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Aquaria => Modding => Topic started by: False.Genesis on July 08, 2012, 10:31:07 pm

Title: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on July 08, 2012, 10:31:07 pm
** Update 29th Nov 2015: First chapter Update 1 released: Link to post (http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=4349.msg35725#msg35725) **

** EDIT: Scroll down for some screenshots! **
** (this post is vastly outdated, too. Just read on.) **

Hey, I thought I'd better share this before it rots away on my disk.

I had originally started another mod before helping out FrancesF with Labyrinth (http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=4319.0) and later doing meatymod (http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=4339.0) within 4 months.
This mod was started around august 2011, and I've shared it only with a few people.

It's intended as a possible sequel that starts directly after the end of the original Aquaria's secret ending.
-- I wasn't so fond of the ending so I decided to do something about it, especially after reading many Aquaria2 topics and finding out that the chances for a sequel are *VERY* low :)

The story will branch depending on your actions (first occurance of this is if you stay in bed/go sleep again, or try to escape. You'll know what i mean once you've reached this point.)

I haven't worked on it since January because of Labyrinth, Meatymod, university stuff, and a general lack of time.
So I'm publishing this now because I can see I won't have time to work on it until autumn/winter, and even then I'm not sure if I really want to continue with it or not.
I can see that it'll be a lot of work; less than 10% is done and I'll have to redo half of it anyways...
First a few words of warning:
- This is completely WIP. Things on the way are missing, unpolished, and totally subject to change.
- The playable part is quite short, about 30 minutes, and still lacking lots of stuff.
- I worked in completely random order. Some scripting here, some maps there. Right now there's many maps but they are unconnected to the playable part, and largely unfinished.
- I learned Aquaria scripting and Lua in general with this mod, so the code quality isn't so nice.
- I haven't finished thinking about the story. I had cool ideas, but decided to develop the story as i mod along. Again, subject to change. (Most  of the story already developed is in dev docs or in my head, so not accessible.)

But if you're willing to try and poke around, feel free. Just mind the rough edges. There's a message in game once the playable part ends.
There's more to see then what's instantly accessible. I mostly worked in debug mode, which is disabled unless you enter the map "crtest" via the editor; this will unlock a debug menu that can be accessed by double-clicking on Naija. There's a few "?" tiles on that map that explain the menu.
If you're interested and want to know more about the "secret features" already made, ask. I might make a preview video showing off some stuff if there is interest - let me know.

Snapshot download here:  [Link removed. The old thing was far too outdated to keep around.]

Feedback is welcome and increses the chances that I'll continue with it.
Have fun.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Aristobulus on July 08, 2012, 10:50:36 pm
This is certainly an interesting concept, and I really do want to see what you do with it - but as I've said before, I'm really not into how dark and depressing the secret ending is, so if your mod, finished, were to allow things to still keep the upbeat, happy tone that the original ending does - I'd be all over it.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on August 08, 2012, 04:04:31 am
I've decided to finish this.
With story help and graphics by FrancesF (http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=77490) -- will still be a big chunk of work, but we're a good team. (And the always entertaining moral support by Daxar/MOM4Evr (http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=91800) on IRC)

I was in a creative rush the last 2 days so I made a bunch of maps and took screenshots from these and older maps made over half a year ago.

I've added some hopefully spoiler-free annotations, and might extend the list from time to time. It's all in-development stuff, roughly ordered by the time the particular place or situation on the screenshot was made - not story order. I hope this way the story will stay my secret, and you can guess a bit in the meantime :)


Picture time:
(Click the thumbnails to see a larger version)

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen96.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen96.jpg)
^ That's where the story continues.
Remember this place from the extended ending?

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen100.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen100.jpg)
^ How and why did Naija's spirit end up in that crystal?
It'll be explained... and much more.
(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen99.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen99.jpg)
^ Not much to say about this one. A passage towards a new veil map.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/widescreen3.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/widescreen3.jpg)
^ Optimized for mega-widescreen :)

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/strangerocks.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/strangerocks.jpg)
^ If you can read this, guess which zone this leads into... (spoiler: hot!)

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/strangeplace2.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/strangeplace2.jpg)
^ Remember this dude? He's using so much twitter nowadays,
and has other things in his mind. Aww.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/energyform_moredakka.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/energyform_moredakka.jpg)
^ You'll laugh about how weak the original energy form was.
Naija will get a lot stronger, but keep in mind,
Absolute power corrupts absolutely...

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/EternalEngine.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/EternalEngine.jpg)
^ For debugging purposes it's okay, but otherwise
this zone is deadly if not entered in a submarine.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen98.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen98.jpg)
^ If you can't see anything, use your environment.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen97.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen97.jpg)
^ Any idea what Mia is doing there?
We had red and blue crystals, now there's also green ones.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/seaweed1.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/seaweed1.jpg)
^ The "seaweed forest". Not quite finished, but polishing comes later.
Also new entities and stuff.
(That was the time before Frances started helping out with graphics.
You may recoginize the mithalas flesh texture, recolored to green.
It makes an awesome jungle-ish growth!)

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/seaweed2.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/seaweed2.jpg)
^ A bigger view on a part of the upper seaweed forest.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen101.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen101.jpg)
^ At least there are some peaceful nooks there.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen103.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen103.jpg)
^ Going deeper from there, you'll end up
in the lower seaweed forest, which gets darker.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen105.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen105.jpg)
^ The lower parts of the seaweed forest lack light,
and the vegetation is slowly rotting away.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/seaweed3.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/seaweed3.jpg)
^ And the seaweed forest leads into... the seaweed veil!

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/sharks3.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/sharks3.jpg)
^ The seaweed weil has a connection to an even larger surface area,
the open veil. Beware, these sharks are huge and hungry!

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/sharks2.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/sharks2.jpg)
^ Even spirit form doesn't help anymore if you end up
in this situation. If they bite you, you're dead.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen95.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen95.jpg)
^ With the return of the Krotites, the old temple is back
to life and expanded. The map is subtly changed and
will play differently than the temple you used to know.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen94.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen94.jpg)
^ Below the new add-ons to the temple, there's a large cave network.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen8.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen8.jpg)
^ A statue room in the temple extension, but no-one else is there.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/newtemple_li.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/newtemple_li.jpg)
^ And there's Li, alone in the temple. But where's Naija?

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/darkplace.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/darkplace.jpg)
^ Unfortunately he forgot to bring a flashlight with him,
so the spare light has to suffice.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen9.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen9.jpg)
^ A ceremony of some sorts. I think that won't be in the final version,
but have to see what we'll come up with.


** At this point in time, FrancesF started making graphics -- and the map quality instantly increased by over 9000. ;D

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen88.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen88.jpg)
^ Remember the river from the ultrawidescreen-picture above?
It leads to a savannah. Dry, but bearable.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen89.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen89.jpg)
^ Going further, things get worse -- the desert, dry, hot, deadly.
Debug mode is a good thing for screenshots!

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen90.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen90.jpg)
^ Zooming out. This is one desert map, the other one is twice as big.
No place to stay for water creatures.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen87.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen87.jpg)
^ Luckily, there's an oasis between savannah and desert.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen86.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen86.jpg)
^ It's full of life and really nice to stay there.
(But no entites yet. Some unused graphics from labyrinth mod)

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen91.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen91.jpg)
^ There's also a cave network beneath the desert,
that has some water and unusual vegetation in it.


-----------------------[ Update 18th Aug 2012 ]------------------------

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen108.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen108.jpg)
^ Due to the lack of light, white fish without eyes
and other albinos live in the lower parts.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen143.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen143.jpg)
^ The only place where light comes in in these caves -
- directly above this place is the desert (as seen above).

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen140.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen140.jpg)
^ These parts of the seaweed forst are completely dark,
and most of the vegetation is dead, or close to.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen137.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen137.jpg)
^ Old friends from the abyss live there now.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen136.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen136.jpg)
^ Going down even further, there's life again...

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen135.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen135.jpg)
^ There will be a miniboss here, but no idea what it will be. Suggestions?


-----------------------[ To be extended ]------------------------



It's not apparent on the pictures, but there's a lot of parallax layering everywhere -- feels like much more depth compared to the original game.

(I've also been experimenting with real fake 3D, see here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M7DPtLDzls). But it was already used in meatymod so it's nothing new, really, and the stuff in the video rather sucks.)

Alright, that's it for now. Comments appreciated.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Daxar on August 08, 2012, 04:01:38 pm
Sweeeet. I think you've shown me some of these before, but it's cool to see them actually being used someplace. And everybody loves some nifty parallax. IIRC there was some nice parallax in some areas (like the beginning of the game, in Mithalas, etc), but not as much as there could've been in some areas (Energy form temple; even the Veil seemed fairly empty to me). Good job on all the awesome-looking maps and such you have so far, and hopefully some more fun brainstorming times to come on IRC, wot wot?
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Gringamuyloca on August 08, 2012, 07:23:38 pm
 ;D Wow this is so fantastic - oooh happy happy!

I'll be watching this thread... can hardly wait to play!

Thanks!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on August 18, 2012, 08:30:36 pm
Little update:

[[ Added more images to the third post: http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=4349.msg33175#msg33175 ]]

Some misc devshots which I don't want to add to the nice images in the post above:

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/mapgraph_01.png) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/mapgraph_01.png)
^ Preliminary map layout, not final and will definitely be expanded.
The rightmost area is Home Waters, left of that is the Energy temple, and from there everything else is new.
The old area will also be partially accessible, but to which extent is not yet decided.
Green areas are finished, and the more yellow/red they are the more work still needs to be done. Grey is undecided but planned.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen109.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen109.jpg)
^ Work on an unfinished map ("Fingers", in the diagram above the large orange box on the right)

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen133.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen133.jpg)
^ Work-in-progress entity/boss. That one will be a pain to animate :P

The story is still a mess and very unfinished, but we started simplifying some parts that were way too convoluted and hard to understand. I'm now organizing it the same way as the map above, so it should evolve to something clearer over time.

We're looking for entitiy, boss, zone, and story ideas, if you have any, please post!
Also spread the word if you can (although it will still take a long time until this beast will be finished).  ^-^
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: archy on August 30, 2012, 04:09:54 pm
Wow, this looks really promising.

Quote from: False.Genesis on August 08, 2012, 04:04:31 am
^ Optimized for mega-widescreen :)

Is that a debug mode screenshot, or is it really possible to play the game on such a big resolution?
And won't that make it much easier, since you can see enemies from far away?

Quote from: False.Genesis on August 18, 2012, 08:30:36 pm
We're looking for entitiy, boss, zone, and story ideas, if you have any, please post!

This really depends on the general "setting" / "world" in which the story plays. Can you post some more info about that? In what major ways will it be different from the original Aquaria world?

If the various humanoid civilizations (Krotites, ...) are back to life, it would be possible to have a group of "people" as a boss fight, rather than only animal-like monsters or gods.

Another boss fight that I would find interesting, would be against a copy of Naija herself.
I.e. the anti-Naija would have the same energy form / beast form / shield song / etc. available as the protagonist and use them effectively (if this is even possible from a scripting point of view).
If time travel fits in with the story line, it could be a past or future version of Naija. Otherwise it could be part of a "dream" or something, or an "illusion", or whatever. 8)

I also have some (not yet fully thought-out) ideas for classic Aquaria-like god/monster boss-fights. But sharing them would mean giving away the "trick" how to win the fight (i.e. it would contain SPOILERS in case they will actually make it into the mod), so maybe there is a less public channel more suitable for such discussions?
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on August 30, 2012, 04:31:18 pm
Quote from: archy on August 30, 2012, 04:09:54 pm
Is that a debug mode screenshot, or is it really possible to play the game on such a big resolution?
And won't that make it much easier, since you can see enemies from far away?
No, and yes. Not debug mode, just a disabled check that triggered when the resolution was too wide. I'll eventually put this in an update after fixing a few bugs this causes.
Yes, entities are easier to see, and currently a major problem is that they never react when they are too far away, i.e. you can simply snipe them from a distance.

Quote from: archy on August 30, 2012, 04:09:54 pm
This really depends on the general "setting" / "world" in which the story plays. Can you post some more info about that? In what major ways will it be different from the original Aquaria world?

Same world, just many new maps. Some of the old maps also exist, but are changed to some extent (has low priority right now). You will play as Naija in the beginning, then Li, and later also as Lucien.
One big part will be Naija, as Mia's sidekick, and the other big part will be Lucien, about 15 years later returning in search for his mother.
(If that doesn't answer it please ask more specifically!)

Quote from: archy on August 30, 2012, 04:09:54 pm
If the various humanoid civilizations (Krotites, ...) are back to life, it would be possible to have a group of "people" as a boss fight, rather than only animal-like monsters or gods.

Another boss fight that I would find interesting, would be against a copy of Naija herself.

Have yet to see which role the Krotites will play (good, evil, or both, or whatever), but a fight against self is definitely planned :)

Quote from: archy on August 30, 2012, 04:09:54 pm
I.e. the anti-Naija would have the same energy form / beast form / shield song / etc. available as the protagonist and use them effectively (if this is even possible from a scripting point of view).
If time travel fits in with the story line, it could be a past or future version of Naija. Otherwise it could be part of a "dream" or something, or an "illusion", or whatever. 8)

Nope, time travel is intentionally left out. The big time jump of 15 years somewhere in the middle is necessary to get Lucien to an age where it actually makes sense to send him to an adventure, and give the world enough time to change. However, considering Mia has full control about Naija's memories, you can imagine what this leads to ;)

Scripting-wise i usually say everything can be considered possible unless proven otherwise. It just tends to get *very* ugly sometimes..

Quote from: archy on August 30, 2012, 04:09:54 pm
I also have some (not yet fully thought-out) ideas for classic Aquaria-like god/monster boss-fights. But sharing them would mean giving away the "trick" how to win the fight (i.e. it would contain SPOILERS in case they will actually make it into the mod), so maybe there is a less public channel more suitable for such discussions?

IRC (http://wzff.de/1).  O0


EDIT: Btw, just you guys can have some confidence, whatever we do here isn't going to be lost. There's a few people (FrancesF, KS-10) who I'm sharing a dev dropbox with, and I regularly push updates into the git mirror linked in the first post. Feel free to download and backup locally (but don't look into it to prevent spoilers!). As I keep stressing, so many mods were allegedly started but never finished because the authors just disappeared. Made me unhappy.

EDIT2: And of course we're trying to use every bit of info that can be found on this forum, to keep the story as closely as possible tied to the original. Some things are our own interpretations but it should be able to sustain lots of nitpicking. We'll see.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Janus on September 06, 2012, 09:00:02 pm
When you say that you want to "fix that" in regards to the ending, do you mean that you're changing the ending? I mean, not just adding the sequel material but retroactively modifying Aquaria's original ending?

Otherwise, good job! I wish I were farther along in school (Comp Sci degree) so I could help out more, but I'm excited to see the final product. What are y'all doing for voiceovers?
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on September 06, 2012, 09:17:28 pm
Not touching the original ending in any way. We take it as given and work with it, adding additional stuff that's (considering the hints given in the game, on the forum, ...) likely to happen, and adding misc. madness just for the lulz.
The goal is to have a satisfactory ending (ie. not another cliffhanger) at the end, unless the player has successfully screwed up beyond repair.

There won't be voiceovers, as that wouldn't come close enough to the original and most likely ruin it. The story will be told via subtitles; although one could just add .ogg files with actual content (using silence instead, otherwise the subs won't show).
Also most likely no new music unless someone pops up and makes some. (But this isn't a priority anyway, for now) -- There might be some CC stuff that we can use and that's good, but haven't looked into that yet.

Please don't talk about "final" yet. I'd post when I'm sure that a quarter or half is done, but currently I have no idea how far we really are. Below 1/4 for sure.  :o

EDIT: Hey, Comp Sci, nice. We're subject neighbors (bioinformatics here) :P
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Daxar on September 07, 2012, 03:04:23 pm
Quote from: False.Genesis on September 06, 2012, 09:17:28 pm
There won't be voiceovers
Of course, you can always clip the OGGs to sound like there's new dialog...
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/31816885/eric_FoolIAmACanvas.ogg For the win. :D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: ranapuer on September 27, 2012, 04:04:11 am
Quick note: I haven't even finished the game yet [not even to the abyss, and it's in strong contention for my #1 game of all time] so I didn't read anything past the first half of your first post. But I have read/heard some things from Alec, and understand that the likelihood of a sequel is low. As Derek said in a podcast, he decided to put "to be continued" at the end of the true ending, knowing that the sequel might not happen because it can always be continued within a player's imagination or by the community at-large. I love the notion that someone might be taking up that role and continuing to develop this amazing game in this amazing world. With a game this good and a community this small, everything we can get matters, and I would be stoked to see any attempt at a pseudosequel from a passionate designer. I am unfortunately in no position to work on such a project in way, but I sure am going to appreciate any efforts from anyone who is.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on November 26, 2012, 04:23:09 am
Sorry that there hasn't been any update for the last 2 months, but I've been in university crunch mode (http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd101212s.gif) since then constantly.
There hasn't been much progress, but I'll show a little excerpt of what we have done in the meantime:

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen175.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen175.jpg)
^ Tests for logic puzzles. Please ignore the programmer's art and move along, nothing to see here.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen176.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen176.jpg)
^ A few new veil-type maps: Lucien's starting area.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen177.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen177.jpg)
^ That place will be important in the very beginning, but it's not quite done yet.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen179.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen179.jpg)
^ Caves, caves, caves.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen180.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen180.jpg)
^ Remember the ending? Lucien has a girlfriend, this is her home area.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen181.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen181.jpg)
^ And this is inside the home (work-in-progress).

