| Gish | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Developer(s) | Chronic Logic |
| Publisher(s) | Chronic Logic |
| Designer(s) |
|
| Programmer(s) |
|
| Artist(s) | Edmund McMillen |
| Writer(s) | Dave Strock |
| Composer(s) | Game Audio Magic |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows,Linux,Mac OS X |
| Release |
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| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single-player,multiplayer |
Gish is a 2004platform game developed and published by Chronic Logic. After eight months in development, it was released in May 2004 to a positive reception. A sequel,Gish 2, was canceled. The game becameopen-source software in May 2010 and received a 15th-anniversary update in January 2020.
Gish is aphysics-basedplatform game.[1] The player controls Gish, a ball oftar. Besides movement, Gish has four abilities: becoming sticky, slick, solid, and jumping/expanding. When sticky he can climb up walls, stick to ceilings, and plant himself firmly to a solid object. Becoming slick makes Gish slippery and frictionless, letting him slide down pipes and squeeze out of being crushed at the same time getting under objects. Being in solid state turns Gish's body into a rigid weight, allowing him to push any object he might have squeezed under, fall faster, squash enemies, smash breakable platforms, sink in water, and resist being run over. To jump, Gish must first compress his body, then expand to launch himself into the air. Gish's abilities can be combined for use in certain situations - for instance, while both sticky and slick he can climb walls without grabbing loose objects, and while slick and solid he can slide downhill at high speed.[citation needed]
Gish is a ball of tar who lives happily with his human girlfriend Brea, until one day a mysterious dark creature kidnaps her. Gish fights through several levels of enemies in the sewers of Dross until the final boss appears: Hera, Gish's former classmate who has an unrequited affection towards Gish. Gish rejects her, and Hera threatens to drop Brea into a pool of lava. After Gish defeats Hera, he must rescue Brea. If the player succeeds, Brea and Gish escape and become famousentomologists, as well as the world's first legal inter-species marriage. If the player fails, Brea burns to death in the lava pit and Gish goes on to live a life ofcelibacy, "volunteering most of his time to charity organizations that specialize in bringing lava awareness to the mainstream." In the latter case, Brea's picture is crossed out from the final group photo of the game.
Gish was developed by Chronic Logic—anindie game studio based inSanta Cruz, California, and founded in 2001—without external funding. The game was the idea ofEdmund McMillen, Chronic Logic'sartist anddesigner, as the company was looking for a new game concept that used thephysics from its previouspuzzle video game,Triptych.[2] Alex Austin, the leadprogrammer, was initially against the idea until McMillen convinced him of the concept.[2][3] Over a longer time period, the developers were able to test out several concepts. They came up with further ideas and discarded those that did not work, such as the original plan of giving Gish an arm to swing with.[2]
The development process was split into two halves. The first focused on the physics and issues withcollision detection. Austin used theMS-DOS Editor to write thesource code, compiling it withVisual C++. The second half covered "everything else", including thelevel design, which was changed multiple times, and alevel editor. They were driven by the "make it fun" principle of games likeSuper Mario Bros. andPitfall!, which they played during the production. UsingAdobe Photoshop andMacromedia Flash, McMillen designed original characters, including 36 enemies, which later had to be reduced to 16 due to time constraints. Austin also cited self-imposedcrunch time as an issue during development. The total development time was eight months.[2]Gish was released forMicrosoft Windows on May 4, 2004, and ported toLinux andMac OS X on August 2, 2004.[2][4]
Chronic Logic disbanded shortly afterGish's release, which cost the game potential publishing deals, McMillen later joined Austin at his news venture, Cryptic Sea.[3] Another Mac OS X version, compatible with all variants of theoperating system, was released by Cryptic Sea in December 2007.[5]Reflexive Entertainment distributed the game through its online game portal, Reflexive Arcade, starting in 2006.[6]Gish Mobile, a version forJ2ME, was developed by Hardwire and Erphenic Studios, published by Pixalon Studios, and distributed by GlobalFun.[7][8]
A sequel,Gish 2, was in development "for a couple months" at Cryptic Sea by November 2007.[9] McMillen proposedGish 2 toMicrosoft in 2008 before developingSuper Meat Boy instead.[10]Gish 2 was formally put on hold in late 2008 for Cryptic Sea to focus on its other release,No Quarter.[1] Austin released theGish source code underGNU GPL-2.0-or-later in May 2010.[11] In the same month,Gish became part of the firstHumble Indie Bundle.[12] It further appeared in the Humble Voxatron Debut in November 2011.[13][14] In January 2020, celebrating the game's 15th anniversary, Austin and McMillen released an update forGish with several quality-of-life improvements.[15]Newgrounds user Tarhead designed the cover art for this version.[16]
Gish received "generally favorable reviews", according toMetacritic.[17] At the 2005Independent Games Festival,Gish won the "Innovation in Game Design" award, as well as theSeumas McNally Grand Prize and itsUS$20,000 prize money.[18] McMillen used his acceptance speech for the latter to propose to his girlfriend, Danielle.[3]Gish also wonComputer Games Magazine's 2004 "Best Independent Game" award.[19] The revenue fromGish kept Austin afloat for several years.[20]
05/04/2004 - Gish Released, Order here! (...) 08/02/2004 - Gish released for OSX and Linux, try the demo!
Games designed byEdmund McMillen | |
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| Video games | |
| Card game | |
