jdodson1

Joined 01/23/2012
  Admin

I'm an Engineer and built the video game community Cheerful Ghost and text based mini-MMO Tale of the White Wyvern.

2761 Posts

Continuing The Epic Dungeon Crawl
http://i.imgur.com/KRuJSmP.jpg
Since I bought it, Legend of Dungeon has become one of my most beloved games of 2013. Since Legend of Dungeon is a rogue-like, each play session is different and I do a bit better each time I keep at it. Recently I made my way to the 11th floor, something I am very happy about. Right off the bat I got an Axe that ramped up my attack power to 30 and that helped immensely. Since the Axe is so large, you can't swing it as fast as the sword but since it hits so hard its a good trade. I also obtained a fair amount of Apples and the potion randomization was kind as well. All in all, getting to floor 11 was a nice milestone to hit and I am excited to progress further. The goal of the game is to make it to floor 26, get the treasure and then escape so I have ALOT more progress to make.

One of the most challenging elements of Legend of Dungeon is timing your shots right to hit enemies so they don't hit you. I am pretty good with most of the early enemies except Snakes. I can sneak up on them from behind and hit them once but if they charge me I nearly always take damage. Bats, Gnomes, Zombies, etc are not a huge problem but ... the blasted SNAKES!

That said, the game is an amazing amount of fun and I enjoy getting items i've never seem before and seeing what they do. And when I hit floor 12+ you will be the first to know :D

If you are looking for another good synopsis of Legend of Dungeon, checkout this recent post by someone on Reddit on how Legend of Dungeon should be a template for other game designers.

http://www.reddit.com/r/LegendofDungeon/comments/1ht7f8/why_legend_of_dungeon_should_be_a_template_for/

DuckTales Remasted: Himalayas Gameplay
"From the San Diego Comic-Con showfloor, right next to a scale recreation of Scrooge McDuck's famous Money Bin, Chris and Brett bring you a full blown look at the latest level revealed for DuckTales: Remastered: THE HIMALAYAS!"

Every time I see game play from the new DuckTales Remastered I get more excited. The Himalaya level was pretty awesome and they really have put a high level of polish on it. My top two levels were the Moon and The Amazon and I can't wait to jump in and play them again in HD.

Request For Review: Farcry 3 & Blood Dragon
I think I want to pick these up but I am curious what peoples thoughts are about them both?

The Summer Sales Run Out of Steam
http://i.imgur.com/I6yFrRC.jpg
Now that the Steam Summer Sale is finally ending, how'd you do? I hope you didn't spend all your money this summer, but if you did I can understand why. With the GOG.com, PSN, Amazon and Steam sales it was pretty hard to keep your wallet locked up.

The Steam Console Is Just Around The Corner
http://i.imgur.com/j0lEeyc.jpg
For the last year or so I have bought PC games that refuse to work with anything other than the USB XBox 360 controller. I have been happy to use my Logitech USB gamepads but I have really started to use them more on my PC recently and have been a bit annoyed they just don't work with certain games. Since I don't buy PC hardware that ONLY works on Windows, I looked into the 360 controller support on Linux. It seems a few enterprising folks added support for it in the Linux Kernel and they have reported it works very well. So after a few months of mulling it over I decided to drop a few bucks and pick up the 360 controller.

If you know me, you know I am not a Microsoft fanboy. For the most part, most of what they create isn't interesting to me. That said, over the years I have come to love a few things they have created. Most notably the Microsoft ergonomic Keyboard and after using it, the 360 controller for PC. Holeee crap, this thing is wicked awesome. Force feedback, feels great in your hands, well set buttons and the analog sticks are superb. Oh and did I mention it works great on Linux too?

That said, the controller doesn't work on Mac out of the box so you must install this driver to get it working.

http://tattiebogle.net/index.php/ProjectRoot/Xbox360Controller/OsxDriver#toc1

After the driver installed and I rebooted the controller worked on my Mac without a hitch. I hope Apple adds the 360 controller as supported hardware in a later OS patch!

