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.

2753 Posts

Smooth Operator Launches Today - Interview With Beardo Games
One important goal of Beardo Games is to create weird games and there is no better example than the launch of their new game Smooth Operator. Smooth Operator is a couch co-op mobile kissing game where two players both select a character and attempt to follow the on-screen prompts to keep the kissing mojo strong and gain a high score. If you want to score well you will need to work with your partner to execute an array of tongue moves that would make Sharon Stone blush. If this all sounds strange, don’t feel bad, the game is but it’s also fun and well worth a look.

I first met Beardo Games at a Portland Indie Game Squad event where they had a booth. Smooth Operator is a hilarious game to watch people play and even more so if the people have no idea what to expect. I’ve really enjoyed interviewing local Portland Indie Game Developers and I wanted to do this interview a bit differently. I asked my friends at Beardo if they were interested in doing a video interview and the results are embedded above. I also was able to sneak in a few more questions you can checkout below.

If you are looking for a uniquely strange two player kissing game, you need to check out Smooth Operator available on iOS today!

https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/smooth-operator!/id988455996?mt=8

jdodson: Indie Games have changed so much in the last couple years. With most change there is good and some bad. Has any of this change helped or made certain parts of making games harder for you?

CHRIS: The overall accessibility of game making tools has made it easier to prototype ideas super fast-- a good thing! At the same time, they're so accessible that I've seen two ideas I had get made into games before I got around to making them myself.

jdodson: What games have you been playing lately you recommend people take a look at?

MILES: With a brand new baby I don't have a ton of time to play games as of lately. I have been actively "playing" Neko Atsume. And as well Simpsons Tapped Out, strictly for research of another game idea.

CHRIS: I've been playing Xenoblade Chronicles X and it's great but requires a lot of time. On my phone I've been playing a lot of Space Forest Dilemma by PapaQuark Games. My last recommendation is for handheld: Project X Zone for the 3DS is a lot of good, stupid fun.

KATE: I played Read Only Memories a few months ago- really enjoyed it. I also only recently got around to finishing the last Resident Evil Revelations. Twofold has also been fun on my phone.

jdodson: VR seems to be a new technology that is getting a lot of attention. Is this something you are taking a look to for any of your next projects?

MILES: I’ve been super amped about VR in general. But, with that said we haven't really put a whole lot of thought into a VR Beardo experience as of yet. I assume it would possibly be a close up experience of glistening Beards in some way.

CHRIS: We are, and we've had a lot of ideas floating around for possible VR projects. I'm excited to try and subvert people's usual expectations for VR games by finding some less than obvious applications.

jdodson: What games have you played that have influenced how you approach making them now?

MILES: I personally appreciate and enjoy unusual games, specifically my top influential game is probably Katamari.

CHRIS: Jet Set Radio and Katamari Damacy are at the top of Beardo's collective influences list along with Street Fighter II, but for me personally, I've been influences heavily by Atari 8-bit titles like Necromancer, Shamus, and Alley Cat by Synapse Software, and by all kinds of awful or not traditionally fun games like T&C Surf Designs for the NES and JJ & Jeff for the Turbografx 16.

jdodson: Thanks for taking the time to do the interview, I really appreciate it. Anything you want to say as we wrap things up?

CHRIS: Thanks Jon, we had a blast!

http://www.beardogames.com/

Blizzard Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary
Starting fresh with RPM Racing then moving to The Lost Vikings, Rock n' Roll Racing, Blackthorne, The Death and Return of Superman, Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, Justice League Task Force, Warcraft II: The Tides of Darkness, Diablo, The Lost Vikings 2, StarCraft, StarCraft: Brood War, Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition, Diablo II, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, Diablo III, World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, World of Warcraft: Warlods of Draenor, Heroes of the Storm, Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void, Overwatch and World of Warcraft Legion Blizzard has made quite a few impactful games in it's 25 year run.

As we all tip our hats to our favorite purveyor of all things CRAFT what are some of your most beloved Blizzard game memories? Also wondering what the first blizzard game you played?

Tale of The Dragon Is A Fun New Expansion For Age of Mythology!
http://www.ageofempires.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/aotd_hd_logo.jpg
One of the benefits of PC gaming is that you can keep playing your games long after you’ve upgraded your system. Often times gamer communities keep amazing old games running well beyond their original shelf life as seen with the Red Alert CnCNet project and Forgotten Empires. For certain game classics such as Wind Waker, Age of Empires 2 and Age of Mythology we even get an HD makeover that ports the game to modern systems along with a visual refresh. We usually don’t expect these old games to get a full blown expansion 14 years later but recently SkyBox Labs in partnership with Microsoft and Forgotten Empires recently did this and released a full expansion to Age of Mythology called Tale of the Dragon.

