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World of Goo Update, 10 Years Later
- senectus1 8y agowow.. just a few bits from the update: To be super clear, there are no new levels, no new characters, no new battle royale deathmatch mode. This is just a gentle remastering we did for fun. The framework has been replaced. This is the thing that draws all the graphics onto your screen, and sends all the audio to your speakers, etc. This means the Win / Mac / Linux version should work on modern computers again without freaking out, and you can run the game on modern displays at whatever resolution you want. Game now runs at a hi-def widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio by default. The original ran at a squarer 4:3 ratio. Resolution of graphics is doubled. The original game ran at 800×600, and the tiny graphic files didn’t scale to huge monitors very gracefully. We used a few different high quality upscaling tools to start, and then went over each image by hand, tweaking each image further as needed. In a few lucky cases, we still had the original source files and were able to use those. But if you still really want the original flavor, there’s a setting to use the original graphics, also included with the game. Fabulous joke about looking good in hi-def has remained unchanged. Brought over graphical and UI improvements from releases on other platforms, like Nintendo Switch. No more encrypted assets or save files. We hope this makes the game more open and friendly to mod. The config.user.txt file is now located wherever your save file is stored. So no more editing that file in your Program Files folder. It has a bunch of new config vars exposed as well. We’ll be updating the game everywhere Win / Mac / Linux versions are available in the next few days. These updates 10 years after the initial release. These guys love their fans.
- ocdtrekkie 8y agoIt's worth noting that they're launching on Epic Games, free for two weeks, tomorrow, I believe. So this is an update they were just recently effectively paid to do. Though of course, it also benefits the folks on Steam as well.
- notafraudster 8y agoWill it benefit the folks on Steam? I was under the impression the update was not coming to Steam for a year, although the end of the blog post does seem to suggest it'll be coming out. Maybe unclear reporting when the patch was announced a few weeks ago?
- stordoff 8y agoMy reading of the blog post would be yes - "We’re slowly updating the game everywhere it’s currently available over the course of this and next week." - but I wouldn't take it as a definitive statement.
- masklinn 8y agoThe post says they're updating it on every platform it's published on. The "Secret World of Goo Download Location" already has the 1.5 built, if it hasn't rolled out to steam I expect it'll come soon.
- kgwxd 8y agoHoly cow, I bought the game 10 years ago, found my old email with the "Secret World of Goo Download Location" and it worked :) No Linux update yet, but I'm going to play the original anyway. Such a fun game. Edit: .deb package didn't work on Xubuntu 19.04 but extracting the .tar.gz and running ./WorldOfGoo.bin64 worked like a charm
- beefsack 8y agoI've got the same email, dated 23rd October 2008, and very impressive that the link still works and has the updated binaries listed.
- mav3rick 8y agoThe deb package not working is sad. Any idea why that is ?
- kgwxd 8y agoWhen I tried to run it from the terminal, it said something about a missing Gnome thing, maybe it would work on Ubuntu (I'm on Xubuntu). Either way, I already have a ton of other games I run directly without installing as a package, it's not really a problem, I actually prefer it.
- skummetmaelk 8y agoThis is actually super impressive. Managing to create an application bundle which doesn't break down every now and then with new system updates is super challenging. 10 years is just wild. Unless you only have libc as a dependency but I doubt that for a graphical application.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- skrebbel 8y agoDoesn't that mean Linux is entirely broken? Isn't the whole point of OSes that things that used to work, keep working? I mean, lots of things are wrong with Windows but I can double-click a .exe from 1998 and in most cases it'll just run. I'd assume Linux, being used a lot for servers and long-running apps, would have this too?
- da_chicken 8y agoThe other games from this developer, Human Resource Machine and 7 Billion Humans, are fun little pseudo programming puzzle games. They're pretty good!
- leetbulb 8y agoThose two are available on the switch as well. I highly recommend anyone check them out. Girlfriend and I love to play together.
- Adamantcheese 8y agoAnd if you like those, any of the Zachtronics series of games are perfect. Spacechem is a personal favorite (machine layout programming), but there's also TIS-100 (modular system programming), SHENZEN IO (modular digital logic programming), and Opus Magnum (machine layout programming). The last two are actually upgrades of older games they made, KOHCTPYKTOP and The Codex of Alchemical Engineering. I'm hoping that Ruckingenur II gets an upgrade eventually (debugging! in a video game!).
- azhenley 8y agoDon’t forget EXAPUNKS!
- Aromasin 8y agoSHENZEN IO was my favourite by a mile. Although looking through a datasheet half-written in Mandarin to understand what was going on, at 2am, to then go into work at 6am and look through more datasheets half-written in Mandarin - well, I swiftly began to question my life decisions.
