Travis4

Joined 01/23/2012

Web developer and all-around geek.
https://travisnewman.me

547 Posts

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This seems to be separate from Anita Sarkeesian's videos, she's not even mentioned in the article, but another take on sexism in the industry has been posted at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/life/lifestyle/video-game-sexism-under-attack-678689/

This one looks at the people in the industry themselves, the reasons women are excluded (or self-exclude) from the gaming industry, and takes a look at the redesign of Lara Croft and what that means for women.

Some of the experiences mentioned in the article are just unthinkable. We should be better than this.

As an aside, this whole thing started, further proving Anita's point: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6rmic2RBw1rp5xua.png


At SXSW, Gearbox announced that a new playable character is coming to Borderlands 2! There aren't really any details yet, as it's currently just a teaser, but the character looks to be a beefy melee focused character.

Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/08/gearbox-teases-new-borderlands-2-vault-hunter-dlc-at-sxsw/29


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Hey all,

As the year marches forward we want to keep up with awesome giveaway contests. And as such we are rolling into our next foray: The Bioshock Infinite EXTRAVAGANZA! Like many of you, we enjoyed taking a journey through the world of Rapture and want to help you experience the next set of awesomeness alongside Booker and Elizabeth.

We are giving away a copy on Steam Gifts as per usual to drop in one lucky person's Steam account on March 25th. No strings attached. Head over to SteamGifts to enter that contest:

http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/dr1Kb/bioshock-infinite

To increase your chances to win we are pulling out some pretty weighty American Exceptionalism sprinkled with a dash of Ayn. Add Bioshock to your game list here on Cheerful Ghost. Once it’s added to your list write a bit about your thoughts and experiences with the original Bioshock and your entry is set!

We will choose the winner based on which post we like the most.

Remember to have fun but be cool, Cheerful Ghost is a community of totally awesome people.

THE FINE PRINT:
* Make sure “Bioshock Infinite Contest” is somewhere in the body of your post. No worries, we will find it but this will help.
* We are giving away one copy of Bioshock Infinite on Steam Gifts and one copy on Cheerful Ghost to the winner. All winners will be chosen by March 25th at 9PM EST.
* All posts to Cheerful Ghost center around games in your list SO your post must be for "Bioshock Infinite" to be counted for the contest. Comments do not count.
* This contest is only for people who do not have Bioshock Infinite, not to add something to add to your inventory for trading. We will check the winner's Steam inventory to check that the winner doesn't already own the game before giving it out.
* We rule on the side of fun in the case any problems arise.



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Three bundles dropped today! You love bundles, I love bundles. Bundles for everyone!

Humble Bundle with Android 5
http://www.humblebundle.com/
  • Dungeon Defenders

  • Super Hexagon

  • Beat Hazard Ultra

  • Dynamite Jack

  • Solar 2

  • Nightsky HD


Indie Gala Flash
http://indiegala.com/
  • Pathologic

  • The Abbey

  • Miner Wars Arena

  • Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon

  • Miner Wars 2081

  • Paranormal

  • Mystery Game: Unlocks in three days


Bundle Stars 4: Fire and Ice
http://bundlestars.com/
  • Tiny Troopers

  • Airport Control Simulator

  • Darkness Within

  • Darkness Within 2

  • Adam's Venture

  • Adam's Venture 2

  • Armada 2526

  • Firefighter

  • Two mystery titles to be unlocked later


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Come join us this Wednesday night at 9PM EST, 6PM PST. If you don't have the game yet, it's pretty cheap on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/13210/

We'll make another post Wednesday as a reminder. See you then!


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I've been playing Bit.Trip Runner 2 for the past few days, and the charm is thick with this game. It's narrated by the voice of Mario himself, Charles Martinet, it starts off with a fake ad for things like Milk Brine, and you run into characters like Reverse Merman here.

I plan on writing more about this as I progress, but if you're looking for a bizarre perpetual running platformer crossed with a rhythm game, this is your jam. These games are frustrating, to be sure, but much like Super Meat Boy there's no better gaming feeling than acing a level.


Hey, that rhymed!

Ubisoft has been incapable of keeping this one under wraps. This trailer leaked yesterday, was taken down, but now it's back. So if this disappears, that's why.

In addition, another trailer has leaked (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=CW8lNKjLf1c) and some screenshots and art (http://www.allgamesbeta.com/2013/03/assassins-creed-iv-black-flag.html).

The new game in the series has you playing as the grandfather of AC3 protagonist, Connor. The sailing mechanics of the last game return, which is good news for anyone who loved those as much as I did.

It looks like this is releasing later this year. I'll be buying it, for sure. Even though the series has gone downhill, it's still greatly entertaining. I understood people's problems with AC3, but I loved it.


After jdodson’s interview with the developers of Hammerwatch, we got to take a beta for a spin. We recorded a lets play of us playing Survival (in which Jon is awesome, by the way), which you can watch above as well as our first impressions below. Read on for our thoughts on this early build of the game, as well as some follow-up questions that came out of our test.

Let me just say, this game is amazing. It starts off tricky, and the difficulty curve continues at about the same pace as your upgrades, so be prepared to stay alert.

