Bit Blot Forum
Aquaria => Modding => Topic started by: Echolocating on April 24, 2010, 12:15:42 am
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I've been looking into creating a mod for Aquaria and I'd like to make sure my contributions match the existing style as best as possible. I realize there's the whole library of graphics available to look at in the installation directory, but I was wondering if there were any tutorials or concept art to look at for more inspiration and guidance.
I found this post...
http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=185.0
...and it's awesome. Is there is any more art tutorial stuff like that for Aquaria? I'm not a practiced/professional artist so even if someone knows some good techniques for brush properties and such (or can point me to a digital painting tutorial that is close to Aquaria's style), that would be awesome. I use GIMP and MyPaint so hopefully those two programs can pull it off. If there are any other free paint programs that work with a tablet, I don't mind suggestions.
I really appreciate Aquaria's deliberately painted look. Unfortunately, I find my own artwork looking either too airbrushed or too flat-shaded.
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Speaking of creating a mod... if I didn't end up finishing my mod, but the graphics and animations looked good enough, I would make them available as is. That got me thinking that if more modding activity were to occur, it might be nifty to have an official community expansion pack. I realize it's not quite that simple, but I just thought I'd throw that out there.
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Mm... sorry nobody else did answer you, I don't know if there are a lot of people on those forums that can help you with digital painting.
I use MyPaint myself and I love it. I'm more a scripter than a painter however, but my brother makes really nice drawings with it, I think you will have no problem replicating Aquaria style with MyPaint as there are a LOT of tools available, the problem is finding which ones to use :)
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You know about this, right? http://docs.gimp.org/2.6/en/index.html the online Gimp manual? And the website Deviant Art has tutorials in Gimp and Photoshop both; tons of ideas, new brushes to download... I just draw stuff on paper, color with pens, scan into PS or Gimp, and shade. I haven't worried much about matching Derek's Aquaria style exactly... I mix and match tiles from both and think it looks ok (see our post on Magic of Aquaria with the link to the Photobucket screen shots). Derek uses a pad and stylus; I find it easier to just draw stuff and mess with it after scanning. You can e-mail Derek for advice; he was very kind is answering me about specifics.
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Thanks for the responses, Yogoda and Sindhi.
I've tried to paint in GIMP before (I use a Bamboo tablet) and, for whatever reason, GIMP seems to react a little slower to my input. If I make a broad stroke with moderate speed, it creates a bunch of straight lines that give the impression of a curve. Maybe GIMP is more of a processor hog than my machine can handle. MyPaint, however, reacts almost perfectly to the input. The only problem is that MyPaint is very limited. I can't move or scale selected parts (or even select an area) or adjust hue/contrast type things. I suppose I need to buck up and use both. ;)
Yogoda, you hit the nail on the head regarding MyPaint when you said, "there are a LOT of tools available, the problem is finding which ones to use". I've tried all the brushes that came with the program and the only ones I feel comfortable with are the charcoal and pencil brushes. :( I'm looking into making my own brushes with MyPaint though, which is a bit more complicated than I anticipated.
I do really appreciate both of your responses though. I may give Derek an email on the matter, but I think I've just got to try and fail a bit more with GIMP and MyPaint first. I'll post something soon and maybe all I need is a few pointers from there. I've had some luck with the charcoal brushes and scaling things down 8 times to get rid of the scratchy look of coal strokes. My biggest problem is that I'm a bit of a perfectionist... which is not a good thing to be when I don't have the skill to meet my own demanding expectations. ::)
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Ok, here is my brother's drawing, thanks to him for sharing this :) For me it is not too far from Aquaria's style.
All he used for the coloring was the tool : ramòn -> Paint Hard.Soft, nothing else.
(http://i763.photobucket.com/albums/xx278/Yogoda/Aquaria/minautore.jpg)
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I like that a lot. That's more the direction I want to go. Thanks for sharing, Yogoda.
I did up a concept drawing for a new protagonist, but the grainy texture bothers me. I seem to have the most control with MyPaint's acrylic, charcoal, and texture-grain brushes. I like to color with scribbles, like pencil crayons. I'm going to have to wrestle with those hard and soft paint brushes after seeing the results your brother produced though. I'm comfortable enough with my drawing skills, it's the painting/coloring thing that I struggle with.
