GoatUp is a

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

for

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

developed by

Jeff Minter Jeff Minter (born 22 April 1962) is an independent English video game designer and programmer who often goes by the name Yak. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and has created dozens of games during his career, which began in 19 ...

and

Ivan Zorzin Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...

of Llamasoft and published via the

App Store An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the co ...

in 2011. It is the first platform game from Llamasoft. According to Minter, the three main influences were ''

Canyon Climber ''Canyon Climber'' is a video game designed by Steve Bjork and James Garon for the TRS-80 Color Computer and published by Tandy Corporation in 1982. Ports to other home computers were published by Datasoft. ''Canyon Climber'' is a three-screen pl ...

'' and ''

Miner 2049er ''Miner 2049er'' is a platform game created by Bill Hogue that was released in 1982 by Big Five Software. It was developed for the Atari 8-bit family and widely converted to other systems. The title "Miner 2049er" evokes a 21st-century take on th ...

'' for the

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

and a homebrew

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocessor- ...

game called ''Man Goes Down''. It is the Minotaur Project game representing the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

Gameplay

The player controls a goat which can move from left to right, and jump upwards, on a series of vertically scrolling platforms. The vertical scroll continues at a fixed rate regardless of the goat's position; if the goat falls or is scrolled off the bottom of the screen, the game ends immediately. Each platform is covered with grass; moving left or right on a platform causes the goat to eat the grass, scoring points and causing further score bonus objects to appear on the platform, which can be collected by moving over them. No points are scored for merely jumping upwards, meaning the player must balance the need to escape from the edge of the scroll with the need to remain where they are to collect points. Billy goats appear on certain platforms. Touching one of these causes an explosion of hearts to appear. After this point, once a certain amount of grass has been eaten, a kid will spawn which follows behind the player's goat (the player's goat is, therefore, a nanny goat—and is acknowledged as such by Llamasoft—in spite of many reviews referring to the player's goat as "he"). Multiple kids form a trail which extends behind the player's goat as it moves. Kids are not negatively affected by being scrolled off the screen. They cannot eat grass, but they can collect the scoring items and power-ups revealed by doing so. The number of kids the player has acts as a multiplier for the score value of grass and items. Later platforms include hostile enemies. If the player's goat touches one of these, the goat is forced into an uncontrolled jump and a kid is lost. If the player has no kids, the uncontrolled jump is the only penalty, although this may cause the goat to fall off the bottom of the screen and the game to end. However, if the player can arrange for the trail of kids to touch an enemy without the nanny goat doing so, the ''enemy'' is destroyed, giving a score bonus.

Controls

''GoatUp'' can be controlled using the touch screen or the tilt sensor. The tilt sensor is the default on iPhone, and the touch screen the default on iPad; there is no other difference between the platform. ''GoatUp'' also supports the

iCade ICADE is the brand name by which two schools of the Comillas Pontifical University, located in Madrid (Spain), are known. It stands for '' Instituto Católico de Administración y Dirección de Empresas'' (''Catholic Institute of Business Administ ...

Reviews

GoatUp has received positive ratings from Pocket Gamer and TouchGen. It was awarded Gaming App of the Day on Kotaku. As of Jan 2012 it has a MetaCritic score of 80.

References

{{Jeff Minter 2011 video games IOS games IOS-only games Llamasoft games Platformers Video games about goats Video games developed in the United Kingdom