I fired up some of the games that refused to work with my old Logitec gamepads and they worked great with the 360 controller. Whereas I think game developers should make their games work with a wide array of controllers, its nice to just have the damn thing work right.

One of the things I wanted to try after picking up the 360 controller was how well Big Picture Mode worked in Steam. Big Picture Mode is a mode in Steam that allows you to control Steam and launch games with a gamepad. I wondered how seamless it would be to start up Steam in Big Picture Mode and launch games and play them with ONLY my gamepad. I know Valve has been putting much love into Big Picture Mode and I wanted to see just how well a Steam Box would work now.

I first started with Windows. I figure this should work the best as it supports the most games and because of this should be the most used. While you are in Big Picture Mode many of the games have a controller icon visible that lets you know how well the game is gamepad supported. Many games have a full black controller letting the user know this game is VERY well supported. Some games have a half white half black controller letting the user know the game has some controller support BUT may require you use a keyboard and a mouse to set that up or get the game to launch correctly.

A few games worked flawlessly in Big Picture Mode on Windows such as Borderlands 2, Awesomenauts, Skyrim & Portal 2. A few other games worked well enough, but required a keyboard and mouse to set them up correctly. All in all things seemed to work VERY well and I was surprised how seamless it all was.

I decided to test big picture mode on my Mac and wasn't left with as awesome results as Windows. Many games opened and required a keyboard and mouse to switch to the gamepad and the switch from Steam to the game was a bit jilted. Overall it wasn't awesome but worked ok. I won't be using my Mac laptop as a faux Steambox as I planned, it just doesn't feel right.

The last thing I tried was Big Picture Mode on Linux and it worked as well as Windows. I have personally found Steam's support on Linux to be better than the Mac. There are more games on Mac to be sure, but things seem a bit more clean and games run a bit smoother. That said, Linux big picture mode worked well and launched awesomely for the few games I had installed.

After picking up the 360 controller for PC and checking out Big Picture Mode again I am considering never purchasing a console again. That said, I may drop Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft in favor of Valve's Steambox. With Steam Cloud Saves and the thought of playing a game in my living room and then on my PC is VERY compelling to me. Apparently the first "Steambox" will be released this December if all goes according to plan. At this point it looks like a smaller form factor PC and I hope it works out well for Valve. Because, really shouldn't our games seamlessly move from the PC to the living room by now? Seems like few companies are setup to do that and I put Valve at the head of the line for making it happen.

New Kickstarter Ravensdale Allows Much Orc Killing
Back this on Kickstarter!
"Ravensdale is based on classic arcade shooters like Contra and Metal Slug, but focuses heavily on co-op interactions between players. For example, while you rapidly pull yourself towards and past your buddies, they block projectiles heading your way and feed an overdrive mode to boost the entire team! We’re also pushing for strong interactivity between player characters, enemies and the levels to provide a wider range of tactical options to both solo players and assault teams."

Ravensdale is an awesome looking 2D Orc kill-fest that blends elements of Unreal Tournament and Killer Instinct... which is to say, what I took away from the Kickstarter video. Ravensdale is the next game by Black Forest Games, the team that created The Giana Sisters. I like the direction they are taking this one and its nice to see a game keeping the awesome but doing something a bit different in terms of visual and play style.

Jim Guthrie & Friends Weekly Humble Bundle
"Eleven albums, a game, and a movie... This week, pay what you want for the albums Takes Time; Takes Time: Instrumentals & Demos; Sword & Sworcery LP - The Ballad of the Space Babies; Indie Game: The Movie (Soundtrack); The Scythian Steppes: Seven #Sworcery Songs Localized for Japan; Children of the Clone; Corporeal; Now, More Than Ever; Morning Noon Night; A Thousand Songs; and FREE-P. Every purchase also includes a 50% off coupon for a double LP vinyl of Indie Game: The Movie (Soundtrack) (while supplies last). If you pay more than the average, you’ll also receive the game Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP and Indie Game: The Movie. The top 10 contributors will additionally receive a box set of several vinyl records signed by Jim Guthrie!"