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j252/Echolocating/Aquaria/concept-001.jpg)
I'm going to grab a bunch of Aquaria's art and put them into one single graphic image that I can reference for style and color selection while I draw. I'll give those two brushes a go and see what I come up with when I get some more time.
Kind of unrelated, but as I was drawing the fish woman creature (she's a little more ferocious than Naija >:D ), I wanted to add more fins and stuff... then I was concerned about how she would wear clothes. Wouldn't clothes somehow damage the fins on her back and such? :-\ So I made her a little plain on purpose until I can figure out a way to dress up her appearance. Sorry, Alphasoldier. :P
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Wow, your art is amazing, that's really impressive. I really love the shinning in the eyes and the double ears.
It really looks a lot like an aquatic ET, with the big eyes and no nose.
Even if it looks great, I think you should not put black lines inside the drawing if you want to mimic Aquaria's style.
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Sorry, Alphasoldier. :P
Why are you saying sorry to me? D:
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Even if it looks great, I think you should not put black lines inside the drawing if you want to mimic Aquaria's style.
Yeah, I completely agree with you. I created a simple collage of bits and pieces from Aquaria's art and I think this will help me quite a lot. Hopefully.
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j252/Echolocating/Aquaria/sample-001.jpg)
GIMP's filters for changing the hue of a picture seems like a great way to get new colors, while keeping the flavor of Aquaria going.
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j252/Echolocating/Aquaria/sample-002.jpg)
I'll have to see where this takes me.
Why are you saying sorry to me? D:
Well, I figured you of all the people around here would have appreciated some nakedness in my concept picture. It was a preemptive apology towards your anticipated disappointment. ;)
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That hue changed image is...bizarre in that it still looks like aquaria stuff. o.o
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Oh, cool. Colorful like a bag of candies.
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Yeah, I used the Gimp color changing tool a lot to change both tiles from Aquaria and my new drawings for the Magic of Aquaria mod; to do gold and earth tones or pale blue scenery , or the Pandora night forest type scene to intensify the colors and make them look fluorescent (see the post on Magic of Aquaria for examples, also the Photobucket link there). Yogoda had to hold me back from having ten colors of anemones... You have to be careful to save them to your mod graphics file under a different name or you can change the main game. This is why we can't add graphics to the main game in that folder (someone was talking about adding some new graphics (tiles and entities) to the Aquaria game) without having everyone change their game with some kind of upgrade. Yogoda explained it to me but I kinda lost the details. But Gimp is great for changing the colors of an entire tile; Photoshop can't do that.
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Nice idea to put all together to "get" the global style.
Shindhi, yes, for changing the graphics in the main game, you have to overwrite the Aquaria files, you can not do that with a regular mod.
This is what Alphasoldier does with his "nude mod" :). So for this type of mod you have to keep a back-up of the original files to be able to restore them.
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I like them!
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Hue changed image seems natural to me, gawd it sucks being colorblind.
A whole addition to the main campaign would have been completely possible, all you would have to do is change a map, add a few graphics to an empty spot to make it look like an entrance and you can introduce a whole new world.
It's too bad this community has never grown as big as many others I've seen because this game has so freaking much potential to be expanded in so many ways.
You could simply make new levels or perhaps for the creative ones change the whole scenery, you could make it go into outer space or simply into the air, making the bubbles into tiny tufts of air.
I really cant express enough on how useful this kind of system system, this game and the coding is.
If there's ever EVER a part two, I hope the game will be either backwards compatible or simply stays on the same kind of engine.
But to get back on the topic, as far as I know the art style used in most of Derek's work of Aquaria is only having a black outline and everything in there is just layer over layer over layer or brush over brush, I'm not really sure. I've looked at almost every picture in Aquaria and all I can say is that everything fits well together.
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well, I am toying with taking Naija into space; we have the backgrounds courtesy of Don Goldman, and a plot idea; we will see what happens when Yogoda gets here and we put our heads together...we are taking her onto land for sure, and flying, which I want to do myself (don't we all have flying dreams? We must have known how at one time in our history...) so there will be lots to do with our backgrounds... and I have the loan of that great zero-g suit... and Li has this ship...hehe
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I really cant express enough on how useful this kind of system system, this game and the coding is.