Hammerwatch is heavily inspired by Gauntlet but takes the genre a few steps forward in very unique ways. Choosing one of the four classes players take on the foes of Castle Hammerwatch, and can choose from Paladin, Wizard, Ranger, or Warlock (currently unavailable in the beta). For most of the night, I was a Paladin and Jon was a Wizard. Each class requires an entirely different playstyle, so the replay value is high.

The level design was my favorite part. You’ll frequently walk past locked doors that require a key you don’t have, or an obvious path you want to take that’s blocked by spikes. At one point we came upon a big letter “A” and had no clue how to get to the room containing it, or what it even does. Occasionally you’ll walk straight through a wall and find something awesome waiting for you on the other side. These design choices keep the game flowing, pushing you on toward more exploration.

The enemies are varied, and as you progress through the floors of the castle, you get harder variants of each enemy type. The different attacks each enemy has makes them better suited for players in different classes, so at launch I imagine a well-rounded team with each class represented will be the best way to play, though I’m sure quad-Paladin and quad-Wizard games will hit youtube showing off their badassery.

The 16-bit-inspired graphics are charming, and the sprites are well-designed. This will remind you of the SNES RPGs you grew up with, but with more definition and depth.

The music does a very good job at setting the mood and making you feel like you’re on an epic quest. It doesn’t get tired but occasionally the tracks don’t blend into each other perfectly, showing off a bit of the early beta stripes.

The game we played was an early beta, but if it was sold as it is now with just a few tweaks, we’d be happy. As it stands now the game shines in single-player and co-op and we have no doubt that by launch this game will be stellar.

After playing the beta we had a few questions for Jochum and Niklas we didn’t know to ask in the first interview, and we thank them for taking the time to talk to us and let us in on the Hammerwatch beta.

jdodson: First off the game is fantastic so congratulations on that! As Travis and I were playing multiplayer I couldn’t stop playing! I just had to progress a bit more, it was quite a lot of fun!

Thank you! We're really glad you like it.

Travis: Saving isn’t implemented yet, but how will it work when that’s complete? Will your game autosave when you walk over a checkpoint? In addition, will you be able to bring any character into a multiplayer game?

We might change it if it doesn't work well, but yeah, right now we're thinking that we should just autosave when stepping on the checkpoints and maybe when walking between levels. Moving characters between saves (like between a singleplayer and multiplayer save) will probably not be allowed since there are balance issues with what upgrades have been bought and how much money you have. We also probably won't allow moving characters beween different level scenarios (like the campaign and suyrvival scenario) because of the same issue.

jdodson: The Warlock isn’t included in the Beta-- in what way you are changing this class so he will be included back into the game?

We're not sure how the warlock will end up yet. In our first implementation of him he summoned monsters that would fight for him, but that just wasn't very fun so we will have to think of something else.

jdodson: Travis and I played multiplayer as a Paladin and Wizard respectively. What are your strategies for the Paladin to keep him protected during battles? As the tank he takes quite a bit of punishment but can often go down faster because he is always at the front line of the battle.

In the first few levels the paladin can be a bit tricky since you need to move around more with him than the other characters, but later on you get the shield upgrade which protects him from incoming projectiles so that he can easily take out ranged enemies. He also gets a heal spell which heals him and the rest of the party which should help with his survivability.

Travis: The level design in Hammerwatch is very compelling and complex. Having things just out of reach that you don’t unlock until later entices the player to keep at it. When designing the castle, how did you keep the design moving such that the player was led forward by revisiting familiar locations.

We try to always show some kind of goal for the player, so something like being able to see a key on the minimap or a checkpoint on the other side of a wall. The levels used to be a bit more open than they are now, but even with the minimap it got too confusing, so now we're directing the player a little more, at least in the beginning of the game.

Travis: We noticed you decided to use OpenAL for audio support in Hammerwatch and since we are both Open Source fans, really like this choice. In the final version, will this automatically installed for us?

We're not entirely happy with OpenAL right now because of this installation issue, but if we do keep on using it then yes, we will make sure it's installed on your computer so that the sound works properly.

Travis: As jdodson and I were playing we were both playing with joy2key. We are both wondering if controller support will ship native for all players in Hammerwatch?

It will, yes. Even the beta you have actually comes with gamepad support for player 2 if you play it in local multiplayer, we just haven't been able to add control remapping in yet.

jdodson: We both loved playing Survival. How many rounds can this go until the end or can it go to the end of time, assuming you survive that long?

In the beta there are only 5 waves, but in the final version of the game there will be a lot more. We will also lock on the one life modifier when playing survival so that you can't just respawn to keep trying.


jdodson’s initial interview: http://cheerfulghost.com/posts/955

Vote for Hammerwatch on Steam Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=122788084


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We've been waiting for weeks now. Seventeen weeks of teasers, and finally we know what Mew-Genics actually is: A cat simulator. The player is essentially a virtual cat lady! :)

Mixing elements of The Sims, Animal Crossing, Pokemon, and Tamagotchi, Mew-Genics aims to create a lively world full of adorable cats that you have to take care of. Edmund McMillen says about the game, "at its core, the game isn't really like anything we've seen before."

This game looks strange and wonderful.

http://edmundm.com/post/43820398014/mew-genics-official-announcement-on-gameplay