''Gibbage'' is a

fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...

developed by

Zombie Cow Studios Size Five Games (formerly Zombie Cow Studios) is a British independent video game developer founded by Dan Marshall in 2008. Dan Marshall's previous games, ''Gibbage'' and ''Cruxade'' were retroactively brought under the Zombie Cow banner upon it ...

. It was released on April 25, 2006 for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. The game was a 2007 IGF Award nominee.

Gameplay

Two characters spawn, one belonging to each player, called clones. Clones spawn from what is known as the power booth. Each power booth has a power level which drains perpetually. In order to keep the power booth's power level from dropping to zero, the players must collect power cubes, and then bring them back to their booth. Each player is equipped with a weapon called a Gibber with which to defend themselves and destroy their enemy. When a player is destroyed, he loses a portion of his power and must wait whilst a new clone is created. When the new clone is created, the player takes control of it and direct conflict resumes. In addition to power cubes, from time to time a

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chosen ...

item will appear. Collecting this will give the player one of a variety of upgrades or effects, such as an extra Gibber, a

rocket launcher A rocket launcher is a weapon that launches an unguided, rocket-propelled projectile. History The earliest rocket launchers documented in imperial China consisted of arrows modified by the attachment of a rocket motor to the shaft a few in ...

, or it may freeze opponents solid or reduce them to a single hit point. The game ends when all but one players have had their power level reduced to zero. The remaining player is the winner.

Development

The game was developed for

PC Zone ''PC Zone'', founded in 1993, was the first magazine dedicated to games for IBM-compatible personal computers to be published in the United Kingdom. Earlier PC magazines such as ''PC Leisure'', ''PC Format'' and ''PC Plus'' had covered games but ...

magazine as part of a 10 part series on learning how to code an

indie game An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...

. Developer Dan Marshall had formerly worked in the television industry. He had always thought that developing a game was easy, but had a "harsh awakening". The game was released as

freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the f ...

in 2011.

Reception

William Usher of Game Tunnel gave the game a "buy" recommendation, calling the action "fast-paced" and saying that "it will occupy many of your waking hours". Alec Meer of

Rock, Paper, Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' (also rendered ''Rock, Paper, Shotgun''; short ''RPS'') is a UK-based website for reporting on video games, primarily for PC. Originally launched on 13 July 2007 as an independent site, ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' was acquir ...

said that the game "has a particularly neat two-player mode".

References

External links

Official website
{{Size Five Games 2006 video games Fighting games Windows games Windows-only games Indie video games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Size Five Games games Multiplayer and single-player video games