Seems like Valve is giving out a ton of DoTA 2 invites and I have 5 to give away for anyone that wants them. Just ask in the comments and I will hook you up!
I'm an Engineer and built the video game community Cheerful Ghost and text based mini-MMO Tale of the White Wyvern.
2746 Posts
Interesting new web series from IGN called Geek Love. The featured episode above covers Brittany as she takes part in "Sci-Fi Speed Dating" a new Comic Con staple. The show is interesting because it reminds me of some reality TV shows and doesn't wallow in being cynical or douchey.
The aforementioned episode features Brittany a well adjusted teacher trying to find love with someone who shares a similar love for gaming, movies and comic books.
I kind of am not entirely certain of the format or concept, but appreciate it being genuine. Seriously wondering your thoughts about Geek Love so please sound off in the comments!
ep 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ5iwGApwLM
ep 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G-RdjJP-4o
ep 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnXvsxNhoRw
The aforementioned episode features Brittany a well adjusted teacher trying to find love with someone who shares a similar love for gaming, movies and comic books.
I kind of am not entirely certain of the format or concept, but appreciate it being genuine. Seriously wondering your thoughts about Geek Love so please sound off in the comments!
ep 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ5iwGApwLM
ep 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G-RdjJP-4o
ep 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnXvsxNhoRw
Ripstone recently released Gun Commando a retro flavored shooter for the Playstation Mobile Platform. Video featured above is seriously channeling some awesome Doom energy!
Blizzard recently dropped a really interesting preview of whats coming in Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm. The post focuses a bit on multiplayer, the story and Zerg additions.
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/heart-of-the-swarm-preview/
GoG recently released Neverwinter Nights 2 the complete pack. Obsidians take on this BioWare property currently has a 4.5 out 5 star rating on GoG.
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/neverwinter_nights_2_complete
You can now download some really interesting ringtones for your phone right now off the Borderlands 2 site. The ringtones featuring the voices of Claptrap, Mr. Torgue, Sir Hammerlock & Tiny Tina.
http://www.borderlands2.com/us/#downloads
The YouTuber @MrDanINSANE released a interesting Binding of Isaac fanimation. I don't see many of these and felt it was worth sharing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pavAh_cvTYQ
Blizzard recently dropped a really interesting preview of whats coming in Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm. The post focuses a bit on multiplayer, the story and Zerg additions.
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/heart-of-the-swarm-preview/
GoG recently released Neverwinter Nights 2 the complete pack. Obsidians take on this BioWare property currently has a 4.5 out 5 star rating on GoG.
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/neverwinter_nights_2_complete
You can now download some really interesting ringtones for your phone right now off the Borderlands 2 site. The ringtones featuring the voices of Claptrap, Mr. Torgue, Sir Hammerlock & Tiny Tina.
http://www.borderlands2.com/us/#downloads
The YouTuber @MrDanINSANE released a interesting Binding of Isaac fanimation. I don't see many of these and felt it was worth sharing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pavAh_cvTYQ
"Download the entire collection of Magical Game Time comics in one massive 139 page PDF for whatever you’re willing to pay! This PDF also includes unfinished comics, sketches, character drawings and pretty much every video game related comic that I’ve done to date."
I really appreciate the art of Zac Gorman because it really captures how I felt as a kid playing video games. His un-cynical take on that era of my life is really quite beautiful at times and is fairly unique in gaming culture.
Recently he released Magical Game Time Vol. 1 which is a collection of all the art on his site. The PDF starts at $1 so there is little reason not to pick it up!
http://magicalgametime.com/post/41366415973/magical-game-time-vol-1
I really appreciate the art of Zac Gorman because it really captures how I felt as a kid playing video games. His un-cynical take on that era of my life is really quite beautiful at times and is fairly unique in gaming culture.
Recently he released Magical Game Time Vol. 1 which is a collection of all the art on his site. The PDF starts at $1 so there is little reason not to pick it up!
http://magicalgametime.com/post/41366415973/magical-game-time-vol-1
Wanted to share the next rad video from Carbot Animations. This one is fun because I just played a few matches and totally owned the Air with the Corruptor. Takes a bit to get out but once you have a few its GG for most other air units.
