Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Cheerful Ghost Victory Condition Booth

This is a picture of me and Nic Blondi, the developer of Hard Lander at the Cheerful Ghost booth at the Victory Condition Arcade yesterday. If you you are going to be in downtown Portland tonight from 5pm - 10pm, stop by the Art Institute of Portland and pick up a Cheerful Ghost sticker. After that you should check out the board and video games showing like Hard Lander and Monsters at My Birthday Cake.

Originally the Victory Condition Event said it ended today, but I was mistaken you can come tonight too.

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/events/56/cheerful-ghost-the-victory-condition-arcade

Check out our recent Interview with Nic Blondi about the Ouya sensation, Hard... Read All

Addicting Space Ball - Made in 15 hours! Simple & Fun.

Hello! You may have seen my previous and 1st game Lokani Addicting Space Runner earlier. This game is my second, Lokani Addicting Space Ball. I'll add a little story to this one to keep it interesting:

I am not a formally or informally trained developer, before experimenting last year, I had only basic knowledge of HTML.

However last year I just made the decision to make (and publish) 1 game in 12 months' time. Well, when I sat through my very first tutorial on how to make a game I thought "Wow, why don't I just make a game now!"

Subsequently, I made Lokani Addicting Space Runner (http://lokani.com/games/lokani-addicting-space-runner/) in just 7 days, which included... Read All

Interview -w Kepa of RocketCat Games about Wayward Souls

As someone that typically doesn't like mobile games, I was strangely excited to see Wayward Souls launch. Wayward Souls is a 2D hack-n-slash rogue-like that has some of the best mobile controls i've experienced. Lately, it's been the game i've been spending the most time playing because it's focus on short gameplay chunks is really compelling. I want to thank Kepa of RocketCat Games for getting back to me and I wish them well to a speedy PC launch!

jdodson: Wayward Souls has launched to some pretty universal critical acclaim with fans and reviewers. How are you taking the feedback and has anything altered your initial set of plans for the game?

Kepa Auwae: There's some... Read All

Kinect-less Xbox One!

http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/xbox_one_no_kinect-590x330.jpg

Microsoft has finally announced that they will be releasing an Xbox One without the Kinect for $399!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2014/05/13/microsoft-xbox-one-399/9034693/

This is great news to me. I have been an Xbox user in the past and preferred it to the PlayStation, but the One bundled with the Kinect completely turned me off to the Xbox. I am probably still leaning towards a PS4 when I finally get around to buying a new console, but this finally made the Xbox One competitive for me.

What are your thoughts? Are you more likely to get the Xbox One now?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/13/2014 at 07:10pm

Much more appealing now. I recently had the chance to play Titanfall at a friends house, and I was seriously impressed. I love the more stylized FPSs (Halo, TF2, Planetside 2...), and this felt really good, settling any concerns I had over the new controller. Maybe looking into acquiring a One sooner than expected...

I think I used the Kinect on my 360 all of 10 hours since it was launched, so I'm glad they are separating it from the core system.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/13/2014 at 08:50pm

I'm not more likely to get it, no. Everything that I've seen still makes me prefer the PS4, but this is still great news.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/13/2014 at 11:36pm

The price drop is nice for sure. The fact they are not making the connect an integral part of the experience surprises me.

Isn't the Kinect the next gen hot thing that will make everything better for console owners? I mean to imply no snark here, that's a real question. Thing is, I thought Microsoft said it was and it was the future and everyone wants it, they just might not know it yet. Fair point, often times companies are ahead of the curve a bit. Apple did it with flash on the iPhone and even though there were some haters, they were right. Well, since Microsoft is doing this are they wrong?

Maybe I am looking at it strangely. All I know is that it seems like a great feature and the people that have a XBone seem to love the enhanced Kinect stuff so I don't quite understand this. I mean if people don't want the Kinect but want a cutting edge console go PS4 right?

I mean, yay choice I suppose, but this is more confusing for me than anything. With or without a Kinect I don't want to own a XBone, but I really do want to understand the why for this change more than anything.

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 05/14/2014 at 12:27am

Even though the Kinect experience was supposed to be amazing, like you said, there was no way I was going to use it. I had a Kinect with my 360 and almost never used it. My daughter did a little, and sometimes talked me into playing a Kinect game with her, but other than that, I never used it.

The "always on" feature just gave me the creeps. If I could say "Xbox on" and it turned on, then it was always listening to me. I don't think I need a tinfoil hat to protect my thoughts yet, but I do have some paranoia about privacy (Note to Donald Sterling. It's now safe to buy an Xbox One).

Just the fact that it's $100 less is great. I have always preferred the Xbox style to the PlayStation, from controller to games, but I wasn't about to spend $499 on a system when I could spend $399 and have something comparable.

