Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Interview with Sean Velasco about Shovel Knight

Shovel Knight is the awesome retro styled 2D sidescroller that was recently catapulted to Kickstarter success blowing by its initial $75k level to land on a cool $350k. The fans of this upcoming game spread the message far and wide and as such gained some awesome stretch goals such as Linux & Mac ports, playable boss characters, a gender swap mode(woot), challenge mode and a 4 player battle mode.

Since I am very interested in dispensing shovel justice to evil in 8-bit I decided to reach out to the Shovel Knight team. They were awesome enough to respond and what follows is the historical accounting of that conversation.

Oh and for all of you wondering, we did talk... Read All

Money, Money, Money!

http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/images/products/6577/6577073_sa.jpg

Earlier this month I bought a new laptop from Best Buy. Just received a $25 Rewards Zone reward certificate.

I think I'll roll that into a $50 Steam card and get it half-off lol.

Just a random post today. Yay for free money!

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/26/2013 at 05:43pm

THIS POST HAS BEEN FLAGGED BY YOUR WEB CLIENT AS SPAM!

*clicks not SPAM*

Though, in all seriousness thats totally awesome. Let me know what you get.

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 04/26/2013 at 05:51pm

LOL, sorry to spam man ;)

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/26/2013 at 05:52pm

No, just the title "MONEY, MONEY, MONEY." Its cool :D

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/26/2013 at 05:53pm

After I read that I was like, what? Money? Can I get money from Zimbabwei from my long lost uncle?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 04/26/2013 at 07:51pm

Free money is probably the best money. Preferable to blood money, or dirty money, and especially Monopoly money. Happy shopping!

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/26/2013 at 08:23pm

I don't know... Dirty money is just regular money that isn't yet cleaned right?

Bueller, Bueller...

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Revisiting Old Friends

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/40/BatenKaitosCover.jpg

Just had a chat with an old friend of mine this evening, and whilst perusing Cheerful Ghost, I was reminded of some old friends I left behind in a video game once.

Baten Kaitos is a game with a couple of *really* unique mechanics. The first is that your items are stored in card format - everything from your armor to your weapons to your quest items are stored on cards. And I don't mean abstracted out for combat or gameplay, I mean the characters talk about needing to find a blank card to suck up the essence of something or other.

The second is that your cards evolve in real time. As in, if you pick up a card with a fruit on it (that you would use to heal someone in your... Read All Just had a chat with an old friend of mine this evening, and whilst perusing Cheerful Ghost, I was reminded of some old friends I left behind in a video game once.

Baten Kaitos is a game with a couple of *really* unique mechanics. The first is that your items are stored in card format - everything from your armor to your weapons to your quest items are stored on cards. And I don't mean abstracted out for combat or gameplay, I mean the characters talk about needing to find a blank card to suck up the essence of something or other.

The second is that your cards evolve in real time. As in, if you pick up a card with a fruit on it (that you would use to heal someone in your party), and you stand around for an hour... that fruit will rot on the card. Likewise, ice melts into water, fire goes out, and peaches inexplicably turn into heroes called Momotaro after a number of hours (just leave the game running overnight).

But the third - and the one that really endeared this game to me - is that you're one of the characters. You, personally, the player. See, your title character Kalas has a link to a Guardian Spirit. This Guardian Spirit is a being from another world, who has a limited capacity to communicate and work with whoever's linked. Especially in terms of succeeding in combat and making pivotal decisions. You are the Guardian Spirit.

Now, this is a little meta and weirdly philosophical, but hear me out. With this Guardian Spirit mechanic, the characters are free to talk to you and about you without breaking the fourth wall. It's easy to think of your actions as more real, because you're not *controlling* the main character, you're just offering suggestions that he's all too happy to take you up on.

The net result was that I felt like I was actually part of the party, that I was role-playing a character who happened to be myself, and when I got my suspension of disbelief good and amped up, that the interactions between me and Kalas were governed not by the rules of the game but rather by the nature of the gap between our two worlds. At the end of the game, I found myself saying farewell to characters who had somehow become a kind of a friend. A week later, I felt like I should visit, so I played through the ending again.

Of course, this is a deeply personal experience and your mileage may vary. It might be that I played the game during a particular mental sweet spot that somehow let me recapture a six-year-old's wonder and imagination for one special round with a game.

Or... maybe there's something just a little bit magical on that tiny Gamecube disc.

SNES-ish action RPG incoming!

So I was skimming through some Steam Greenlight games and noticed this game with a serious Secret of Mana / Secret of Evermore vibe was recently greenlit.

This game was nowhere on my radar, but I am glad I stumbled on it by chance 'cause it looks seriously cool. A retro action RPG with on-line co-op? sign me up!

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/26/2013 at 04:39pm

This game looks great and is now on my radar. Have you read anywhere about a release date?

caffo wrote on 04/27/2013 at 01:19am

Q: When will the game be released and on what platforms can I play it?
A: We hope that the game will be ready for release in 2013. As of now, it will be for the Windows platform only!

Love it. SoM / Ragnarok Online feelings.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/27/2013 at 01:57am

Caffo: I got the same feels from look at it as well. Ragnarok Online was awesome until they kept changing the graphics to something really far away from what it was at the start.

Timogorgon Member Post Author wrote on 04/27/2013 at 06:05pm

Yeah I meant my original post to be a little more informative, but my newborn son had other plans. :p I ended up having to type the post one handed.

It seems like there is a lot of retro styled games coming out and I love it! Can't wait for more news on release dates for all of them.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/27/2013 at 07:21pm

Its as if all the triple A companies cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced by Indie Developers.

