=== PC Game Review -- Infested Planet - RTS Tower Defense - 10/10 ===

What Are We Reviewing?
Today I bring you Infested Planet by Rocket Bear Games.

Released: March 6, 2014
Price: $17.49 CAD
Genre: RTS / Tower Defense

This game has a good number of very positive reviews on Steam... and for good reason; I was pleasantly surprised by this title. I don't normally go out looking for games which include the tag "Tower Defense" in them because quite honestly, I usually find them to be incredibly boring and dull; in my opinion, most Tower Defense games get old very quickly usually because there isn't enough to do as the game progresses or because the game eventually comes down to figuring out how to optimally build for the scenario to get the 3 stars available on each level. It's difficult to describe just how nice it is to find a game of this type where that finally isn't such a big problem.

Gameplay:
Infested Planet comes with a nice campaign that introduces all the new mechanics of the game one at a time from new units, to new buildings, to new powers. This picture below shows the campaign progress which branches into different mission types.

Additionally there are some weekly challenges which can be done for a score to get a rank matched up against other players around the world. These challenges also have different mission types such as exterminating the map as quickly as possible for the highest score, or surviving as long as possible.

Much of the gameplay revolves around the squad units available with each mission. From left to right (starting on the right of the building in the picture and going counter-clockwise) you'll see the different unit types: Minigun, Officer, Scout, Flame, Sniper, Shotgun, Rifle. You can imagine by the name what each is capable of doing and what they're likely best at, but they all have their different uses in different situations; I found that many of the missions can be completed with a combination of Officers, Rifles, and Shotguns.

So, at first glace one might wonder how this is a tower defense game if you're using a squad of troops? Well, the gameplay has much to do with capturing and defending resources and bases. As seen below, there are hives which spawn alien creatures which must be defended against, destroyed, and captured. Each base point unlocks more points which can be spent on more marines (Rifles by default) and base defenses. Each marine has an increasing cost as more are hired and each one can have more points spent on equipment packs (such as a shotgun or a flamer) which changes their unit types.

As more points are captured the difficulty tends to increase as well. Yes, more points are unlocked for a more powerful squad or more powerful base defenses, but the other hives across the map may respond by mutating for a different unit type of their own (such as a ranged unit or one that explodes) or may start spawning MORE units to fight back against.

Enemies across the map have defenses of their own either to defend their hives or to defend resource crates which can be brought back to any base location for additional usable points.

Graphics:

The art-style here as you've seen is very familiar to the flash-based games of the past mixed with what I consider to be a hand-painted look. I can confirm it runs quite well and looks very nice on the eyes; nothing is too bright or dark or hard on the eyes and all actions respond very well to the inputs. 

Replayability:

I wouldn't normally think of a tower defense game to be very replayable... only because once you've completed a scenario there isn't much use in playing it again unless there's some type of achievement to be unlocked or a higher score to be achieved. Luckily there are weekly challenges available which give at least a weekly reason to reopen the game and compete against other players.

Also available are a couple DLCs - Trickster's Arsenal and Planetary Campaign. I haven't had the luxury of being able to play either of these myself, but given the opportunity, I would gladly open Infested Planet once again to try out the new content. Planetary Campaign seems to include a new procedural campaign creating a different experience each time. This is super interesting to me and might just be the reason I put more money into Infested Planet by Rocket Bear Games even though it was released a couple years ago.

SUMMARY:

I love RTS games and the real-time strategy portion of Infested Planet is very nicely done along with the Tower Defense aspect of it. I am in fact so happy with how it meshes together that... especially because I'm not normally a fan of tower defense games... I'm happy to give Infested Planet 10/10. This is probably a game I'll be coming back to in the future once I get my hands on the available expansions and you can bet if that happens that you'll see it on my livestream over on Twitch.

~ DaemonVirus

My Apologies - Life Is So Busy

I definitely want to apologize for not being very active lately on the blog and with making videos and things. There's tons of stuff that I want to do, but with so much overtime being available for work lately and so much going on at home, I've found myself to be so busy that I haven't had any time to work on my own things.

