ConcernedApe the one man development whirlwind bringing us Stardew Valley has posted another development update. The post covers the addition of flowers and the updated art for tools and player animations.

The game is looking very polished and I can't wait to try this when it ships. As always, when a launch date is announced I will let you know.

http://stardewvalley.net/mini-dev-update-7/

Our friends over at Night Dive Studios created a great infographic showing really noteworthy games on DOS. It features classics such as Doom, Warcraft 2, Starcontrol, Full Throttle, Out of This World, Scorched Earth and others.

check it out here:

http://www.nightdivestudios.com/images/list-of-worthwhile-dos-games.jpg

https://www.facebook.com/NightDiveStudios

"Broforce is a hyperviolent action platform game. It features 90′s blockbuster movie action heroes making up the Broforce team- an under-funded vigilante paramilitary organisation – saving the world from satanic alien terrorist investment banker businessmen in non-stop, fast paced co-operative strategic mayhem filled with more action and explosions than anything else, ever."

After watching the Broforce trailer I was intrigued. Being able to play as Brommando, Rambro, BA Broacus, Bro Hard, Brodel Walker, Brade, Bro Dredd, MacBrover, Snake Broskin, Indiana Brones, The Brominator, Bro in Black & Brobocop is like my 80's childhood dream come true.

Do your soul a favor and vote for Broforce on Steam Greenlight and if you are feeling the adventure call to you, checkout the Alpha demo.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=93927889
http://www.freelives.net/BROFORCE/BROFORCE_WEB.html

Broforce will also be part of the Greenlight Super show, so check it if you can!

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/events/28

Robot Loves Kitty, the amazing awesome factory that created Legend of Dungeon and other Indie hits is organizing the The Greenlight Supershow. This all day Twitch stream will feature a ton of awesome indie games currently on Steam Greenlight. Featuring such radery as Chasm, Ray's The Dead, Castaway, Broforce, McPixel, Delvers Drop & More this event is a must watch.

You can join the Cheerful Ghost event and add it to your calendar for a helpful reminder of when it happens and where to go.

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/events/28

http://robotloveskitty.com/supershow/
http://www.twitch.tv/robotloveskitty/

Recently vgleaks dropped the news that Sony's Playstation 4 dev kits run a version of FreeBSD 9 called Orbis. In the included screenshots on vgleaks they show the GRUB bootloader offering a few boot choices with Orbis included.

For all of you that are not the most geekily inclined, FreeBSD is a Open Source version of Unix that is an ancestor of Mac OSX. What that means is that Sony's Orbis, Mac OSX and Linux share a very similar Unix core. Since they all rely on OpenGL and the like it could mean an easier time for games to be ported across these three platforms.

I know that just because a company brings a game to the PS4 that doesn't mean they care about Linux or MacOS. But the fact that the PS4 has a OS core similar would make it easier to port games to other similar Unix platforms.

This is even more interesting when you realize that Valve has talked about using Linux as the core to its Steam console.

http://www.vgleaks.com/some-details-about-playstation-4-os-development/
http://www.freebsd.org/

Monsters Invade Oz is a brand new iOS free to play mobile game from LittleBox Apps. This Pokemon influenced game allows you to play as Dorthy making your way through Oz all in the pursuit of Pokemon influenced Monster collection.

The game features a very detailed hand drawn ascetic that I really came to enjoy. Dorthy, Toto and the Monsters are all drawn well to the credit to the games artists. I found the visual makeup of Oz to not be on the same par and found it a little cold. Occasionally the land features a little Gnome or apparent NPC and at first I figured this was something I could interact with but it was just scenery. In fact, most of the Oz backdrop is this way and I found myself mostly ignoring it because it had little impact on the game, story or tone.

So far I have played the game for a few days now and have collected about 8 monsters and gotten each one up to level 5. I had to do this by going back and fighting in earlier parts of the game because my Monsters were lower levels that the monsters at the furthest part of the map I had explored. I was having fun progressing in the game and collecting things to advance in quests but my Monsters and I got our asses kicked because I wasn't a high enough level to proceed.

The game is free to play and it makes its money by selling you in game items. I think free to play is a cool way to make a game but find this one to be more overtly annoying than most I have played. The game asks you so often it seems really out of place compared with Candy Crush or Farmville.

• When you open the game they ask you if you want to try another app.


• Before every fight they ask you if you want powerups for gold.


• If you run away too much you are charged gold. This means if you stay your Monster will be killed.


• When you leave Monster fights you get an app ad sometimes.


