The Gera School of Game Development has one simple tenet: When in doubt, just add dogs. Our alumni is extensive, and includes but is not limited to a game with an Alsatian in it and Fable 2. Now being added to this list is the glorious two-dimensional Terraform-em-up Starbound [official site] which lets users have pets on board their personal space ships as of this week’s patch.
Starbound has received another stable update—the second to be released this year. That means new features, of course, but also a new Adjective Animal version name. Formerly on Upbeat Giraffe, the game is now running version Spirited Giraffe.
New features include a new planet bookmarking system, on-planet teleporters and ship pets—animals that correspond to the player's race choice, and that will investigate items and objects and generally be cute around the place. There are also new locations: the mysterious Ark, and a Slime Cave biome containing new items and furniture.
It's a big ol' set of changes, and you can see the full rundown over at Spirited Giraffe's patch post.
Each week on Show Us Your Rig, we feature PC gaming's best and brightest as they show us the systems they use to work and play.
Adam Riches is an artist at Chucklefish, the studio best known for Starbound, and I pretty much want his desk. He's got a nice, large space with lots of a light and some absolutely fantastic figurines. I am seriously considering flying to the Chucklefish offices to 'interview' him just so I can make off with that 3D printed Guybrush Threepwood voodoo doll. Lacking that, Riches was kind enough to take some time and tell us about the bobbles around his desk, what he's playing right now, and why he's excited for the next Deus Ex.
Outside:
Probably the figurines that have accumulated on my desk. I ordered some 3D printed Monkey Island and Day Of The Tentacle figures specifically because I love the classic Lucasarts adventure games (and they aren't really something you can buy merchandise for) but everything else has just mysteriously appeared in one way or another. A couple times now I ve come into work in the morning and found a new figure placed on my desk.
I also received a unique, hand stitched framed picture of the main characters from our next game, Wayward Tide. We did secret Santa last year, and everyone got really creative and made each other handcrafted gifts.
Our office gets really warm in the summer, so right now I've got a tiny desk fan at hand, which provides a small but welcoming breeze.
I'm also regularly checking up on my desk plant. Everyone in the office has their own plant, and we've got a bet to see who's the best at keeping theirs alive. One of us (naming no names) has a particularly sad looking bonsai tree, that I m amazed is still alive!
I'm still making my way through Shadow of Mordor, the nemesis system is really refreshing but I've hit a point where I've got to finish story missions to continue and they aren't as compelling unfortunately. I'm also slowly working my way through the last part of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I'm a bit of a completionist when it comes to those games so I m urged to read every email, crawl through every vent, hack every terminal etc. It makes getting through the hub sections of the game a little overwhelming!
I have a few favourites! One of them is Little Big Adventure 2, by the now defunct Adeline Software. It starts like a typical adventure game, with you tasked with performing a simple fetch quest, but the sheer scale of the game is ridiculous. By the middle of the game you're caught up in a conspiracy, fighting aliens on a totally different planet. It's completely bizarre but the story manages to constantly hold your attention, and it managed to effectively tackle real-time combat within the adventure game genre.
For similar reasons my other favourite is the original Deus Ex by Ion Storm. I came into it pretty late, but loved the way you could approach situations in different ways and how certain actions would have notable consequences within the story. I'm more than a little excited for the new one that just got announced.