- huydotnet 8y agoDamn, it's been 10 years, I used to follow their dev blog and their little 2d starter code project is what lead me to game development. Now, I left game dev, the guys still. Reading the update bring me back to these days, ohhh
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- darkhorn 8y agoAfter AoE II, Worms, and World of Goo I wish similar update for Red Alert 2.
- smnrchrds 8y agoWorms too? I missed that news. Do you have a link?
- darkhorn 8y agoThis one https://youtu.be/Dgcm6YrFglw https://youtu.be/Dgcm6YrFglw and I think there is also Worms HD.
- pushpop 8y agoWhen I read that Worms was getting remastered, I thought that meant the original DOS game with that style of graphics. The cartoony DirectX versions that have been around for about 15 years now always felt like the remastered “high definition” versions in comparison (“HD” as in relative to the DOS game rather than HD the 720i/1080p specification)
- frio 8y agoOpenRA is pretty excellent.
- poglet 8y agoHave you taken a look into OpenRA? There is a RA2 mod you might be interested in. https://github.com/OpenRA/ra2 https://github.com/OpenRA/ra2
- stordoff 8y agoCnC (original and Red Alert) is getting a remaster[1] - if that does well, I can't see RA2 being far behind. It's also quite playable in CnCNet. [1] https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/command-and-conquer-red-alert-remastered-release-date/ https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/command-and-conquer-red-alert-rem... (URL is somewhat misleading - release date is unknown)
- WrtCdEvrydy 8y agoWhere can you buy this now? I like people who update things!
- crowbahr 8y agoIt's available on Steam for $10 or DRM free cross platform from https://2dboy.com/ https://2dboy.com/. I believe there is also a mobile version? Correct me if I'm wrong.
- Angostura 8y agoThe iOS version has been sitting on my iPhone for 10 years and still runs very nicely. Just checked the app store - still there.
- zachguo 8y agoMainly because they are trying to port it to Switch. It's great anyway.
- Sektor 8y agoTrying? It's out already isn't it?
- masklinn 8y agoIt's been out for 2 years.
- MattRix 8y agoIt's not because of that, it's because it's the next big free game on Epic's Game Store next week.
- masklinn 8y agoNo, it's because it's going to be a promo title on the epic store, and they used that occasion to update the OG version https://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-goo-is-getting-updated-and-going-free-on-the-epic-game-store/ https://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-goo-is-getting-updated-and-...
- gbraad 8y agoLikely in preparation of the Fre Giveaway for the Epic Gamestore? https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/ https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- Reedx 8y agoThis seems like a strategy everyone can appreciate: Epic pays indie developers to update their old games
- figgis 8y ago> Epic buys Rocket League publisher, announces Epic Launcher exclusive, and goes silent after backlash Seems like a better way to put it. They are buying IP left and right and pushing their unfinished, buggy client in a very unhealthy way. [0] - https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-05-01-epic-acquires-psyonix-will-remove-rocket-league-from-sale-on-steam-later-this-year https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-05-01-epic-acquires-...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- onien11235 8y agoThe link you provided doesn't say what you claim it says. The parent post is discussing giving away free games, not acquisitions. What is unhealthy about the way Epic is trying to attract users? I know they've received some negative press but I have yet to see a good argument for this.
- Causality1 8y agoBuying IP in order to pull it off competing storefronts is anti-consumer. >thereafter it will continue to be supported on Steam for all existing purchasers
- codetrotter 8y agoI bought the Humble Indie Bundle in May 2010 that included World of Goo. I think I have the game on Steam as well through the Steam key that was included but can’t check right now. Anyway, since some are saying it may take a while before the Steam version is updated, I was wondering if the download that is accessible through my account on Humble Bundle has been / will be updated?
- nzgrover 8y agoI got it in the Humble Bundle. No Steam key provided and I just downloaded it from the HB site and it's not updated. Pity, I really like this game and think my kids, who weren't born when it came out(!), would really love it too.
- em-bee 8y agofrom this comment it looks like there is a different way to access the bundle that get's an updated link. in any case they are aware of the humble bundle and seem to promise to update that too: https://tomorrowcorporation.com/posts/world-of-goo-update-10-years-later#comment-9291 https://tomorrowcorporation.com/posts/world-of-goo-update-10...
- em-bee 8y agothe humble bundle download link has been updated. it features version 1.51 now
- thrower123 8y agoI've tried to like this game, since it is an Indie Wonder. But it just isn't much fun for me. There are better things to spend your time on.
- wintorez 8y agoOne of the best games I ever played. This along with "FAR: Lone Sails" are two of my favorite chill games.
