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.

2728 Posts

Do you love Half-life AND Hotline Miami and ever wonder what a mashup between them would be like? If you are like me then then answer is whaaaa? but that doesn't mean that Thomas Kole's latest game isn't something worth checking out. Half-line Miami is available to download on PC for free, just hit the link below. Or should you bludgeon the link below with a crowbar? It's up to you.

http://stabberthomas.itch.io/hlm


YouTuber The iBook Guy posted a two-part video outlining how developers of retro video games side stepped the hardware limitations. iBook Guy talks about old hardware RAM limitations of 16k, 32k and 64k and how the developers used certain spriting techniques to give us the awesome games we grew up with. In many cases I didn't know they had those limitations to work with so after watching the video I have a new appreciation for how difficult old games were to make.


Disney/ILM is researching new forms of entertainment with VR and it's pretty interesting to see how they utilize the hardware. The thought of a VR Star Wars film is interesting but I am not entirely certain of how awesome it would be. I imagine someday I might be reading this and thinking my fears quaint but I don't know if it's obvious to anyone how a traditional film would work in VR. Not to say I wouldn't want to experience that at some point. Perhaps they will offer a 2D and VR experience for future films so you can watch it as you'd like?


http://i.imgur.com/AcQbv2V.png
Being active in the Portland Indie Game scene is pretty incredible as you get to meet a ton of great people and can see games from an early form to final release. One game you might see shown at any upcoming PDX event is being made by my friends over at SleepNinja Games called Super Splataclysm. Splataclysm is a multiplayer arena that focuses on violent fast paced combat reminiscent of Smash TV or Thunderdome. Even in a very early stage the game is great and watching people enjoy the carnage is quite a bit of fun. A few moons back I asked Justin Baldwin over at SleepNinja games if I could talk to him about the game and how the studio was doing in a post Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake world.

jdodson: I played an early alpha version of Super Splataclysm that was really great. What kind of game do you envision making and what things do you plan on adding to the game in the coming months?

Justin Baldwin: Thanks. We really want to make a multiplayer game that is just fun, chaotic and ridiculous. We really want to bring back the vibe from classic multiplayer and sports games like Mutant League Football, Super Bomber Man, and Smash TV. Our goal with Super Splataclysm is revisit overlooked game design choices of early era couch multiplayer games will still adding our own twists. Focusing on an experience that is fun regardless of the mix of player skill levels. Basically trying to capture the feel of Mario Kart, but in the form of a top-down sports brawler. We also chose to have the general presentation be a satire of the mid to late 90s "edgy" culture. We drew a lot from 80s-90s post-apocalyptic action films, games like Killer Instinct and Smash TV, as well as a lot from Nintendo and Sega's edgy advertising stint during this period.

As far as what we plan on adding... A lot. Special abilities for characters, a bunch of different weapons, more characters, more arenas, more enemies, huge boss like enemies, the list goes on.

jdodson: What platforms will you release Super Splataclysm on?

Justin Baldwin: We are still working the logistics of that out, so nothing is set in stone quite yet, but the goal is PC, Mac, PS4, Wii U, Xbox One.

jdodson: How are things going for Sleep Ninja Games as a new game studio?

Justin Baldwin: Things are going well right now, we are at least able to survive for a little while, haha. We have a few projects going and are staying busy. We are having do some contract work to pay the bills, but thankfully it’s still fun work.

jdodson: Portland is becoming a bigger tech hub and I see more and more people making games here. Is there anything Portland could do to help the growing games industry?

Justin Baldwin: Tax incentives, which I know things are happening now there, so it’s taking steps in the right direction. I also think we need rent control, the influx of people in the tech industry is letting rental companies sky rocket rent and it’s really screwing over people that rent here. I’d rather not push the talent that we do have here already out because they can’t afford to live here anymore.

jdodson: Now that Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake has shipped and people have played it what do you think about it and how everything went?

Justin Baldwin: Overall it went pretty well for our first game as a studio. There were a few major headaches and hurdles but overall it went well. It’s interesting to see how everyone that plays it reacts to it. Our goal was to make something more engaging than just action. One thing that we didn’t realize going in is how it’s engaging peoples kids. I always hear how they play the game and read the story with their kids and how the funny writing keeps them engaged. It’s also really cool to hear that these parents realize how bright their kids are with their problem solving skills with the puzzles.

jdodson: With that, is there anything you might have changed about the game or how you made it?

Justin Baldwin: There are some things I would have liked to have added. I’m sure every dev says it, but I also would have liked to have added some more polish in places. More butt jokes too maybe?

jdodson: I really enjoyed the Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake Christmas update. Are there any other plans to add content to the game or DLC?

Justin Baldwin: Thanks! Currently there is no plans to do any content updates, to be honest we are too busy with new projects. We also just needed a break from the close to 3 year meat grinder of literal blood, sweet, and tears creating it. Don’t get me wrong, we still love Monsters and plan on doing more with the property in the future.

jdodson: Super Splataclysm seems to be inspired with classic post apocalyptic fiction like Mad Max. What do you think of the classic Trilogy? Have you had a chance to see the Fury Road yet?

Justin Baldwin: Yeah it’s pretty heavily inspired but lots of 80s and 90s post-apocalyptic and action films and games. Mad Max is definitely an inspiration, I’ve always had a place in my heart for the films, Road Warrior being my favorite. And yes, I caught Fury Road, and I thought it was incredible. So many approaches to film that you don’t see much of anymore, it was a breath of fresh air in the action movie genre. Was nice to see Miller show the newer directors how it’s done, hopefully they learn something.

jdodson: What did you all pick up in the last Steam Sale? Somehow I made it through this latest sale with my credit card intact.

