Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Fallout Shelter Comes To Android - Build Your Indoor Utopia While You Survive The Apocalypse

Bethesda has finally brought Fallout Shelter to Android after debuting it on iOS a few months ago. iOS users will also see a Fallout Shelter update in version 1.1. What's in the new version? Check below.

What's New in Version 1.1

To ensure your experience is as enjoyable and hassle-free as possible, Vault-Tec engineers have implemented some exiting new features!
Overseers should be on the lookout for new threats to their Vault Dwellers. Some Vaults have reported attacks by burrowing Mole Rats and enraged Deathclaws - likely attracted by the sound of new construction.
Vault-Tec has partnered with General Atomics International in order to offer Overseers their very own... Read All

Terraria Mac & Linux Finally Released

After a time in beta Terraria officially comes to Mac & Linux to much joy. I've been playing it on my Mac and Fedora Linux machine and it works incredibly well. The Steam cross saves really make the experience really seamless. I consider Terraria a national treasure so it's good to see that anyone can play it on any of the major PC platforms.

"Mac and Linux Terrarians, your day has finally arrived!

We here at Re-Logic are thrilled to announce that we are officially launching the Mac & Linux versions of Terraria today! This has been a very long time in coming - and we know how very much the Community has desired these new Terraria platforms, so we are eagerly... Read All

Goodbye Ubuntu - My New Gaming Linux Distro Is Fedora 22

I've been using Ubuntu Linux as my primary Linux Desktop since it's first version, Warty Warthog. Fun fact, Travis and I first met as moderators for the Ubuntu Forums website and have been friends since. In my opinion, Ubuntu has been the best Desktop Linux for years and recently have I felt that position change. I don't want to get into a Linux distro war debate but needless to say, over time, the changes Ubuntu has been making to it's system have annoyed me. I don't particularly enjoy the Desktop they are creating or the direction they are headed. That said, I applaud them for all the hard work and as a many years loyal Ubuntu fan, leave with a lot of respect for... Read All I've been using Ubuntu Linux as my primary Linux Desktop since it's first version, Warty Warthog. Fun fact, Travis and I first met as moderators for the Ubuntu Forums website and have been friends since. In my opinion, Ubuntu has been the best Desktop Linux for years and recently have I felt that position change. I don't want to get into a Linux distro war debate but needless to say, over time, the changes Ubuntu has been making to it's system have annoyed me. I don't particularly enjoy the Desktop they are creating or the direction they are headed. That said, I applaud them for all the hard work and as a many years loyal Ubuntu fan, leave with a lot of respect for the project.

I've been looking around for a new Linux to fill my needs as there are so many to choose from. Mint Linux aims to fix much of the strange direction Ubuntu is going, Arch seems to be a very modern take on a DIY distro for power users and Fedora Linux has always been something i've wanted to try more of. After acquiring a Fedora 22 USB install drive from OSCon this year, I decided to give it a spin in a Virtual Machine and was very happy with the results. So much so that over the next week I re-imaged my PC with a dual boot of Fedora 22 and Windows 7.

One common complaint I hear from folks is that Fedora and other Red Hat RPM based distros suffer due to package management. This was very true a few years ago, but in my experience this has all but evaporated. Want to install Handbrake, Steam or Banshee? Install the RPM Fusion repository and use the graphical program to do it. I did have to drop to the console to do a few things, but I find that to be par for the course on any Linux distro I install. I cataloged all my steps in a Github gist you can read below.

https://gist.github.com/jdodson/d2caa9de20ebfdb59ce6

Those steps will get you all you need to get Nvidia drivers & Steam running as well as tweak your fonts to look a bit nicer than the default settings. I really enjoy the Gnome 3 Desktop and I have also included steps in that gist to make it work more like a traditional Mac-like Desktop with dock and menu bar. Gnome 3 is a great Desktop it just has a few odd defaults and after you turn them off I works better(I think).

Video game performance on Fedora 22 is about what I've come to expect from Linux, which is to say very good but not quite as great as Windows for some games. Fedora 22 packages a good version of Wine so I got Battle.net to run alongside Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm. Occasionally Hearthstone lags a bit but it doesn't make matches unplayable. Over the years Wine has gotten great at emulating Windows software and seeing how well it works now, gives me hope for future non native Linux gaming.

