Cheerful Ghost Blog

Cheerful Ghost purchased by CBS Interactive

Hello all,

We come to you today with some awesome news about the future of the site. Effective immediately Cheerful Ghost has been acquired by CBS Interactive. In the coming weeks, we will be moving the site over to CBS Interactive’s server farm, and a few of us will be moving into the Gamespot offices.

We will be incorporating many useful features from Gamespot’s network, including the awesome reviews and GameFAQs forum integration! This will push the Cheerful Ghost community forward with trusted reviews and the friendliest forum around.

We do need to point out some other changes to how we operate.

Non-paying customers will be limited to two comments per day.

The... Read All

Revamped Profile Pages & More

We launched a revamp to everyones Profile page as per the list of features we had slated to release this month. The new design is much more distinct than the old one and highlights certain things the old profile page didn't. If you are new to the site, this might be what you are used to, but for people that have been on the site for longer this will be a pretty big departure.

A few examples to look through:

http://cheerfulghost.com/BigBadGoat (the avatar alone is worth the price of admission)
http://cheerfulghost.com/Travis
http://cheerfulghost.com/scrypt

We also now have a much better feedback form now. The old one was simply a Google Doc Form that backended to a... Read All

Friday at GameStorm:Kickstarter & Community Panels

My first day at GameStorm was great. Its nice to come to an event by Geeks for Geeks. If you love playing RPG's, Board Games, Miniatures or Collectible Card Games GameStorm is your jam. I do and it was fun to sit down and play some games I wasn't previously exposed to. After my first panel(more on that later) I hit up the floor and settled on playing Steve Jackson's Revolution! Revolution! is a game where you try to coerce the town such that your influence spreads such that you gain the towns support for your revolution. I was mesmerized by the bidding and strategy process so much that I forgot to expand my influence in the city. I was spending time reading the table,... Read All

A New Feature: Post Tracking

I just rolled out a new feature many of you have been asking for called "post tracking." Post tracking is the star to the right of the comment button. The star lets you know by it being highlighted or not if you are tracking a post.

If you track a post you will get notifications whenever anyone comments on the post. If you want to stop getting notifications on a post, click the star to stop tracking it.

If you create or comment in a post you will automagically track it.

Tracking specifies you and everyone else's interest in the post over time. You might be interested in a post in the beginning and over time might want to exit the conversation. You also might just want to... Read All

Speaking At GameStorm 2013

GameStorm is March 21st-24th at the Hilton in Vancouver Washington. I am going to be speaking on a few panels this year about some really cool topics. Ill also be frequenting the event over the weekend in between my panel time as well with my laptop hacking on Cheerful Ghost when I can.

If you are planning on attending GameStorm you should totally let me know so we can hang out. Plus this will be my first set of speaking engagements about Video Games since I launched the site.

The Panels I Will Be Part Of:

* What's On Kickstarter Right Now: Friday March 22nd @ 11am. http://schedule.gamestorm.org/sessions/708
* Community Organizing: Friday March 22nd @ 3pm. ... Read All

Our Terraria Server Ends. Here Are The Goods.

The image above is pretty interesting in that if you compare it to the final state of our Terraria game, its a pretty awesome how far it progressed! In keeping with tradition, here is the world file for all of your archival needs:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1oRZK7IvLFZd0Fwa21sV2xKeEk/edit?usp=sharing

I want to thank everyone for playing and it was the best run yet!

Interviews, Memberships & The Hall of Awesome

I am really excited to bring you guys a few new features today and as such wanted to talk a bit about them. So here goes...

Interviews: Interviews are becoming a big part of Cheerful Ghost and some people were having a hard time finding them. I added the interviews to the menu to give them more visibility and showcase more of what we do.

Anyone on the site can add "Interviews" to their list and contact a person or company in gaming to post. When I started the site I had never given an interview before and after a few, was able to make them great. So if you had an inclination to do an interview with someone about your favourite game or game company, I urge you to go for... Read All

Fridge Prototyping

After seeing some really cool 8 bit bead creations at a the Portland Retro Game Expo this summer, I decided the world needed a Cheerful Ghost. Spending a bit of time on it here and there I created a process to build the Ghost magnets and I think they turned out pretty well. Right now I am testing my latest magnet adhesive strategy on my fridge and these particular prototype revisions are holding up well.

