Hipster Whale is an Australian

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

video game developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...

and

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

founded on 20 November 2014 by Andy Sum and Matt Hall, shortly before making the game ''

Crossy Road ''Crossy Road'' is an action game released on November 20, 2014. It was developed and published on iOS by Australian video game developer Hipster Whale and originally yodo1 on Android. The name and concept of the game play on the riddle joke " ...

''. The company has also created the games '' Shooty Skies'', ''

Pac-Man 256 ''Pac-Man 256'' is a 2015 endless runner video game developed by Hipster Whale, 3 Sprockets and Bandai Namco Studios Vancouver, and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The game is part of the ''Pac-Man'' series and is inspired by the orig ...

'' (in collaboration with

Bandai Namco Entertainment is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game video game publisher, publisher, and the video game branch of the wider Bandai Namco Holdings group. Founded in 2006 as it is the successor to Namco's home and arcade video game ...

), and ''

Disney Crossy Road ''Crossy Road'' is an action game released on November 20, 2014. It was developed and published on iOS by Australian video game developer Hipster Whale and originally yodo1 on Android. The name and concept of the game play on the riddle joke "W ...

'' (in collaboration with

Disney Interactive Studios Disney Interactive Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher owned by The Walt Disney Company through Disney Interactive. Prior to its closure in 2016, it developed and distributed multi-platform video games and inter ...

History

After meeting at GCAP (Game Center: Asia Pacific) 2013, Andy Sum and Matt Hall decided to make Hipster Whale. The name came from discussing free-to-play games and the word "

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...

" came up in the conversation. Sum was doodling as they were talking and began drawing a whale, which would later become the company's logo. Sum and Hall kept the whale as the mascot for later on. Hipster Whale's first game, ''Crossy Road'' was planned to take a total of six weeks to develop, but after seeing its potential, the developers spent more than 12 weeks on it. ''Crossy Road'' was inspired by linear movement games (modern successors to classic

platform games A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

)such as ''

Temple Run ''Temple Run'' is a 2011 endless runner video game developed and published by Imangi Studios. The player controls an explorer who has obtained an ancient relic and runs from demonic monkey-like creatures chasing them. The game was initially r ...

'' and ''

Flappy Bird ''Flappy Bird'' is a 2013 casual mobile game developed by Vietnamese video game artist and programmer Dong Nguyen (), under his game development company .Gears. The game is a side-scroller where the player controls a bird, Faby, attempting t ...

''. The name and concept of the game is based on the joke "

Why did the chicken cross the road? "Why did the chicken cross the road?" is a common riddle joke with the answer being "To get to the other side." It is commonly seen as an example of anti-humor, in that the curious setup of the joke leads the listener to expect a traditional pu ...

". On 22 May 2015,

and Hipster Whale announced ''

'', which featured

Pac-Man ''Pac-Man,'' originally called in Japan, is a 1980 maze video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. The pla ...

trying to escape ghosts and overcome a glitch while performing the same mechanics as the 1980 video game, with the glitch based on the Level 256 glitch from the original arcade game, but with upgrades and

freemium Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium", is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical ( ...

purchases Purchasing is the procurement process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary gr ...

. On 20 August, the game was released, with the game then being released on

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

on 22 June 2016 In March 2016, Hipster Whale announced a spin-off of ''Crossy Road'', ''

'', which would be published by

. On 20 July, the company announced its move into

video game publishing A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer. They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ...

, and appointed former

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...

and

Krome Studios Melbourne Krome Studios Melbourne, originally Beam Software, was an Australian video game development Video game development (sometimes shortened to gamedev) is the process of creating a video game. It is a multidisciplinary practice, involving program ...

employee Clara Reeves as the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of Hipster Whale; she had recently worked at

Film Victoria VicScreen, formerly known as Film Victoria, is the Victoria State Government's creative and economic screen development agency. It supports screen industry professionals, infrastructure, projects and events, promoting the state of Victoria as ...

. On 7 September, the company released an update towards ''Disney Crossy Road'', which added ''

Monsters, Inc. ''Monsters, Inc.'' (also known as ''Monsters, Incorporated'') is a 2001 American animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. Featuring the voices of John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, James Cobu ...

'' characters to the game and a mode called the "Weekend Challenge".

Products

References

External links

* {{official Video game publishers Video game companies of Australia Indie game developers Video game development companies Australian companies established in 2014 Video game companies established in 2014