If you are looking for a nice way to start out on Desktop Linux Fedora 22 ain't a bad way to go. You could always try it out in a Virtual Machine and if things go well install it on a spare PC. That said, some of what you love in Fedora comes with SteamOS and over time I imagine that may become my primary Linux Desktop. Until then, Red Hat's bleeding edge community distro is a strong option and I have really enjoyed using it.

http://i.imgur.com/fRNMVSO.jpg

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/10/2015 at 02:37am

What distro did I start out w/? I think Red Hat, that was back in the late 90's. I've tried a few others in that time, but Ubuntu was one of my recent favorites (circa 2005). However, I later didn't like how the UI changed.

Fedora was the distro used in a class I took at my local community college. The class was working towards Linux+ certification, which I didn't attempt, but aced the class.

It's been a long time since I've dual-booted Linux. I do it sometimes, but don't end up playing around with it very long.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/10/2015 at 05:13pm

Not SteamOS?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/10/2015 at 05:29pm

@Will I think that I might try it a bit later. For now, Fedora is full featured and has a path for it being a very good Desktop OS. SteamOS isn't officially released yet, but when it is I will check it out for sure.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/10/2015 at 10:08pm

SteamOS is still really rough around the edges, and I don't think will ever be the best idea for a desktop. If you get SteamOS and install all the stuff in it to make it a desktop, then a quicker way would be to just install Debian and then put Steam on it. The big customizations coming from SteamOS are just simplifying ways to get your drivers up-to-date, providing a way to immediately boot into Big Picture mode, and a few hooks from Steam into the OS so you can customize things straight from Steam. All of these, aside from customizing the OS from Steam, are done easily in a desktop Linux distro. And Valve has said that, while you can install anything you want, the bare-bare-barebones desktop environment is there basically so you can more easily tweak things.

In fact, even Valve thinks using it as a desktop OS is a bad idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWaG9hOvNn0&feature=youtu.be&t=7m23s

scrypt Supporter wrote on 08/12/2015 at 12:40am

Thanks for the info, Jon. I'm Linux illiterate, so it's always nice to read trusted recommendations. Will definitely read up on Fedora.

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Have Enough New Games To Last Years? Why Not Play An Old One Instead.

Most of us have games to last us for years. If I just played games to completion on Steam I have yet to start, i'd be playing for the next 10 bazillion years. It's a great time to be a gamer but so many choices can be a bit overwhelming. Recently i've been enjoying the Cheerful Ghost Borderlands 2 event. We get together every Monday and play through the game a couple hours at a time. If you pay any attention to the site here you also know my current standby is Hearthstone. Currently I am saving up gold for the new Grand Tournament expansion, so when it drops I can buy as many packs as I can. Currently I have enough gold saved for 20 packs and I hope to get more gold... Read All Most of us have games to last us for years. If I just played games to completion on Steam I have yet to start, i'd be playing for the next 10 bazillion years. It's a great time to be a gamer but so many choices can be a bit overwhelming. Recently i've been enjoying the Cheerful Ghost Borderlands 2 event. We get together every Monday and play through the game a couple hours at a time. If you pay any attention to the site here you also know my current standby is Hearthstone. Currently I am saving up gold for the new Grand Tournament expansion, so when it drops I can buy as many packs as I can. Currently I have enough gold saved for 20 packs and I hope to get more gold to bump that ever upward. We have the current Cheerful Ghost Terraria server going strong and I wish I could play it more. Terraria requires a huge time commitment, something I can't do right now due to juggling a plethora of life things. That said, earlier this year I completed the original Legend of Zelda and that experience left me wanting more Zelda so a few days afterward I started up The Ocarina of Time. I've played this game before always getting near the end before, for whatever reason, I don't complete it. This time may be different but it's fun to just play it again for however long that lasts.

When I come back to an old classic like the original Legend of Zelda or Ocarina of Time I try and ask myself if the game still holds up? In the case of Ocarina of Time the game holds up as well as it did in 1998 with a few exceptions. As gaming has advanced since then I noticed the frameyness and the control scheme isn't quite as polished as a modern Zelda. With that what Nintendo pulled off on the Nintendo 64 is admirable and once I started the game it's graphical low resolution and occasional play control jitters didn't bother me at all.

I am not going to get into a full review of Ocarina of Time as it's been discussed elsewhere in better detail. I will say that as to my last session I just opened up Jabu Jabu and have yet to complete that level. I am not very far into the game as I can only sit down to play it about one session per week but every time I do the games adventure brings me right back to "dat 90's magic." I have a Nintendo 64 and the Ocarina of Time cart but for this playthrough I have opted to play it over Mupen 64 on my Nexus Player. Mupens upscaled graphics and the ability to map controls to a XBox 360 controller are nice but about every hour and a half the game crashes due to what I consider to be some kind of memory leak. I save often and it's not hard to get back to where I was, but emulation is still not as good as just playing on the original hardware itself as far as stability goes for the 64. If you are looking to head back to an old classic you couldn't do much better than Ocarina of Time and if you wanted to break lots of pottery, there isn't a better way I know of to live that experience.

