After an enormously successful run on the Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and Wii platforms, 2D Boy’s “World of Goo” has finally made its way to the iOS platform and is now available for the iPad.

The premise is simple: take a series of living, semi-sentient goo balls and string them together in a configuration that allows them to reach a pipe and have a certain number of them be transported to the next level. Along the way you’ll have to work with various kinds of goo balls, each with their own distinctive properties. such as how many simultaneous connections they can make, how strong these connections might be and how well the goo balls can stick to surfaces like walls and cliffs.

After several amazing, mind-shattering hours of World of Goo goodness, here's what we came up with make your own World of Goo experience amazing.

World of Goo retails for $9.99 on the App Store and requires iOS 3.2 or later to install and run.

Size Things Up

As strange as World of Goo can be from the start of each level, you’ll still have to make sense of things and know what your goals for the level. To this end, relax, and use your iPad’s touchscreen to pan around. With any luck, you’ll be able to quickly find the pipe, see what other elements are in the level and decide how best to build your way towards the pipe. This will also help you decide as to the best way to create your structure without wasting too many goo balls and allow you to recover as many units as possible on your way to the next level. 

Listen to the Sign Painter

Throughout each level, at least one sign can be clicked that offers the Sign Painter’s perspective on the level. This sign will also usually includes hints as to how best to solve the level as well as other insights. Tap the signs to see what they say, see if you can’t glean anything from them and move on.

A Good Foundation is Never a Bad Thing

If there’s one thing to remember about World of Goo, it’s this: this is a physics simulator as much as anything else and it needs to be respected. With that in mind, remember that you’re fighting gravity via your goo ball constructions and will need as solid a foundation as possible while holding some goo balls to meet the level’s quota. 

Try to have a wide base at the bottom of a vertical structure, and remember that veering to the left or right makes it difficult to balance.

Accommodating Your Environment

One of the coolest things about World of Goo is that you can build almost anything that needs to be created and in almost any shape. With that in mind, you can take the natural obstacles a level throws your way, such as your goo balls sloshing back and forth in a tank, and build a wide enough structure so the sloshing effect is minimized and you can go back to focusing on the tower that needs to be created.

Build Fast

There are times where slow and steady wins the race, and times where you’ll need to build as quickly as possible to have any chance of advancing. Remember that vertical towers tend to sway and destabilize fairly quickly in World of Goo, so build quickly, but carefully, and try not to have too many goo balls extending to either side of the tower off its center, which can throw off the center of gravity.

Know Your Goo Balls

While black goo balls can typically only be used once in a structure, green and silver goo balls can be reused and relocated as needed. Take advantage of this and reuse these goo balls as you see fit, especially if they can help extend your structure towards its goal. Keep the black goo balls as your base, extend and explore with the green and silver goo balls and you should be able to finish the level with more balls and a higher bonus. 

OCD: It Can be a Good Thing

While playing World of Goo’s OCD mode would be masochistic for a beginner, this can be a great way to practice the tricks of your trade once you feel comfortable. If you’re feeling up to it, head back to an easier level, enter OCD mode and see if you can’t play a little more efficiently each time. 

Yes, this sort of sounds like “Hey, why don’t you pick up some books and try to build a cold fusion reactor for fun?”, but it could help to make a difference for later levels.

The Glory of Time Travel

Yes, you CAN turn back time in World of Goo. Or, at least one move at a time. Don’t forget to tap the floating Timebugs which hang around the level to go back one move per Timebug hit. This can make all the difference between adding an extension that makes your goo tower list to one side and collapse or adding the perfect balance to the tower that helps win the level.

And it’ll keep you from screaming out loud at your iPad (people tend to feel shaky around you when you do that…)

The Pipe: This Can be a Lifesaver

Never, ever doubt the power of a vacuum force. Even if your goo strcture is completely shaky and about to collapse under its own weight, if you can get within one to two meters of the pipe at the end of the level you can count on the pipe’s vacuum to begin retrieving any stray goo balls.