Cheerful Ghost Blog

Cheerful Ghost at Gamestorm 2015

The folk that put on the local Portland game convention Gamestorm invited me this year. So if you are going to the event or are planning on being in the area, let me know so we can hangout for a bit. I am also bringing a limited amount of the new Cheerful Ghost stickers so make sure to let me know you want one and i'll make sure you get it. I'll be at the con Saturday(March 21st) walking around interviewing various people involved with the convention and playing a few games if I can.

Gamestorm is a great local con that focuses on board games, table top RPGs, LARPs, collectible card games & miniatures. It's a pretty popular con in Portland and I like it because it... Read All

New Cheerful Ghost Vinyl Sticker Prints & The New Ghost

I wanted to show off the new Cheerful Ghost Vinyl Sticker Prints because they are so damn pretty. Cheerful Ghost has been a great video game community for more than 3 years now and it's been obvious to me for some time that we could improve some of our art. Last year a fantastic local game artist Hagen Deloss talked to me about remaking our sticker. We talked over a few weeks, had a few video chats and started tossing around ideas about how we could re-imagine the Ghost.

Firstly the Ghost needs to be happy. One choice I made early on with Cheerful Ghost is to design the site to appeal to people of a pleasing temperament. One part of gaming I dislike is how negative and... Read All I wanted to show off the new Cheerful Ghost Vinyl Sticker Prints because they are so damn pretty. Cheerful Ghost has been a great video game community for more than 3 years now and it's been obvious to me for some time that we could improve some of our art. Last year a fantastic local game artist Hagen Deloss talked to me about remaking our sticker. We talked over a few weeks, had a few video chats and started tossing around ideas about how we could re-imagine the Ghost.

Firstly the Ghost needs to be happy. One choice I made early on with Cheerful Ghost is to design the site to appeal to people of a pleasing temperament. One part of gaming I dislike is how negative and cynical it is. I want to build a community of likeminded people that were more interested in talking about the things they loved as friends than tear each other apart. I don't mind debate or disagreement it's just served better if all parties are more than civil. My thought was from the color choices of the site to it's mascot we could attract a different kind of gamer. One other requirement was that the new Ghost must be at home and familiar with the old design.

I really appreciate how Hagen interpreted the old Ghost and how that was brought to the final design on this sticker. When people try and convey gaming to a wider audience often times you have the art not reflective of what it's trying to portray. In the case of our new sticker design, Hagen combined a few unique elements I don't often see in video game stickers, branding or advertising. Most notably that the Ghost is having fun talking on a headset playing on a PC. I've seen game site art that may look good but doesn't reflect the site or community. Cheerful Ghost is a community of people that have a deep love for gaming and most notably on the PC. Not to say we didn't all grow up on Nintendo and other consoles, it's just that Cheerful Ghost is mostly a site of PC* lovers.

I encourage everyone local to Portland to reach out and grab one of the new sticker prints from me. Wick and I will be showing Starship Rubicon this summer at a few events and i'll be handing them out there too. At 5" this sticker is ready for your laptop and it's Vinyl construction makes it great for the bumper of your car. As the site marches forward I am going to continue to work with Hagen on integrating the new Ghost design into the site as well. No ETA on when that will happen but it will be in 2015.

If you are interested in checking out more of Hagens work check out his website or talk to him at any PIGSquad event.

http://hagendeloss.tumblr.com/

Bonus image for reading to the end(I snapped that immediately after I opened the package).

http://i.imgur.com/uhu9tRF.jpg

* When I say PC I mean Linux, Mac and Windows.

Cheerful Ghost Is Three Years Old

Three years of Cheerful Ghost? Yep.

I want to thank everyone for taking part in the site by reading it regularly, commenting, posting or allowing me to publish your game(looking at you Wick). Not only did we publish Starship Rubicon but, for me, the site really clicked as a place that I come to talk about video games with friends.

Raising my glass to another year!

If you haven't already, check out Starship Rubicon below and also make sure to vote for it on Steam Greenlight.

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

Travis Admin wrote on 01/30/2015 at 04:27am

It's been a blast, except for that guy Jon. He's literally Hitler.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 01/30/2015 at 05:31am

Congrats! I definitely appreciate the site breaking up some of my day at work.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 01/30/2015 at 03:21pm

I'm glad I stumbled across you ghostly folks. Congratulations on three years!