Ark: Survival Evolved An Early Access Sandbox Survival Game

Azurephile gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

Azurephile gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

Review

Recommended, especially if you have a PC that can run it

Survival, crafting, and taming dinosaurs and other creatures!

*Update 12/2019*
This was written during Ark’s Early Access period, which is now over. The game has multiple expansions and at least two more coming. It’s also now available on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Today’s hardware is also much more suitable for running it and the game is better optimized.

How I found out about Ark: I can't seem to recall playing any kind of sandbox survival game before Minecrat and Terraria. My son was playing Minecraft before me and it took me a while to jump in. Before doing so, I watched a series on YouTube... Read All

scrypt Supporter wrote on 08/09/2015 at 04:17pm

Both of the games that I've backed because of dinosaurs (The Stomping Land, and Orion: Dino Beatdown), ended up flopping, so I'm wary. ARK does look interesting, though, and I might give it a chance at some point. That Unreal Engine is awful pretty :). Good review!

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/09/2015 at 04:38pm

Nice thing about ARK though is that it's out in some form and can be played. I had another friend that backed The Stomping Land, I think more than a few people were upset about that one.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 08/09/2015 at 05:26pm

Well, yeah, Stomping Land was pulled from Steam eventually, but it was playable before the dev went silent. Orion: Dino Beatdown was playable for quite some time, but has since been re-established as Orion: Prelude, which is apparently doing relatively better (at $.99, the expectation/risk isn't that high). ARK looks like it has much more polish than both, and the price seems reasonable.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 08/09/2015 at 11:38pm

Thanks for the comments! The devs of ARK seem to be serious, new content comes out frequently. The game is popular and the multiplayer aspect of it is huge, so I'd be very surprised to see this game not complete Early Access. The fact that it's coming out on current gen consoles seems to support that.

One of the things I really liked about a trailer I saw was someone riding a Pteranodon. Paul also met up with a T-Rex in one of his videos. Those would be awesome to have!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 08/11/2015 at 01:54am

I've taken two screen shots of the two families I've been able to capture on screen together. My son said he's impressed. I'm happy to have a Dilo, Trike, and Parasaur. The Dodo's a little added bonus, although the Dilo attacked me when I was away from camp (camp=also where I was taming trike) and so ended up joining me (it was tamed quickly being such a low level).

http://steamcommunity.com/id/gawoodruff/screenshots/?appid=346110

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 08/11/2015 at 11:42pm

My curent dino family includes 2 Trikes, 2 Dilos, 2 Dodos, 2 Parasaurs, 2 Philomia, 1 Raptor, and 1 Sarco (croc). Doubles mean I have mates, which means those get mate bonuses. Changing some of the world settings really helped. I did die w/ this character and world a few times, but this is currently as far as I've been able to progress. I do have a lot of Engrams unlocked, so I can make things like wood and stone housing.

I was careful in an area where there was a Sarco, but I eventually found it or one again stuck on a tree trunk or so. It was only level 4 and I was able to tame it. So, now I'm not so afraid of the area where I found him.

I also wrote a Steam review for the game, because I believe it's an excellent game despite some negative reviews. So, I thought I'd help with a small and positive review.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 08/17/2015 at 03:44am

Oh, I really love this game! I have been fully immersed in it for a while now. There are a few things I thought I'd mention.

I do strongly recommend the game. Maybe there will eventually be a demo, that would be great because then people could at least give it a try. If you want a smooth out-of-the-box experience, it's probably best to wait until some time after it gets released, or even just get it for a new console. Otherwise, you're going to want to (easily) research settings to use to optimize the game's graphical settings to reach the balance between performance and quality you want. Just look on Steam, there are some helpful guides there that show the game's settings and what someone recommends you set them to.

I saw another recommendation that adding "-USEALLAVAILABLECORES -d3d10" to the launch options really helps. It was also recommended to put the game on High priority in Windows Task Manager, which is easy enough to do. However, I thought it'd be cool to be able to launch the game automatically on High priority, and so I set up a new shortcut for the game that does that and includes the game's optional launch options I was using.

I must say now the game loads a lot quicker. It runs pretty well, not 100%, but still pretty well. I expect the game to be more optimized upon graduating from Early Access and being released.