I have so many plans and so much that I want to do, I just don't know what to do with it all when I get the little amounts of time that I do have where I'm not busy. Let me take this moment to inform you that I have a lot in the works to post as soon as I get back on track and find some free time to do so. You know... once I get over being so tired that I can't focus on anything and only feel like sleeping when I'm doing something other than working.

I'm sure I've said this before, but I really have a want to get back on track with all of my content production including blog posts, YouTube videos, Twitch streams, book readings, song singings, and more! My goal for the coming months is to do more of everything even if it's only a 1-hour stream each night.

As I think about this more I realize that not only am I having a problem with available time (which will get better I'm sure), but also that when I do actually have time available to me I'm often too tired or generally not motivated enough to actually do anything other than watch someone else's content instead of making my own. Perhaps what I should be doing (and I'm finding this with work as well) is being more enthusiastic about things and put more emotion into my actions. I do find that music works much better for becoming active rather than sitting and becoming a zombie... I'll have to give it some work in the coming month and see what happens.

Keep an eye out as I get back into the groove of things and get going on all the plans I have in motion. At this point, once I get started, the content won't stop any time soon.... I just have to get over the hurdle of GETTING STARTED rather than sitting around. We're going to make next month amazing and get right back on track where we left off, or do even better than before.

I know we can make this big together, just stick around and wait for the fun to come about. We're going to be amazing.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Hammerwatch With The Wife

Hey everyone, this video is a little late as it was made back in December, but it's definitely better late than never... right? Carley agreed to play some Hammerwatch with me for not the first time, believe it or not. We've had fun with this game before and I definitely look forward to continuing to play this again in the future.

~ DaemonVirus


Back to Livestream page

Age of Wonders -- Keepers Scenario 6 - Part 9

A quick livestream to finish off scenario 6 before moving on. I know I need to (want to) do more livestreaming and I promise it will be coming soon. I think the biggest problem keeping me from livestreaming more often right now is the anxiety of going through the process of advertising and making commitments and then WHAT IF I LET EVERYBODY DOWN??? That's definitely something I need to get over though. Honestly, I should probably just do more streams where I don't put myself through the torture of advertising beforehand, but rather I just turn on the stream and go.

Previous

Next

This campaign and more can be found on my Age of Wonders page.

Check out more of my stuff!
- On YouTube
- On Twitch
- On Twitter

~ DaemonVirus

Livestream Night! =19=

Another livestreaming night is upon us friends! We'll be going live this evening with some Overwatch played with my brother for a while until we decide to switch out to something else. Please join me to hang out, chat, lurk, or whatever you wish. Perhaps we'll look for a game with an ending later on so we can get another game finished in our huge list of way too much to do.

Join me at www.twitch.tv/DaemonVirus1

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Livestream Night! =12=

Hey everybody, I'll be going live tonight with an attempt to win my first regular run of Runers followed by some State of Decay 2. Come join me and chat, hangout, or lurk. ^_^

www.twitch.tv/DaemonVirus1

I'm always open to suggestions if you have any ideas which might improve my stream.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Livestream Night! =10=

Hey everybody! I'm going live for a night of livestreaming. If everything goes to plan, then we should be starting off with a couple runs of Runers probably leading into some State of Decay 2. Join me at www.twitch.tv/DaemonVirus1.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Livestream Night! =6=

Hey everybody, I'm going live now with some State of Decay 2! Come join me if you're interested in watching, hanging out, chatting, or if you just want something to listen to. You can find me over on Twitch at www.twitch.tv/DaemonVirus1

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Age of Wonders Livestream - June 8, 2018 =4=

Today I decided to do a little bit of livestreaming and the game of choice was Age of Wonders, always one of my favourites. At some point I'll figure what sort of strategies I want to go with when starting new scenarios to hopefully get a much better start than I have in the past.

I've been playing some Play By Email games with some people over on the Good Old Games forums recently which has been quite a blast remembering just how easy it can be to mess up a game or take a bad engagement.

So here's some of my practice time in trying to learn some better strategy.