If there's ever EVER a part two, I hope the game will be either backwards compatible or simply stays on the same kind of engine.
But to get back on the topic, as far as I know the art style used in most of Derek's work of Aquaria is only having a black outline and everything in there is just layer over layer over layer or brush over brush, I'm not really sure. I've looked at almost every picture in Aquaria and all I can say is that everything fits well together.
It's a great engine, that's for sure. If an official sequel were made, I'd hope that it would simply expand on this existing engine; more physics and effects, etc. I would like to be able to walk/run/jump on land though and slide and falloff edges. Can that be scripted somehow with Aquaria?
I've noticed that many of the smaller creatures have outlines surrounding the parts and bodies, but it's absent from most of the larger entities and environment graphics. There is a slight mix with the existing graphics, but they definitely compliment each other well. Good point, Alphasoldier.
I've finally found a decent brush to use in MyPaint. The Wet Round brush in the Ramon set. I'm still going to have to play around more though because the brush doesn't offer any opacity sensitivity; it just takes your original color and plows through everything with varying degrees of that color based on what's underneath. But it definitely gave me a good painted feeling up close, though that was all lost when I scaled my image down. The result looks a little too airbrushed for my taste, but it seems to be a step in the right direction. Yogoda's suggestion about the lines was a great help. It could be that scaling down 8X might be causing it to be too smooth... so maybe larger brushes or less scaling... or a different brush. Hmmm... :-\
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j252/Echolocating/Aquaria/concept-002.jpg)
Back to the drawing board. :)
Yeah, I used the Gimp color changing tool a lot to change both tiles from Aquaria and my new drawings for the Magic of Aquaria mod; to do gold and earth tones or pale blue scenery , or the Pandora night forest type scene to intensify the colors and make them look fluorescent (see the post on Magic of Aquaria for examples, also the Photobucket link there). Yogoda had to hold me back from having ten colors of anemones...
Yeah... that gives me an idea about creating just a few variants of the same creature to spice up the fauna a bit. Why not have a smaller and a larger version of certain entities, not just scaled in size, but redrawn with some minor detail changes. That and a few color variants could make for a rich looking jungle of life. Maybe that's just a lot more work than it's worth though. We'll see. :)
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I had a chance today to try out MyPaint again and used two images from the Aquaria Media Kit as a reference this time. The Wet Round and Ink brushes are where it's at for me it seems. I never even knew such a brush existed a couple of weeks ago. It's pretty awesome. With Naija, her shading is more subdued than most other creatures in the game. It was difficult for me not to add too much contrast when coloring, but I'm pretty happy with the result of my concept character. I also took the liberty of just slightly darkening the limbs behind her torso and, though the effect is subtle, I think it adds a bit of punch.
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j252/Echolocating/Aquaria/concept-003.jpg)
I ended up scaling the picture down 50% from the resolution I originally created it at, as is seen in the image above. This seems to fix any harsh edges and still keeps a painted feel. I'm going to play around some more, but I think I'm almost there.
As far as her design goes, I'm struggling a bit with her not being all that attractive, but I always thought this character was a bit more animal and alien than human. Perhaps some hair on her head is in order. Also, I'm going to have to figure out how to break a character like this up for animation. That's going to be a lot of work, I think. It may also affect how I create the details surrounding the character's joints and such. For example, I plan on having her webbed feet bend back (like you currently see) and forward when she kicks with a simple sprite swap. I have yet to try the animator though so we'll see what other ideas come from that experience. I even thought about using the cape feature for a braided length of hair. There's just so many avenues to explore.
Other than that, I'm going to start creating concept art for my mod and see if a story is buried somewhere in those sketches.
Kind of off topic, but does anybody know of a free 2D sprite animation tool, like Aquaria's? The reason I ask is that, with MyPaint, I've been thinking about taking this 2D painted sprite look to other genres, like sierra-like adventure and metroid style action games, but a majority of those engines want a unique complete sprite for each frame of animation. As far as I know, you can't export frames from Aquaria's animator while keeping the alpha channel intact. Maybe this open source thing might change all that though. Did I mention that MyPaint totally rocks and I never would have found it without the link in the Aquaria Wiki? :)
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Wow, it looks great ! I think you successfully replicated Aquaria Style.
