the world (of goo) wasn’t built in a day — part 3 of 7
two weeks have gone by and world of goo is now 5 weeks old. as a screenshot, it hasn’t changed much in two weeks, but it feels completely different when you play it. you can download this build here.
since we knew that the game would be some collection of puzzles, or levels, we needed to start defining what a level is in order to start working on level design. if you look inside this build you’ll see our first attempt to define the level format. it’s in <root>/res/levels/GooHill/GooHill.xml. this level format allows us to create layers at different depths for a parallax effect (see the clouds?) and to define the physical geometry from which the actual structure of the level is comprised. press CTRL+ALT+D to enable debug mode and see the physical geometry. also added force and velocity vectors to visual debugging.
but the main focus of these two weeks was to bring the goo balls to life. the ball definition file (<root>/res/balls/balls.xml) was enhanced to allow for balls with “moving parts”. eyes and pupils were added, the goo balls look where they’re going, glance around, and stare at you when you mouse over them. their eyes jiggle when you move them around to make them feel more squishy and juicy and they have different animations for different parts in different states (falling, attached, walking, etc). there’s also the first attempt at making them cast shadows, which was super simple but had serious limitations. another new thing in this version is the ability to throw the balls around. it adds absolutely nothing to how you play the game, but it feels good. that’s probably the most important thing i learned from kyle so far, that game design is more about crafting an experience than perfecting a game mechanic.
March 11th, 2009 at 10:56 am
You perfect a game mechanic in order to provide an interesting experience for the player. Right?
March 11th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
These have been awesome to read so far. Thanks for sharing!
March 11th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
I think this is visually much better! But the gameplay really hasen’t been changed a bit from part 2.
By the way, when will music and sound be added? I can’t wait to find out!
March 11th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
2Dboy were before.
LOL.
March 11th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Great!
this is getting better and better.
pssst, any chance we get to see some source code, or is that way too ugly for us all?
Keep it up!
March 11th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
I have to agree that visual debugging is a great way to find bugs. I map/mod for wc3, and would be unable to find 99% of bugs without text or graphics helping me see what’s going on.
The only problem with this is it takes extra time – but saves more in the end.
March 12th, 2009 at 6:45 am
Thanks Ron,
This is really interesting :)
March 14th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
What a wonderfor game.It’s BGM and originality is perfect!
这个游戏太棒了。它的音乐和创意简直是完美！
March 15th, 2009 at 6:49 am
Muy bueno jjaa Word Of Goo es lo mejor
March 15th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Not sure if you ‘take questions’ from comments on here – but out of interest, was Goo a thoroughly planned project (with specific stages) or were you sort of still ‘jamming’ at this phase in order to work out what to do next? Because it strikes me that your progression is fairly structured, and you know what areas need focus (e.g. the appearance of the goo balls). Or did you just have such a good vision of the end product that you knew what would be important?
Thanks.
March 16th, 2009 at 7:42 am
@david, we didn’t have a plan when we started. we took one step at a time and after each one tried to think what step would make sense next.
March 16th, 2009 at 10:40 am
nice. when’s the next one coming?:)
March 20th, 2009 at 8:11 am
I just learned two things:
1) You can develop an awesome game(not completed) in 5 weeks.
2) XML and videogames.
Thanks.
March 24th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
no puedo juegar parte 2
March 25th, 2009 at 10:51 am
This is very cool. I love seeing the progression to the final product. I applaud you for publishing these things.
March 27th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Thanks for the nice game, I would like to see more phyics stuff, maybe in the next project… but this is simple graphic with much thinking, nice and wonderfull..
April 6th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
i don’t think this game is completely original, reminded me Lemmings, and some balancing game, but still, very good job, the combination of some different ideas is brilliant
the graphics is good, as well as the music
May 12th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
I started playing on this version!
Also I remember that by slowing down one of the goo squeak sound, you can actually hear “Holy Fnck”! haha ;D
May 28th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
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