Bit Blot Forum
Aquaria => Modding => Topic started by: Yogoda on August 05, 2009, 11:23:33 pm
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Beauty of Aquaria
A map based on the veil where you can enjoy the beauty of Aquaria
No combats, no violence, only peaceful creatures.
(http://aquariawiki.ryanballantyne.name/wiki/images/BeautyOfAquaria-small.png)
You can find it here : http://aquariawiki.ryanballantyne.name/wiki/index.php/Beauty_of_Aquaria
Comments are welcome :)
This is a big map with a lot of creatures, so I hope you won't have too much slowdowns. I had to modify all creatures to set the Update Cull to 1024, otherwise it was not playable ...
Please report any problems you might have.
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Congrats on releasing this! I'm gonna check it out soon. 8)
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Woo woo! Modddddd!!
You could add it to the mods list thread:
http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=702.0
Curse your timing, I have two assignments due on Monday. :'(
Yaaaaaayy mod! :D
[EDIT]
I just played your mod for about half an hour straight. 8) Hats off to you sir. I think I've found everything.. 7 costumes?
And the whale actually gave me a start when I first saw it. ::)
If there was one thing I think could be improved (though I'm really not sure how) its the rivers. It was thin in some places to the point that exiting once left me helplessly bouncing four or five times before the water caught me. :-X
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I am glad you like it ;)
You could add it to the mods list thread:
http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=702.0
Done
Curse your timing, I have two assignments due on Monday. :'(
What do you mean ? lol
I think I've found everything.. 7 costumes?
Missing one :) (energytemple,mithalan, crab, jelly, teen, seahorse, mutant,end). The end costume is not collectible so maybe you have them all. I did not include the Urchin costume as it is killing creatures, but I just realized I could create a new inoffensive costume with the Urchin skin. Maybe in the next release.
If there was one thing I think could be improved (though I'm really not sure how) its the rivers. It was thin in some places to the point that exiting once left me helplessly bouncing four or five times before the water caught me. :-X
I will work on this and see if I can improve it, but I can't have the water level too high or it won't look like a river anymore.
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Congrats on releasing this! I'm gonna check it out soon. 8)
Alec, I would love to have your feedback :)
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If there was one thing I think could be improved (though I'm really not sure how) its the rivers.
It was thin in some places to the point that exiting once left me helplessly bouncing four or five times before the water caught me. :-X
After many unsuccessful tests, I broke the waterbubble node into smaller nodes, and for some reasons (I still don't get it) it works much better.
I will make a new release tomorrow or this week-end.
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Yeah, played the 1.0.1 version, don't know if that's your latest, but also had minor problems with the rivers. Second, not everything in this level is harmless, I'd suggest, if possible, to place some resting points, to regenerate health again. I can't remember correctly if the sleep scene regenerates your health. Orrrr... maybe some of those healing tadpoles scattered far and wide.
Last thing I'd like to note is that the spot around the whale is... empty... very empty.
Finally I must say this was a godlike beautifully map and the spot I loved most, was the perfectly detailed flying fortress you were able to see with the strong current, marvellous!
The runner-up was the submarine of Li on the beach background below the whale.
After that It'd be the place where you get the mutant costume.
So yeah, your map has a top 3 already. :D
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Ok, just uploaded the version 1.0.2 that should fix the waterfalls as this is an issue (at least makes things much better)
I placed quite a few healing plants as you can get hurt (initial release), and the savepoint does heal you. Do we really need more healing ?
I did not know the tadpoles are healing ^^, I always wondered. Good to know.
I will also try to add creatures, but I am always concerned about possible slowdowns ... I guess it's ok
Thanks a lot for your feedback !
Oh, and btw I also love your test map with the costumes and the alpha costume, really great design :)
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There were tadpoles in the original release, did they get removed or something? I didn't have issues with losing health with the number of plants and the tadpoles (not to mention the jellyfish suit ;) ).
I also quite like the small bit of empty space around the whale. It was something I kinda missed in aquaria, the open-ness of the ocean. Its nice to have a break away from all the closed in walls. :)
I also really digged the appearance of the flying city. ^-^ Thought maybe I shouldn't mention it as it might spoil the surprise for some...
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Concerning the slowdown; if you want you can always add a second map. I thought that it had enough creatures, secrets and fun spots. Sadly enough the currents and the few costumes you can collect is the only interactivity you have. None the less, this map IS about beauty.