I'm glad you like MyPaint, it is such an amazing program. Simple yet powerful, I love it.
For the 2D sprite animator, I don't know know if there is other things like this. The technique used for animating is usually used for 3D games, where you have a skeletal of bones. 2D games usually do the animations frame by frame so I don't know if there is one available. But sure, you can take printscreens at different keyframes, remove the background, and you get a frame animation, but that's a lot of work. Maybe we can modify the animation editor and add an Export button ;)
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I'd say the one-piece swimming suit clashes with her otherwise feral appearance.
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For the 2D sprite animator, I don't know know if there is other things like this. The technique used for animating is usually used for 3D games, where you have a skeletal of bones. 2D games usually do the animations frame by frame so I don't know if there is one available. But sure, you can take printscreens at different keyframes, remove the background, and you get a frame animation, but that's a lot of work. Maybe we can modify the animation editor and add an Export button ;)
I think Blender (a 3D program) can do 2D bone animation. I just hate trying to use/learn programs that do way more than I need. If I find something, I'll be sure to share though. I'd rather see the Aquaria animator tool become a separate program though. It's my understanding that you have to have the editor open in order to launch it, unless I'm mistaken?
And thanks for the compliment. :)
I'd say the one-piece swimming suit clashes with her otherwise feral appearance.
Yeah, I agree. I didn't want to design some underwater garb or armor for her so I slapped on a swimsuit. Can't have her swimming around naked now, can we? ;)
At one point though, I was thinking about a story where she was a genetic experiment that escaped... thus she's wearing whatever the mad scientists who created her gave her. So there! :P
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Can't have her swimming around naked now, can we? ;)
I don't see why not. e.e
At one point though, I was thinking about a story where she was a genetic experiment that escaped...
Very original. :P
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Can't have her swimming around naked now, can we? ;)
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thus she's wearing whatever the mad scientists who created her gave her. So there! :P
Dude. Mad scientists are pervs. She'd have had nothing on for "purposes of thorough study" :P
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Can't have her swimming around naked now, can we? ;)
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thus she's wearing whatever the mad scientists who created her gave her. So there! :P
Dude. Mad scientists are pervs. She'd have had nothing on for "purposes of thorough study" :P
People who think up these mad scientists are pervs too. ^.–
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True, but since we're talking fiction convention, the argument stands. ^_^
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As does mine. it's okay, we already know that all guys are pervs in some way or another, so it's not saying much. ^.–
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Now that, I can't deny. Some of us just have to put it under wraps as we grow up.
... most, just never grow up, I think. >.>
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So which are you?
I think we're going off topic. :X
The picture several posts above was pretty. ^.^ The new character looks scary though. :S
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Nude stuff is just more natural and almost always looks better, there has to be nothing perverted about it.
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Nude stuff is just more natural and almost always looks better, there has to be nothing perverted about it.
Says another guy. ^.^
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Nude stuff is just more natural and almost always looks better, there has to be nothing perverted about it.
Says another guy. ^.^
No, I agree with him.
<Not a guy.
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Nude stuff is just more natural and almost always looks better, there has to be nothing perverted about it.
Says another guy. ^.^
No, I agree with him.
<Not a guy.
Says another... ... aquaria-n? xD
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As much as I josh Alphasoldier about nudity in this forum, I have no qualms about nudity. I mean, clothes add a drag coefficient that just doesn't make any sense for swimming. It's not hormones, it's physics! ;D
Anyway, the next thing I need to do is apply concept sketches to an actual plot. I really liked how you played through Aquaria's story, instead of the game telling the story in chunks that interrupt game play. Yes, most of the specifics were left up to interpretation, but a story that requires your brain to fill in the details seems to be more engrossing. Food for thought.
I honestly don't know where to even begin with a story though. My brilliant mad scientist plot was just shot to Hell. Jerks. ;)
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Clothes keep me warm. :3
I can help with the story. =^.^= I love stories...
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Well, Lady-Succubus, Li is naked too, so you have something for your eyes too. ;)
(And now we can celebrate the eternal debate between artistically nude and porn. Yay.)
On a side note, a Lady Succubus (are there others?) complaining about pervs? :P
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Well, Lady-Succubus, Li is naked too, so you have something for your eyes too. ;)
(And now we can celebrate the eternal debate between artistically nude and porn. Yay.)
