De Blob
Encyclopedia
de Blob, known as Blob: Colorful na Kibou in Japan, is a platform
-puzzle video game that allows players to explore and liberate an alien city from the evil, monochromatic INKT Corporation that has taken over the city and outlawed all color and fun from daily life. Playing as de Blob, gamers will embark on a quest to re-animate the fictional place of Chroma City (a parody of Manhattan), and bring character back to the oppressed, by splattering buildings, landmarks, and citizens with color.
de Blob was developed by Blue Tongue
for the Wii
and a version for the Nintendo DS
was being made by now-shuttered developer Helixe
, whose former employees have since formed DoubleTap Games
. Both were published by THQ
. The game was originally scheduled for a February 2008 release, but it was delayed and then released on September 22, 2008 for the Wii.
A version of the game for Apple Inc.'s iOS was released on July 8, 2008. THQ
have also released a Windows Phone 7
version of De Blob.
While de Blob is free to paint, there are various missions which can or must be completed. These missions are given by various members of the Color Underground and include painting certain buildings certain colours and transforming a landmark with enough of a certain color of paint (for example, 30 yellow paint points). Each of the 10 huge levels have a main landmark to paint, which may require more than one colour and more paint points than usual.
There are various hazards to avoid, however. Pools of ink turn de Blob black and cause him to lose paint points constantly; when he reaches 0, he loses a life. Ink must be washed out with water. The INKT forces, Inkies, will send out footsoldiers to stop de Blob, as well as other forces—handheld ink guns, turrets, tanks, jetbikes, and even Inkies that are immune to all but one colour. There are other hazards such as hotplates, spikes, and electric plates.
As de Blob paints the city and completes missions, points are accumulated. Each gate separating the player from the next part of a stage can be opened by reaching a certain number of points. Once the final gate is open, the stage can be completed.
Initially a lively and colourful city populated by its equally colourful and diverse citizens, the Raydians, Chroma City is suddenly invaded by the INKT Corporation. A corporate military dictatorship, INKT is led by the villainous Comrade Black and dedicated to the eradication of colour through its "War on Colour". Chroma City quickly falls to the invading army of Inkies and colour-draining Leechbots, leaving its landscape barren, its flora withered and its fauna in hiding. The citizens are rounded up and turned into "Graydians", encased in homogeneous gray prison suits distinguished only by a bar code on the back of each shell. The Graydians are forced to serve as both menial labor and as a living resource of ink, mined literally from their sadness.
Hero Blob witnesses the takeover of Chroma City from his jungle retreat and goes into action, first rescuing the only remaining pocket of resistance, the "Colour Underground". Blob joins the group, and under their orders, begins to win back sections of the city and arouse the vicious ire of Comrade Black. Comrade Black orders everything from propaganda campaigns to the creation of supersoldiers in an attempt to stop Blob, to no avail.
With nearly all of Chroma City in control of the Colour Underground, Comrade Black desperately orders all his troops to retreat to his spaceship in Lake Raydia, and attempts to launch all the stolen colour into a black hole where it will be lost forever. Blob manages to stowaway onto the spaceship and defeat Comrade Black, then detonates a device that devours the spacecraft in a burst of color and whimsy. With the Raydians finally safe, Blob returns to the jungle, napping on a tree as he was at the story's beginning. A post-credits scene reveals that Comrade Black survived the destruction of his spaceship, and is now trapped on a tiny island populated by cute, colorful creatures, much to his hatred.
PC
by eight students studying Game Design & Development
at the Utrecht School of the Arts
and one student studying Game and Media Technology at Utrecht University
in the Netherlands. The team later formed Ronimo Games
.
At the time of conception, sections of Utrecht
were being rebuilt and the principal task in creating the game was to convey how the railroad station area of Utrecht would look in 10 years. The city of Utrecht
has adopted the de Blob character as its mascot
. THQ noticed the game and was very impressed with the team's work, and acquired the rights to the game. THQ handed over the game to Blue Tongue Entertainment
and Helixe and the companies each developed their own versions for different consoles.
called it "one of the best third-party efforts to come over to Wii in a long time." Nintendo Power
said "Admittedly, there's not a ton of variety...but it remains fun throughout". Nintendo World Report
claimed "de Blob is defined by its pure unadulterated fun", giving the game a 9.0 rating. Game Informer
said "The game is missing the most important element to a game: the gameplay." Eurogamer
described de Blob as "excellent and thoroughly original", while noting that "the best and worst thing about de Blob is that it's got 'Destined For Cult Status' written all over it". Edge
rated de Blob 8/10, calling it "a game for meandering in, for absorbing and messing around with." Gamespot
gave the Wii
version 8.0/10. Official Nintendo Magazine awarded the game 92% and a Gold Award, stating that "de Blob is an absolutely flippin' awesome videogame." N-Europe said that De Blob was "the most colourful and ambitiously fresh" title on the Wii. It won or was nominated for several Wii-specific awards from IGN in its 2008 video game awards, including Best Platform Game, Best Graphics Technology, and Best Use of Sound. It was nominated for several other Wii-specific awards by IGN, including Best New IP, Best Original Score, Most Innovative Design, and Game of the Year.
de Blob sold more than 230,000 copies by December 2008 in the United States. THQ stated they have shipped more than 700,000 copies of the game, and have sold more than 700,000 copies worldwide. THQ CEO Brian Farrell believed the success of the game was related to its "Nintendo-esque" style. THQ responded to these sales by telling IGN to tell their readers to expect more de Blob in the future.
