Interviews [ Page 4 ] | Cheerful Ghost

Interview with Garry Newman of Garry's Mod & Rust

In the PC community Garry's Mod is a well known sandbox game built off the Half-life 2 engine that allows you to do... mostly anything you can think of. The game is still very popular and much awesome strangeness encircles its community. Facepunch Studios, the company behind Garry's Mod has a new game in development called Rust, an open world survival game. Interested in this I hit up Garry Newman to talk to him a bit about Garry's Mod and Rust.

I want to thank him and @Travis for taking part in the interview and I wish Facepunch Godspeed to Rust 1.0!

jdodson: Garry’s Mod was released in 2004 and came to Steam in 2006. Most people don’t work on a project for 9 years,... Read All

Even The Ocean, The Upcoming Game from Analgesic

I heard about Analgesic Production's first game Anodyne when it hit the Pirate Bay. When it made it to the popular Torrent site they dropped the price of the game to help promote it and the story of what happened broke in the gaming community. I picked up the Anodyne game+score bundle during the Pirate Bay promotion.

Anodyne is a fantastic game that really immersed me in its landscape and gameplay. To this day when I listen to the score on my iPhone I am immediately transported back into the game and its a really magical experience. When I read on Twitter that Sean and Jon of Analgesic Productions were working on a new game and it was taking shape I contacted them.... Read All

Interview with FTL Composer Ben Prunty

In a world of impossibly difficult rogue-likes FTL ups the challenge but dares to be fun and unique. One large element in the mixture of FTL's awesomery is the score. From the opening track of Ben Prunty's "Space Cruise" to the more etherial "Engi," the score is important to building the overall feel of an open and lonely universe. I picked up an FTL bundle on Steam that included the score and was impressed with Ben's work.

I contacted Ben and he was kind enough to answer some questions I had about FTL and the other stuff he is up to right now. He just launched a pre-order for his new album "Curious Merchandise" and has two preview tracks "Fractal Wheel" and "Swamp... Read All

Int. w Robin Meijer of Ronimo Games & Awesomenauts

Back this on Kickstarter!

For me Awesomenauts is the perfect MOBA. It's accessible, easy to pick up and fun. It takes the MOBA formula, strips it back to its best elements, tosses in humor and some great art to make a seriously addicting game. After picking it up as part of the Humble Bundle 8 I couldn't put it down. As such I wanted to talk to Ronimo about the game and know a bit more about it from behind the scenes.

As luck would have it Ronimo also just announced a new Kickstarter for the new Awesomenauts: Starstorm. The expansion looks to add 3 new classes, spectator mode, global chat, twin-stick controller support & some new music. The backer levels are pretty intense so if you are an... Read All

Interview with Game Designer Paul Vorvick

I wasn’t winning with the same strategy I used in real life. I figured even if I started out with a bad economic situation I could win on the merits of making the right moral choices alone. I was wrong. The way to win in Paul Vorvick’s newest game isn’t to save and be conservative, you need to swing high and stomp everyone else into the dirt.

When I heard that local game designer Paul Vorvick was showing “Privilege: The Game of Economic Inequality” at the New York at the Games for Change Festival I was very interested in checking it out. When he came back to Portland I contacted him and we met at a local pub so he could show me the game and talk about it. As we chatted... Read All

Interview with Andrew Spinks, creator of Terraria

Terraria is an amazing world-building game released by Relogic in 2011. It's surprisingly deep, and through many playthroughs I've clocked hundreds of hours into it. We've had a few Cheerful Ghost Terraria servers, and we're all looking forward to the release of 1.2, which promises to change the game more than any update has so far. I recently asked Andrew Spinks (redigit) some questions about the games past and near future.

Thanks for your time Andrew! Terraria is an amazing game, still making news long after release. How did the journey start for you? What was the basic idea that led to the game?
Hey Travis. No problem, man! Really, the basic concept was just me... Read All Terraria is an amazing world-building game released by Relogic in 2011. It's surprisingly deep, and through many playthroughs I've clocked hundreds of hours into it. We've had a few Cheerful Ghost Terraria servers, and we're all looking forward to the release of 1.2, which promises to change the game more than any update has so far. I recently asked Andrew Spinks (redigit) some questions about the games past and near future.

Thanks for your time Andrew! Terraria is an amazing game, still making news long after release. How did the journey start for you? What was the basic idea that led to the game?
Hey Travis. No problem, man! Really, the basic concept was just me wanting to make a fun game for people to enjoy playing. I figured that if I took elements that I liked and put them all together, that it would work out, and it has so far!

How has it been working with Engine Software and 505 Games? What are your thoughts on the changes and additions added to the console versions?
Engine and 505 have been great! They have been very flexible to work with and have stayed true to the original feel of Terraria. When they started production of the ports, 505 approached me about both companies’ thoughts on exclusive content, and it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

Some PC players were initially upset when the new content for consoles was announced, since you had previously stopped development on the PC version, which wouldn’t be getting this new content. How do you view the community response to this?
It was somewhat to be expected. The existing fan base already felt bad enough that they weren’t going to get anymore free content before we started putting out teasers about the console ports. So when we announced it and some fans weren’t thrilled with the news, we could definitely understand where they were coming from.

On the other hand, fans are excited that you’ve started development on a new patch for the PC version. Can you share what’s coming, or when we’ll be diving into some new and awesome content?
There is already so much content that we’ve added that it’s hard to know where to start! We are packing this update full of new aesthetic, new game mechanics, items, enemies, and all kinds of stuff for the builders! We couldn’t be more excited about 1.2, but there is still a lot of work to be done, so it’s hard to nail down a date.

