Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake: Min-terview -w Justin Baldwin

Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake is the game that got me hooked on Kickstarter. From seeing the first few minutes of the video to looking at the lush game art, I was impressed. After seeing the game first hand at Portland Retro Gaming Expo, I can say that I can't wait to get my hands on the final product. I've been curious about the progress of the game for quite some time so I decided to ship over a few questions to Sleep Ninja Games. Justin Baldwin got back and as a special treat gave us two exclusive screen shots of the game in development. The first shot above is of the Village with the in game character Altus. The other screen grab is of The Apricot Acres and you... Read All

My Place (updated)

I'm not sure why, but before (in 1.2) I couldn't get Steam to capture a screenshot, so I windowed my game and used the Snipping Tool. Now it works and I thought I'd share my place, since Travis asked long ago. Feel free to notice my character. I found a Familiar Wig, Shirt, and Pants while exploring CGWorld3 and thought I'd equip them. These are the first vanity items I've used. The set makes my character look much more like him without armor. I don't know if that's a coincidence that the color of these items is either what my character has (without armor) or close. I've also experimented again with embedding the screenshot. I think it will work this time (if not I'll... Read All

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/15/2014 at 04:53am

Success!!! I should get a new trophy for successfully embedding an image. I'm so proud! Hahahaha.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/15/2014 at 04:55am

I just noticed! Look at my hotkey items list in the upper-left-hand corner, see the yellow? Ugly!

Travis Admin wrote on 02/15/2014 at 06:01am

You can embed with a new post. You can pick image/video/sound.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/15/2014 at 06:37am

I see that now, I ignored those icons before. Anyway, what I took from Jon was his Godly Possessed Hatchet (not a hammer). It's pretty cool. I was wrong when I previously said that Eater of Worlds was the only boss I haven't fought. So now I've defeated it and the Slime King. I'll have to look down the list to see what other bosses there are that I may have missed. I was surprised when EoW spawned after I blew up one Shadow Heart (or Orb), it's supposed to spawn after blowing up 3 of them. Ah well, I won anyway, so I'm not complaining. That Pumpking is a pain in the butt! I know I got it low on health once, but it defeated me and when I respawned and saw it again, it was back to full health. Bug?

Travis Admin wrote on 02/15/2014 at 07:05am

You probably popped into a world where we had already done two of them after the last EoW fight. It's by world, not player, so it was your first orb broken, but you broke the third. If that makes sense.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/15/2014 at 07:06am

Oh and no, that's not a bug with the Pumpking. It was a different Pumpking that spawned. In later waves you fight multiple Pumpkings.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/15/2014 at 07:18am

That is what I thought, about the broken orb. As for Pumpking, well that makes sense, sure, but I'm not sure why a new one would spawn after defeating me and not being defeated itself. I didn't notice this happening with Mourning Wood, for instance.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/15/2014 at 02:25pm

Awesome, thanks for showing this and glad you are enjoying the CG server worlds we shared. It's kind of fun looking at the first ones and realizing how far we've all come as builders. On CGworld3 you should checkout the jungle and some of our bee areas. CGworld3 had a map that was damn near perfect as far as I was concerned.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/15/2014 at 02:33pm

The Pumpking despawns when nobody is around to fight it. Then, when someone *is* around to fight it, it comes back. Mourning wood just acts like a normal enemy, but Pumpking acts like a boss, despawning once the fight is over.

It is really awesome seeing how far we've come. My first house was so bad.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/16/2014 at 02:28am

Thanks, Travis, that makes total sense actually! Yes, I'm thrilled to have three new worlds to explore! That has gotten me back into the game where as I reached a point to where I wasn't sure what else to do as I felt like I pretty much had everything I wanted or needed (yet still could not finish the Pumpkin Moon event). I'm amazed by what you guys did in each world. Yes, CGWorld3 is by the the absolute best and my favorite. The fact that the trap area helped me progress further into the Pumpkin Moon event is all the reason I need to believe that is the best one. They're all good, really, though. You guys put a LOT of work into it obviously! It's not wonder you all have spent so much time in the game, it's obvious you did. Another thing that really impressed me (other than your fabulous abodes) was that you have statues of armor and other wearable sets, including chests underneath each one that contains the materials. Ah, you guys are awesome! I'm so very glad I'm here and thankful that you've given me even more to enjoy!