The really game scares me and keeps me anxious, which isn't something I'm used to while playing a game. I've seen some really big and nasty dinos that can tear me and my dino pets apart in a matter of seconds. I've been watching a Tyranosaurus (not Rex) take out multiple Brontos. I've also seen a Spinosaur tear into some dinos. I have been killed plenty of times, too. The game is about survival and being careful is usually a good idea, so always watch your back!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 08/17/2015 at 04:47am

Here's the guide I used to help configure the game for my PC. I strongly recommend this guide for any PC as it contains some important in-game configuration settings as well. Also, even though the person who wrote the guide is using a Titan GPU, I've found these settings to be excellent even on my 690.

I also created a new shortcut for the game which looks like this, which opens the game with recommended launch options and as a High priority process:
Target: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c start "ShooterGame.exe" /high "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\ARK\ShooterGame\Binaries\Win64\ShooterGame.exe" -USEALLAVAILABLECORES -d3d10

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 08/25/2015 at 01:19pm

I'm so excited right now. I noticed that, in his videos, Paul was using a whistle to tell his dinos to eat what they killed and I couldn't figure out which one he was using. So, I posted a comment on his latest video asking. Google didn't help me find the answer I was looking for, but later I found an answer in the Steam community forums. Still, someone replied with what I needed to know. No only that, but Paul did, too! Wow!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 08/27/2015 at 10:55pm

An free weekend for ARK comes along with a tournament. Some in-game prizes include Steam keys for a discounted or free game. Further details: http://steamcommunity.com/games/346110/announcements/detail/111816487013236272

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 09/26/2015 at 12:07am

33% Off! Humble Sale! I already have 268 hours of game play! I look forward to the new stuff!

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/ark_survivalevolved_storefront?utm_source=Humble+Bundle+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ffee807f43-Humble_Store_September_25_ARK_Rockstar&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_990b1b6399-ffee807f43-124208569&mc_cid=ffee807f43&mc_eid=11a5591a8d

jdodson Admin wrote on 09/26/2015 at 04:47am

Damn. That's intense. How long have you owned it now? People at work have been raving about it. Definitely going to pick it up at some point!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 09/26/2015 at 11:50am

July or August. There's a big update coming this weekend, which adds new dinos and biomes.

jdodson Admin wrote on 09/26/2015 at 05:03pm

Are you playing this single player or online? Looks like it's pretty hard on shared severs with others.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 09/26/2015 at 06:48pm

100% single player. I'm kind of stuck right now because I want SCUBA gear so I can go looking for a Plesiosaur, but that gear requires level 75 to unlock and I'm only about 70. So, I'm not really sure what else to do to get extra XP (although I am using options that have increased that multiplier). Right now I'm waiting on that big update. The new biomes are going to change a few places and I'm concerned that my dino pen may be affected. I have a home in one place w/ some dinos, but a pen I made for other dinos in an area that is receiving a change and thus my structure (pen) in the area may be destroyed.

Anyway, I think it's a great game!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 06/03/2018 at 07:48am

Ark turns three today!! What an amazing three years of gaming with Ark, it's been. I've spent much more time playing Ark than any other game ever and I'm still loving it and playing it! I'm so grateful! I'm looking forward to what's to come and reflecting on what has come.

It's funny looking back at these old comments when I was happy to have 268 hours of gameplay. My current logged hours are actually 2687!!!! This just has to be my favorite game!

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/03/2018 at 01:41pm

Yeah with that kind of playtime I’d say so.

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Allied Commanders Is Coming To Starcraft II Legacy of the Void

Starcraft II is a great game and comes with an amazing multiplayer mode that is fun to play with friends. That is if they know how to play Starcraft 2. One mode that is coming to Legacy of the Void looks incredible and might be something I play quite a bit of and might get some of my friends to play Starcraft 2 with me.

"In Allied Commanders, you play as one of the many heroic leaders in the StarCraft II universe. Each with an arsenal of various powers and abilities and a select group of unit types which you may use to compose your army. All of these tools make playing each commander a unique experience."

You should check the link below to see what each races commanders... Read All

New Doom Footage Escapes Gamescom

iD Software dropped a new Doom trailer that features some new footage we haven't seen previously. The new footage is included with some earlier footage, but if you are itching to get some new Doom in your face, this is it.

New Doom is coming out in 2015 and I can't wait to check it out. That said, the more I watch this footage the more I feel bad for the Demons. Seriously, this game won't be a good time for them.

