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.

2762 Posts

Assault on Dragon Keep Walkthrough w Anthony Burch
Revision 3 recently posted a video with Tara Long and Anthony Burch the lead writer for Borderlands 2 going over the new Assault on Dragon Keep DLC. The walkthrough contains some mad spoilers but its fun to see the game unfold with Burch's commentary.

The new D&D influenced DLC will hit June 25th.

Awesomenauts: A Fun Action Side-Scrolling MOBA
http://i.imgur.com/RTSgBll.jpg
After Humble Bundle 8 dropped I picked it up and after thinking it over decided to play Awesomenauts first. I had heard from people on the site that this is a good game, plus I see people playing it on Steam all the time so I figured it was time.

While I was at University I played a fun Warcraft III UMS map called Defense of the Ancients. That made it into our LAN rotations among other Tower Defense maps and regular ol' War III. I really dug DoTA but never was exceptional at it. Fast foward to today to the more modern DoTA 2 and League of Legends and whereas the core idea is fun, the immense difficulty ramp is not.

Intro Awesomenauts. It comes packed with all the Tower / Hero destruction fun you could want in an easily accessible game. That doesn't mean the game isn't challenging, but it doesn't throw you straight into the pits of hell to start. The game starts with a simple tutorial that covers how to play as Lonestar, a good overall character. From there you can head to practice matches against bots.

As you play matches you gain EXP that unlocks the other characters in the game as well as other arenas to fight in as well as some special attacks. The first few matches I played as strictly Lonestar and then Gnaw & Derpl Zork. Derpl Zork and Gnaw are really fun.

One thing worth noting is that Awesomenauts is playable on Mac, Linux and Windows such that when you pickup the game later on another OS your progress is saved. I imagine it employs some cool Steam cloud wizardry and it works very well for you all that bounce between multiple OS's like I do.

Head over and nab the recent bundle to get a slew of other great games and... Awesomenauts. Oh and if you are into Awesomenauts, checkout our Cheerful Ghost event on Friday for the game!

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/events/17

http://www.humblebundle.com/

Nekro. A Game Where Evil Does Your Bidding.
"Nekro is a dark, twisted action game about summoning demonic forces to do your bidding. With a fully-customizable array of powerful monsters to summon, Nekro challenges you to create a specialized army of hell-spawn to counter the forces of a corrupt King.

Playing with the speed and fluidity of an old-school action game, Nekro breaths fresh life into the genre with a deep and robust minion upgrade system. Use different monsters in unison to create a force that's greater than the sum of its parts. Utilize a blood mechanic unique to Nekro by harvesting the flesh of your enemies to power your unholy war machine."

Hot off of a successfully funded Kickstarter, darkForge games just put Nekro on Steam Greenlight. I recommend you head over and give it an upvote if you dig dark action games featuring blood and evil things. Wait, don't we all love that? :D

The game seems to be shaping up well from the video and I can't wait to try it out. The Necromancer is a character I always play in any game where they allow me the choice. Awesome to see a game where that is the draw.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=149845361

Tiny Barbarian DX: Get Barbarian Fever!
Recently Travis and I were able to play the all new game Tiny Barbarian DX. After playing it a bit the last few days I decided to do make a video to showcase the Horde Mode as well as to see how far into the Single Player as I could go. From the video you can see that my Horde Mode performance is a bit lacking but I make it WAY further into the Single Player story than I planned. In fact, I decided to quit where I did because I didn't want to make the video too long. That said, I plan on doing a follow up video where I try and take down the first chapter boss.

I won't try and cover too much of what Travis already said in his review again but I will sort of toss out a few bits on the game that I didn't cover in my review video. If it wasn't apparent from the video, Tiny Barbarian is a hell of a lot of fun and the play control is great. It really nails the style and tone of a Conan side scroller and you really do feel like a bad-ass at times.

The game is challenging though and keeps changing up the challenge so once you get used to playing a certain way, it immediately tosses you something different. This really keeps the game interesting and allows you to feel like you are progressing. I liken the challenge to Portal 2 in that it keeps each consecutive part fresh and interesting.

