| Goo! | |
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 official screenshot number 13 | |
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Developers |
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Released |
never |
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Genre |
goo manipulation |
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Modes |
single player |
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Platforms |
Windows |
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Input |
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Website |
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Goo! was a game by Tommy Refenes and Aubrey Hesselgren with sound and music by Justin Bell
Gameplay[]
Players control an amorphous blob of liquid, and attempt to capture other blobs by surrounding them, much like an amoeba. It was an attempt to make a conceptually simple RTS game, focussing on battlefield strategies as opposed to StarCraft style resource gathering and factory building. Instead of armies being treated as units, they were treated as a continuous potential field.
Trivia[]
Aubrey and Tommy met at Streamline Studios, working on HoopWorld. When the development team crumbled, they split to work on Goo!.
The original concept was by Aubrey, who also prototyped early physics and Goo "skins" (heightmap shaders). In the early stages, Tommy laid the foundation work for the engine, but then went on to re-write the entire game several times over.
About a year and a half into development, the stress had started to mount, and cracks began to show: Aubrey eventually split from development due to depression . Tommy tried to finish the game off for a good year after this, entering it into the IGF, and into an Intel Game Demo competition, but got tired of working alone and released what he had.
The game was developed in Tommy's Parent's garage.
The game is unfinished.
Goo! Was nominated for Technical Excellence in 2008's IGF.
It won the Intel Game Demo Challenge in 2008.
Goo!'s game play was inspired by a Sun Tzu quote:
"Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards."
As well as Aubrey's earlier toying with Heightmaps in the also unreleased Abstract Shmup "K"