Gibbage

Infobox VG
title=Gibbage
developer=Dan Marshall
designer=Dan Marshall
released=April 25 2006
genre=Deathmatch
modes=Single player and multiplayer.
platforms=PC
input=Keyboard, Joypad
websites= [http://www.gibbage.co.uk Gibbage Homepage]

Gibbage is an independent computer game written by Dan Marshall involving fast-paced combat between two players. The game is colorfully animated and contains high levels of cartoon gore, and is effectively an action platform-based game. The levels in the game are large single-screen battle arenas, and there are 27 arenas in total. Gameplay is as follows: 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 run around collecting "Power Cubes", and then bring those Power Cubes back to their Booth. To make things more interesting, each player is given a basic firearm known as a "Gibber" with which to defend themselves and destroy their enemy. When a player is destroyed, he loses a portion of his Power Level and experiences a delay 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" item will appear. Collecting this will give you one of a variety of upgrades or helpful effects, such as an extra Gibber, a rocket launcher, or it may freeze your opponent solid or reduce them to a single hit point. The game ends when a player's Power Level is reduced to zero. That player loses, and the other player wins. There is no way to recover health in Gibbage.

Gibbage was featured over a number of issues in PC Zone as Dan Marshall wrote about his experiences in creating an independent computer game. When the game was complete it was reviewed in Indie Zone, a section of the magazine in which the latest Independent Games are reviewed. "Gibbage" received a score of 71%.

Gibbage is now available via Zombie Cow Studios at http://www.zombie-cow.com

In-Game References

Gibbage's levels contain various references to games, movies, etc.

Level One: 'Capital Punishment'
*Back to the Future; Clock is at 10:04 precisely, as per the clock tower in the movie.

Level Two: 'Double Base'
*George Lucas; 1138 appears in large letters on the side of the building.
*Valve Software; Red valves in the background are a reference to the Half-Life developer.
*"Doom"; Crates have UAC and logo written on them.
*Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; Level is set 42 miles from Ground Zero.
*Raiders of the Lost Ark; Top left Crate, UAC logo burned off in the same way the Nazi symbol gets burned off by those rats in the film.

Level Three: 'Green Hell Zone'
*Sonic the Hedgehog; The title is a pun on Sonic's first Zone.

Level Four: 'Huis Clos'
*Jean-Paul Sartre; Title is based on his play (which is set in Hell).
*Doom; The whole map was inspired by Doom. Also, there is one of the flaming skulls painted in blood on the wall.
*Dawn of the Dead; Skeleton in the top left has carved "No More Room" into the wall.
*Last Crusade; III, VII, X marked on wall.
*Hell; Map sector H-311, it's also 666 miles from Ground Zero.

Level Five: 'Street Level'
*Doom; Crates have UAC and logo written on them.
*Sonic the Hedgehog; Dr. Robotnik's ship parked top left.
*Xenon 2; Containers in the top left have "Xenon 2: Warning, Potential Megablast" on them.
*Back to the Future; Club is called the Flux Capacitor.
*George Lucas; Map is 1138 miles from Ground Zero.

Level Six: 'I Thought they Smelled Bad… on the Outside...'
*Empire Strikes Back; Level title quote by Han Solo.
*Wing Commander III; Alien beast called "Ralghanar", based on Hobbes's real name.

Level Seven: 'Monkey Business'
*Donkey Kong; Monkey in top left is constantly trying to push barrels down towards you, and failing.
*Temple of Doom; Bridge based on the Temple of Doom bridge.
*Grim Fandango; Manny Calavera's face is etched onto a plinth at the bottom.

Level Eight: 'Trained Killers'
*Unreal Tournament; This map is based on UT's classic train map.

Level Nine: 'Dead Ringers'
*Back to the Future; Set in 'Clocktower', 1955 miles from Ground Zero.

Level Ten: 'Command and Conker'
*Command & Conquer; Title homage to game.
*Westwood Studios; Map set in "Western Woods".
*; Map is 2001 miles from Ground Zero.
*Tremors; Graboid visible in soil at bottom.

Level Eleven: 'Barrels O Fun'
Prince of Persia; The sky and the windows are the same as the title screen, map set in Persia, same Potion bottles in Green Base, and classic Grey brick decor.
*Doom; Title taken from barrel-laden Doom map.
*Secret of Monkey Island; Dead Guybrush hanging from wall.
*Indiana Jones; Dead Indy hanging from wall, Temple of Doom stylee crusher on ceiling.

Level Twelve: 'Water Torture'
*In gag; Pre monitor says "Underwater Levels Suck".
*Magnum, P.I; Skull with moustache and cap at bottom; "Da Nang" written above

Level Thirteen: 'City City Bang Bang'
*Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; Title homage to film, which the author has never seen. But it fits because it's a city that explodes in two places.
*Half-Life; Lambda logo appears on pre-monitor.
*InGag; Statues in middle are of Dan Marshall, Ben Ward (additional design), and Dan's girlfriend.

Level Fourteen: 'Panic on Planet Pong'
*ToeJam and Earl; Title play on "Panic on Funkotron".
*Pong; Planet name, obviously. This map is "..., 101" miles from Ground Zero. 101 looks a bit like Pong, doesn't it?

Level Fifteen: 'Fantastic'
*The Texas Chain Saw Massacre; Corpses on meathooks in the same way as that blonde girl 'gets it'.

Level Sixteen: 'On the Bog'
*Raiders of the Lost Ark; Map set in Peru, as beginning of Raiders.
*Empire Strikes Back / Return of the Jedi] ; Look inspired by, or ripped off, of Dagobah.

