jdodson1

Joined 01/23/2012

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

2753 Posts

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FTL is one of those special Indie games I might play off and on for the rest of my life. It's rogue-like space fairing gameplay is so unique and fresh every time I come back I am hooked by it. Recently i've been playing a couple games and slowly building back my ability with it. Like any skilled game that you step away from, i've had to remember a few things forgotten over time. During my last play session I made it to the Federation Starship boss to beat it once and then lost the second time. I forget how punishing that battle can be and how nimble and at times lucky you need to be to complete it.

During these last few games i've played as the Federation Cruiser, a ship I usually don't play. I've found the Kestrel to be a great ship and to date, haven't had the desire to try anything else. The Federation Cruiser is a good ship and it's special Artillery Beam weapon is surprisingly good. I upgraded it a few times but plan on upgrading it fully when I play with it again.

I have finally unlocked the Stealth Cruiser which I am going to try in my next game. If anyone has any tips for using it let me know. It seems smaller than most ships but it starts with a cloaking device, which I try and get during each of game I play. One downside is it has no shields, which I am not sure how that will work out so any advice here would be appreciated.


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If you missed Shovel Knight now might be a good time to realize this Capcom-era retro love letter to platformers. One way to do that is by reading out this Yacht Club Games infographic highlighting how well Shovel Knight has been received. One part I find interesting is the number of people that have played the extra content has been fairly low. The reason the content is being made is because they sailed so far over their Kickstarter goals meeting their stretch goals. The 3DS & Wii U sales numbers were also much higher than I would have initially guessed but it makes sense considering this game is for Nintendo fans and begs to be played on those systems.

Shovel Knight will keep digging through it's upcoming free content in two new upcoming campaigns and game modes. So much value in so few pixels!

If you are looking for a more in depth analysis of the numbers above, head over to Yacht Club's blog and read up. It's a fascinating look at one of the more successful Indie studios financials for their first game.

http://yachtclubgames.com/2016/04/feat-unlocked-one-million-copies-of-shovel-knight-sold/


Back this on Kickstarter!
Guardians of the Rose is a game that interests me from a couple angles. Featuring an incredible pixel art style and premise, Guardians of the Rose could be an fun intersection of Zelda, Elder Scrolls and Gauntlet.

"The world is laid out specifically so that you can choose to explore in any direction you want. You can choose to progress the storyline at your own pace while immersing yourself inside the lore and sidequests of the kingdom. These sidequests are not your typical "find my chicken" type quests but instead are designed to make the player feel like he is making a significant difference in the lands around him.

Depending on how you play the game, which path you take in your exploration of the lands, and who you decide to party with, the game's story and ending can change fairly drastically.
"

If this game looks like something you want to see released head over to Kickstarter and check it out. Guardians of the Rose will launch on PC, Mac and Linux and if they push over the 80k stretch goal they will also release it on Wii U, 3DS, & OUYA.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/broc/guardians-of-the-rose-story-driven-2d-action-rpg

**EDIT**

If you want to see this on Steam Greenlight you can also give it an upvote below!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=691099409



Even the Ocean is the upcoming indie adventure game from the Analgesic Productions duo that brought us Anodyne. I was a huge fan of Anodyne when it dropped and have been eagerly anticipating Even the Ocean since I played it at PAX in 2014. Analgesic recently released an animated trailer showing off the game and you should check that out above. A few things that set Analgesic games from the rest is their unique art and musical style. Even The Ocean has progressed much since I first played it at PAX and I can't wait to try it out when it releases on PC and Mac this summer!

http://www.eventheocean.com/


It seems that if you are a certain age gamer you grew up playing Doom. I remember downloading the shareware version off a BBS, playing it at night and have the sound and ambiance freak me out. The carnage and gameplay was incredible and I was hooked. I loved the shotgun and it was so satisfying reloading it and blowing demons away. I never did sit down and complete the entirety of the shareware version but I played the hell out of the game for many years. Later on as Doom became more popular I played it multiplayer with friends over our modems and on multi-node BBS's.

I also enjoyed Doom 2 and much later Doom 3. Whereas it's not very brave to say you like Doom 2, Doom 3 has a mixed reputation now yet I still stand by it. Doom 3 is a horror shooter that focuses on dark brooding gameplay and I find it very well done. I liked the more recent Doom 3 BFG Edition too but lamented that they made it easier and allowed you to turn on the flashlight while holding any gun. I felt the original Doom 3 making you choose between the flashlight or gun was a bold gameplay choice. You can either see in a dark room or shoot stuff. It created a ton of "oh shit" moments and again, was bummed Doom 3 BFG changed that.

When I heard iD was going to drop a new Doom game I was very excited. It looked like a proper return to form and some kind of retelling of the original Doom story. It looked like a departure from Doom 3, but I don't mind doing something different as we already have Doom 3.

Even though I didn't play it launch day, I have since remedied that and I can say that Doom is back and it's great. If you don't like violent shooters this game is a non-starter. Doom is so entirely comfortable being "that crazy insanely violent game" it takes that comfort to a new place. When I originally played Diablo 3 I was a bit shocked by some of the gore as certain areas can get very graphic and it was a bit surprising even to my 90's desensitized mind. Doom takes that gore and violence and kicks it into orbit. Don't get me wrong, the game isn't great because it's a bloody mess but it's unique in that it doesn't apologize for what it is and charges straight ahead chainsaws blazing.

