ENVISIONED BY A COMPUTER: More than 300 new playable game areas were created with the Georgia Tech automatic-level generator. An artificially intelligent system watched gameplay video of Super Mario Brothers from streaming video (e.g. YouTube, Twitch) to learn how to design game levels, a first-of-its-kind approach.
This is a very interesting read! Bring on Skynet! (To make video games for us)
ENVISIONED BY A COMPUTER: More than 300 new playable game areas were created with the Georgia Tech automatic-level generator. An artificially intelligent system watched gameplay video of Super Mario Brothers from streaming video (e.g. YouTube, Twitch) to learn how to design game levels, a first-of-its-kind approach.
The server will be launching soon, hopefully when TShock updates. If that takes a while we'll roll without it at first.
The update is rolling out on Steam!
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 07/03/2015 at 09:39am
A new hotfix has been released. I think I noticed one of the changes while playing because suddenly the new items I got were highlighted. I think I mentioned my issue with the full screen resolution not correctly applying and that I found a way around it. It seems that it has been fixed. http://terraria.gamepedia.com/1.3.0.3
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 07/10/2015 at 04:36am
There seems to be a little trickle of "Half-Life 3 confirmed!!" and non-release date news floating about today. Thought the fire needed more fueling with the best Honest Trailer yet. Half-Life 4, confirmed!!
There seems to be a little trickle of "Half-Life 3 confirmed!!" and non-release date news floating about today. Thought the fire needed more fueling with the best Honest Trailer yet. Half-Life 4, confirmed!!
I am interested in playing the new Star Wars Battlefront game. EA just let out 30 seconds of gameplay and it looks fun. That said, even from this reveal I am still nervous I am going to be terrible at it. I don't mind shooters, I am just terrible in online multi-player. Still, I don't mind playing against dumb bots so I can at least pretend I don't suck horribly.
I am interested in playing the new Star Wars Battlefront game. EA just let out 30 seconds of gameplay and it looks fun. That said, even from this reveal I am still nervous I am going to be terrible at it. I don't mind shooters, I am just terrible in online multi-player. Still, I don't mind playing against dumb bots so I can at least pretend I don't suck horribly.
The Humble folks have brought us some classic Indie Bundles(remember HB9 with FEZ, FTL, Mark of the Ninja and Brutal Legend?) and have brought us some really great Triple A bundles too. Recently The Humble Borderlands Bundle has dropped and if you don't own Borderlands but have always wanted to it's time to act.
The any price bundle features the original game plus all the DLC minus the Claptrap expansion. My thought is they will add that later for people that beat the average as they always add more content in later on. If you pay above the average you get Borderlands 2 and some DLC. If you pay $15 you get way more Borderlands 2 DLC. Like I mentioned earlier, by the... Read All
The Humble folks have brought us some classic Indie Bundles(remember HB9 with FEZ, FTL, Mark of the Ninja and Brutal Legend?) and have brought us some really great Triple A bundles too. Recently The Humble Borderlands Bundle has dropped and if you don't own Borderlands but have always wanted to it's time to act.
The any price bundle features the original game plus all the DLC minus the Claptrap expansion. My thought is they will add that later for people that beat the average as they always add more content in later on. If you pay above the average you get Borderlands 2 and some DLC. If you pay $15 you get way more Borderlands 2 DLC. Like I mentioned earlier, by the time they add the remaining bits to the bundle you can/could essentially get Borderlands & Borderlands 2 + all DLC for a pretty great price PLUS a portion goes to Charity.
In this episode of the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable we talk about E3 2015! We swoon over Bethesda's showcase of Fallout 4, Dishonored 2, Fallout Shelter & new Doom. We talk about other things about E3 that interested us and what games we would bring back from the future to play right now. We round off the discussion talking about Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo's talks and how we all hate exclusives.
