Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Invade Oz -w Your Monster Horde. Dubstep Included.

Monsters Invade Oz is a brand new iOS free to play mobile game from LittleBox Apps. This Pokemon influenced game allows you to play as Dorthy making your way through Oz all in the pursuit of Pokemon influenced Monster collection.

The game features a very detailed hand drawn ascetic that I really came to enjoy. Dorthy, Toto and the Monsters are all drawn well to the credit to the games artists. I found the visual makeup of Oz to not be on the same par and found it a little cold. Occasionally the land features a little Gnome or apparent NPC and at first I figured this was something I could interact with but it was just scenery. In fact, most of the Oz backdrop is this... Read All Monsters Invade Oz is a brand new iOS free to play mobile game from LittleBox Apps. This Pokemon influenced game allows you to play as Dorthy making your way through Oz all in the pursuit of Pokemon influenced Monster collection.

The game features a very detailed hand drawn ascetic that I really came to enjoy. Dorthy, Toto and the Monsters are all drawn well to the credit to the games artists. I found the visual makeup of Oz to not be on the same par and found it a little cold. Occasionally the land features a little Gnome or apparent NPC and at first I figured this was something I could interact with but it was just scenery. In fact, most of the Oz backdrop is this way and I found myself mostly ignoring it because it had little impact on the game, story or tone.

So far I have played the game for a few days now and have collected about 8 monsters and gotten each one up to level 5. I had to do this by going back and fighting in earlier parts of the game because my Monsters were lower levels that the monsters at the furthest part of the map I had explored. I was having fun progressing in the game and collecting things to advance in quests but my Monsters and I got our asses kicked because I wasn't a high enough level to proceed.

The game is free to play and it makes its money by selling you in game items. I think free to play is a cool way to make a game but find this one to be more overtly annoying than most I have played. The game asks you so often it seems really out of place compared with Candy Crush or Farmville.

When you open the game they ask you if you want to try another app.

Before every fight they ask you if you want powerups for gold.

If you run away too much you are charged gold. This means if you stay your Monster will be killed.

When you leave Monster fights you get an app ad sometimes.

The game has a store to upgrade Toto's boosts for gold.

The game has another store to buy upgrades for your monsters for gold.

The game has another store to purchase life to heal your Monsters for gold.

The game has another store to buy gold.

The game has another store to buy monster pages to collect monsters for gold.

In some places the game doesn't pop up a message to confirm if you want to buy something with gold. Since there is no confirmation screen, I bought things I had no idea I bought and thought I lost gold by accident. I realized later I accidentally touched to buy something but found that even though I tried my hardest, would occasionally buy things on accident. If I accidentally spend gold on things I don't intend, I am not sure why I would want to spend real money.

When I originally saw the previews for the game I liked the idea of a game that was in Oz featuring Dubstep as the score. As I played the game more I realized this worked well for the trailer, but not the game. The music doesn't feel right with the game somehow and I think a more classical or ambient score would have done better. That said, the games music got a bit too hard to take and at one point I wanted to mute it in game but there is no option to do that.

The Monster battles offer an interesting mechanic in that you have a slider that goes up and down in battle and when you tap at the right moment three times in a row you get a chance to do extra damage. This is a really fun mechanic and I enjoy tapping at the right times to pull this off. The Monsters are visually different from one another but offer nothing different in terms of attack or strategy. I expected to have some different in Monsters in terms of attack but nothing like that was available in what I played.

In the end, Monsters Invade: Oz is a interesting mix of Pokemon, Oz and Dubstep that doesn't quite fit together in a way that I love. Do I want an awesome Pokemon influenced game on iOS? Yes. Do I love games with hand drawn art style? Hell yes. But the way in which the game couples these together didn't amaze me. That said, I believe this game will find its audience and if you are looking for a free to play Pokemon styled adventure game through Oz, you should check this out.