Either way, once again about the big empty void. I personally think there should at least be something in the background. But that's me.
Second, people who have read this far should have just downloaded the mod already, Hiro. ^^
P.S. I didn't really notice any save points?
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Hee hee hee. Then you didn't explore enough Alpha. :-*
Its well hidden (and disguised). Thats your hint. ;)
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If it's not a red rock, I won't find it. XD
Unless I go into editor mode and look for the nodes, but that's cheating.
EDIT: I guess the "Hidden" hint got me, but that save crystal ain't red. =p
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I changed the rules a little bit ;)
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Blasphemy! XD
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New release 1.0.3, added harmless urchin costume, added a bit more life in the sea ;) (but not too much), and some minor changes.
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Wow. Very nice map!
I particularly like that you, perhaps unintentionally, included both a Grouper with a very long firing range and some eels to provide aiming material. If you work things just right, you can actually launch yourself all the way from the start of the city-viewing current to the whale. I also really liked the landscape below the whale- the feeling of that being a huge 3D open space is amazing.
[EDIT] For some reason, none of the sea turtles are appearing for me- they just show up as white specks. Is anyone else having this problem, or have I just managed to break my copy of Aquaria?
- Edwards
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For me the turtles seem to be ok (checked the 1.0.3 version, but I did not change anything in the others), strange.
I don't even know what you are talking about with the Grouper :D but it seems very fun. Glad this works, I failed at trying anything with it.
It is not the first thing that was unintentional though ;)
Glad you enjoyed the map !
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I'm also using v1.0.3 (On MacOS X, so Aquaria version 1.1.0), and I've narrowed the problem down to
something in the seaturtlecommon.lua file, or the dofile statements in the other sea turtle files. Also, there's a similar issue with the nudis (I think- I spotted one white speck that claimed to be a nudi at the far south of the map), and if there are any seahorses in the map, they don't show up either. I'm suspecting a problem with the dofile statement- I've had problems with those before, and it would explain why you can't replicate the issue- filesystem access problems could easily be operating-system-specific.
[EDIT] Yeah, it looks like there's a major bug in the dofile command in the MacOS X version of Aquaria- it does not recognize "_mods/…" paths as referring to the mods folder. It's possible to get a proper reference by using the complete path to the file ("/Users/ed/Library/…"), but that doesn't work for distribution purposes. I've come up with a couple of possible fixes for this for your mod, but I'll try to make sure this isn't just an issue with my game being corrupted first.
[EDIT2] More testing, using a freshly-downloaded copy of the game, confirms that a dofile command that starts with "_mods/" (and likely any path that does not start with "/") will attempt to look at a folder named "_mods" in the game data files, at the same location as the "scripts", "gfx", etc. folders. Therefore, it is not currently possible to use mod-specific include files in a mod that is intended to work on MacOS X. (EDIT: See TheBear's post below.) Regarding the possible work-arounds for your mod, there are two basic options:
1) Simply accept the performace impact from not modifying the culling distance for the sea turtles, sea horses, and nudis.
2) Assuming the entity_setUpdateCull() function works as advertised, place it in the init() functions of the various specific scripts (seaturtlesmall.lua, seaturtlebig.lua, etc.), and do not attempt to use a copy of the seaturtlecommon.lua file.
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As for the Grouper, it will chase any free-floating ingredients, such as the oil you can coax out of the eels, and attempt to eat them. This allows you to change where it is and which way it's facing, and if you get eaten instead (or if you sit on its face and sing), it will spit you out, sending you flying across the map. It's quite fun, and could make an interesting puzzle in a custom map, as it allows you to pass through strong currents.
- Edwards
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doFile issue
You need to append the user data path unless you were already doing this Edwards. Seemed like the standard doFile was being used in the files I looked through. This is the doFile I'm using in my mod:
dofile(appendUserDataPath("_mods/rpg_PrequelCampaign/scripts/flags.lua"))
Map Thoughts
I agree with the above comments but particularly enjoyed the way you used the crystal tiles and the 3D effects you achieved with the sand tiles. I "borrowed" the crystal technique for one of my levels that you can see in my new level creation video. My main suggestion would be that the smaller black collision walls and the sharp points that some go to creates an ugly surface for the wall tiles to follow. I always make sure my wall surfaces are smooth and not in obscure shapes to mess up the wall tile placement.