I asked Travis for the old Doom 4 leaked footage, here is the link:
If you want to watched Bethesda's epic presentation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KApp699WdE
In this episode of the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable we talk about E3 2015! We swoon over Bethesda's showcase of Fallout 4, Dishonored 2, Fallout Shelter & new Doom. We talk about other things about E3 that interested us and what games we would bring back from the future to play right now. We round off the discussion talking about Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo's talks and how we all hate exclusives.
I asked Travis for the old Doom 4 leaked footage, here is the link:
I figured it was penance for my Nintendo comments.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 06/26/2015 at 01:18am
Jon's obviously a Star Wars fan. Travis, cool shirt! I see a whole stack of MtG cards next to you.
I'm not sure how I feel about this E3 compared to previous ones. I think (since I've been paying attention to them, which has been over 10 years now) it was definitely one of the best. I think Fallout 4 and FFVII Remake stole the show. That's about all I got out of E3 this year, which is still good enough for me.
Hahahahaha!!!!! I'm laughing my ass off, thanks Jon! You just mentioned my PC. As for Fallout 4, I think I'm going to get it for the PC. I don't recall if we've seen the system requirements yet, but my PC should be fine. Thanks for the mentions!
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 06/26/2015 at 01:32am
I think Jon's right about Nintendo, they're working on things they're not ready to talk about. Like the new Zelda game and the next console dubbed "NX."
Thanks Greg! And yeah, I've been cleaning recently, and that stack of MtG cards was on a bookshelf in the living room. I'm trying to figure out where to put them because my 8 or so boxes of MtG cards are full.
I don't know what Nintendo's infrastructure looks like, but I wouldn't think that the hardware and software divisions are subject to much overlap. Meaning, if the hardware engineers are working on the NX, what are the software devs working on? From what they showed at E3, primarily Star Fox and Yoshi's Wooly World. Most of the 3DS games shown, I believe, were 3rd party. They are probably working on Zelda, but I'll make a crazy prediction and say that it will probably release simultaneously on the Wii U and as a launch title for NX (the same way Twilight Princess did for GC and Wii). I'm betting that Zelda will be the last game they make for the Wii U.
My frustration with Nintendo stems from a desire for them to step away from peripheral gimmicks as a primary system interface, and get back to innovating on a software level. Not that there is anything wrong with them experimenting with control schemes or multiple screens, or whatever, but why build the whole system experience around it? What if they made the Wii U Game Pad a device with a cartridge slot that could play 3DS games through the console on your TV? Everyone that owns a 3DS would have had a reason to buy that controller, and everyone with a Wii U would have had a reason to check out DS games. The Pro Controller could have been the primary controller. Yada, yada, yada...
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 06/26/2015 at 05:48am
Scrypt, I don't really like some of the things you've said about Nintendo (don't take that personally by the way), but I think it's because I don't want to believe it. I don't want to see the death of perhaps the most awesome gaming company of the 80's and 90's. You've said a lot about Nintendo which shows me that you're not just casually coming up with Nintendo negativity. You seem to be aware of what's going on with them and while I hesitate to share your perspective, I think you have some good points.
As I said, I've been checking out E3 for over 10 years now. Usually, it's Nintendo that I focus on as none of the other presenters usually has what I'm interested in. This year was clearly different. I did follow (read) some of the news from Nintendo's E3 presence this year, but I didn't watch their presentation nor did I read very much. I admit, they didn't really have much of anything I'm interested in this year.
They did announce some new players in Smash Bros, which is pretty cool. Also, Hyrule Warriors is coming to the 3DS with new characters. That, I think, is interesting except that I spent a hell of a lot of hours playing the Wii U game, I doubt I get it for the 3DS. (Note: I have all of the Hyrule Warriors DLC except the last, which by the time of it's release, I was a bit tired of playing the game)
That would be an awesome feature, if the Wii U gamepad had a 3DS cartridge slot. For me, they're recent technological differences from the other two console manufacturers aren't "gimmicks." But, that's just my perspective and out of the big 3, Nintendo is definitely by far my #1.