Interview with Andrew Spinks, creator of Terraria

Terraria is an amazing world-building game released by Relogic in 2011. It's surprisingly deep, and through many playthroughs I've clocked hundreds of hours into it. We've had a few Cheerful Ghost Terraria servers, and we're all looking forward to the release of 1.2, which promises to change the game more than any update has so far. I recently asked Andrew Spinks (redigit) some questions about the games past and near future.

Thanks for your time Andrew! Terraria is an amazing game, still making news long after release. How did the journey start for you? What was the basic idea that led to the game?
Hey Travis. No problem, man! Really, the basic concept was just me... Read All Terraria is an amazing world-building game released by Relogic in 2011. It's surprisingly deep, and through many playthroughs I've clocked hundreds of hours into it. We've had a few Cheerful Ghost Terraria servers, and we're all looking forward to the release of 1.2, which promises to change the game more than any update has so far. I recently asked Andrew Spinks (redigit) some questions about the games past and near future.

Thanks for your time Andrew! Terraria is an amazing game, still making news long after release. How did the journey start for you? What was the basic idea that led to the game?
Hey Travis. No problem, man! Really, the basic concept was just me wanting to make a fun game for people to enjoy playing. I figured that if I took elements that I liked and put them all together, that it would work out, and it has so far!

How has it been working with Engine Software and 505 Games? What are your thoughts on the changes and additions added to the console versions?
Engine and 505 have been great! They have been very flexible to work with and have stayed true to the original feel of Terraria. When they started production of the ports, 505 approached me about both companies’ thoughts on exclusive content, and it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

Some PC players were initially upset when the new content for consoles was announced, since you had previously stopped development on the PC version, which wouldn’t be getting this new content. How do you view the community response to this?
It was somewhat to be expected. The existing fan base already felt bad enough that they weren’t going to get anymore free content before we started putting out teasers about the console ports. So when we announced it and some fans weren’t thrilled with the news, we could definitely understand where they were coming from.

On the other hand, fans are excited that you’ve started development on a new patch for the PC version. Can you share what’s coming, or when we’ll be diving into some new and awesome content?
There is already so much content that we’ve added that it’s hard to know where to start! We are packing this update full of new aesthetic, new game mechanics, items, enemies, and all kinds of stuff for the builders! We couldn’t be more excited about 1.2, but there is still a lot of work to be done, so it’s hard to nail down a date.

Taking both of the previous questions into account, is there any chance of content collaboration between Re-Logic and Engine/505, either bringing Engine’s new content to PC, or your new content to consoles?
We don’t yet have plans to bring console content to PC, but we’ve already been working with 505 on the details of bringing 1.2 to consoles.

Other games developed with XNA, such as Bastion, have later gone multi-platform. There are currently some functional methods to play Terraria on Mac and Linux using Monogame, but they aren’t stellar. Do you have any plans for official releases for these platforms?
The last time I checked on MonoXNA, it couldn’t support a stable build of Terraria, so I haven’t actively sought this out for a while.

There are two enemies and two bosses that are evil disembodied eyes, and the Wall of Flesh, which has some creepy giant eyes. Do you find eyes particularly creepy?
Sure, man. I mean there’s something just ominous about a giant eye just staring you down with big red blood vessels bulging and everything. It’s like the definition of creepy!

There have been many high-quality mods released for Terraria that change mechanics, add items, or aid in multiplayer, but they all involve
overwriting or editing game files. Do you have any plans for official mod support?
I actually haven’t had that much time to look into this since I’ve been so busy with 1.2, but that has always been a strong request from the community so we’ll see!

Terraria is an astonishingly deep game. We have run a few Cheerful Ghost servers and we always have a blast. Exploration, creation, epic boss fights-- the game is amazing. As you look back on what you have built, what accomplishment or milestone are you most proud of?
I don’t know if there is just one event that I could single out regarding my experiences with Terraria. Just the very fact that people are so immersed with something that I’ve created simply amazes me!

The community has done amazing things with the game. What builds really stick out for you?
Amazing is a good word for it! There are so many awesome creations out there that it’s hard to really choose favorites.

How many planets has the Eater of Worlds consumed?
Haha, I’ll leave that one for the fan to speculate!