Taking both of the previous questions into account, is there any chance of content collaboration between Re-Logic and Engine/505, either bringing Engine’s new content to PC, or your new content to consoles?
We don’t yet have plans to bring console content to PC, but we’ve already been working with 505 on the details of bringing 1.2 to consoles.

Other games developed with XNA, such as Bastion, have later gone multi-platform. There are currently some functional methods to play Terraria on Mac and Linux using Monogame, but they aren’t stellar. Do you have any plans for official releases for these platforms?
The last time I checked on MonoXNA, it couldn’t support a stable build of Terraria, so I haven’t actively sought this out for a while.

There are two enemies and two bosses that are evil disembodied eyes, and the Wall of Flesh, which has some creepy giant eyes. Do you find eyes particularly creepy?
Sure, man. I mean there’s something just ominous about a giant eye just staring you down with big red blood vessels bulging and everything. It’s like the definition of creepy!

There have been many high-quality mods released for Terraria that change mechanics, add items, or aid in multiplayer, but they all involve
overwriting or editing game files. Do you have any plans for official mod support?
I actually haven’t had that much time to look into this since I’ve been so busy with 1.2, but that has always been a strong request from the community so we’ll see!

Terraria is an astonishingly deep game. We have run a few Cheerful Ghost servers and we always have a blast. Exploration, creation, epic boss fights-- the game is amazing. As you look back on what you have built, what accomplishment or milestone are you most proud of?
I don’t know if there is just one event that I could single out regarding my experiences with Terraria. Just the very fact that people are so immersed with something that I’ve created simply amazes me!

The community has done amazing things with the game. What builds really stick out for you?
Amazing is a good word for it! There are so many awesome creations out there that it’s hard to really choose favorites.

How many planets has the Eater of Worlds consumed?
Haha, I’ll leave that one for the fan to speculate!

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/26/2013 at 01:29am

This is awesome, thanks for posting this Travis.

Really looking forward to when 1.2 drops and we get the Cheerful Ghost server going :D

Timogorgon Member wrote on 06/27/2013 at 04:26pm

We're getting close to 1.2... I can feel it! @.@

With all these new items I can't wait to see what everyone builds on our next server.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/27/2013 at 04:29pm

I want to build some kind of snow house. Perhaps some kind of super villain evil snow fortress.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 06/28/2013 at 01:02am

Yeah, we must keep creating the world until one with snow comes. I also think a pyramid, since sand building materials are coming, along with half-blocks and the ability to run up a 1 block incline without jumping.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/28/2013 at 06:07am

Sounds good. We might have to lag the server start a bit to handle someone getting the patch and fiddling around with creating a world until we get the right one. A few hours perhaps.

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Int. With Tiny Barbarian Designer Michael Stearns

StarQuail Games recently released Tiny Barbarian DX after a successful Kickstarter campaign. After checking out the game I wanted to send some questions to StarQuail Games about the game and all manner of awesomery. I was put in contact with Michael Stearns the lead designer of Tiny Barbarian DX.

jdodson: I want to thank you for taking the time to talk with me. Tiny Barbarian DX was successfully Kickstarted and Chapter 1 was recently delivered to backers and the general public. How are you sitting right now after the dust has settled and people have had a chance to play it and weigh in on the game?

Michael Stearns: I’m finally starting to settle down! Getting ready for... Read All

Interview -w Aurore Dimopoulos of Unity

Unity is the game engine and set of tools that is widely becoming the game development platform of choice. If you have checked out many of our Cheerful Ghost interviews, Unity is quite popular in new Indie Game Development. Since Unity is becoming a cornerstone of how games are made I decided to contact Unity Technologies and ask them a few questions about what they were up to. I was put in contact with Aurore Dimopoulos the Unity Community Manager.

Since Unity is a engine used by game developers I asked a local game designer to help me with the interview. Clifton is the lead designer of Clobbr, an upcoming mobile puzzle game written in Unity.

jdodson: Unity is an... Read All

Interview with Chris from TRU FUN about Rad Raygun

http://radraygun.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/ss01.jpg

Recently Chris from TRU FUN Entertainment answered some questions for us about Rad Raygun, currently on XBox Live Indie Games, being released for PC soon, and currently in the Greenlight process for a Steam release.

He was also gracious enough to send us along a review copy, which I played through. For the price, anyone with an XBox should check this game out. The gameplay is similar to Mega Man, with some other inspiration here and there from other titles, including Tetris. Yes, Tetris. Getting the hang of placing the pieces takes some time, but it's a great homage.

The art style perfectly represents the visual style of the original GameBoy, with some amusing cutscenes... Read All

Interview With Jay Watts Creator of Solar 2

Solar 2 is a beautiful game where you start as an asteroid, gain mass to become and planet and finally a black hole. The game play and score are mesmerizing and after I got it as part of the last bundle I was hooked. The made a pretty large impression on me and as such decided to hit up creator Jay Watts and ask him a few questions.

I want to thank Jay for taking the time to talk with me and wish him well on his next project which at this point, is a secret to everybody. Well, except Jay. :D

jdodson: I just wanted to start by saying “thank you” for making Solar 2. The game is very fluid and as I play it I find myself going to some kind of zen place with the music and... Read All