Timogorgon Member wrote on 01/30/2015 at 05:22pm

It's been a fun three years! Looking forward to more awesomeness! :D

hardeyez wrote on 01/30/2015 at 05:29pm

Wow, years fly by fast. Feels like yesterday we were walking around talking about this "game list" project you were going to start... :)

hardeyez wrote on 01/30/2015 at 05:30pm

Big CONGRATS!!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 01/30/2015 at 08:03pm

I've only been a part of the site for a year now, but I've been loving it. Cheerful Ghost and GMail are the only sites I keep open tabs for in Chrome. I visit the site regularly, clicking on the logo to refresh to page to see if there is anything new (or if I have any notifications). I'm really glad to be here and glad to have met some cool people (even that weird Jon that Travis mentioned Hahaha). Thank you for giving me and others an awesome community to talk about video games and other "geek" things. Thank you also for giving me a place to write. Thank you also for giving me a cool place to find out about awesome games. I'm not sure how many games I probably wouldn't have played or known about if it wasn't for Cheerful Ghost, although I think Terraria, Starbound, and Diablo III are among them.

Keep up the good work. I look forward to continuing my membership!

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Cheerful Ghost Speaks - Valve's Entrance To The Living Room

http://rack.0.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEzLzA5LzI1L2Y3L1N0ZWFtTWFjaGluLjUwMThkLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTk1MHg1MzQjCmUJanBn/a3ff28b0/a3c/Steam-Machines.jpg

I can not tell a lie. I want Steam in the living room. After seeing what the Wii U, XBox One and Playstation 4 have to offer I am more interested in a Steam console than anything. Lately some news from Valve has surfaced that they are going to forgo Valve Developer days and instead have a large footprint at GDC as reported by Gamasutra.

"Steam Dev Days was a great way to brief a large number of Steam developers. This year our focus will be a bit different, so we are planning a larger than usual presence at GDC. So, there will not be a Steam Dev Days this year, but we will certainly consider doing it again in the future."

... Read All

What Are You Playing Right Now?

2015 is newly minted and as such a time to reflect. I am curious what games you all played last year and what you are playing now? Also wondering what everyone picked up in the recent flurry of holiday sales?

Timogorgon Member wrote on 01/05/2015 at 07:58pm

Over the holiday season I had more time to play games than I have in a long time, so I actually got to play a few things!
From friends on Steam I got Shadowrun Returns, The Banner Saga, Transistor, Fallout: New Vegas and Child of Light. I mostly refrained from buying things for myself this year, only picking up Castle Crashers and the Skyrim DLC Hearthstone. :)

As for what I've actually been playing: I've been craving some tactics style gaming, so I dabbled with both Banner Saga and Shadowrun. Both are cool, but so far I think I like Shadowrun a little more and I've played that the most of the two. I played a bit of GTA:Online here and there as well. I'm also trying to finish up my play through of Costume Quest, which I think I'm close to beating and probably would have already if not for all the new games that I was distracted by.

I also tried picking up Pokemon Y again, but it's been so long since I played I had no idea what I was doing or where I was suppose to go, so I just started over.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 01/05/2015 at 08:45pm

I've been playing a ton of Mario Kart 8. A couple mobile games on my phone that aren't good enough to recommend, but help waste time.

One web game that I played last year and kept forgetting to recommend is Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now: http://nothingsgonnastopmenow.com/ (It's a very quick game. Click the link. If you're in your late 20's or older at least.

vdogmr25 wrote on 01/05/2015 at 09:35pm

Hearthstone and getting my butt handed to me. It's hard to get packs when you need gold to get cards, but only get gold by winning.

Just finished the Tomb Raider reboot, and that was solid.

StarCraft 2 because StarCraft 2.

League of Legends with some friends. MOBAs are a blast with a party.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask which is awesome. I like that I can just pick up my 3DS on the bus or something, solve a lateral thing puzzle or two and set it down.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. Kill large monster. Harvest it's body parts. Craft gear. Kill larger monsters.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 01/06/2015 at 01:15am

Hyrule Warriors mostly. It takes many hours to complete Adventure Mode. I've already completed one map, now I'm doing the Master Quest map. I then have the Twilight Map to do. The Rewards Map is very small and not all of it is currently available, perhaps more of the area will unlock as I progress in Adventure Mode.

