Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

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.

Xbone does a 180 on DRM

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18rc0hnnzhrusjpg/k-bigpic.jpg

Kotaku is reporting that Microsoft is back peddling on their DRM restrictions. Original article: http://kotaku.com/microsoft-is-removing-xbox-one-drm-514390310

According to the article these are the following changes:
No more always online requirement
The console no longer has to check in every 24 hours
All game discs will work on Xbox One as they do on Xbox 360
Authentication is no longer necessary
An Internet connection is only required when initially setting up the console
All downloaded games will function the same when online or offline
No additional restrictions on trading games or loaning discs
Region locks have been dropped

Travis Admin wrote on 06/19/2013 at 09:06pm

You and vdogmr both beat me to this by a minute.

Good news, but the family sharing is now gone. I think this is better in the long run.

vdogmr25 wrote on 06/19/2013 at 09:10pm

I was just posting this! I'm glad they made this choice. I'm more of a PC/Playstation guy, but decent competition is what helps produce better systems all around, as well as better in-house titles. Until now, I didn't think the XBox One would be able to hold up.

BR Supporter wrote on 06/19/2013 at 09:28pm

Not sure how I feel about this. It's nice to know they rethought their tactics but did they do it for the right reasons? Probably not. Most likely they got rid of these restrictions for the sole reason that the Ps4 was going to outsell them if they kept the restrictions.

Now don't get me wrong, this is pretty awesome, but I will still be buying the Ps4 over the Xbone.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 06/19/2013 at 09:28pm

Oh man, I have been an XBox guy, but had made the choice to jump to the PS4... now the decision is back up in the air...

CapnCurry Supporter wrote on 06/20/2013 at 02:30am

I'm probably being over-cautious, but I'm still in the PS4 camp. I simply can't imagine that five months from worldwide release they can fundamentally change their delivery mechanisms, DRM, and installation process, both at the OS level and at the software level, both internally and with vendors, and have it come out anywhere near playable.

Remember, too, that this is Microsoft we're talking about - the original 360 took years of tweaking before it overcame its reputation as being a Red Ring of Death engine, and that was under what you could call optimal launch conditions.

Travis Admin wrote on 06/20/2013 at 02:46am

I'm still in the PS4 camp for many reasons, but it's not that I don't trust MS on the change. They screwed up, and they're fixing it. If they now fail to fix it, there will be hell to pay, and I think they know that.

I'm still going PS4 because the indie scene is much better with Sony, the price point is better, and so far the games shown for PS4 have been more interesting. I also really like the way they're handling game downloads (allowing you to download the single player or multiplayer parts first), and PS+ has always given me a ton of value, and that doesn't seem to be slowing down.

Plus, it has better hardware. The next gen is running on the same hardware platform so that's actually something you can tell easily. Plus, since it's on the same platform, it's more likely that the extra power will be used well, rather than the ports of this gen where they just pick a console and do straight ports. Depending on the engine they use, it could even handle that automatically.

Timogorgon Member Post Author wrote on 06/20/2013 at 04:16pm

A little part of me was sort of hoping Microsoft would stick with the DRM scheme, fail miserably, and let the Xbone's smoldering remains serve as a warning for other companies who might want to try aggressive DRM. But I also don't want Sony to be the only big dog in the yard. :)

Over all I'm glad to see Microsoft change course.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/20/2013 at 04:53pm

I wanted them to stand their ground on these choices. Partly, because I have zero care for another XBox and partly because I really wanted to see how the sales panned out.

Just because the internet exploded over this issue the way it did, I wasn't really sure that mean't a long term drop in sales. People often complain and then purchase or purchase a bit later. Plus, really the further both consoles are from each other the starker the competition is.

I agree with the Capn' here, if the DRM systems were so integral into the XBone then this is non trivial work to remove them. Unless they were creative with the truth and they really were just tacked on, either way its a pretty major course correction.

I am not sure in the end if this is a win though. I mean, consumers were heard and major company changes course but it just seems so insubstantial to me. Plus it seems many people were excited about the DRM and now they get less DRM and are upset. I read a few articles by people with "big important gaming press sites" that say we can't have nice things because Microsoft did what people wanted. Uh, sure, I guess.

People cite Steam and say "well hey look, you know Steam does what Microsoft wanted to do and now they are reversing course so we can't have nice things and gamers are hypocrites." I am forumlating my thoughts in specific response to that because they are comparing things I don't think make sense to.

Other people seem upset because people are not flocking back to the XBone and bowing down thanking Microsoft for being benevolent.

People are strange and what Microsoft is doing is even stranger. Personally, I think they should have stood their ground and doubled down on their ol' strategy because it would have been more fun to watch.

Travis Admin wrote on 06/20/2013 at 06:58pm

"well hey look, you know Steam does what Microsoft wanted to do and now they are reversing course so we can't have nice things and gamers are hypocrites."

It is painfully easy to pirate PC games. Steam's method is basically necessary for there to be any hope of the publishers/developers getting money these days. It's less easy with console games, requiring some real effort and sometimes physical modifications to the console.

CapnCurry Supporter wrote on 06/20/2013 at 07:16pm

There's also a different value proposition for console games. I'm not sure whether or where I've expressed this sentiment before, so forgive me if I repeat myself or if I repeat myself (ha), but I can't remember the last PC game I paid $60 for. Because of the historically minimal used-PC-game market and a commonly enforced "no returns on software" policy, I've become accustomed to paying about $20 and knowing I'll never get that money back. When I pay $60 for a console game, I expect to have some equity in the title - I can enjoy it forever for $60, or I can recoup part of my investment later via trade or resale. It's much more like owning property than licensing an experience, and it's that feeling of ownership that's warranted the higher price of console games for me - even though I know that most of that higher price is *actually* going toward development cost, so regardless of the delivery mechanism / rights conferral, the price of a console title is probably going to remain about the same.

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