Oh no! They used those puppets? They look like the ones in the Genesis video for "Land of Confusion," which I found extremely creepy when I saw it as a kid.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 06/26/2015 at 05:51am
While it's true that I've spent a lot of time watching the industry, I'm really only putting a puzzle together with pieces that I see that fit, nothing more. My perspective is likely different than yours, and that's cool. I don't have insider information, or anything like that, but for me, and I'd assume others, it's hard not to see the signs.
I guess I could make this clear, too: I don't think Nintendo is dying. Failing in the console space with the Wii U, definitely, but not dying. Nintendo will never die. They'll evolve into whatever crazy ideas that are coming out of the Big N shed, but they won't die. There was a post here on the site that asked the question of whether Nintendo was exploiting nostalgia with each release of a Zelda game. Exploit, or no, Nintendo has nostalgia in spades. They're like Disney at this point (and their E3 video all but directly says it), where they have successfully built their entire company around a core of instantly recognizable characters that can immediately transport us back to our childhood. It would take a lot for them to go under (or maybe just throwing a ton of money at another bum system, I don't know).
Ultimately, I feel like The Big 3 have been very dismissive of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mantra. If I was on Cheerful Ghost back when the PS3 was launching, you would have heard me join with others that criticized Sony for betraying the gamers that made the PS2 the best selling console of all time; for treating games as a subset of the Playstation experience, rather than it's bread and butter. While they did win with Blu-ray, they suffered because of those choices, and had to come around 180 degrees in their approach to games to compensate for the setback (some other bad things happened, too... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_PlayStation_Network_outage ). In the same way, Microsoft has had to come around (although they still have quite a ways to come) from where they've been the last few years, largely because of poor Xbox One sales (abysmal, outside of the US; selling barely more than the Wii U, globally). I hope Nintendo does the same with NX, and does it soon.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 06/26/2015 at 08:42pm
You clearly know what you're talking about. I think you've analyzed things quite deeper than I have. I think you definitely have an educated perspective, which I obviously respect. That's actually something that I've been enjoying here recently, differing perspectives which penetrate the single minded fog. I'm sure when we were all young we loved Nintendo, perhaps above all else. While they're definitely no strangers to competition, they're still in the game and doing what they do. Whether or not that's been very successful could be debatable, but I think we all still have a childhood fondness for Nintendo. I think we'd all like to see them succeed, but it seems in more recent years we're a bit more divided regarding their success and perhaps that fan base of theirs has waned a bit.
I agree, as for Nintendo and E3 this year, they disappointed and left much to be desired. However, (for me at least) Fallout 4 and FFVII Remake stole the show. Even if that's all I get out of this year's E3, I'm still pretty happy about it.
Well, I don't know if I know what I'm talking about, but I'm glad to add a little spice to the conversation ;).
I'm with you on Fallout 4. All this Fallout Shelter playing is just a giant tease. I was in a Game$top earlier today, and I found myself looking wistfully at the Fallout 3 cases, wishing I could at least go there.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 06/27/2015 at 12:09am
Sadly, I'm one of the "Android" people since my Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 is Android based. So, I can't play Fallout Shelter yet. I've seen a few of my friends playing Fallout 3 and NV lately. I decided to get NV for the PC during the Steam Summer Sale. I have it on PS3 and went through it once. It had some slight issues, but nothing as bad as F3 did for the PS3.
Scrypt, you said you were a console guy, had all the consoles or were buying them. Does that mean all three? I remember when I had a GameCube, PS2, and an XBox. That was a pretty exciting time for gaming. That was the only generation of the XBox I've ever owned (I still have one), but I have since upgraded to the Wii and Wii U and PS3. I don't have a PS4, but I imagine that's the next system I buy, I just don't know when I might do that. I've noticed that at least one of the games I'd want for it (FF Type-0) is coming to PC. So, that makes me want to wait a bit. If FFVII Remake isn't a PC game (or at least at first) I'll most likely get a PS4 then.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/27/2015 at 01:23am
"Ultimately, I feel like The Big 3 have been very dismissive of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mantra. If I was on Cheerful Ghost back when the PS3 was launching, you would have heard me join with others that criticized Sony for betraying the gamers that made the PS2 the best selling console of all time; for treating games as a subset of the Playstation experience, rather than it's bread and butter. While they did win with Blu-ray, they suffered because of those choices, and had to come around 180 degrees in their approach to games to compensate for the setback (some other bad things happened, too..."