Justin Baldwin: Hmm. I didn’t go too crazy, mostly because I just don’t have the time to play as much stuff as I would like. I picked up Banner Saga, Sunless Sea, Legend of Grimrock 2, Ori and the Blind Forest, System Shock 2, Ziggurat, The Wolf Among Us, Hand of Fate... Okay, maybe I did buy quite a few things.

I want to thank Justin for taking the time to get back to me about the game and we all wish SleepNinja Games the best on the launch of Super Splataclysm. If you want to see more gameplay screens and art from Splataclysm check the imgur album below.

http://imgur.com/a/D4Lqr
http://sleepninjagames.com/


Classic game Final Fantasy dropped on iOS a few days ago and so far is getting good reviews. Pricing in at $15 this is one of the more expensive iOS titles but for as beloved as this is and as much time as people have dedicated to it, it doesn't seem to bad. Final Fantasy VII may be a beloved classic but it's a game that came out on a system I never owned. Because of my lack of access to a Playstation I never picked this up and have no nostalgic love for it. I wonder if I play this now how I will take it compared to how I would have appreciated it back then?

It seems like a perfect fit for a phone or tablet so if you pick this up let me know what you think of it.


I recommend everyone take a look into the local Indie game scene around your home town. If it's even a fraction of the mad craze in Portland then you are in for a treat. Recently a lot of really great games have been announced here in Portland and I wanted to wrap a few of them up for you to chew on. All of these games are being made by my friends from PIGSquad which makes this post double cool.

Laser Lasso BALL

Laser Lasso BALL is a local co-op game where two players go head to head in alien deathsport. Featuring some of the fastest mutiplayer matches I can remember, Laser Lasso BALL is a really fun experience that is easy to understand and hard to master. The amazing Alex Yao is the games creator, artist and programmer. If you are interested in trying this game out, I recommend you head to an upcoming PIGSquad event and voting for the game on Steam Greenlight.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=502924429

Mimic Arena

Mimic is a local couch multi-player game featuring a clone mechanic I haven't really seen in a game before. Everything you do the game is logged so when you die the game spawns a copy that fights alongside you doing everything you did before you died. I'll snip a bit from the game description to better illustrate the concept:

"Everything the player does, wherever they go, and where ever they fire; is recorded and then played back again as a Mimic. These clones will be an integrate part of any players arsenal. Providing distractions and supporting fire for new players and enabling more advanced strategy such as zoning and coordinated attacks for veterans. Throughout the battle players and Mimics will be able to equip themselves with an assortment of weapons."

Mimic Arena features the work of developer Tyler Edwards local artist Hagen Deloss. If Hagen Deloss sounds familiar it's because he worked on the amazing Cheerful Ghost mascot Spright art. I've played quite a bit of Mimic and, to me, this game feels like early Unreal Tournament.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=498344168&searchtext=mimic+arena

XO

I may be a bit late to the game but I would be a bit remiss if I didn't mention XO, a retro sci-fi strategy game that was recently Kickstarted. I haven't had time to sit down and play this one yet as it's early but everything i've heard of it is very good so far.

"Command a ragtag fleet of starships to escape an unbeatable enemy and save what's left of humanity."

http://jmpdrv.com/


One of my Twitter pals shared this wicked cool Amazon EC2 hack that basically shows you how to rent Amazon cloud server time to run your own personal high end Steam PC streaming service. After quite a bit of technical Amazon server bit flipping you can run high end PC titles like The Witcher 3 for about 53 cents an hour. Factoring in the cost of running your own high end PC, renting the time from Amazon doesn't seem like a bad option.

The steps listed in the blog post are pretty technical but you can skip all the way to the end by just using the EC2 image and going from there. If you didn't know, Amazon rents time in its cloud for any person or company to use. You can rent Linux or in this case, Windows servers starting from some meager specs to something that can run Witcher 3. Interested in getting one setup yourself? Check the blog post below.

http://lg.io/2015/07/05/revised-and-much-faster-run-your-own-highend-cloud-gaming-service-on-ec2.html


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Blizzard is keeping the hype train real as the days march closer to to it's August release of The Grand Tournament Expansion. After a large game patch tomorrow that will knock the game out of commission for a couple hours we will be getting an all new Tavern Brawl highlighting some new cards in the upcoming expansion allowing us to try them out pre-expansion launch.

"Wednesday’s Grand Tournament Match features a thrilling Brawl between two potent forces. One, led by that mysterious master of magic, Medivh, will be packed with minions eager to heed your call to battle and power up with Inspire. Standing against them will be the mistress of the hunt, Alleria, along with a full cadre of master jousters who are poised to grow mighty with each contest won."

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/19843159/a-glorious-tavern-brawl-begins-wednesday-8-17-2015


http://thumbs.imagekind.com/5262725_650/Portland-Trimet-MAX-Map-_art.jpg?v=1438020426
Artist Dave Delisle has recreated the Portland Trimet light rail lines in the style of Super Mario Bros. 3. I find this particularly cool as I live in Portland and ride the MAX lines when I head into work. Dave has also created version of metro lines in other cities such as Washington DC Metro, Vancouver Skytrain, Pittsburgh LRT, Toronto TTC, Calgary C-Train & the Atlanta Marta.

http://www.imagekind.com/Portland-Trimet-MAX-Map-_art?IMID=a23c5985-1fe3-41e8-9b9f-c0ff73c52203


CineFix has created some amazing 8-bit videos of popular films imaged in the graphic styling of NES and Super NES era games. The latest installment recreates Wikus van de Merwe's journey from District 9 to full prawn. If you have no idea what that means then quickly watch District 9 then come back and watch this 8-bit recreation.