This is a great chance for everyone to get the entire musical catalog of Jim Guthrie and if you love good music, you really should pick this up. I appreciate The Humble folks for trying new things in terms of offering Book Bundles and now with this Music Bundle. I already have Sword & Sworcery as well as Indie Game The Movie but I plan on paying over the average because there is just so much great music here.

Clicky click:

http://www.humblebundle.com/weekly

Hammerwatch Preorder Drops + Dev Min-terview
http://i.imgur.com/pccPtpC.jpg
Hammerwatch is an upcoming Gauntlet styled hack-n-slash featuring 4 player co-op. Travis and I featured this game on the site a few months ago with an interview and early gameplay review. I am happy to let you know that Hammerwatch is available to pre-order from the Humble Store for $8. When the game is ready to ship the pre-order gets you access to the game, game score + Steam Key.

Seriously, this a crazy deal and its not even on sale.

No secret I am very excited for this game to launch and as such shipped over a few questions to the Hammerwatch developers about the pre-order and final release. I want to thank them for taking the time to talk with me and I wish them well shipping.

jdodson: I just tried beta 1.0.6 that has a new Tower Defense mode as well as a fleshed out Warlock class. Are there any other changes coming to the game before the games final launch?

Myran: We don’t plan on releasing a new beta version, no. Releasing a beta takes a bit of time from us and although it’s great to be able to get the bug reports from it we think we have a stable enough version now to just do the rest of the testing ourselves.

jdodson: Awesome to see the ability to pre-order the Hammerwatch beta on the Humble Store. Can you give us any hints when the full game may ship by?

Myran: We should be able to release it in a few weeks.

jdodson: Are the any plans to support the game after launch with content updates or DLC?

Myran: It depends on how well the game sells, really. If we can then yes, we would love to do stuff like content patches and improving the editor, but it’s not something we can really promise to do since we don’t know if we will be able to afford doing it. I doubt we will do any kind of paid DLC though, if we do content updates they would most likely be free.

jdodson: As you are entering the final stretch of development what are you focusing on in regard to the game itself?

Myran: What’s left is mostly polishing some features and balancing the difficulty. There are also some stuff that’s not directly the game itself, like making installers, a trailer and logos for stores. And then there is of course always bug testing and fixing.

Pre-order the game from the Hammerwatch site:

http://www.hammerwatch.com/

Our interview with the developers back in January:

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/955

Our review of an early beta of the game + developer Q&A session. It includes a video of Travis and I playing Survival together:

http://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/1039

Hands On With the Dota 2 Mac and Linux Clients
http://i.imgur.com/oHQ557W.jpg
Recently, Dota 2 left beta for its final free to play release on Windows. During its Beta it wasn't available for Linux or Mac but recently Valve made a test build available for both platforms. Recently I downloaded both clients on Linux and Mac to give them a shot. If you have Steam for Mac or Linux you can simple download the Dota 2 test from your games list.

Mac Test Build

This build works well enough that I recommend it for Mac users if they prefer gaming from their Laptop or iMac. That said, I don't recommend it for serious Dota 2 playing but if you want to have a bit of fun with bots or friends, it works well.

A few issues I noticed:

When the character selection screen came up it was very small in the upper left hand corner of the screen. I could select a character, but it was hard to read anything and understand each characters strengths and weaknesses. Not a huge deal if you know who you want to play.

I also minimized the game a few times and had no idea how I did that. It was easy enough to resume the game, but it was distracting the few times it happened.

The performance on my Macbook wasn't great and I experienced a bit of lag on occasion. It wasn't a huge deal, but my Macbook has an SSD and 16G of RAM, it doesn't need to slow down.

Linux Test Build

The Linux build was the most stable of the two and it worked very well for me. No glitches that I noticed and the build seemed good enough for serious play. That said, each Linux machine is a bit different but on my rig, it ran very well.

If you are Mac or Linux bound or simply want to see Valve's latest game to be ported to these platforms you should download them now!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/570/