The Tale of the Dragon expansion adds a new playable civilization to Age of Mythology in the Chinese, new multiplayer maps as well as a new full single player mission. Age of Mythology is a great game that used to be a staple at my LAN parties with friends. I’ve always felt the game needed more civilizations and this expansion aims to fix that problem.

The single player missions in the original Age of Mythology were really fun and it was great to tear into the new Chinese single player campaign. With that, the single player missions are quite hard and I found myself playing through some a few times to be able to progress. For longtime fans upping the difficulty is a really nice addition as the first single player missions really do start simply and even by the end don’t offer a huge amount of difficulty. If someone were starting the campaigns from scratch Tale of the Dragon's increase in difficulty would be appreciated.

One problem people often have with older multiplayer games is that if one friend has the original game and the other has the expansion they often can’t play together. If both people are running Age of Mythology EX on Steam you don’t need to worry if your friend has the expansion as both people can play together regardless of whom has what.

If you are a real time strategy fan or loved any part of the Age series you need to check out Age of Mythology - Tale of the Dragon. It adds a much needed new civilization and single player mission that really harkens back to the good old days of RTS single player campaigns.

I also want to thank Skybox Labs and Microsoft for giving me a press review key to play through the new Tale of the Dragon expansion.

EA Giving Away Need For Speed Most Wanted On Orgin
EA is giving away Need For Speed Most Wanted right now on Origin. You can grab the game by hitting the link below and claiming your copy. As with all the Origin on the house games, this is available for a limited time so if you want it, get it soon.

https://www.origin.com/en-us/store/free-games/on-the-house?sf44212184=1

Are Our Brains Hardwired To Love Fallout 4 And It's Dystopian Wasteland?
"Why are we naturally drawn to horrible, ugly game worlds? Well, it turns out there are plenty of philosophical theories that help to explain the phenomenon. In this week’s episode, Jamin breaks down our love affair with despair."

As someone that really enjoys post apocalyptia I can say safely that yes, my heart does indeed love partaking in horrible, blown out wasteland worlds... that is until I actually spend time in a desert then I don't because it's hot as hell there.

Nice Achievement News. I Just Hit 1,000 Hearthstone Wins!
http://i.imgur.com/PSszvDR.png
Not the worlds most amazing achievement to be sure, but one I am happy for. If you are playing Hearthstone and want some incentive to land 300 gold, keep playing because at a thousand wins you will get your wish.

New Doom Will Crawl From The Pits Of Hell On May 13th
The Demons of the new Doom title will infest Mars base on PC, PS4 and XBone on May 13th. In a trailer that is both disturbing and a bit crazy I can say that I am both excited and bit perplexed. I don't mind gore at all, I own Quentin Tarantino and Ridley Scott movies. That said, this trailer is so over the top as to run up against a bit of puzzlement in my mind. I mean at one point in the trailer you smash a human eye socket into a terminal with a sort of discarded detachment that makes me wonder if the player is actually... human? Regardless of all of that, I will be picking up the new Doom and giving it a go as the single player does look good and the Snap Map building tool looks hellishly fun.

New Doom is also offering a very cool collectors edition featuring a very evil looking 12" Revenant Demon. The statuette looks great but at the $120 price tag i'd have like a soundtrack and art something or other to be included too. That said, if demon busts are your thing, this should satisfy. New Doom is also coming with some interesting digital multiplayer pre-order bonuses that look like they are currently, only available pre-ordering from retail. Curious if these will come to Steam as well?

http://doom.com/en-us/preorder

Also, no word yet on the Doom beta that you were entered into if you pre-ordered Wolfenstein The New Order. Bethesda has said more information will come out on that at a later date.

Oh yeah, and someone got Doom to run on a printer. Not terribly useful but really really cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLHx3vO7KJM

Also, check out Conan play the new Doom with the Denver Broncos' Von Miller, the Carolina Panthers' Josh Norman &​ Marshawn Lynch.

http://teamcoco.com/doom?playlist=x%3BeyJ0eXBlIjoidGFnIiwiaWQiOjQ3Nzl9

Hearthstone Shake Up - Normal Mode & New Deck Slots Coming!
One of the biggest problems in Hearthstone has been new players starting the game. There are a ton of cards to get and because of that, it's very daunting for new players. Changes are coming that should address this and create an entirely new game mode that should shake up the base game for the better.

There is so much here, I am going to clip out most of it to discuss.

"You’ll play Standard using a deck built solely from a pool of cards that were released in the current and previous calendar year, along with a core foundation of the Basic and Classic card sets (which will always be valid for Standard). You’ll be matched against other players who are also using Standard decks.

