Cheerful Ghost Blog

Starship Rubicon Release - Lead Humanity To New Earth!

Today is the release of Starship Rubicon and I couldn’t be happier. When I talked to Wick about publishing the game I didn’t expect that it would evolve to what it is today. Releasing a game is new to us both and we are both excited about what comes next. Getting the game in the hands of gamers and giving it the widest exposure possible is our goal and it all starts with you. If you haven’t already, I urge you to pick up the game play it and let us know what you think. If you like it, share it with your friends.

We are happy to be selling Starship Rubicon on our website, itch.io and Desura. We will be working with other game stores to sell the game and if there are any... Read All Today is the release of Starship Rubicon and I couldn’t be happier. When I talked to Wick about publishing the game I didn’t expect that it would evolve to what it is today. Releasing a game is new to us both and we are both excited about what comes next. Getting the game in the hands of gamers and giving it the widest exposure possible is our goal and it all starts with you. If you haven’t already, I urge you to pick up the game play it and let us know what you think. If you like it, share it with your friends.

We are happy to be selling Starship Rubicon on our website, itch.io and Desura. We will be working with other game stores to sell the game and if there are any you love, let us know! If you buy the game on www.starshiprubicon.com one benefit of that is that when we are Greenlit, you will get a Steam Key.

That said, we are still going with our Steam Greenlight campaign, so if you haven’t already head over and give us an upvote!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=331311253

For everyone that is not already familiar with the game, Starship Rubicon is a space shoot-em-up that modernizes the physics and mechanics of Asteroids combined with the ship modification and roguelike elements of FTL.

In Starship Rubicon, Earth has been casually destroyed by a mysterious race of space-faring invertebrates. You are a fighter pilot whose cryopod has been collected by a possibly-insane AI, who has placed you in the unenviable position of being humanity’s savior. Shanghaied and alone, you must gather the remaining human survivors and traverse the surprising biodiversity of deep space to find a new home.

Key Features

Quick Gameplay - Pilot your ship in fast-paced shoot-em-up, featuring a unique approach to arcade physics and controls.
Customize Your Ship - Upgrade your ship with a Tetris-styled hangar bay as you find weapons and items on your quest.

Randomized Universe - Make your way through a diverse galaxy as you encounter interesting new lifeforms. Each play session generates a new path of enemies, allies, and items.

Casual Roguelike - When your ship blows up, that’s the end of the line for that game. However, if you collect enough crystal shards by the end of a sector you can save your ship to re-launch it on another level.

A Fleet Of Ships To Play - Do you prefer fast ships for run and gun? Do you like something that takes a punch but isn’t as agile? Start the game with 3 different ships and spend shards to unlock more ships with unique abilities!

Mod-friendly - Since ships and weapons are exposed in simple external .lua scripts, modding and creating your own content only requires a text editor!

Starship Rubicon is available for purchase on PC & Mac on www.starshiprubicon.com

If you are wanting even more of the Starship Rubicoin experience you can listen and purchase the Soundtrack by BeatScribe on Bandcamp: https://beatscribe.bandcamp.com/album/starship-rubicon-ost Oh Yes!

I just wanted to finally mention that due to some technical issues, the Linux build of Starship Rubicon will come a bit later than we wanted. We plan on releasing it and it will be as good as the version on PC and Mac it just needs a little more time in the oven.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/15/2014 at 09:16pm

I played the "final beta" again today and I was surprised that I made it passed one level. I learned a few things the last time I played, but that's probably because I sadly haven't spent much time playing the game. One of the things I learned was to stop firing so that the shields can come back on. I also think using the left SHIFT key feels natural and am glad that the controls feel right. I seem to be better with the third ship. It's big and has more armor.

Congratulations, again, on the release of the game. I hope it's a success!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/15/2014 at 09:19pm

> I seem to be better with the third ship. It's big and has more armor.

