Gish

Gish is a 2D PC platform game developed by Alex Austin, Edmund McMillen and Josiah Pisciotta and distributed by Chronic Logic, Stardock and other distributors. A sequel has recently been announced, but as of November 2008, the release date is marked "later". The sequel is in development, not by Chronic Logic, but by the original lead programmer and the original artist (Alex Austin and Edmund McMillen, respectively) who recently acquired the rights to the game from Chronic Logic. Gish 2 was canceled in late 2009 when Edmund left Cryptic Sea.

The game was featured in The Humble Indie Bundle. Following the success of the promotion, Cryptic Sea pledged to go open source with the game which eventually happened on May 29, 2010. On 3 June 2010 Gish was ported to AmigaOS 4. A hack for the game was created soon after the open-sourcing that allowed Gish to grow larger and smaller.

Gameplay
In Gish, the player maneuvers the eponymous character, a 12-pound ball of tar. Gish is gelatinous and may become sticky, slippery, heavy and expanded at will, among other capabilities. Gish's lady friend Brea (who is human) is captured by a mysterious figure and taken underground to the sewers of Dross. This game has 2 endings, depending on the player's performance in the last level.

Besides movement, Gish has four abilities: becoming sticky, slick, and heavy, and jumping/expanding. When sticky, he can climb up walls, stick to ceilings, and plant himself firmly to a solid object. Becoming slick makes Gish slippery and frictionless, letting him slide down pipes and squeeze out of being crushed. Using heavy turns Gish's body into a rigid weight, allowing him to fall faster, squash enemies, smash breakable platforms, sink in water, and resist being crushed. To jump, Gish must first compress his body, then expand to launch himself into the air.

The abilities can be combined for use in certain situations; for instance, while sticky and slick, he can climb walls without grabbing loose objects, and while slick and heavy, he can slide downhill at high speed.

Music
All of the music and sound effects were created by Tim Smolens and Jeff Attridge of Game Audio Magic. The game features songs by Smolens' band Estradasphere, including Feed Your Mama's Meter from the album Buck Fever. Edmund McMillen frequently uses music by Estradasphere in flash games created for Diverge Creations.

Awards

 * 2005 IGF Grand Prize (Seamus McNally Award)
 * 2005 IGF Innovation in Game Design
 * Game Tunnel's 2004 Indie Game of the Year
 * Game Tunnel's 2004 Adventure Game of the Year

Cameo appearance
The Gish character appears briefly in the PC game Dumbo & Cool in one of the game's later levels. When he is found by the player, a brief segment of music from the Gish game plays and the words "You found Gish" appear on screen.

In addition, the Gish character is an unlockable character in two of McMillen's flash games, "Meat Boy" and "Spewer". Both games are to be found on Newgrounds. Gish also appears in the console and PC title, Super Meat Boy as an unlockable character.

System requirements
Minimum system requirements:
 * Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, Linux 2.4+ or Mac OS X 10.1+
 * AMD, Intel or G3 1000+ MHz processor
 * Video card supporting OpenGL with 32 MiB of memory
 * 256 MiB of memory

Recommended system requirements:
 * AMD, Intel, or G4 1500+ MHz processor
 * Video card supporting OpenGL with 64+ MiB of memory
 * 256 MiB of memory