If you are on the fence about picking this game up you really need to get it and also stop sitting on fences, I can't imagine that's comfortable. Do yourself a favor and get a USB controller and JoyToKey because this game shines on a D-pad. The game works well with the Keyboard, but it is really awesome with the ol' controller layout.

http://www.starquail.com/tinyb/

Head over to the Steam Greenlight page and give this a vote, this game needs to come to Steam.

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

Double Fine's New Kickstarter: Massive Chalice
Back this on Kickstarter!
"We're inspired by classic tactical strategy games like X-COM, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Fire Emblem, as well as Game of Thrones’ array of noble families. With these influences in mind we’re creating an epic, replayable turn-based tactics game where you train generations of heroes to repel a demonic invasion.

And with Kickstarter, we can do it. We have a great concept and team ready to go, and we want to work closely with our community to control the future of MASSIVE CHALICE free from outside interference."

It seems Double Fine has totally embraced the Kickstarter/Humble Bundle model for game studio-hood. All told this is pretty awesome as they can have more control over the game, keep ownership of it and work on new stuff. As most major studios keep pumping out sequels to popular franchises seemingly all of Double Fine's new games are completely new things.

Massive Chalice is an interesting take on the strategy genre that seems to pull in elements from XCom and other rad games. The video describes making choices about Warrior bloodlines for your kingdom and choose when the retire them to sire other warriors or keeping them in the fray.

This Kickstarter does something interesting as it only allows you to enter at the $20 backer level. This doesn't seem to have stopped fans from backing as they are nearly to their funding goals.

So what do you think of the Massive Chalice Kickstarter and game concept?

The Most Engrossing Games I've Played Recently
I can remember certain games that really defined times in my life. My first experiences with gaming were with Super Mario Brothers and Donkey Kong. Later on I was infatuated with The Legend of Zelda, so much so I would make my own maps of every secret I knew of. After that, Ninja Turtles and Metal Gear. When I got my Super Nintendo, Super Mario World and Link to the Past really hooked me. Then I discovered Koei games like Romance of the Three Kingdoms II & Genghis Khan Clan of the Grey Wolf. Then we got a PC and a new set of games came with it.

I have been thinking the last couple of days about what games have caught my fancy lately. I think this is a interesting time in gaming where I have a glut of games and where as that has changed how I play games, some games have really impacted me and I wanted to write about them.

This list isn't in any particular order.

portal 2

Portal 2 is a fantastic game with a killer story. I purposefully took my time with this game because it was so engrossing I didn't want to stop playing it. The way Valve keeps the story, puzzles and game play interesting is superb. Whereas the game didn't win any Crytek video card overclocking awards, it looked fantastic on my PS3. The PS3 copy ALSO came with a free Steam version, something I really applauded Valve for. Now that my PS3 doesn't get a ton of use anymore, I can keep playing Portal 2 for the rest of my days on my PC or soon to be ... Linux :D

That said, it had a great ending that was very unique. The game wasn't larded to the hilt with puzzles that fatigued me as some games do. Sometimes either a new game is WAY too short or too long, Portal 2 felt ... just right.

Portal 2 is also extremely quotable. In fact my wife and I still talk about wanting to see the deer outside. :D

fallout 3

I cracked out on Fallout 3 so hard I would spend entire days doing nothing else. I remember on one weekend day I got up and started Fallout 3. Later that night I went out and my brain was all woozy from doing nothing else.

The story, the character and gameplay kept me hooked for months.

borderlands

I found Borderlands on sale for $20 for the Game of the Year Edition and snapped it up. The game was awesome because I could start it up and sink a little or a lot of time into it if I wanted. The missions were fairly contained and short so it really set itself up for quick bursts of play. The main campaign was very long and I think it took me about 3 months of playing a bit at a time to finally complete it.

I recently picked up Borderlands 2 and whereas its a fun game, I am not sure I hold it as highly as the first one. I was never really attracted to RPG grind/loot games until Borderlands warmed me up to it. Plus it has so many guns...