FrancesF and I have worked more on ideas related to story, puzzles, bosses, etc. as well. It's getting more and more, and it's slighly amusing that I have to start thinking about what to actually use and what to throw out again. Frances made many more graphics/map tiles and updated skins for Lucien (only one is shown below):

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen183.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen183.jpg)

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen184.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen184.jpg)

I've also switched to 2:1 widescreen mode, just in case (so the screenshots are wider as of now). Making sure it looks good on high resolutions -- especially getting the parallax backgrounds right for wide resolutions is a bit tricky, as it's easy to add floating objects that don't look right.

Anyway, as soon as crunch time is over (1-2 more weeks) I'll have more time to work on this mod and will try to post updates regularly.
Hope there's still interest despite everything taking so long.
(No, I can't estimate when we've reached the 50% milestone, no way :) )
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Widget on November 30, 2012, 06:14:28 pm
It's looking fantastic and, rest assured, I'm always interested in Aquaria mods  ;)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Gringamuyloca on December 01, 2012, 02:45:13 am
I am most interested! Can't wait to take a swim!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on December 27, 2012, 04:04:30 pm
Time for another work-in-progress screendump:

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen187.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen187.jpg)
^ Pointy things near Lucien's starting area.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen203.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen203.jpg)
^ New town map WIP.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen193.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen193.jpg)
^ One place in this town; backgrounds are still missing.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen202.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen202.jpg)
^ Mithalas is not as dead as expected. Major cleanup work ahead.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen210.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen210.jpg)
^ Some new entities. Thought leaches were annoying? (these black things that stick to you and slow you down) . On the other hand, huggys were nice.
   These here come in a variety of types, some have beneficial effects, others are outright dangerous. Those in the picture spend light in dark areas,
   but are slightly poisonous. But if there's no other way...


Some things I can't take screenshots of are progressing as well:

- Story. Story, story, story (also thx to Daxar/MOM4Evr on IRC <3)

- A behavior-tree component-based AI system. Not sure how good it will get, but in the end should be times better than Li's script in terms of combat usefulness and overall behavior. We will see, first time I'm doing something like this. If everything goes well I'll also use this for some bosses and people.

- Allow reloading scripts on the fly, without reloading the map. I bet most of you aren't familiar with the modding tools provided, but this is a major enhancement and greatly speeds up my script hacking rate. As this is a pure Lua based solution, it wasn't even necessary to change the game's code. It's ugly and horrific and abuses a few oversights features in achurch's single Lua state implementation, but it works. Good times.

Before: Test boss -> [1] get boss into desired state -> "Oh crap still doesn't work" -> *HACK*POUND* -> Reload map -> go to [1].
Now: Test boss -> get boss into desired state -> "Doesn't work" ->  [2] *HACK* -> Reload script -> go to [2]. :P

- I plan to start work on a character-switching system today. (I.e. if you have Naija and Lucien playable, you can, at any time, select which one to play and the AI will take over the other one.)
One major challenge here is to make the AI neither overpowered so there is nothing to do for the actual player, and also not too stupid to annoy. AIs that constantly mess up, get stuck in corners, or run into shots and enemies and need to taken care of like a confused child are annoying and I want to avoid that.

- Frances has started work on graphics for a "mayan"-themed temple full of snakes and other nasty stuff. We all like Indiana Jones, right?

I also decided that we continue development in private. I'll post updates, but the git repo is no longer publicly accessible, and the mod won't be available before it's completely done.

That's it for now, stay tuned.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on March 26, 2013, 05:41:48 pm
After a loooong time of silence, here's another update. We've all had a busy time, but even though progress is rather slow, it's steady.

Have some mildly spoilerish pictures:

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen147.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen147.jpg)
^ Mangrove area WIP. This image is a bit older, but haven't shown it yet.
The trident will play an important role for Lucien.
(Some might recognize it, it comes from this fanart (http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=541.msg33221#msg33221) and is used with permission.)

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen170.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen170.jpg)
^ Bedroom :3

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen222.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen222.jpg)
^ Near to the entrance to the new city. Notice that the multiple characters system is functional,
and Naija and Lucien are AI controlled at the moment.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen226.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen226.jpg)
^ The world map for the prev. picture. This is how it is currently, but it will get bigger.
Many more areas/maps to be done.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen248.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen248.jpg)
^ Not everything that seems obvious is happening...
Can we know what is reallity, and what is imagination?

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen232.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen232.jpg)
^ With the multiple characters comes enhanced forms and costumes support.
Question is, is this really a costume?

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen249.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen249.jpg)
^ Something has gone terribly wrong here.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen251.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen251.jpg)
^ On which side are they? And who is the player?

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen240.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen240.jpg)
^ With enhanced forms support comes also a little energy form upgrade.
I had posted another image like this way earlier, but that was a totally different system
and everything that had to do with it was rewritten from scratch.
The other forms will also receive their share of updates and new features.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen234.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen234.jpg)
^ Causing mayhem on the debug map.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen246.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen246.jpg)
^ Latest addition as of yesterday: Technically, it's now possible to walk on the ground.
This is still a work in progress but works quite decently so far.
The AI cannot walk yet, but I'll add support for this as well.
Learning to walk may play in important role in the story, not sure yet...


For those interested in the coding part, everything is done in Lua, on the existing API provided by the game (although slightly enhanced and more added functionality), but nothing in the game's code is changed to support all this. I made a little abstraction layer made of duct tape spaghetti popcorn sauce that sits between the game's Lua API and the actual entity/node scripts, intercepting and redirecting calls made on the fly in both directions. It's a bit weird to explain, but it works so well it's scary :)


Finally, a friend has also joined in development, so we're 3 now. He's not registered on this forum (yet), but have some concept art from him:
(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/concept/alternate_naija_by_m4dguy89-thumb.jpg) (http://m4dguy89.deviantart.com/art/Alternate-Naija-361672850)
(Also see the description on dA, click the image...)
(EDIT: Progress stages (http://fg.wzff.de/gallery/?dir=Aquaria%20mod%20dev/Naija-progress))


When there's some more things to show I'll make a video showing things in motion. But it's still too early for that, so stay tuned.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on March 28, 2013, 01:14:33 am
Little update: I have improved the on-land movement behavior a lot today. Just a little video in advance :)

---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUM244Yzk1o
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: bstrey on March 28, 2013, 03:00:31 am
It's exciting to see someone working on a sequel mod. :) Looks beautiful, keep up the great work!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Widget on March 29, 2013, 08:14:01 am
This is looking incredible. I particularly like the mangrove scene but all the screenshots in that last batch are very good. Best of luck with the mod. I look forward to playing it whenever it might be ready, though I know that's a long way down the road yet  ;)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: archy on March 30, 2013, 12:24:47 am
@False.Genesis
The walking animation is cool, but why can she jump so high/far now on land? It looks kinda unrealistic...
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on March 30, 2013, 12:34:55 am
The jump is roughly as far/high as it used to be, imho. But don't worry, it'll be finetuned -- feel free to suggest any improvements you can think of :)
For this one I was just hacking away and as soon it looked reasonably cool and worked well enough, I made the video and went on with something else -> improving an existing map (brain asked for sleep, body asked for coffee, you know... it's hard to write good code in this state :P)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Young Mak on April 06, 2013, 03:07:50 am
Man just the idea of a sequel is great. Plus all the stuff you guys show makes the idea look even greater, I'm really looking forward to the Aquaria 2 :)

I can't hold myself... What do Alec and Derek think about this project?
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on April 06, 2013, 03:32:22 am
Didn't get an "official" statement yet, but...
Guessing from Alec's twitter stream (https://twitter.com/infinite_ammo/status/286251295193583617), he seems to like it.
Derek, no idea. Might have missed something though.

As long as we manage to get the word out once we're done i'll be happy. It would suck if noone notices this after we've been working on it for >2 years.
... But, this is something to worry about once we're 90% done or so :)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: asdfasdf on May 31, 2013, 03:52:17 pm
I'll still check back here to see if its done :P
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: FrancesF on May 31, 2013, 10:51:27 pm
We're working along on it, albeit sporadically as time and crowded schedules permit.  False.genesis has assembled a pretty good team, I think.  There's a newcomer working on the narrative who has promising ideas about the story, and feels strongly that themes of new levels, puzzles, and bosses all work together and follow logically from the story and themes of the original Aquaria.  There are two of us now working on the graphics.  And, of course, False.genesis continues to mastermind the coding, cut scenes, and animations.

Here are three possible new forms/costumes for Naija:  bird, snake, and corrupted.   Naija's flight ability is already coded and so enjoyable to play around with.  Abilities of the other two forms are progressing in several interesting directions...

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53509533/new%20forms.png)


Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Xiagan on June 01, 2013, 06:48:06 pm
This looks incredibly awesome. :)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: IcyEyeG on June 01, 2013, 07:41:24 pm
Indeed it does! I have a question, out of mere curiosity. How are you guys going to licence the mod? Is it going to be FOSS and the art CC-something?
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Gringamuyloca on June 03, 2013, 06:02:19 am
I admit I had given up hope.  :P

Such great news!  ;D

After your previous contributions... I'm wanting MOAR! :D

Can't wait to explore your next diabolical maze (s) and get lost in the continuing underwater story.
t
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on June 03, 2013, 11:22:34 pm
@ IcyEyeG: I had intended something like CC-BY-SA-NC, but we haven't decided yet.
@ Gringamuyloca: Don't give up hope. No-one of us is going to disappear without saying a word. Plus, if you were on IRC you'd see progress almost daily. Even though we're slooow, i know. But you know, life and stuff... :)

EDIT: I just don't like posting updates when there's nothing "cool" to see. Didn't make maps in the last few weeks, rather background stuff that's just not so nice to screenshot. Glad frances helped out with that :)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: IcyEyeG on June 04, 2013, 12:07:26 am
Quote from: False.Genesis on June 03, 2013, 11:22:34 pm
@ IcyEyeG: I had intended something like CC-BY-SA-NC, but we haven't decided yet.

I'm my opinion, for what it's worth, that's the best license you guys could choose, as it on the one hand gives the users creative freedom, but at the same time respects the original creators (including Alec and Derek) by only allowing non-commercial use.
I can't wait to see new updates!  ;D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on June 13, 2013, 02:00:50 am
Replacing more and more parts of the engine with scripts. Poisoning does not work correctly with multiple characters, so I had to hack out the builtin poison handler and use a scripted one instead, of course with the obligatory improvements & fitting visuals:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrP6zjbPdzQ
(Graphics power to the max with GLSL shaders)

You will be inebriated! :P
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: archy on June 13, 2013, 12:08:38 pm
Your shader is gonna cause a lot of motion sickness among players...  ;D

Nice work though!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Danger Mouse on June 22, 2013, 03:56:10 pm
Really like the work you have put into this.. inspiring. Been meaning to get back to my Lost Treasures mod.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on June 22, 2013, 04:34:26 pm
YESH! And i had thought you were gone forever. That's good news indeed. Please continue with it. ;D
If you want me to check your scripts at some point, let me know. (Proofread, fix, whatever)

For additional inspiration, have some booze:

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen284_small.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen284.jpg)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Danger Mouse on June 23, 2013, 11:22:43 am
I was hoping that since the source code is free, that I'd see someone port it has homebrew for PS3, with mod support, and ps3 dualshock support. That would definitely make me much more motivated in continuing my mod. I'm way more into the level, character, and creature design than I am into the scripting engine used in Aquaria. You sir have way more experience with programming than I. Perhaps when you are done with your mod, we could get together and I could share my resources with you and plan on another release. Do you have a timeline of when you are expecting to make a release?
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on June 23, 2013, 02:37:41 pm
Quote from: Danger Mouse on June 23, 2013, 11:22:43 am
I was hoping that since the source code is free, that I'd see someone port it has homebrew for PS3, with mod support, and ps3 dualshock support.
That's not exactly easy, afaik there's no public devkit for PS3 out there, and installing homebrew is a pain from what i've heard. Don't own a PS though, and never will.

Quote from: Danger Mouse on June 23, 2013, 11:22:43 am
Perhaps when you are done with your mod, we could get together and I could share my resources with you and plan on another release. Do you have a timeline of when you are expecting to make a release?

That's exactly the problem. We don't have a timeline. It's impossible at this point to make any assumptions. We just make things and will continue to do so until it's done. When I know roughly how far we are, I will announce it. (E.g. Diablodoct0r is currently redoing the story, we had something that we felt that worked somehow but it turned out it was incoherent and a bit weird. When the new story is done it should be a lot better.)
Abouts yours, i would like to, but I can't promise anything. I'll have to start my master's thesis in a few months, and our mod will definitely not be done until then. Can't estimate how much time I'll have in future, but I'll try to reserve a bit :)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Danger Mouse on June 24, 2013, 09:10:26 am
What about PSl1ght? or is that way to limited to produce calls for the gpu? and installing homebrew is a piece of cake. I've done extensive modding to my Skyrim on ps3, and have it loaded with a bunch of emulators, including dosbox. Haven't had any troubles.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: yams4lunch on August 23, 2013, 07:30:31 pm
I think it would be cool to have a nod to the other community mods, almost like a community canon in a sense. It would be like the community continuing the story, since it's very unlikely Derek and Alec will make a sequel. Any thoughts?  :)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on August 27, 2013, 05:29:17 pm
It's about time for a little update. In the last 2 months we didn't make a lot of proegress regarding the maps; most work was cleanups, improvements, and other background stuff that unfortunately doesn't yield good screenshots. Here's a few, those who hang out on IRC have probably already seen them:

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen71-2.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen71-2.jpg)
^ Bird form is now fully implemented and replaces dual form. Doesn't allow for much height, but allows to cross large horizontal distances very quickly.
Long-distance walljumps included of course :)

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen72-2.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen72-2.jpg)
^ Forms pimpin'.


There has been some more work on GLSL shaders:

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen282.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen282.jpg)
^ Experimenting. Also known as Vectrex-modeTM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex).
I don't see an actual use for this but it's been a good exercise.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen285.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen285.jpg)
^ Some more poison effects.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen294.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen294.jpg)
^ The volcano area is hotter than ever.


(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen316.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen316.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen318.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen318.jpg)
^ Left: Original. Right: Contrast enhancement and light amplification make up for a lacking vision in the dark.
This already does sonar that is reflected from enemies and shows their position.


To support all the changes that have been done, the main menu had to be replaced.
This doesn't work usually but with a few tricks and a lot of glue code (home-made UI library ftw!) we can now change almost all rules of the game.
To name a few:
- In theory: Support to cook more than 3 ingredients at once. In practice: Nobody can remember recipes that complicated, so we'll keep it at 3 :)
- Completely scriptable ingredients (Scroll up a few posts for the drunk pic. Yes we have whiskey now that makes drunk when used.)
- New food effects (such as +defense, +regeneration, +energypower, ...). We're looking for ideas for new food effects to add so if you have one, shout!
- The limit of max. 8 ingredients per type is gone. Now each item has a weight and there's a global weight limit of how much can be carried. Some planning ahead will be required what is best used where.
- Ingredients and costumes are no longer separate, and each costume will have a use or an effect. We're still figuring out how to improve upon the other collectibles system -- home decoration is nice but it could be better.


(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen313.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen313.jpg)
^ The menu looks almost like the old one. Note unlimited stack size and the other changes.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen315.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen315.jpg)
^ Because each character has a different set of abilities, the old song menu page had to go and is now instead shown on the group menu,
which replaces the help screen (Did anyone ever read that wall of text?!).
With the help screen gone, there's now space for a list that will keep track of things that have happened or that might happen in future.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen314.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen314.jpg)
^ Frances kept poking me to code the puzzles UI so I finally implemented that yesterday. :P Expect this one to be one nasty puzzle.  >:D

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen301.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen301.jpg)
^ Quick prototyping session with Christianx42 (http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=541.msg33609#msg33609) on IRC.
Not sure yet where this is going. Prototyping!


On the other news...
After being a horribly lazy slacker busy for a while, Diablodoct0r has picked up work on the story again, but no details about that at this time. ^-^
Something else is going on, too: https://soundcloud.com/naxcilliac/freefall-aq  :o (thanks, `Nax!)


That's it for today, stay tuned.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Diablodoc on August 27, 2013, 07:17:11 pm
Hey guys, I should probably introduce myself to you guys now once and for all, since I'm working on the project now ^^

Intro

I recently got to know about this project and was presented its story. After my evaluation on their storyline and gameplay, fgenesis and Fawpaw requested me to make a new game story.

I've been busy these past months and had little time to work on the story, but now hopefully things will settle down and I can start working on this more actively.

Given the new design and story onwards, I'll be requesting new levels and unfortunately many old maps and places may have to be dropped and redesigned, while others may be preserved for other opportunities.

The challenge

One of the reasons the story for Aquaria is so tedious, is that it has been through multiple changes and revisions during the original game's development, especially with regards to the secret ending, and.. well.. the game just simply does not make sense from a storymaker's perspective.
In other words, making a playable and rational sequel to this game is nearly impossible without either gigantic plot holes, or implausible explanations. And I'm saying this after digging for some time into it, finding problems that weren't obvious.

So I figured I have to not only "continue" the story, but redesign and attempt to explain elements of the original game, how basic rules of the universe work, and the origin of the characters. And since gameplay follows suit and is adapted to the story, this has to be done proper. And I don't want this to be one of those sequels that "Was finished in 10 seconds" or "had one of those boring stories".

No response from Alec

To answer critical questions about the game, fgenesis has been attempting to contact Alec on Twitter and asked him about the story, the characters etc.. But after replying that he doesn't remember much, he stopped responding to our questions.

Progress

So far, I've mapped out and redesigned some characters, explained origins and made some semi-mythologies belonging to the game, done extensive planning on the later parts of the game, and I'm currently working on Mia as a character; explaining her origin, her mentality, the history of her life and her abilities, etc. Working this way with things will better help me predict the realistic course of the game.