• The game has a store to upgrade Toto's boosts for gold.


• The game has another store to buy upgrades for your monsters for gold.


• The game has another store to purchase life to heal your Monsters for gold.


• The game has another store to buy gold.


• The game has another store to buy monster pages to collect monsters for gold.

In some places the game doesn't pop up a message to confirm if you want to buy something with gold. Since there is no confirmation screen, I bought things I had no idea I bought and thought I lost gold by accident. I realized later I accidentally touched to buy something but found that even though I tried my hardest, would occasionally buy things on accident. If I accidentally spend gold on things I don't intend, I am not sure why I would want to spend real money.

When I originally saw the previews for the game I liked the idea of a game that was in Oz featuring Dubstep as the score. As I played the game more I realized this worked well for the trailer, but not the game. The music doesn't feel right with the game somehow and I think a more classical or ambient score would have done better. That said, the games music got a bit too hard to take and at one point I wanted to mute it in game but there is no option to do that.

The Monster battles offer an interesting mechanic in that you have a slider that goes up and down in battle and when you tap at the right moment three times in a row you get a chance to do extra damage. This is a really fun mechanic and I enjoy tapping at the right times to pull this off. The Monsters are visually different from one another but offer nothing different in terms of attack or strategy. I expected to have some different in Monsters in terms of attack but nothing like that was available in what I played.

In the end, Monsters Invade: Oz is a interesting mix of Pokemon, Oz and Dubstep that doesn't quite fit together in a way that I love. Do I want an awesome Pokemon influenced game on iOS? Yes. Do I love games with hand drawn art style? Hell yes. But the way in which the game couples these together didn't amaze me. That said, I believe this game will find its audience and if you are looking for a free to play Pokemon styled adventure game through Oz, you should check this out.

StarQuail Games recently released Tiny Barbarian DX after a successful Kickstarter campaign. After checking out the game I wanted to send some questions to StarQuail Games about the game and all manner of awesomery. I was put in contact with Michael Stearns the lead designer of Tiny Barbarian DX.

jdodson: I want to thank you for taking the time to talk with me. Tiny Barbarian DX was successfully Kickstarted and Chapter 1 was recently delivered to backers and the general public. How are you sitting right now after the dust has settled and people have had a chance to play it and weigh in on the game?

Michael Stearns: I’m finally starting to settle down! Getting ready for the release was pretty intense, and then having a lot of things that I ended up changing shortly after, like adding game saves and fixing the control pad support, even though the feedback was generally positive I felt like we had to get all that fixed up right away. I ended up really stressed out actually and had a very hard time concentrating on anything, but I’m back into episode 2 now and feeling pretty good!

jdodson: Recently there has been some people talking about Let’s Plays and advertising. YouTube is allowing certain companies like Nintendo to assume all advertising revenue made from these videos. Other developers, such as Mojang and Robot Loves Kitty are allowing blanket permission for Let’s Play creators to monetize their videos. I am interesting in what your thoughts are about this and other companies approaches to these videos?

Michael Stearns: Oh boy, you really put a nice burning sack of poop right at the top for me to step in like that huh? For me, I’m happy to allow people to show Tiny Barbarian DX in this way. Let’s Plays originated with older games, and I think the best ones are based on old games, and that really is a unique point of discovery for games like that. Since TinyB is that exact same kind of game (except it isn’t old), it makes perfect sense to me for people to discover it in that same way. And it’s a good game to narrate over, I think an LPer has a lot to react to in a game like that. If a little bit of ad revenue encourages people to LP TinyB, then they can have it. I haven’t done “blanket permission” for it but I appreciate being asked and I’ve said yes to everyone who’s asked so far.

As for Nintendo, well, I think people outside the LP community would probably be more surprised to hear that people are earning ad revenue by recording themselves playing games while talking than they would be to hear that Nintendo decided to step in in the way that they have, or they might be surprised that it was allowed in the first place. I think I understand Nintendo’s motives for stepping in and above all else I think they have every right to do it, regardless of how people feel about it or what they want, and I think it’s great that people can still do LPs for Nintendo games.

jdodson: Horde Mode is a really unique aspect of Tiny Barbarian DX that I really enjoy. Still trying to beat my current best time. What prompted you to add Horde Mode to the game and if there was anything that inspired its creation?