I was playing Terraria on my Kindle Fire, but it still has not yet updated to 1.2. I've decided to continue reading instead of continuing to play it. Maybe when I'm done reading, I'll continue and it'll be upgraded to 1.2 by then. I'm currently reading The Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft as recommended by a friend. I'm also waiting for 1.3 to be released for the PC. I'm also waiting on the stable build of Starbound to update as well.

I'm also playing Don't Starve a little bit. I haven't played Starship Rubicon in a while, I'll probably get back into it eventually. Also, I have hardly played Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U, since I'm trying to finish Hyrule Warriors.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/06/2015 at 01:33am

Binding of Isaac Rebirth. This game is very fun and I am consistently getting to level 3 and getting creamed at the boss. That said, I think I figured out a few strategies to beat it.

Risk of Rain. I _FINALLY_ unlocked the Engineer and Enforcer. So far, I love the Engineer and have played a few games focusing on him solely. The Engineers attacks are all summons based so you can build a turret, light off rockets and drop mines. Really love how that changes the game. If you want to unlock the Engineer you just need to buy 40 drones and to unlock the Commando I think you need to simply see all the bosses.

Don't Starve. Finally figured out how to create and farm crops. I sort of learn something new and apply it to a new game. So far I am up to day 13 on one game and have plenty of food but I need to figure out how to create seeds. Something about putting a bird in a cage?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/06/2015 at 01:34am

And when I say "plenty of food" what I mean is that I can now harvest crops and am not starving to death.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 01/06/2015 at 01:45am

Awesome, Jon! A friend of mine posted on Facebook recently that she was playing it, so I asked her about it and if she had an extra key, because I saw where you buy the game and get an extra key to give to a friend. She said she got her's from a friend, so no she didn't have one. I noticed the Holiday Sale was going on and decided to buy the Mega Pack. So, I got the game, the DLC, Don't Starve Together, and an extra key for the latter. I probably haven't made it passed the third day. I'm still learning and looking forward to being able to build a shelter. This morning, I created my first Science Station. I also found a wiki for the game, so I looked at some game play tips and such.

I'm looking forward to playing it and other games more, but Hyrule Warriors has had my focus for a while now. I do really like the game. Some battles are challenging and some a really fun. Like I said, Adventure Mode has a LOT more hours of game play than Legend Mode.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/06/2015 at 02:00am

Haven't built a shelter yet. What are the benefits to having one?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/06/2015 at 02:03am

Ok you can build a tent

http://dont-starve-game.wikia.com/wiki/Tent

Or craft bedrolls. I found one, which was a nice find but I haven't built a tent or crafted a bedroll yet.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 01/06/2015 at 02:47am

I don't know, honestly, it's just an assumption that a shelter would make the night more survivable. I was thinking it could keep the night terror away. I did build a chest and I did see that I could have crafted a hay wall. http://dont-starve-game.wikia.com/wiki/Hay_Wall#Hay_Wall

Travis Admin wrote on 01/06/2015 at 05:03pm

I'm replaying GTAV here and there, and today I played an hour or so of Quake II. I love that game.

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The Winners Of The Cheerful Ghost 2014 GoTY Awards!

The results from the Cheerful Ghost 2014 GoTY awards have been counted. We decided to vote for two categories, Best Indie game as well as Best Triple A game. Since the voting was close for both categories I will list the winner and runner up.

The nominations were made by the Cheerful Ghost community out of games we actually played in 2014.

Cheerful Ghost 2014 Triple A Game

Winner - Diablo III: Reaper of Souls: "No One Can Stop Death. The Prime Evil rages within the Black Soulstone, its essence screaming for vengeance and release."

http://us.battle.net/d3/en

Runner up - Wolfenstein: The New Order: "World War II rages across Europe. Where once the Allies pressed advantage,... Read All

Have a Cheerful Holiday!

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Cheerful Holiday! I hope 2015 is a great year and you find even more awesome games to play!

Everyone celebrates the Holiday differently and as such and curious how that is going for you? If you don't mind, drop what you are doing in the comments and if you are playing anything and what you think of it new this holiday?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/25/2014 at 05:49pm

This year I actually haven't picked up any new games because I am continuing the cool games I already bought. I am playing through Wolf: New Order with the Ferguson playthrough and just finished the sub level. I am also continuing to get better at Risk of Rain a bit at a time. Also tuning up my Starship Rubicon spaceship mastery. I have also been playing Super Mario World and finding it MUCH harder than I remember.

Right now we are cooking up some breakfast and prepping lunch. Going for a run later and we might check out a movie.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/25/2014 at 06:31pm

Merry Christmas!