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dofile(appendUserDataPath("_mods/rpg_PrequelCampaign/scripts/flags.lua"))
Nice, I will update my scripts for the next release. I can only suppose it works as I don't have a way of testing it.
For the tiles, yeah I had problems with walls not so nice, I corrected manually where I could but it's a huge work. I should have smoothed the borders at the start, not I'm afraid it's too late, as I have customized them a lot (crystal cave, island in the middle, ...) so I won't hit F12 anymore.
Thanks a lot !
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I "borrowed" the crystal technique for one of my levels that you can see in my new level creation video.
You can borrow anything you want, I myself got inspiration from the treasure mod screenshots ;) (the backgrounds with the sand and the crystal groups). Of course it is not a copy, but it gave me the starting idea. I also had of course a lot of inspiration from Aquaria itself.
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Release version 1.0.4 that should fix the problem for the Mac users
Still to be confirmed as I can not test.
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The new version works perfectly on the Mac version of Aquaria. It's quite fun to ride around the world on a seahorse (including up the waterfalls!).
- Edwards
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i dont know where to put the file for this mod! :-\ Also is it supposed to be a RAR file? Im lookin forward to this mod cause im not much of a fighter i like to enjoy the awesomeness of the game
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Sorry, I forgot it is not obvious what to do with a mod rar file.
I have created a wiki section that explains it. Feel free to ask if you have more questions.
http://aquariawiki.ryanballantyne.name/wiki/index.php/Install_a_Mod
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Enjoy being on the front page (http://www.bit-blot.com/?p=220). :)
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:o :o :o :o wow, that was unexpected for sure ^^
That's ... COOL Thanks !!!
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Woo woo! Some well deserved attention coming your way. ^-^
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I gave this a shot after seeing it on the front page.
It does make you realise how pretty Aquaria is. It'd be nice if the whereabouts of the save point were more obvious though...not being able to save is irritating at best. :/
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Heh, though really you don't need to save so much in this mod...
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Yeah....I know.
It just hurts me in my completionism :(
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in game possible save?
(excuse me for my translation)
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Yes, it is in a secret cave (you have to find it) that leads to a chamber with a blue crystal. The blue crystal is the save crystal.
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Many thanks :)
Has Found! )))
there and suit(cloth) was.
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Does it work on a mac???????
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Yes, it should, tell me if you have any problem.
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I'm not sure if you're still working on this, or even if you would still take suggestions, or beyond that even if you're still here, but in the off-chance...
I'd like to suggest you add in Li's song, as well as perhaps more things to interact with - nothing special, just perhaps, more beds, and some rocks and objects to sit on?
Li's song I am only suggesting so that you can recall him when he gets stuck or lags behind.
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Just finished downloading ^^ once my other dl's finish i'll look around I've read through the pages, really excited <3
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btw, we took all of the map for Beauty of Aquaria and redecorated it and used it as part of Magic of Aquaria, so check out Beauty and compare it when we release Magic... it will help you find stuff, too. Hope you guys have newish computers when we release Magic; it's going to be a big mod. That's why we are taking so long...
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I'm not sure if you're still working on this, or even if you would still take suggestions, or beyond that even if you're still here, but in the off-chance...
I'd like to suggest you add in Li's song, as well as perhaps more things to interact with - nothing special, just perhaps, more beds, and some rocks and objects to sit on?
Li's song I am only suggesting so that you can recall him when he gets stuck or lags behind.
Yes, I am still here :)
I'm playing another game atm, administrating my own Minecraft server (if you know that game), but it would be nice to come back to Aquaria in some months :)
I will try to do the modifications you suggested in a few days, as it should not take me a lot of time (busy atm)
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Awesome, thanks. And yeah, I've heard of Minecraft. Who hasn't, after PA did a comic on it?
If only they would have done one for Aquaria...
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I'm playing another game atm, administrating my own Minecraft server
wow you play minecraft!! yay :P (that makes 6 people apart from me on this blog)
really cool mod btw (i spent about 4-5 hours swimming in circles :)
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That post was over 3 months ago, but yeah, almost everyone I know knows about minecraft or is playing it, I on the other hand was playing it before it became a nuisance to hear about it.
Notch should add some new stuff already... or like... try working on the game at all. I'm betting he'll end up quitting when he has enough money anyway.