The Zukov is also a ship I really like. That said, lately I've really enjoyed using The Warbird.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/15/2014 at 11:00pm

Yeah, you're right. The Warbird is cool, too.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/17/2014 at 07:34am

I'm getting better at playing the game! I've beaten 2 or 3 levels now. The farthest I've reached was with the first ship.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/17/2014 at 04:28pm

That's great Greg. I think the furthest I've gotten to date is level 5? That level is pretty tough

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/17/2014 at 06:10pm

After I posted, I made it to the Sol system. I suspended and saved that game though, so I still have to continue.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/19/2014 at 08:24pm

Well, I've completed the Sol system. My current game is suspended and saved, an option I enjoy. I've still learned a lot about the game. Now, I make sure I collect all the little blue dots before I go to the next battle area. I'm using the first ship a lot more as it seems better balanced and has great shields. I've also been able to repair quite a few times and add on upgrades in the hanger.

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Starship Rubicon Ships Tomorrow! Linux Port Delayed.

Hey Everyone,

I know everyone has been anticipating the launch of Starship Rubicon, I know I have. With that, the launch is so soon it might even be.... tomorrow? Incredible.

With that I wanted to deliver a bit of a bitter pill. Starship Rubicon will be coming out on PC and Mac as advertised but the Linux port is going to slip a bit. As someone that has been using Linux for 10+ years I am bummed. Wick and I wanted to launch with all three ports but due to technical stuff that is somewhat out of our control, we are going to launch with the Linux port next year. Again, as an avid Linux gamer that doesn't like to hear this kind of thing I really didn't want to have to do... Read All

Have A Cheerful Thanksgiving!

I want to wish everyone(who celebrates) a very Cheerful Thanksgiving! Like many of you, I enjoy this time of year and it's demand I eat more stuffing than I should begging the question "who's the actual Turkey?"

If you wanted to stuff yourself on video games, checkout the latest Steam sale. It features some deep cuts on some great games like Portal 2, Harvester & Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake.

http://store.steampowered.com/

If you are looking for something to watch all day while you putter around the house, why not Mystery Science Theater 3000 Turkey Day? Joel has been dropping spoilers on social media bout the reboot and to start things off we got to see the bots!... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/28/2014 at 12:22am

I'm in Kentucky missing my PC, PS3, Wii U, Doctor Who, my own bed, and natural teeth. I'm working on PC maintenance and malware removal for my uncle. Happy Thanksgiving!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 11/28/2014 at 12:34am

Cheerful Thanksgiving from Kona!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/28/2014 at 08:06pm

Cheerful Thanksgiving from Portland, the land of PBR Hipsters!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/30/2014 at 06:58pm

I want you to know that not once during my visit and stay with family in Kentucky did I get on Facebook, but I cannot tell you how many times I visited Cheerful Ghost! =)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/30/2014 at 08:10pm

Hahahaha, I believe it.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/30/2014 at 08:13pm

Well, of course, you've seen the comments I've left since I've been there. I used my Kindle Fire HDX to access the site. Although, I may have used my grandmother's PC to see the Terraria video that was recently posted on here.

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What Are You Playing Right Now?

Curious what everyone is playing right now? Feel free to let me know in the comments.

Games I am playing right now?

Starship Rubicon - We are in beta right now SQUEEEEE!

Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls - Before BlizzCon I decided to play this again and am having lots of fun.

Risk of Rain - I can now, most of the time, beat level one with an epic build. Level two kicks my ass. I you Risk of Rain, even though you are so very difficult.

Eldritch - Way more fun than I expected to have. It plays great with a keyboard & mouse and controller. The mood of the game is superb.

Earthbound - So fun, but I am taking forever to complete it.

What are you into right now? Anything... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/11/2014 at 08:29pm

Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls - Because I found out about Whimsyshire and decided to collect the ingredients for the staff to get there. However, I later found a Rainbow Goblin, which lead me there.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 11/11/2014 at 11:45pm

I, sadly, haven't been playing much lately. I managed to play a little GTA Online the other night with a friend, and that's about it besides a quick Risk of Rain run here and there.