Standard will help make for a more dynamic and balanced metagame:

* A select set of cards makes each new card have more impact!
* The developers will have more freedom to design exciting new cards.
* It lets newer players jump in faster without having to collect as many cards.
* Standard is only available as a format in Friendly Challenges, Ranked, and Casual play, so it won’t affect Arena, Solo play, or Adventures.

Wild is our new name for the Hearthstone you already know, because it’ll be the format where anything can happen. While Standard puts a bright spotlight on recently released cards and brings a more balanced experience, when you queue up for Wild, you’ll be cozying up with the crazy fun of Hearthstone you’re already familiar with. Of course, as more and more cards are added over time, the wilder and more unpredictable Wild will be!

In terms of gameplay, nothing is changing for Wild: you’ll be able to finish quests, earn gold, rank up on the ladder, get card backs, earn Legend rank, and use all the cards you’ve already collected to build a Wild deck, just like you always have. When you queue up for Ranked or Casual play with a Wild deck, you’ll always be matched with other players who are also using Wild decks.

The arrival of Standard format will also be an excellent time for us to take stock of Hearthstone. While normally we’re quite conservative about making balance changes to Hearthstone cards (and we’ll continue to be in the future), we’re planning to take the new Hearthstone year as a golden opportunity to re-evaluate a number of cards in the Basic and Classic card sets, including class cards, and make some long-considered adjustments."

Blizzard will also be phasing out the ability to buy old expansions and adventures that are not part of standard. You will be able to craft these cards if you want, but the Naxxramas adventure and Goblins VS Gnomes packs won't be available for purchase. Additionally you will be able to dust all the old Adventure cards for full value, so if you want you can dust Maexxna, Wailing Soul or Sludge Belcher if the only mode you play is Standard.

After I first heard the news I'll admit, I was a bit scared but after more consideration this really does seem to be a good move for Hearthstone. Standard will be the new primary format and Wild will be available for anyone that can swing it. I've always dreamt of crafting Dr. Boom but since Goblins VS Gnomes is heading out there is no longer a reason to do that. That said, we will all lament some cards being phased out like Sludge Belcher and Loatheb.

That said, having a more accessible format to new and existing players seems like a great thing. But what do you think? There is a lot here so I recommend reading the whole post and FAQ linked below.

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/19995505/a-new-way-to-play-2-2-2016

Another Month Of Cheerful Ghost Website Stats
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ywjU6RBiKXM/maxresdefault.jpg
File this under "completely nerdy stuff no one may care about" but I've thought it would be interesting to post some of our website statistics for a month. This isn't to wreck privacy or anything, mostly to get a snapshot of the average Cheerful Ghost patron. For instance, did you know what the most popular web browsers Cheerful Ghost users use?

Well, now you do.

These statistics were from December 2015.

Users


  • Each user hit 1.64 pages per session*

  • The average user session duration is about 1 minute and 49 seconds

  • The percentage of totally new users/sessions is 64.17% which means we have more new people looking around than site regulars

  • The top browser languages in order are English, UK, Spain, German and no language set

  • Traffic country breakdown is as follows: United States 59.69%, Canada 3.75%, United Kingdom 3.72%, Russia 3.09%, Germany 2.07%, Australia 1.88%, Brazil 1.58%, Spain 1.32% & Netherlands 1.32%



Browsers


  • The top browsers in order are Chrome 63.51%, Safari 14.74%, Firefox 12.73%, Internet Explorer 2.20%, Mozilla Compatable Agent 1.25%, Android Browser 1.22%, Edge 1.15%, Opera 1.09%, Safari (in-app) 0.69% & Opera Mini 0.33%

  • The top operating systems in order are Windows 54.82%, Mac 13.79%, Android 13.69%, iOS 13.49%, Linux 2.53%, (no set) 0.72%, Chrome OS 0.43%, Windows Phone 0.26%, Nintendo Wii 0.10%, Playstation Vita 0.10%

  • The top mobile operating systems in order are Android 49.41%, iOS 48.69%, Windows Phone 0.95%, Windows 0.59% & Playstation Vita 0.36%



I was surprised to see Android topping out iOS but it makes sense considering how well Android has been doing recently. Fun to see people come to the site using the Wii and Vita. I have no idea how the site looks on either anymore so i'll have to boot up my Wii to see if it's not a complete mess and since I don't have a Vita I am not sure how well that works. Oh and apparently few actual Cheerful Ghost users use Internet Explorer. I still test with it, so for the remaining hold outs, you're welcome.

* A session is basically a time someone came to the site to look around, login or comment.

Link Learning Manbos Mambo
Not sure how many videos I will create, but i'll keep them posted to the forums here. In this video Link learns Manbo's Mambo a song Link learns after completing the Angler's Tunnel. You can use the song you learn on your ocarina to take you to Crazy Tracys so you can buy potions.