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Crossy Road

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Crossy Road
App icon
Developer(s)Hipster Whale
yodo1
Publisher(s)Hipster Whale
yodo1 (pre Dec 2017)
EngineUnity
Platform(s)iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, Android, Android TV, Windows Phone, Windows, Series 30+, Sky Q, KaiOS
ReleaseiOS
  • WW: 20 November 2014
Android
  • WW: 23 December 2014
Windows Phone
  • WW: 1 May 2015
tvOS
  • WW: 30 October 2015
Nokia 105 (2017)[1] KaiOS[2]
  • WW: 2019
Genre(s)Endless runner
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer (tvOS)

Crossy Road is an action game released on 20 November 2014. It was developed and published by Australian video game developer Hipster Whale originally in collaboration with yodo1. The name and concept of the game play on the riddle joke "Why did the chicken cross the road?"[3] It has been described as endless runner version of the 1981 video game Frogger.[4][5][6] After June 2017, the publisher for Crossy Road was changed from yodo1 to Hipster Whale.[7]

Gameplay and objectives

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The chicken, near the bottom, waiting for a yellow car to pass.

The objective of Crossy Road is to move a character through an endless path of static and moving obstacles as far as possible without dying. By default, the character is a chicken that must cross a series of busy roads, rivers and active train tracks, but there are hundreds of other characters, and depending on the character the environment around also changes, with the obstacles varying. For example, when playing as the Astronaut, the environment is space and obstacles include asteroids.

In the original mobile version, the player must hop to go forward or swipe the screen in the appropriate direction to move the character horizontally or backwards. Some characters can only be unlocked with cash or ingame currency.

There are a number of special characters in addition to regular characters. For example, the Android version includes Android Robot, based on the operating system's Android logo. Other characters include Doge, Archie, Dark Lord, the mascot of Hipster Whale and #thedress, a female character wearing the dress of the same name. Various popular culture references and games are also included, such as Forget-Me-Not and "Emo Goose" voiced by Phil Lester.

The player is able to collect coins; an in-game currency, characterised by its golden-yellowish color, squarish shape and red C in its middle. These are obtained in-game by collection during gameplay, watching advertisements, completing tasks, collecting a free gift given every few real-time hours, and using legal currency to buy them in various amounts. Coins are counted the top right corner of the screen. One hundred coins can be used for a chance at a new character from a lottery machine.[8] If the player owns the Piggy Bank mascot, red coins worth five coins each are added to the game, and coins received from free gifts or watching ads are doubled.

Hipster Whale founders and game developers Matt Hall and Andy Sum at Game Developers Conference

Development

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Initially the developers planned to spend only six weeks developing the game, but afterwards realized the game's potential and dedicated another six weeks to completing it.[9] The game's free-to-play model was based on the one for Dota 2.[10]

A big influence on the team was the success of the game Flappy Bird. Developer Matt Hall noted that "That was when people really wanted to play high-score chasing games, and they were telling people about it, and there was this cool opportunity."[11] Eventually Hall hit upon combining such a game with Frogger.[11] Other influences included Temple Run, Subway Surfers, Disco Zoo, Skylanders, Tiny Wings and Fez.[12] The game's art style was created by Ben Weatherall.[13]

Reception

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The game was a finalist for the Game of the Year Award 2014 for the Australian Game Developer Awards.[14] It received generally positive reviews with Metacritic giving the game a score of 88,[15] TouchArcade giving the game 5/5 stars,[8] BigBoomBoom.com giving the game 5/5 stars,[16] Gamezebo Gaming giving the game 4.5/5 stars,[17] and Apple N' Apps giving the game a 4/5 overall score.[18] Polygon dubbed the game "brilliant" and compared it as an updated take on Frogger,[4] while Time called the game a mix of Frogger and Flappy Bird.[19] At the 2015 Apple WWDC developer's conference, Crossy Road was one of the winners of the 2015 Apple Design Awards.[20]

Three months after its initial release, the game earned over $10 million and had over 50 million downloads.[21]

Flat Eric, best known for his appearances in Levi's commercials in 1999, as well as the music video for Flat Beat is an unlockable character.[22]

Spin-offs

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Disney Crossy Road

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In 2016, Hipster Whale and Disney Interactive Studios launched a spin-off video game called Disney Crossy Road on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Windows 8.1,[a] and Windows 10[a] devices. It features Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, as well as some characters from numerous Disney franchises such as Zootopia, Big Hero 6, The Lion King, Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Moana, Pixar's Toy Story, Cars, The Incredibles and Inside Out. At launch, the game features over 100 characters.[24]

Disney Crossy Road was shut down on iOS, Google, and Amazon on March 12, 2020.[25]

Crossy Road Castle

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Crossy Road Castle is an endless co-op platformer that acts as a sequel to Crossy Road, available only on Apple Arcade.[26] It supports up to four players and can be played with either touch controls or a controller.[27] Players are placed in a procedurally generated tower spanning multiple levels and must work together to reach the exit.