Missile_Drop_Kick wrote on 11/12/2014 at 10:44pm

Shadow of Mordor
NBA2k15
Marvel Heroes
Sunset Overdrive

Zach_Foster wrote on 11/15/2014 at 03:21am

My gaming has slowed down recently because i've been working a lot, but right now i'm in the middle of
Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask,
Deus Ex: Human Revolution,
Maximum Carnage (sega genesis),
and Pokemon Yellow.

sure doesn't look like i've slowed down...

vdogmr25 wrote on 11/19/2014 at 02:05am

Binding of Isaac
Smash Bros. for 3DS
Theme Hospital (Thanks to current gog sale)
Starcraft
Catherine (On 3rd playthrough. Can't get enough.)
Civ 5
LoL

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/19/2014 at 03:24am

@vdogmr25 Binding of Issac Rebirth or the original?

Starcraft 2 or the original? If SC2 are you playing multiplayer or singleplayer?

vdogmr25 wrote on 11/19/2014 at 07:50am

Original on both. Been on my 6 year old macbook and it can barely handle anything more than that.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/19/2014 at 03:41pm

Awesome.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/23/2014 at 12:32am

Since I finished what I was doing with Diablo 3 (getting to Whimsyshire), I thought I'd update my comment here to reflect what's new.

Super Smash Bros. Wii U
Pokemon Alpha Sapphire
Mario Kart 8 (new DLC)
Hyrule Warriors (new DLC)

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New Starship Rubicon Gameplay Trailer Drops!

Last week we dropped the Greenlight for Starship Rubicon and we appreciate everyone checking it out. We wanted to get out a few videos showing off the game and are now releasing the all new gameplay trailer you can watch above. The gameplay trailer shows off the games randomized universe, ships, customization and even more gameplay! We are working hard to get the game out by years end so stay tuned and if you haven’t already, check us out on Steam Greenlight.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=331311253

You can also pre-order Starship Rubicon too
www.starshiprubicon.com

Have A Happy Halloween If You SCARE!

Wanted to wish all the Ghosts a very Happy Halloween.

If you see any fun game or movies related Halloween news, drop it in the comments(I know I will). In the recent Roundtable we talked about some fun Halloween films, on of them was Cabin in the Woods. The above video outlines most of the references to other horror movies in the film.

Starship Rubicon Hits Steam Greenlight + Reveal Trailer

After spending the last few months polishing Starship Rubicon we are extremely excited to debut the game on Steam Greenlight. Wick and I are both huge Steam fans and as such if you would like to see Rubicon on Steam, we’d appreciate an upvote. We are also using the Greenlight to debut our new Rubicon Reveal Trailer featuring new gameplay footage!

So take a minute to head over to our Steam Greenlight page, give us an upvote and check out the new trailer and gameplay screenshots!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=331311253

"In Starship Rubicon, Earth has been casually destroyed by a mysterious race of space-faring invertebrates. You are a fighter pilot... Read All

scrypt Supporter wrote on 10/27/2014 at 07:33pm

Looks like sexy fun! Congrats guys :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/27/2014 at 09:31pm

Thanks scrypt, it's been a fun ride so far.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 10/27/2014 at 10:40pm

When you say an "up vote," do you mean a "yes" to the question of "would you buy this game if it were on Steam?" I finally played the Kickstarter version today. I was surprised by how small the zip file is (12mb). I need to spend some more time with the game, I apparently suck at it currently. Still, I would like to throw some support towards our first published game.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/27/2014 at 10:53pm

Yep, answering "Yes" to that question is an upvote.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 10/27/2014 at 11:35pm

Excellent, I will do that and I'll see about getting in some more game time in with it. =)

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 10/27/2014 at 11:36pm

Oh and have you noticed any issues with the site? From what I see, it seems some of the HTML coding may be messed up. It doesn't load or even look properly.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/28/2014 at 12:19am

The Greenlight site? If so, no it looks good here.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 10/28/2014 at 12:28am

Yes, it looks horrible in Chrome, but it's fine in IE, so I was able to give it a "vote up."

Zach_Foster wrote on 10/28/2014 at 01:34am

Just up-voted in steam, cant wait to play it! I wish i could have played it at the Retro Game Expo, but there was too many people, too many things to do, and not enough time to do it. Any news on a beta release?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/28/2014 at 01:39am

Yeah, we are going into a VERY early beta soon and then a larger beta after some unspecified time.