Stay tuned over the next month for information on how you can put one of these awesome Ghosts on your fridge!

Terraria Server NOW OPEN!

http://cdn.steampowered.com/v/gfx/apps/105600/header.jpg

Come join the fun now!

The server is terraria.cheerfulghost.com

Join the CheerfulGhost Steam Group chat room to get the password, or IM one of us on Steam.

Want to join us and don't have the game yet? Win it here: http://cheerfulghost.com/panickedthumb/posts/956

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/05/2013 at 02:13am

Sweet!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/05/2013 at 04:14pm

I got on late, and it was fun! It'll be sweet watching it grow as we play.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/05/2013 at 05:06pm

Glad you could join Adym!

BR Supporter wrote on 02/05/2013 at 05:22pm

Lots of fun. I can't wait for the boss fights.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/05/2013 at 05:26pm

When you start fighting bosses and getting demonite, that's when it gets really interesting!

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/05/2013 at 07:19pm

Ahh Demonite! I finally hit some Gold deposits twoard the end of the night. Had a blast spelunking around.

BR Supporter wrote on 02/05/2013 at 07:37pm

I need to figure out how to build all these new things. Its been at least close to a year since i last played.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/05/2013 at 07:47pm

I keep the wiki open while I am playing :D

http://wiki.terrariaonline.com/Terraria_Wiki

Its an amazing resource!

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/05/2013 at 07:50pm

The wiki is essential.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 02/05/2013 at 08:23pm

Definitely make use of the wiki. Last night was fun, I'm impressed with how much everyone has built already.

Side note/suggestion: When on the server, make sure you select the blue team (open your inventory, click the blue icon on the right above your equipment). That tells you the distance and direction of all your fellow team mates. It makes it easier for us to find each other and explore together. :D

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/05/2013 at 08:36pm

I really need to use the wiki. I feel like there's so much I *can* do in Terraria, but I just don't know. Those pesky known unknowns ;)

Blue_Element wrote on 02/06/2013 at 01:42am

Aww, I'm using a port of terraria on Mac that someone made but the guy only updated it to 1.1.1 (1.1.2 is the current version on windows). So when I try to join it says I'm not using the same version as the server. I really wish I could play with you guys. This sucks. :'(

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/06/2013 at 03:03am

I have had problems with the Linux build, but I saw you in the game so it seems you have figured it out!

Welcome!

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/08/2013 at 05:12pm

Thanks Daniil, lets talk about doing that for the next Terraria server!

If you want to join us, friend me on steam and ill hit you up with the password.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 02/09/2013 at 08:11pm

As soon as this gets ported to Linux, I'm in!

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/09/2013 at 09:02pm

It kinda works in Linux, but I doubt seriously if there will ever be a port.

http://www.terrariaonline.com/threads/wip-monogame-terraria-terraria-for-linux.72997/

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/09/2013 at 09:44pm

I got it working in Linux with a native port, if you can get it working in Wine do that.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/09/2013 at 09:45pm

By the way, been having a ton of fun on the server with you guys. Farming the Eater of Worlds is fun. Plus I just got my star cannon, which is rad.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 02/09/2013 at 11:38pm

@panickedthumb I see what you mean about a port being a long shot. I didn't realize it was an XNA game.

@jdodson Wine's out since I only have Terraria via Steam.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/09/2013 at 11:40pm

I think you can run Steam games in Wine... I think... :D

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/10/2013 at 05:29am

Yeah you can run Wine through Steam and pull it off for plenty of games. I guess since someone took the time to make a Linux wrapper for it, that doesn't work all too well though. You just need to get the windows binaries though, so you CAN get those through Wine at least.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/10/2013 at 06:39am

Steam through Wine that is.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/10/2013 at 06:26pm

Yep. And speaking of, I should give it a shot and see how it works. If I try it out ill report back.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 02/10/2013 at 07:58pm

Bastion uses XNA, too. I wonder how they managed a working Linux port. I'll redownload it from the Humble Bundle and check it out.