FTL

FTL is a relatively new game that has really sparked my imagination. I also recently beat it in a pairing session and I haven't had as much satisfaction beating a game in years. The game is hard, but its not soul crushing. Its a VERY strategic experience that seems to reward you for spending more time contemplating what you should do.

I nearly never give much thought to unlocking anything in a game because most of it doesn't seem important. Unlocking the ships in FTL not only seems really awesome but I have actually changed how I play to try and unlock them.

If you are looking for a fun game to play while you sit on the couch, FTL is it. At least, thats how I play it.

terraria

I bought Terraria last year during a Steam sale for about $3. I picked it up alongside Skyrim and Fallout New Vegas and have to date spent WAY more time in Terraria than both of those games combined.

I bought Terraria based on the continued recommendation of WhiteboySlim. When I bought Terraria and Skyrim in the Summer sale I played Terraria first because I expected to sacrifice my life to Skyrim. What ended up happening was I sacrificed my life to Terraria and I played a few missions of Skyrim about a month later.

Terraria is a 2D sidescrolling building, crafting and mining game that has a simple premise and some really deep gameplay. It also ups the ante by allowing Multiplayer. A few weeks or so after I started playing it I started the first run Cheerful Ghost Terraria Server. Playing on the server with everyone was one of the most fun experiences I've had in the last few years in gaming. The first server was so much fun we ran another one a few months later and now with Terraria 1.2 on the horizon are planning our third game when 1.2 launches.

What games have you played in the last year or so that have stuck with you?

Shadow Warrior Classic Now Free on Steam
http://i.imgur.com/Qa5GQTQ.jpg
Devolver Digital is working on a Shadow Warrior remake and due to a recent promo glitch some people got the original Shadow Warrior for free. Because of this they decided to make the original totally free on Steam. If you haven't played this 1997 classic and want to, now is your chance.

Available for free download on Mac and PC.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/238070/
https://twitter.com/_ShadowWarrior/status/339752731780726784

FTL Pairing Session 2: VICTORY!
http://i.imgur.com/lOcx3M9.png
Tonight CapnCurry and I beat FTL together in our pairing session. FTL pairing is where two people both make choices for how to play FTL together*. Since FTL is a turn based game its setup well for this. Since I was the less experienced player I controlled the game on my end and we used Google Hangout to share my screen and talk to figure out our strategy. The session lasted about 3 hours in total.

From the start things were going pretty well. One choice about mid way through the game, I believe helped us out considerably. We had our drone system built and two drone weapons on board. We made it to a space station and if we sold off our two drone weapons and our FTL jammer we could afford the cloak. We decided to take the cloak and that was a really good gamble. As it turned out we found more drone weapons later so the gamble really paid off.

Since I only unlocked the Kestrel thats the ship we went with and it proved to be good enough to beat the game with. I sort of figured that you needed to get the other ships to win, but the Kestrel held up like a champ.

I think a few items really sent us over the edge to survive the 3 end boss fights. The Cloak, The Pike Beam and the small bomb. Basically we would hit the boss with the bomb, then do a double salvo using our laser weapons. When the shields were down we raked as many rooms as we could with the Pike Beam and that was all she wrote for the boss.

I want to thank CapnCurry for pairing with me because he really showed me a bunch of useful strategies for FTL. I want to give him a lot of the credit for the win because his strategies were really effective. That said, I was controlling things and we did win so thats also rad.

That said, I had a blast and am looking forward to the next pair session. PS if you can and want to learn your way to a better life and FTL there is no substitute for pairing with the Captain.

We scheduled our pairing session with the new Cheerful Ghost event system. You should do the same.

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/events/11

* I am fairly certain we invented FTL pairing too, so you know thats also awesome.

Tiny Platformer: A Small 2D Platformer in HTML5
http://i.imgur.com/POVC1ry.png
If you are interesting in making games in HTML5, you will want to take a peek at Tiny Platformer. Not only is one level of pure bliss, but the author goes over the methods for making the game with code examples. He uses the Tiled editor to make the level and then explains how he wrote the JavaScript and used the HTML5 Canvas element to make the game.

http://codeincomplete.com/posts/2013/5/27/tiny_platformer/