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/26/2013 at 01:29am

This is awesome, thanks for posting this Travis.

Really looking forward to when 1.2 drops and we get the Cheerful Ghost server going :D

Timogorgon Member wrote on 06/27/2013 at 04:26pm

We're getting close to 1.2... I can feel it! @.@

With all these new items I can't wait to see what everyone builds on our next server.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/27/2013 at 04:29pm

I want to build some kind of snow house. Perhaps some kind of super villain evil snow fortress.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 06/28/2013 at 01:02am

Yeah, we must keep creating the world until one with snow comes. I also think a pyramid, since sand building materials are coming, along with half-blocks and the ability to run up a 1 block incline without jumping.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/28/2013 at 06:07am

Sounds good. We might have to lag the server start a bit to handle someone getting the patch and fiddling around with creating a world until we get the right one. A few hours perhaps.

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Int. With Tiny Barbarian Designer Michael Stearns

StarQuail Games recently released Tiny Barbarian DX after a successful Kickstarter campaign. After checking out the game I wanted to send some questions to StarQuail Games about the game and all manner of awesomery. I was put in contact with Michael Stearns the lead designer of Tiny Barbarian DX.

jdodson: I want to thank you for taking the time to talk with me. Tiny Barbarian DX was successfully Kickstarted and Chapter 1 was recently delivered to backers and the general public. How are you sitting right now after the dust has settled and people have had a chance to play it and weigh in on the game?

Michael Stearns: I’m finally starting to settle down! Getting ready for... Read All

Summer Sales: What Are You Getting?

The Steam Summer sale is coming up and the GOG.com sale is happening right now. I am wondering what you are planning on picking up or what you have purchased already?

Personally I want to get Don't Starve, Prison Architect, Far Cry 3 + Blood Dragon & Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic as its now out on the Mac on Steam. Most excited about Don't Starve and Prison Architect being on sale.

http://www.gog.com/

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 06/24/2013 at 05:22pm

I'm looking forward to a Skyrim sale. Finished the game on my 360, but got the red ring of death before seeing any of the DLC, so I'm hoping to pick all of them up.

vdogmr25 wrote on 06/24/2013 at 06:01pm

Mainly just the Borderlands 2 DLC.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 06/24/2013 at 08:56pm

I've been waiting for Space Marine to drop to some basement level price, and there are a few others I'll pick up, but that's one I've been looking forward to.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/24/2013 at 09:23pm

There is a demo for 40k Space Marine. Maybe I should check that out. Looks interesting.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 06/24/2013 at 10:53pm

@jdodson Landscape and level design are gorgeous in Space Marine. Some of the best representations of scale and space that I've seen in a game. It's barbaric and filled with gore, but a lot of fun to play, and the multiplayer feels good, too.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/25/2013 at 12:02am

Nice, ill check out the demo for sure.

Aya_Brea wrote on 06/27/2013 at 03:32pm

I will try to get everything on my wishlist, hope it will be in sale! :D

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/27/2013 at 03:40pm

Oh yeah, my Steam wishlist... Forgot about that, I wonder what is on my list as I haven't checked that out in quite some time.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 06/27/2013 at 04:29pm

I just picked up some games from GoG's summer sales (Simcity 2000, and Master of Orion 1 +2) so that'll keep me busy for a little while. As for Steam? I would be very interested in a steeply discounted Skyrim legendary edition. :D

I like to think I'll be good and not buy a ton of games on impulse... but I can't make any promises.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 06/27/2013 at 05:36pm

Steam has a wishlist? I'm such a noob.

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Adding a bit of realism to Katamari

Ah, Arduino. I have seen some truly innovative and useful things done with the Arduino, but mostly it's fun, beautifully useless stuff. This falls solidly in the second category, and I love it.

Using an Arduino, a dismantled PS2 controller, some casters, and a yoga ball, these brilliant hackers have made a lifelike Katamari controller, where the movements of the ball translate to the Katamari on-screen.

In other news, that song is now in my head and I need to play this game again.

