Hipster Whale | |
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![]() "Hipster Whale brings great games to the world." | |
Country Based In | Australia |
Notable Games | Crossy Road, Crossy Road Castle, Crossy Road+. Pac-Man 256, Shooty Skies, Piffle |
- For the in-game character, see Hipster Whale (Mascot).
Hipster Whale is an Australian indie game company, founded by Andy Sum and Matt Hall.[1] Other members include Ben Weatherall[2] Giselle Rosman,[3] Tom Killen, and Mel Aggenbach.[4]
Currently, Hipster Whale has developed six games: Crossy Road, Pac-Man 256, Piffle, Crossy Road Castle, Shooty Skies, and Crossy Road+.[5]
History[]
Origins[]
After meeting at GCAP 2013, Matt Hall and Andy Sum stayed in touch and discussed concepts for new games. After making a few early prototypes, they decided to form the company Hipster Whale.[6]
The name "Hipster Whale" was inspired when Andy Sum and Matt Hall met at GCAP (Game Connect: Asia Pacific, Australia's annual game development conference) conference in Melbourne, and they were sitting in this free to play talk at the back of the room, and were doing these squiggles. Andy Sum drew a whale, as they were talking about free-to-play and whales, and Matt made it a hipster with a cup of coffee, a little hat and a goatee, and the two had this hipster whale idea from way way back, and it was funny to them, so they went with that for a company name.[7]
2014: Crossy Road[]
Hipster Whale began working on their first game, Crossy Road, in late 2014. Originally, the developers planned to spend only 6 weeks developing the game, according to Matt Hall, but decided to dedicate a further 6 weeks after realizing the potential that the game had.[8] However, the whole process went well over 12 weeks.[9]
Hipster Whale took inspiration from many games when creating Crossy Road. The Free-to-Play aspect came from Dota 2[10], while other inspirations include Temple Run, Subway Surfers, Disco Zoo, Flappy Bird, Skylanders, Tiny Wings, FEZ and Frogger[11]. The name and concept of the game is from the joke "why did the chicken cross the road?"[12]
Since the initial release, the team have continued working on Crossy Road as their only game, releasing various content updates (including the Australian Update and the Chinese New Year Update) and bug fixes.
In an interview for PocketGamer, Hipster Whale stated that they had "books filled with ideas" for future projects, which Matt Hall says they plan to work on alongside future updates for Crossy Road.[13]
2015: Pac-Man 256[]
Bandai Namco has commissioned Hipster Whale to develop their next game, Pac-Man 256. Inspired by the 256th level glitch in the original Pac-Man, the game will be an endless runner.[14]
“We are thrilled to be working with the creators of the huge hit Crossy Road in creating a new PAC-MAN game for his 35th anniversary,” said Bandai Namco Vancouver’s Daisuke Hattori, the game’s project manager in today’s press release. “We’re already seeing incredibly strong, hooking game play in the early prototypes, and cannot wait to share this experience with everyone!”[15]
Pac-Man 256 is now downloadable on the app store. The characters in Pac-Man can be unlocked in Crossy Road as mascots.
2015: Shooty Skies[]

Even though it isn't made by Hipster Whale, Andy Sum & Ben Weatherall assisted making Shooty Skies, and the Crossy Road Chicken is an enemy and character, with Hipster Whale is also a character.
Members[]
Trivia[]
- Even though their first official game is Crossy Road, Andy Sum has created GAME OF THE YEAR: 420BLAZEIT vs. xxXilluminatiXxx [wow/10 #rekt edition] Montage Parody the Game under his own name for the 7 Day FPS Challenge.
- Andy Sums' contact email is listed andy@hipsterwhale.com.[16]
- The chicken who crosses the street is an homage at Activision's video game Freeway for Atari 2600.
References[]
- ↑ Crossy Road's official site
- ↑ Croosy Road's official site
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Crossy Road Credits Screen
- ↑ Mighty Games Group
- ↑ Crossy Road Presskit
- ↑ http://www.redbull.com/us/en/games/stories/1331701011749/crossy-road-hipster-whale-interview
- ↑ LifeHacker - Why Crossy Road's Developers Launched On Android Through Amazon
- ↑ http://www.redbull.com/us/en/games/stories/1331701011749/crossy-road-hipster-whale-interview
- ↑ GameSpot - Crossy Road's Suprising Success, Future Secrets, Dota 2 Connection
- ↑ Matt Hall on Twitter
- ↑ App Store
- ↑ PocketGamer: Making of Crossy Road
- ↑ http://www.polygon.com/2015/5/22/8646873/pac-man-256-hipster-whale-bandai-namco
- ↑ http://www.gamezebo.com/2015/05/22/crossy-road-makers-partner-with-namco-for-pac-man-256/
- ↑ GAME OF THE YEAR: 420BLAZEIT vs. xxXilluminatiXxx (wow/10 #rekt edition) Montage Parody the Game