Michael Stearns: Horde Mode was actually one of the first things I put into the game. It was the main testing area for setting up the player’s moves, but it was also something that I wanted to put in. There are a lot of movies and TV shows that have done things like having a cool action sequence prior to the “title” of the show appearing, if it appears at all. I had just seen Redline, which started out with this elaborate race sequence, and then right when you’re totally pumped the title appears and the plot of the movie starts, and you already know you’re in for a good time. It also leads into the first episode’s starting scene really well!

jdodson: To add on to the last question, I am curious what your current Horde Mode best time is? What's the longest time you have heard of someone in the community getting?

Michael Stearns: Rather than telling you my exact time (I don’t know it, I keep deleting all my scores and times for testing purposes), I will tell you instead that I have made it all the way to the end, that is, there’s a point where I don’t think it’s possible to survive any longer. I’ve only made it a couple times so I am curious how long after that point a person could last, just getting there is quite difficult. I actually haven’t had anyone report their horde mode scores to me, but one guy has already beaten my best speed run through the game.

jdodson: The XBox One and Playstation 4 have been recently unveiled and I am wondering how you look at the differences in both consoles as an developer and gamer? If you were likely to bring Tiny Barbarian to a console, which would it be and can we expect console, Mac or Linux port in the future?

Michael Stearns: A mac version is definitely in the future, that was our Kickstarter stretch goal. Linux and Ouya are also places I’d like to put it. I may have missed some news on them, but I haven’t heard enough about either the Xbox One or PS4 to really know how likely we are to be able to put it on either console. We’ll be keeping an eye out for it, though!

jdodson: The new “Man of Steel” film seems to have received some mixed reviews while going on to net a metric shit-load of money from the box office. What were your thoughts after seeing this most recent incarnation of Superman and if you recommend it to others?

Michael Stearns: Heh, I have not seen it yet! I really don’t see many movies in theater. I did see the new Star Trek sequel though, and I thought that was really good, but I also agree with pretty much all the negative things that have been said about it, too. I like the new movies but I hope they can come up with a different recipe for conflict! I’m also surprised to find myself looking forward to the Michael Bay Ninja Turtles movie. I don’t know if it will be any good but I’m already surprised by how many elements are being carried over from the old cartoon that I grew up with. I’m not really interested in these nostalgia-exploiting movies, but since TMNT has continued to develop since the 80s and elements like April O’Neil being a reporter have not been seen since, it’s interesting that those are coming back. My fingers are crossed for Bebop and Rocksteady!

jdodson: I am wondering if you could outline the tech behind Tiny Barbarian DX? With that, is there anything you might do differently with the game engine code or something you might want to experiment with in the future?

Michael Stearns: The engine currently is the same one we used for Astroman on Xbox Indie, so it has some particular 360-centric quirks that don’t really make sense to keep. In our previous games, Daniel has done all the programming, but this time I learned how to do the game logic and just started building on top of what was already there. If we’d known how far it would go, Daniel would have reworked it to be a little easier to develop with. I’m primarily interested in game mechanics so there isn’t any particular “tech” that I’m interested in, but one feature I would like to work in at some point is full-screen scaling, like the old Neo Geo fighting games, I always thought that was really cool and having control over how much of the area a player can see can really change the way the a scene feels.

jdodson: Tiny Barbarian DX is a very tightly polished side scrolling adventure hack n slash. Are there any new game mechanics we can look for in the later chapters? An alternate attack or weapon perhaps?

Michael Stearns: The main difference you’ll be seeing in the future is that there will be different things to ride on in every episode, so there will always be something new going on to break things up and keep it interesting. I have some surprises planned for later, but I don’t want to spoil them. :)

jdodson: There are many geeks eagerly anticipating a new Goonies film. Would this interest you and I am wondering what your thoughts are about the Rocky Road candy bar?

Michael Stearns: I have to admit I didn’t see the Goonies when I was a kid, so that one isn’t especially relevant to me the way it would be to others. I liked it a lot, but the idea of a new one.. I wouldn’t say a new Goonies or something like it would be unappealing, but it pushes the whole “remake of childhood favorite” thing pretty far. Is this actually happening? I suppose a remake would be ok, in a sense of introducing new audiences, but I know I’d rather have kids see the original.

I have extremely little will power when it comes to candy bars so a Rocky Road candy bar is pretty much the most horrible thing you could give to me. I’m trying to be healthy!

jdodson: After Tiny Barbarian DX chapter 3 ships, what's next for StarQuail games?

Michael Stearns: Actually there’s going to be four episodes, but after that.. I haven’t decided yet. :)

jdodson: One thing I noticed with Tiny Barbarian DX is that it provides a constantly changing set of challenges that keep the game very fresh and interesting. How did you approach the games design to accomplish this?