Scrypt's favorite game: Journey

http://thatgamecompany.com/wp-content/themes/thatgamecompany/_include/img/journey/journey-game-screenshot-10.jpg

A few of us this week have played Journey (scheduled through the awesome event system) and will be sharing our thoughts. Anyone who wants to share can comment below or in a new post, whatever strikes your fancy.

This post contains spoilers, so tune out now if you don't want them. I don't want to hide all the text with the spoiler option because of the text above. You have been warned!

The one thing that comes through for me more strongly than anything in Journey is the sense of purpose, though that's never known to the player or the player character (that we know of). All we know is that we must strive for it. There's never any dialogue, but you can still almost feel... Read All A few of us this week have played Journey (scheduled through the awesome event system) and will be sharing our thoughts. Anyone who wants to share can comment below or in a new post, whatever strikes your fancy.

This post contains spoilers, so tune out now if you don't want them. I don't want to hide all the text with the spoiler option because of the text above. You have been warned!

The one thing that comes through for me more strongly than anything in Journey is the sense of purpose, though that's never known to the player or the player character (that we know of). All we know is that we must strive for it. There's never any dialogue, but you can still almost feel your character's sense of wonder as the world you traverse changes. Perhaps that just means thatgamecompany did a great job with putting you in the game.

The graphics are absolutely stunning. The first time through, it didn't really click just how beautiful the game is, but the second time through, knowing more about what I could expect, I was able to just enjoy the visuals way more than I had in the past.

There's nothing in the gameplay that hasn't been done before in the past, really. It controls basically how you would expect, and the controls work marvelously. The puzzles scattered about aren't very challenging, but they serve their purpose.

The big wildcard with this game was the multiplayer. As you progress you may join someone's game, or be joined by them. You never know who it is, and you can't talk to them. The only form of communication is the "ping" system. You can ping at them to your heart's content, but without some other context, your companion will have no idea what's being said. People have tried (and thankfully, failed) to come up with a ping language, so you can tell people specific things, but this misses the point entirely-- the point is that you are two strangers who must communicate without any kind of language. That adds to the tension.

My first time playing the game, I had been playing with a single person for about an hour, when suddenly the connection messed up on someone's end, and I was alone. This, for me, was a very brief traumatic moment, much like the loss of Aerith in Final Fantasy VII or any other death in a plot-driven game. This was the only other character that had any importance to me in this game, and now that character was gone. In a flash, I went from "NOOOOOOO" to realizing what was going on, and it was over. But for that brief second I realized I had come to care about this other player.

Journey is one of my favorite games of this generation, if not all generations. It's one of the few games I'd give a perfect 10, and it's one that I'm considering buying in hard copy even though I own it digitally, because in 10 years who knows if the PSN will still be available? I want to know I can play this whenever I want.

I highly recommend this to anyone. It may not appeal to you if you only like in-your-face action, but if you're interested in deeper experiences, definitely give it a play.

May The Way of The Hero Lead To The Triforce!

If you have noticed a bit of a dip in my posting on the site its because I was on vacation for the last week. One of the games I took with me to play on my trip was The Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past. Its a pretty good game to pickup and play in short bursts as the dungeons are not very long to complete. In my most recent play through I tackled the last two dark world dungeons before the one on the mountain.

I have been playing the dungeons mostly out of order as the game isn't very rigid with how you play them save a few cases. For instance, you need the fire rod to enter the ice world dungeon. That said, during my play through of the ice dungeon I remembered why... Read All If you have noticed a bit of a dip in my posting on the site its because I was on vacation for the last week. One of the games I took with me to play on my trip was The Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past. Its a pretty good game to pickup and play in short bursts as the dungeons are not very long to complete. In my most recent play through I tackled the last two dark world dungeons before the one on the mountain.