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/unit/corruptor
Make sure you checkout my recent interview with Carbot Animations Jon Burton:
http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/905
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/unit/corruptor
Make sure you checkout my recent interview with Carbot Animations Jon Burton:
http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/905
Just found an awesome video made with Valve's Source Film Maker called "The Turret Anthem." It features turrets from Portal and Portal 2 and contains a cool song and a great animation sequence cut together with Valve's Source Film Maker.
Up vote it on Steam here:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=122130516
Up vote it on Steam here:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=122130516
Looks awesome, I really hope this comes to PC.
Anyone going to pick this up on a console when it comes out?
http://terraria.org
Anyone going to pick this up on a console when it comes out?
http://terraria.org
Seems to be that some companies are filling the gaming lull by releasing epic game trailers and as Blizzard just dropped the opening Cinematic for Heart of the Swarm. As the Cinematic played out I was like "What is going on, in Wings of Liberty she..." and then they did that switcheroo at the end which was awesome.
Blizzard storylines contain pretty similar elements I've noticed. In Warcraft you had Arthas who was corrupted by the Undead and became Litch King. You have a similar story in Diablo III. In Starcraft Kerrigan is corrupted by the Zerg. This is a first time that I know of in Blizzard-dom where such a corrupted character might become good again. Blizzard seems to stick with this notion that good people can turn bad by no act of their own, at least in the case of Diablo III & Starcraft. Its good that such characters can come back, or at least in Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty they serious nodded to it.
Blizzard storylines contain pretty similar elements I've noticed. In Warcraft you had Arthas who was corrupted by the Undead and became Litch King. You have a similar story in Diablo III. In Starcraft Kerrigan is corrupted by the Zerg. This is a first time that I know of in Blizzard-dom where such a corrupted character might become good again. Blizzard seems to stick with this notion that good people can turn bad by no act of their own, at least in the case of Diablo III & Starcraft. Its good that such characters can come back, or at least in Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty they serious nodded to it.
Recently I saw an amazing Kickstarter for a new gamed called "Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake." The game focuses on amazingly lush visuals and a puzzle styled game play similar to early Legend of Zelda Games. I immediately had to know more about the Kickstarter and Sleep Ninja Games the company behind the magic.
jdodson: The “Monster’s Ate My Birthday Cake” Kickstarter page reminisces of the time before the Wiki where we shared secrets and game lore by word of mouth. What lore or secrets have been burned into your brain you can’t shake?
Justin Baldwin: It's been a long time, and I remember it for tons of games. I really more or less want to try to bring that experience back, I miss it. The best example I have is that I'm a pretty big Mortal Kombat fan, I remember talking to other kids about all these random crazy codes and things that you could do to make characters naked, or some kind of secret crazy fatality. Most kids were making it up, but it still was fun to imagine stuff like that in a game. And I remember trying for hours to find stuff like that. We are kind of tempted to make fake submissions to sites for cheats, and plan on hiding some interesting easter eggs in the game.
jdodson: How was it collaborating with Disasterpeace for the soundtrack? Did this collaboration changed how you built the game?
Justin Baldwin: Actually we just brought on Disasterpeace about two weeks ago, so sound and music are just now starting to happen. I'm sure it will change some of our approach and presentation of things within the game. He is great to work with, and a super talented man I might add.
jdodson: Your Kickstarter Features 5 inch collectable monster figurines for certain backers. Could you describe the process from design of the figure to how you go about manufacturing them?
Justin Baldwin: I actually have two friends, Eric Haskell and Sebastian Cortes, who are both special effects artists. They are great artists so I asked them if they might be willing to take this on. I supplied them with turn around art of some of the favorite characters based on a Facebook poll we did. They basically took over from there, made the originals out of clay, created a mold from that and cast and painted those bad boys. We still have more to make based on how many are ordered. These will also be numbered so you know they are the limited ones and come with a nice letter of authenticity.
jdodson: Why is the Internet so fascinated with Cats?