Square Enix and Microsoft Team for Awesome Tech Demo

This article is from April. I regret that I did not share it then. This is truly an awesome tech demo that is worth taking a look at. The PC running the demo is showcasing four Titan X GPUs and featuring DirectX 12.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/square-enix-reveals-stunning-final-fantasy-pc-tech/1100-6427022/

Those Lovable Angry Birds Are Back With All New Self Directed Anger!

Angry Birds 2 dropped a few days ago and I happily downloaded it, because, who doesn't like Angry Birds? It might be a bit simple sure, but it's fun to fling birds at those pigs. Truth be told I was never a huge Angry Birds fan myself but I did play quite a bit of the original and Angry Birds Space(think Angry Birds meets Super Mario Galaxy). I also don't mind trying a mobile game if the price is right and in the case of Angry Birds 2, it's free.

First off, Angry Birds 2 starts out in the same way as the first game. The pigs steal the nests eggs and the birds want them back. Yup, same plot as before. I know Angry Birds isn't known for it's narrative but Rovio is... Read All Angry Birds 2 dropped a few days ago and I happily downloaded it, because, who doesn't like Angry Birds? It might be a bit simple sure, but it's fun to fling birds at those pigs. Truth be told I was never a huge Angry Birds fan myself but I did play quite a bit of the original and Angry Birds Space(think Angry Birds meets Super Mario Galaxy). I also don't mind trying a mobile game if the price is right and in the case of Angry Birds 2, it's free.

First off, Angry Birds 2 starts out in the same way as the first game. The pigs steal the nests eggs and the birds want them back. Yup, same plot as before. I know Angry Birds isn't known for it's narrative but Rovio is pulling a entry out of the Nintendo's tried and tested "absolutely do not change the narrative of any franchise" formula. So are you telling me that after the upset avians got the eggs back from the pigs that they learned absolutely nothing and let it happen again one dark and story night? Well yes, yes they are. Which is why I think I understand why the Angry Birds are so upset. The worst kind of anger can be directed at yourself and after seeing the pigs steal the eggs one more time the birds have to direct that rage at themselves. Fool me once? Angry Birds. Fool me twice? Angry Birds 2 - We Have Learned Nothing.

Besides the plot, which isn't that big of a deal in these kinds of games, is the gameplay. Rovio has turned the knob to 11 because they improve on the gameplay of the original Angry Birds in nearly every way. The destruction is more chaotic, the explosions are more fun and the sound effects and graphics are much more polished. The game feels like a triple A mobile effort and at every turn is very polished. I experienced no bugs playing it and found the user interface wasn't confusing or annoying. The massive effort that went into Angry Birds 2 shows, the gameplay is superb.

As I noted earlier, Angry Birds 2 is free. That said, Rovio still needs to pay to keep the lights on so they added a freemium system. You start out with 5 lives and they deplete as you fail to complete stages. Don't beat a stage with the birds you are given? Lose a life. This isn't a big deal in the starting zones but the difficulty ramps up and then you run out of lives. You can get more lives by waiting or by spending in game currency, which is in this case is gems. I felt this was a missed opportunity in that Rovio could have gone with pig bones as the in game currency. It seems much more fitting to spend the remains of the vanquished than gems as gems appear in nearly every mobile game and enemy parts have still yet to be used. The in game economy isn't bad if you don't mind waiting or shelling out money, but like many freemium mobile games you could be waiting a very long time. In the end the freemium nature of Angry Birds 2 didn't bother me as by the time my lives ran out I stopped playing(everbody wins). I am not sure how much i'll end of playing Angry Birds 2 but it's a solid effort and if you loved Angry Birds, you need to come back and get angry all over again.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/04/2015 at 03:48am

Oh no, pay gates? Do you get an option to buy the game and not have them, or are they all microtransaction based? If it's the latter, this is an instant pass for me. I don't want to reward that behavior with a download counter increase on their stats. I don't mind if there's an option to get out of it by buying the game outright, which a few games have done, but that's just Candy Crushville all over again.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/04/2015 at 04:03am

I noticed this elsewhere and read about it. I have all, or almost all, of the Angry Birds games on my Kindle. I bought some, but others are the free versions. One of the last times I played through and made it to the Halloween stuff, which was awesome. Then my Kindle died and was promptly stolen due to my accidentally leaving it setting at a dental office. I bought another, much better HDX later.

Anyway, thanks for your review. I may get it installed. I was afraid of how they changed the game play, but from what you said, it sounds much better. The lives thing kind of sucks, but I guess that makes it a game you can play for a bit and then wait a while before playing again (to replenish lives).