CroZXy Road

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With the permission of Hipster Whale, Bob Smith re-wrote Crossy Road for the ZX81, an 8-bit computer from the 1980s.[28] In Smith's words, one of the motivations for porting the game "is to prove that there are some great modern game ideas which don't rely on amazing graphics or great processing power, and could work just as well on much older machines."[29] The ZX81 version was released in 2015.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b Windows version was discontinued after version 2.8.[23]

References

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  1. ^ HMD Global (17 July 2017). "The new Nokia 105 and Nokia 130 delivers even better value with great quality designs". Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  2. ^ Ambre M (27 December 2023). "10 All-time classic games on your KaiOS phone". Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  3. ^ Barker, Garry (11 March 2015). "More than fun and games with local developers Rylandia". Digital Life. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  4. ^ a b Kuchera, Ben (21 November 2014). "Crossy Road has invented the 'endless Frogger,' and it's brilliant". Polygon. Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  5. ^ Hayward, Andrew (26 December 2014). "You Should Play: Crossy Road is basically endless Frogger, and that's a very good thing". Macworld. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  6. ^ Rosenberg, Adam (9 September 2015). "'Crossy Road' brings a new take on its 'endless Frogger' to Apple TV". Mashable. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  7. ^ "Crossy Road - Android Apps on Google Play". 9 June 2017. Archived from the original on 9 June 2017. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  8. ^ a b Dotson, Carter (21 November 2014). "Crossy Road" Review - Watch Out for That Train!". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on 2 May 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  9. ^ Kidman, Angus (18 December 2014). "Why Crossy Road's Developers Launched On Android Through Amazon". Lifehacker Australia. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  10. ^ Te, Zorine (24 December 2014). "Crossy Road's Surprising Success, Future Secrets, Dota 2 Connection". Gamespot. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  11. ^ a b Partridge, Jon. "Crossy Road: Making the next Flappy Bird". Red Bull. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  12. ^ "Matt Hall (@KlickTock) on Twitter". Twitter. 28 November 2014. Archived from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  13. ^ "Ben Weatherall (@sunraheadgear) on Twitter". Twitter. 8 August 2014. Archived from the original on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  14. ^ "Australian Game Developer Awards Finalists Announced". GCAP. 15 October 2014. Archived from the original on 28 February 2015.
  15. ^ "Crossy Road - Endless Arcade Hopper iOS". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 7 December 2020. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  16. ^ "Crossy Road iPhone and Android Game Review". Big Boom Boom. 20 January 2015. Archived from the original on 20 January 2015.
  17. ^ Cymet, Eli (20 November 2014). "Crossy Road Review: Traffic's a Zoo". Gamezebo Gaming. Archived from the original on 30 November 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  18. ^ Sheridan, Trevor (20 November 2014). "Crossy Road – Enjoying Crossing To The Other Side". Apple N' Apps. Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  19. ^ Fitzpatrick, Alex (24 November 2014). "Crossy Road Is Your New iPhone Game Addiction". Time.
  20. ^ Starr, Michelle (9 June 2015). "Crossy Road, Vainglory take Apple Design Awards". CNET. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  21. ^ Tach, Dave (3 March 2015). "They wanted to make a video game phenomenon. They made $10 million. The story of Crossy Road". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  22. ^ "'Crossy Road' Dinosaur Update: Unlock New Secret Characters in the Latest Game Update". 13 September 2016. Archived from the original on 28 July 2023. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  23. ^ "Disney Crossy Road version 2.8 will be the final Windows update". crossy-road.com. Disney Interactive Studios. 29 May 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  24. ^ Farokhmanesh, Megan (7 April 2016). "Disney Crossy Road launches today for mobile devices". Polygon. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  25. ^ "Disney Crossy Road is being retired on iOS, Google and Amazon". Disney. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  26. ^ "Apple Arcade's latest exclusive is a new Crossy Road spinoff". theverge. 27 February 2020. Archived from the original on 21 December 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  27. ^ "Hipster Whale's Crossy Road Castle brings goofy laughs to Apple Arcade". venturebeat. March 2020. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  28. ^ Smith, Bob (2016). "CroZXy Road - Bob's Stuff". itch.io. Archived from the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  29. ^ Smith, Bob (23 January 2016). "CroZXy Road - New 16K ZX81 game - Sinclair ZX80 / ZX81 / Z88 Forums". Sinclair ZX World. Archived from the original on 3 July 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
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