If they've used Wine (like they did for Psychonauts), I imagine that's a tougher road for Steam to follow for implementation on Linux (or the forthcoming Steambox).

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/10/2013 at 08:51pm

Seems that Supergiant used Monogame which allows one to compile the XNA stuff for a myriad of platforms.

http://supergiantgames.com/?p=1611

http://monogame.net/about

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/10/2013 at 09:03pm

Speaking of Monogame, that's what the wrapper for Linux uses as well. It seems to work *ok* but there are some flaws. Still, if that's the only way you're going to play it, you should.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/10/2013 at 09:06pm

I think any port requires a bit of fit and finish to make excellent. Plus it may have used a version of Monogame that is quite old or whatnot.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 02/10/2013 at 09:54pm

Aren't Steam binaries tied to Steam? I would prefer not to install Steam under Wine since it runs natively now.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/11/2013 at 01:57am

Yup. Good point, I figured Steam would let you install a Windows client on Linux no matter what to run under Wine.

Nope. Total bummer too.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 02/11/2013 at 04:55am

I'll look for another avenue to pick up Terraria. I'd be willing to suffer through the trials of running it under Monogame. I already run Linux, so I'm used to games working haphazardly, if at all from time to time.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/11/2013 at 05:50am

AND... I have a platinum coin. Never had one before. So rich now.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/11/2013 at 04:58pm

bean, you could fire up Steam-in-Wine, download Terraria, then copy those files out to wherever they need to be for the wrapper to access them. Or while I can't say this is the best bet, you could sail the seas under the black flag, me matey.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 02/11/2013 at 11:06pm

I may just boot back into Windows, install Terraria, and then grab the files after booting back into Linux. For some reason, though, I think the executables will still look for Steam to authenticate. It's at least worth a shot.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/12/2013 at 02:36am

I don't think they will, I believe Steam just wraps most .exe files.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/12/2013 at 06:18pm

Whatever attempts to search out Steam will be overridden by the wrapper. The only way to get Terraria is through Steam, even if you get the disc version it installs through Steam like Skyrim did.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/18/2013 at 02:24am

So when are we going to knock down the wall of flesh and start hardmode? I've got us fairly sanitized so we should be relatively safe from the corruption, and even if some gets in we should be able to eliminate it pretty easily.

Also, bean, did you have any luck with the Linux wrapper?

Timogorgon Member wrote on 02/18/2013 at 06:13pm

So was it you who wrapped the whole village in the dungeon blue brick? That's pretty awesome!

I'm open to hardmode anytime, and can help kill/farm the wall of flesh (I have like 8 voo doo dolls) as long as it's after 8pm pacific. :)

I'm also willing to help out any less equipped members of the server get caught up gear wise. I can help farm EoC/EoW or provide an escort to the underworld for hellstone. I know there are several hearts unclaimed around the world (especially in the the dungeon and the underworld) for anyone who hasn't hit 400 HP yet.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/18/2013 at 07:16pm

Yes, that was me. Encased us in safe brick and put a trench around everything to keep the corruption out. I basically created a new world to farm it for bricks so it wouldn't ugly up our dungeon. The clowns' bombs won't blow everything up now. The stuff above the ground is still susceptible, but it won't screw us up as much as it could have.

Today I made a LONG platform in the underworld to fight the Wall. In the process I found enough dolls to fill a chest, so we can farm the hell out of him.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/19/2013 at 01:36am

That's awesome, lets setup a time we meet to fight the wall to hard-mode.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 02/19/2013 at 05:29pm

I can't do it tonight, but I'm free pretty much any other night this week after 8pm pacific. :)

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/19/2013 at 09:04pm

8 PM pacific is when I start NOT being available. :)

How about tomorrow night we get started at 7 or 7:30 PM Pacific, 10 or 10:30 PM Eastern, so we can both do the same event? Hardmode is a beast without some of the stuff you get from the Wall, and it's much better to do the wall with help.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/19/2013 at 09:30pm

Tomorrow 2/20 @ 7P PST is fine by me.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/19/2013 at 09:44pm

So what exactly is Hardmode? (I probably could look that up on the wiki, right?)