One-Year Content Production Challenge =1=

     Finally the anticipation can be put to rest and you are about to find out what it is that's going to be happening in the coming months. I've been wanting to make something good out of the content I create on my blog, YouTube, and Twitch for some time now, but something always distracts me or gets in the way. So, in the spirit of my content hero whom I watch all the time who goes by LethalFrag online, I have decided I am going to do a one-year content production challenge.

     I would love to commit to this being specifically a live-streaming challenge, but unfortunately I'm just not so sure at this point whether or not that would be possible; so instead I'm committing to content production. I will do my best to live-stream as often as possible throughout, but when I'm unable to do so, I'll at least make a blog post every day. If you're ever interested in checking everything that's been done, I'll keep a daily list with links on a page called One-Year Content Production Challenge.

     Will this be difficult to find the time to do something every day even if it's just a simple post saying "Hi" for the day? Yes, absolutely... but I need something personal to keep myself busy and really show that this hobby of mine is something important that I put a lot of effort into. I know it can be great if only I put in the real effort to do so. Have I talked to Carley about this? No... she'll be finding out about this as she reads it just like everybody else. (Sorry babe)

     Perhaps this entire idea will be a huge flop, but hey... we're in a time when finding a new job is quite difficult and I do have the time to keep up with this even if I sometimes don't think I really do. I appreciate each and every one of you who support me through this and I welcome all of your criticism on how I can make everything better in the future. Keep an eye out for daily updates on news, gaming, personal projects, reviews of movies, food, and much more.

As usual, you're all fantastic, and I hope you all have the best days ever! ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Age of Wonders -- Keepers Scenario 5 - Part 2

Okay, looks like we've encountered a new victory condition. Definitely wasn't expecting this at all. I suppose that means we'll have to figure out a different way to complete this scenario rather than capturing the whole map.

Previous

Next

This campaign and more can be found on my Age of Wonders page.

Check out more of my stuff!
- On YouTube
- On Twitch
- On Twitter

~ DaemonVirus

=== Mind Over Matter ===

I've come to realize that everything I do is a matter off the mind. For some time now I've been searching for ways to improve my productivity. As it turns out, that answer has been under my nose this whole time. Or should I say... behind it.

There are all sorts of things online claiming they can improve your mental focus and clarity. Do any of them work? Maybe... but are they really worth the money? I don't think so. See, there's an alternative which I think many people forget about; including myself. That option is quite simply.... doing it.

I sort of had this epiphany a couple nights ago when I forced myself to go to my computer late at night rather than laying down on the couch and falling asleep. I ended up staying up all night streaming on twitch and felt great after that I had done something fun and productive. In fact, I felt so great about it that I then enthusiastically cleaned up the kitchen and prepared for the day. This was accomplished because I made a decision to do something.

It can be quite difficult to tell your body to do these things when it is do exhausted, but it can be done if you put your mind to it... As long as your brain isn't out of juice as well. Yes, things like caffeine can help; I prefer to avoid needing any though if I can help it. Although... there is a real spectacular boost when you're able to effectively combine both caffeine and brain power.

I've seen people shut down no matter how much they want to keep going... including myself. The biggest hurdle really is resisting what the body is asking for and instead doing what YOU want to do.

So what do you say? Will you join me in putting your mind over matter?

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Late Night Streaming ===

     Alright, yes, I know it's quite late to be doing this right now, but sometimes I just want to spend some time doing some late night streaming. Tonight I'll be playing some Stardew Valley if you want to join me at my stream at www.twitch.tv/DaemonVirus1. I don't have a plan for how long I'll be streaming tonight; however, I may also switch to some StarCraft II later on if I'm feeling up for it. I played some recently with my friend and now I'm totally feeling it once again. It's wonderful shaking the rust out of my system. ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Quick Morning Post ===

     Time for a quick morning post to get the day going. I'm getting excited here, I have a couple plans to start some projects coming up. I'll be sure to update everybody on them as they happen. I don't want to reveal too much too soon, 'cause then the excitement will pass once it's finally time to let everybody know what I've done. Either that or there will be a letdown if something doesn't get done quickly or worse.... if something doesn't get done at all. I've been slacking a little bit lately (I'm sure I've said this more than once). I'll be starting on some new projects soon and continuing with some old ones right away as well. The hardest part is finding the proper time to actually get all of this done, but soon enough I'll figure out how to properly fit all of this into the time that I do have.