"Our de Blob franchise will be back again in fiscal 2011," stated Farrell. "We successfully launched this highly-rated franchise in fiscal 2009 to broad, critical acclaim."
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
-puzzle video game that allows players to explore and liberate an alien city from the evil, monochromatic INKT Corporation that has taken over the city and outlawed all color and fun from daily life. Playing as de Blob, gamers will embark on a quest to re-animate the fictional place of Chroma City (a parody of Manhattan), and bring character back to the oppressed, by splattering buildings, landmarks, and citizens with color.
de Blob was developed by Blue Tongue
Blue Tongue Entertainment
Blue Tongue Entertainment Pty. Ltd. was an Australian video game developer founded in 1995. It was acquired by THQ on November 17, 2004, and remained an internal development studio of THQ until its closure in August 2011...
for the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
and a version for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
was being made by now-shuttered developer Helixe
Helixe
Helixe was an American video game developer that developed mainly for Nintendo handhelds. The company was founded in July 2000 and was owned by THQ. It developed titles for Game Boy Advance, Wii and Nintendo DS....
, whose former employees have since formed DoubleTap Games
DoubleTap Games
DoubleTap Games is a video game company with the intent to create original Nintendo DS games with online multiplayer components. DoubleTap was formed after THQ closed the former studio of Helixe in November 2008....
. Both were published by THQ
THQ
THQ Inc. is an American developer and publisher of video games. Founded in 1989 in the United States, the company develops products for video game consoles, handheld game systems, as well as for personal computers and wireless devices...
. The game was originally scheduled for a February 2008 release, but it was delayed and then released on September 22, 2008 for the Wii.
A version of the game for Apple Inc.'s iOS was released on July 8, 2008. THQ
THQ
THQ Inc. is an American developer and publisher of video games. Founded in 1989 in the United States, the company develops products for video game consoles, handheld game systems, as well as for personal computers and wireless devices...
have also released a Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
version of De Blob.
Gameplay
The player—Blob—starts out as a ball of clear "water". De Blob is free to roll around and collect paint from Paintbots in the three colors of red, yellow and blue, which can be combined into orange, green, purple, and brown. de Blob then merely has to touch a building, lamppost, billboard, or other object for the entire surface of said object to be smeared in his current color. As he colors the city, the game's soundtrack, featuring live bands which recorded slow and fast versions of each "lick" (each hit), gradually adds more instrumentation as well as an additional "layer" of sound corresponding to de Blob's current colour—being red usually adds a saxophone solo to the music, for example. As de Blob collects paint, his size increases to a maximum of 100; each object he paints costs a paint point, as does attacking enemies. de Blob can get rid of his colour with water.There are various hazards to avoid, however. Pools of ink turn de Blob black and cause him to lose paint points constantly; when he reaches 0, he loses a life. Ink must be washed out with water. The INKT forces, Inkies, will send out footsoldiers to stop de Blob, as well as other forces—handheld ink guns, turrets, tanks, jetbikes, and even Inkies that are immune to all but one colour. There are other hazards such as hotplates, spikes, and electric plates.
As de Blob paints the city and completes missions, points are accumulated. Each gate separating the player from the next part of a stage can be opened by reaching a certain number of points. Once the final gate is open, the stage can be completed.
Plot
Told through a combination of pre-rendered cinematic sequences and in-game dialog, de Blob tells the story of Chroma City, its invasion by the INKT Corporation and its subsequent liberation by the titular Blob and the Colour Underground.Initially a lively and colourful city populated by its equally colourful and diverse citizens, the Raydians, Chroma City is suddenly invaded by the INKT Corporation. A corporate military dictatorship, INKT is led by the villainous Comrade Black and dedicated to the eradication of colour through its "War on Colour". Chroma City quickly falls to the invading army of Inkies and colour-draining Leechbots, leaving its landscape barren, its flora withered and its fauna in hiding. The citizens are rounded up and turned into "Graydians", encased in homogeneous gray prison suits distinguished only by a bar code on the back of each shell. The Graydians are forced to serve as both menial labor and as a living resource of ink, mined literally from their sadness.
