When we originally launched the Cheerful Ghost Games BBS we let you know that more games would be coming that you could play. Today is a good day because we’re launching the ability for everyone to play Crescent Loom right here on Cheerful Ghost in your browser. Crescent Loom is a game created by Wick, the developer of Starship Rubicon (a game Cheerful Ghost published) and according to Wick Crescent Loom is a game about creating life. Knit bones, stitch muscles, and weave neurons into a biologically-realistic simple creature.
You can find Crescent Loom by clicking the Games link about and selecting it or hitting the link below. I encourage everyone to give Crescent Loom a shot as it’s a very unique game that isn’t like much out there. To help celebrate the launch of Crescent Loom on our BBS I reached out to Wick to talk about the game and how development has been going.
https://cheerfulghost.com/games
jdodson: The last time we interviewed you was October of last year. We were about to head over to our booth at Portland Retro Game Expo and we ran an interview in celebration of all that. What have you been up to since then?
Wick: Finished up & delivered on the Kickstarter, i.e. I got the basic mechanics for the engine down and put it out as a sandbox. I also was accepted to (and just returned from!) the indie game accelerator Stugan (http://www.stugan.com/), where I spent two months in the Swedish woods working on a tutorial / introduction to the game.
jdodson: At what point will you consider Crescent Loom released?
Wick: I think going Early Access on Steam is the right path for Crescent Loom, but at minimum I need to polish the heck out of the introduction, implement the open-ended challenge modes, and work with an artist to really bring the game to life visually.
Personally, I have a goal to exit early access and "finish" the game in three years (by the end of 2021). There are other projects I have in the pipeline that I'm excited to get to.
jdodson: Wow! Three years is an awesome amount of time to get the game right, what do you plan on adding in that time?
Wick: The stuff I mentioned above for early access, then a structured series of challenges to rebuild the planet's ecosystem & encourage players to explore the nuances of the building mechanics.
jdodson: This question is maybe just for me but have you considered Starship Rubicon 2? If so what would it be? I was thinking you could continue the Starship Rubicon story-verse thing and have it be a series of flight simulations with different students on new earth learning how to be pilots. Pilot from the first game is the leader of the flight academy. Your final test as a student is a recreation of the original game with a slightly different take based on it being a simulation. I have obviously more ideas but I guess none of that is really the question except STARSHIP RUBICON 2 HOW HYPE WOULD THAT BE?
Wick: Haha, I consider Crescent Loom to actually be a low-key sequel to Starship Rubicon, with a not-that-different setup from what you just described. I want to move away from the whole blowing-stuff-up game genre, so my current idea is that the characters are now working with the aliens from SR to restore their destroyed planets with bioengineering.
jdodson: If you could get everyone on the planet to do one thing for 2 minutes on the same day together what would it be?
Wick: Meditation. It'd be nice just to get myself to do it for two minutes a day...
jdodson: What’s the best movie you’ve seen this year?
Wick: I re-watched Secret of Kells. Still one of my absolute favorites.
jdodson: Starship Rubicon is the first new indie game to launch on the Cheerful Ghost Games BBS. You’re sharing space with games about candy and old DOS based BBS games about fishing. Why did you agree to be part of this crazy experiment?
Wick: 'cause you're cool and I like you and I wanna see where it goes.
jdodson: Right now, what’s the hardest part of game development?
Wick: Being solo, I think. I can manage alone, but I keep running into situation where having somebody as deep in the weeds as me to collaborate with would add so much to the game.
jdodson: You recently got back from spending some time at Stugan, which is a game development summer camp in Sweden! Did you collaborate with other developers on Crescent Loom while you were there?
Wick: Friendship is the real treasure! I wrote up a big ol blog post here about all the different ways I got help from my peers there.
jdodson: After we talked last year you said that due to your disappointment with Rogue One you weren’t excited for Episode VIII The Last Jedi. The Last Jedi is out now and it’s on Netflix, did you see it and what did you think?
Wick: Couldn't suspend my disbelief. Why didn't they do that hyperspace-explody thing as plan A, instead of waiting until all their escape pods had been exploded? Why is everybody so obsessed with going out in a blaze of glory? They love having these moments of artificial drama and then saving the day with a last-minute "clever" deus-ex-machinas.
jdodson: My thinking is because they were on the ship already and couldn't ram it into Snokes ship or they'd die on it. Then after they got everyone off, Lura Dern sort of was improvising?
Wick: Again, though, why was that improvising and not plan A?
jdodson: Thanks for doing this interview and double thanks for letting us put Crescent Loom up on our games BBS. Anything you want to leave us with before we part ways?
Wick: It was a pleasure! Remember to stay in school & brush your teeth.
