Gorogoa
A hand-drawn puzzle game with no language, only images.
Last updated
Players manipulate up to four images in a two-by-two grid to solve puzzles without any in-game language.[1] A boy's search for a divine monster is the central narrative, with the game's scenes touching on spiritual themes and spanning the 19th and 20th centuries.[2]
Making and release
Roberts began development in 2011 after quitting his full-time job, inspired by the success of indie games like Braid.[3][4] The game was originally written in a custom Java engine but was ported to Unity by Wholesale Algorithms for multi-platform distribution.[5] Gorogoa was revealed at the 2012 IndieCade festival, where it won the Visual Design Award.[6][4] Roberts ran out of money two years into development but funded another year through investment from Indie Fund.[3][7]
The game's title came from a word Roberts made up as a child for an imaginary beast.[8][9] Roberts selected "Gorogoa" because it wasn't a real word in any language, aiming to make the game understandable by players everywhere regardless of their native tongue.[8][9]
What the cited sources add
The same source reports that Roberts said "since the game contains no language I wanted a title that is not a word in any language"[9] A 2017 Kotaku article states that Roberts has been working on Gorogoa for over seven years and scrapped large completed sections multiple times.[4] PC Gamer's review calls Gorogoa "a hugely ambitious and utterly beautiful game"[10] The same review notes that the game rewards persistence with "delightful elegant mechanisms".[10]
References
- Wikipedia, "Gorogoa" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Farokhmanesh, "Puzzle in the picture: how Gorogoa brings art to life through mind-twisting challenges", Polygon, 25 May 2013; Meer, "Windows 2013: Gorogoa", Rock, Paper, Shotgun, 12 October 2012; Hernandez, "If You Like Comics Or Trippy Dreams, You'll Love This Game", Kotaku, 14 November 2012; Smith, "Hands On: Gorogoa, A Puzzle Game About Pictures", Rock, Paper, Shotgun, 4 December 2013 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Gorogoa" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hernandez, "If You Like Comics Or Trippy Dreams, You'll Love This Game", Kotaku, 14 November 2012; Matulef, "Brilliant hand-illustrated Indiecade finalist Gorogoa now has a demo which only includes the first of six chapters in the game", Eurogamer, 11 October 2012; Kohler, "The Puzzle Of A Lifetime", Kotaku, 14 December 2017; Geraldi, "Gorogoa wants to get you thinking about much more than its breathtaking puzzles", The A.V. Club, 11 January 2018 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Gorogoa" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Farokhmanesh, "Puzzle in the picture: how Gorogoa brings art to life through mind-twisting challenges", Polygon, 25 May 2013; Hernandez, "If You Like Comics Or Trippy Dreams, You'll Love This Game", Kotaku, 14 November 2012; Kohler, "The Puzzle Of A Lifetime", Kotaku, 14 December 2017; Campbell, "The ineffable loveliness of Gorogoa", Polygon, 27 January 2017; Kohler, "The Puzzle Of A Lifetime", Kotaku, 14 December 2017; Graft, "Road to the IGF: Jason Roberts' Gorogoa", Gamasutra, 18 February 2014 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Kohler, "The Puzzle Of A Lifetime", Kotaku, 14 December 2017. facts only, no text reused. kotaku.com
- Wikipedia, "Gorogoa" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Official AMA with Jason Roberts, the developer of Gorogoa!", 19 December 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Gorogoa" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Warr, "Gorogoa first look: a charming and beautiful illustrative puzzle game", PC Gamer, 23 December 2013; Allin, "Demo for Gorogoa opens window into unique new puzzler", Adventure Gamers, 11 October 2012; Lumb, "Long-awaited indie 'Gorogoa' arrives on iOS and PC December 14th", Engadget, 4 December 2017; Campbell, "The ineffable loveliness of Gorogoa", Polygon, 27 January 2017; Walker, "IGF Factor 2014: Gorogoa", Rock, Paper, Shotgun, 11 March 2014; Kohler, "The Puzzle Of A Lifetime", Kotaku, 14 December 2017 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Gorogoa" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kohler, "The Puzzle Of A Lifetime", Kotaku, 14 December 2017; Tom Regan, "Movie studio Annapurna Pictures now makes games", Engadget, 1 December 2016 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Gorogoa" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hernandez, "If You Like Comics Or Trippy Dreams, You'll Love This Game", Kotaku, 14 November 2012; Matulef, "Brilliant hand-illustrated Indiecade finalist Gorogoa now has a demo which only includes the first of six chapters in the game", Eurogamer, 11 October 2012 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Hernandez, "If You Like Comics Or Trippy Dreams, You'll Love This Game", Kotaku, 14 November 2012. facts only, no text reused. kotaku.com
- Warr, "Gorogoa Review", PC Gamer, 14 December 2017. facts only, no text reused. pcgamer.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Gorogoa (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Puzzle Games of the 2010s
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Gorogoa (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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