I also requested a new menu for more flexible access to the abilities and characters I wanted to implement, and fgenesis even suggested a Diablo 2 style belt, which is cool!

Stay tuned!  ;)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: nax on August 30, 2013, 04:20:48 am
hi i'm nax the music guy or something
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: bstrey on September 07, 2013, 11:40:57 pm
New music? :O Sweet.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Fafhred on November 02, 2013, 02:00:56 am
Hi,

Just discovered this project today, seems very promising, I am looking forward to play it eventually when it will be finished :-)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on November 07, 2013, 09:29:03 pm
Hmm, so much time has passed again without an update? Let's go.
This time, I have picked a few random things because screenshots slowly start getting a bit spoilerish.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen374.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen374.jpg)
^ Screw physics!

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen364.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen364.jpg)
^ Don't let your spirit go too far away from your body!

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen358.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen358.jpg)
^ I was always annoyed that energy form doesn't glow in the dark.
Now it does, and the shots do too. Looks much better.
(Getting the shots to glow in the dark was a technical challenge, I tell you!)

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen360.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen360.jpg)
(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen362.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen362.jpg)
^ I had played around with this before, but now it actually has a use:
Many enemies (and friends too) have a proper vision system now.
I plan to add listening capabilities as well.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen353.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen353.jpg)
^No comment on this one, but feel free to guess :)
(Thanks to Peri (http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=1724) for the person on the right!)

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/repo01.png) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/repo01.png)
^Proof that we've been working steadily for those who were doubting.
It's just me committing to the repo, but everything goes in.
Hopefully spoiler-free.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Daxar on November 15, 2013, 03:47:26 pm
Hi! Should I say something? I should probably say something.

Over the past couple of years, I've just been hanging out in the IRC channel, helping fgenesis brainstorm and otherwise nagging him and talking about programming projects. I'm quite a bug magnet while I'm playing games, so I'm doing a lot of beta-testing for this particular mod. I suppose I'm also a sort of sounding board that fgenesis bounces ideas off of. So I'm basically not helping with the mod per se, though I like to think that my role is important. ;)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Gringamuyloca on December 02, 2013, 09:24:48 pm
 :o Had a bit of a heart attack when the site went down the end of November.  :D
My first thought was 'I'll never get to play this mod!  So is there a way to add me to a mailing list just in case this site disappears into cyberspace?

I've been lurking around,  very intrigued by the teasers shared and the fact that there is still some passion for this game.

Can't wait to play!  ;D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on December 02, 2013, 09:42:50 pm
I've seen you join IRC for half a minute few days ago; that was you, right?
IRC is (and has always been) our primary means of communication, so if you're able to join #bitblot, nothing can go wrong ;)

For refererence, webchat link (http://webchat.esper.net/?nick=&channels=bitblot) (it's also in my sig).
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Gringamuyloca on December 04, 2013, 04:48:28 am
Yep, that was me. As soon as the site came back up I purposely came to this thread looking for the IRC link in your sig!  ;D
Not that I have no idea what IRC is.  :-[  (But i bookmarked it anyways.)

.... anticipation.
 ;)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Diablodoc on December 08, 2013, 04:34:44 am
We're still working on figuring out the 11th race, here's a clue ;O

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53509533/JYKOkrL%20copy.png)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: thegamemaster1234 on December 08, 2013, 10:41:27 pm
Return of the Sith!
*DUN DUN DUN DUN DUNDUN DUN DUNDUNNNNNN~*
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Xiagan on December 11, 2013, 10:39:56 am
Haha, great one!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Joey245 on April 25, 2014, 10:52:05 pm
Man, it's been a long time since I've been here. I rediscovered Aquaria recently, and it makes me kinda sad to see the front page of the mods forum page full of spam. :/

But it's wonderful to hear that this mod is still in progress! If there's anything I can possibly do to help out, just let me know. I'm not a coder or an artist, but I'm one heck of a gamer, and could probably be a beta tester if you want me to.

Let's keep this alive! Long Live Aquaria!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on April 25, 2014, 10:57:14 pm
Quote from: Joey245 on April 25, 2014, 10:52:05 pm
Man, it's been a long time since I've been here. I rediscovered Aquaria recently, and it makes me kinda sad to see the front page of the mods forum page full of spam. :/

This is being dealt with (sort of). Be patient. :)

Quote from: Joey245 on April 25, 2014, 10:52:05 pm
But it's wonderful to hear that this mod is still in progress! If there's anything I can possibly do to help out, just let me know. I'm not a coder or an artist, but I'm one heck of a gamer, and could probably be a beta tester if you want me to.

Except that progress is far too slow for my taste. But yes, we're on it. At times I get the feeling that i'll be old and grey before we'll be finished, but that's just me... ::)
There was simply nothing interesting to post for quite some time, so no news here.
You can hang out on IRC if you like, or just drop in at times, that's always motivating. Plus, all the new things happen on IRC  ;D

Quote from: Joey245 on April 25, 2014, 10:52:05 pm
Let's keep this alive! Long Live Aquaria!

\m/_ ( O0)_ \m/
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: nax on June 12, 2014, 06:42:52 pm
after quite a bit of practice, i believe i've gotten the aquaria style of music down a bit.  obviously i won't be absolutely confining myself to that style, but i will largely use the same themes present in the music

https://soundcloud.com/naxcilliac/ramping-up  this track is for an area that ramps up right before a boss. 

please keep in mind soundcloud DOES lower quality of sounds by a pretty big margin (you can download the track if you want to hear it in its actual quality).  I will update this post as I enter more tracks.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on July 19, 2014, 01:15:00 am
We're still alive and kicking!

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen437.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen437.jpg)
^ Oops.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Gringamuyloca on July 19, 2014, 06:35:56 pm
 ;D Nice to know!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Xiagan on July 22, 2014, 06:19:29 pm
That's great! :)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on August 06, 2014, 04:00:55 am
A little fun thing on the side, especially for those who have used the win32 MessageBox() function for debugging.
This breaks my previous record of the longest error message:

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/longerror2.png) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/longerror2.png)
^ Derp. Herpdarblarblderp. The OK button is somewhere far below.

Besides this, chapter 1 is nearing completion -- looks like we finally got our bearings together and all the previous work on tech + background stuff is starting to pay off.
But we're all having a busy august, and this is just the first of a few more chapters to come.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Gringamuyloca on August 10, 2014, 04:43:50 am
 :o  :o
I wish I had more to contribute than lurking, but I am still checking in; looks like things are progressing, one way or another.  ::)
It's always nice to see a new post in this forum.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: ClagiusClanlor on August 13, 2014, 11:12:45 pm
While I also have little to contribute more than lurking, I'd like to say thank you for working on this.  I've been desperate for an extension to the story, even an unofficial one!

My GF is going to finish Aquaria soon and I know she's going to be genuinely sad about the note the game leaves off on, even just the promise of this mod at least gives me some hope to pass on to her.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on August 27, 2014, 10:26:55 pm
Cutscenes are annoying. I hate coding them. So much synchronizing and timing work.  :-\

And some code is now running into performance issues when many AI controlled NPCs are on the map. Profiling shows that already >40% of the total CPU time is spent somewhere in Lua. Need to try and fix this at some point, otherwise maps can't be populated as much as i wanted to without lagging to hell.

Did i say AI?

Some humanoids have an advanced AI using a planner (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_planning_and_scheduling) -- this actually exists since quite some time, but I didn't write about this.
It's pretty incomplete right now but entities are able to fight, dodge shots, follow, and other things. They have "ears" and memory and can remember where they have last seen certain things of interest, e.g. a health plant, and will go grab it if they are low on health. They will hop on a seahorse and follow you if they figure it is the best way of getting after you. If they have nothing better to do they will go and pick up food nearby. Etc etc.  8)
And they already did things i did neither implement nor expect, which is a good thing for AI, right? :)
The AI applies to both friends and enemies, but with slightly changed rules for balancing. >:D

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/aigraph01.png) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/aigraph01.png)
^ This is the current AI state graph of a player character, snapshotted in a harmless situation on the home map.  Incomplete, work in progress!
   Red is the chain of actions that was taken, pink are states that it considered but that were rejected.
   This maze is auto-generated. I'm not touching this madness by hand!

This was inspired by the AI of F.E.A.R. (http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~jorkin/gdc2006_orkin_jeff_fear.pdf) -- It's a good read and you should do so if you are interested how things may work under the hood. My implementation is 100% Lua so there are some things that can't be done due to performance reasons, for example A* (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A*) search to find most efficient paths through the state graph. Would be too much for any scripting language, and far too slow. Greedy best-first search turned out to be sufficient.


Anyway, now i added a pic to my sig that gets updated whenever i push something to the (private) development repo, displaying the commit message. This is probably better than no apparent updates at all for a very long time.
Now i only hope i won't write anything stupid/emparassing/spoilerish into the commit log... ::)
Warning: Not suitable for children under 3 due to possible swearing.

[EDIT] There:
(http://fg.wzff.de/gi/a.png) (http://fg.wzff.de/gi/a.png)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Liarra Sniffles on October 07, 2014, 12:48:00 am
Ah, it's been ages since I've played Aquaria or been on this site, this mod is still being worked on!? The dedication!
Last time I was here I was only  12 years old or so, so it's pretty nice to see stuff still going on. This mod still looks amazing, I'm almost tempted to go dig up my own mod project from back then, but I'm scared of looking at the abomination that is an un-tutored 12 year old's lua coding.

Right, I'm gonna go see about changing my username and actually following up on a few of these mods which were only idea's when I last saw them.

~~~"Liarra Sniffles [NsP]" is my steam user if anyone wants to contact me, I feel like this should be in a sig, but I have no idea how to use this site yet.~~~
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on October 07, 2014, 01:01:58 am
Quote from: shrooms on October 07, 2014, 12:48:00 am
Ah, it's been ages since I've played Aquaria or been on this site, this mod is still being worked on!? The dedication!

Haha, yep :D
Here, have a WIP screenshot:

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen462.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen462.jpg)
^ New menu WIP. Songs are not yet arranged by color. The bottom bar maps to the shortcut keys [1-9,0] and holds songs, food, costumes, etc. Whatever is put in.

Quote from: shrooms on October 07, 2014, 12:48:00 am
Last time I was here I was only  12 years old or so, so it's pretty nice to see stuff still going on. This mod still looks amazing, I'm almost tempted to go dig up my own mod project from back then, but I'm scared of looking at the abomination that is an un-tutored 12 year old's lua coding.
12 ?! I didn't start coding before i was 14 (DOS BASIC, which is totally different from Lua). Respect + Kudos on that!

You should continue yours if you can, this time learning Lua properly. It's super useful to be able to code, and it's a good brain training for later. It's good to have a logic-oriented mindset, believe me :)
Aside from this (http://i.imgur.com/JurzF.png) screenshot (which was pretty meh), your mod looked nice!

Quote from: shrooms on October 07, 2014, 12:48:00 am
Right, I'm gonna go see about changing my username and actually following up on a few of these mods which were only idea's when I last saw them.

~~~"Liarra Sniffles [NsP]" is my steam user if anyone wants to contact me, I feel like this should be in a sig, but I have no idea how to use this site yet.~~~

PROFILE -> Forum Profile Information -> signature box.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Liarra Sniffles on October 07, 2014, 01:28:32 am
Quote from: False.Genesis on October 07, 2014, 01:01:58 am
12 ?! I didn't start coding before i was 14 (DOS BASIC, which is totally different from Lua). Respect + Kudos on that!
Well I say coding, the most I remember doing was working out how to add 4 Nautilus Prime's to one big area, and change the shark ai..? so that they just constantly charge towards you. But thinking back on it, I think I actually just broke the ai somehow, not sure if that counts as good coding.
Quote from: False.Genesis on October 07, 2014, 01:01:58 am
You should continue yours if you can, this time learning Lua properly. It's super useful to be able to code, and it's a good brain training for later. It's good to have a logic-oriented mindset, believe me :)
Aside from this (http://i.imgur.com/JurzF.png) screenshot (which was pretty meh), your mod looked nice!
Aha! the "hook tree", I remember that. I spent most of my "modding" time screwing around in the editor making huge maps full of stuff. The PC I was working on literally exploded into flames, but I think we saved the hard-drive so I might find it yet. Then again, I might make a whole new "mod" (basically a glorified map pack with maybe some sounds added in) and try my hand at some segment based sprite animation. Right at the moment I am on vacation and this isn't my laptop, so I'm not sure how much I can/want to do here.

I've been looking through some WIP images you have posted, I have to say it looks like a whole new game. I never really liked how the inventory/cooking/loading screens had the statue of her face on it though, so that might be the first thing I mod out of my game.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on October 07, 2014, 01:37:46 am
Quote from: Liarra Sniffles on October 07, 2014, 01:28:32 am
I've been looking through some WIP images you have posted, I have to say it looks like a whole new game. I never really liked how the inventory/cooking/loading screens had the statue of her face on it though, so that might be the first thing I mod out of my game.

There is a working-but-ugly way to replace the background rock texture (that has the face on it), but this is all you're able to change.
The menu itself is hardcoded in C++ and can't be changed by mods. At all.

... or so it's being said.



Spoiler: I went down the route of madness to customize the menu. You don't want to know.


Oh and while you're here, steam sucks. IRC (http://webchat.esper.net/?nick=&channels=bitblot) is where the cool kids hang out. ^-^
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Liarra Sniffles on October 07, 2014, 01:46:26 am
Quote from: False.Genesis on October 07, 2014, 01:37:46 am
There is a working-but-ugly way to replace the background rock texture (that has the face on it), but this is all you're able to change.
The menu itself is hardcoded in C++ and can't be changed by mods. At all.

... or so it's being said.


Oh and while you're here, steam sucks. IRC is where the cool kids hang out. ^-^
Well I have a few ideas to get around that, including just creating a whole new menu with the same functions on it and changing the key bindings around, or adding some kind of overlay effect when esc is pressed, or just changing every. single. texture. that has anything to do with rocks or statues to one that is transparent (if possible). We will see. I might even create a simple third party program overlay if it turns out to be easier than potentially breaking into the hard code and killing the game itself.

I don't have an IRC program installed, and I don't really know what it is other than a group chat of some kind. That and I really like steam, it has gaemz in it :C
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Daxar on October 07, 2014, 02:00:31 am
Ignore him, he just hates Steam for no reason. XD

IRC is indeed an Internet chat protocol that's been around since the dawn of teh interwebs. Fgenesis and I hang out there all the time, and it's basically the center of where mod development goes on. It's fun! I've got a complicated setup now, but in the past I've used Quassel - http://quassel-irc.org/ and other people recommend mIRC - http://www.mirc.com/ . It's all fairly straightforward once you get over a minor learning curve.

EDIT: Even easier, can just IRC online here without having to install anything: http://webchat.esper.net/?nick=&channels=bitblot
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Nightmareshadow on December 24, 2014, 04:58:58 pm
Quote from: False.Genesis on October 07, 2014, 01:01:58 am
Quote from: shrooms on October 07, 2014, 12:48:00 am
Ah, it's been ages since I've played Aquaria or been on this site, this mod is still being worked on!? The dedication!

Haha, yep :D
Here, have a WIP screenshot:

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen462.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen462.jpg)
^ New menu WIP. Songs are not yet arranged by color. The bottom bar maps to the shortcut keys [1-9,0] and holds songs, food, costumes, etc. Whatever is put in.

Quote from: shrooms on October 07, 2014, 12:48:00 am
Last time I was here I was only  12 years old or so, so it's pretty nice to see stuff still going on. This mod still looks amazing, I'm almost tempted to go dig up my own mod project from back then, but I'm scared of looking at the abomination that is an un-tutored 12 year old's lua coding.
12 ?! I didn't start coding before i was 14 (DOS BASIC, which is totally different from Lua). Respect + Kudos on that!

You should continue yours if you can, this time learning Lua properly. It's super useful to be able to code, and it's a good brain training for later. It's good to have a logic-oriented mindset, believe me :)
Aside from this (http://i.imgur.com/JurzF.png) screenshot (which was pretty meh), your mod looked nice!