Justin Baldwin: Haha, I don't know. Honestly, I'm a dog person. I have two. Cats just don't do it for me, they are too independent. You'd think with the stuff I like I'd be on the whole cat band wagon but…not so much.
jdodson: How did the three of you initially meet and at what point did it become obvious you should make your first game together and start Sleep Ninja Games?
Justin Baldwin: Brandon and I have been friends since we were kids. We've been friends for a good 20 years. So when I say we are influenced by our memories from childhood with video games, we shared those together. Which I think is great! Brandon got pretty into programming and introduced me to things like Flash and what not when we were about 14. That pretty much started our whole path in life really. Alex and I actually met when I was about 19 or so. We were both in different bands at the time and we did quite a few shows together. We had been collaborating on some music and story elements for another game idea that we have on the back burner. I showed them both this idea I had for this game, mostly just some art concepts and this idea of expanding on the Zelda style puzzle mechanic. We then decided we should set some time aside and really peruse making a game of our own.
jdodson: What is the tech behind “Monster’s At My Birthday Cake?”
Justin Baldwin: It's actually nothing overly complicated. It's programmed in C# and we are using the Unity3D engine to run our game. It has great platform scalability and amazing performance. I create all the art in Illustrator and animate them in Flash. We then create sprite sheets out of those and import them to Unity. A lot of the effects are being done with Unity's particle engine. But I won't get to into it, we'd be here a while...
jdodson: You guys provide a ton of totally awesome backer benefits already but one thing I appreciate is that you also let people know what you can provide if the Kickstarter goes over the goal. I hope you guys are able to reach this level. No real question, thanks for being extra awesome.
Justin Baldwin: We thought it would be helpful and think it's important to be accountable for any extra funds we raise. We also made a nice reward chart for people so they could easily see what they will receive.
jdodson: You scale the mountain and “Monster’s Ate My Birthday Cake” ships. What’s next for Sleep Ninja Games?
Justin Baldwin: MAMBC still has a way to go, but we have another game lined up and already have done a lot of concepting and story work for it. I think people might be surprised how different of a style our next game is going to be. I'll just say it's pretty heavily influenced by Blade Runner, Ghost In The Shell, and all things cyberpunk.
jdodson: In the Kickstarter video there is a section of game play where you can buy certain items for in game coins. I wonder if you could talk a bit about this mechanic and how it impacts the game play.
Justin Baldwin: Basically, you will come across coins that you can collect, and a lot of these will be hidden in secret spots, out in the open, or dropped by defeated enemies. Throughout the game you will find different monster shops where you use coins for merchandise in two tiers:
1. Generic items: When you discover a new friendly monster in the game, they will usually want something before you can unlock them as a playable character. You have two strategy options; some key items will be hidden in levels throughout the game and you will have to try and get to them or find them. The other option is that shops will sell some of the key items, obtaining the right one will allow you to gain the allegiance of that monster friend. For instance, Eek, the cut little neon bat monster, wants to gobble up a "glowbug" in order to join Niko on his quest.
2. Upgrade items: You can also spend coins on items that can give your monsters permanent bonuses to their skills. For instance, if you buy the "Golden Uni-Horn" upgrade for Prizzy, the fluffy white monster with a rainbow unicorn horn, it will give him a bonus of an increased chance to have enemies drop coins if they are defeated with his rainbow vomit beam attack. Yes, I said rainbow vomit beam attack.
jdodson: I want to thank you for taking the time to talk to me and wish you luck with the Kickstarter! The game already looks fantastic and I hope you go beyond your goals!
Justin Baldwin: Thanks! We hope so as well. We want to support as many platforms as possible.
http://sleepninjagames.com/
jdodson: The “Monster’s Ate My Birthday Cake” Kickstarter page reminisces of the time before the Wiki where we shared secrets and game lore by word of mouth. What lore or secrets have been burned into your brain you can’t shake?
