Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Where Have All The Demos Gone?

Game demos used to be a staple of gaming but in recent years are few and far between. Some live on mostly as console downloads and seem to have nearly evaporated on PC. Ben Paddon of PortsCenter takes a look at why and it seems to be because game demos ... don't really sell games. Still it's fun to look back at what game demos were and some good examples of modern titles that did well with releasing a demo.

It Is Finished - My Candy Box Review!

jdodson gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

jdodson gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

I always get a sense of satisfaction when I beat a game for the first time and today was such a day in that I finished Candy Box. If you didn't know, we launched a Games BBS on Cheerful Ghost and Candy Box was one of the first wave of games to launch on it. It was one of the original games in the web clicker genre and it proved that you can do really creatively simple things in JavaScript. If you haven't played Candy Box I recommend trying it out, it really is just a couple clicks away => "Games / Candy Box."

That said, you start the game by collecting candy one piece at a time. The only controls you start with are the ability to eat the candy or throw it. If you... Read All

Shovel Knight Showdown Coming Soon To Treasure Trove!

Shovel Knight had a very successful Kickstarter and because of that keeps getting a bunch of new incredible updates to the base game. That said, we're nearing the end of the Shovel Knight feature train and the last few stops seem to be some of the most compelling! Announced today, Shovel Knight Showdown looks to create a brawler style local multiplayer game featuring Shovel Knight and a ton of other boss characters. IGN got a 10 minute gameplay trailer linked above and from that it looks like a fun brawler that looks right at home on the PS4, Switch and XBox One!

"Duel with up to 4 players and scramble after gems as your favorite heroic or villainous knight in Shovel... Read All

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/29/2018 at 10:19pm

Is this why King of Cards is not out yet?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/29/2018 at 10:39pm

Yeah, I think so. It SEEMS like they might be wrapping up both in one huge final push.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/30/2018 at 07:21pm

Getting a physical Switch version with all the content coming April 9th 2019! So Shovel Knight will get it's final update next year!

http://yachtclubgames.com/2018/08/the-shovel-knight-finale-treasure-trove-physical-version/

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/31/2018 at 01:57pm

That’s a long ways away. I will pick up the physical version even though I have the digital.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/02/2018 at 01:54am

Right. I'm not sure. I think I might pick it up. Playing it on the Switch seems like a good fit for the system even though I have it on PC.

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Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 32: Kid Icarus

In this episode of Cheerful Ghost Radio, we play Kid Icarus!

In Kid Icarus you play as Pit, and you're tasked with finding three treasures to save Angel Land and its queen, Palutena. Kid Icarus is a mash up of many styles of gameplay, but mostly action platformer. It's bizarre and pretty tricky, and has become a cult classic over the years. Come be a part of Cheerful Ghost Radio by discussing Kid Icarus with us!

In season two of Cheerful Ghost Radio we are doing bite-sized NES Classic review episodes. We want to make you all part of these episodes, so if you want to join in the fun, head here and join in the event for next month's NES Classic review, Metroid!

... Read All

Play Crescent Loom On Cheerful Ghost Games BBS Today!

When we originally launched the Cheerful Ghost Games BBS we let you know that more games would be coming that you could play. Today is a good day because we’re launching the ability for everyone to play Crescent Loom right here on Cheerful Ghost in your browser. Crescent Loom is a game created by Wick, the developer of Starship Rubicon (a game Cheerful Ghost published) and according to Wick Crescent Loom is a game about creating life. Knit bones, stitch muscles, and weave neurons into a biologically-realistic simple creature.

You can find Crescent Loom by clicking the Games link about and selecting it or hitting the link below. I encourage everyone to give Crescent... Read All

Batman: The Telltale Series Review

Will_Ball gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

Will_Ball gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

When I first heard about Telltale taking on the Batman mythos, I thought it was a weird match, but I was intrigued to see what would become of it. Over a year later, I would be giving it a go on the Nintendo Switch.

Batman: TTS is labeled an adventure game, but I would not call it that. I would end up calling it an interactive graphic novel. There are very little adventure game portions to this game. When you do run into a traditional adventure game area of the game, there is so much hand-holding, that not much thought is needed to figure out the puzzles.

What drives this game is quick time events (QTE). Batman: TTS uses these to a fault. Sometimes they can end up with... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/26/2018 at 05:36am

I think I've decided that Batman is my favorite comic book hero, even though I think I like Marvel more than DC. I've only played one TellTale game and that was Jurassic Park. I was disappointed, because it wasn't what I expected it to be. At the time, I didn't know anything about TT games. "Interactive graphic novel" is a perfect description, even though I haven't played this one. That's what I didn't like about the JP TT game. I imagine being a fan of Batman, I would too also enjoy the story. Thanks for the review!

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member Post Author wrote on 08/26/2018 at 02:49pm

You’re welcome Greg! Batman is also my favorite comic book hero while Marvel is my favorite universe, so we are in the same boat.

