Do you want to hand out more than just candy to the kiddies this year for Halloween? How about printing off these Plants VS Zombies "Stop Zombie Mouth" coupons so the kids can get a free version of PvZ for Halloween?

Why can't more game companies do this? Its a fun idea and I imagine some people I hand the coupon to won't have played the game before. Totally great advertising if a new Plants VS Zombies might been soon around the corner!

Oh and maybe if you used a coupon to get a copy yourself, that might be OK too? Shhhhhh, it might not just be for kids!

http://www.stopzombiemouth.com/
http://static-www.ec.popcap.com/misc/zombiemouth/downloads/stop_zombie_mouth_coupons.pdf

I was chatting with @panickedthumb on Steam yesterday and he had a pretty cool idea. We were talking about the recent interviews I have been giving and he wondered if if would be good to interview the users of Cheerful Ghost itself? I hadn't considered that before and decided that is something I wanted to do.

I want to interview you all, the topics all swirling around gaming and you. Ill contact people one at a time and hopefully make my way through everybody. I am not going to go in any particular order and don't worry, I will get to you soon :D

Thanks to @panickedthumb for the idea and expect to see some interviews with CG users soon.

Time Walk Games makes physical prints of NES and SNES games. These shrink wrapped modern game carts are of fan game creations and translations. When I found TimeWalk Games online I was impressed with quality of what they produce. I was able to sit down with Spencer from TimeWalk Games and ask him some questions about what they do and threw in a few other bits as well.

jdodson: Recently you released Final Fantasy Ages for the Super Nintendo. How long does it take from the initial concept to launch? What process is involved to launch the game?

Spencer: The artwork, manual and map design can take anywhere from a week to a few months depending on the type of game that it is. RPG manuals tend to take a very long time to design due to the large scope of the games. Typically when when we decide to release a game in CIB we ask one of our roughly fifteen different graphic designers to develop the printed resources for the title. From there its just a waiting game. We never rush them as that would seriously degrade quality, and our standard has always been to match the quality of the original releases.

jdodson: Do you work along side the fan communities that create games to publish these carts?

Spencer: At the moment no. Unfortunately there are some differences of opinion between rom hackers, translators, and repro-makers, and always has been. Repro makers cater to those who want to play games on the original hardware. We specialize in bringing the game to the gamer as closely as we possibly can to what the game would have been liked if it would have had an official release (How's that for a run-on sentence). We love to see unboxing videos of our games, because when you see the customer remove the shinkwrap for the first time, you can see them transported back 20 years too when they we're buying these games as a kid. That's the biggest reason that we do this. I loved the way games used to be. Not just the game, but the packaging, manual, the whole bit. I have very little taste for modern gaming. Especially the packaging. Have you noticed how bland the packaging is for consoles now? Just look at the packaging for the 3ds compared to the original NES and SNES packaging. The 3DS packaging is very bland and sterile. You wouldn't even know it was a gaming device. The NES and SNES packaging are fantastic! Colorful and bold! They just scream fun.

But anyway, I've gotten away from the question. It is my great hope to see the various communities that are involved in these games come together and get past their differences.

There is so much talent out there, and the gaming community owes so much to the various translators and hackers out there.

jdodson's note: Here is an epic unboxing videos of the TimeWalk print Zelda Parallel Worlds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Asbjsfepl4Y

jdodson: What’s your favorite game you have published so far?

Spencer: That's hard to say. Some of the earlier ones such as Zelda Outlands was my design for the printed materials, and I've always been very proud of it. Its really hard to choose just one. My top pics at the moment that isn't my work are All New Punch Out, Mystic Quest Reborn and Metroid Deluxe.

jdodson: The original Nintendo and Super Nintendo came with lock out technology to avoid unlicensed games. How do you get around this?

Spencer: Very carefully ;)

jdodson: If Nintendo decided to make a 2D retro styled Zelda game what direction would you like to see it take?

