trailer exactly — it’s more of a live demonstration. It shows off some of the modes, skins, procedural effects… and touches on many coming additions.
Check it out!

This is definitely something to keep an eye on. Show some love, people.

MAC USERS: If the above video is trouble, check out the version at PillowFort’s site.

SEXY UPDATE: Oops, nearly forgot — you can follow Goo!‘s progress (and read up on its storied past) over at ’s development blog">its development blog. Until the new PillowFort site goes up, that is!

+ Say that five times fast.

Posted in IGF / GDC, Previews, Strategy, Videos | Tags: PillowFort, TommyRefenes

http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

Lookin’ funky fresh. Good luck at IGF, amigos!
edenb

Good luck! hug hug kiss kiss and such ;)
Space Ranger.

It looks nice yes. But I think I’d quickly become bored of smearing goo around.
Mruq

Yup, the game has to be pretty addictive if the man actually forgets that he’s in the middle of a presentation and just plays survival mode :D

Kudos!
anyar

This looks a lot like Liquid War.
Bezzy

Woohoo! Thanks for the plug, B!
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

It ain’t no thang. ;)

Now get on IRC!
Gravious

Guys, that looks AWESOME

I cant wait to play that.
Pyrrhon

The concept is really interesting. But the gameplay does feel a little dull at the moment. But it sure got huge potential!
http://www.g4g.it FireSword

WA-TAAA! xD
Tommunism

Yea I stopped talking in Survival Mode because I was like “Shit, I’m not going to die and I’m going to have to redo this take” (that video was basically 1 take)…but then wave 15 or whatever hit and I got killed:) Thanks for the props guys!
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

Post updated… for justice.
namuol

Liquid War 3D!
colorFool

Yeah, awesome stuff there! Love the menu, looks really smoove!
Besides the gameplay, the procedural fun in the background is neat – will there be something like choosable themes, so you can kind of fit the background to the skin? That would allow for darker goo, too (plus black would suit the 360 skin much better) :)
Alright, I’m gonna stop rambling about nit picks already. Good luck at IGF!
Tommunism

Not sure about fitting the background to the skin as the skins are totally seperate from any code (100% plug and play) but that isn’t the final background..it’s more of a proof of concept, test of the beat detection.
Jonathan Blow

I think it looks neat. I do worry that the gameplay might get too same-y after a little while. I find myself wishing that the territory mattered a little more, so that there was a reason to be at certain places on the screen (which would in turn enhance the interaction between players and help encourage strategic thinking).

One example of that might be control points that give you a little boost when you have them surrounded. One makes your goo more dense (so it’s harder for the opponent to push through); one gives you slight regeneration; one increases your cursor speed; one increases your fling speed; one increases aftertouch duration/magnitude. etc. A typical arrangement might be 4 control points in the corners and a 5th one in the middle, though another source of variety might be changing that terrain / the number and types of control points.
Tommunism

Jonathan, that’s actually similar to one of the planned game modes called Factory Mode. Not made yet, but when it is I’m going to post a video of it:) I like how you think:)
PHeMoX

Yeah, a capture the flag-type game would be an awesome twist to this concept in multiplayer!! :D In addition, it would be cool if this factory mode has areas bigger than just 1 screen. :)
guesst

So does liquid wars even get a kao tau as a source of initial inspiration on this one? I mean, seriously, you can’t say that didn’t at least serve as an inspiration.
guesst

Uh, I just read the part on the blog that says “That’s right. When I came up with the idea of Goo, I had never heard of Liquid War, and it was only after checking google to see if that name was taken that I found the game.” and the bit about “‘Liquid War Copying Cunts’ is the thing you would write if you enjoy trolling, for example!”

I’ll take you at your word and say, oops, sorry ’bout that. You’ve got to admit, there are more than just a few similarities. The iconic control, the blobs. I mean, are you sure you didn’t hear of the game or play it elsewhere?
Mruqe

It does look a lot like Liquid Wars. But hey, many inventions were made independently by men from opposite corners of the world. And I know how it feels to find out that someone already made something that in your mind is on the stage of “great, innovative idea” (hell, I came up with an idea for a children book about a young wizard and his school adventures and heard about Harry Potter :P). Plus – even if the idea is very much alike – there’s a lot of fun twists in the gameplay. Accumulating and throwing the goo around the corners and stuff…
Cas

Who cares whether he thought of it independently or not. The problem with this game is that it has the typical simple gameplay of freeware flash games – so it will probably be valued as such by the great unwashed. It’s a nice idea – but as a game, it looks to have very limited appeal.
Space Ranger.

^ My thoughts exactly!
Scarbir

A perfect title for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. Wow, I sure want to try this.
moon_rabbits

Yes, I thought of liquid wars when I first watched the video. I really don’t care, though, because this looks like a modernized version + it has a lot more depth by the looks of it.
Stij

Aubrey Hesselgren is a cool name.

That is all.
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

Cool dude, too.
Mruqe

@Cas: Have you ever tried to play liquid wars? It had me hooked up for more than an hour, and from what I see here the gameplay in Goo is going to be much more complex than there. I don’t discharge your opinion, but I still think that Goo has a decent replayability – mostly in multiplayer. I never tried to play liquid wars with friends, but I imagine that might be a hell of a party game. An I belive that Goo might be in many ways superior than LW. Just my humble opinion, anyway.

Regards!
Phasma Felis

The game looks like fun, but the name makes me sad, because it will inevitably cause confusion with World of Goo.
Matt

Love the typo at the end of survival mode.
Spanws.
Pokeronymous

::pokes TIGS with a stick:: C’mon. I know you ain’t dead.
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

Ow, quit it.

It was the weekend and I wasn’t feeling well, alright? :P
Cas

Reckon multiplayer’s where it’s at… but again, not something that’s likely to capture the imaginations of too many people. It just doesn’t identify much with our primeval senses. Things that are too abstract like this aren’t popular.
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

Sounds like you may be trying to convince yourself of that.
Mruqe

Still… I was disappointed to discover this hame has nothing to do with the magnificent “Tower of Goo”.

@Cas: Think tetris :)
raelz

Aah liquid wars, hate this game i suck at it :D
Nevermind, this looks gorgeous, lf to it for sure!
Bezzy

“Jon Blow sez: One example of that might be control points that give you a little boost when you have them surrounded.”

Great. I have had a game mode designed up now for quite a while now which is exactly that.

Bring on the accusations of ripping off other ideas :)

Truth is, this game’s such an elegant concept that I’m not surprised or bitter that someone else thought of it first. Obviously we’ve looked at Liquid War, but it was mainly to see if what I had in mind was too similar and therefor not worth the effort. As it turns out, Goo has slightly more “participatory” controls than Liquid War. You’re much more a part of this physical object, while Liquid War (which I loved, incedentally) has more of a passive feel. The two are just different at their core. If we can have Gran Turismo and Burnout co-existing at opposite ends of a genre’s spectrum, I feel like there’s room for both Liquid War and Goo.