Interviews

Released on January 25, 2012 by Cheerful Ghost

Developed by Cheerful Ghost

Cheerful Ghost interviews people in gaming that do amazing work. We interview video game designers, developers, musicians and find out how they bring the magic to what they do.

As I continue the series of Cheerful Ghost Community Interviews the next person up is @WhiteboySlim. I really dug this interview as we both have a similar history of games we grew up playing. I want to thank @WhiteboySlim for doing the interview!

jdodson: Are you interested in any of the next gen consoles? Wii U, PS4, NextBox or the Steambox?

WhiteboySlim: Iā€™m interested to see what they all will offer to be honest. I havenā€™t had any hands-on time with the Wii U, but I would like to see it in action to see if itā€™s any good. Iā€™m also very interested in the Steambox. Valve has done some really cool stuff with Steam, and I canā€™t wait to see what they will bring to consoles.... Read All


Back this on Kickstarter!
Recently I saw an amazing Kickstarter for a new gamed called "Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake." The game focuses on amazingly lush visuals and a puzzle styled game play similar to early Legend of Zelda Games. I immediately had to know more about the Kickstarter and Sleep Ninja Games the company behind the magic.

jdodson: The ā€œMonsterā€™s Ate My Birthday Cakeā€ Kickstarter page reminisces of the time before the Wiki where we shared secrets and game lore by word of mouth. What lore or secrets have been burned into your brain you canā€™t shake?

Justin Baldwin: It's been a long time, and I remember it for tons of games. I really more or less want to try to bring that experience... Read All


The next entrant in the Cheerful Ghost Community Interview series I have been doing is Will Owens. Will is the creator of Backlog Killer, a blog dedicated to completing his large pile of awesome games.

jdodson: You are playing through Ultima Underworld right now. How is that going?

Will Owens: Slowly but surely. Ultima Underworld is actually one of the two or three games that motivated me to begin writing the Backlog Killer blog last year. The problem of too little time and too much to play remains, but I now have a system that allows me to focus and not be distracted by other games that may be laying around, too. I usually only have the opportunity to play games three... Read All


For quite some time I have enjoyed the Starcrafts series of animation shorts. I was able to reach out to CarbotAnimations, the creators of Starcrafts and they agreed to do an interview. Right now CarbotAnimations consists of Jon Burton with contributions from his brother. Its pretty amazing to consider how awesome it is to go from zero to a few million views in such a short amount of time. I imagine the fact that the videos are awesome has much to do with it.

This was a really fun interview to do and I want to thank Jon Burton for taking the time to talk to me.

jdodson: The characters of Starcrafts have very distinct personalities. The Zerglings, Zealots & Colossus... Read All


The experience of playing Sword & Sworcery on my iPhone showed me how immersive games on my phone could be. I wasn't sure iPhone games could be more than the typical grind of a puzzle game or fruit ninja clone. As I played Sword and Sworcery for the first time it recommended I use stereo headphones and I was surprised at how fantastic the experience was. The game that unfolded was a visual and audio feast. I enjoyed the fresh take on how a video game provides you with an introduction and the music stood out front and center as incredible. I mentally noted to find out more about the music because as I played it really hooked me. Jim Guthrie's scores for Sword &... Read All


http://i.imgur.com/veBfK.png
Recently I wrote about a classic game I love called Spaceward Ho! You can read my thoughts about the game here:

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/853

For quite some time I have been wanting to do an interview with the developers responsible for such an amazing classic. As luck would have it, I was able to talk to Peter Commons the original developer of Spaceward Ho! I found it awesome to be able to bat around questions with Peter about a game so close to my gamer DNA. If you are not familiar with Spaceward Ho! it is available now on the iPad, iPhone and Mac.

jdodson: Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to answer my questions today. Spaceward Ho! is one of... Read All


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Ryan-Gordon-SELF-2009.png
Recently I asked Ryan C. Gordon some questions about his work in porting games, the current state of gaming in Linux, and where he sees it in the future. For those of you who aren't familiar with his work, Ryan has been involved in porting many games and other software to Linux and Mac OSX. Most recently he has been working with the folks at Humble Bundle to ensure their games are cross-platform.

Without further ado...

Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us. Let's start with a very broad one-- how do you see the state of Linux gaming today?
It's making progress. We're turning out to have a pretty big year, with Unity3D coming to the platform, and Valve... Read All


I now bring you the thrilling part 2 to my interview with the always awesome Panickedthumb.

You can read part one here:
http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/738

jdodson: What was the last game you beat?

panickedthumb: This is kinda sad actually. I can't remember. I just took a scan through my Steam library to find out. Does Diablo 3 count? I haven't beaten Inferno with any character yet, but I've beaten Diablo himself quite a few times now. Otherwise, it's Deus Ex: Human Revolution I guess. Perhaps I'm going through a phase, but lately I've been having trouble holding my focus on a game long enough to beat it. This happens from time to time. I usually end up on a gaming... Read All


As part of my series of Interviews with Cheerful Ghost users I started up a conversation with panickedthumb. He had and idea that we have a Interview but sort of trade ideas back and forth. Its a good format, one I plan continuing with the next few interviews.

It is a bit long so it will be broken up into two parts.

jdodson: Recently you picked up Dishonored. What are your thoughts on this one? Are you interested in seeing more of this game made?

panickedthumb: I love it. It's so incredibly engrossing, and yet... I haven't been able to motivate myself to play much of it. I feel like this is the opposite of pick-up-and-play, and I haven't had a lot of time at a stretch to... Read All


Forever enshrined in history is the story of Action 52 games and The Cheetahmen. Action 52 games made a NES cart that packed in a total of 52 games and one such addition to the mix, Cheetahmen has caught on to achieve NES Retro infamy. In a series of events not entirely clear to me a few thousand copies of a prototype print of Cheetahman 2 were found in an old Action 52 storage area. These were later put on EBay and currently fetch for a high price.

A bit about the original Action 52 cart as reviewed by the amazing Angry Video Game Nerd:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwmoJkHS-2E

Intro Greg Pabich, the Wizard behind the recent Cheetahmen 2: The Lost Levels Kickstarter.... Read All