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Okay, I know it’s still November, but we’re very close to December here which is when Christmas stuff is allowed. Also, this is worth a listen just because of how bizarre it is.
Blizzard are most well known for the World of Warcraft game, with it’s massive world and lore – it even spawned a card game of Hearthstone which is where the less serious WoW stuff tends to end up. And indeed, that’s where this video was released – onto Blizzard’s Hearthstone Youtube channel.
A video of a lovely warm log fire, which slowly gets more and more decorated until the room is the very picture of all that’s good about Christmas. It’s up to you whether or not you think the carol singing makes it better or ruins it.
I’m not sure we’ll be playing any of these carols in December, but it’s still very nicely done I think. Heck, even the Tinyfins are joining in and isn’t Christmas supposed to be about gathering together and having a good time?
Today’s review is one of an endless runner platformer game, with a single-button input for controls. It is called Spunk and Moxie and is made by Tilt Studios and Chocolate Homunculus, and was published by Black Shell Media onto Steam.
The object of the game is to get your chosen little slime blob (Spunk the green blob or Moxie the pink one) through the levels which are set across a number of different locations, getting past obstacles either by jumping over them or breaking through them.
The game contains three different locations and has ten levels set within each location. You first enter the Warehouse, before proceeding to the Factory and finally the Laboratory in your quest to lead your blob to freedom outside. 30 levels for a game doesn’t sound like a lot, even for such a small cheap game – but endless runners are something that require split second timing to get down right. With a time limit to complete each level, you need to be good with your timing. At first you have plenty of margin for error, but later levels add hazards that don’t kill you but instead deplete your ‘Spunk Meter’ which is the time limit you have.
Travel is done through using the single button input to jump and bounce between walls as you enter from one pipe and exit through another. Along the way you will encounter various pickups and powerups. The Powerups come in three flavours; one that allows you to break through weak areas, one that lets you dash and one that will allow for temporary flight. The main pickup in game though is the blue glowing crystals that are scattered around the levels. You will also find one colourful crystal per level that can be pick up multiple times for more points if you’re fast enough. These crystals function as currency in the Shop which lets you buy powerups to take into levels they don’t exist in, including one which refills some of your Spunk Meter. There are also keys to be found that will allow for the unlocking of other playable characters with some familiar faces from other indie games making appearances.
There’s also a competitive element with leaderboards being shared through the community, and you are able to race other player’s ghosts as well as your own. You can also earn medals in each level by completing certain tasks, such as picking up all the available crystals, finding the key, completing it on Hard Mode etc.
As a game I find it very nice to look at, and the music is quite nice to listen to. At least at first, it becomes more wearing the longer you play the game as it does repeat. The single control is very responsive which is a plus for this genre certainly. The levels also scale fairly well.
However, this game is what it is. Simple. A strength yes, but also a big downside. There really is not a lot more to the game than – enter, jump, bounce, find a route, exit, repeat for medals. It is an endless runner game and really, I’m not sure how much differently it does to other small indies of this genre.
The other issue I have with it is simply that it is not my type of game. I am not great at split second timing and missing a jump and entering a pit sets you way back at the start. Which is irritating and can make your timing that much worse as a result. If you don’t like endless runner games, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Overall, Spunk and Moxie is a well-made and fun little game. It just doesn’t have a wide appeal and probably won’t keep your attention for too long unless you really enjoy this sort of a challenge.
The first patch applied to Dishonored 2 worked for some people, but not everyone found their game was fixed. Our own station manager was reported as saying that past the first mission he was experiencing more of the same bugginess that he’d found on his first playthrough.
Fortunately Arkane and Bethesda aren’t done patching, and a 1.2 patch is now in beta on Steam with a focus on improving performance issues. Among the fixes in the patch is one related to mouse sensitivity being tied to the game’s framerate, solutions to frame stuttering and the introduction of more Options in the menu to help players better manage the frames they could get from the game.
There’s also a set of ‘known issues’ listed, with some having workarounds suggested as a temporary measure for now. It’s likely that these will be on the top of the list for the 1.3 patch to the game.