My guess is that I'm not the only one with these issues of privacy and cost, and that's why Microsoft is unbundling.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/05/13/microsoft-vs-sony-console-wars-winner-predicted.aspx

Those features were also very prominently touted during the Xbox One introduction press conference, and in theory they are very cool. In reality they don't work that well and a big question remains as to whether consumers want them.

Microsoft can theoretically improve these things with software updates, but as Apple has shown with its Siri voice assistant, people might like the idea of voice commands more than the reality.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/14/2014 at 12:38am

"Microsoft can theoretically improve these things with software updates, but as Apple has shown with its Siri voice assistant, people might like the idea of voice commands more than the reality."

I think that's pretty true from my use. Siri is nice when I am driving and want to text, I just tap a button and speak into my phone. Yay, saving lives. That said, I never use it beyond that. It's just simpler or whatever to just tap to do what I want, plus I don't have to wait for Siri to think about it and get back to me.

I agree that I prefer the XBox controller better, but I have a ps3 and it's fine, it's just not better. That said, the always on thing is creepy but I have a surge protector on my TV/PS3/Wii and flip it off when it's not on, which is most of the time so the whole "xbox on" thing would never really work for me.

PS if we had "joke of the week" awards on the site, your Sterling joke would win.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/14/2014 at 01:38am

My take on why voice operated technology isn't really taking yet, in the consumer space at least, is because of the specific communication that has to happen between the user and the device. While the likes of the new Kinect and Siri are getting better at this, the experience is still...well, like talking to a machine. After the novelty wears off, you realize that you have to speak at a certain volume, sometimes at a certain pitch (try using Kinect with a deep voice) and giving specific commands before the interface recognizes what you are trying to accomplish. It's not personal. The catch with this type of technology is that it is a learning technology. The more you use it, the better it understands. This, in and of itself, isn't the problem. The problem comes when you tie that into a device that has to be connected to a global network where someone else could be listening. Microsoft may have had good intentions with their cloud-based gaming environment and an Xbox that came standard with a high definition camera/microphone that observed its environment 24hrs a day, but when it comes down to it, they scared the shit out of people. We just aren't ready for that. The bigger question might be whether or not we should ever be.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 05/14/2014 at 01:52am

In related news Microsoft also announced that they are not going to require you to have to pay for Xbox Live in order to use apps like Netflix or Hulu. As far as I understand it, the current system essentially makes you pay twice if you want to use something like Netflix: once for Xbox Live and again for your Netflix subscription. Starting in June, that will no longer be the case.

Combined with the Kinect news, this is good news for anyone who was wanting an Xbox. While I will admit both changes make the console much, much more appealing I am still not ready to buy a next gen console. (Although Titanfall does look freaking awesome.)

Travis Admin wrote on 05/14/2014 at 03:32am

Off-topic from the console discussion, I use Siri all the time. Having Siri set alarms is WAY faster than doing it manually, for example. Actually like 30% of my Siri use is probably setting alarms.

But I have Siri read texts, call people, compose messages, tons of other stuff. She's useful as hell.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/14/2014 at 04:17pm

@Travis: Yeah I use Siri to text while I am driving and create certain reminders. Like for when I get home, to do something. That said, I don't. BUT I know many people do and it's great that is works as well as it does.

@WhiteboySlim: The Netflix news is really great actually. Does this apply to the 360 too? If so, it's really about time as it's pretty nuts to make people pay to use a for pay video service when no one else does that.

Missile_Drop_Kick wrote on 05/17/2014 at 02:48pm

I have the XBone. I like the voice commands, it makes navigating around easier. I don't find it useful for gaming at all. I like the integrated Twitch commands though

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/17/2014 at 05:44pm

Awesome. From the people I've talked to that have it, they love the XBone Kinect.

Which, again, is partly why I don't understand this. I mean, pricing, sure.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/17/2014 at 06:40pm

I don't think they like that Sony has been outselling them for the past 4 months. It's another compromise that they didn't want to make (in fact, told us they wouldn't make), but they need the sales.

Either that, or developer support for Kinect has dropped substantially.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/18/2014 at 05:43am

Scrypt, yeah, that's what I'm imagining. Beyond the $100, there's a group of people (maybe significant, maybe a vocal few) who don't like the potential privacy issues that having video/audio constantly being captured could cause.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 05/18/2014 at 05:16pm

I think sales is probably the biggest reason. The PS4 has been consistently out selling the Xbone. Closing the price gap between the two systems should help Microsoft level the playing field. It's funny just how much the Xbone has changed from it's original unveiling. There isn't much of Microsoft's original plan for the console left.

I'm not sure how developer support for the kinect is since I'm not well versed in Xbox games, but from what I've read online and from the few Xbox games I've seen I've gotten the impression that the kinect was never utilized that much. But again, I don't really know for sure.