You can play Crescent Loom below and if you want to follow Wick you can sign up for his newsletter at the tinyletter URL below.
https://cheerfulghost.com/games/crescentloom
https://tinyletter.com/wick
You can find Crescent Loom by clicking the Games link about and selecting it or hitting the link below. I encourage everyone to give Crescent Loom a shot as it’s a very unique game that isn’t like much out there. To help celebrate the launch of Crescent Loom on our BBS I reached out to Wick to talk about the game and how development has been going.
https://cheerfulghost.com/games
jdodson: The last time we interviewed you was October of last year. We were about to head over to our booth at Portland Retro Game Expo and we ran an interview in celebration of all that. What have you been up to since then?
Wick: Finished up & delivered on the Kickstarter, i.e. I got the basic mechanics for the engine down and put it out as a sandbox. I also was accepted to (and just returned from!) the indie game accelerator Stugan (http://www.stugan.com/), where I spent two months in the Swedish woods working on a tutorial / introduction to the game.
jdodson: At what point will you consider Crescent Loom released?
Wick: I think going Early Access on Steam is the right path for Crescent Loom, but at minimum I need to polish the heck out of the introduction, implement the open-ended challenge modes, and work with an artist to really bring the game to life visually.
Personally, I have a goal to exit early access and "finish" the game in three years (by the end of 2021). There are other projects I have in the pipeline that I'm excited to get to.
jdodson: Wow! Three years is an awesome amount of time to get the game right, what do you plan on adding in that time?
Wick: The stuff I mentioned above for early access, then a structured series of challenges to rebuild the planet's ecosystem & encourage players to explore the nuances of the building mechanics.
jdodson: This question is maybe just for me but have you considered Starship Rubicon 2? If so what would it be? I was thinking you could continue the Starship Rubicon story-verse thing and have it be a series of flight simulations with different students on new earth learning how to be pilots. Pilot from the first game is the leader of the flight academy. Your final test as a student is a recreation of the original game with a slightly different take based on it being a simulation. I have obviously more ideas but I guess none of that is really the question except STARSHIP RUBICON 2 HOW HYPE WOULD THAT BE?
Wick: Haha, I consider Crescent Loom to actually be a low-key sequel to Starship Rubicon, with a not-that-different setup from what you just described. I want to move away from the whole blowing-stuff-up game genre, so my current idea is that the characters are now working with the aliens from SR to restore their destroyed planets with bioengineering.
jdodson: If you could get everyone on the planet to do one thing for 2 minutes on the same day together what would it be?
Wick: Meditation. It'd be nice just to get myself to do it for two minutes a day...
jdodson: What’s the best movie you’ve seen this year?
Wick: I re-watched Secret of Kells. Still one of my absolute favorites.
jdodson: Starship Rubicon is the first new indie game to launch on the Cheerful Ghost Games BBS. You’re sharing space with games about candy and old DOS based BBS games about fishing. Why did you agree to be part of this crazy experiment?
Wick: 'cause you're cool and I like you and I wanna see where it goes.
jdodson: Right now, what’s the hardest part of game development?
Wick: Being solo, I think. I can manage alone, but I keep running into situation where having somebody as deep in the weeds as me to collaborate with would add so much to the game.
jdodson: You recently got back from spending some time at Stugan, which is a game development summer camp in Sweden! Did you collaborate with other developers on Crescent Loom while you were there?
Wick: Friendship is the real treasure! I wrote up a big ol blog post here about all the different ways I got help from my peers there.
jdodson: After we talked last year you said that due to your disappointment with Rogue One you weren’t excited for Episode VIII The Last Jedi. The Last Jedi is out now and it’s on Netflix, did you see it and what did you think?
Wick: Couldn't suspend my disbelief. Why didn't they do that hyperspace-explody thing as plan A, instead of waiting until all their escape pods had been exploded? Why is everybody so obsessed with going out in a blaze of glory? They love having these moments of artificial drama and then saving the day with a last-minute "clever" deus-ex-machinas.
jdodson: My thinking is because they were on the ship already and couldn't ram it into Snokes ship or they'd die on it. Then after they got everyone off, Lura Dern sort of was improvising?
Wick: Again, though, why was that improvising and not plan A?
jdodson: Thanks for doing this interview and double thanks for letting us put Crescent Loom up on our games BBS. Anything you want to leave us with before we part ways?
Wick: It was a pleasure! Remember to stay in school & brush your teeth.
You can play Crescent Loom below and if you want to follow Wick you can sign up for his newsletter at the tinyletter URL below.
https://cheerfulghost.com/games/crescentloom
https://tinyletter.com/wick
