Crossy Road

Crossy Road is an arcade video game released on 20 November 2014. It was developed and published by Hipster Whale, with the name and concept of the game playing on the age old joke "Why did the chicken cross the road?"[2] The game has been described as "endless Frogger."[3][4][5]

Crossy Road
Icon of Crossy Road
Developer(s)Hipster Whale
Publisher(s)
EngineUnity
Platform(s)iOS, tvOS, Android, Windows Phone, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Series 30+ Sky Q
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]
  • WW: 17 July 2017
Web
  • WW: 1 March 2018
Genre(s)
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer (tvOS)

Gameplay
Gameplay

The objective of Crossy Road is to cross an endless highway or series of roads and avoid obstacles as far as possible without dying. The player plays as a chosen character and must tap to go forward or swipe the screen in the appropriate direction to move the character horizontally. The game consists of an endless series of obstacles in a set path, such as rivers, cars and trains. The player must time movements correctly in order to pass these obstacles without dying. For example, in the instance of a river, the player must cross the river using floating logs, without landing in the water. If the player takes too much time crossing an obstacle, or goes idle, a bald eagle will snatch the character, resulting in the game's end. Every forward movement will earn one point, with every fifty points sounded out by a sound effect. Furthermore, there are coins scattered across the environment that can be used to make new characters playable.

The current iOS version of Crossy Road contains 272 characters, including the default, Chicken. Of those, 204 characters are unlockable through coins (the “prize machine”) and 46 are "secret characters". Another 12 characters are only unlocked with green “tokens” similar to coins except that they can only be gained by watching ads or getting in the top ten leaderboard for daily challenges. There are three characters, the Piggy Bank, Bashy Beaver, and the Slippy Penguin, that can only be unlocked with cash or 10,000 coins. Future updates may invalidate this number, as new characters are added often. In addition, the Android version includes Android Robot, based on the operating system's Android logo. Other characters include Doge, Archie, Dark Lord, 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 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.[6] 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

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.[7] The game's free-to-play model was based on the one for Dota 2.[8]

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." [9] Eventually Hall hit upon combining such a game with Frogger. [9] Other influences included Temple Run, Subway Surfers, Disco Zoo, Skylanders, Tiny Wings and Fez.[10] The game's art style was created by Ben Weatherall.[11]

Reception

The game was a finalist for the Game of the Year Award 2014 for the Australian Game Developer Awards.[12] It received generally positive reviews with Metacritic giving the game a score of 88,[13] TouchArcade giving the game 5/5 stars,[6] BigBoomBoom.com giving the game 5/5 stars,[14] Gamezebo Gaming giving the game 4.5/5 stars,[15] and Apple N' Apps giving the game a 4/5 overall score.[16] Polygon dubbed the game "brilliant" and compared it as an updated take on Frogger,[3] while TIME called the game a mix of Frogger and Flappy Bird.[17] At the 2015 Apple WWDC developer's conference Crossy Road was one of the winners of the 2015 Apple Design Awards.[18]

Three months after its initial release, the game earned over $10 million and had over 50 million downloads.[19]

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. He has been called the best character in the game.[20]

Spin-offs

Disney Crossy Road
Disney Crossy Road
Developer(s)Hipster Whale
Publisher(s)Disney Mobile
EngineUnity
Platform(s)iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Windows 8.1,[lower-alpha 1] Windows 10[lower-alpha 1]
Release
  • WW: 28 March 2016
Genre(s)
Mode(s)Single-player

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,[lower-alpha 1] and Windows 10[lower-alpha 1] 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 and Inside Out. In the game, there are 588 characters, with secret characters like Mortimer from the Mickey & Friends franchise and Lenny from the first Toy Story movie.[22] Disney Crossy Road was shut down on iOS, Google, and Amazon on March 12, 2020.[23]

Crossy Road Castle

Crossy Road Castle is a co-op retro game that is a sequel to Crossy Road, available only on Apple Arcade.[24] It also supports up to four-player co-op. The game can also be played with either touch controls or a controller.[25]

See also

Notes
  1. Windows version was discontinued after version 2.8.[21]

References
  1. HMD Global (17 July 2017). "The new Nokia 105 and Nokia 130 delivers even better value with great quality designs". Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  2. Barker, Garry (11 March 2015). "More than fun and games with local developers Rylandia". Digital Life. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  3. Kuchera, Ben (21 November 2014). "Crossy Road has invented the 'endless Frogger,' and it's brilliant". Polygon.
  4. Hayward, Andrew (26 December 2014). "You Should Play: Crossy Road is basically endless Frogger, and that's a very good thing". Macworld.
  5. Rosenberg, Adam (9 September 2015). "'Crossy Road' brings a new take on its 'endless Frogger' to Apple TV". Mashable.
  6. 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.
  7. Kidman, Angus (18 December 2014). "Why Crossy Road's Developers Launched On Android Through Amazon". Lifehacker Australia. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  8. Te, Zorine (24 December 2014). "Crossy Road's Surprising Success, Future Secrets, Dota 2 Connection". Gamespot. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  9. Partridge, Jon. "Crossy Road: Making the next Flappy Bird". Red Bull. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  10. "Matt Hall (@KlickTock) on Twitter". Twitter. 28 November 2014.
  11. "Ben Weatherall (@sunraheadgear) on Twitter". Twitter. 8 August 2014.
  12. "Australian Game Developer Awards Finalists Announced". GCAP. 15 October 2014. Archived from the original on 28 February 2015.
  13. "Crossy Road - Endless Arcade Hopper iOS". Metacritic.
  14. "Crossy Road iPhone and Android Game Review". Big Boom Boom. 20 January 2015. Archived from the original on 20 January 2015.
  15. Cymet, Eli (20 November 2014). "Crossy Road Review: Traffic's a Zoo". Gamezebo Gaming.
  16. 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.
  17. Fitzpatrick, Alex (24 November 2014). "Crossy Road Is Your New iPhone Game Addiction". TIME.
  18. Starr, Michelle (9 June 2015). "Crossy Road, Vainglory take Apple Design Awards". CNET.
  19. 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. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  20. https://www.player.one/crossy-road-dinosaur-update-unlock-new-secret-characters-latest-game-update-555934
  21. "Disney Crossy Road version 2.8 will be the final Windows update". Disney.com. Disney Interactive Studios. 29 May 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  22. Farokhmanesh, Megan. "Disney Crossy Road launches today for mobile devices". Polygon. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  23. "Disney Crossy Road is being retired on iOS, Google and Amazon". Disney. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  24. "Apple Arcade's latest exclusive is a new Crossy Road spinoff". theverge. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  25. "Hipster Whale's Crossy Road Castle brings goofy laughs to Apple Arcade". venturebeat. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
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