The privacy concerns were probably the last thing Microsoft was thinking of when making this decision. Still, privacy advocates win regardless of Microsoft's motivations, so yay!

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/18/2014 at 05:51pm

There isn't much of Microsoft's original plan for the console left.

This is probably the most interesting part of all of this. The gaming industry is usually on the forefront of eschewing in new technology, and, be it from a place of ignorance or enlightened objection, this time the customers said "No, thanks!" One would think that Microsoft could have avoided such a disruption with a bit of social awareness, instead of a "Well, go play your XBox 360 then" attitude. I'm not saying anyone else is so much better, but they really stuck their foot in it. This is a great example of why competition is good for the marketplace. Imagine if there was no Playstation 4, and the Xbox One was the default option. We would pretty much just get what we get (e.g. Windows 8).

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Random Steam Play: Splice, A Great Cell Based Puzzle Game

Like many of you I have a ton of games in Steam I've never played. We all get them from bundles, game packs or Steam sales and have high ambitions to play them all. Eventually.

Thing is, over the last year my list of games has increased at a faster rate than I can play them so I decided to take steps to address this. One thing I do now is I don't buy a game I won't immediately play. So if there is a new sweet bundle OR game on sale, I will not buy it unless I will be playing it within a few days of buying it. My thinking here is that if I don't plan on sitting down to play the game now it won't happen in a week.

I have also decided that when I want to play a new game,... Read All

Reaper of Souls Coming to Consoles August 19th

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Blizzard will launch Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Ultimate Edition on consoles August 19th. If you have been unable to play the game thus far because your are console bound, now you will get your chance. At first I thought this release would only make it to the PS4 and XBone, but it seems Blizzard is releasing it on the PS3, PS4, 360 & XBone to keep everyone happy.

"Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition is filled to the brim with fast-paced action, awe-inspiring heroes, and legendary treasure. It features all the content included in the Reaper of Souls expansion set, as well as Acts I through IV of the original Diablo III for those who have yet to vanquish the Lord of... Read All

Tim Schafer Plays Day of the Tentacle

"Tim sits down for the first time in 10 years to play "Day of the Tentacle"! In this first installment we explore some of Bernard's storyline and clear away the cobwebs of time from Tim's memory. "

Double Fine is releasing a few videos that have since been special backers only rewards. I just watched the latest video of Tim Schafer playing Day of the Tentacle. Hearing him talk about the games development as he plays it is really great as Day of the Tentacle has always had a special place in my "video game soul."

Thy plan on releasing more videos of Tim Schafer playing Lucas Arts classics and will conclude the Day of the Tentacle play with a part 2.

What memories do you... Read All

Diablo: Mortal Shroud Comes to Starcraft II

Blizzard gave Starcraft II a great map editor. That editor has spawned many awesome Arcade maps and in the case of the Warcraft III editor, it even created the whole MOBA game genre with DoTA. Not to be undone by the past, someone has taken it upon themselves to recreate the original Diablo in Starcraft II and call it "Diablo: Mortal Shroud."

Playing it is pretty simple, you just open Starcraft II, go to the Arcade section and search for "mortal" and select Diablo: Mortal Shroud. The game is already pretty darn great and has the feel of the original Diablo. The mod author is using the original game voice acting, art and play style as the original. The game looks a bit... Read All

New Unreal Tournament Game in the Works, Will be Free

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"Work on the future of Unreal Tournament begins today, and we’re happy to announce that we’re going to do this together, with you. We know that fans of the game are as passionate about Unreal Tournament as we are. We know that you have great ideas and strong opinions about where the game should go and what it should be. So let’s do something radical and make this game together, in the open, and for all of us.

HERE’S THE PLAN:

We’ve created a small team of UT veterans that are beginning work on the project starting today.

From the very first line of code, the very first art created and design decision made, development will happen in the open, as a collaboration... Read All

Terraria 1.2.4 Drops: Mounts, Quests, Minecarts and More!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bm51qwFCMAEmZt_.png

"As many of you know we decided to pull several of the mechanics and features from the Lunar Update and do them in a smaller update to minimize the wait for a patch. Now that this is out of the way we will be putting our full attention on the Lunar. Lazure has already been hard at work creating assets for the event and Crowno has a pretty awesome idea for the final boss of the event."

From the top of the feature list:

"You can now get quests from the Angler NPC for cool rewards. Each time you complete a quest, the rewards progressively get better.
You can now use critters as bait for fishing.
You can now ride around in style on the new Minecart system.
Beaches no longer... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 05/09/2014 at 12:49am

This game is growing faster than I'm comfortable with. Not really, but kinda.

I'm seriously wondering at what point it will reach "too big." I'm kind of obsessive about games like this and I want to collect EVERYTHING and do EVERYTHING.