     The most important project to me at this time is getting into a greater habit of posting to my blog more often. I have much I would like to write about including everyday life, game reviews, food, drinks, locations, and experiences. I just tend to forget about how easy it is to sit down for a few minutes and write about it. I mean... one of my favourite things to do is to sit down a type for a while (I know, I'm weird). That's one of the reasons I keep a notepad file at work to type everything I need to follow-up on; also it's easier to keep up to date and not lose things that way.

     So I hope you all have a wonderful morning and please look forward to a coming flurry of new things on my blog, YouTube, and Twitch. You're all amazing and you all deserve to be entertained! ^_^

~ Kyle

=== Future Plans ===

     I've been thinking about what's coming up for me for my future plans. There are some things I would like to be doing coming up and I think they're reasonable things to plan for. In the past I've never really made any plans to stick to or real goals to follow, but now I find myself wanting to have some goals with which I can give myself a measure of success.

     First on my list is that I have a lot of games started, but few that I've actually ever finished. I would like to make it a goal to finish some of my games so that I can retire them. Of course there are some games which are really fun and I'll probably play them for a really long time even after I've beaten them tons of times. Other games I've only started playing and haven't found the time to finish or I've gotten distracted by other games and activities. This leads me into my next goal.

     My next goal is to use these games that I want to play through, whether that's finishing them or replaying them or whatever else I decide to do with them to create more content. I've been slacking lately on the content production and that's absolutely something I really enjoy doing which I would like to continue having as something strong and important in my life. I've managed to hit a large number of views with one of my game reviews I posted on my blog and that makes me feel awesome and want to continue doing more game-related content and other content production in general. So this will have me continuing to make blog posts and making more of an effort to spread that content creation into my YouTube channel for recorded episodes and Twitch for live streaming depending on the type of game being played.

     Outside of playing games I have a couple goals a well. The first is getting my garden ready for planting for next year. I didn't manage to do so this year, but with the heat wave going on I guess that means we're saving money as a result right now. I'm really wanting to have everything ready so I can grow a successful garden next year.

     The next offline goal I have is practicing my drawing. I really enjoy drawing things but I'm usually too busy to do so because it usually takes me a long time to make anything due to being such a perfectionist when it comes to making artwork. I have a set of pencils to draw with and ink wells and dip pens to use but I just haven't had a chance to use them since I got them. I'm going to make it a plan to take some time out of some of my days to use these things to grow my skills at things I enjoy doing.

     Another goal I have is to practice music. I have a violin which has been sitting recently and desperately needs to be used. I have also gotten a recorder from the dollar store which I can use for simple flute sort of music. If you haven't noticed... I also enjoy singing and using that for some of my content. I'm going to make a plan to at least practice some of this so I'm more comfortable with it in the future and then perhaps I'll have an easier time creating more in the future.

     The last goal I have at this time is to start reading more again. This has been something I've been planning to do for quite some time where I pick a book and read it for a YouTube video. If there are other people in the world like me, then they have lots of time to listen to things, but not so much to actually do things. Hence, I figure some people would like to listen to the reading of books and things. This gives me two reasons to read books; so that I can read something I'm interested in reading, and so I can share it with the rest of the world.

     I hope you've enjoyed reading my ideas and that perhaps you're looking forward to something in this list coming from me in the future. Feel free to let me know! ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Where has the time gone?

     Is it just me, or does time fly by? Clearly I haven't been posting as much as I would like to be. I actually can't believe that I failed to post anything on the day we got our dear little Furgle. I guess I've been so busy that I haven't had the time to sit down for a while and type something up. It's kind of crazy that I haven't posted anything for the past three weeks. I guess it's time for an update then.