I think that's a fair criticism but I have some thoughts with it. For me, the biggest use I made of my PS3 was Netflix streaming and Bluray/DVD playback. I am going to go out a bit and wager most people used it more for that. That said, the game lineup was good but XBox 360 was a tough competitor to the PS3. Overall my PS3 is still around because of Bluray/DVD playback as i've moved to mostly PC based gaming.
For me, the PS3 was a great games machine but it evolved in the ways it needed to and that did come at the expense of gaming but for my use case, it was a good thing.
@GregoPeck, in the recent past, I've had all the major systems of each generation, starting with the PS1 Generation. Prior to that, it was all Nintendo (NES, SNES). Before E3, I was mildly excited about getting an Xbox One this Fall. Now, I'm indifferent. I'll get one, but I'm no longer mildly excited :). The Wii U, while I've played a few games on it, I'm just not that keen on getting one, as I'm willing to bet that the NX will support backwards compatibility for the Wii U. I'll get the good games I missed out on at that time. Unless of course the Wii U drops to $199, then I might be tempted to pick one up. Otherwise, I just don't feel compelled to invest in that environment.
"For me, the PS3 was a great games machine but it evolved in the ways it needed to and that did come at the expense of gaming but for my use case, it was a good thing."
What happened during the development and promotion of the PS3 wasn't evolution as much as a direct marketing choice to push Blu-ray and an "entertainment console." Why? The PS2 barely played DVDs and it was the number one selling console of all time! The games didn't have to suffer, but Sony wanted it made very clear that the PS3 was not a game console, that it was rather an entertainment computer that could play games. It's like they took their prize, triple-crown winning horse and tried to mutate it into a cow because "people like steak!" It makes that much sense. Early adopters invested either because it was the cheapest Blu-ray player at the time, or because they were dedicated to the Sony brand and didn't mind blowing $600 just to play their PS2 and PS1 games again (sadly, I was in the latter camp, and I remember selling that system a year later because there were no games to play, and the future looked bleak).
"I am going to go out a bit and wager most people used it more for (Netflix streaming and video playback)."
Since there weren't any games to speak of in the first year, I'm sure you're right, that the systems were used (by the small amount of people that actually bought one) primarily for non-gaming entertainment purposes, in anticipation of the games. It took awhile, but Sony eventually came around, making the PS3 easier to develop for, offering free games with Playstation Plus, taking a knee and saying "Hey, we fucked up!" It helped, too, that Microsoft was slowly killing the XBox 360 with RROD, clumsy UI updates, advertisements on the dashboard, and general pig-headedness about "what gamers want." I blame it on J Allard's exodus. He was Steve Jobs for the Xbox. In the end, despite a few disasters, PS3 outsold XBox 360 globally, with almost the same sized games library (over 1000 games).
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 06/27/2015 at 04:10am
Wow that's pretty cool, Scrypt! I like my Wii U. I spent a LOT of time playing Hyrule Warriors, which was pretty much excellent in my opinion. I also played some Mario games and Smash Bros. My son uses it to play those and other games, too. He also uses it to watch YouTube sometimes when not using the Kindle for that. It wouldn't surprise me if the NX is backwards compatible at least with the Wii U or perhaps the Wii, too. I think their library is pretty big when you look at it in the store, at least. As someone who's talked about FPS games, I thought Splatoon would interest you. My son has played the demo. I think when it comes down to it all, it's about what games a system has that we want to play and what we're into.