Opting into the beta simply requires you to hover over the game in your Library, right-click and choose properties, then click the beta tab and opt in. Those already opted in for beta 1.1 will be getting the new patch automatically. It’s also been recommended that Nvidia card users download the 375.95 drivers, as some of the previous Nvidia drivers were responsible for issues specific to Dishonored 2.
To check out the full set of 1.2 beta patch notes, click here.
Welcome to your weekly update in cool little gaming campaigns being hosted on Kickstarter right now.
Starting as always with the updates to those previously covered, both Goodwill and A Little Less Desperation have reached their goals with time to spare – meaning these two projects are go once their campaigns close. The Station has also made up a sizeable amount of its target since last week and still have just over two weeks to go, making it perfectly reasonable to assume it will finish completing its goal.
However, there are some campaigns with little time left and too much of that target to make up. All of Drawing Dead, Death Witch: Bloodline, Cloud Runner and Alone in the Woods have less than 2 days left, and the closest to target is Drawing Dead which has made nearly three-quarters of its goal. Unfortunately with Kickstarter’s rule of backers not having to pay if a target is not reached, three-quarters isn’t enough.
First up we have a ‘tycoon’ management game – one of my favourite game genres. Only this one is a board game!
Arcade Tycoon sets you against your fellow players as you all attempt to build up the biggest and best video game arcade to win the game. You can sabotage your opponent’s machines and swap around machines to get your pieces into the best traffic-filled areas to become a Tycoon! You earn money by having your rivals land on squares with your machines – first to $40 wins! Think Monopoly with video arcade machines.
Arcade Tycoon has a £1,800 target, with 29 days still to go. It has made £235 so far.
Next up we have a game that brings back memories of the platformers I loved to play as a child in the 90s.
Nin is about a keyring ninja who has been left and forgotten about since he was new in the 90s. Now he sets off out of the dark shoebox he has been kept in to see the outside world. As a miniature plush keyring, Nin’s world is full of giant things from real-life that you must find a way through. There is also a damage counter that lets you keep track of your ‘health’ by how much wear and tear Nin is showing on his body. Being plush means you can take hits, but you’re not invincible by any means.
Nin has a $75,000 goal of which it has made $780 so far, with 31 days to go.
Next up we have a turn-based tactical games that incorporates chess and fantasy gaming into one.
The campaign’s page says that Chessaria is “The turned-based tactical that brings fantasy to strategy board games” and the developers have taken cues from games like the Zelda series for this game, developing a world and a story for their game. There are two main races in the story, white elves and orcs – with the white elf characters listed on the page representing a chess piece each. It can be assumed that the orcs also on the campaign page who have details yet to be revealed will also be representations of the same pieces for the ‘black’ side of the table.
Chessaria: The Tactical Adventure has a €20,000 goal and has 28 days to go; it has made €1,499 so far.
Lastly we have a sci-fi roguelike game with RPG elements.
Jupiter Hell is another 90s inspired game, taking cues from Doom and other games of that era. The movement and actions are turn-based and set you in as a lone space marine taking on waves of demonic monsters. To aid you with this, you can pick up and use any weapon you find to make a mess of your enemies before they do of you.
Jupiter Hell has 22 days to go. It has made £27,770 of its £60,000 goal.
Arcade modes have recently been introduced into the game of Overwatch, along with the new character of Sombra who after the long hunt and trail many players were finally glad to actually see arrive. One of the new Arcade modes is the Duel Arcade mode where players go 1v1 against each other in match-ups. For reasons of interesting play, Mercy and Lucio are excluded from this mode… but it seems so was another character much to Blizzard’s dismay.
Game director Jeff Kaplan was explaining why Mercy and Lucio weren’t in the Duel Arcade mode when he let slip that Ana was also not in the rotation, due to a bug.
“Also, we just discovered a bug that causes Ana to almost never show up in a 1v1 match (well, she has shown up twice since we patched). That bug will be fixed soon so you’ll be seeing more of Ana.”
Lucio and Mercy are currently out because of their healing skills, with Kaplan noting: “We removed Lucio because the battles (if played a certain way) would always end in a draw. Also, when we buffed Mercy, she ran into a similar situation.”
The good news is that Kaplan said that they “have some other ideas” to solve these problems, so hopefully in future we can see all the characters in Duel Arcade. At least for now all the invitations that were sent for the party have been received properly.