     Since my last post, we now have a sweet little puppy that we've named Furgle. He's a Shih Tzu / Cocker Spaniel mix, I believe he is now nine weeks old, and he seems to be learning quickly. He has a tiny bladder so it can be difficult to coordinate properly with the times that he needs to get him outside every time, but he's started scratching at the door to go outside and he does happily go outside to do his business when you're there to let him out.

     We have a Christmas tree with some presents underneath, some stockings on the wall, and a nice cleanish house. Obviously we try to keep it clean as much as we can, but we do get rather busy with projects and taking care of the dog. Recently we've started doing puzzles that we plan to glue together, frame, and put up on the wall.

     Besides that, I think we're both super excited for Christmas tomorrow. This year we have decided to spend Christmas day together with just the two of us. We'll open presents, probably watch a movie or two at some point, I'm sure we'll use our new presents, we're going to cook a fantastic Christmas supper together including turkey and stuffing. This year is going to be a great holiday; I'm so excited for tomorrow. 

Have a fantastic Christmas everybody! ^_^

~ Kyle

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Thoughts through my head.

     Usually I start a post with a title and an idea of what I want to talk about, but today I just sort of feel like talking about whatever and figuring out the title afterwords. This sort of blends into the fact that I find myself wanting to do quite a few things lately. I want to make some extra money on the side so Carley and I can go out for dates and things, I want to continue recording and posting my videos on YouTube, I want to read books, I want to stream on Twitch, I want to do homework ahead of time, I want to make blog posts. I want to do so much, but I don't even know where to start.

     Usually it's something like "I feel like I don't have the time to do that," but this time is really just a problem of not knowing where I want to start or what I want to do first. It's all so much fun to me that I hardly know how to contain myself, and yet when it comes time to do it... I don't know what to do. I don't think this is all a bad thing though, I think I just need to figure out what I'd like to do first and go from there. As I write I'm thinking of what I'd like to to later on today when I have the time to do so.

     I guess I have a dream of being able to do these sorts of things like blogging and video creating and actually making some money out of it. I think it would be pretty cool to make just $10 in a month solely based on the words I put out to the world, or the videos I've put together for all to see. I'm sure it's possible... I just don't really have a great knowledge of how to go about expanding the number of people my content hits. As far as I know it's sort of a waiting game to get more and more people to see my content and share it with others and have it continue from there. I don't know... I know it's possible, I just wish I knew how to make it happen faster and better and things. Perhaps I should start looking into getting into some kind of forums or something? There are so many options and so little time. I want to be successful but don't know if I have the time to wait for it to happen or if the process needs to be sped up by me putting more work into it. Perhaps this is just something I should take a little more time to think on.

     So here I am creating content for my own website. Perhaps not the most professional and amazing thing you've ever read, but it's me. There isn't any makeup hiding how I like to be or who I am. This is me on a day when I don't have a specific topic, just what comes out of my head as the day goes on. I think it's good to have a bit of a mixture between candid posts and ones that have been thought about more. It's good to be able to take some time to just post something every once in a while that doesn't require me to be all professional about it and give you all the proper details.

     This really gives me more time to think somewhat about how, if possible, I can make just a little bit more money than I am currently without getting a whole new job at the moment. I'd like to find something I can do (such as writing content for a blog) which could make me an extra 5 or 10 dollars every couple days. I'll have to look around and see if I can find anything to lead me in the right direction. More people to see my content and better content to attract more people; anything would help really. I think the most important thing though, is to keep at it; nothing will happen if I don't keep trying.

     Well, I think that's it for this post. I just thought I'd give you some idea of what's going through my head. Have a great day everybody! ^_^

~ Kyle

5 Days Until Moving Day!

     For anybody who hasn't heard, Carley and I are moving out of our apartment which is currently falling apart. We take possession of our new house on the 25th at 11:00am. How exciting it is that we'll actually have a nice space of our own that we won't have to be embarrassed about inviting our family over to. Once we get some unpacking done, we have plans to invite some friends over for table top game nights, and we have plans to invite family over to visit and have supper.