I have only played some of the earlier Telltale adventure games and those were more traditional adventure games. Sounds like they might have moved more towards this “interactive graphic novel” approach over the years. I am not sure how I feel about this. Part of me feels that this will drive gamers away, but part of me thinks it might make the games more accessible to people that don’t traditionally play video games. What are your thoughts?

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/26/2018 at 06:32pm

That's funny we're in the same boat.

It seems that these games are more for story telling rather than the kind of story telling we're used to with other games. I can agree this "might make the games more accessible to people that don’t traditionally play video games." It's an interesting concept, but I'm not sure that it really appeals to those of us who are used to playing video games. Although the story of JP was interesting, the game was a disappointment to me because I was expecting a traditional game.

It would be interesting to see what others here think about these kind of games.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/27/2018 at 02:00pm

I've not played a Telltale game at all, but I'm intrigued by them. It does seem like one needs to expect a Choose Your Own Adventure style (I personally shudder when I hear "quick time event," but CYOA is the same thing, but rebranded in my mind lol) to enjoy them, but, as an interactive story, and not a "video game," this seems like it would be pretty entertaining.

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Want To Know More About The History of The BBS and Cheerful Ghost Games?

Download this podcast.

Game Dev's Quest is a cool local Oregon Podcast about game development and I was part of their most recent show. In this episode I talked about my history of BBS's and the launch of our new games BBS. If you wanted a deep dive of the games we launched and my absolute love for the retro days of BBS past this is a must listen! I've embedded the audio podcast above but I recommend heading over to Airpodcast to listen below or, even better, subscribing to Game Dev's Quest on the Podcast client of your choice.

"Jon Dodson is back to talk about launching the Cheerful Ghost BBS! We discuss what a Bulletin Board System is, its history, and why we are still interested in them... Read All

Steam is Introducing a New Version of Steam Play, Allowing Windows Games to Run on Linux

This... this may be huge.

A new beta of the Steam client on Linux will allow you to play Windows-only games on Linux. Currently only a few games are in the list of supported titles BUT in true Linux-user fashion, you can enable it for every game and try your luck.

This works using Proton, a fork of Wine, a Windows compatibility layer that many on Linux use to run Windows software and games already. Proton provides the following improvements:

Windows games with no Linux version currently available can now be installed and run directly from the Linux Steam client, complete with native Steamworks and OpenVR support.

DirectX 11 and 12 implementations are now based on... Read All

This... this may be huge.

A new beta of the Steam client on Linux will allow you to play Windows-only games on Linux. Currently only a few games are in the list of supported titles BUT in true Linux-user fashion, you can enable it for every game and try your luck.

This works using Proton, a fork of Wine, a Windows compatibility layer that many on Linux use to run Windows software and games already. Proton provides the following improvements:

Windows games with no Linux version currently available can now be installed and run directly from the Linux Steam client, complete with native Steamworks and OpenVR support.

DirectX 11 and 12 implementations are now based on Vulkan, resulting in improved game compatibility and reduced performance impact.

Fullscreen support has been improved: fullscreen games will be seamlessly stretched to the desired display without interfering with the native monitor resolution or requiring the use of a virtual desktop.

Improved game controller support: games will automatically recognize all controllers supported by Steam. Expect more out-of-the-box controller compatibility than even the original version of the game.

Performance for multi-threaded games has been greatly improved compared to vanilla Wine.

They are taking on the daunting task of going through the entire Steam library and finding which games work well. So far, the supported list is as follows:

Beat Saber

Bejeweled 2 Deluxe

Doki Doki Literature Club!

DOOM

DOOM II: Hell on Earth

DOOM VFR

Fallout Shelter

FATE

FINAL FANTASY VI

Geometry Dash

Google Earth VR

Into The Breach

Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012

Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013

Mount & Blade

Mount & Blade: With Fire & Sword

NieR: Automata

PAYDAY: The Heist

QUAKE

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

Star Wars: Battlefront 2

Tekken 7

The Last Remnant

Tropico 4

Ultimate Doom

Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® - Dark Crusade

Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® - Soulstorm

They've hosted Proton on Github (https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/) so you can download it and make custom versions, and the Steam client will let you use your version instead of the built-in version. I can imagine this leading to Proton configs for specific games that don't necessarily work in the built-in version, thus letting you easily use multiple configs straight from the Steam client.

Proton supports Mac, and I bet enterprising nerds will release some custom Proton configs for running games on Macs, but as of now Valve says they don't have any plans for building this into the Steam client for Mac. Plans may change if demand is there, but their language on it seems pretty firm that they have no plans for it.

This is exciting because one Wine config doesn't necessarily work for multiple games, so getting Wine games running in Linux frequently requires making new Wine configs, with their own directory structure, and therefore with their own Steam install. So to install 20 Steam games with no native Linux version, you may have 10 or more different Steam clients installed and a messy file structure.