Li isn't naked... O.o
On a side note, a Lady Succubus (are there others?) complaining about pervs? :P
When did I ever say I was complaining? Pervs are fun to play with talk to. ^///^
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Well, Lady-Succubus, Li is naked too, so you have something for your eyes too. ;)
(And now we can celebrate the eternal debate between artistically nude and porn. Yay.)
Li isn't naked... O.o
I was taking about Alphasoldier's great and aesthetic nude mod.
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Well, Lady-Succubus, Li is naked too, so you have something for your eyes too. ;)
(And now we can celebrate the eternal debate between artistically nude and porn. Yay.)
Li isn't naked... O.o
I was taking about Alphasoldier's great and aesthetic nude mod.
... *oblivious*
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He's talking about this certain mod. (http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=1653.0)
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He's talking about this certain mod. (http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=1653.0)
My poor, underage, innocent eyes! D:
Besides, I'm not a very big fan of making other people naked. xD
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...underage...
<Obligatory "you'll understand when you're older" comment> :P
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<Obligatory "you'll understand when you're older" comment> :P
<Obligatory "but... but I want to understand nao! D:" comment> :P
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I've been thinking more and more about what kind of mod I want to make. Soon, I'll start a thread on that, but I thought I'd share just a concept image for the head of a new protagonist. Something with the previous drawings that I struggled with was trying to keep the character attractive, yet alien to us. I don't want to create a new story and have players feel like they're playing as Naija again so I want to get away from too many human traits. Anyway, maybe my drawing skills aren't quite up to snuff yet, but the hairless aquatic girl wasn't quite feminine enough for me. So I drew this...
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j252/Echolocating/Aquaria/concept-004.jpg)
...but that feels like it's just another green skinned alien girl that Captain Kirk would seduce. I'm going to go back to the drawing board soon, but I just thought I'd share and gather some opinions. Maybe I can try to mimic female hair with arranged head tentacles or something and then lose the mammal hair. ;) What do you guys think?
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I think it looks awesome!
I generally prefer hair over head-tentacles, even on aliens (though feathers are a great alternative, of whatever color or colors). Personally, I'm a sucker for four- or six- or eight-eyed characters; but if that's too alien, I would keep the head more or less as-is and go for a more alien body type--something along the same model as the thri-kreen (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_aDF1zQYmCDI/Sc0xBqUiu7I/AAAAAAAAAow/U_IB2i6dfgU/S660/pik+cha.jpg), say, except more feminine and presumably less insectile.
Antennae are also a handy accentuating touch. (I believe it's possible to make them move independently of their own accord, too--I'm working on something similar with bat-ears at the moment.)
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Antenna sounds good, about the hair... I'd add some kind of trinkets to it, tied up hair, fiddle-things in it, stuff like that, like tribal people have.
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I generally prefer hair over head-tentacles, even on aliens (though feathers are a great alternative, of whatever color or colors). Personally, I'm a sucker for four- or six- or eight-eyed characters; but if that's too alien, I would keep the head more or less as-is and go for a more alien body type--something along the same model as the thri-kreen (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_aDF1zQYmCDI/Sc0xBqUiu7I/AAAAAAAAAow/U_IB2i6dfgU/S660/pik+cha.jpg), say, except more feminine and presumably less insectile.
Antenna sounds good, about the hair... I'd add some kind of trinkets to it, tied up hair, fiddle-things in it, stuff like that, like tribal people have.
You know, I was debating whether or not to give her 4 arms and I had previous sketches on paper with 4 eyes and such. The mod I'd like to work on is future sci-fi. There is surprisingly very little underwater sci-fi stuff out there for inspiration it seems, but I've been able to find some good stuff with a little digging. A thri-keen inspired fish woman would easily fit into what I'm envisioning.
And I like Alphsoldier's suggestion for making her look like she has lived within a society of sorts, like there's an interesting past to her. Great suggestions, guys. Thanks! :)
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I like the braiding beads thing in the hair idea (Avatar-esque?) and maybe not white hair; looks too much like Naija. Maybe a pale blue-green, almost white, or yellow-green. Like the face a lot.