Quote from: shrooms on October 07, 2014, 12:48:00 am
Right, I'm gonna go see about changing my username and actually following up on a few of these mods which were only idea's when I last saw them.

~~~"Liarra Sniffles [NsP]" is my steam user if anyone wants to contact me, I feel like this should be in a sig, but I have no idea how to use this site yet.~~~

PROFILE -> Forum Profile Information -> signature box.


Four years since I last poked my head in this way and HOLY CRAP MAYBE A SEQUEL AND THOSE SCREENSHOTS LOOK AMAZING!!!

I would totally pay money to see this get finished.  Considered setting up a patreon or a Kickstarter?  I mean, yeah, it's a mod, but still...anything to help it along.  Really impressed with the work and when Chapter 1 is ready, I'd love to give it a try.  God, would, I...
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on December 25, 2014, 02:04:54 am
Quote from: Nightmareshadow on December 24, 2014, 04:58:58 pm
I would totally pay money to see this get finished.  Considered setting up a patreon or a Kickstarter?  I mean, yeah, it's a mod, but still...anything to help it along.  Really impressed with the work and when Chapter 1 is ready, I'd love to give it a try.  God, would, I...

Woo, thanks! Money is not an issue. Free time vs things to get done is the actual problem. And adding money to this would add unnecessary stress i'd like to avoid (and i guess everyone is with me on that).

TBH, we're on a little hiatus right now. But hey, it's the time around newyear, everyone is busy with real life™, but things should settle in a bit. Personally, i'm currently dealing with this (http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1354) and this situation (http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1531), but as soon as this is over (hard deadline in first half of january) i'll get back to work on the code, and in general things will get rolling again.

Just keep an eye on this topic mkay? There will be updates, screenshots, and... THINGS. :-X

Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on January 28, 2015, 01:08:58 am
Quick note: Hiatus is over. Back to work!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Gringamuyloca on January 28, 2015, 07:41:01 pm
 ;D THIS, is awesome news!  :o

Happy New Year btw.  :D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Trevenant on May 30, 2015, 02:06:26 pm
just registering to say theres still interest in this  ;D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Bhoren on June 03, 2015, 06:26:15 pm
Hi !
(https://puu.sh/ib3bX/2e1a0c897a.png)

Now you can find Lea from CrossCode in the Sequel Mod ! (clic for bigger view)

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/thumb/screen499.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/screen499.jpg)

You can find CrossCode here :
http://www.cross-code.com/en/home (http://www.cross-code.com/en/home)
https://twitter.com/RadicalFishGame (https://twitter.com/RadicalFishGame)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Fayfer on June 04, 2015, 04:50:06 am
Just passing by... and MOARing it a little bit. :D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on June 04, 2015, 04:56:43 am
MOAR? Elaborate further?
Meanwhile: Yeaaaah working on it. I've been madcoding the whole week and most of the night (including in the office when nobody was looking and all work was done). Please bear with me, i can't go any faster right now. Graphics and other things are nearly completed so it's just me delaying things, sorry.

BUT!
Looking good. Still wrapping up that first chapter. Ironing out all these little bugs and polishing stuff is so incredibly much work... -- but i'm sure it will pay off to have this fixed now. Better than later.

EDIT: OH CRAP IT'S JUNE ALREADY I'M GETTING OLD
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Fayfer on June 04, 2015, 05:56:31 pm
Please dont mind me. I'm glad that you are working on it.  I did not mean to be pressuring in any form. (though, if you think that letting you know that there are people looking foward to your work, then "Yeah, just a little bit of pressure"  ;D ;D ;D)

By the way, greetings from brazil.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on July 02, 2015, 12:46:39 am
Very quick note: Chapter 1 is is aaaaalmost done. Very few things left to do.
 If everything goes well the alpha preview will go out to some testers this weekend. Depending on how fast all yet-to-appear problems will be fixed, the public preview should be done really soon™.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on July 06, 2015, 11:38:16 am
Took a bit longer yesterday, so forgot to mention that the plan worked and it's under testing now by various people ;D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: bstrey on July 11, 2015, 03:02:07 am
I'm excited to hear we will get to see an end product soon. :) It's awesome that everyone on this project has remained dedicated for so long. Looking forward to playing Aquaria's 'sequel'. ^,^
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Liarra Sniffles on July 11, 2015, 05:19:02 pm
If you want pressure for it to be done, I'm still subbed to this thread via email!

Chop chop!

;3
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Bhoren on July 15, 2015, 01:40:13 pm
News from our bug tracker :

For the initial internal release, we had discover 16 bugs (with 6 game breaking bugs) and we fixed everything. We also found 2 points we could improve.

So far, we're at the second internal release. For this one, we found 36 new bugs (with 1 game breaking bug). We have currently fixed 26 bugs (with no game breaking one). We also found 7 things we could improve
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on July 15, 2015, 01:45:54 pm
Quite strange thinking about how many bugs can hide in 1-2h of gameplay... :o
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on July 17, 2015, 02:01:34 am
While still working on tweaks and things, the planned release date is now set to 16th August.
(I know, it's not as soon™ as originally planned, but should hopefully be enough time for some new music as well. Go Nax! :D)

As mentioned, playing time is roughly 1-2 hours, and feedback has been positive so far.
Since it's just the first chapter there's a lot of the new features missing/not shown because they simply have no place there, but we tried to add in some new things which will mainly be of use in the parts to come. Also, half of the maps are old (more or less modified, e.g. home waters, energy temple, song cave), the other half is new. Please don't be disappointed that we're keeping most of the completely different maps for future chapters, but they simply have no reason to be used in the first one.
A new Aquaria version will be required to play the thing, so I'll make sure to prepare updatepacks to be released along with our mod.

For those who haven't played Aquaria to the end yet (or have forgotten the ending), I suggest you do that until release (or at least watch the *secret* ending on youtube etc), so that you understand better what's happening.

Spoiler: You will not be playing Naija in this chapter...
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on August 14, 2015, 03:23:33 pm
Short report: Looking good. Will make a release candidate version later today. If there are no last-minute problems or sudden reasons to delay the release we'll make it until 16th! ;D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on August 16, 2015, 06:01:26 pm
Ok, finally!

(http://fg.wzff.de/aqmods/aq2_ch1-thumb.jpg)

To play the mod, grab at least Aquaria OSE 1.002 (http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=4313.0), go to the mod menu -> Browse & Download, and look for it -- should be in the first row.
Alternative download: Link (http://fg.wzff.de/aqmods/aq2_ch1.aqmod). [Do not upload this elsewhere or re-host it! Just direct-link to the file, or even better yet, this topic. Thanks.]
This mod will NOT run in any of the official versions relased on GOG, Steam, the Humble Bundle, Humble Store, Plimus, Ambrosia, or whatever. You NEED the open source update.

If you get stuck, just ask for help in this topic, and if you think you found a bug, by all means, report it.
Note that some mechanics have changed, esp. to progress past one point -- drop your expectations and experiment ;)
There's also a functioning help screen in case you missed a control hint.

Note that this is the first chapter only, so don't be disappointed that it takes only 1-2 hours to play it.
We'll continue working on the following chapters and keep this topic updated as usual.

Any comments on our story interpration and how we're going to continue it are welcome, it's interesting to see everyone's opinion on that.
Take a guess how it'll continue... ;)
Also, any comments on what you like and what you don't like will be helpful for future development.

Thanks to everyone involved, enjoy!
I really really hope it's not full of bugs... D:

EDIT: and for those who want to leave feedback but don't want to create an account on this forum: Email @ fg-aquaria [-ät-] wzff [-döt-] de
EDIT2: Same goes for technical questions, if you are interested in how we did certain things, ask away.

EDIT3[2017.03.12]:
Updated download, now the mod also works on big endian architectures (MacOSX <= 10.5, MorphOS, AmigaOS, AROS, etc). That was a single file-change.
To apply to an existing download:
- unpack the aqmod file (it's just a zip archive)
- download the changed file [kickstart.rom (http://fg.wzff.de/aqmods/aq2_ch1_update/kickstart.rom)]
- replace aq2_ch1/blob/kickstart.rom with the new version.
- optionally: re-pack into a zip archive, replace .zip extension with .aqmod, done. Alternatively, keep the mod unpacked, and delete the original (bad) aq2_ch1.aqmod file.

(Thanks to IRC fellas Phib_PB for reporting the big-endian problem and widelec-BB for helping me test out a fix!)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Goobla on August 16, 2015, 06:33:31 pm
Thank you! I am so excited to play this - I love anything Aquaria! ;D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Goobla on August 16, 2015, 11:35:56 pm
Hi! I am having problems getting into your mod. When I click on the icon in the mod list in the title screen of Aquaria, two critical errors pop up. They say "liplayer: unidentified token: DieOnKill" and "liplayer: unidentified token: 1"

Then it shows Naija lying down in blackness and closes back to title screen.

I have Version 1.1.1, but I haven't updated it since I downloaded it from the Aquaria website a few months ago (no update packs).

If you have any suggestions, please post them.   

Thanks! :)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Daxar on August 17, 2015, 12:02:34 am
Quote from: False.Genesis on August 16, 2015, 06:01:26 pm
To play the mod, grab at least Aquaria OSE 1.002 (http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=4313.0)

Please read the post at the very least, Goobla.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on August 17, 2015, 12:18:51 am
Quote from: Goobla on August 16, 2015, 11:35:56 pm
Hi! I am having problems getting into your mod. When I click on the icon in the mod list in the title screen of Aquaria, two critical errors pop up. They say "liplayer: unidentified token: DieOnKill" and "liplayer: unidentified token: 1"

Hmm. liplayer is a shot name. Which OS are you running?
Couldn't possibly parse the shots incorrectly? o.O

I know i added DieOnKill before OSE 1.000, so to me it looks you have an out of date version...? But then it should refuse to enter the mod? o.o


EDIT:

Quote from: Goobla on August 16, 2015, 11:35:56 pm
I have Version 1.1.1, but I haven't updated it since I downloaded it from the Aquaria website a few months ago (no update packs).

Didn't see this. Ok, so what Daxar said. Unfortunately v1.1.1 is far too old to support any of the crazy stuff that this mod is doing, you NEED this update.

... I've put in that version check for a reason ^-^
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Goobla on August 17, 2015, 02:39:53 pm
Thanks, both of you! I think it is just the computer being slow in the heat at this point, but I got OSE 1.002. I don't know much about computers and thought 1.1.1 was newer
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on August 17, 2015, 03:03:46 pm
Ah. Added a clarification note so that others won't run into the same problem.

Does it work now?
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Goobla on August 17, 2015, 05:59:15 pm
It's working very well! The note helps, too. Can't wait for more  ;)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Tullehar on August 21, 2015, 04:11:11 am
Found an issue when I ran into the Krotite. after they murdered LI it restarted and dropped me to meager frames per second. As I will momentarily point out this became the straw that broke the camel's back for me personally.
The bug may not be consistent; not sure why it happened.

Overall review up to that point: Its been a number of years for me since i've finished the core game;
 1. seems like you were trying to create a sort of hyper expert mode specifically for people that try to push themselves to gaming ridiculousness. This makes it rather difficult for anyone jumping back in who identifies as a casual gamer. While I guess its good for you that you can hardcore the daylights out of the original game don't develop a mod that way: You will quickly loose people's interest. I have a headache just from getting as far as I did. That's not why I played Aquaria in the first place. No matter how compelling your storyline is, (which in my opinion and reading over this thread its personally not compelling at all), I should be able to remain cognitive during gameplay without needing aspirin to continue.
2. The weight system IS the worst aspect of the mod, because now instead of being able to flip through pages and to easily have what you need you spend time wasting materials to adjust. It limits you combatively even depending on what you are carrying with you. I GET that even under water weight would affect you but look at how Aquaria's core mechanics worked, this would ruin the game severely. I barely ever have more than two pages of materials in your mod. There was an eventual limit, if I recall, in the core game but that didn't happen for a while and you could after getting the third slot just make them into other recipes until you could pick up whatever you were after. After trying to deal with this system I highly disapprove of the mechanic.
3: Adding late game enemies to early game areas: The Dev's didn't do so for a reason.

Without further improvements, i'm probably removing the mod.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on August 21, 2015, 01:54:35 pm
Quote from: Tullehar on August 21, 2015, 04:11:11 am
Found an issue when I ran into the Krotite. after they murdered LI it restarted and dropped me to meager frames per second.
No idea what this could be, i've tested this situation a lot and never had that problem. Will investigate. Thanks for finding this one.

Quote from: Tullehar on August 21, 2015, 04:11:11 am
1. seems like you were trying to create a sort of hyper expert mode specifically for people that try to push themselves to gaming ridiculousness.
Not really, everything was test-played multiple times, by multiple people, and the difficulty adjusted based on the feedback.
E.g. if i'm able to get through without using food, everyone else should manage perfectly fine with food.
(But indeed there are adjustements to be made, see below.)

Quote from: Tullehar on August 21, 2015, 04:11:11 am
This makes it rather difficult for anyone jumping back in who identifies as a casual gamer.
Have you tried point & click games instead?
Oh and play meatymod, you'll love it. >:D

Quote from: Tullehar on August 21, 2015, 04:11:11 am
2. The weight system IS the worst aspect of the mod [...]
After trying to deal with this system I highly disapprove of the mechanic.
This is still subject to debate. See, this is why we released a preview in the first place. To get feedback on things like this.

Quote from: Tullehar on August 21, 2015, 04:11:11 am
3: Adding late game enemies to early game areas: The Dev's didn't do so for a reason.
For example, where?

There are 2 places i remember where there are many normal and 1-2 harder enemies, but both places are designed that it is better to run instead of fight:
1) The room just before the long current in the bottom of the temple
2) The diagonal shaft with ekkrit in it.

But definitely no late-game ones...?

Anyway. Even if my reactions on irc may not seem like: Thanks for the feedback, and we'll see what we can do :)


EDIT: Followup:
 Looks like we'll implement 3 or 4 difficulty levels, that influence things like spawn rate, inventory system (old vs new), AI, and various other things. Since it's kinda impossible to please everyone with a single, uniform difficulty, this is probably the most sensible thing to do.

EDIT2: i'll give this a shot and possibly update the release to include a difficuly switch. Might take a bit but could be worth it.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Goobla on August 21, 2015, 03:47:46 pm
I absolutely love this mod! Thank you for all the time you must have put into it! I did experience a few issues with the world map not tracking and shading where I had been, but that's not a big deal when the rest is so awesome!  :D

I see you may be adding difficulty levels, but do you have any news about the next chapter(s)?
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on August 21, 2015, 03:56:19 pm
Quote from: Goobla on August 21, 2015, 03:47:46 pm
I see you may be adding difficulty levels, but do you have any news about the next chapter(s)?
How much can you guess from what you have seen?
2nd chapter will be Lucien (i think that's obvious), 3rd and 4th ... hmmm you do want to know what happened in the time between, right? And where it's all going :)
So no "news" except that we're discussing a lot of details. Won't spoil yet how it'll continue. Is there anything specific you want to happen/have resolved/etc?

The original ending left open a lot of questions and we're trying to answer them where it makes sense.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Goobla on August 21, 2015, 03:58:23 pm
Thanks! I am so excited for this! ;D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Goobla on August 22, 2015, 03:13:02 pm
I had a random idea...

What if one of the male characters could sing using the lower tones that accompany Naija when she sings near those mushroom-tubey things (I think there are some in the Verse Cave)?

I have no idea if it is remotely possible to isolate those pitches, but I just really love the singing mechanic of the game  :)


Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on August 22, 2015, 03:24:31 pm
Singing will come back with Lucien. Li can't sing (for good reason).
Just need someone with a musical ear to listen over the pitch changes... :o
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Goobla on August 22, 2015, 04:34:05 pm
Cool!  ;D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: lucidfox on September 06, 2015, 10:22:09 am
Long time lurker, first time poster. :)

Quote from: False.Genesis on August 21, 2015, 01:54:35 pm
Have you tried point & click games instead?

I'm sorry, but this kind of attitude isn't really conductive to dialogue with players.

I mostly play games for the story and atmosphere, and prefer it when the gameplay is not too hard but also not so easy it's boring.

I played the original Aquaria for the story and atmosphere as well, and I found its difficulty too frustrating to properly enjoy it. Edited the game files to make Naija invulnerable. After that it was a more pleasant experience. To each their own. :)

Multiple difficulty levels sound good. In fact, that's something that I wish was implemented in the original game.

As for the mod itself, I've only watched the intro cutscene so far, but I'm impressed with the graphics and, so far, the apparent faithfulness to the original story. I've been waiting to see the story continue ever since I found that the original Aquaria ended with a cliffhanger, and so I've been following the development of this mod with curiosity. I'll post more thoughts once I finish the actual chapter!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on September 06, 2015, 11:11:38 pm
Quote from: lucidfox on September 06, 2015, 10:22:09 am
Edited the game files to make Naija invulnerable.
Unfortunately this won't work in this mod due to all the customization :o

Quote from: lucidfox on September 06, 2015, 10:22:09 am
I'll post more thoughts once I finish the actual chapter!
yay! much needed :)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on October 19, 2015, 04:08:10 am
Difficulty switch is on the way, but had to get this here done before:

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/itemboxwip.jpg)
^ WIP item box. Yay for storage space!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on October 31, 2015, 03:55:19 pm
Difficulty adjustment for all of the maps + gameplay constants is done. Also a number of bugs are fixed now.
Updated version should be available sometime next week, but there's one thing left that needs work:

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen561.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen561.jpg)
^ WIP Initial screen (click to enlarge). The ugly grey buttons will be replaced with some nice gfx before the update is out :)

As for the inventory thing, here's what you get based on difficulty:

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/invdiff1.jpg)
^ Easy (increased stack count)

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/invdiff2.jpg)
^ Original

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/invdiff3.jpg)
^ Alternative (no per-stack count, but a global maximum. It's up to you to balance what you need)

Hope that should cover everyone's wishes.
There will likely not be a way to change difficulty mid-game in this release since it's so short, but for the final we'll probably make that possible.

(If you've followed, the inventory stack limits depend on difficulty. If it's changed mid-game, possibly overfull item stacks will be dropped into the storage box automatically so nothing is lost. That's already coded and works fine.)

Oh and the storage box is currently located here:

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen562.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen562.jpg)
^ (Click to enlarge)


EDIT: Random GIF because i just posted this on twitter (https://twitter.com/fgblurb/status/660491228195201025):

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen0.gif)

Should post animated GIF files more often... kinda adds dynamics. :D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Fantist on November 10, 2015, 11:11:38 pm