Justin Baldwin: It's been a long time, and I remember it for tons of games. I really more or less want to try to bring that experience back, I miss it. The best example I have is that I'm a pretty big Mortal Kombat fan, I remember talking to other kids about all these random crazy codes and things that you could do to make characters naked, or some kind of secret crazy fatality. Most kids were making it up, but it still was fun to imagine stuff like that in a game. And I remember trying for hours to find stuff like that. We are kind of tempted to make fake submissions to sites for cheats, and plan on hiding some interesting easter eggs in the game.
jdodson: How was it collaborating with Disasterpeace for the soundtrack? Did this collaboration changed how you built the game?
Justin Baldwin: Actually we just brought on Disasterpeace about two weeks ago, so sound and music are just now starting to happen. I'm sure it will change some of our approach and presentation of things within the game. He is great to work with, and a super talented man I might add.
jdodson: Your Kickstarter Features 5 inch collectable monster figurines for certain backers. Could you describe the process from design of the figure to how you go about manufacturing them?
Justin Baldwin: I actually have two friends, Eric Haskell and Sebastian Cortes, who are both special effects artists. They are great artists so I asked them if they might be willing to take this on. I supplied them with turn around art of some of the favorite characters based on a Facebook poll we did. They basically took over from there, made the originals out of clay, created a mold from that and cast and painted those bad boys. We still have more to make based on how many are ordered. These will also be numbered so you know they are the limited ones and come with a nice letter of authenticity.
jdodson: Why is the Internet so fascinated with Cats?
Justin Baldwin: Haha, I don't know. Honestly, I'm a dog person. I have two. Cats just don't do it for me, they are too independent. You'd think with the stuff I like I'd be on the whole cat band wagon but…not so much.
jdodson: How did the three of you initially meet and at what point did it become obvious you should make your first game together and start Sleep Ninja Games?
Justin Baldwin: Brandon and I have been friends since we were kids. We've been friends for a good 20 years. So when I say we are influenced by our memories from childhood with video games, we shared those together. Which I think is great! Brandon got pretty into programming and introduced me to things like Flash and what not when we were about 14. That pretty much started our whole path in life really. Alex and I actually met when I was about 19 or so. We were both in different bands at the time and we did quite a few shows together. We had been collaborating on some music and story elements for another game idea that we have on the back burner. I showed them both this idea I had for this game, mostly just some art concepts and this idea of expanding on the Zelda style puzzle mechanic. We then decided we should set some time aside and really peruse making a game of our own.
jdodson: What is the tech behind “Monster’s At My Birthday Cake?”
Justin Baldwin: It's actually nothing overly complicated. It's programmed in C# and we are using the Unity3D engine to run our game. It has great platform scalability and amazing performance. I create all the art in Illustrator and animate them in Flash. We then create sprite sheets out of those and import them to Unity. A lot of the effects are being done with Unity's particle engine. But I won't get to into it, we'd be here a while...
jdodson: You guys provide a ton of totally awesome backer benefits already but one thing I appreciate is that you also let people know what you can provide if the Kickstarter goes over the goal. I hope you guys are able to reach this level. No real question, thanks for being extra awesome.
Justin Baldwin: We thought it would be helpful and think it's important to be accountable for any extra funds we raise. We also made a nice reward chart for people so they could easily see what they will receive.
jdodson: You scale the mountain and “Monster’s Ate My Birthday Cake” ships. What’s next for Sleep Ninja Games?
Justin Baldwin: MAMBC still has a way to go, but we have another game lined up and already have done a lot of concepting and story work for it. I think people might be surprised how different of a style our next game is going to be. I'll just say it's pretty heavily influenced by Blade Runner, Ghost In The Shell, and all things cyberpunk.
jdodson: In the Kickstarter video there is a section of game play where you can buy certain items for in game coins. I wonder if you could talk a bit about this mechanic and how it impacts the game play.
Justin Baldwin: Basically, you will come across coins that you can collect, and a lot of these will be hidden in secret spots, out in the open, or dropped by defeated enemies. Throughout the game you will find different monster shops where you use coins for merchandise in two tiers:
1. Generic items: When you discover a new friendly monster in the game, they will usually want something before you can unlock them as a playable character. You have two strategy options; some key items will be hidden in levels throughout the game and you will have to try and get to them or find them. The other option is that shops will sell some of the key items, obtaining the right one will allow you to gain the allegiance of that monster friend. For instance, Eek, the cut little neon bat monster, wants to gobble up a "glowbug" in order to join Niko on his quest.