Travis Admin wrote on 02/16/2014 at 04:55am

Yeah I put together the armory when I got to the point where I was ready for hard mode but not everyone was. I needed something to occupy my time :)

But it helped immensely. That level of crazy organization was almost necessary when you get so much stuff you forget where you left it.

That's always the problem I have early game. I don't want to put a ton of effort into organizing since I know I'm going to rebuild so I end up having like 8 chests full of crap that's impossible to sort through.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/16/2014 at 07:50am

LOL! Sounds like me, Travis. Not all of my chests are organized. I noticed the same with the CG worlds, so I organized a little bit (some people stackable things in separate slots, so I stacked what I could and moved items around in the way that I organize my chests, which is items going from left to right). So, I decided to go ahead a loot the CG worlds. I didn't really take much, yet I took a lot. I finally decided to put some things back as I really didn't need so many of one item. I did take the Hoverboard I found and reforged it so now it has +4 defense. I like it! I also took your Nightmare Before Christmas painting, created a new floor in my own place, and put it up. I wasn't going to, but decided to anyway. I also found out that I could sell all the bones I had in my own chests (I had one chest full of them), so I sold a bunch of them! Cobwebs aren't worth anything so I removed almost all of them from my chest and put them in a CG world. That's one thing I like about having these worlds, they are now mine and I can do as I want with them mwahahahahaha, so I can be as greedy as I want. Hahaha. As for structures and other things, I'm not making any changes. I explored the ground-level areas of CG1 and it makes me wonder if that one was a large world.

Also, do you guys remember finding any desert temples in any of these worlds? That would be cool. I plan to do more exploring, in part to see what you guys did underground. I did find some breakable pots, but otherwise I don't really need anything, so I probably won't do much mining (if any at all).

Travis Admin wrote on 02/16/2014 at 03:55pm

Cg world 3 was the only one we did after desert temples were added. There is one there but it's very small.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/16/2014 at 11:19pm

Cool, thanks! I'll have to check it out.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/17/2014 at 01:38am

It's fine to "loot" the worlds as since they are copied on your system its not stealing :D

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/17/2014 at 04:23am

Yeah, Jon. I felt bad for it and even hesitated, but it's true that they are now my worlds. I still think there are items I should back so that they are there and my "World 1" doesn't have such an absurd amount (like my Greater Health Potions). I definitely did not take everything as I don't need everything. I'm probably also not going to sell anything in those worlds as I don't really need the money. Money was only an issue at the beginning of the game when I didn't even have 1 gold, now I have about 24 platinum!

Travis Admin wrote on 02/17/2014 at 04:36am

Yeah money used to be harder to come by. It's really not in the 1.2 update. It's much better now. I think we averaged about 1 plat after all was said in done after the first two worlds, but after world 3 Jon, WBS and I had at least 25 plat each I think.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/17/2014 at 04:48am

Sweet. It took me a while to realize I could make platinum coins.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/17/2014 at 04:54am

You can also auto-stack it in a chest/bank/safe/whatever and it will make them for you

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/17/2014 at 05:21am

I don't think I ever realized that, Travis, thanks for the tip!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/17/2014 at 01:35pm

I was wrong, I have almost 27 platinum coins. Mwhahahahaha!!! Well, I did recently sell a bunch of my stuff, mostly duplicates of things I had that I don't need. I also sold that annoying Jetpack. I saved the Butterfly Wings, but I'm loving this Hoverboard! It's quiet, it's blue, and can go vertically and horizontally. I also sold a bunch of my Blinkroot which I collected from my own world and don't need. Ialso deposited a lot of the things I took from the CG worlds and put them in CG3. The amount of things I had was insane and unnecessary. I started exploring underground on CGW3. It's cool to see where you guys (I can safely say that because I don't believe any ladies have played it or reported playing it with you guys) had mined and tunneled, but you didn't get everywhere. I'm really surprised to have found so many breakable pots. I also like finding underground chests because I've picked up some things I don't want or need (like Healing Potions, the weakest ones) and can store them as I go about getting more stuff.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/17/2014 at 01:37pm

Oh, I forgot to ask an important question. Can Terraria run stand-alone without Steam? I'm giving this PC to my son when I get my new one and he wanted Terraria, but I don't want him to have Steam, although it might be safe since he's not going to have any credit card information to purchase anything (I don't want him to have Steam = I don't want him purchasing anything on Steam).