Some people will argue that this is a step back, and that developers don't need to target Linux now because Proton will pick up the slack. Others argue that this gets more gamers on Linux, leading to more reason for developers to target Linux. Who knows how the market will react, but I'm excited because this gets Linux closer to Windows in game support, and while over 3000 games on Steam currently support Linux natively, it's been harder to get some of the bigger publishers/developers on board, and even some indies. What do you think? Does this make you more likely to use Linux for gaming?

Original announcement: https://steamcommunity.com/games/221410/announcements/detail/1696055855739350561

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/21/2018 at 10:37pm

That first list of games is fun. I like they added Doom and Quake though there are lots of ways to run that on Linux.

That said it’s good to start with the easy stuff and move up from there. This is awesome news because to-date Wine has been a chore to configure properly so if Valve can do it, that’s awesome.

I’m wondering how much further Valve is gonna five in Linux support? I really am hoping for a handheld but that’s prob wishful thinking.

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/21/2018 at 10:41pm

This isn’t just Linux, this is to get games running on a Mac too!

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/21/2018 at 10:46pm

Spoke a bit too soon. Whereas the underlying software does support the Mac this isn’t supported on Mac in Steam quite yet.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/22/2018 at 01:38am

Yeah I meant to add a bit about that to the post. Updated!

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/22/2018 at 01:39am

My only issue now is that my gaming rig doesn't have enough space on it to test this out.

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/22/2018 at 01:40am

Too bad! I have a desktop that dual boots between the latest Ubuntu and Windows. When this hits mainline Steam I’ll check it out.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/22/2018 at 01:08pm

Maybe I’m just a beta junkie but I’m always running the steam beta. Never had any issues with it for what it’s worth. They do a good job of getting things pretty stable before it even heads to beta.

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/22/2018 at 01:59pm

Yep. Just have other stuff to do

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/27/2018 at 02:54pm

Looks like the community has play tested about 2k games so far https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2018/08/27/steam-for-linux-adds-1000-perfectly-playable-windows-games-in-under-a-week/amp/

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/27/2018 at 07:27pm

Wow, that’s intense.

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Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 31: Ant-Man and the Wasp

In this episode of Cheerful Ghost Radio, we visit the Quantum Realm and review the new cog in the Marvel Cinematic Universe machine, Ant-Man and the Wasp! We discuss our favorite things about the film and a few issues we had, and consider how it might affect Infinity War Part II and the wider MCU.

While we have you here, after a brief hiatus Cheerful Ghost Games Club is back! We'll be reviewing Kirby's Adventure in an upcoming episode and we want your input. Come play Kirby's Adventure with us and we'll include your thoughts in the episode!

https://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/events/163/cheerful-ghost-games-club-kirby-s-adventure

Lightfield HYPER Edition: "Now this is Pod racing!"

Timogorgon gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

Timogorgon gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

Disclaimer: Lost in the Garden provided me a review copy of the game.

Good evening my fellow happy haunts!

I can’t say I’ve ever played a racer quite like Lightfield before. You’re ship can fly and you’re not restricted in what direction you can fly. However, you gain a significant speed boost by “snapping” to a surface. Your goal is to move from checkpoint to checkpoint while staying snapped to a surface as much as possible. The courses are designed so that there is no clear best path between the checkpoints leaving it up to the player to experiment and to keep improving on their lap times.

The game feel very fast and frenetic as you twist and turn through the courses.... Read All Disclaimer: Lost in the Garden provided me a review copy of the game.

Good evening my fellow happy haunts!

I can’t say I’ve ever played a racer quite like Lightfield before. You’re ship can fly and you’re not restricted in what direction you can fly. However, you gain a significant speed boost by “snapping” to a surface. Your goal is to move from checkpoint to checkpoint while staying snapped to a surface as much as possible. The courses are designed so that there is no clear best path between the checkpoints leaving it up to the player to experiment and to keep improving on their lap times.

The game feel very fast and frenetic as you twist and turn through the courses. One second you’re snapped to the side of a building, then you release your grip so you can jump down to a tunnel below you (or is it “above” you? It’s hard to tell after a while). Most of the time this feels great, but that freedom does mean it’s pretty easy to get turned around or lost. Especially on a track you’re not familiar with.

The controls are very simple although I can’t imagine trying to play this without a controller. They feel nice and tight while snapped to a surface, but feel sluggish and floaty while flying. That could be an intentional design choice, but I found it a little frustrating at times when I’m trying to get back to a surface while my ship chugs along through the air.

Several people (including Travis) praised the soundtrack for the game. I’ll be honest and say I disagree. The music was ok at first but it wore on me pretty quick. It wasn’t long before I shut the music off completely and just loaded up my own soundtrack to play in the background.

There are several modes to play through including an “exploration” mode and a “Campaign” mode that serves as the games tutorial. I went through the first couple campaign courses but once I got the hang of the game I found it far more fun to just jump into some racing.

Overall, I very much enjoyed my time trying out the game and I plan to sink many more hours into shaving off precious seconds from my lap times. I give this game a solid Rad!