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Hearthstone: New Matchup - Paladin vs. Warrior

Every time I watch a new Hearthstone video I get more excited about playing it. I will dump all my thoughts to the video as I watch it so prepare yourself...

Right away the player is dealt a pretty poor hand and is allowed to redraw cards with no penalty. This is noteworthy because games like Magic: The Gathering penalize you for a Mulligan. Or so the official rules say, when I play with my friends we don't observe that rule. :D

The player gets a "Leroy Jenkins" card. Hat tip to the designers, this kind of thing is awesome to see.

One nice UI bit of polish I like, when the opponent card is played you can see it with all of its abilities.

There are a ton of sick cards... Read All

Portland OMSI After Dark

Last night I went to OMSI After Dark. The After Dark events up the age restriction to 21 and serve some local beer and wine as well as some local delicatessen selections. They also have an area dedicated to local the local Portland gaming scene.

Last nights event featured a wall of retro games sponsored by Ground Kontrol and the upcoming Portland Retro Gaming Expo. Also showing was Guardian Games as well as the Portland Indie Game Squad. I was able to play a few awesome Indie Games from local PDX'ers such as Clobbr, Major Magnet and PewPewPewPewPewPewPewPewPew.

Clobbr

The video featured above are peoples reactions to playing Clobbr. TOTAL SELF PROMOTION WARNING I am the... Read All

Left 4 Dead 2 is finally coming to Linux!

http://media.steampowered.com/steam/news/10451/peng.jpg

Valve has announced that NEXT WEEK there will be a beta of Left 4 Dead 2 coming to Linux. In addition to testing Linux support they're also testing some new features for modders.

Valve's initial Linux testing was done with Left 4 Dead 2, so I had been wondering why the game was taking so long to get to Linux. Soon, my friends.

http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=10451

Legen... wait for it... dary release of Skyrim

http://cdnstatic.bethsoft.com/bethblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/skyrimtribox-1024x747.jpg

Now that Bethesda has decided to move on from Skyrim development, there's a new release coming that packages Skyrim and all its DLC into one package. The Skyrim Legendary Edition will release on June 4 for $59.99 on PC, PS3, and XBox 360. If you haven't visited Skyrim before, this is the best way to play it.

http://www.bethblog.com/2013/04/25/legendary-release/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bethesdablog+%28Bethesda+Blog%29

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/25/2013 at 04:48pm

You should have written:

"Legen ... wait for it DAIRY" but you didn't so...

Legendairy is the new Game of the Year, but regardless of what they call it this is good to see. I have the base game and when I exhaust its content will be picking up the DLC or the Legendairy Edition, whichever makes the most sense price wise.

CapnCurry Supporter wrote on 04/26/2013 at 05:27am

Welp, there's another chink in my not-upgrading-my-computer wall. My PC handles everything I throw at it with *reasonable" aplomb. But it handles Skyrim like Smart cars handle freeways: good enough to get you there, but you never lose sight of how inadequate your vessel is.

Sadly, I'm a video card away from Skyrim goodness. Which, in turn, is a power supply away. Which is a case away, which is a motherboard away, which is aw hell that's a new computer.

My resolve, it weakens.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/26/2013 at 04:35pm

I have a new PC as of a year or two ago and it runs things very well. Skyrim on full settings with the HD pack is playable but I get a few less FPS than normal. Haven't had any troubles on any other games at all save Diablo III where you go underground and they have all the water effects. I am running on a GTX 400 card that came stock with the Desktop and it works really well. Coolest thing about all that is the GTX 400 is rather low end now so just buying a new desktop PC with horsepower will most likely get your something better than that. :D

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Interview with James Petruzzi About Chasm

Chasm is an awesome new "Metroidvania" 2D fantasy RPG that is currently on Kickstarter. It is a really interesting mashup of 2D RPG side-scrollery and as such wanted to talk to Jame Petruzzi of Discord Games about it. I want to thank James for taking the time to talk with me and am looking forward to the new beta that should be coming out very soon!

jdodson: What prompted you to decide that you wanted to strike out on your own and bring this game to the world? It seems like you have done everything you could to bring the game to this point, did you consider an eventual Kickstarter or did that evolve later?

James: I was pretty much done with the corporate world, and... Read All

Xbox set to announce "A New Generation"

http://image.engage.xbox.com/lib/feca167070610c7c/m/4/13890-A-3.gif

Microsoft is now emailing teasers about "A New Generation" to be revealed May 21st 10am PDT streaming on xbox.com and Xbox Live #XboxReveal

Travis Admin wrote on 04/24/2013 at 08:06pm

What are you talking about? We already revealed it!

http://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/927

Sarcasm, sarcasm.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/24/2013 at 08:13pm

New Generation...

YBox?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 04/25/2013 at 03:51am

Here's hoping...

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/25/2013 at 04:48pm

Honestly, if they called it the YBox and did the always online thing I could forgive them for that.

YBox. WHYYYY?

scrypt Supporter wrote on 04/25/2013 at 08:53pm

They should just blow people's mind with the CardboardBox, and make it a mighty board game experience. Keeping it real, for Microsoft, is a little out of character, though.

Travis Admin wrote on 04/25/2013 at 09:07pm

The next Xbox will be always on... your coffee table.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 04/25/2013 at 09:27pm

Haha! See, it could totally work for them! Then we could finally play something worthwhile using our avatars.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/26/2013 at 02:42am

@Travis: YBox always on your coffee table... awesome. :D

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