Hey there! After wrestling with the site for a couple days, I finally got a conformation email so I could verify my account and sign in to tell you that I love your mod so far! It feels like it could actually be Aquaria 2. I know some people don't like some of the mechanics but you really can't ever satisfy everyone. I think you should keep making your mod the way you want it to be.

I'm loving the detail put into the different environments from the screenshots you have shared. I also like the idea of energy form becoming stronger the more you use it but also becoming corrupt from it. That was something I was thought they were going to do in the original game. Remember how after you get energy form she talks about enjoying the destruction and even gives off an evil laugh sometimes when shooting stuff? I'd really like to see something like a dark side/light side meter that fills up based on decisions you make throughout the game.

I certainly hope to see more from you!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on November 11, 2015, 12:33:29 am
Something older but i just made a gif and posted this on irc so it should be posted here as well.
(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen1769.gif) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen1769.gif)
^ Click for the full version (warning: 10 MB animated GIF)

Still working on the chapter 1 update/bugfix, but it isn't going as smoothly as planned. There are some issues left i'd like to fix first...
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Goobla on November 11, 2015, 12:55:09 am
Now I can't wait to play as a Krotite  :o
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Garr on November 11, 2015, 01:35:23 pm
Seriously. Why reply is a little button that I had not been noticing since I saw this topic first time? Because that's the time I registered here.
Oh well. My fault.
Just wanted to say my public thanks for your job. I would've gladly helped you, but I have neither enough skill, which is fine, nor enough time, which is crusial. But you, sir...
You remind me of one 2-year-old project of one lady. She decided to make an expanded version of "Zanzarah: The Hidden Portal", better, more advanced and with her own thoughts. At first it was not a big thing, but now she have a community of more than a thousind men who are interested in her job. Of course, only 5-8 of them are actually helping her, but this is always the case.
And this happened to a game which is 13 years old! Aquaria is only 8 years old, and you have close idea: expand a game, make it better, bigger and wiser. Yes, you have a ling way to go, but so does many! I wish you skill, inspiration and lots of admiration of your job, because I would not forgive my fate if something will go wrong and your creation will never see light.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on November 15, 2015, 06:08:08 pm
Quote from: Garr on November 11, 2015, 01:35:23 pm
You remind me of one 2-year-old project of one lady.
Fyi, this mod has been in development for 4.5 years now. With pauses of course.

I wanted to share a lengthy review from Arthas (who isn't on this forum, only on IRC):

Quote from: Arthas
Being a long-time and pretty die-hard fan of Aquaria, I went into this mod with quite some expectations, and I was happy to see that most of them were indeed met.
However, as of right now it is not without its flaws. To name the ones I noticed the most right from the tip of my tongue:

-The writing of both the opening and ending sequence are a bit cheesy, but the rest of it is pretty solid from what I can recall right now. I was a bit irritated to see them all just diving off in the end without a single word, where I would have considered some exchange of words essential at this point. If nothing else at least some baffled remark from Li's side, or him getting a bit angry about his son simply running after her like that or something, since he /is/ taking the role of the adult and caring father here.

-The mod doesn't give you the same feeling of freedom, the thrill of exploration and for that matter the need to engage in it as the main game did.
This might partially be because so far there are not enough items and secrets to find in the already fairly vast world, or new astounding areas that really set themselves apart from those in the main game, where each area did have its own distinctive mood and atmosphere.
On the other hand it might as well be me having played the game so many times that I am already too familiar with the different settings I've seen the game providing players with.

-Continuing this train of thought, precisely because it is lacking this sort of feeling at times - at least for me - it also lacks a certain sort of immersion that I was thrilled to experience again, since Aquaria always excelled in this in my opinion.
What I mean by this is simple: While I am not a big fan of massive amounts of backtracking or anything, I disliked the fact that it literally gives you no reason to come back to any place. Particularly areas like the new section beyond the Song Cave. The new kind of homes one can find here seemed very intriguing at first, but unlike in Mithalas for example, it did neither motivate nor reward you enough to linger or simply marvel at some of the effects shown off.

-I also felt as if the homes themselves were a bit... indecisive as to what they wanted to be, in terms of design. Aside from these houses though, one possible design flaw I noticed in this area was one of these homes standing in the far background at some point, visible through some sort of tunnel, that gave - just as the bottom of the sea in this area - a very nice 3D effect.
On widescreen however, the separate layers of this tunnel became very visible, and one could see that they simply ended after the width of just a single sprite placed in these sort of circles, after which there was only clear water again. Now, this may as well have been intentional, but I found it sort of quirky.
And for that matter, some of the what I think are new art assets in that area seemed rather low-resolution as well.

-The same thing about immersion goes for the tree which one has to acquire the glowing fruit from. The cave it stands in is very, very atmospheric indeed, and I would have liked to see something else done with it of sorts, even if it was a bit of platforming or an interesting NPC sitting around. But as soon as you shoot these bulbs down and collect a few, you are just completely done in that area.

-The anemone maze that now fills the song cave is also a bit of a hassle to navigate.

-Another major factor that hampered my sense of immersion was the fact that one gets funneled through a lot of areas, like the new (uninhabited) parts of the energy temple. Even if you're not in the steady current which already drags you down into the next area, off-track there is also nothing to do or to find, which can quickly become a bit dull.
Likewise, finding the way out of the energy temple upon returning took quite some effort, since I forgot the small passage which I came in from, and which also is not visible on the map. I would have never found out if it was not for the circles on the mini-map, in fact. But you can blame that on my memory.

-The fish/monster battle is pretty tough, to be honest. But it's not the mere challenge that bothered me, it's rather that this thing was waaay too agile and hyper-aggressive for its size, which made it more intimidating and frustrating than it maybe should have been.

-Last but not least, the ending for this first chapter was a bit of a letdown. Not /how/ it ended, just how it was executed. The build-up of having Li and his Son waking up to all these small lights, the sudden sense of threat there nearly had my jaw drop, but it resulting in just leading the Krotites to the door, having them open it, Li saying out of nowhere that he HAD to make this decision, to just leave it all behind in a heartbeat, and no chase, battle or anything happening after that, was one of the most anti-climatic things in that moment, and while it was not really disappointing, it bothered me, because I saw this nonexistent transition out of there to the ending sequence - which in itself was fair enough - as a big amount of wasted potential.

Overall, it could be said that this mod aims for the stars. And while this is not a bad thing by itself, it does imply that there still needs to be a lot more work done.
Because so far the scale it is aiming at does simply not match the amount of content it comes with. The story told and areas shown, all of the gameplay and new visual effects so far also feel a bit like a tease, a mere introduction of what's yet to come.
I get that showing everything that's still in store for the players off in the very first chapter is a very bad idea in foresight, but I can't help but feeling that through all this stuff - no matter how well or not it worked out - that was shown so far, I am a bit dissatisfied, or would have liked to see EVEN more. But again, this too might be something intentional.

But to name some more things I was very pleasantly surprised with:

-The animation transitions from water to land itself could still be a bit smoother, but once on land, it's actually very solid. Walking /can/ look a bit funny at times, but jumping and all the rest is really, really well done.

-The idea of having to traverse the energy temple on your way back while being guarded/observed is very well thought out and executed, although I don't think that it is exhausted yet, because the energy temple as well does not have enough going for it at this point, although it certainly shows potential.

-The short cut-scene in which Li brings back his son to the home cave in order to see him safe before continuing right where you left off seems very natural, fitting and thoughtful, and is kinda heart-warming actually.

-The new areas feel very big and for the most part not too artificial, although that is rather hard to explain. But again, through them not having enough going for themselves and through not being able to go everywhere (yet?), most of them are just a major tease, or you end up wondering if you did something wrong. Which for some reason worked out so well in the original game.

-The way the conversations with Erulians work is truly marvelous. Those mere silhouettes of black on clear blue background telling you so much, yet so little at the same time, REALLY have me looking forward to what's yet to come. Although I would have liked to see these visions? memories? scattered around the place, so that you cannot simply ask all of them from the very first Erulian you meet.

A few comments from me, to give some insight in our ideas and planning. We discussed most of this already, but i'm leaving these comments here for everyone to read.

Quote
This might partially be because so far there are not enough items and secrets to find in the already fairly vast world, or new astounding areas that really set themselves apart from those in the main game, where each area did have its own distinctive mood and atmosphere.
Yes. It is intentional that there are no real secrets for Li to find since he won't appear in the rest of the story. Giving him secrets to find there would be kinda counter-productive -- how would e.g. collectibles found by Li have an impact on the chapters to come? For the cape and suit (depending on how much you found) there are some ideas how they will re-appear in later chapters, but any sort of "home decoration"/standard collectibles or even upgrades would clearly be very useless since Li's part is so short.
At some point there was the idea to allow Li to upgrade his blaster, but since it will be taken away from him that would not have made any difference in the long run (aka "Why did they put an upgrade here if it gets stolen 20 minutes later" would be a thought here).
Him getting the thing stolen instead gives him much more reason to leave and drives the story far more in the intended direction.

Quote
I disliked the fact that it literally gives you no reason to come back to any place. Particularly areas like the new section beyond the Song Cave. The new kind of homes one can find here seemed very intriguing at first, but unlike in Mithalas for example, it did neither motivate nor reward you enough to linger or simply marvel at some of the effects shown off.
You will get back there later, just not as Li :)

Quote
On widescreen however, the separate layers of this tunnel became very visible, and one could see that they simply ended after the width of just a single sprite placed in these sort of circles, after which there was only clear water again. Now, this may as well have been intentional, but I found it sort of quirky.
Whoops, need to fix the map. Getting parallax layers right is really tricky, but we do everything in 16:9 at least (i even use 2:1 to be sure) so these things usually get caught.


Quote
-The same thing about immersion goes for the tree which one has to acquire the glowing fruit from. The cave it stands in is very, very atmospheric indeed, and I would have liked to see something else done with it of sorts, even if it was a bit of platforming or an interesting NPC sitting around. But as soon as you shoot these bulbs down and collect a few, you are just completely done in that area.

That area was added at a rather late stage so there were no big plans for it. And it's true, it shows.
But about the platforming, i disagree. Li's jump is intentionally rather awkward/useless and you wouldn't want to do platforming with it.
Might change some things there if we get ideas, but no promises.

Quote
-The anemone maze that now fills the song cave is also a bit of a hassle to navigate.
That's intentional.
The density is a bit less in critical spots when the difficulty is set to easy, though (in the updated version).

Quote
-Another major factor that hampered my sense of immersion was the fact that one gets funneled through a lot of areas, like the new (uninhabited) parts of the energy temple. Even if you're not in the steady current which already drags you down into the next area, off-track there is also nothing to do or to find, which can quickly become a bit dull.
There are things to find. There's just no way to get there yet or pick most of them up. Right off the bat i remember at least 3 health eggs on the way. But Li can't open them, and one of them can't be seen since it's off limits, but trust me, it's there and you will get there later. Just not with Li, for reasons explained above.
Li's part is designed to be fairly linear, but I heard from others that they already managed to get lost. (The most overlooked thing so far that gets people stuck are the glowfruit in the erulian area.)

Quote
-Last but not least, the ending for this first chapter was a bit of a letdown. [...] was one of the most anti-climatic things in that moment, and while it was not really disappointing, it bothered me, because I saw this nonexistent transition out of there to the ending sequence - which in itself was fair enough - as a big amount of wasted potential.
Very true. We did not realize this at the time...
After a bit of discussion there's now a good plan what to add to make this part more interesting and EVIL. ;D
Won't be in the updated version (that is still not yet done), since there's too much not yet functional and some additional AI modules are required, but it'll be done eventually. For a spoiler, look at the animated GIF in my prev. post ;)

Quote
but I can't help but feeling that through all this stuff - no matter how well or not it worked out - that was shown so far, I am a bit dissatisfied, or would have liked to see EVEN more. But again, this too might be something intentional.
Intentional. We had to end this somewhere to have something to play, if we just add content we get never done. Fixing bugs and polishing everything took far too long regardless.
And in the end, it would be a waste to show off everything in the first chapter. There should still be surprises and new features not seen before that come later. And there are :)
But we did add a few "unnecessary" things just to show off, e.g. Li's walking in the top of the erulian area. That's exactly the reason why there is air there (there is also an in-lore explanation too, dw).
In the end, this release was supposed to be a teaser, and nothing else. Imho it did quite well for that, but it does have its weaknesses, and those will be addressed if possible/necessary/feasible.

Quote
-The idea of having to traverse the energy temple on your way back while being guarded/observed is very well thought out and executed, although I don't think that it is exhausted yet, because the energy temple as well does not have enough going for it at this point, although it certainly shows potential.
There is the idea of making a "stealth mission" part, possibly for Lucien, that is similar. But again, not for Li, and doing it this early without any preparation or explanation would be unfun.
The temple interior isn't exactly finished, we need to pin down Krotite culture a bit more first.

Quote
Although I would have liked to see these visions? memories? scattered around the place, so that you cannot simply ask all of them from the very first Erulian you meet.
Will see what we can do. The initial idea was that having as many erulians as memories, and each of them gives one, but that would have involved chasing each of them down. Which isn't fun since they all move around at will, and it's impossible to remember which one you have asked already (not that one could distinguish them that well, anyway). So we did it this way, which isn't optimal either...

---------------------------

I'd like to point out something that nobody has really brought up yet: The "Naija's costume collectibles".
- Ever wondered why they are scattered around everywhere? (The gamplay reason is to assure you that you are on the right track. If you haven't noticed, they lead directly to the huge fish. But there is an in-lore explanation for this as well.)
- Why the cape is where it is (there are 2 possibilitites to pick it up, in case you miss it the first time, and it's required to progress. So you could only avoid it for a time, even if you tried hard.)
--> Apparently Naija lost her cape, but how/why/wtf?
- And why the huge fish spits out the main part of the suit, undamaged.

Ideas? Did anyone figure out yet what happened there? 8)

--------------------------

Lastly, something in very early development:
(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen564.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen564.jpg)
^ Dialogs! (Slightly inspired by NITW, *cough*)

Actually, i got that to work yesterday at 5 am. Wheeee.
Still ugly and WIP, but it'll get better :)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Joey245 on November 19, 2015, 05:46:48 am
First off: Sorry I'm late! I had no idea this was released last August, and so I was quite excited to see the first chapter released.

So, I played for about an hour, and I feel like I'm ready to give my thoughts on this.

First, the good:
+ I really, really like Li's new design. He looks much better with a head full of hair, instead of that stupid mohawk-buzzcut he had originally. And I liked the fact that his hair had turned gray in the opening scene, it really felt like a huge span of time had passed since Naija went missing.
+ The new areas are absolutely beautiful and exotic. The expansion to the Song Cave in particular made my jaw drop, and seeing Erulians swimming through the water (even little baby ones!) was a real delight.
+ The ability to save anywhere is amazing!
+ The sound effects of Li's blaster activating and deactivating are super cool.
+ I like the visions the Erulians gave when you interact with them. Wonderful bits of storytelling without words, and I'm presuming a lot of it will be foreshadowing.

The less-than-positive:
- Li's blaster is just...not very good. At all. I get that it's a starting weapon, and that it's probably not meant to be used throughout the whole game, but...meh. The main problem, I feel, is the lack of homing shots or charged shots; Energy Form's main draw was that you could hold the button and fire off a cluster of stronger blasts. It was all about staying mobile, knowing when to charge up a shot and when to spam right click until your finger seizes up. Li's little peashooter doesn't have any of those advantages; it's weak, it fires in a straight line, and the lack of shot tracking means that it's all-too-easy to miss a shot or have the enemy move a hair out of the way to dodge it. At the very least, having homing shots would go a long way to making the weapon feel useful; as it is, it's just more effective to run away from fights instead of engage enemies (especially since you don't have the Shield song right now - more on that later.)
- The use of jelly heads to make the anemones in the Song Cave close up was a neat little puzzle, but it took me a while to realize that different colored anemones needed different color jellies. It wasn't that I couldn't figure out that red unlocks red, green unlocks green, etc. It was more the fact that I had no idea that the other colors of jelly even existed, or were needed. From what I could see, red jellyfish heads were used to unlock all anemone; so when I tried throwing it at those purple ones that poison you (AWESOME visual effect BTW) and it didn't work. I assumed I was doing it wrong. I think that this could be solved by adding greater numbers and variety of jellies early on; that way, when Li figures out how to feed the anemones, the player can intuit "Oh hey, there are jellyfish of other colors besides red...I wonder if these heads will work?" I dunno, just something that irritated me.
- Another thing that really irritated me: traveling. I understand why it's this way from a story perspective, but so far 90% of my playtime has just been retreading the old Home Waters from Aquaria as Li, who's somewhat slower as Naija and nowhere near as graceful. Maybe it's because I'm impatient to see the new stuff, but I resented having to swim back and forth across Home Waters again and again, going from Home to the Song Cave to the Energy Temple, only to go back because I didn't go in the correct entrance...it just felt like padding. I'm sure the awesome stuff is coming soon, but for now, it'd be nice if there was at least some visual variety to spruce these old, well-worn grounds up a little.
- I know that Li can't sing, and that he doesn't have the power over the Verse as his sweetheart does. But it sure doesn't make the combat any easier, or make exploring any more satisfying. I keep seeing song bulbs that stare me in the face, quivering and waiting for me to sing the right note to get to their sweet treats inside. But Li can't sing at all, so they're just there, taunting me. Also, no Shield song means that there's no way to protect from projectiles, and no Bind song means that you can't get plant leaves or pick up rocks for bludgeoning and defense. Again, I know why that is from a narrative perspective...but the gameplay definitely suffers from these missing features.