Travis Admin wrote on 02/17/2014 at 08:37pm

No, Terraria has to have Steam to run. At least legitimately. There have been some ways around it.

If you give him a Steam account you can use Steam family options to lock it down.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/17/2014 at 08:38pm

And yeah after I while I just stopped breaking pots. When you're mining for stuff it just fills up your inventory with useless stuff.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/18/2014 at 01:37am

Hm, that may be something I have to look into, Travis. I wouldn't mind if I had to buy Terraria, it's certainly worthy of my money! I've almost put in 200 hours! As for the pots, well I do agree with you, but they can also contain money, which I think is worth getting.

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Metal Jesus Compares Super Famicom & Super NES Cover Art

Metal Jesus compares the cover art from the Super Nintendo and Super Famicom games such as Mother 2, Phalanx, Super Metroid and Link to the Past. As always, YouTuber Metal Jesus brings the awesome and as such this video is well done and contains some interesting history about the games as well.

Metal Jesus Rocks.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Beginning Overview

Overview

Pre-order bonus is cool!

Possibly recommended if you enjoyed the demo

Demo is beginning of game’s story

Play as Lighting, alone

Schemata are like outfits each with their own abilities and attributes

Pre-order bonus: Lightning Returns has been out for two days now, so I've had a couple of days to play. One of my favorite things about the game is that I got Cloud's Soldier 1st Class garb due to pre-ordering the game. It's very nice seeing Lightning in Cloud's uniform. What's cool, too, is that if I finish a battle in that garb, the Fanfare from Final Fantasy VII plays. It has a pretty powerful attack, which uses up a good bit of the ATB Gauge, I use it when I... Read All Overview

Pre-order bonus is cool!

Possibly recommended if you enjoyed the demo

Demo is beginning of game’s story

Play as Lighting, alone

Schemata are like outfits each with their own abilities and attributes

Pre-order bonus: Lightning Returns has been out for two days now, so I've had a couple of days to play. One of my favorite things about the game is that I got Cloud's Soldier 1st Class garb due to pre-ordering the game. It's very nice seeing Lightning in Cloud's uniform. What's cool, too, is that if I finish a battle in that garb, the Fanfare from Final Fantasy VII plays. It has a pretty powerful attack, which uses up a good bit of the ATB Gauge, I use it when I can. The ability seems to change if the enemy is staggered, which is also helpful.

Spoiler-free story intro: The game works as I described in my first writing of the demo version. Lightning slept for 500 years in crystal form and was awoken by God (Bhunivelze) to do his bidding, in return he'll bring Serah (Lightning's sister and Snow's fiancee) back. However, there's an enemy roaming about, who seems to be able to control the Chaos that's spreading and bears a striking resemblance to Serah. Lightning's task is to save as many souls as she can in the thirteen days before God awakens and destroys the current world and creates a new one. All the souls Lightning saves get reborn into the new world.

Time is definitely not on her side! The clock is ticking and some quests can only be completed at certain times of the day. Luckily, Hope has returned, but for some unknown reason is a boy (as he was in FFXIII) and not the man he was in FFXIII-2. He is aboard the Ark guiding Lightning through her quest. At 6AM (game time) every day, Lightning must return to the Ark, where time stands still, to deposit the souls she's saved. This helps grow the Yggdrasil tree on board and with enough souls, Lightning can have more days until the end of the world. Currently, it seems that the world will be destroyed before the thirteenth day as Chaos is consuming the world, leaving only a handful of areas to venture to.

The demo version of the game is the beginning of the game. Lightning crashes in on Snow during one of his banquets and they have a bit of a duel while monsters pour in from a nearby Chaos infusion. Snow fights against Lighting and the monsters, but something is weird about one of his hands, it apparently seems able to suck up the Chaos. Snow later disappears into the Chaos as Lightning chases him.

Lightning cannot save all the souls in the world and she must act quickly to save as many as she can. She must use time management and decide whether to spend a lot of time saving a few souls, or spend less time saving more. It's a conundrum and there are five significant souls for her to save, my best guess is that these are fellow FFXIII characters. I'm already aware of Snow and I believe Noel (from FFXIII-2) was following me in another area.