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/04/2015 at 05:36am

Travis: there is no buy out option, just crystals.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/04/2015 at 06:15am

It doesn't seem like it's out for the Kindle yet...

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/04/2015 at 02:36pm

Travis: they have the option for you to watch a 30 second video for another life. As annoying as that is. I guess they must make a ton more money on the freemium game than a for pay one.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/04/2015 at 03:37pm

Yeah, still. They weren't exactly losing money with the old model, where you could play for free with ads or buy it outright without them, and even providing tons of free updates for years on all their various games.

And many companies have had super success with selling cosmetic things or even helpful things that aren't necessary. Currency doublers, or hats, or any number of things people would really want to buy, without limiting your access to play the game. Halfbrick made tons of money on Jetpack Joyride from all those costumes. TF2 is the poster child of selling cosmetic items to keep income coming in. Guild Wars 2, while you have to pay for the game up-front, doesn't have a subscription because people refer to it as Fashion Wars 2 a lot. People will shell out to make their characters look nice, or buy access to convenience items that help but are by no means necessary.

Freemium doesn't have to be an evil model.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/04/2015 at 11:40pm

Not sure i'd call it evil. Annoying perhaps, but not evil. Not sure true evil is as easily vanquished as simply deleting an app

Travis Admin wrote on 08/05/2015 at 12:51am

It was hyperbole :)

But more accurately: bad for the industry and players.

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Andrew Spinks on Terraria's Future

Andrew Spinks did an interview with PC Gamer recently and details what's to come for our favorite terrarium simulator. Even though he won't be directly involved from this point forward, as he's moving onto a new project and eventually Terraria 2, the future looks exciting.

First up, he shared that updates would come more frequently, and in smaller chunks, possibly including new mechanics and alternate biomes. This could be good or bad, depending on your preference, but it will keep the community more active for sure and add tons of replay value (as if there isn't already infinite replay value).

In addition, he said that in the future they'd like to add mod support and... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/03/2015 at 03:05am

Awesome interview! Wow, more for Terraria?! That's truly exciting! I recently thought of something I'd like to see in the game, but cannot currently remember what that was.

My son keeps asking if "creative mode" was coming to Terraria, especially in 1.3. I told him there isn't a "creative mode," the game is in "creative mode." Perhaps there is more to it, as in being able to build without any mobs. That makes sense.

As for mods, that brings me to something I was thinking about recently. I don't think I'll include those thoughts here, though. Again, my son mentioned mods for Terraria, which I haven't tried and I really don't have any desire to do so at this point. However, that's only true if you do not count TShock as a mod, although perhaps it is. Still, it could be interesting to see what modders come up with, perhaps it could lead to further things being included in the game.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/03/2015 at 03:18am

Yeah that's what creative mode in Minecraft is, isn't it? Just building without enemies, etc?

TShock is a mod, but a different one from usual. It's a mod of the server instead of the client. If mod support opens for both server and client, TShock's development would be much smoother, and could be way more modular.

One thing I'd love to see came up in a discussion on the Terraria subreddit. Once you've done everything, beaten the moon lord, vanquished all the foes, the Dryad then gives you quests to clean up the world. She already tells you the corruption percent as it is, so she could give you markers to patches you may not know about. Once you completely clean the corruption/crimson (and maybe hallow) out of your world, a new NPC moves in: The Mayor.

The Mayor gives you certain quests like getting resources, etc, and as you complete more of his quests, new NPCs move in that may be just normal people, may sell things (choosing from the pool of the other NPCs), some may be builders. You can set certain areas to be construction zones and your town will grow and more people will move in.

Since anything you could possibly do after getting all the Moon Lord drops would be creative/completionist, why not give something to go along with that? At this point there's no real endgame, and this would add onto it.

I doubt it's within the scope of Terraria. As Andrew said, the engine is reaching its limit. But it would be nice for Terraria 2.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/03/2015 at 05:33am

Oh that would be sweet!

Still, if it's reaching it's limit, I wonder how much more can be added or done. It seems like enough (as he said) to provide some updates ever 1-3 months, but for how long? Also, could the engine be upgraded? Maybe that's Terraria 2. I'm still wondering about Otherworld and how that will be, but I'm sure I'll jump on it when it's ready.

I'm glad he created the game and that he decided to "finish" it. I've been loving the updates I've seen and I look forward to more. I like that he's still working on things and planning on continuing with the game as a series.

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