Now, bear in mind that I haven't completely finished Chapter 1 yet, so I can't speak for the ending or the levels to come. But I'll be sure to come back and give my report once I finish the chapter.

Speaking of which...

Where exactly IS that light source I need? I tried bringing Lucien with me to get the Dumbo Octopus pet to follow, but then it just disappears as soon as I leave the Home Cave. It only shows up again when I enter the Energy Temple again, at which point Li decides that bringing a little baby into a place filled with bad guys might not be the best parenting decision and puts him back at home.  No matter what I do, I can't get the Dumbo Octopus to follow me, and it doesn't look like it provides all that much light anyways. Any help would be greatly appreciated. :D

Thanks again for making this happen! It made my day to see that this thing is still going strong-ish.   ;D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Retnara on November 19, 2015, 11:35:05 am
Quote
Where exactly IS that light source I need?
Try to find in the new location of Erulians. It's there. In some corner ;)

Quote
but I resented having to swim back and forth across Home Waters again and again, going from Home to the Song Cave to the Energy Temple, only to go back because I didn't go in the correct entrance...
I've done it in the original game several times. Hated that endless space around. But then I totally forgot about it, because then I had fish form, which is very fast and useful in case you need to cross some big distance fast. I'm pretty sure that it won't be a problem when we'll get all the forms.

Quote
I keep seeing song bulbs that stare me in the face, quivering and waiting for me to sing the right note to get to their sweet treats inside.
We will go back to them later, as it was mentioned. But we will back there with Naija and her singing :) We have to wait until then. But, yeah, my greed was screaming about the injustice of the whole world in such a moments.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on November 19, 2015, 11:53:24 am
Quote from: Joey245 on November 19, 2015, 05:46:48 am
Li's little peashooter
That's exactly how it was designed. I think i also keep using this word when i talk about it  ::)
So, yes, it's supposed to feel rather clumsy, and Li is definitely better off running away than fighting.

Since this is the only chapter in which Li appears it won't haunt you later. hope that's okay 8)

Quote from: Joey245 on November 19, 2015, 05:46:48 am
- I know that Li can't sing, [...] so they're just there, taunting me.
Very intentional >:D

Quote from: Joey245 on November 19, 2015, 05:46:48 am
but the gameplay definitely suffers from these missing features.
hmm, there is a thing we had planned to remedy this a bit but it somehow got lost. Will see about it.

Quote from: Joey245 on November 19, 2015, 05:46:48 am
Where exactly IS that light source I need?
Top of erulian area.
*adds one to the list of people stuck on this*

EDIT: two more things
Quote from: Joey245 on November 19, 2015, 05:46:48 am
but for now, it'd be nice if there was at least some visual variety to spruce these old, well-worn grounds up a little.
We did intentionally not modify the existing maps to keep them "true". If you disagree i might go and rework them a bit.

Quote from: Joey245 on November 19, 2015, 05:46:48 am
and no Bind song means that you can't get plant leaves
That's why there are 8 leaves and some more food in the kitchen to get started with. If they are used up, there are other possible recipes to keep you healthy. Knowledge of the old aquarian recipes is an advantage here, but you can also find some new recipes along the way.
Maybe you noticed that picking up a food doesn't auto-teach the recipe anymore...
So keep it real. If you want to know a recipe, check a cookbook. ^-^ *hint*
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on November 29, 2015, 05:29:05 pm
Finally done with the Chapter 1 update. It's uploaded already and replaces the download in the Release post (http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=4349.msg35725#msg35725). If you already have the old version, the in-game mod downloader will show that there's an update available and you can update with one click.

This update features 4 difficulty levels, an item storage box, and a whole lot of bug fixes.

There are no other feature additions or expansions for now, so if you've already played it there's no reason to go through it again, unless you want to see the differences in difficulty :)

EDIT: Saves are compatible, but if you have an old save that has multiple Li heads or other gem issues on the world map, this won't fix it. New saves will no longer have that problem though.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: FrancesF on November 29, 2015, 06:23:41 pm
Hi Joey,

I just saw your post here.  Thanks for your review/feedback -- you write these really well -- lots of thoughtful comments.  :)  As the main designer of the new song cave artwork and puzzles I appreciate your thoughts on them, especially about the jellies.  Having a variety of jellies in the first, top part of the song cave is a good suggestion.  I wanted each set of jellies to be more difficult than the one before, but that proved hard to organize, given Li's limited firepower.  (And too annoying to play if the space tolerances are made any tighter.)  Several people have commented that having six sets of jellies is too many and gets boring, so I'm keeping that in mind as we work on revisions as well.    

Thanks again, and keep up the comments!

FrancesF
(Fawpaw on irc)   
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on November 30, 2015, 11:43:37 pm
Quick note: There was a bug in the UI code that would pop up an error when dragging a food item on a char portrait to use it. Fixed & new version uploaded. Thanks Retnara for reporting!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Guy on December 09, 2015, 08:59:11 pm
Hate to be asking this, but... I'm stuck. What am I doing in the Energy Temple? I've been all over it and the only thing of interest I've found is an orange crystal which I haven't managed to do anything with.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on December 09, 2015, 10:11:14 pm
Ohman why does everyone get stuck there o.o
Once you fond *anything* of interest you will get sparkles on the world map that roughly shows where the next thing of interest is located.
And you can't do anything with the crystal (yet).

Simple steps:
First, get the glowfruit at the top of the (new) erulian area. You'll find that if you go through the song door, and then to the right, past the place where you originally got bind song.
Once you have them, carry them around to have light. You can throw them to see further but it's not necessary and even though you can pick them up again afterwards, try not to waste all of them.

Some more spoilers just in case:

Then take the dark passage going downwards, where the energy temple boss used to be. Eventually you'll end up near the original entrance, go left + downwards from there, into a small-ish rectangular room right next to the save point cave. There's now a hole broken through a corner. Then you kinda just follow along more to the left and down until you hit a one-way current.

Does this help?
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Guy on December 09, 2015, 10:56:49 pm
Quote from: False.Genesis on December 09, 2015, 10:11:14 pm
... into a small-ish rectangular room right next to the save point cave.
Oh man, I thought I had been everywhere but this was the one place I missed. My bad. (I got the glow fruit alright)

I think there's a bug where the map discovery is only saved for the location you're in at the time of save, so when I continue a saved game all other locations are unexplored and its hard to keep track of where I've been and where I haven't. I'm running the latest OSE.

[edit]
I think part of the difficulty at the start is that all the locations are familiar. We've been all these places and explored everything before but we have to go over everything again looking for something that's different. The Energy Temple just feels like a very large area to re-explore looking for one tiny detail.

Not trying to sound negative though, I am enjoying it so far. Thanks for all your efforts making this :)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on December 10, 2015, 12:34:47 am
Quote from: Guy on December 09, 2015, 10:56:49 pm
Oh man, I thought I had been everywhere but this was the one place I missed.
Should make this a bit more obvious then. Thanks for pointing.

EDIT: Actually, there's a current that prevents you from going back into the dark passage. Since there are no dead ends (hopefully! if there are, shoot me!) this might indicate that the next waypoint is somewher nearby?

Quote from: Guy on December 09, 2015, 10:56:49 pm
I think there's a bug where the map discovery is only saved for the location you're in at the time of save, so when I continue a saved game all other locations are unexplored and its hard to keep track of where I've been and where I haven't. I'm running the latest OSE.

Yes, this is a known bug but i have no idea what's wrong. Something scrambles the map discovery data and wildly exchanges maps and their explored areas. The map discovery stuff is completely handled by the C++ side (so not related to my mod scripting) so i assume there's a so far undiscovered bug with a thing that happens to work fine in the main game.
I'll try to fix it in the next updatepack, whenever i find out what it is.

Thanks for telling though, you're (iirc) only the 2nd person to report this.

Quote from: Guy on December 09, 2015, 10:56:49 pm
The Energy Temple just feels like a very large area to re-explore looking for one tiny detail.
That was the intention behind it, since Li can't possibly know what he's looking for, ie. which clues to be attentive to.
If it's overdone/boring/unfitting/whatever then please make suggestions what to improve (for later chapters, or for the first one, if it's just a little change and easy to do).
But i can tell for sure that the first part of the 2nd chapter will be in an entirely new area, if that counts.
Just good to know what players like and what they don't, wha works and what doesn't, since game design like this is always a trade-off between balancing challenging, rewarding, interesting, engaging etc in a way that it doesn't end up frustrating/boring/annoying to most people.
(There are some that can never be pleased, but what can you do. :) )
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: aranyg on January 04, 2016, 12:23:10 pm
Hi!

I tried and really liked the sequel mod, it looks really promising. I finished it and found it a little bit short, so I have some questions:
- When will you release the next chapter?  ;)
- How many chapters do you plan?
- About how many hours will needed to complete all chapters? Ok, I know, hard to answer, but I'm really curious.

And some suggestion (maybe late, but who knows):
It was a good thing in the main game that it was roughly clear where I needed to go. There was always a missing ability in each locations, so I cuoldn't reach for example the mithalas priests until I earned beast and nature form, and so on. In this mod, the parts we need to collect (I don't want spoil...) are a little bit randomly placed, I think. And in particular, I don't know if a found all of it... Maybe you should create a marker in the character menu, what are the missing parts, that would make the situation clear, in my opinion.
By the way, great work, hats off guys!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on January 04, 2016, 04:50:28 pm
Quote from: aranyg on January 04, 2016, 12:23:10 pm
- When will you release the next chapter?  ;)
When it's done!
Quote from: aranyg on January 04, 2016, 12:23:10 pm
- How many chapters do you plan?
4 in total, possibly a "Chapter Zero" with some background story tidbits, consisting of separate dream/memory sequences.
Quote from: aranyg on January 04, 2016, 12:23:10 pm
- About how many hours will needed to complete all chapters? Ok, I know, hard to answer, but I'm really curious.
I have honestly no idea at this point.
Quote from: aranyg on January 04, 2016, 12:23:10 pm
And some suggestion (maybe late, but who knows):
It was a good thing in the main game that it was roughly clear where I needed to go. There was always a missing ability in each locations, so I cuoldn't reach for example the mithalas priests until I earned beast and nature form, and so on. In this mod, the parts we need to collect (I don't want spoil...) are a little bit randomly placed, I think. And in particular, I don't know if a found all of it... Maybe you should create a marker in the character menu, what are the missing parts, that would make the situation clear, in my opinion.
By the way, great work, hats off guys!
I don't quite get what you mean. As soon as you found *anything* of interest, the world map gets a sparkly indicator that tells where to go next. That can be meeting the erulian after finding the thing in the verse cave, entering the erulian area, or Li realizing he needs a light.
It would imho just feel strange to modify old areas and introduce new (artificial) barriers, and since the first chapters' "search stuff to progress"-part mainly consists of old areas, there's not so much we can do without making it feel unnecessary. So we took what we had, added a bunch of new maps around the edges, and used the old ones to connnect everything (with some modifications and extras, of course).
(And fyi, right now there are 118 map XMLs in the mod, not all of them used or playable, so let's say we have ~100 maps in various stages of completion, and more to come. It felt almost like a waste to have so few new maps in the first chapter...)

But maybe i understand. I have stopped counting how often i've read all over the internet that most people stop playing the game within the first 1-2 hours, i.e. before obtaining energy form. First major obstacle being the song cave (incl. finding the song that opens the swirly door). From there it's just a quick hop to the energy temple and energy form, but getting there seems to be another (less) major obstacle.
It's sad that this short time before the "real" start of action is enough to bore people enough to stop, but I don't think a "James Bond like" start would be appropriate, if you know what i mean. Ok, there is the nightmare sequence that shows off things to come, and as a gameplay bait it's very important. But apparently it's not enough..?

Seems like we ended up doing something similar, intentional or not. The first chapter is intended to be some kind of tutorial to become familiar with some of the new concepts, and the pacing is naturally slow. In the beginning there wasn't even that sparkly world map indicator; that was added because too many testers got lost. Should maybe be mentioned explicitly as an in-game hint.
Tangible suggestions are welcome if you have better ideas.

Regarding the suit parts, those are optional and mostly to make you realize you're still going in the right direction. No need to find all of them (but there might be a thing in the 2nd or 3rd chapter that changes based on how many you found).
In this version, the cape is essential to progress. In order for the Krotites to be there (subsequently opening the barrier so you can enter the temple and return home) it is required that (a) you have the cape, and (b) the big fish is dead. This was a design choice to have a defined starting point in the 2nd chapter.
We might change this, making the cape optional, but with things happening in the 2nd and 3rd chapter based on whether you had picked it up and kept it, or not.

Hope this was a detailed enough answer :)


New year's confession: Been slacking off a bit too much over xmas holidays. Time to lift that fat butt and get back to work :)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: aranyg on January 05, 2016, 03:11:14 pm
Well, ok.  :)

Quote
As soon as you found *anything* of interest, the world map gets a sparkly indicator that tells where to go next.
Sorry, I didn't catch that first time, next time I will look at it.

Again, respect for your work, it would be bad to leave this game without a complete story (because this is the main treasure in this game).
If you need some tester, you can drop a mail me.  ;)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Garr on March 31, 2016, 09:55:49 pm
Hiya. I was just wondering, how are you doing?
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on April 02, 2016, 12:35:29 am
All good. Things weren't too active since january or so... life seems to get everyone. In my case, work, brainlessness, and Oblivion. shoot me. :-X
 I'm currently working on tech things -- specifically, improving pathfinding right now. I'll do a little write-up once there is something cool to show.
Also waiting for Peri to show up and continue poking at story/culture bits... seems like forever since she started with this. :-\
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Garr on April 02, 2016, 09:09:18 pm
Believe me, I understand. I have a school, extra lessons that I want AND need, and also I am taking part in translating a book about XCOM. Because I want to.
Good luck with handling everything!  :)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: NickonAquaMagna on April 06, 2016, 03:57:15 am
In a few months, I'm going to be doing a two-part review of Aquaria, and hopefully give the game some decent exposure, since hardly anyone I know in other circles seems to know about it. I have scripts written down for two parts. The first part focuses purely on gameplay with minimal spoilers, then I'll wait a few weeks before uploading the second part, which focuses on the story and what my experience was like seeing it all unfold, since I want to give people enough time that HOPEFULLY  they'll have purchased and played it by then.

Anyway, at the end of the review, I'm going to mention the sequel mod, and if possible, I want to capture some footage of it. Who knows, I might even review it in a third video. Plus, it seems nobody else on youtube has done this, so it would be cool to be the first person to do it, and again, spread the word about it.

I got the game on steam, and I can't even access other peoples' mods, but I'll happily buy the game a second time in a few days if it means getting to try the sequel mod. I just felt like letting you know and making sure you're okay with this. Hopefully I won't miss a step and mess up the downloads.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on April 06, 2016, 12:12:43 pm
Quote from: NickonAquaMagna on April 06, 2016, 03:57:15 am
´Anyway, at the end of the review, I'm going to mention the sequel mod, and if possible, I want to capture some footage of it. Who knows, I might even review it in a third video. Plus, it seems nobody else on youtube has done this, so it would be cool to be the first person to do it, and again, spread the word about it.
[...]
I just felt like letting you know and making sure you're okay with this.

Woo that would be great! Please let us know when something is available!
If there's anything you would like to know, ask away.

Quote from: NickonAquaMagna on April 06, 2016, 03:57:15 am
I got the game on steam, and I can't even access other peoples' mods, but I'll happily buy the game a second time in a few days if it means getting to try the sequel mod.

You can just get an update from this post (http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=4313.0) and follow the instructions there. That works perfectly fine with the steam version and nets you an updated game liberated from steam. No need to re-buy.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: NickonAquaMagna on April 06, 2016, 02:48:42 pm
Quote from: False.Genesis on April 06, 2016, 12:12:43 pm

Quote from: NickonAquaMagna on April 06, 2016, 03:57:15 am
I got the game on steam, and I can't even access other peoples' mods, but I'll happily buy the game a second time in a few days if it means getting to try the sequel mod.

You can just get an update from this post (http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=4313.0) and follow the instructions there. That works perfectly fine with the steam version and nets you an updated game liberated from steam. No need to re-buy.


Yeah, I've seen that post, and I've copied the game's files, but I wasn't able to... "separate" it from steam, so I think I could still get in trouble. I really don't mind paying the ten dollars to get it from this site, though, just to be safe. It's no trouble. I just don't want to accidentally make some horrible mistake and not be able to use steam anymore or something. This is completely new territory for me.

Sorry to say, it'll be a while before I get to the review. I only have two other reviews to finish in the meantime, and I'm already editing one of them, but I'm trying to limit my presence on youtube to one big review each month. So I'm going to review something this month, I'll review the Metroid Prime trilogy in one video in May, and I'll try to get both halves of the Aquaria review done in June. It's not that far off, but just letting you know anyway. I may need some help when the time comes, but I'll follow your instructions as best as I can. If people like the Aquaria review, and I get the sequel working just fine, I'll definitely make a follow-up about it.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Liarra Sniffles on April 11, 2016, 05:00:34 am
Good to see you still working away at this slowly; I haven't forgotten, don't worry.  ;3

Actually, now that I think about it; you have been working on this for roughly a third of my whole life, NOW DO YOU FEEL OLD!?
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: NickonAquaMagna on April 19, 2016, 03:29:31 pm
I have a second copy of the game, now. I downloaded the update and copied and pasted it into the game's folder. ....aaaaand now I'm stuck.


No wait... NO WAIT! I GOT IT! It works!


Oh, geez. I found Naija's cape, but now I don't know where else to go (well, that I haven't already). Is there some hidden power Li already has that I just haven't used yet?
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Garr on April 19, 2016, 04:52:46 pm
Quote from: NickonAquaMagna on April 19, 2016, 03:29:31 pm
Oh, geez. I found Naija's cape, but now I don't know where else to go (well, that I haven't already). Is there some hidden power Li already has that I just haven't used yet?
This is a frequent problem. Open a map. You should go to a place where you see sparks on. See sparks on a Melody Cave? Go there. See'em on Energy Temple? Go there instead!