This is the first Final Fantasy game I can recall where there is no party, just a single character controlled by the player. So far, I'm enjoying the game. The music seems new, but a few bits are obviously recycled. There was one character playing a familiar FF song, a bit remixed and I'm still not sure what it is or where it's from, my guess is FFVII.

Schemata are kind of like outfits that Lightning has access to. She can only switch between three at one time. Each have their own abilities and features. It’s very similar to the dresses used by Yuna and her companions in FFX-2. The pre-order bonus I got of Cloud Strife is just one of these (so far it’s my favorite). Although I got ingredients for three schemata for pre-ordering, so far the Cloud one is the only one I've really used. I set it as default, so that's what I see Lightning running around the game wearing, it's pretty cool. You have room to create more as sub-schemata and change them out (outside of battle) as you please. You can customize each schema with a different garb, shield, weapon (the three main ingredients), accessories, and abilities. So far, I've only explored two different places. I haven't completed every quest I've accepted, but I'm working on it. It doesn't seem too difficult, but I have died a time or two. You are limited to the number of restoration potions you can carry (six at first), which grows as Lightning grows by completing quests.

Recommendation: If you play and like the demo, you'll probably like the game. I think it's pretty cool and so far I'm not disappointed. I may even decide to play the other FFXIII games again. I know in the first one, I wanted to unlock the PS3 theme for Fang, but that required crafting everything. I also believe there were some areas I didn't unlock in FFXIII-2.

Update 11/2019: It's been quite a while. I don't recall how much I played this game or how far I made it. I don't think I made it very far though. I'm not sure what happened, whether it was that I didn't like it or that I decided to play another game. I tried replaying the FFXIII games almost a year ago and just found myself a bit disappointed in them. I can't quite explain this. On my last play through of FFXIII, I did get near the end, but then the game beat the crap out of me and I gave up. Otherwise, I couldn't "get into" the FFXIII games as a whole.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/14/2014 at 03:26am

I really liked FF XIII, but a lot of people had some legitimate complaints about it. What do you think about the progression of the series, especially taking into account what FF XIII brought to the table? I haven't played XIII-2 but I've heard it fixed a few of the complaints while adding a few more.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/14/2014 at 04:28am

What complaints? I'm not familiar with any specifically. I don't really have my own complaints, but some of the music was very depressing, considering what I was going through when I was playing the other two games in the series. I remember fighting a Giant Cactaur and losing badly.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/14/2014 at 04:55pm

It's linear, there are no towns, you only get to do any kind of free roam more than halfway through the game, so on. Those are the gist of the complaints people had.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/14/2014 at 05:00pm

Oh yeah, I forgot all about those complaints. I think that if that's what the majority of the complaints were then it must have been a great game. LOL In other words, I see those complaints as pretty petty. I think FFXIII-2 was less linear, actually that's true since you travel through time, whether it be to the past or future that you unlock by accomplishing some task in one of the three time zones (past, present, and future).

Timogorgon Member wrote on 02/14/2014 at 08:05pm

I'll admit I'm one of those people who really did not like FFXIII. The only parts of the game I enjoyed in my 4 or so hours with the game was loading up the opening cut-scene after buying my new HDTV and the cut-scene where Lightning punches Snow, because seriously, F that guy. The story didn't grab my attention, I found the characters* all boring or, worse, annoying. And once people started telling me that the game doesn't really "get good" until 20+ hours in, I just said screw it, I'm out. Because I disliked the first game I completely ignored the sequels (this is the third or fourth game in the series now?)

On a side note, why on earth is Square rereleasing, HDing, or updating pretty much every Final Fantasy game except the one everyone is asking for? Where is FF7HD?!

Travis Admin wrote on 02/14/2014 at 09:54pm

why on earth is Square rereleasing, HDing, or updating pretty much every Final Fantasy game except the one everyone is asking for?

AMEN! That PS3 tech demo had everyone drooling and practically begging for it.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/15/2014 at 12:47am

I understand, Tim. I didn't like it as much as previous Final Fantasy games, I'm not sure why other than some of the depressing music. Oh, this new game is the third.

That is true and funny, about the re-releases. I just noticed today that the HD release of FFX and X-2 is coming out next month. I'm not sure I'll get it. I loved both games (even though most people hated the sequel), but I've played them enough and still have the originals and my PS2. Oh, and I believe I still have that tech demo for FFVII on my PS3.