I thought the PS2 was outstanding! I still have one. There were times I wanted to buy a hard drive for it so I could play FFXI and other games. I used it a lot for CDs, DVDs, and games. I was disappointed that the PS3 went from being backwards compatible (and crappy at that) to not so. I'm glad that I can still play my PS1 games on it, though. My issue with it is my system, which is a bit old and shuts off on its own at times. I've enjoyed some Blu-Ray movies on it, although I haven't bought very many of them. I've enjoyed a good bit of games on it. I've also enjoyed being able to stream media to it from my PC. I've been using that feature a lot more lately than anything else.
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In what may turn out to the single largest update to the game yet, the Terraria 1.3 trailer launched today that was so stuffed with goodness Thanksgiving came early. Seriously, how much new stuff is teased in this trailer for the first time? I also found it pretty awe inspiring that they've sold 12 million copies of the game.... 12.... million...
Terraria 1.3 launches on June 30th and no word yet if that will include the Linux and Mac ports but they are adding in Steam cloud saves, which is worth the price of admission by itself.
In what may turn out to the single largest update to the game yet, the Terraria 1.3 trailer launched today that was so stuffed with goodness Thanksgiving came early. Seriously, how much new stuff is teased in this trailer for the first time? I also found it pretty awe inspiring that they've sold 12 million copies of the game.... 12.... million...
Terraria 1.3 launches on June 30th and no word yet if that will include the Linux and Mac ports but they are adding in Steam cloud saves, which is worth the price of admission by itself.
Just came to post this. From what I've read, Linux and Mac are coming later, probably about a month later, because they couldn't get them working to the awesomeness that they wanted while focusing on other things as part of the update. I'm totally fine with that.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 06/24/2015 at 08:00am
Awesome!
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/28/2015 at 01:40am
Yeah, the unfortunate thing is that you have to choose expert mode at world creation. I think the best way is to get to a good end game spot then make a new world.
It sounds like the expert mode stuff doesn't really kick in until hardmode (the mobs leveling up, ect). So I say expert mode. :D
If you're concerned about us getting our butts kicked, we can always allow bringing in supplies from our existing characters/worlds.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 06/29/2015 at 03:17am
I'm not too sure. On my own, I'll probably not try out expert mode until I'm geared up. If we were together we'd probably have a better chance at surviving it than on our own. I don't think we're sure about when a server will be available due to waiting on TShock to update. Otherwise there is a new mutliplayer feature to try out. Maybe we'll be able to meet in the Cloud.
BTW, if you notice Terraria already has locked achievements. I'm still wondering what time 1.3 will be released. Will it be a midnight UTC release or for another time zone? If so, which? It's getting close to midnight here on the East Coast, but it's already Monday afternoon in Australia.
Blizzard will be launching a special three story mission set that will tie the SCII Heart of the Swarm to the upcoming expansion Legacy of the Void. It will eventually come out for free but to start will be released to people that pre-order Legacy of the Void. I REALLY hope Blizzard can handle Collectors Edition pre-orders as that's what I will be picking up and usually do that from a local store.
"Whispers of Oblivion is a special three-mission prologue series that has been created to bridge the storyline between Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void. In Whispers of Oblivion, players will join Zeratul for the first time since Wings of Liberty to unravel the final... Read All
Blizzard will be launching a special three story mission set that will tie the SCII Heart of the Swarm to the upcoming expansion Legacy of the Void. It will eventually come out for free but to start will be released to people that pre-order Legacy of the Void. I REALLY hope Blizzard can handle Collectors Edition pre-orders as that's what I will be picking up and usually do that from a local store.
"Whispers of Oblivion is a special three-mission prologue series that has been created to bridge the storyline between Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void. In Whispers of Oblivion, players will join Zeratul for the first time since Wings of Liberty to unravel the final piece of the Xelânaga prophecy. We will be making Whispers of Oblivion available to all players before the gameâs release, but prior to that, we will be providing early access to the Prologue missions with pre-purchase of the game. Look for more details sometime in July."