It is a hard-to-find feature, so... Use it well, young padavan!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: NickonAquaMagna on April 19, 2016, 05:23:15 pm
Quote from: Garr on April 19, 2016, 04:52:46 pm
Quote from: NickonAquaMagna on April 19, 2016, 03:29:31 pm
Oh, geez. I found Naija's cape, but now I don't know where else to go (well, that I haven't already). Is there some hidden power Li already has that I just haven't used yet?
This is a frequent problem. Open a map. You should go to a place where you see sparks on. See sparks on a Melody Cave? Go there. See'em on Energy Temple? Go there instead!
It is a hard-to-find feature, so... Use it well, young padavan!


Oh, but I've already done that. Problem is the song cave is infested with giant anemones blocking the path and I assume I need to get some power up first that Li can use to destroy them. His blaster doesn't do it. Oh well.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Garr on April 19, 2016, 09:03:15 pm
Quote from: NickonAquaMagna on April 19, 2016, 05:23:15 pm
Oh, but I've already done that. Problem is the song cave is infested with giant anemones blocking the path and I assume I need to get some power up first that Li can use to destroy them. His blaster doesn't do it. Oh well.
Well... Anemons... You have to find jellyfish in order to get rid of anemons. It is a puzzle. You can solve it.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on April 19, 2016, 11:19:54 pm
Observe what happens when a $COLOR jelly touches a $COLOR anemone. Also, you can pick up and throw the jellies.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: NickonAquaMagna on April 20, 2016, 03:47:19 am
...oooooooohhhhh. I thought I had to stay the hell away from the jellies 'cause I'm playing as an ordinary fragile human. Guess I was thinking too hard.

Okay, moving on...


Aaaand I just met the Krotities. Nice to see these guys have been replenishing their numbers. Good for them.



UPDATE-

Just beat chapter 1. I was pretty impressed by the Dunkleosteus fight. Seeing how this part of the story is over, I can't wait to find out what Naija's been doing in the meantime, and how all of the other stuff you've been showing off plays into this. Like... I was a little surprised by how abruptly things ended, because I was sort of expecting that other stuff to appear, but now I just take it as a good indication of how far along the other segments of the sequel are.

Anyway, take your time. Looking good so far.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on June 24, 2016, 04:03:08 am
Hmm has been too quiet around here... time for a little update (no spoilers this time; i'll focus on one thing only. And we're not dead!)

So about 2 months ago thegamemaster1234 came up with a dress up mod (http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=5457.0). He shared the modified sprites with me, and i worked on a pretty much complete costume system overhaul.  It should be finished enough now to show a few screenshots.

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen582.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen582.jpg)
^ Distinct outfits for each character, but some are shared. Costumes are no longer tied to forms. This is pretty much random mix-and-match here. Try to identify which costume each part comes from?

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen583.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen583.jpg)
^ Menu overhaul. Each costume part is individually selectable and can be put on or off. Forms remember their costume. Costume parts have different effects, some reduce damage, but are heavy and slow you down. Others are very light and fast but if you take damage it will hurt. Swimming around with everything off is the fastest (esp. in beast form), but dangerous, and getting hit then is a bad idea.
So in general the same thing as with complete costumes (as it was), but now very fine-grained and controllable. If you want to wear the jelly helmet in energy form for a bit of regeneration and the krotite costume for the rest of the body for maximum protection against energy projectiles, sure. Easy. 8)

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/thumb/screen584.jpg) (http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/screen584.jpg)
^ Another pic. Beast form without claws (does a LOT less damage) and more jelly costume (more healing). Not necessarily a practical combination but it's possible. Looks kinda cute too.
(And no, taking the underwear off is NOT possible, because Daxar would beat me up otherwise.  ^-^ Modesty, please! ::) )

I realize that this adds some RPG elements into the pot, which might not be for everyone. But there are intentionally no stats shown -- I want people to enjoy the variety, and not to micro-optimize their outfit.

I'm considering to make people give snarky comments if you don't wear enough when talking to them. That'll be so much fun.


Side note: Pretty much all of this came out of Alphasoldier's nude mod. Mad props to you, if you ever read this. *tips hat*
And big thx to thegamemaster1234 for the initial spritework, of course.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Garr on June 24, 2016, 06:17:55 pm
Thanks for continuing this hard work. I, unfortunately, cannot be a helper to you because of my experience and free-time, but... Oh well.
You're the best!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Retnara on August 06, 2016, 05:26:52 pm
Would be interesting to experiment with it  :)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on August 14, 2016, 06:34:56 pm
I'll try to do dev streams in irregular  intervals. Just see the banner in my sig ;)
(Like it's up right now)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Joey245 on November 07, 2016, 05:19:53 am
This looks so cool! Sorry I haven't been around much - life stuff happens, y'know?

Nice to see that there's still work here - looking forward to seeing where it goes!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: NickonAquaMagna on December 03, 2016, 04:37:51 am
I just recently uploaded the part of my Aquaria review that focuses on the story. The last coupla' minutes touch upon the sequel mod. My next video will cover chapter 1. I dunno if you want me to make videos for each subsequent chapter or not, but this one will at least give people who may have trouble jumping into Aquaria because of its downer ending the hope they need of the story going somewhere.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on December 03, 2016, 09:18:21 pm
Ohh nice, link plz?

Just do the videos in any way you like. I don't know if we'll release chapter after chapter or all at once.
But i suppose it would make sense, considering how slow everything is... :-[
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: NickonAquaMagna on December 04, 2016, 01:34:14 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO-g08AsyBA Here it is. Enjoy.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: FrancesF on December 08, 2016, 11:04:56 pm
Nickon, thanks for these two very fine reviews of Aquaria!  Makes me want to play through the main game yet again.  Well, it has been a couple of years, so it's time.  I liked the pacing of your video, and that you covered the game from so many directions, game play, music, art work, voice acting.  And thanks for your last coupla' of minutes on Sequel Mod.  Now, if only our lives weren't so darned busy, and we could get back to modding... 
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: NickonAquaMagna on December 09, 2016, 04:50:16 am
No prob. SOMEONE had to give the game its due praise. There just aren't that many Aquaria videos on youtube, and I haven't seen anyone upload videos of mods like "Beauty of Aquaria," so I may as well review the Sequel Mod while I'm at it. I'm editing that video together right now. As you can imagine, it's significantly shorter than either of the other two parts, but I still found quite a bit to talk about. I figured I'd include a bit of Li's opening narration to draw people in at the beginning, but I ended up being happy enough with it that I went ahead and uploaded it as a sneak peak at part 3.

Here's that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xohf5dltcS4
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: NickonAquaMagna on December 10, 2016, 05:58:29 pm
Sorry to double post, but I finished that Sequel Mod video. It feels cool to be the first person on youtube, if not the first in the world to review something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYc3dE7tQho
As you can imagine, it's the last video I'll make about Aquaria for some time. Enjoy.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: FrancesF on December 12, 2016, 07:23:09 pm
Thank you Nickon; it's quite an honor to have a comprehensive video review of the preview mod.  I was especially impressed that you found almost all quirks and alternative story bits.  Thanks for your kind words about the story and the new environments and artwork.  I'm so glad you appreciated the duncleosteus!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on December 14, 2016, 02:55:01 am
I'll also leave my youtube comment here, to be sure...
Quote
Thanks for making this. It's an honor to be reviewed with this much attention to detail. Your interpretation is spot-on, there's not much you have missed, and i can't recall anything you grossly misunderstood. Good job ;)
Putting in little things is fun, and it's even better if they are noticed and appreciated like this.

2:15 No auto-save was a major gripe many people had with vanilla, and while no such thing exists in the PC version, i figured it's at least convenient to keep the last good state in memory and revert back to it on death. (The iPad version does have autosave, but even if the system used there was backported to the PC, autosaving is technically almost impossible to implement for this mod. Oh well.)

4:03 Yes, the goal was to make you forget the original game ended, and make it feel like you were still playing, as you said. We will probably make some more changes to the original maps in the future, but only so much that the illusion isn't lost.

4:27 One thing you didn't mention are the technical improvements, but I wouldn't expect anyone not familiar with the game engine to notice those. Originally the game didn't have any sort of post-processing (that is ubiquitous or even overused in most of today's games). That was added later in the open source version, and is one of the least influential reasons why it's damn impossible to make this mod work with any older version.
Another example is the hardcoded pause menu (in C++, not configurable in any way). Think about what it means to implement your own menu system with cooking, backjack and h**kers and somehow force the game to forget about it's own menu. Fun times :P

4:42 Weight is optional and disabled on the easier difficulties. There was a lot of debate about this, and the consent was to each their own.

5:15 Yes, you'll get back to those areas.

5:48 There are admittedly fewer new maps in chapter 1 than we had hoped to put in, but there is only so much you can stuff in an introductory chapter.
Currently there are about 120 maps in the mod, and 25 of these are vanilla maps (or heavily derived from them).

6:23 +1. Good eye you have there. Confused yet?
6:37 No :)
7:25 Yep, you will see more of the two.

7:30 So you say the shots should be made homing? Might consider this for easier difficulties, but making Li feel rather powerless was intentional (which is further enhanced when his blaster gets stolen). So the best (and intended) way is to mostly dodge and be on the run, and use the blaster only when it's actually beneficial.
You can aim the blaster with the 2nd analog stick on your controller though, and it even shows a little aiming "laser dot" if you do.
If the 2nd controller is centered, the first one is used instead. If that is centered too, the shot goes in facing direction. This is pretty much vanilla behavior. Same for throwing.

10:14 Any idea how the suit ended up in the fish? (Hint: It's not the obvious thing).

10:26 You didn't attack the children? Really? I assumed some people would, and the cutscene that follows if you chase them is supposed to... correct that attitude a bit.

10:53 ... And if you manage to smuggle the blaster into the temple, you can cause mayhem there. Not for long tho. (Hint: Try to attack the king in the throne room. That's some sneak peek for future energy form upgrades. I wish I could have shown off my new humanoid AI more in the first chapter, but that's the only part where it can really shine as intended.)

13:43 No, it's a different city. The one that got hit by the meteors is the *sunken city* and gone for good. But it's a hint at things to come, of course.

15:03 I haaaaaaate writing cutscenes. They are the absolute worst D:

Does any of this raise new questions? Making this is fun, and there's a good chance for suggestions to get heard, so shoot :)

Some further things i wanted to mention that don't really belong on youtube:

Regarding your technical issues, you can press Ctrl+G to grab and ungrab the cursor in windowed mode. Not sure if it helps but for mod development it takes a major annoyance away. The game will still pause when not in focus, though.
There's one (hacky) way to fix this: There's a setting that was specifically added for the jukebox mod that came with the updated version 1.1.1 of the game. See _mods/jukebox.xml. If you insert the runBG="1" attribute into the same spot in aq2_ch1.xml it won't pause when in background. I know it doesn't help anymore, but i wanted to mention it. :)
EDIT: Whoops, forgot the mod is normally packed as a .aqmod file. It's just a zip archive you can unpack, do your edit, and re-pack (or just leave the files there and delete the aqmod file).

I've noticed massive screen tearing when you run this in windowed mode. I did some updates to how the graphics are set up, I hope the next updatepack will fix the screen tearing and some other issues. Can I PM you a beta version when the next updatepack is almost ready? I'd like to fix those problems with your recording setup for good :P

I'd also like to see that "screen flickering" you have when entering new areas. This has never happened to me and i'm quite confused about what this could be.
The only wild guess i have about this is that windows might think that the game froze and fades the background to white. Happens for me for some games that actually freeze sometimes. It's possible since loading resources takes longer than vanilla, and it doesn't report back to windows while it's still loading those.

Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: NickonAquaMagna on December 14, 2016, 06:18:11 am
Just replied to your comment on youtube.

The screen tearing and other issues really aren't so bad when I'm just playing the game. I've had to fiddle around with OBS to get it to record Aquaria, and it reacts to every game I record a little bit differently. It's probably my fault. The game does run very smoothly when I'm playing it normally.

The screen flickering is where things get WEIRD. The times it happened were only ever in full-screen mode. The top or bottom half of the screen would quickly flicker black, sometimes alternating back and forth for a few seconds. I don't know what to do about that.

By updatepack, what do you mean? A beta of future content, or some fixes to the current build?
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on December 15, 2016, 01:08:33 am
Quote from: NickonAquaMagna on December 14, 2016, 06:18:11 am
By updatepack, what do you mean? A beta of future content, or some fixes to the current build?

You already have the newest one: http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=4313.0

But yeah, i used to do these regularly but since the biggest issues have been fixed 2013-ish, it's mainly just improvements here and there. e.g. Better win10 compat, window/fullscreen handling, and improved controller support are the top things on the list this time but they are not quite done yet. And the usual slew of added API functions i need for the mod. Just taking my time since there are no immediate problems to fix.
(And i also started to implement theoretical local multiplayer support but hit a wall. Would be nice to get this in too, in a state that doesn't cause problems elsewhere.)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Zhanneel on January 07, 2017, 06:11:05 am
Hello all. I remember how vivid this game was when I played it nearly a decade ago. A few days ago I caught myself reminiscing about Aquaria and had a gnawing sensation to find out right then and there if ever there was a final ending made for the story. I had hoped for news of a sequel years ago, but alas... I am sad that such a beautiful game did not reach the larger audience it deserved. I would certainly do what I could to fund a sequel, and if packaged together perhaps that could bring a whole new life into making revenue?

Okay, I see that a lot people probably had that idea already, and it just didn't come to pass for various reasons. I agree that having an ending to Naija's story would certainly help boost any new-combers who are wary to play a game with a questionable ending. (At the least I would love for one of the creators to release a synopsis of what ultimately happens to Naija and Li...otherwise we did all of that hard work only to have the sad, inconclusive ending.) As I find out more and more about the current situation, I realize the creators no longer care about this game, the characters, or the players who came along for the ride. At one time, yes, the creators were passionate for Aquaria, but to write such an irresponsible cliff-hanger ending and never follow-up is too much for me. If what NickonAquaMagna said is true in his second youtube review, then the creators may have lost their way before the game was even finished. Somehow that makes me feel hollow, for myself and the characters.

This forum post has brought new life into the game, I'm so thankful to you False.Genesis and all others who are putting heaps of time into an ending mod. It's the best I can hope for right now I think, and I'm thankful. I think I will look for my old Aquaria game download (lost somewhere when moving from multiple computers) just to try out this mod. :)

This mod looks like it will be thorough, not just in beauty but in story. Thank you! I also love the difficulty settings. I'm a light-to-intermediate gamer, so this prevents hours of frustration (or giving up) for a person like myself who no longer has time to hone awesome gaming skills. I was driven to watch Aquaria's ending on Youtube because I just couldn't beat those last couple of battles. And I'm glad the mod is not dumbed down for those with skills either. Win-win!

I'm happy to see more of Li! I enjoyed the love story and am excited to see some kind of fulfilling ending for the family. Thank you for not going down the "there are no happy endings" route.  I have much faith in you guys.

Thank you to NikonAquaMagna for those video reviews. I was reminiscing so many beloved scenes again, and it helped to hear your thoughts on the game, the characters, and even the creators. Knowing that you also cared a lot for this game and felt hurt and frustrated regarding the lack of a conclusion or sequel was cathartic.

Update: Ah. This is funny. Apparently my graphics driver (which I checked was up to date) is incompatible with Aquaria. I'm running Windows 7, so that shouldn't be a problem. I got so hyped to try this mod, but I think it unlikely in my current situation. I'm not a tech wiz, or I would tweak my computer and force it to run the game.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Fantist on January 11, 2017, 08:35:22 pm
Ah I love this little hidden crevice of the vast ocean that is the internet! It's been so long since I last checked in, 2015 if I'm not mistaken. It's great to see everything continuing on. It's as if this is a place set apart from flow of the world, as though time passes differently here. Or maybe that feeling is due to being awake for more than 24 hours straight haha. Hope everyone is doing well! And thank you for all your passion and hard work Genesis!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: NickonAquaMagna on January 17, 2017, 10:12:50 pm
Quote from: Zhanneel on January 07, 2017, 06:11:05 am
Thank you to NikonAquaMagna for those video reviews. I was reminiscing so many beloved scenes again, and it helped to hear your thoughts on the game, the characters, and even the creators. Knowing that you also cared a lot for this game and felt hurt and frustrated regarding the lack of a conclusion or sequel was cathartic.

Aw, shucks, thanks. I only discovered this game like, a year or two ago, but better late than never right? I still really enjoy it.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Trevenant on February 21, 2017, 10:03:31 pm
just wanted to post encouragement that random people are still watching this ;)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on February 21, 2017, 11:51:48 pm
Yay!
Unfortunately, due to a server move, the git progress pic in my sig doesn't update properly. Hoping to get it fixed soon.
Aside from that, everything is good. Not much time these days but spent what was possible on code improvements and optimization. Hoping to make another little dev stream thingy on twitch soon, but somehow every weekend something came in between. And just doing random coding isn't interesting, so i'd save this for maps, animations and other such visual things.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Cascade on March 22, 2017, 12:40:06 am
Sheesh dude, I'm entirely sure that this mod will be our salvation

A single question that's burning me however, is if the Arnassi are going to make a comeback, and not be as useless as they were in Aquaria?
I'd love to see them get proper characters and a story of their own, however if you choose to leave them out, that's entirely up to you, People are still watching, cheering you on!     :D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: NickonAquaMagna on June 24, 2017, 03:10:57 pm
Someone just commented on my sequel mod review worried the project's dead. I don't, but I understand if people are worried. Anything you want me to tell them?
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on June 24, 2017, 11:44:51 pm
Can also comment myself if you want :)
No, it's not dead. To be perfectly honest I took a break because of general inactivity (*) and therefore things haven't been progressing since march or so.
But your timing is good, because just 2 days ago we (Fawpaw, Bhoren, and I) had a nice chat and decided to get off our asses and get the thing rolling again. I really hope to show some updates again soon.