Doom has been covered extensively as it has been very well received. If you are interested in a return to a simpler kind of shooter that focuses entirely on gameplay and intense combat, Doom is the game. I can't give a game much more praise than that I plan to complete it and that I look for more when iD gets around to it. And at this point I am curious what more plans iD has for more Doom content. The Season Pass seems 100% multiplayer focused something I am not interested in. Hopefully they take a page from the new Wolfenstein game and release a short game that is more of what people love. Hell they could go straight into new Doom 2 and I bet people would love it. I know I would.


Nintendo's Wii might be a system that no longer has any new games coming out on it but it has a robust back catalog of a few titles that are fantastic. If you haven't played Super Mario Galaxy you need to, it's one of the best modern 3D platformers i've played in quite some time. The Wii has a ton of other great first and third party games and recently I picked up Donkey Kong Country Returns. I've decided to head back and purchase Wii games I missed to help fill in my collection. As a huge fan of Donkey Kong Country on the Super Nintendo, this seemed like a no-brainer and the fact it's on everyones best of Wii lists helped.

It bears repeating that the original Donkey Kong Country on Super Nintendo was hard. I did a recent replay & review of the game and I noted that...

"The biggest problem the game suffers from is that it gets it's difficulty simply by making certain levels so hard you need to memorize them to complete them. For instance, there is a minecart level that is so hard, i'd argue the majority of it is impossible to complete without completely memorizing where everything is located. This reliance on memorization was pretty common for old games but doesn't make it any less cheap. I would say a good platformer can be challenging but not so brutal you simply just need to burn it into your muscle memory to complete it."

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/2470/criticisms-for-a-classic-game-donkey-kong-country

Donkey Kong Country Returns understands it's roots and is both challenging yet fair. I'd say, at least to the part i've played, it never seems crazy difficult but it is a platformer that will challenge you. Like all good games it slowly works in more and more difficulty and doesn't seem overwhelming. During one level Donkey Kong gets in a rocket and needs to ride it while avoiding cannon balls from a pirate ship. The level is nuts and keeps layering things requiring your to memorize how the level plays out. Luckily Donkey Kong Country understands this and places extra lives and bananas throughout the level so if you collect them don't run out of lives and have to start over.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is available on the Wii, Wii U and 3DS and if you have any of those systems and are looking for a challenging platformer banana revenge story, this game is worth looking into.


So far i've thought the X-Men films have been pretty good. I still haven't seen X-Men Apocalypse yet and so far i've heard mixed reviews about it. Days of Future Past and the Rogue Cut were great films so I have high hopes for Apocalypse. To help with the X-Men fever in the air, Cygnus Destroyer has released a retro review of some of lesser known X-Men games.

Also, not many people can pull off pretending kitchen butter knives are Wolverine claws but Ezero does it with such conviction you really have to admire his style! He should take the place of Hugh Jackman whom will retire the claws after the upcoming Old Man Logan standalone Wolverine film. A sad day for sure but Ezero could pull off the sideburns and scowl.


Back this on Kickstarter!
Moonlighter is an upcoming RPG on Kickstarter that focuses on the story from the perspective of a typical NPC.

"Moonlighter is a action RPG game with rogue-lite elements about Will, an adventurous shopkeeper, that secretly dreams of becoming a hero.

To earn the daily bread, he needs to venture into the dungeons near his town, defeat strange enemies and obtain loot to be sold at his shop.

Wisely managing the gold from those sales is the only way he’ll get strong enough to risk into deeper gates and, maybe, open the sealed one.

Moonlighter has endless randomly generated dungeons, a myriad of cool and expensive items, many weapons, dozens of weird enemies, five incredibly tough bosses and gold... tones of gold!
"

Moonlighter is seeking 40k in funding and is well on the way with 15k raised in it's first day. No release date is set right now but they are planning on launching the game on PC, PS4, XBox One, Mac and Linux.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/digitalsun/moonlighter


Card Hunter is a uniquely nerdy game that lit up the online card game scene back in 2011. Launching originally as a browser exclusive, Card Hunter was a popular game with users on Cheerful Ghost when it was in early beta. Since it's launch it has received a ton of new updates and has been ported to Steam with a traditional PC and Mac client. Since Card Hunter is a free game I decided to give it another shot on Steam and if you either haven't yet tried it at all or haven't played it recently, you really should.

Card Hunter reminds me of a digital version of the old adventure board game classic Hero Quest. Hero Quest is an amazing board game I played in High School that is simple enough to understand yet deep enough to make you feel like you are adventuring through a fantasy world. Hero Quest is also one of the best Milton Bradley games i've ever played and it's a crime it was never re-released. People have compared Card Hunter to Hearthstone or Magic The Gathering and I don't find that an accurate comparison. I would say as Hearthstone(digital) is to Magic the Gathering(physical game), Card Hunter is to games like Hero Quest or Dungeons and Dragons Wrath of Ashardalon.

In Card Hunter you make your way through adventures that earn you loot and treasure. Treasure can be sold and loot can be used to upgrade your characters abilities. Like other freemium games, Card Hunter has a fair amount of stuff available for free or you can pay to access more features. The game doesn't seem pay to win and I didn't find anything impossibly difficult to beat with the stuff I could find grinding through dungeons.

At a certain point the difficulty ramps up and you need to spend a fair amount of time considering the best way to beat certain levels. I really enjoy that Card Hunter requires you to learn better strategy than simply upgrading your armor and weapons to complete levels. Don't get me wrong, upgrades are nice but I found that a better strategy was more help than better weapon or armor.

Since it's a browser game you don't need a power house gaming rig to play this on PC, Mac or any ol' web browser. If you are looking for a table-top inspired game that you can pickup and play for free Card Hunter is something you should try.