We're waiting on our new Wii U to finish installing the updates (half hour left) then we shall be gaming all day (until we have to go to in laws this evening)

Looking forward to Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario World 3D!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/25/2014 at 06:40pm

Nice! Finally Nintendo joins the rest of the consoles for the long updates!

#welcometothenextgen

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/25/2014 at 07:02pm

This year is kind of weird because instead of new games, I'm impatiently waiting for Terraria to update to 1.3 for the PC and 1.2 for Amazon devices. However, I am playing the version currently available on my Kindle Fire HDX. I'm still playing Adventure Mode in Hyrule Warriors. I took a break from it some time ago and started playing it again after Thanksgiving. I'm also playing Starship Rubicon here and there.

My parents, son, and I woke up early and unwrapped gifts. I was glad to get a $25 gift card for Amazon. My son also gave me a cool stylus that has a LED light and a laser pointer, which my cat loves. I bought two of the Lego Minecraft sets for him. I also gave my parents some money.

Adam, I'm thrilled that I'm now not the only Cheerful Ghost that has a Wii U. I'm looking forward to seeing what you think of it. I really love mine.

Cheerful Holidays!

Travis Admin wrote on 12/26/2014 at 02:27am

Merry Christmas all!

Nothing gaming related today, just hanging out with parents. About to watch the Doctor Who Christmas special. One more Christmas on Saturday.

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Vote In The Cheerful Ghost 2015 Game of the Year Awards!

As the year marches slowly to close the Cheerful Ghost GoTY voting process is upon us. We are opening up two categories this year in Best Triple A Game and Best Indie Game. If you don't see a game on the list, it wasn't nominated. Check out the options below and drop in the comments if you voted.

Vote for the Best Triple A Game released in 2014.

http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=5498e8bee4b0cdaa8af2b80a

Vote for the Best Indie Game released in 2014.

http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=5498e9fae4b0cdaa8af2b80e

Voting will end January 1st.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/23/2014 at 05:24am

Awesome! I didn't vote on the Best Indie Game because I haven't played any of them.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/23/2014 at 04:41pm

Looks like a good race going on between Wolfenstein and Reaper of Souls, and MAMBC and Shovel Knight.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/23/2014 at 07:35pm

My Best Indie Game released in 2014 is Starship Rubicon. It's not the only indie game released in 2014 that I've played, but it is one among very few.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/23/2014 at 07:41pm

Because it was launched in mid December I want to include in next years voting.

vdogmr25 wrote on 12/23/2014 at 07:43pm

Voted. Excited for the final results.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/27/2014 at 04:28pm

Come on, Wolfie. You can do it!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/28/2014 at 05:20am

I think i'd prefer Wolfenstein win over Reaper but i'd be happy with either.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/29/2014 at 10:34pm

Here's another candidate for the best game of the year: http://aflatminerstudios.itch.io/ducks-hunt

(Not really, but I like anything that's against ducks)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/30/2014 at 06:46pm

Adam: Ha, I saw that linked from somewhere. Pretty fun.

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Interview with Starship Rubicon creator Wick & Jon Dodson

Space! It’s dangerous out there.

December 12th marked the release of Starship Rubicon, a game that hundreds of Kickstarter backers have been waiting two and a half years for, as well as a slew of fans since who have had to make due with the teaser trailers. But Starship Rubicon is noteworthy for another reason: it's the first title published by Cheerful Ghost, marking a new endeavour not only to write about great games, but also to publish them.

After I dove in and experienced the game, from the difficult but not unfairly punishing combat, to the satisfying soundtrack by indie game musician Beatscribe, to the funny quips by the tutorial computer -- I was tickled pink.... Read All

Check Out The Beatscribe Starship Rubicon OST!

Starship Rubicon is a great Roguelike with challenging gameplay great retro 2D art. That said, Rubicon also features some killer music by a fantastic Indie musician. The OST for Starship Rubicon was composed by Beatscribe featuring 6 in game tracks and 2 remixes.

Head over to Bandcamp and check it out!

https://beatscribe.bandcamp.com/album/starship-rubicon-ost

You can check out some of his thoughts on the revamped OST as well.

https://beatscribe.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/cheerful-ghost-and-wick-release-starship-rubicon-with-beatscribe-ost/
https://beatscribe.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/wick-studios-and-cheerful-ghost-to-release-starship-rubicon-with-beatscribe-ost/