Excited for this to drop and this should be a nice pre-order bonus and eventual free set of missions for everyone to enjoy.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/27/2015 at 05:30am
Yeah, that's great. I wonder when they are going to talk about the release date?
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 06/27/2015 at 05:54am
It would be good to know! I think I'd like to pre-order the digital (perhaps collector's) version. I do have discs for the other two, though and they're Standard Edition (or whatever). I intend to replay the StarCraft II upon or with its release. I've only played through the other two once, but I remember it was cool and fun.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 07/16/2015 at 05:32am
I haven't pre-ordered yet, but I'll give it some thought. I think originally, I bought the standard editions of both of the other pieces to SC2. I bought them at GameStop. I may have upgrade them, but I'm not sure. With Diablo RoS, I think I ended up getting the Digital Deluxe edition and maybe upgraded to Collector's. So, with this one, I'm wondering which edition to get, digital or disc and then which of the other editions. I think some of the bonuses are "nice," but I'm not sure whether or not they're worth the extra cost.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 07/17/2015 at 12:56am
I'll be picking up the physical collectors edition. For D3 Reaper of Souls they announced the digital versions before the CE edition and this time I am happy to see they said the CE would be talked about later.
Love that Blizzard is including lots of downloadable a for other games too. Here is info from the Bliz site direct.
Also cool that Heart of the Swarm can be played stand alone now.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 07/17/2015 at 01:01am
Awesome, awesome, and awesome. I figured you'd get the phsyical CE. I'm still not sure. I guess I've been playing a lot more digital games and have gotten used to them. They may take a while to download, but there's no scratching or losing discs. I don't mind not having the physical stuff that's just going to sit around some where. I guess it also depends on if I want to go to GameStop to get it (probably not a midnight release) or just have it installed when it's released. Then, I could play it right away. Do we have a release date or estimate for it or did I miss that some where?
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 07/17/2015 at 02:52am
No release date quite yet but they said "winter." The CE physical just comes with a DVD that simply points you to download the game. At least the last few I bought did. So... there is little reason to get it to save you bandwidth.
I get it for the art book, soundtrack, mouse pad, making it bluray & DVD + digital goodies. I really do like having that stuff around and pull them out from time to time to enjoy. I also listen to the soundtracks a ton so those are great to get.
Oh and I love the hell out of the Starcraft games too
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 07/17/2015 at 02:57am
Yeah, I got the CE version of RoS, but I didn't get any of that fancy stuff, because I had a digital copy. Still upgrading gave me a lot more character slots, which came in very handy. As for my SC2 discs, you're right, they seem to install stuff very briefly, the essentials to download the game. That extra stuff does sound awesome though.
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I just found out that Sony announced at E3 that Final Fantasy VII Remake was going to be released, at least for the PS4. Remember that Final Fantasy VII teaser/technical trailer we saw for the PS3? I think I still have it on my system. I think fans have been wanting to see a remake of the game that was more true to the original game.
What are your thoughts? (see link below)
This just adds to my list of reasons to get a PS4, which already includes Final Fantasy Type-0 HD that includes a demo for Final Fantasy XV. I saw a FFT-0 PS4 bundle on Amazon, which is tempting to get. There's also the new Batman and Fallout 4. I'm also waiting for some Kingdom Hearts news.
Here's a... Read All
I just found out that Sony announced at E3 that Final Fantasy VII Remake was going to be released, at least for the PS4. Remember that Final Fantasy VII teaser/technical trailer we saw for the PS3? I think I still have it on my system. I think fans have been wanting to see a remake of the game that was more true to the original game.
What are your thoughts? (see link below)
This just adds to my list of reasons to get a PS4, which already includes Final Fantasy Type-0 HD that includes a demo for Final Fantasy XV. I saw a FFT-0 PS4 bundle on Amazon, which is tempting to get. There's also the new Batman and Fallout 4. I'm also waiting for some Kingdom Hearts news.
It really was such a great game... But I bought it a year ago on my PC (through Steam) and it just felt clunky and dated. It turned into a fond memory of a game I decided to leave in the past. But this looks really great. I'd love to play through it again, and this might finally be a reason to.