Terraria is going to be the death of me.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/09/2014 at 12:57am

Perhaps a good problem to have? That said, Terraria is still VERY finite and our games have pretty obvious ends.

That said, they are giving it WAY more of a life than i'd have thought and I really respect that. Doesn't seem like we have that much further to go for the "final update."

Travis Admin wrote on 05/09/2014 at 01:02am

Yeah I love it. I really do. BUT I WILL NEVER BE DONE. :)

Seriously, I'm looking forward to getting back into it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/09/2014 at 01:05am

Me too. I was thinking holidays for server part 4. Or is it 3?

Travis Admin wrote on 05/09/2014 at 01:07am

4. We've done three. I guess lunar update is the obvious point for server 4.

And if by "holidays" you're talking about December, I'm not sure I can wait that long. If you were talking about Memorial Day or Independence Day as "holidays" though...

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/09/2014 at 01:37am

I'd be open to an earlier server.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/09/2014 at 01:50pm

I played around with this a bit last night. The smart cursor is awesome, but I can imagine I wouldn't want to use it all the time. With my already decked out character I was able to mine all the way to hell in a new large world in about a minute.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/10/2014 at 12:16am

The new stuff seems interesting, I'll have to check it out sometime. When I saw the minecart video, I thought that it would be really cool if some how worlds could generate some minecart trails. I think that would be cool.

Is Lunar another game they are making?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/10/2014 at 12:46am

The Lunar update, according to what I have read, seems to be one of the last large content updates to Terraria? They plan on adding the Moon and the final boss there.

I kind of thought the last boss would be Cthulhu himself, but it seems like it won't be.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/10/2014 at 01:56am

Interesting, thanks for filling me in.

Sungorth wrote on 05/10/2014 at 02:08am

I havn't played for probably a year - this game looks insane now

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/10/2014 at 04:23am

@Sungorth: The game really has gotten pretty huge, I played it at 1.1 and then 1.2 and haven't yet played this update. Can't wait to start up a new game.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/10/2014 at 11:16am

Jon, do you mean, "start up a new game," as in a new character in a new world? That would be dedication, going though it all over again. I've thought about doing that, maybe I will again eventually.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/10/2014 at 12:29pm

We've done it at least three times. Every time we do a new server we start up new characters. I have one other that I started fresh. It's fun!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/10/2014 at 01:48pm

Wow! I've only created one character.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/10/2014 at 04:09pm

Yeah, going through the game fresh is really fun. Otherwise there isn't much to do save the new content.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 05/10/2014 at 05:47pm

It's also kinda nice to start a new character because not all the new content is meant for end game. So I tend to discover things a little more naturally as I progress through the game. Plus I seem to progress quicker with each successive play through so starting over isn't really that big of a deal. :)

That said, if we start up another server I have no real preference for new characters or continuing on with existing ones. I think we'd have fun either way.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/10/2014 at 09:47pm

Good points!

Travis Admin wrote on 05/11/2014 at 01:55am

With starting up a new one I'd definitely want new characters. There have been so many minor additions since our last one that we would still miss out on a ton.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/11/2014 at 02:54am

At least they didn't nerf our favorite weapons again. Too bad they didn't un-nerf them. Hahaha Anyway, the wiki doesn't seem to have the Angler listed under NPCs yet.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/11/2014 at 05:19am

Which wiki are you using? If you're using the wikia wiki, you're doing it wrong. The gamepedia one is the "official" one, and is much better.

http://terraria.gamepedia.com/Angler

That said, both wikis have the Angler in this case.

http://terraria.wikia.com/wiki/Angler

And they both have them in the categories:
http://terraria.gamepedia.com/Template:Town_NPCs
http://terraria.wikia.com/wiki/NPC

It looks like all those page changes were made on the 9th, so if you checked before Friday they may not have been there.

I'm probably giving you way more info than you care about.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/11/2014 at 10:12am

I was looking at the official one. Thanks for the links. If you notice the Angler doesn't seem to be on the front page.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/11/2014 at 01:30pm

Looks like it was added earlier this morning

http://terraria.gamepedia.com/index.php?title=Terraria_Wiki&oldid=253906

Travis Admin wrote on 05/11/2014 at 01:33pm

I just realized that I barely ever looked at the front page, if ever, I just search for the thing/category I'm after. There's a lot missing from it, but it's a nice primer.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/11/2014 at 06:33pm

There we go!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/11/2014 at 06:58pm

Yeah, I just search for what I am looking for. Except for when I started and really didn't know what I could do with the game. That said, I love the wiki and hope it's always maintained.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/12/2014 at 01:21am

Oh it will be. So many obsessed fans! What would we do without them?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/12/2014 at 03:35am

Miss more than half the game.

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