CLOP is QWOP With Unicorns

Jeremy Wilkinson

Behatted Physicist
Jun 14, 2012
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CLOP is QWOP With Unicorns


And so begins the epic tale of one man, his unicorn, and an insurmountable hill.

Four years go, Oxford University philosopher Bennett Foddy developed flash game QWOP, an exercise in videogame griefing in which players attempt to control a sprinter in a 100m race by moving individual leg muscles. "Control" here is used in the loosest possible sense, as most players' attempts ended with the runner being catapulted upside-down in a cascade of flailing limbs. Foddy's latest game, CLOP, emulates that same feeling of despair in a somewhat different setting.

CLOP [http://www.foddy.net/CLOP.html] sees players taking control of a unicorn, with each leg mapped to one of the H, J, K and L keys. The gameplay itself will be familiarly frustrating to QWOP veterans, as the slightest misstep causes CLOP to either fall to his horn or flip wildly onto his back. The eponymous unicorn ends the game's introduction by saying, "Thou knowest I mislike hills," and he certainly isn't lying - unlike QWOP's flat running track, CLOP has to deal with steep inclines, pits and rocks littering the "high and pleasant hill" separating CLOP from his goal.

Foddy developed CLOP in a similar vein to the difficulty of his earlier games, only this time in a far more subtle way. Rather than making the game near-impossible right from the start, Foddy decided he would lull players into a false sense of security with a long flat section to learn the controls before literally ramping up the difficulty. "It's much easier to custom-design a difficulty ramp when the difficulty comes in the form of an actual ramp," he jokingly told Gamasutra.

As with QWOP, it's possible to master a certain rhythm to proceed, but as of yet winning strategies seem few and far between. One easy method available is to drag yourself along only your front legs. However, Foddy foresaw this, and decided to punish players doing this by saddling them with "Lame Horse Mode." In fact, according to his Twitter page [https://twitter.com/bfod/status/231426310793203712], he's shocked at the number of people who have unlocked this mode so far. It won't do you much good, anyway, as the game doesn't record scores earned in this mode.

We'll have to wait and see what actually lies on the other side of the hill, as nobody has yet accomplished the feat [https://twitter.com/bfod/status/231445838809927681]. With that in mind, if you'll excuse me, I have a hill to fail at climbing.

Source: Gamasutra [http://www.foddy.net/CLOP.html]

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saintdane05

New member
Aug 2, 2011
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As a brony, I think this man does not know what the modern day version of "clop" means...
 

FalloutJack

Bah weep grah nah neep ninny bom
Nov 20, 2008
15,489
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Anyone here recalling the QWOP moments during the last Desert Bus should be laughing hysterically right now.
 

snowfi6916

New member
Nov 22, 2010
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Ya know I was a little nervous with a game called "CLOP" involving unicorns. The few bronies who do that have taken away my innocence.

But yeah, glad it wasn't what I was thinking.
 

Moontouched-Moogle

New member
Nov 17, 2009
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Interesting. I remember seeing a QWOP-like game on DeviantArt starring Twilight Sparkle, and now there is an official unicorn QWOP game. The cycle is complete. At least until someone thinks it'd be cool to make a QWOP game using an octopus.
 

hazabaza1

Want Skyrim. Want. Do want.
Nov 26, 2008
9,612
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"Always, I wanna be with you, make believe with you..."
Should be fun.
 

DJ_DEnM

My brother answers too!
Dec 22, 2010
1,869
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snowfi6916 said:
saintdane05 said:
As a brony, I think this man does not know what the modern day version of "clop" means...
No he doesn't. Who wants to tell him?
Not me, please not me.

OT: I was able to finish QWOP once. I'm not gonna try this though, this just seems ridiculous.
 

Moontouched-Moogle

New member
Nov 17, 2009
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snowfi6916 said:
saintdane05 said:
As a brony, I think this man does not know what the modern day version of "clop" means...
No he doesn't. Who wants to tell him?
Eh, don't bother. Most of the slang brony terms are fairly dumb in my eyes anyway. "Plot" referring to "butt" I can kinda see, but it got old once it left the realm of "I watch it for the plot" and just became a word for butt. And then there's people using "flank" to mean "butt," when flank actually refers to the sides.

Also, that is the most often I have used the word "butt" in a short span of time since I was about eight years old. Butt. Butt butt butt butt butt. *giggles like a maniac*

Back on topic, I guess "clop" kind of makes sense in a sort of dirty-logic onomatopoeia way, but it's still kinda dumb.

Captcha: save yourself
Oh, it's too late for that. I'm too far gone.
 

Bloodstain

New member
Jun 20, 2009
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I loved QWOP. Well, I hated it, but with this game that is actually the same thing. Involving unicorns was only the next logical step! Whoa, I love this man.
I will start studying philosophy this year -- I so hope I can meet him at one point in my career.

Moontouched-Moogle said:
Interesting. I remember seeing a QWOP-like game on DeviantArt starring Twilight Sparkle, and now there is an official unicorn QWOP game. The cycle is complete. At least until someone thinks it'd be cool to make a QWOP game using an octopus.
You are a genius. Please, somehow make that game, or ask Foddy to do it!
 

Jandau

Smug Platypus
Dec 19, 2008
5,034
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Easier than QWOP, by a landslide. I've gotten 1/3 of the way through on my 3rd try, while in QWOP it was miracle to make it past the first few meters after a dozen tries...
 

mad825

New member
Mar 28, 2010
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I'll say this: They choose quite good music...Even though it isn't English.

 

KazNecro

New member
Jun 1, 2009
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Anyone else getting a 'Charlie the Unicorn' vibe here? The only thing that's missing is turning the hill into Candy Mountain.
 

Torrasque

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Aug 6, 2010
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DugMachine said:
I made it pretty far only using my two front legs. The hills though... THE HILLS.
"Hey, I have a pretty good pace going!" Then suddenly, a very slight hill and a dip... I've fallen over at least 20 times because of that fucking dip that makes me do BACKFLIPS. And then when you get past that first dip, there is a slight cliff. WHY AM I PLAYING THIS GAME.
KazNecro said:
Anyone else getting a 'Charlie the Unicorn' vibe here? The only thing that's missing is turning the hill into Candy Mountain.
Charlie the Unicorn is the first thing I thought of when I saw this and started playing, lol.
TizzytheTormentor said:
*sigh* QWOP was named that because those are the buttons it utilizes, naming it clop isn't witty, it's pure lazy.

Oh well, still funny! More than just a rip-off at least.
CLOP because its a pony. Calling it HJKL would be just silly, and actually using CLOP to move your unicorn would be a pain in the ass.

Also, I am NOT telling OP what CLOP means to the Bronydom... Lets just say that I am really glad there is no clopping in this game ._.
 

Torrasque

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Aug 6, 2010
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TizzytheTormentor said:
Torrasque said:
Also, I am NOT telling OP what CLOP means to the Bronydom... Lets just say that I am really glad there is no clopping in this game ._.
Uhh...I assume clopping is a pony version of...
fapping...
And Bronies wonder why they are compared to furries!

Seriously though...clopping...that is just...wrong.
I really want to avoid an argument about the comparing furries to bronies, since it would be a huge waste of time, so I'll just say this: all fan bases have their weird bits where people make art and fanfics of things that really shouldn't be, that is just the nature of the internet and people's imaginations.