All that to say, my goal is to have it out by year end or before.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 10/28/2014 at 02:39am

This is great! Can't wait for it to come out!

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Duck Hunt High Scores, IndieGameCon & Starship Rubicon

I spent this last Saturday at the Eugene IndieGameCon doing a split Cheerful Ghost and Starship Rubicon booth. Since Starship Rubicon is the first game Cheerful Ghost is publishing it makes sense to show the game at a booth together and this was the first time we did it. It's one thing having a table at an event for a video game community but it's something very different to show off a game. I was also really excited to see people responding well to the build of the game we had to show. After the first few people ran into a steep difficulty wall, Wick balanced the game and everyone that came afterward had a bit easier go of things. Some people did very well, some... Read All I spent this last Saturday at the Eugene IndieGameCon doing a split Cheerful Ghost and Starship Rubicon booth. Since Starship Rubicon is the first game Cheerful Ghost is publishing it makes sense to show the game at a booth together and this was the first time we did it. It's one thing having a table at an event for a video game community but it's something very different to show off a game. I was also really excited to see people responding well to the build of the game we had to show. After the first few people ran into a steep difficulty wall, Wick balanced the game and everyone that came afterward had a bit easier go of things. Some people did very well, some people died quickly but nearly all the people that played it had fun.

Wick and I have boothed at a lot of Portland events and really enjoy doing it even if each event doesn't get a huge turn out. I wasn't sure what kind of audience to expect as IndieGameCon was in Eugene Oregon and I am not too familiar with the video game scene there. That said, the event was packed all day long with people very excited to play all manner of games shown. I had to get out of the way as the crowd around the game was too thick for me to be as close to the table as I wanted to be. If you are into the Indie Game scene in Oregon, IndieGameCon should be on your list as one of the events you need to be part of and I want to thank Ted Brown for letting us be part of it.

Later that evening Wick and I headed to the after party at a local club called the Shoryuken League. It's a retro arcade bar that has a few cool arcade games. Wick and I started playing a few fighting games but the highlight game of the evening, for me, was Duck Hunt. I am happy to admit, I spent a lot of time playing Duck Hunt as a kid and specifically the clay shooting portion of the game. I finished the night with a high score of 566,500 which isn't anything to be ashamed of and by the time I left wasn't surpassed. I went over to the Twin Galaxies high score page for Duck Hunt and whereas the high score is for two ducks mode, if I have more time and will I might try and get in on that action.

I also want to give a special shoutout to one of my friends Nic Biondi and his game Hard Lander. Nic is still adding awesome stuff to Hard Lander and each time he shows it the people that play it have more and more fun. Hard Lander is a physics based multiplayer space ship game that is absolutely off the hook crazy fun in multiplayer with friends. Some people had so much fun they camped out playing the game for hours and screamed in excitement when something crazy happened(I know because I heard them on the other side of the room). Hard Lander is on Steam Greenlight right now and is something the world needs so upvote it on Steam.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=279815737

View the full Imgur album of the event here as well as images to prove my Duck Hunt high score:

http://imgur.com/a/ZWpxS#13

http://indiegamecon.com/

Cheerful Ghost Reviews: A New Steam Curation Page!

I setup a new Steam Curation page with a few games I recommend people check out. In the future I plan on migrating awesome Steam game reviews to the page. So if you have been itching to review a cool Steam game, post it to the site and let me know about it and it may be featured on our Steam Curation page.

http://store.steampowered.com/curator/6874475/

Cheerful Ghost is proud to join the Internet Slowdown

https://www.battleforthenet.com/images/share_images/anigif.gif

Today we--and many other sites and organizations-- stand up against cable company dickery. If cable companies get their way websites across the net (like Cheerful Ghost) could be slowed to a crawl unless they pay the cable companies arbitrary fees to to reach their users. Don’t let Team Cable destroy the internet! Stand with us in support of net neutrality!

Find out how you can help by going to www.battleforthenet.com.

Not sure what net neutrality is? Here are some great videos to help explain things:
For an all around informative break down check out CGP Grey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtt2aSV8wdw
For a hilarious take on the issue see John Oliver: ... Read All