Americans Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler, known collectively as 2D Boy, are former EA designers. They've broken away from EA, set themselves up as an independent developer and they've created a new game called World of Goo. It's a physics based puzzle/construction game in which you attach balls of goo to each other. The game is going down well on the PC but 2D Boy is still in discussions with a publisher and it'll either be Wii Ware or slapped in a box and put on the shelves.
Indie Gamer : Whose idea was this crazy game?
Kyle: Mine. I made a small game prototype called Tower of Goo (check it out at http://experimentalgameplay.com/game.php?g=1) as a part of the Experimental Gameplay Project in which we had seven days to create a game from scratch. It was kind of fun but there wasn't much to it. If Tower of Goo was a physics experiment, World of Goo is the whole physics laboratory with a vending machine in the corner and internet access.
Indie Gamer : It sounds complicated...
Kyle: It isn't really. With each level, you drag and attach squirmy talking goo balls to one another to get as many as possible sucked into the level's exit pipe, which pneumatically whisks them away for processing and distribution by the questionably benevolent World of Goo Corporation. There are many different species of Goo Ball, each with different abilities and puzzles.
Indie Gamer : Have you been inspired by any existing games?
Kyle: We've taken inspiration from old Sierra adventure games like the Space Quest and King's Quest series. Every screen was a unique hand painted surprise, not a tile set, and I felt like I could walk anywhere, talk to anyone, and lick anything, and there would be a response waiting for me. In World of Goo, the goal is to create a similar sense of wonderment, where each level is visually iconic, each with a new puzzle and gameplay surprise, all somehow related to a slightly devious story arc.
Ron: We like to think there are strong implied themes of "existentialism" and "disillusionment" and "placing a lot of importance on dumb things" and "overly complicated technology".
Indie Gamer : The game is already appearing on the PC so how will the Wii version differ?
Ron: We're adding co-operative multi-player for Wii and we'd like to have a four player co-op mode. The game is running smoothly on our Wii dev kit and we're going to begin trying out some Wii-specific ideas soon.
Kyle: We're experimenting to see what we can do with rotation and change in depth. Whatever the controls are, the goal is to make them extremely simple, ideally using just one button.
Indie Gamer: How has Wii development differed from the PC?
Kyle: The Wii is a fantastic platform but it has limitations that the PC doesn't, like less memory, and a CPU that isn't as fast as what you normally find in a PC these days. It's a bit like trying to fit all the furniture you had in your big house into a new smaller house. But the game is going to be even better on Wii than on PC. Playing with the Wii remote really makes you feel like you're grabbing the little goo balls!
Indie Gamer: Would you like to see it on Wii Ware?
Ron: We love the concept of Wii Ware! It allows small developers like us to get our game to market without relying on a publisher and we get to keep a much larger share of the sale price. There is no doubt in my mind that services like Wii Ware will eventually become dominant. I wouldn't be surprised if nobody will be buying games at retail stores 10 years from now.