     Maybe it sounds a little bit silly, but one of the things I'm most excited about is that we'll finally have access to fiber optics, so we won't be stuck on the awfully slow internet speed we're on currently. I'll finally be able to spend some time gaming with my friends without lagging out of everything. I'll be able to upload videos during the day so I won't have to waste so much power by leaving my computer on over night and while I'm gone to work. Also, if I can find the time to, I'll be able to live-stream once again!

     Now that I'm done my spiel on how excited I am for technological reasons... I think Carley and I are going to be super happy having a place of our own which isn't falling apart. We'll finally be able to have everything nice and organized just how we'd like it. There'll be a play room in the basement, a room for us and a room for Isabelle, an office space for us, and a nice backyard that we can actually use including a garden (if I can ever figure out how to grow a plant without killing it).

     I'm quite happy to be moving soon, and I think Carley is too, but she's also a little overwhelmed; she really doesn't like moving. Thankfully, this place will finally be a long-term place. We're already pretty much packed up; just have to pack dishes, the washroom, and food on the last day. Obviously we'll have to take apart the desks as well, but there's not much else to do besides that. We just have a ton of boxes filling our living room at the moment.

     Besides the excitement of moving, I've been at my new job for a little over a month now and I'm absolutely loving it. Working a salary is WAY better than working hourly; especially since my coordinator is so freaking awesome. I feel like I'm getting the hang of things quickly and she thinks so too.

     I still wish I could make a little more money on the side somehow, but I'm not really sure how I would go about that besides my long-term plan to maybe one day make a bit of money off my videos on YouTube and Twitch. I guess I'll just have to keep on making videos for now and we'll see where things go in the future. In any case, it's super fun for me to do and I hope others enjoy what I do as well.

-- Please check out my YouTube at www.YouTube.com/user/TheDaemonVirus
-- Please check out my Twitch at www.Twitch.tv/DaemonVirus1
-- Please follow me on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/KyleWelykholowa

     Have a great day everybody! ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

(Written Sunday, November 20th, 2016)

Sometimes I'm a little tired, but I still make great food.

     I don't know why, or what causes it. Some days I'm just so exhausted and I have no idea why. Yesterday for instance, I didn't do all that much. It was a pretty lazy day compared to others... but by 11:30, I was so incredibly tired. Maybe I'm not eating enough meat and vegetables...

     Speaking of vegetables, I actually decided to cook for myself last night. Usually when making food for just myself, I tend to only make simple foods for myself like spaghetti and hot dogs. Sometimes I make sidekicks as well. But last night I made steak, asparagus, and noodles; It was wonderful. I hardly ever make actual meals like that for myself, so I have to admit, I'm quite proud of myself for putting in the effort to do so. I didn't do anything special with any of the food other than the asparagus which I put in the oven and melted some grated cheese over.

     Other than that, I don't have much else to update about my goings on recently. I'm still looking for either another job or a replacement job depending on the hours and pay. Clearly I haven't been posting too much recently, so I'll have to get on top of that again. To date I have successfully completed one gig on Fiverr which has made me $5 or so. And finally I am only one follower away from having 50 followers on Twitch! Yay me! :D

     So until next time, have a wonderful day all you people out there! You're all wonderful and I love each and every one of you who takes the time to keep up with my blog and other things. ^_^

~ Kyle

Regular Post About Nothing Special... I MADE YUMMY BANANA MUFFINS!

     So it's been a while since I've made a regular post about nothing super special. Today I would like to let you all know... that I can be a successful baker! I have successfully managed to bake tasty banana chocolate chip muffins. Oh my goodness, I'm actually a little bit surprised that I'm not fat. I mean, seriously... I drink a lot of soft drinks and I really like food; It's a little bit of a wonder really.

     In other good news, I've been given a few additional hours at work, so I don't have to worry as much about that being a problem... though I'm still searching for some kind of additional work. Speaking of work, I have made my first five dollars on Fiverr by talking to someone about something they've required. So I've made a little bit of success on that front.

     Additional success includes getting my first couple subscribers on YouTube and continuing to grow my group of followers on Twitch. So here's hoping something good can happen out of something coming up in the future. I have high hopes for a lot of things right now; as always, it's just a matter of patience. It's always a matter of patience...

~ Kyle