Michael Stearns: Heh, that’s just the kind of game I really like! I’ve always been really inspired by 16-bit games that always changed things up pretty frequently. The best ones, imo, were all like that, every level or world seemed to introduce something new, so that’s what I wanted to do as well. I have to admit I’m not the best planner, I often added stuff that I wasn’t initially planning on while in mid-development, like I didn’t know there would be a Shinobi 3-style elevator at the end of the dungeon, but I had just done all those moving platforms and thought “I bet I could do that elevator!” and so I did. Basically I’m always thinking about what would make the game interesting and would be fun to include. It’s an expensive way to develop a game but it’s a lot of fun. :)

jdodson: What was the last game you played that really stuck with you?

Michael Stearns: I think the last game that really, really resonated with me was Super Mario 3D Land on 3DS. I think they really nailed the 3D platforming in that one, they managed to have all the benefits of a 3D game but still be as easy to play and move around in as a 2D game. It has great pacing in the levels, and once a friend picked it up and we started challenging each other’s best times via streetpass I really, really got into it and was playing the stages over and over. I’m really excited for the sequel on WiiU.

jdodson: Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, is there anything you want to say before we wrap things up?

Michael Stearns: Just a thank you to everyone who reads this! Also, my favorite candy bar is that one from Reese’s that’s just their peanut butter cup shaped into a bar.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=110272647
http://tinybarbarian.com/

The Steam Summer sale is coming up and the GOG.com sale is happening right now. I am wondering what you are planning on picking up or what you have purchased already?

Personally I want to get Don't Starve, Prison Architect, Far Cry 3 + Blood Dragon & Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic as its now out on the Mac on Steam. Most excited about Don't Starve and Prison Architect being on sale.

http://www.gog.com/

If you have noticed a bit of a dip in my posting on the site its because I was on vacation for the last week. One of the games I took with me to play on my trip was The Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past. Its a pretty good game to pickup and play in short bursts as the dungeons are not very long to complete. In my most recent play through I tackled the last two dark world dungeons before the one on the mountain.

I have been playing the dungeons mostly out of order as the game isn't very rigid with how you play them save a few cases. For instance, you need the fire rod to enter the ice world dungeon. That said, during my play through of the ice dungeon I remembered why I tackle the swamp dungeon where you get the Cane of Samaria first. In the Ice World dungeon at one point you must drop blocks down to a earlier floor to push on a pressure plate to open a door. The steps you need to take to do this are annoying BUT the game allows you a way out by using the Cane of Somaria. Always wondered if this was an intentional design choice Nintendo made or if it was just happenstance. That said, I came to the part where I needed to drop the block to continue and I left the dungeon and went to the Dungeon where you obtain the cane and beat that. After I nabbed the Cane and beat the Dungeon I went back and completed the Ice Dungeon.

I wish more games allowed you choices to skip annoying parts in games. For instance, I wish I could push the "please let me bypass the grind" in Borderlands 2 to speed up to the interesting story missions. Its not really practical to do that because the game is fairly hard if you don't grind to level up your character. I used to lament the loss of games that take 60 hours to complete but more often that not nowdays it just means 40 hours of boring content. And if you really think about it, Link to the Past isn't a 60 hour game. I may have spent more than 60 hours playing it through multiple times but one can easily complete the game in 20 hours or so. Getting a ton of enjoyment out of a game doesn't mean the game has to be long as hell it needs to just be compelling enough to come back to.

Which is one of the cool things I am starting to notice about classics like The Legend of Zelda compared to more modern AAA games. The fun and interesting game play make me come back year after year, not a 4,000 hour single player grind-fest.

http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/Cane_of_Somaria

P.S. Does anyone know of a use for Rupees in Link to the Past? Besides buying the flippers, nothing seems useful to buy. I load my bottles up with faeries and since there is a pretty good amount of magic and heart drops I don't think blue potions are that useful.

"We have recently been sent a copy of the original Jira archive data, which has provided unprecedented access to the entire project tracker. Other listings in the data files for known and unknown projects include "Stars of Blood", "Return to Ravenholm", "Episode 3"/"Episode 3 Movie", "Hardware" / "Hardware Core", "SteamMMO" / "SteamMMO Core" and "F-Stop". "

Could be all made up fakery or the real deal. Either way, fun to speculate.

PS Jira is a popular ticket tracking and development web app for software development.

http://www.valvetime.net/threads/updated-half-life-3-left-4-dead-3-source-2-much-more-found-on-valve-project-tracker.243580/