Spencer: A sequel to Links Awakening. LA was my favorite Zelda game of all time. It played similar to a link to the past and it had a fantastic humor through out the game and the music is so memorable. Just charming in every way. I don't really feel like the next few Zelda games have to be huge and epic.

jdodson: How do you ensure when you run a game cart, that it works properly on the hardware?

Spencer: We simply test it on real hardware. Build the game, clean the pins and see if it works. We only test on genuine SNES and NES hardware though. There are so many clones out there that it would be to difficult and time consuming to test on all of them, though I hear the Retro-Duo is quite for compatibility these days. Most of the clones have problems with the Super FX chip though.

jdodson: What tech do you use to store the game code on the game cart?

Spencer: A combination of flash memory, eproms, converter boards and anything else we can use. Its something of a magic trick to modify old hardware in this way and we are always learning better ways to do it.

jdodson: To date, what has been your most successful game published?

Spencer: Zelda Outlands

jdodson: In Portland, we have a large Retro Gaming Community with the Portland Retro Gaming Expo and awesome arcades like Ground Kontrol. What’s your local Retro scene like and how involved is Time Walk Games in the Retro Gaming community in your respective areas?

Spencer: Sadly, our local scene is not very big. We own a brick and morter store in the area that specializes in retro gaming, comics, magic the gathering etc. Retro gaming does OK, but isn't huge, and we work very hard to promote it locally. Based on our sales for Timewalk, I would say retro gaming is actually significantly stronger in other parts of the world such as Europe and Australia.

jdodson: What did you think was the most offensive part in the Star Wars prequels?

Spencer: Dear lord where do I start. The fact that they we're made at all just to begin with. The cut and paste story line. The horrible CG. If I had to pick one thing though I think it would be the whole concept of Midiclorines. And yes, I know it didn't spell that right. It offends me so much I won't even take the time to properly look up how to spell it. But basically, the idea of retro actively changing the concept of the force from a spiritual concept to a scientific concept ruined the movie for me. I have to block out the idea that the prequels even exist to enjoy 4 through 6. A lot of people hate Jar-Jar Binks. I really don't have a problem with the character. Yes, he is somewhat annoying, but there are a lot of annoying characters in Star Wars (Ewoks anyone). I can stomach another one rather easily.

jdodson: You published Secret of Mana 2 fan translation on the Super Nintendo because it wasn’t published in the United States. Secret of Mana is one of my favorite games of all time, thank you for doing this!

Spencer: You're welcome.

jdodson: You ask fans to trade in certain games so you can recycle old games to publish future games. This is a really awesome idea! Are you able to get enough trade-ins to meet your publishing demands?

Spencer: Not even close. We are constantly searching and scouring for donor carts. We also have a policy to use only games that are terrible over produced games as well. Games that will more than likely end up in the landfill. That means no Zelda carts to make a Zelda Outlands.

jdodson: What’s a better way to travel through time? Delorean or Phone Booth?

Spencer: Considering the price of gas these days, a phone booth. Though the stainless steel construction of a Delorean really helps with the flux dispersal...

jdodson: Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! Anything else you want to mention I didn’t ask that people should know?

Spencer: No problem. Nothing I can think of ;)

Spencer of TimeWalk Games:
http://i.imgur.com/CPCUA.jpg

http://www.timewalkgames.com/

Great Board Games can suck you into a world where you are crawling through the darkest dungeon to running a small empire. Many people expect board games to be fairly simplistic, one sided and often boring as they haven't been exposed to much beyond the typical department store $20 game. Some people get freaked out by some deep board game experience because of the complicated rules or length of play. I love finding board games that can provide a really great experience but be accessible by my lesser geek friends.

Games of Wonder seems epically suited to the task of making board games that have high replay ability, are totally fun and are accessible enough to interest your least gamer enthusiastic friends. One such gem they created is Small World.