Hero Blob witnesses the takeover of Chroma City from his jungle retreat and goes into action, first rescuing the only remaining pocket of resistance, the "Colour Underground". Blob joins the group, and under their orders, begins to win back sections of the city and arouse the vicious ire of Comrade Black. Comrade Black orders everything from propaganda campaigns to the creation of supersoldiers in an attempt to stop Blob, to no avail.
With nearly all of Chroma City in control of the Colour Underground, Comrade Black desperately orders all his troops to retreat to his spaceship in Lake Raydia, and attempts to launch all the stolen colour into a black hole where it will be lost forever. Blob manages to stowaway onto the spaceship and defeat Comrade Black, then detonates a device that devours the spacecraft in a burst of color and whimsy. With the Raydians finally safe, Blob returns to the jungle, napping on a tree as he was at the story's beginning. A post-credits scene reveals that Comrade Black survived the destruction of his spaceship, and is now trapped on a tiny island populated by cute, colorful creatures, much to his hatred.
Development
The game de Blob was originally developed as a free downloadable game for the WindowsMicrosoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
by eight students studying Game Design & Development
Game design
Game design, a subset of game development, is the process of designing the content and rules of a game in the pre-production stage and design of gameplay, environment, storyline, and characters during production stage. The term is also used to describe both the game design embodied in a game as...
at the Utrecht School of the Arts
Utrecht School of the Arts
The Utrecht School of the Arts is a performing arts and visual arts educational institution in Utrecht, Netherlands. The institution has 570 teachers and staff members...
and one student studying Game and Media Technology at Utrecht University
Utrecht University
Utrecht University is a university in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 29,082 students in 2008, and employed 8,614 faculty and staff, 570 of which are full professors....
in the Netherlands. The team later formed Ronimo Games
Ronimo Games
Ronimo Games is a Dutch video game developer founded in 2007 by former students of the Utrecht School of the Arts.-History:The team that later formed Ronimo Games initially came together under the name of Banana Games, and created the original freeware PC version of de Blob...
.
At the time of conception, sections of Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
were being rebuilt and the principal task in creating the game was to convey how the railroad station area of Utrecht would look in 10 years. The city of Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
has adopted the de Blob character as its mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
. THQ noticed the game and was very impressed with the team's work, and acquired the rights to the game. THQ handed over the game to Blue Tongue Entertainment
Blue Tongue Entertainment
Blue Tongue Entertainment Pty. Ltd. was an Australian video game developer founded in 1995. It was acquired by THQ on November 17, 2004, and remained an internal development studio of THQ until its closure in August 2011...
and Helixe and the companies each developed their own versions for different consoles.
Reception
de Blob received favourable reviews overall. IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
called it "one of the best third-party efforts to come over to Wii in a long time." Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
said "Admittedly, there's not a ton of variety...but it remains fun throughout". Nintendo World Report
Nintendo World Report
Nintendo World Report is a Nintendo-specific video game website that covers Nintendo's current consoles, the Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, and Wii.-History:...
claimed "de Blob is defined by its pure unadulterated fun", giving the game a 9.0 rating. Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
said "The game is missing the most important element to a game: the gameplay." Eurogamer
Eurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
described de Blob as "excellent and thoroughly original", while noting that "the best and worst thing about de Blob is that it's got 'Destined For Cult Status' written all over it". Edge
Edge (magazine)
Edge is a multi-format computer and video game magazine published by Future Publishing in the United Kingdom. It is known for its industry contacts, editorial stance, distinctive anonymous third-person writing style, yearly awards and longevity....
rated de Blob 8/10, calling it "a game for meandering in, for absorbing and messing around with." Gamespot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
gave the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
version 8.0/10. Official Nintendo Magazine awarded the game 92% and a Gold Award, stating that "de Blob is an absolutely flippin' awesome videogame." N-Europe said that De Blob was "the most colourful and ambitiously fresh" title on the Wii. It won or was nominated for several Wii-specific awards from IGN in its 2008 video game awards, including Best Platform Game, Best Graphics Technology, and Best Use of Sound. It was nominated for several other Wii-specific awards by IGN, including Best New IP, Best Original Score, Most Innovative Design, and Game of the Year.
de Blob sold more than 230,000 copies by December 2008 in the United States. THQ stated they have shipped more than 700,000 copies of the game, and have sold more than 700,000 copies worldwide. THQ CEO Brian Farrell believed the success of the game was related to its "Nintendo-esque" style. THQ responded to these sales by telling IGN to tell their readers to expect more de Blob in the future.
Sequel
During THQ's fiscal third quarter conference call, president and CEO Brian Farrell announced both de Blob and Saints Row will see new titles in the coming years."Our de Blob franchise will be back again in fiscal 2011," stated Farrell. "We successfully launched this highly-rated franchise in fiscal 2009 to broad, critical acclaim."