- leppr 8y agoA few more: Blueberry Garden, Starseed Pilgrim, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Braid
- sara1232364 8y agoWorld's biggest cat Even you can't believe it's size See her video https://howto105.blogspot.com/2019/04/worlds-biggest-cat.html https://howto105.blogspot.com/2019/04/worlds-biggest-cat.htm... They found world's biggest fish Even you can't believe how big fish is this That's unbelievable http://bit.ly/2FHl4pM http://bit.ly/2FHl4pM Even some goats are better than humans See that she did and they made her as mayor of city http://bit.ly/2UjTcS5 http://bit.ly/2UjTcS5
- azhenley 8y agoBecause of this post, I just found out about Human Resource Machine... I’m hooked. Currently I’m trying to optimize my Level 17 solution. I hope these people continue producing new games.
- shhsshs 8y agoI love games like Human Resource Machine. If you’re interested in more games of that genre, check out TIS-100, Shenzhen I/O, and SpaceChem!
- tech2 8y agoAlso in a same-but-different kind of way, Opus Magnum (but then you can spiral out into Factorio and other games of its ilk)
- OskarS 8y agoIt sounds like you guys aren't aware of EXAPUNKS, which is Zachtronics newest game. It's my favorite of the whole bunch, you guys should check it out! You get a hacker zine to print out along with it!
- hylianwarrior 8y agoThey actually just recently released a sequel to Human Resource Machine called "7 Billion Humans". Builds on the gameplay but adds parallelism
- Wowfunhappy 8y ago> To be super clear, there are no new levels, no new characters, no new battle royale deathmatch mode. This is just a gentle remastering we did for fun. This update is great and all, but I was actually... really hoping for new levels. I've wanted them for the past ten years. Pretty please? Maybe some day? :'(
- jjjensen90 8y agoThey did unencrypt the assets and save files, so maybe some modders will add new levels?
- Avery3R 8y agopeople cracked the crypto long ago
- dcbadacd 8y agoThere was (is?) a WoG modding site that contained a lot of new levels.
- Wowfunhappy 8y agoIf anyone has custom level recommendations, I'm all ears! I tried a few in the past and found them of middling quality. (I say this with all possible respect to the modders, of course, their efforts are appreciated.)
- vortico 8y agoThis game really opened me (and possibly other people) up to indie gaming. They're definitely not the first small team to tackle a fun game concept like this (The first game companies were 2-4 people.) but maybe the most influential of 10 years ago.
- crazygringo 8y agoI loved playing World of Goo when it came out. And nothing has made me feel older than finding out it's 10 years old. I would have been like... 4 years? 5 at the most? Wow. Congrats to them!
- King-Aaron 8y agoDon't talk to us about feeling old at 15, haha!
- Djvacto 8y agoHis account was made in 2011, which makes me think maybe (hopefully?) he meant 'I would have guessed' and not 'been' 4 or 5 years. Either that, or at 15 he is way more involved in software than I am now :P
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- benj111 8y agoI think he was guessing how old he thought the game was, not how old he was when he bought it.
- King-Aaron 8y agoTotally misread it, in all honesty.
- pwinnski 8y agoYou interpreted their written communication correctly; it was just poor communication. They wrote as if they were speaking, and it would only have been understandable when speaking because of context and intonation. "I would have been, like..." works when you then act out what you would have been like.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- Causality1 8y ago>we’ve just updated the Win / Mac / Linux versions of World of Goo for the first time since 2008 or 2009 >release date October 2008 I get that it's a three-man studio but man that's a really bad support track record.
- ggambetta 8y agoHeh, this is amazing. I've thought of remastering and re-releasing some of the old Mystery Studio titles (http://mysterystudio.com http://mysterystudio.com). Unfortunately it would need more art work than programming work, and art is not my thing :(
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoIf it's vectorising pixel graphics you're after then I've seen some incredible stuff done automating that.
- ggambetta 8y agoThat might definitely help! Any pointers?
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoLooking now I think it was much longer ago than I recalled so things could have moved on considerably, but I think what I was recalling was https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2601347 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2601347 . Also I hope that "pointers" pun was intentional!
- ggambetta 7y agoThanks for the link! As for the pun, no, it was a happy accident. I'm not that clever :P
- zubspace 8y agoVery nice. But I wonder why they did encrypt assets or save files in the first place for a single player game? Is this ever useful?
- Lorkki 8y agoIt may help stave off blatant rip-offs for a while. Of course, if you strike it big, someone will eventually find enough time with a debugger to get around it, but as a small indie dev you'll probably be most interested in making sure you can break even first.
- Moru 8y agoSome frameworks do this by default to protect grafic assets from stealing. At least too easily.
- penagwin 8y agoEveryone knows you can't prevent piracy/copycats forever, but it was likely built into whatever they built the game with, or wasn't too difficult to add. Yes a determined person could still get to them but it helps buy you some time as your game launches.