Small World is a conquest game, similar to Risk in that you must fight the other players to control the world. To win the game you must pick from the different races that come up randomly, such as Amazons, Dwarves, Ghouls, Ratmen, Skeletons, Humans, Orcs, Wizards and many more. Each race is randomly paired with an ability that allows your Race a special bonus and has the extra effect of giving the game more depth. As you start your turn you decide which side of the board you enter from to control and hold territory to earn gold. The player with the most gold at the end of all the turns wins.

I like Small World because it provides a fantasy ascetic I love but isn't too nerdy to fight off my lesser geek friends. It also has accessible rules but your strategy can be fairly deep and involved. Winning at Small World isn't entirely about fighting with other players, I have seen people win by just hanging back and collecting gold while everyone else was locked in a bitter blood-feud. It's really awesome to see different strategies take hold and I appreciate how creative you can be with your game play.

If you want to see the game in action, the show Table Top with Will Weaton has a great episode featuring Small World. They miss state a rule or two, but it is a good overview of the game and how it works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9QtdiRJYro

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http://www.daysofwonder.com/smallworld/en/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_World_%28board_game%29

"Second Quest is a stand-alone graphic novella inspired by Zelda. It's an original story about a young woman from a small town in the sky who begins to suspect that the legends about her home aren't true. If you like mysterious landscapes, non-princesses, videogame criticism, or general gorgeousity, then please consider backing Second Quest!"

I find the idea of the Kickstarter awesome. Creativity is a great way to deal with disappointment. Zelda is one of those series I will always love, even if the modern versions don't bring the magic like they used to.

Tevis Thompson, one of the Second Quest Kickstarter collaborators produced an interesting post that also helped spawn this work called "Saving Zelda" and you can read that here:

http://tevisthompson.com/saving-zelda/

Check out the official Kickstarter as they have 20 days left to go and only need 11k of funding to meet the goal!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/davidhellman/second-quest

YouTube animator CarbotAnimations recently created "Starcrafts" a series of cartoon shorts based on Starcraft. They are released every Saturday and have 10 episodes already!

Linking to them all because you have to watch them all, they are that awesome!

Episode 3 Mini Marine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBOOJvXDjX0&feature=plcp

Episode 4 Zerg BM:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk6wYlRR-BI&feature=plcp

Episode 5 Choked Up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COV2GfUnxFc&feature=plcp

Episode 6 A Hellion of Harras:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxOm86GB9nQ&feature=plcp

Episode 7 Roach Approach:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9T0hjPs2NU&feature=plcp

A Thank you From Carbot Animations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzDgknF5VQw&feature=plcp

Episode 8 Roach Poach:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Imu-6jPB-s&feature=plcp

Episode 9 Scouting Factor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgvsp6ph5V4&feature=plcp

Episode 10 Onslaught:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQNLvAkogfU&feature=plcp

In a recent Team Fortress 2 update there are some files that point to a possible Linux port.

http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Template:PatchDiff/October_22,_2012_Patch_%28Beta%29

This makes sense as Valve is working on bringing Steam to Linux and I imagine they will port many, if not all its titles to Linux. I still use Linux as my primary desktop operating system and less reasons to boot back into Windows the better. Still, there are SO many games in Windows I wonder if ill really ever be able to switch?

Does Linux support from Steam interest you? Do you use Linux or is it all Windows and Mac for you?

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http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/10/24/0138240/team-fortress-2-beta-patch-adds-files-referring-to-linux-support

Looks like Blizz is giving the UI for Starcraft 2 some love in the new game Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm in addition to the major 1.5 update of the interface.

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/7634957

Still not in the Beta for Heart of the Swarm... Seems like I am on a "no-fly"/no beta list with Blizzard for not taking part in the Litch King beta when I had it...

Someone's Minecraft creation. And I thought my 8-bit Link I made in Terraria was pretty involved....

Just wanted to remind everyone that tonight we are having an online meetup and play session for Quake Live! It will start tonight 10/24 at 6pm PST.

Ill use this thread to co-ordinate the game, so check back for what specific games we will be in and the sharing of our in-game accounts to play together.

Original Post:
http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/657