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Game/Show: Are Angry Fans Hurting Gaming?

"The internet has been an amazing place for fandoms. Fanboys and fangirls can celebrate their love of a game, connect with other fans, and even reach out to creators. We now have the ability for greater levels of participation, but can this power turn ugly? Some fans spew anger and hatred when disappointed with a videogame, often directing their ire at the creators themselves. Is there a danger with this sort of behavior?"

Are angry fanboys hurting the gaming industry? Well... yeah, absolutely. In fact we did an entire episode of The Cheerful Ghost Roundtable about "The Internet Hate Factory."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-IwC9j1U8g

So watch Game/Show, then watch the... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 02/14/2014 at 03:29am

Yes.

I think it's that simple.

I haven't watched the video yet, but I think I can answer already.

The internet is amazing but people use it to complain quite a bit and it's a sea of negativity. That's to be expected and people should complain when there are problems that need complaining about, but overall it isn't as constructive as it should be. Anonymity adds a buffer that people can hide behind to criticize and be jerks without it being attached to themselves. I've been making an effort recently to distance myself from "panickedthumb" and use my real name where possible/feasible/safe so that I don't say anything on the internet that I wouldn't want attached to my real name for that very reason, actually.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/14/2014 at 10:56pm

I think that's a really good idea. "jdodson" isn't hard to parse out to my real name, but I like using it because its my unix/linux username and I kind of like associating with that level of nerd.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/15/2014 at 07:26am

Why did I read it as "Are Angry Birds Fans Hurting Gaming?" LOL! Still, he has a great point and I can't help but to agree with him. I can't recall the name of the developer that was mentioned in this video and in one of your roundtable videos, but it is sad that angry gamers can get a developer so upset. Is this also why Flappy Birds was removed from app stores today? That developer said that he couldn't "take it anymore," though I'm not sure what specifically he was referring to.

I totally agree with Travis, the Internet provides anonymity and people do tend to complain a lot and it is most definitely "a sea of negativity." Just look at your Facebook newsfeed, especially whenever something "controversial" is posted. Even though anonymity doesn't exist as much there, people will still comment negatively on a post you made instead of just ignoring it and scrolling through the rest of their newsfeed.

I also agree with Travis about distancing himself from his online alias, although that's not something I've put any thought into. At first (during the BBS years), I went by "Cobain" (yes, an obvious reference). I then later changed my alias a bit over the years to various ones, one that last a long time was some version of "Cupid De Locke" (The Smashing Pumpkins song) like QpiDeLocke. However, now I use "GregoPeck" as I've been called "Gregory Peck" or "Peck" for short and at college, I was nicknamed "Grego."

That's cool about yours, Jon. Mine is similar too as I sometimes use gawoodruff (adding my middle initial after the first to differentiate from my Dad who is also named "Greg").

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/15/2014 at 02:28pm

As far as I am concerned, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is the best album of all time.

Dates me some I suppose :D

Travis Admin wrote on 02/15/2014 at 02:36pm

Ah, Mellon Collie. Such a damn good album. I wouldn't call it the best of all time, but it's by far my favorite SP album. That's mostly because I don't care for their other work much, but I could listen to Mellon Collie on repeat for days. If Billy Corgan's voice were different, I would probably agree that it's the best album ever, honestly. I've just never cared for it.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/16/2014 at 02:21am

Yes, MCIS was fantastic! What else I loved is that the released all the singles in a box set, which contained more songs (some very good covers, in fact, like "You're All I've Got Tonight"). It probably is my favorite album by them, although Gish and Siamese Dream are right up there with it. I listened to their latest one a few times and liked it.

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Terraria Gets A Massive 1.2.3 Update

I haven't had much time to process the entirety of the 1.2.3 update but at first blush, it looks like the game just got Nerfed. I don't mind adding more progressing or making things a little less easy to get, but some of the changes in this patch hit me "in the feels."

Here are a few changes that I am not entirely in love with:

* Chlorophyte is slightly more rare and grows slower.
* Golden shower debuff time was reduced to 10 seconds..
* Golden shower now only penetrates 5 targets.
* Golden Shower now does slightly less damage.
* Lowered the damage of Chlorophyte Bullets.