- drej 8y agoI remember installing World of Goo on my iPad back in... 2010? It was super fun, immersive, well ported to the tablet, it was actually one of my selling points for the then new device. I should get it again.
- xg15 8y agoDevs who update a game to make unrestricted modding easier. In 2019. Really cool!
- vanderZwan 8y agoGiven what happened to them it's even more impressive: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2008/11/acrying-shame-world-of-goo-piracy-rate-near-90/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2008/11/acrying-shame-world-o...
- ricardobeat 8y agoNo data to back that claim up. From my POV Steam still was seen as a burden in 2008 and wasn’t nearly as popular as today, pirating was still easier. I bought the game on steam around 2011/12.
- Cthulhu_ 8y agoIIRC the data they used was their own, that is, they seeded a pirated version onto the known suspects themselves and through the online functionality (iirc a leaderboard of creating the highest tower) were able to detect it.
- Asooka 8y ago90% piracy is about par for the course. Doom and Quake's was even higher IIRC. It basically tells you that your game runs on cheap PCs and poor people won't spend more than 5-10$ on a game. Steam sales and region-based pricing are one way of trying to capture that market.
- vanderZwan 8y agoFair point - I was not being judgemental of the poor, just impressed that these indy developers are mature enough to understand and not be salty about it (I think they almost went bankrupt at one point).
- badsectoracula 8y ago
- sara1732 8y agoThey found world's biggest fish Even you can't believe how big fish is this That's unbelievable http://bit.ly/2FHl4pM http://bit.ly/2FHl4pM A cute dog is dancing in video Just watch this video and try to control your laugh http://bit.ly/2ZK1XVs http://bit.ly/2ZK1XVs See how a Turkey saved the life of his friends Even those birds also have love in their hearts http://bit.ly/2WhAiZS http://bit.ly/2WhAiZS Guy made world record He drive car on two wheels See his video how he is driving http://bit.ly/2ZOYaWX http://bit.ly/2ZOYaWX See the video of this man he is catching balls and he is wearing blindfold http://bit.ly/2Vx4Mdl http://bit.ly/2Vx4Mdl
- ChrisRR 8y agoWorld of Goo was a great example from the early Android days of what people thought the future of mobile gaming would be. High quality games that could be controlled with tapping and swiping. Unfortunately it turned out to be mostly games preying on the impatience of the player to make microtransactions.
- paxys 8y agoFlight Control, Doodle Jump, (early) Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, Tap Tap Revenge, Cut the Rope, Fieldrunners. I really miss the good old days of iPhone gaming.
- gokaygurcan 8y agoFlight Control :( I wish they update the game to make it compatible with latest iOS.
- mwexler 8y agoFiremint was eaten by Electronic Arts (EA) and most of their games disappeared (including Puzzle Quest, which they acquired). Companies should consider when they can open source things like this to let greatness live on, if they won't find a way to support it directly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_Control_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_Control_(video_game)
- StavrosK 8y agoTiny Wings was a masterpiece.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y agoI'm surprised nobody here has mentioned the Wii version. I do own the PC release (from when it was in that first Humble Bundle) but this game was a brilliant fit for the WiiMote controller. I still play it today.
- kellengreen 8y agoAgreed, the Wii version was great.
- mebo 8y agoThere's a switch version that uses the accelerometer/gyro in the joy cons to emulate a wiimote, it works surprisingly well - definitely worth a shot if you want to replay it!
- timvisee 8y agoAwesome! Based on the title I though the game didn't receive any updates for about 10 years or so. Apparently that thought is incorrect: https://steamdb.info/sub/1045/history/ https://steamdb.info/sub/1045/history/
- raverbashing 8y agoWow it's been 10 years already? (Check my purchase email, it is from 2010) Time flies. And WoG was such a nice game!
- dcbadacd 8y agoI really wish they (PopCap) did the same with Plants vs. Zombies 1.
- PhasmaFelis 8y agoI'm still waiting on my Profanity Pack, damn it! http://goofans.com/faq/world-of-goo/getting-world-of-goo/wherewhat-profanity-pack http://goofans.com/faq/world-of-goo/getting-world-of-goo/whe...
- Retroity 8y agoIt's super cool that the game is being updated 10 years later to effectively remaster it AND make modding easier! I wish more developers were like this, but I can see why that might be difficult (which makes this all the more impressive)
- neves 8y agoTerrible news. I've just bought the desktop version to get some flashbacks :-) BTW, the old version was terrible in my modern Windows machine.
- Scuds 8y agoI've always loved the Danny Elfman-esque soundtrack
- zerr 8y agoI wonder what's the new engine. They were using PopCap Games Framework.