I have been playing the dungeons mostly out of order as the game isn't very rigid with how you play them save a few cases. For instance, you need the fire rod to enter the ice world dungeon. That said, during my play through of the ice dungeon I remembered why I tackle the swamp dungeon where you get the Cane of Samaria first. In the Ice World dungeon at one point you must drop blocks down to a earlier floor to push on a pressure plate to open a door. The steps you need to take to do this are annoying BUT the game allows you a way out by using the Cane of Somaria. Always wondered if this was an intentional design choice Nintendo made or if it was just happenstance. That said, I came to the part where I needed to drop the block to continue and I left the dungeon and went to the Dungeon where you obtain the cane and beat that. After I nabbed the Cane and beat the Dungeon I went back and completed the Ice Dungeon.

I wish more games allowed you choices to skip annoying parts in games. For instance, I wish I could push the "please let me bypass the grind" in Borderlands 2 to speed up to the interesting story missions. Its not really practical to do that because the game is fairly hard if you don't grind to level up your character. I used to lament the loss of games that take 60 hours to complete but more often that not nowdays it just means 40 hours of boring content. And if you really think about it, Link to the Past isn't a 60 hour game. I may have spent more than 60 hours playing it through multiple times but one can easily complete the game in 20 hours or so. Getting a ton of enjoyment out of a game doesn't mean the game has to be long as hell it needs to just be compelling enough to come back to.

Which is one of the cool things I am starting to notice about classics like The Legend of Zelda compared to more modern AAA games. The fun and interesting game play make me come back year after year, not a 4,000 hour single player grind-fest.

http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/Cane_of_Somaria

P.S. Does anyone know of a use for Rupees in Link to the Past? Besides buying the flippers, nothing seems useful to buy. I load my bottles up with faeries and since there is a pretty good amount of magic and heart drops I don't think blue potions are that useful.

Tariq gives Mario some lyrics

Mario + The Roots. How could this be bad?

Half-Life 3 In Development At Valve?

"We have recently been sent a copy of the original Jira archive data, which has provided unprecedented access to the entire project tracker. Other listings in the data files for known and unknown projects include "Stars of Blood", "Return to Ravenholm", "Episode 3"/"Episode 3 Movie", "Hardware" / "Hardware Core", "SteamMMO" / "SteamMMO Core" and "F-Stop". "

Could be all made up fakery or the real deal. Either way, fun to speculate.

PS Jira is a popular ticket tracking and development web app for software development.

http://www.valvetime.net/threads/updated-half-life-3-left-4-dead-3-source-2-much-more-found-on-valve-project-tracker.243580/

Travis Admin wrote on 06/20/2013 at 06:56pm

I think it must be in development. I would think it's been in development since Episode 2.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 06/20/2013 at 11:53pm

Hoping its Half-Life 3, and not just Episode 3, but would be entirely happy with either.

Travis Admin wrote on 06/21/2013 at 02:04am

I was brief in my first comment-- I think they probably had Episode 3 in development shortly after Episode 2, but by this point surely it would be a full sequel, not just another episode.

Or maybe... http://1-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1345/68/1345683537561.png

scrypt Supporter wrote on 06/21/2013 at 02:35am

Both would be much, much better.

Travis Admin wrote on 06/22/2013 at 03:54am

This is just cruel. http://store.stearnpowered.com/app/246720/

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/22/2013 at 03:08pm

I get a bandwidth limit exceeded. What was it?

Travis Admin wrote on 06/22/2013 at 04:54pm

It seems to be working now. It's a fake Steam storefront (check the url-- it's STEARNpowered) for Half-Life 3.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/22/2013 at 05:08pm

Hahahahha, still bandwidth exceeded :D

Travis Admin wrote on 06/22/2013 at 06:16pm

Weird, wonder why it works here? Here's a screenshot http://i.imgur.com/HObLneR.png

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/22/2013 at 06:23pm

Hahaha, funny.

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E3 Developer Interview

Wolfenstein The New Order is the only upcoming triple A game I am excited about. The shooting looks great, the story is right up "camp alley(I love that shit)" and it just looks like a hell of a lot of fun.

This developer interview is pretty awesome and shows off some of the design goals of the new Wolf game. It is a action and adventure FPS and I am very excited to see how they pull that off. The Wolfenstein 2009 reboot was great and this one looks to be even better.