Some changes I like:

* Plantera bulb's don't spawn until all 3 mech bosses are defeated.
* You cannot... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 02/14/2014 at 03:23am

Mmm yeah, overall this feels like a downgrade without some extra stuff to fill the gaps. The bee gun damage is definitely welcome, but the nerfs to chlorophyte hurt quite a bit. It was already rare as hell on a multiplayer server (granted, it would probably be a little abundant for single-player worlds), and golden shower is a lot less effective. I mean that was a go-to spell for me, and many others. I guess that's why it got nerfed though, you don't want a go-to spell that everyone uses. I would have preferred to see some buffs to bring the other spells up to the utility of golden shower though. Life crystals no longer spawning in the dungeon is a little disappointing, though I was generally at max life by then. The mana potion debuff that decreases magic damage is a big hit. That one hurts hard.

But yeah, I'm glad the mech bosses are tougher. And some of the non-balance changes are fan-damn-tastic...

The infinite wiring would have come in quite handy on our last world.

Little things like stackable buckets are a life-saver too for filling up massive pools.

Ore stacking to 999 is a GODSEND. OMG this is amazing.

Saplings on all grass types is handy. That makes farming jungle trees far easier

Replaced Tree 9's graphics? Good, that tree was a slacker. I have no idea what I'm talking about.

The upside-down slopes are awesome. That was one thing I wanted with the slopes added in the last update. Not a huge thing, but it will help for some of the creative builds people do.

More common pyramids are great, since I only ever saw one of those in the few worlds I made last update. I wish living trees were more common as well.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/14/2014 at 04:44am

NO!!!!!!! They changed my Golden Shower!! That was my pride and joy the last time I played! I'm looking through some of these changes, not really understanding why some of the things changed, not liking that my Golden Shower has been negatively affected. I agree with Travis about the ore stacking! Oh, my Terra Blade is upgraded!!! Oh, they fixed the Queen Bee bug! I've never fought her without that bug appearing, I found it really helpful. I'm not sure why they removed Life Crystals from the Dungeon, but I know that by the time I made it there, I didn't need them anymore.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/14/2014 at 04:56pm

You heard it here first, Greg loves golden showers.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/14/2014 at 05:00pm

Only the magic one! LOL

Timogorgon Member wrote on 02/14/2014 at 07:37pm

Yeah this update was kind of a mixed bag. That magic potion debuff seems kind of harsh and unnecessary. :\ And why oh why did they nerf my golden shower! The lowered damage... yeah ok I can kind of understand that but capping how many enemies it pierces will really hurt when trying to do the Pumpkin/frost moon events. The unlimited wiring and increased stack limits is awesome though! They also nerfed the heart lantern and campfire regen buffs, which kind of sucks.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/14/2014 at 10:50pm

Right. It seems Red wanted the game to be a bit harder. Maybe enough people will chime in and he will undo a few of the Nerfs. Whats interesting is I saw a beta version of these changes and it was WAY more Nerfs than what they rolled with, that set of changes would have really crapped up the game.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/15/2014 at 01:18am

Considering I haven't finished the Pumpkin and Frost Moon events, this "nerf" to the Golden Shower is disappointing. I'll probably have to try it out and see how badly it's been "nerfed." The strategy I was using the last time I tried the Pumpkin Moon event included using the Golden Shower, Nimbus Rod, and Staff of the Frost Hydra. This may be what I need to do to finish the event.

Travis, I'm apparently not the only one. LOL

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/15/2014 at 02:45am

So I've played a little bit of 1.2.3 and I thought I'd share my first impressions. First of all, I realized that I needed to reforge my Golden Shower as it had a -10% knockback debuff on it. Now it consumes less mana, it might be stronger, too, I'm trying to recall the buffs it got after the reforge. The menu has changed a bit, as for most of it, I don't mind, but having my selected slot highlighted in yellow is not a change I like. I don't think there's a setting to change the color and it's real not of much concern, I just think it's ugly. It seems my character sprite (if you want to call it that) has changed, too, but I noticed that you can select whether or not accessories are visible, maybe that's why my character looks uglier. I think I noticed a performance change, in that the game seemed to load quicker. Even the large world you created for the server didn't take very long to load, so I'm impressed with that. I also noticed a video setting where you can change the quality, one setting was called "Trippy." LOL I also realized that the Golden Shower isn't my pride and joy (well, it was for the few times I've used it), it's the Spectre Staff that's my pride and joy.