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as far as i know the only updates done recently are the secret Friday updates now,
i don't think he is even working on it right now :(
its no-longer the top game anymore people buying it have started to decline,
and he has LOADS of money so yeah no more updates
btw i know when this was posted but its just so awesome,
also how come you and me and about 4 other people are the only ones to be online recently? (apart form lots of guests)
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I bet his 1 million sells surprise will be that he's gonna make Minecraft 2.0 and he's discontinuing Minecraft. MOAR SELLS.
Ahem, anyway... people aren't online a lot because this is kinda a dying forum. Aquaria never had the fame Minecraft had sadly enough, even though it's modding engine is AMAZING and it could've pulled off many amazing mods like this one with a more thriving community.
Anyway, this is still someone's thread on which I'll hopefully see new pictures in some time soon, so if you want to chat, go to another thread (like your own G-mod one), take it to PMing or add me on MSN.
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if i was a doctor of of forms witch im not i would say there is one way i can see to save this form,
MASS AWERNESS OF AQUARIA like making a video or something that people like or and artwork that gets into somewhere people go every-day. its going to be tough but im going to make a comic and see about getting it into the newspapper (i live next door to one) and last time i put somthing in it it got onto my country's national news. ;D
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if i was a doctor of of forms witch im not i would say there is one way i can see to save this form,
MASS AWERNESS OF AQUARIA like making a video or something that people like or and artwork that gets into somewhere people go every-day. its going to be tough but im going to make a comic and see about getting it into the newspapper (i live next door to one) and last time i put somthing in it it got onto my country's national news. ;D
Your run-on sentences are confusing.
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the harder i make people think while reading the better.
:P .backwards post a wrote once i
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Yeah. Your messages are probably going to get skipped more often than not. Then the effect is equal to you not posting.
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Yeah. And it's not like you are Croatian or something, you're a Kiwi. Dude, you sound like you're ripped.
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Losely translated it says that he's a "doctor" AKA master of "forms" AKA, commercializing he'd go made a video or artwork and place it somewhere people go every day. He also says he'll make a comic and he'll try getting it in the newspaper seeing he lives next door to one, seeing he got something into his country's national news before.
I kinda wonder how. >_>
Only a bit
I'm actually too scared to learn the truth.
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lol :D
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I've figured some things out, like how to manually add Li's song - but is there a way I can edit the mod myself to make it play different music? I'd really like it to play "Light" for example, instead of the Veil.
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There's an option in the editor menu to set the music -- but it's faster if you just open the map XML file with a text editor and set the music:
music="veil"
This setting is somewhere in the first line.
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Thank you. I found it, and it worked.
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I'm really loving this mod - I believe it manages to show everything the world of Aquaria has to offer, really - we see it in all of its beauty here, everywhere from its underwater forests to the beautiful caverns. And what I really love is how the sunset makes for so many different hues in the sky and in the water, too. It's just such an enjoyment to simply relish in the peace and tranquility that is offers, without feeling like you have something to do.
There are so many fantastic places to do screenshots in, and there are also things to find there such as the armors and the blue crystal which eluded me for quite some time. I really do believe this mod shows Aquaria in its finest. The whole experience there is just so wondrous and soothing. And with the help of the editor you can even change the music, and the feeling for it is definitely different when you experiment with the more peaceful songs like Light and the Veil - those that really fit the atmosphere, and even change it a bit.
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Yeah, I never really voiced my praises for this mod, but like Theo, I absolutely adore it. It is incredibly beautiful, and it offers so many varied locations for amazing screenshots and is just a very peaceful, tranquil, and all around magical experience - to explore this place and just relax.
I, personally, think mod goes hand in hand with Alpha's nude mod, as well. Use that and play BoA after completing the main game, and it just feels like a very free, peaceful experience after the stresses of their adventure. Especially if you change the music to Light - as that essentially completes a circle and ties things back into Naija starting out in that peaceful Verse cave with Light playing.
But regardless of that, this mod is just a very pretty mod and it really shows off some of what I've always seen as the best parts of Aquaria, personally - the sheer beauty of the environments and the world, and how fun it can be to just explore and play around in the more relaxing and inviting areas.
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(Hack-)Fixed for opensource version and added native world map: http://fg.wzff.de/aqmods/beautyOfAquaria.zip
Also available via mod downloader now.