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/19/2013 at 09:48pm

http://wiki.terrariaonline.com/Hardmode :D

Timogorgon Member wrote on 02/19/2013 at 09:48pm

I can't promise I'll be on any earlier than 8pm pst, but I'll try. :) If anything you guys can start Farming the wall earlier and I'll just jump when I can.

The greenhouse/mushroom farm I made under my house was intended for everyone's use. Feel free to make up a couple batches of potions to use during the fight. Supplies are in the chests. Since I'll be jumping on late if you could make a couple extra for me that would be greatly appreciated so I can jump straight into the fight when I log in. I have plenty of healing potions, so don't worry about those.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/19/2013 at 09:49pm

Cool, ill need to check out alchemy, this far I haven't brewed something yet.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/19/2013 at 10:28pm

"If anything you guys can start Farming the wall earlier and I'll just jump when I can."

Sorry, that's what I meant! I wasn't very clear. Suggesting that we could both do the event if we started it before 11 and it ran until after 11. Or 8, for you west coast freaks :D

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/21/2013 at 03:31am

Ok the world is now in Hardmode. Waiting for WhiteboySlim for more WOF runs!

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/21/2013 at 06:58am

Ok so WBS and I broke up a bunch demon altars and didn't have too hard of a time finding cobalt and a bit of the next hard mode mineral.

I don't think breaking any more demon altars will help us out too much more.

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/21/2013 at 01:49pm

More demon altars will always help. We really only need the ones we craft with, the others don't do us any good and we may as well deposit more ores! Adamantite is always so freakin' hard to find.

Blue_Element wrote on 02/21/2013 at 04:20pm

Is there a way to "un-follow" a post so it doesn't give me all the notifications? Also I have another suggestion for the site; it would be nice if you could "like/favorite/+1" a post or something like that. :)

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/21/2013 at 04:31pm

We are going to add the ability to follow a post, I think it would be possible to un-follow it too. Ill add that to the list. Right now, if you want to un-follow you can delete your comments if its REALLY annoying. :D

We are looking at how to like/favoriate a post for sure. That shouldn't be too far away as with the follow/un-follow a post.

Blue_Element wrote on 02/22/2013 at 12:28am

Awesome! :D

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/27/2013 at 01:04am

Hey everyone I want to submit that we end this current Terraria game next week Saturday or March 9th. It was a good run, but its winding down and I think two more weeks will give us plenty of time to play it and end on a good note.

What say you?

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/27/2013 at 01:20am

I haven't been on for a week or so, so I'm good with that lol

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/27/2013 at 03:44am

March 9 sounds good. I haven't had enough time to get in lately, so that'll give me some time to catch up. We should talk about the boss fights too-- we still have some hard asses.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/27/2013 at 03:49am

Yep. @WhiteboySlim and I tackled the hard mode eater of worlds and he was a pain, but I recently got the Megashark so that should help out some :D

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 03/02/2013 at 10:30pm

Sorry for the delay in responding, @travis. Didn't get a chance to try the Linux wrapper. Was embroiled in an address change and my Windows partition became history before that.

I may have to go the 'Seven Seas' route to find the executable now. OTOH, it is POSSIBLE that Terraria might get to Steam. Bastion (also written for XNA) works without issue with full controller support.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 03/02/2013 at 10:54pm

I'd say that wouldn't happen but the PC dev started work on the game again, and apparently there's a major update coming. If he'd respond to my request to interview him, I'd totally ask him about a Linux version :)

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/09/2013 at 01:28am

Hey y'all. First off, hanging out with you all in the server was rad.

Second off, I think this is the longest site thread ever, so woot.

Third off, server is halting tommorow and a bit after that ill pass out the world for us to all have like last time.

Tha is again!

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Community Terraria Server 2.1 Drops February 4th

I am going to run another Cheerful Ghost Terraria game server for us to all play starting next week on the 4th of February 6PM PST. We had such a fun time playing last time and I opened the game up recently and realized it would be run to play with people again.

Like last time I will keep the server up for three weeks and afterward hand out the world file so we can all have it for historical reasons. It will run 24/7 and be locked down for awesome Cheerful Ghost people like you and your friends. We only have a few simple rules, don't mess with other peoples stuff, no stealing, no greifing and have fun.