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Story Time with Cap'n Curry - Halo 2

My experience as an Xbox player was atypical, to say the least. I was months behind on game releases, and tended to play single-player games, so when some of my coworkers invited me to join them for a few rounds of Halo 2 online, I was slightly concerned that I'd repeat my performance of the original Halo (see http://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/1872).

But, since it was competitive, and nobody could *actually* see my screen, I figured that while "competent" might be a bit of a stretch I might be able to avoid becoming a legend. What I didn't realize is that I had gotten good enough at the Xbox family of FPS's that I could play on my tactical strengths, and I became a... Read All

Outerlands: An Episodic Documentary About Video Games

Back this on Kickstarter!

Full disclosure, I came to know about the Outerlands Kickstarter very recently. As such, if you are looking to back it on Kickstarter you should do it soon as from when this post drops they have 63 hours left. That said, Outerlands is an episodic documentary series brought to you by the people that created the One Up Show, Co-Op and several great documentaries about awesome classic games such as Street Fighter and The Last of Us.

The Outerlands Kickstarter provides some really great options that allow you just get access to the films themselves and upgrade for more insider access as well. You can even pony up to get the whole works on BluRay.

Watch All The 2014 Steam Developer Days Videos Now

Valve has released the set of Steam Developer Days videos on YouTube and you can watch them right now. Gabe kicks things off and tore right into a quick Q&A. I am currently watching the "Steam Machines in 2014 - Opening up the Living Room." It's a really great presentation with Alienware and Intel taking the stage talking about what they are doing to bring Steam to the living room.

Overall there are 27 talks that should keep you in Valve bliss for quite some time. If you are interested in watching the Steam Developer Days videos come back and let me know what you think!

hardeyez wrote on 02/13/2014 at 10:05pm

here's the link to the playlist of the videos http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLckFgM6dUP2hc4iy-IdKFtqR9TeZWMPjm It was surprisingly difficult to figure out (if you start with a youtube search of steam dev days... not a lot, then hit valve's channel and you just see a teaser... It's actually the "Steamworks Development" channel...

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/13/2014 at 10:57pm

I've been watching them on and off today as work allows and I'm finding the controller video to be incredibly intersting. They're walking through the design process and talking about how the design evolved.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/13/2014 at 10:57pm

interesting* that is

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/13/2014 at 11:15pm

I agree, they are really great. I think I'll watch them all sooner or later.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/14/2014 at 08:33pm

Just finished the Getting Started with Linux Game Development talk, and totally learned a lot. And I don't even program (nor use Linux) :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/15/2014 at 02:26pm

Finished up the Evolution of Consoles, Steam Features and a few
Talks on OpenGL and optimizing for Intel and AMD.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/17/2014 at 09:26pm

Almost done with Community and Communication in Games-As-Services, and I'm really happy to hear about how much Valve values it's players input. They're actively looking for users to talk about the game, and using what they learn from users to improve their games.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/17/2014 at 11:10pm

Valve apparently has the attitude that people that pay them for things deserve attention. Who knew :D

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/17/2014 at 11:50pm

I wish Autodesk felt the same way ;)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/18/2014 at 03:08am

I wish all companies did man. Frankly customers make them rich but I don't think they understand that entirely.

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The Anti-Katamari

http://2a34166a1c224507ff54-79590be14f37a3e58649da10f58ee927.r67.cf1.rackcdn.com/games/full/12316/1378743606.png

When a boulder holds a grudge, no one survives. Bowl your way down the mountain and destroy everything in your path. Crush villages, cars, yetis, golden cows, crush everything!

- CRUSH legions of outrageous mortals, beasts and buildings
- SMASH through over 60 nail-biting goals
- OBLITERATE your high score with boosts and upgrades
- DEMOLISH goals to unlock over 70 new destroyable objects
- DOMINATE your friends via Facebook and Game Center
- MASTER multiple control schemes: tilt, tap or joystick
- ROCK OUT to the hottest yodeling soundtrack of the year

WEAR your finest lederhosen with renewed pride and REVEL in the century’s most yodel-tastic (and FREE) gaming sensation!

Such... Read All