Azurephile Super Member Post Author
wrote on 06/16/2015 at 09:12pm
Fallout Shelter is the brand spanking new mobile game by Bethesda. It is currently out on IOS but they are planning an Android launch at some point(sorry Android friends). I've only played it a day and I am already hooked. It's a game very similar to Simtower and Progress Quest as you are tasked to manage your vault and the balance of having enough resources(water, energy and food) with defense and exploration. You can add vault dwellers by people randomly showing up to be let in or by your vault dwellers shacking up and making babies. Vault dwellers can shack up(if they are not related) and have a high enough Charisma to get things moving. After you get your Vault up... Read All
Fallout Shelter is the brand spanking new mobile game by Bethesda. It is currently out on IOS but they are planning an Android launch at some point(sorry Android friends). I've only played it a day and I am already hooked. It's a game very similar to Simtower and Progress Quest as you are tasked to manage your vault and the balance of having enough resources(water, energy and food) with defense and exploration. You can add vault dwellers by people randomly showing up to be let in or by your vault dwellers shacking up and making babies. Vault dwellers can shack up(if they are not related) and have a high enough Charisma to get things moving. After you get your Vault up and running you can send people out to scour the wasteland looking for guns, armor and caps.
I think the game balances the free to play aspect to not be annoying or soul crushingly slow. When you build a room it's instant and many things require no waiting at all. That said, at it's core it is a waiting game but it isn't bad.
If you have iOS you need to try Fallout Shelter. If you've played it, drop your thoughts, tips and vault screenshots in the comments.
So far, I have found a few tricks that you might find useful:
When your vault explorer comes back, they are invincible so you don't need to send them back at half health. (Learned this the hard way)
Early on I paired up my couples with one person because they had un naturally high Charisma so I could get it done fairly quickly. This led to a later problem of most of my vault kids being related. Ensure you keep diversity in your vault pairings and offspring.
You get a boat load of Lunchboxes early on, which is great. After your initial hit you get MUCH less so send out vault explorers to collect guns, armor and extra caps.
Focus on a strong economy before you get a ton of extra buildings going. After your economy is strong, get a med bay and science station so you can equip your explorers with enough stimpacks and radaways.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/16/2015 at 01:02am
I have a bad run of women with low charisma. The pickup lines are atrocious. "You're like cholesterol, always messin' with my heart." OMG.
I decided to restart on iPad, unfortunately that means I lost Star Paladin Cross, but that game is always there if I want to go back. I read she's the second best unlock in the game, and I got her on the first lunchbox I opened.
I can't remember if I said it over text or on CG somewhere, but I had trouble in my first game with having things built poorly, and I found out one reason-- in the intro you HAVE to block off one room since you don't have access to elevators during the training. This time I blocked off one of the living quarters and just built another one, since the upgrades for that matter less than with the resource management rooms.
I'm not on it every day, so I keep forgetting about my explorers, then they die. Then I have to pay to resurrect them, which leaves me with less money to expand my vault. The moral: play the addicting game every day!
Yeah just be sure you pull them back when you're done for the day or they're basically guaranteed to die. But I've seen some people who have had their explorers out for days, after giving them 20 stimpaks and radaways.
It's amazing how well explorers are at taking care of themselves, but put them in a cafeteria and they'll die in no time if you aren't paying attention to them.
I made a new vault to try something out I read about. If you never turn in the "sell one weapon or outfit" and "equip one dweller with a weapon" goals (you can sell things and equip them, just don't claim the rewards) the third goal will keep alternating between "collect 50 water," "collect 50 food," and "level up one dweller." About 2/3 of the time it will give you a lunch box. So over about two hours I opened 50 lunch boxes or so. It's pretty incredible watching all that loot roll in.
So now then the robots rebel against us they won't kill us all, they'll just make us run obstacle courses.
Testing chambers, if you will.
But at the end you'll get grief counseling... And cake.