I created a new large world and the screenshot is above. Like last... Read All

vdogmr25 wrote on 01/31/2013 at 03:12am

Sounds awesome, but I can't jump in this time, though. One of my hard drives crapped out on me, and it will be a month or two until I can replace it.

Travis Admin wrote on 01/31/2013 at 03:12am

DUDE YES

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/31/2013 at 03:52am

That sucks. No laptop? Total bummer!

Travis Admin wrote on 01/31/2013 at 04:10am

It will run on pretty meager hardware if you have an older backup.

Travis Admin wrote on 01/31/2013 at 04:14am

Also, good news everyone: it looks like we may get some more content:

http://m.pcgamer.com/2013/01/26/terraria-creator-asks-what-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-possible-update

TonyJapMayo wrote on 01/31/2013 at 05:41am

Ah, I wanna join.. Got Terraria recently but when I tried multiplayer, seems that you have to put ip address and I dont know what to write ><

Travis Admin wrote on 01/31/2013 at 05:12pm

Tony, you can put in terraria.cheerfulghost.com, but it isn't up yet.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/31/2013 at 05:16pm

Yeah, the server will go live on Monday @ 6PM PST. We will give everyone the password then as well.

TonyJapMayo wrote on 01/31/2013 at 07:25pm

Kewl.. Thanks.. Cant wait to try Multiplayer =P

CapnCurry Supporter wrote on 01/31/2013 at 09:13pm

Awesome! I'm in. :)

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 01/31/2013 at 09:58pm

I'm going to try and play this time!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/31/2013 at 10:13pm

Awesome, ill remind everyone when the time comes round.

Hopefully we have a full house on game drop. I plan on doing some major surgery to the area around the spawn point when it starts. Make the area mostly flat and then build ZE house.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 02/01/2013 at 09:45pm

I'll be on, although it'll be after 8pm PST. :)

Last time was awesome, so I can't wait to do this again with you guys!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/01/2013 at 09:47pm

Totally. Ill try and save a bit of the world for you WhiteboySlim, I don't know 2 hours later, it might be strip mined and plotted for commercial by then. Maybe a 4th acre cause were friends.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 02/01/2013 at 11:52pm

I am so building my base right on top of yours.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/01/2013 at 11:58pm

Then how will it go further up? OK, OK, ill ensure you have space ground up.....

So needy!

Travis Admin wrote on 02/02/2013 at 06:09am

We should seriously consider taking a tally of who is going to be on the server and roping off some sections. And leave a few on either end as well.

TonyJapMayo wrote on 02/02/2013 at 06:50am

So when can we start this multiplayer? Cant wait to try ><

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/02/2013 at 07:21am

@TonyJapMayo, times listed in the post above. Monday at 6pm PST.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/02/2013 at 07:24am

@panickedthumb we may have to have people "stake out" areas at first, I will for sure, kind of mark my spot with a sign and some blocks. But I will build a house immediately so :D

But yeah, it seems more people are joining as the word gets out so we can do some "city zoning" to ensure people don't run into each other. :D

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/02/2013 at 07:24am

I am thinking first come first serve, we can go out pretty far for the town I just hope its not so far as to be unfortunate to chop down trees :D And people can build down if they so desire :D

Travis Admin wrote on 02/02/2013 at 02:38pm

You can always landscape out and expand the forest, so even if tree-chopping is necessary it won't be a bad thing. I wish I had done that in our last world.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/02/2013 at 06:01pm

And we can always have more efficient tree farms as well. They can go up, not just over.

This is going to be awesome, since we learned so much with our last server.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/02/2013 at 06:06pm

It will be awesome. :D

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/02/2013 at 06:55pm

Hey everyone, we are extending the server time to last for three weeks. Yay, more 2D mining and building!

Timogorgon Member wrote on 02/02/2013 at 07:24pm

I don't think we need to worry about running out of space. We are on a large map. As long as people space themselves out a bit we should be good. :)

Plus, if anyone decides to do a large build they can always go underground or build it away from the spawn point.

Tungsten wrote on 02/03/2013 at 04:11am

I'm in. See you there guys.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.