(*) For quite some time i was the only one doing anything (**), which gets dull and isn't exactly motivating. And life/work/PhD/stress/broken arm/lack of creativity/etc added to it, so it was probably better to take a break and not force it, and do something else for a bit.

(**) Because the others also had life/stress/university/whatever, the usual thing...

But thanks for asking (and sticking around!)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: asdfasdf on June 30, 2017, 05:53:40 pm
just wanted to say I'm still watching this interest :)  looks good thanks for work
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: NickonAquaMagna on June 30, 2017, 06:34:17 pm
Noice.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Cascade on July 08, 2017, 11:16:52 am
Heyo! Me again, it was me who commented on his video, i made a bit blot forums accounts for the sole reason of following and interacting with the people in this thread during the mod's development! I'm glad things are getting started back up, and i'm extremely excited to play the next chapter when it's released!
I played through the first chapter at least five times, and it never ceases to impress me what you did with your tools!
You're awesome, can't wait for more. But quality > quantity, so i guess i can wait. :P

Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on July 13, 2017, 12:52:29 am
Didn't want to reply without screenshot, but oh well. Soon (tm), hopefully.

Sorry Cascade but somehow i completely forgot to anwer to your first post.
Late, but here goes.

Quote from: Cascade on March 22, 2017, 12:40:06 am
A single question that's burning me however, is if the Arnassi are going to make a comeback, and not be as useless as they were in Aquaria?
I'd love to see them get proper characters and a story of their own, however if you choose to leave them out, that's entirely up to you, People are still watching, cheering you on!     :D

AFAIR we didn't yet have any specific plans for them, but good that you brought this up. I think one of the main problems is that the maps they were most present on do not exist in our version, and therefore right now there is no place to put them. Might post an overall map layout overview at some point, maybe you have an idea. As always, suggestions are welcome.

Quote from: Cascade on July 08, 2017, 11:16:52 am
I played through the first chapter at least five times, and it never ceases to impress me what you did with your tools!

Anything you'd like to point out that could be improved? Or something to learn from how to do things better?

One thing i know for sure is this (http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=4349.msg35762#msg35762):
Quote from: Arthas
-Last but not least, the ending for this first chapter was a bit of a letdown. [...] was one of the most anti-climatic things in that moment, and while it was not really disappointing, it bothered me, because I saw this nonexistent transition out of there to the ending sequence - which in itself was fair enough - as a big amount of wasted potential.
Didn't yet get around to improve this, but it's definitely on the list for the final.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Cascade on July 23, 2017, 11:45:13 pm
Hi! So, now that i reread the Arnassi comment, i realize it would be a tight fit being as you've created a map full of content i'd imagine. Maybe there would be plans for them in later chapters.
But for right now, there's one more question i have. And that is, if there are going to be custom pets? You may've mentioned this sometime in the thread thus far, or i just passed over it.
I feel it would be a good addition to the story, and a big room for creativity! Such as a crab pet, that when equipped throws rocks that hit nearby enemies. That would be one of my suggestions. I understand coding is difficult, so is creating custom textures. But i feel like it would be a nice edition to both gameplay and story!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on July 24, 2017, 04:07:24 am
Pets. Hm.

Actually, i considered removing pets entirely. At least it's not very high on the list of must-have things. Sure, implementing extra pets is no problem but here's why:

I never really liked the vanilla ones aside from having that extra bit of firepower they provide (The same goes for Li, plus he also tends to hug at inconvenient times). That was about all, right?
So either pets need a complete overhaul, or they can go, imo. The extra chars and other people in your party should more than make up for it.
So if you have a suggestion how to make pets cooler, fire away.
(Steal eggs? Grow them? Feed them? Balance vs complexity? Too much effort? etc.)

Related: At some point i found this: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50698/? -- Doesn't have anything to do with Aquaria but i'll just leave this here, as an inspiration, maybe.

Re: Crab pet. Throwing rocks is easy. Aiming properly at moving enemies is easy too. But it's *really* hard to make things move along walls in a *controlled* way, so that one would have big trouble following. Unless it's able to swim?
Not sure about this one. But go convince me ;D

And your other suggestions?

Re: Arnassi: Definitely not before chapter 2 or 3. And the map is kinda a patchwork, some largely finished chunks, some completely empty parts, some half-finished, etc.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Cascade on August 06, 2017, 10:58:55 pm
I never exactly liked the vanilla pets either, they were usually just for a bit of extra help, like you said. And weren't very rewarding. I feel like if you gave the pets a buff, new abilites, and ways for them to be useful for more things such as, locating verse eggs and other collectibles. They could be alright, but again. Whatever goes in is your choice entirely. Something else might be being able to tame other certain sea creatures, such as the creature located outside the entrance to mithalas, to be used as a gameplay version of fast transportation, but these are merely suggestions, and whatever i say hasn't been completely thought out, just looking for ways to participate in this :D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on August 07, 2017, 12:23:40 pm
Quote from: Cascade on August 06, 2017, 10:58:55 pm
I feel like if you gave the pets a buff, new abilites, and ways for them to be useful for more things such as, locating verse eggs and other collectibles.
Right, this is a thing i had considered earlier but not implemented so far. Would make sense that there is one pet that notifies you of secrets. What i had in mind was that other party members could point out obvious things or collect them on their own, but for better hidden things such a pet would be great. E.g. hidden tunnels and such, whatever is hidden from plain sight.

Quote from: Cascade on August 06, 2017, 10:58:55 pm
Something else might be being able to tame other certain sea creatures, such as the creature located outside the entrance to mithalas, to be used as a gameplay version of fast transportation

Ekkrit <3
This is a great idea. I'll work on this.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Cascade on August 09, 2017, 11:08:41 pm
If naija is ever going to interact with li in this game, which, of course i don't know yet. I always thought it would be funny in the original game if putting on the.. *cough* Boulder carrier aka bikini Would boost Li's fire rate, and his damage per shot. It just felt like they left out an opportunity there  :P
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on August 09, 2017, 11:51:21 pm
Quote from: Cascade on August 09, 2017, 11:08:41 pm
If naija is ever going to interact with li in this game, which, of course i don't know yet. I always thought it would be funny in the original game if putting on the.. *cough* Boulder carrier aka bikini Would boost Li's fire rate, and his damage per shot. It just felt like they left out an opportunity there  :P

Ahaha that would be hilarious, but won't happen. They won't meet (at least not in person).
But it would be very well possible with Lucien and his gf. Hiiiighly unlikely to happen tho but i have some other ideas in that direction.

Btw, your suggestion reminded me of a coding blooper i made at some point. Transplanted seahorse code into character code and a thing happened:

(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/small/riding1.jpg)
but then accidentally
(http://fg.wzff.de/images/misc/aq/fgtest/small/riding2.jpg)
o_o'
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Cascade on September 20, 2017, 12:18:04 am
Time for the monthly doctor's appointment for this thread. (Just keeping this active can be a challenge sometimes) I hope things are working well. I don't know what else to put besides this so i'll leave it at that!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Fantist on October 27, 2017, 04:13:47 pm
Quote from: Trevenant on February 21, 2017, 10:03:31 pm
just wanted to post encouragement that random people are still watching this ;)

I second this. I am still here too.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Retnara on November 02, 2017, 12:09:35 pm
I've just bought Aquaria on Steam and - hey! - I still waiting for sequel! Still watching, 'cause the prologue was damn good. Ready to wait as long as I have to.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Retnara on November 02, 2017, 12:10:09 pm
P.S. You're awesome, people!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on November 02, 2017, 12:29:19 pm
\o/
<3! Where have you been! D:

(Currently in the middle of implementing some new abilities, but no pix yet, sorry!)

ps: fml, can't wait for the xmas break to go crazy on things x_X

Oh and if you want to try a great and super well made 2d side-scrolling metroidvania game, try Ori and the blind forest. Totally had Aquaria vibes, and was super inspiring. Learned a thing or two about game design from it, too.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Retnara on November 03, 2017, 07:12:38 pm
99 little bugs in the code...
Ahem.
Want to buy Ori (even Steam says it's similar) but right now i'm short of money.

btw,

Quote
They won't meet (at least not in person).
that makes my heart ache  :'(
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Trevenant on December 02, 2017, 01:06:20 am
still here  ;D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Cascade on December 10, 2017, 01:42:31 am
Something just popped into my mind today, nearly out of nowhere, and that thought was
"Wait.. Discord exists."
So i'm creating a fan discord for Aquaria, for all your Aquaria discussion needs. Want to talk about the sequel mod? Aquaria's fan discord server's got you covered, all for the low low price of one Naija-trapped-in-an-inescapable-crystal!

https://discord.gg/gFCAQz5

I hope to at least get a couple of people interested  :> See you there!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on December 10, 2017, 04:44:24 am
We already have an IRC channel (see my sig) that's in active use. I do have a discord account and may pop in from time to time now that you've created this thing, but i really dislike discord (their web client is a bloated, sluggish mess that eats RAM for breakfast so that i have problems coding and discording at the same time; and the desktop client doesn't even run on winXP anymore and isn't any better)

Trevenant: \o/

(One week to go, then i'll have a 3-week winter holiday at my parents' place. Means no duties and i can focus on relaxing and getting modstuff done, finally)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: FrancesF on December 10, 2017, 05:51:59 pm
Good to know that people are still checking here!  False Genesis and I will (hopefully) do some work on Sequel Mod over the holidays :D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Cascade on December 10, 2017, 10:43:05 pm
Both Derek and Alec commented on Aquaria's tenth anniversary, Alec even said something that made me.. For a lack of words very VERY happy

"What I’m working on now is a spiritual successor to Aquaria in some ways. It’ll be interesting to see how it evolves."

Tweeted, two days ago. Stay a legend, Alec.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: archy on December 19, 2017, 07:41:19 pm
Quote from: Trevenant on December 02, 2017, 01:06:20 am
still here  ;D

I also still check on this thread every now and then...  8)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Ender Skywalker on April 10, 2018, 03:28:13 am
I'm stuck at the Energy Temple. Every path is blocked except one that's too dark to navigate. I'm guessing I'm supposed to find something to light it up with, but what?, and where? Of all the pets to leave to care for Lucien, Li picked the one that could actually be useful right now!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Cascade on April 14, 2018, 10:48:59 pm
That took me a while to figure out too! You're supposed to use Li's blaster to shoot down one of the glowing fruits in the Erulean's Abode
Also, glad to see this is still active!!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on April 15, 2018, 12:03:32 am
Quote from: Ender Skywalker on April 10, 2018, 03:28:13 am
Of all the pets to leave to care for Lucien, Li picked the one that could actually be useful right now!

That was actually intentional 8)

Cascade: You did close that discord at some point, didn't you? Just asking because i couldn't find it anymore sometime in january
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Cascade on May 12, 2018, 01:53:08 am
Yeah, i did, i apologize for not telling you, i'll stop by the IRC sometime!
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Ender Skywalker on May 23, 2018, 06:20:30 pm
How do you access this mod in the editor?
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on June 04, 2018, 02:54:52 am
Quote
How do you access this mod in the editor?

It's blocked. There are even safeguards in there that you can't just open the editor even if you manage to enable it somehow.
Sorry, but some things shall be kept secret for now 8)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Ender Skywalker on June 10, 2018, 02:40:42 am
Aww. I was gonna try hook it up to the native mod to have the whole map with Sequel Mod areas. But I respect your decision.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/146590762@N06/41983568324/in/dateposted-public/

Btw, here's a little something I cobbled together featuring ideas for potential new areas and where they'd go. I actually moved Warm Waters slightly upwards to match your unnamed open area. Cold Waters is an idea that came from wanting to fill the gap in the path from the Abbyss to the Ice Cave. Come to think of it, Cold Waters would probably work best between the Ice Cave and the Frozen Veil. Let me know if you guys like any of my ideas. I don't know how to code, but I could try my hand at graphics if you need help.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on June 10, 2018, 09:48:01 pm
Quote
Aww. I was gonna try hook it up to the native mod to have the whole map with Sequel Mod areas. But I respect your decision.

You can do that, or whatever else works for you. There's a flag in the mod's XML file that prevents opening the editor, and in case someone gets past there scripts will do their best to prevent further editor use. One of the reasons why i put this is in is to prevent cheating.
(i know myself, if i've been through a map 5 times and there's any way of taking a shortcut, i'll take it. i feel like i've kinda ruined sacrifice mod for myself this way back then. So that measure forces me to go through a map as intended, and when i don't get bored when playtesting then it's good enough.)
There are more reasons but i will not tell you those.

Anyway, so you can move the maps somewhere you have access (any mod skeleton will do), but entities will be blank, nodes will have no function, and none of the map/mod special things will work. But just for looking at how it's made, why not.

About your map suggestion:

I didn't intend to keep most of the original maps. Some are there because they have to (home area, open waters, krotite temple), but some are either too long, bland, or too repetitive so it's imo better to replace them with something new. Right now 23 map XML files are original (more or less modified), and it's likely it'll stay that way. (quick rundown: the 6 energy temple maps, 3 veil maps, mithalas + cathedral, top 2 open waters maps, the starting area things, Li's cave, one forest map.)

What do you think? The forest maps are the least varied ones, so i'd like to redo them or get rid of them. I've made another couple of 2 different forest-style maps ages ago, but not quite sure yet where i'll put those or how much expansion they need.

EDIT: But i will think about your idea. "Cold waters" sounds indeed interesting.


One last thing, because i like to be open about things i do:

I've been way more busy with life (and most importantly, PhD work) than i had imagined, so projects left and right went on hiatus (there wasn't really anything else i could do), including this. I do read the forum's RSS feed and saw every new post, but had my mind elsewhere and forgot to reply.
I'm trying to get a somewhat stable schedule established (at least XX hours work on the mod per week), wish me luck. It's good to work on something creative once in a while, hard scientific coding gets very dull after a while.

Right now i'm poking at some graphics files (attempting to finish some leftovers from a long time ago) but i'm kinda lost how to do this :P

In any case, and that applies to everyone reading this, if you have an idea for an suitable (under-) water creature (enemy, neutral, scenery, background, whatever) and you feel confident with gfx, feel free to send a draft or even usable tiles. If i have body part tiles i can animate & script the thing and incorporate it. Or try to animate it yourself for some fun :D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Ender Skywalker on June 12, 2018, 09:21:31 pm
My idea for combining the vanilla and sequel maps was more just a side-thing than something for the sequel itself. If there's one thing I love, it's combining or otherwise compiling parts of different entries in a series together. For example, one of my projects is a map Hyrule and its neighboring kingdoms from the Legend of Zelda series that, while based primarily on Breath of the Wild and Adventure of Link, incorporates elements from plenty of the games. So combining Aquaria's original and sequel maps is more of a just for fun thing. It would be hard to make work plot-wise the way I envisioned (Aquaria Expanded as opposed to Aquaria 2) due to the time gap between the two games.

That said, I could see the original areas being implemented in a way akin to Pokemon Gold and Silver, where after beating the main game, you get to visit the first game's areas as a little bonus. I think it'd be nice if the first game's areas were all there, even if they don't serve a role in the story, but they're not necessary.

Quote
quick rundown: the 6 energy temple maps, 3 veil maps, mithalas + cathedral, top 2 open waters maps, the starting area things, Li's cave, one forest map

What forest map?

Quote
"Cold waters" sounds indeed interesting.

What about Warm Waters? Your open area is in the right place (near the Energy Temple, which if it weren't for being underwater would totally be the Fire Temple), and still doesn't have a name. Adding some "warm" elements would give the place more identity, but then again, if you're not gonna revisit old areas, and this is the new Open Waters, maybe that's not a good thing. Even then, though, a sequel shouldn't be a retread, so there's no harm in a slightly different atmosphere. The biggest issue would be figuring out what exactly the "warm" elements would be. The Veil and the area directly below it are already tropical, so you can't exactly do that. Maybe hydrothermal vents? As shown on my map, I was thinking of putting a volcano above Warm Waters as the logical extension of the "warm" aspect, and hydrothermal vents would tie in nicely to this. A warmer color palette would make sense. I tried doing a mockup with warmer colored rocks, but it just ended up as an ugly brown. Maybe changing the background gradient would be a better idea.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Cascade on August 28, 2018, 11:09:37 pm
Before i abandoned the Aquaria discord, i'd discussed with False the possibility of including Cascadia waters, and not just because of my love for the area in the real world, i feel it would open lots of creative opportunities to include sea life from that region. Since the Frozen veil is pretty much right next to the veil, in terms of lateral distance, we can take some creative liberties on the whereabouts of the Area. Some of my brainstorm ideas involved a Salmon boss, Prawns, and Seals. as for area design, there could be mountain scenery, and gameplay wise freshwater streams and rivers could give host to some interesting new mechanics involving rushing currents. Figuring any ideas are good, i'd love to get some feedback on what you all think about this.  ;D
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Ender Skywalker on October 07, 2018, 01:24:36 am
There was an Aquaria Discord? What happened to it?
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Maira on February 09, 2019, 08:24:09 am
Huh, so is the chatroom on irc or Discord then? There are still people in the irc.
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Garr on February 27, 2019, 08:42:13 pm
Hi!
Checking this forum periodically is back on my to-do list! It seems that the action is, well, dead. And understandably so.

But still: is anyone still here? Does anything yet live?
Is it,
    are we,
             past saving?
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: False.Genesis on February 27, 2019, 09:02:19 pm
We're there and we're not dead! (And we're on IRC too, as usual)
Just busy with life, PhD,  those things. Send help.

EDIT: And if anyone feels like helping out re-building the modding wiki (the old one (http://aquariawiki.ryanballantyne.name/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) is defunct), feel free: https://github.com/AquariaOSE/Aquaria/wiki
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: GlassHero on March 08, 2019, 02:53:22 am
Hey FalseGenesis, sorry to interject in the wrong thread but I don't think my pm's are working. If you ever get a chance to respond in the support section please let me know. Thanks  :)
Title: Re: Something like a sequel mod
Post by: Leeching_Poultice on September 29, 2021, 11:41:04 pm
Howdy!

So, since Naija has her very own game over animation in the vanilla, I decided that Li deserves the same thing in the Sequel, bc why not? :D
I'm not a pro artist at all and I kinda messed up with the proportions (and I can't even color!), though I'm so glad I made it! Maybe it would be useful :}