Level Seventeen: 'Unfair'
*Batman; Set in "Arkham Funfair", Distance from Ground Zero = BAT (B= 2; A= 1; T = 20). Bet you got that one.
*Day of the Tentacle; Oozo the Clown Poster, Green and Purple Tentacle shapes in damp on wall.
*Sam and Max; Bruno (the Bigfoot) Poster on wall.
*King Kong; Bruno Poster "Eighth Wonder of the World".
*Snake; Snake game visible on green side platform.
*FRAK!; Balloons coming up in same way, dagger in top right.
*Pang!; Balloons being shot, pop.
*InGag; Lights spell DAN in top left.

Level Eighteen: 'Just Deserts'
*Maniac Mansion; "Seckrit Lab" visible on wall
*Asteroids; Rock formation in mountain is game of Asteroids.
*Paramount; Mountain in BG based on Paramount, Indy Jones match fades.
*Worms; There are four teeny worms dotted around the map, one with a bazooka.
*InGag: Pre-monitors show old, rubbish design of the map "MoonDance" (which became Space/Off after Dan scrapped it for looking 'shit').

Level Nineteen: 'A Night on the Tiles'
*Back to the Future; Takes place in Flux Capacitor Nightclub
*Half-Life; Band name is "Gordon and the Calhoons".
*Streets of Rage; One of the dancers is Blaze.
*Flashback; One of the dancers is Conrad B. Hart.
*Far Cry; One of the dancers is Jack Carver.
*In Gag; One of the dancers is Dan's girlfriend.
*In Gag; Title pun based on the fact that Gibbage's maps are made up of Tiles.
*Terminator: Guy dancing like the comedy guy in Tech-Noir.
*George Lucas: Club is 1138 miles from Ground Zero.
*Splinter Cell: Sam Fisher's green lights from his hat on pre-monitor.

Level Twenty: 'Space/Off'
*Face/Off; Title reference.
*Space Invaders; Mini game below Green Booth, giant invaders hanging over America (dark).
*Conspiracy!; Pre-monitor shows astronauts putting up Union Jack on moon, suggestion is Moon Landings were hoaxed...
*FRAK!: Stars in pre-monitor spell out FRAK!... if you squint a bit and turn your head and use lots and lots of imagination.

Level Twenty-One: 'The Ineviatable Slippy Slidey Ice Level'
*Title; Taken from an ancient Amiga Power quote about platform games always having a snow level where it's annoying to control your character.
*Day of the Tentacle; DOTT spelled out in bricks in the background.

Level Twenty-Two: 'Gibbage: The Musical'
*InGag; Props in the background refer to other Gibbage maps.
*24; THis map is set in Bauer’s Theatre, 24 miles from Ground Zero.
*Doom; Doom-style exploding barrels in Green's Base.

Level Twenty-Three: 'Factory Flaw'
Star Wars; Loosely inspired by the droid factory in Attack of the Clones; production of camp robot similar to C-3P0.
*Pong; Being played on pre-monitor.
*George Lucas; 11:38 is the score on Pong, pre monitor.
*James Bond; Poster in background for 'Moonraker' gun; Model 007.
*Nvidia; Poster legends read "The Way Games are Meant to be Played" in tiny letters. This was originally going to be the slogan for Gibbage's opening splash screen, but it was scrapped.

Level Twenty-Four: 'Lava Palaver'
*Full Throttle; Statue to left is of Ben Throttle.
*Elite; Pre monitor shows "Load New Commander (Y/N)" screen.

Level Twenty-Five: 'The Graveyard Shift'
*Syndicate; Written on one of the gravestones.
*SCUMM; Written on one of the gravestones.
*Day of the Tentacle; Intro car can be seen driving up the side of the mountain.
*Frankenstein: Frankenstein equipment all over.
*Repton; Beaming green face on pre-monitor.
*The Tick; "Cha" written on moon.

Level Twenty-Six: 'Don’t use the Z-Ward'
*Shaun of the Dead; Title is taken from "Don’t use the Z word".
*InGag; "Ben Ward" sign points to Purple Base, which is who he playtested as...
*Tetris; Tiles in background make Tetris shapes.
*Hitchhiker's Guide; Door in middle is number 42.
*InGag; Zombie: Dan Marshall, in Indiana Jones clothes.
*InGag; Zombie: Ben Ward, in Marty McFly clothes.
*InGag; Zombie: Dan's girlfriend.

Level Twenty-Seven: 'One Up'
*Chuckie Egg; "Grapes" (seed) lower right and left; main character in background towards top.
*Psychonauts; Raz visible in pre-map monitor.
*Lumines; Game going on, top left.
*Video Games; Title taken from video game terminology.

Bonus Game: 'Gibbage: Bug Crushing'
*Chuckie Egg; "Press S to Start"
*Cybertron; Gameplay heavily influenced by the terrifying BBC Micro game by Matthew Bates.

Intro Screens:
*Empire Strikes Back; Robot in background of Factory Flaw Pic is doing C-3P0 "You haven't finished with me" pose.
*Sonic The Hedgehog 2; Green Hell Zone Pic: Sonic Pose. Rings to right.
*James Bond; One of the purple pics is doing a Bond pose.

End Morals:
*He-Man; Moral endings taken from He-man. Many topics and wordings taken directly.
*The Last Crusade; "You may have lost today, kid… but that doesn't mean you have to like it".
*Magnum, P.I.; "Now, I know what you're thinking".
*Indiana Jones; Dan Marshall wearing Indy clothes.
*Sega; Clones are using MegaDrive pads.

External links

* [http://www.zombie-cow.com/ Official Gibbage website]