2. Upgrade items: You can also spend coins on items that can give your monsters permanent bonuses to their skills. For instance, if you buy the "Golden Uni-Horn" upgrade for Prizzy, the fluffy white monster with a rainbow unicorn horn, it will give him a bonus of an increased chance to have enemies drop coins if they are defeated with his rainbow vomit beam attack. Yes, I said rainbow vomit beam attack.
jdodson: I want to thank you for taking the time to talk to me and wish you luck with the Kickstarter! The game already looks fantastic and I hope you go beyond your goals!
Justin Baldwin: Thanks! We hope so as well. We want to support as many platforms as possible.
http://sleepninjagames.com/
Hello Friends,
I totally dig Starcraft. So much so that I pre-ordered the Collectors Edition of Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm. The collectors edition packs in the game soundtrack, making of DVD/BluRay, art book and other digital bits. A week or so before the launch of Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm I plan on doing a video un-boxing of all my Collector Edition's to share with everyone.
That said, since I pre-ordered the game I was given access to the beta and decided to take it for a spin. They are only making the multi-player aspect of Heart of the Swarm available for Beta customers so I won't be able to comment on the Single Player until game launch in March. That said, I played two matches as the Zerg, my race of choice.
The two new Zerg units I played around with were the Viper and Swarm Host. The Viper is a flyer that can move enemy units closer to you. So if an enemy ship or unit is hitting you from a distance you can pick it up and lift it closer to you. It was fun using the Vipers to bring enemy fliers inside my Hydralisk swam and watch them die. Allowing the Zerg more methods to mess with an enemy is an awesome thing. The other new Zerg unit is the Swarm Host which is a siege unit that when burrowed spawn Locusts that spit acid. While interesting, I never found the right formula to use Swarm Host to the point where I loved it but I imagine I just need more time with the unit.
Heart of the Swarm doesn't seem to add any new structures or change any of the other multi-player game mechanics that I noticed.
Looking forward to talking more about the single-player of Heart of the Swarm when the game is launched in March. Speaking of, are you planning on picking up this expansion?
Pre-Order the Game on Amazon and get early Access to the Beta:
http://goo.gl/6uCOl
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/unit/viper
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/unit/swarm-host
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/heart-of-the-swarm-preview/
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/ (section on the new units to Heart of the Swarm)
I totally dig Starcraft. So much so that I pre-ordered the Collectors Edition of Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm. The collectors edition packs in the game soundtrack, making of DVD/BluRay, art book and other digital bits. A week or so before the launch of Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm I plan on doing a video un-boxing of all my Collector Edition's to share with everyone.
That said, since I pre-ordered the game I was given access to the beta and decided to take it for a spin. They are only making the multi-player aspect of Heart of the Swarm available for Beta customers so I won't be able to comment on the Single Player until game launch in March. That said, I played two matches as the Zerg, my race of choice.
The two new Zerg units I played around with were the Viper and Swarm Host. The Viper is a flyer that can move enemy units closer to you. So if an enemy ship or unit is hitting you from a distance you can pick it up and lift it closer to you. It was fun using the Vipers to bring enemy fliers inside my Hydralisk swam and watch them die. Allowing the Zerg more methods to mess with an enemy is an awesome thing. The other new Zerg unit is the Swarm Host which is a siege unit that when burrowed spawn Locusts that spit acid. While interesting, I never found the right formula to use Swarm Host to the point where I loved it but I imagine I just need more time with the unit.
Heart of the Swarm doesn't seem to add any new structures or change any of the other multi-player game mechanics that I noticed.
Looking forward to talking more about the single-player of Heart of the Swarm when the game is launched in March. Speaking of, are you planning on picking up this expansion?
