By Alec Meer on September 28th, 2008 at 1:41 pm.
World of Goo is so clever and so inventive that it actually scares me a little.
That is all.
(Except for saying that it crashed and inexplicably deleted all my progress in the process. The version I have isn’t finished code so bugs are understandable, but waaaah!)
Gah! Stop taunting us!
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I suppose I’d better preorder it then.
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eh… i want it, but $20 for a demoless game irritates me.
wont they meet us half way? Cheaper, demo or no buy.
That said, i can review my need for a demo if i can read a deeper write up explaining the nature of the game. I’ve watched youtube videos and i’m not sure that as an old bridge builder game fanatic i’d get addicted to the game.
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Here’s your stinking demo, soldier.
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Well, if you buy it you do get a Chapter long preview of the game, but I suppose that’s little help if you wanted to try it before a purchase. However, I do strongly suggest you try out Tower of Goo, the freeware game World was spawned from to get a vague idea.
Also: hugs for Alec. :(
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I’m playing it now. This is a clever game.
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yeah that is a good basic demo,. although they have done much more with it! Just give up the cash,. as the game thus far is very cool,. it is a nobel thing to support indie developers as they are working and will make you feel wise and generous,. plus with hyperinflation coming your money will soon be worthless anyway!
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Here are some deeper writeups…yet again? I’m not sure what you’re going to get from them that you can’t see on the videos, though. I mean, I know there’s one 30-min (Edit: SPOILERIFIC, obv) video of a play through the entire preorder chapter.
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=90750
http://www.pentadact.com/index.php/2008-02-29-preview-world-of-goo
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The game is kinda demoless BUT if you preorder you get to play the (outdated ^^) beta – the whole first chapter actually.
You know – the initial plans for World of Goo were that it be released on Valentine’s day – that’s also when I preordered it…
To everyone having any doubts about World of Goo: DON’T. :-D
It’s so friggin’ unbelievable – at its core it’s a very simple game BUT with the amount of polish that has been put on it (by just two, I repeat TWO guys) your jaws will drop. EVERYTHING is cool about this game – from the cute lil’ blobs, through the music to the incredibly satisfying sound of goo filling the tank at the end of each level. =)
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this is silly. why no demo? I am pretty excited about this game, but I make it a bit of a rule not to buy a game without a demo generally.
How on earth would making a demo be a bad idea?
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I reckon there will be a demo BUT this game isn’t out yet. ;-)
I mean – you don’t get demos when you preorder, do you? That’s the whole concept of preordering and why you usually get some freebies because you “trusted” the developers.
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I would guess that the first chapter – the pre-order gift – will be a public demo once the game’s out.
It’s an extraordinary game.
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A demo would be wonderful thing. I can only assume that they’re prioritising getting the main game done first. Maybe they’ll release one after the game’s out? I don’t know – I’m guessing.
Still – the first chapter you get with the pre-order is a joyous and wonderful thing. They did far more with “stick goo together” than I expected, even in that small sample. I have high hopes for the full thing.
And when I say “joyous” I really mean that. It has such a sense of fun, you’ll be smiling almost the whole time. It has a very coherent style, it feels… refined. It exemplifies the thing that it is to the best of its ability.
I suppose what I’m trying to get across is that it’s a shame that there’s no demo, but that I offer up my experience of the first chapter in its place. I’m fairly confident that any given person will find themselves filled with thick gloopy joy by the experience of playing it. It’s substantially more fun than being slapped in the face with a dead mole while you sleep.
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Games are subjective. I bought Sins Of A Solar Empire without a demo, and although I can see it’s very well made, it just didn’t click for me and I regret spending the money.
I doubt I’d regret buying World of Goo, but I don’t really want to encourage devs to not do demos.
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Right. So, wait until after release when they have time to release a demo. Is there a problem?
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I’ll wait till a demo. Got a pile of shame the size of K2. Brothers in arms road to hill 30, i’m really digging the screw up lethality.
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The first chapter was so utterly fantastic that I sympathise with people trying to explain quite how good it is. To put it in comparative (and entirely subjective terms) – on the basis of the first chapter, it kicks Braid’s ass to infinity and back again.
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Hi. Don’t have a 360 compare to something on the pc. Cheers. Also i want braid! I wonder how much we’ll get charged? More, less?
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Loved the First Chapter Preview, can’t wait for the game to be released (though I suspect that unless they added a way to leave the World of Goo Corporation without saving in the final version I’ll need to find an analyst).
It’s really enjoyable in terms of mechanics and has that joyful feel that bring back peace to your gaming self (whatever this may mean). Plus, you don’t see many games debating games as art while they load up (when not busy constructing emotional depth or filtering moral).
Some of the results in the leaderboard of excellence made me feel a bit inadequate too, but I can easily dismiss them as “most likely the result of some exploiting of bugs during beta”. I’m fairly confident I’ll be able to keep this delusion when the final version will be available as well, should it be needed.
(Multiwinia could use some attention too, I’m really having some fun in multi. Any other RPSer playing it at the moment?).
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Umm, why wouldn’t I compare it to a 360 game, particularly one that’s coming out on PC and has a similar context (indie, stylish, puzzle game, critically hyped/acclaimed …)? RPS being a PC site doesn’t mean you can’t mention consoles in the comments. That would be silly. I think the exact same comparison was made in the podcast, too.
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…The reason i said dont was personal, that comparison is useless to me, as i’ve played neither.
I wasnt so much saying you are a bad-bad man for doing so.
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Ah, misunderstood you, sorry.
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I just wanted to say that I approve wholeheartedly of not releasing demos until the game is finished. Moreover, I don’t actually understand anyone who does it the other way around.
If I play a demo, I will base my expectations of the full game on that. That’s the whole point. If the demo is at all unstable because it’s based on older code, I will be presuming that the full game is equally unstable.
So much polish tends to happen at the end of the development, that I always think it’s madness to put out a demo that will lack those improvements and could give a false impression.
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I pre-ordered this on impulse on Friday, largely due to the RPS podcast, and didn’t regret it at all. The preview chapter that I got with the pre-order is beautiful, bold, and amazingly good fun.
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I wished to pre order the game, but knew that British* stores might be lax in getting my enjoyment to me.
True to form, this is the best I got from a search:
Bah!
* Pronounced Biritisher, and with a stiff upper lip.
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Like Andrew up there ^ I picked up the pre-order on the strength of the enthusiasm expressed in the podcast and I’ve not been disappointed. It’s the slickest, most inventive, joyful gaming experience I’ve had in years, if not ever. A delight to play.
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I really don’t get the hype for this game? Is just a more polished Tower of Goo – itself a mini-game. What’s so clever?
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It’s not just a more polished Tower of Goo. It goes waaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond in ways so smart they make me feel stupid.
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Mr Indignity of Man:
Why not pre-order it direct from 2dboy online? The internet is international (Except when it isn’t. But in this case it is.). The option is on their game page.
As far as I know that’s also the only way to get the pre-order goodies, and presumably puts more money directly into their pockets than a retail purchase would.
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i emailed them to ask them if i should be waiting for the steam version or just jump right in and they were very nice about my prying and stuff and said they should find out this week or next and announce it to the world!
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Lorc, that is just crazy enough to work.
But not crazy enough to be considered as one of my ideas, which is why I didn’t think of it. I guess I won’t need this super soaker filled with strawberry jelly anymore.
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