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I think I'm having more fun learning to paint than actually committing to a mod lately. ;)
Anyway, based off Inyssius' suggestions, I came up with this...
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j252/Echolocating/Aquaria/concept-005.jpg)
...and I think she's just human enough for us to relate to, but alien enough to avoid that slap-some-flippers-on-a-blue-elf look that was happening before. I still like the Naija-like skin tone on her though, or as I affectionately refer to now as "statue of liberty" green. I might try out some multi-color combinations, like markings on her body and such. I tried a few other ideas, like removing the tentacles and adding a tail, but I think keeping her more humanoid, but without hair is the way to go. There ain't too many furry fish out there, as far as I know. At least it's better than the she-goblin thing I drew before. :P
Oh, and here's a version of her naked...
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j252/Echolocating/Aquaria/concept-006.jpg (http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j252/Echolocating/Aquaria/concept-006.jpg)
...in the name of art, of course. ;)
The more I think about this alien character, the more I think she might need an environment suit of sorts, at least some mechanism for filtering the water she breaths (like a gas-mask). That way when you retreat back to your home base and she can kick back, relax and take off her "work clothes", it'll feel more like a breath of fresh air for her (and hopefully, the player as well). I think the premise of her presence in the Aquaria/Earth world is that she crash landed in a space ship and sunk into the ocean. Perhaps the Aquarians beseech her to defeat some evil doers. Sort of a merger of technology and ancient magic thing going on. Anyway, hopefully the ideas will settle soon so than I can commit to something and actually start working on a mod. Still, practice makes perfect, I suppose.
Also, now that I'm thinking about how to break her limbs up to animate her, I see (and appreciate better) why Naija was designed in such a way with her outfit and other forms.
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Holy sh*t, that's amazing. Basically perfect. Honest.
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I'll have to agree with Aerozol, that is amazing work, I literally dropped my jaw once I scrolled down in this topic, wow. O:
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That looks great!
There ain't too many furry fish out there, as far as I know.
There ain't too many fish with distinctively mammalian features (a.k.a. breasts) out there either, as far as I know. ;)
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I think I'm scared now.
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You described them well. Alien but familiar. And yes, they are a bit scary. But really awesome work! :)
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You know, this may be totally out of the blue, but have you thought of a name for their alien race yet?
Also I just noticed the nude version (yesiknowwhatyouarethinkingshutup), it's very pretty.
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Also I just noticed the nude version (yesiknowwhatyouarethinkingshutup), it's very pretty.
imthinkinghowcouldyouhavemissedabrightbluelink
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Another thing that I think must happen is vehicles. It could be a simple thing that you grab on to and use to pull yourself around, a submersible of sorts, or a full mech suit. I think she'll bring some cool tech with her when she crashes down. It would be neat to climb inside a larger vehicle and have the screen zoom out a bit more and explore more dangerous waters. Perhaps even battle massive creatures. The kind of technology she brings will help shape the details of what she was doing before she crashed.
You know, this may be totally out of the blue, but have you thought of a name for their alien race yet?
Nope. Feel free to suggest something though.
...yes, they are a bit scary.
Really? Subtle intimidation is what I was going for. ;)
I was thinking about maybe adding some natural armored plates and such, something a little more menacing. Maybe having gauntlet-like hand/claws on the upper arms, but I think I'll just save those additions for her other forms. I'd like to still keep Aquaria's flavor of different forms serving different purposes. One of her "mutations" could be crustacean-like, a bit like Naija's beast form.
I think this alien woman will find a companion among the Aquarians, someone assigned to her to aid her (perhaps reluctantly at first) in her quest to battle a great evil. It might be more fitting for her to have been a part of the birth of the evil though. Perhaps the main power-core from her ship separated and plummeted down, corrupting a certain life form, infusing it with alien energy. If she wants to return home, make amends with the Aquarians, and kick some ass... it seems like an idea worth pursuing.
If anyone has thoughts or suggestions for a sci-fi story, fire away. I have certain scenarios in mind, like an AI in a robotic form that could serve as a help or hindrance to the protagonist. Could she harness the Verse's power artificially with her alien technology? I also think it might be wise to release the mod in episodic chunks.
I also think it's time to start a new thread for this endeavor. ;)
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Me hearing AI makes me think of Portal. ._.