Pre-Order the Game on Amazon and get early Access to the Beta:
http://goo.gl/6uCOl
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/unit/viper
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/unit/swarm-host
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/heart-of-the-swarm-preview/
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/ (section on the new units to Heart of the Swarm)
I need one if you don't mind steam Id is amorales2005
Sent!
I also have plenty to give away.
If you run out, I got 5!
Nice, we should keep people playing :D
This game is my obsession...I also have a bunch of invites.
Funny...8 months ago this game was my obsession....today, even more so lol. I played 6 games between Tuesday/Wednesday night and I just want to go home now and play allllll day.
You should post some basic strats for this one, personally I like DoTA 2 but I don't know the basics very well.
Yeah, I can do that. I tried getting Tim into it...but unfortunately the game we played he got steam rolled and it understandably burnt him. I've always been into competitive PVP style games though. From FPS, to MMO, to RTS, and MOBA (Multiplayer online battle arena).
This game is definitely not good to new players, but everyone starts somewhere/sometime. I actually started playing dota2 by myself (I had played dota 1 quite a bit) and frankly, it's rare to ever see another player again. That maybe adds to the bashing you may get because players are so anonymous, but it also made me feel comfortable learning and being a noob too. I would give a disclaimer that I'm pretty new. I just took any hateful comments and shrugged them off, I didn't care, I told them I'm learning and often times if you are playing by yourself new, the other players are either new too or on re-rolled smurf accounts. Either way, no one will seriously hold it against you and you won't see those players again. It gave me a blanket of not caring what they thought of me.
Now when you group up, you get equalized a bit in the matchmaking. I've played with a new guy and we got matched against new guys that I then just stomped...and it was nice for him to be able to learn w/o the pressure of needing him to make good plays lol. But other times we've been pushed up closer to my skill range and then he gets creamed and as a team we get creamed because he "fed" the enemy and they got powerful.
Bots and solo que are a pretty decent way to learn. There's a tutorial now too, but I haven't gone through it. There's also tons of websites dedicated to giving useful info. Another super useful thing now is being able to load a hero build. So I use these all the time when I play heroes I don't have my own strategies with, you just open the menu and look at some popular builds (skill and item builds) and then as you level it'll highlight the skill you should learn next (and they often put in some text to give you tips on using those abilities) and same with items. They'll be prioritized as starting equipment, core items, situational items. That's real handy to save time trying to read everything and pick the best option while also trying to play the game.
The most important thing to learn is to not die. Play conservative if you have to, but dying is the worst. It obviously happens, but each death gives the opponent heroes more xp and more gold to increase their advantage over you and your allies.
I think DoTA 2 is easier to get into now. WhiteboySlim and I played it a few times and adding the bots in helped. Because of the community I am not really interested in playing online with anyone other than friends. I now this means I might not be any good, but i'd prefer to have fun than get annihilated by a-holes verbally.
That said, League has done some nice stuff to address this. I kind of hope DoTA 2 heads that direction, it would be pretty nice.
Well...I report players for being A-holes and so do other people. Then a week later I get a notification that they've taken action against one or more players I reported for bad conduct.
Also, to add to the whole "anonymous" thing. I go to dotabuff.com to see better stats and I played a game last night and I was checking stats on the site today. Not everyone's name shows up on this 3rd party website because you have to enable it, but some of my opponents had it enabled. With someone's name/profile I can click on them and and it will show me their stats but also show me how many games I've ever played with this person.
And this is how I can say you rarely see the same person twice. Only twice so far have I seen more than 1 match with someone (I haven't clicked on everyone I've played with obviously). This guy, I played 2 matches with, one last night, other one 8 months ago lol.
I just went back 51 games played, which put me to August 28. I clicked on everyone that wasn't private profile and blocking 3rd party apps. Probably average of 3 people to look at each game. That's 153 profiles I checked. There was 5 people I've played 2 games with. Everyone else, only 1. And FYI, my total matches played is 712. So, it's not like in some games where you may have a reputation and have like a persona or presence in the game....you really are 1 little drop of water in a huge pool.
Huh, thats really good to know. Ill check it out a bit more, interesting someone made an app to do that.