Messages

1

Modding / Re: Is there a way to make Naija walk along a floor?

« on: February 02, 2009, 12:40:18 pm »

Okay, follow-up question. Into which script file would I put it? That's another issue I'm having - I don't know which .lua file controls Naija.

2

Modding / Is there a way to make Naija walk along a floor?

« on: February 01, 2009, 09:20:28 pm »

I'm trying to make Naija walk along a surface, especially a floor (like a monkey) ... I don't know if I'm doing it wrong or what, but I can't seem to get entity_movealongsurface() to work on her. Does anyone have a guess on how this might be done, or if its even possible?

3

General / Re: Weird Underwater Creatures

« on: January 28, 2009, 09:42:07 pm »

I don't think it could/should be used to create eternal youth for humans (which is ultimately a terrible idea), but it's still cool for science!

Ultimately, it's an awesome idea!

Yeah! Rampant overpopulation, overflowing prisons as people kill one another for space or inheritance (can't just wait for you rich grandmother to die now), complete disruption of the economy, dissolution of the generational balance that keeps things like employment, health insurance, and real estate stable.....
Throw in the ethical and philosophical questions that would inevitably have to come with it (do we give eternal life only to the rich? should we bring dying people back by giving them magical youth potion? do bad people get to live forever too? does life even have a purpose if you get to keep re-doing it?), and you've got yourself a great time living forever on a really shitty planet!

Given eternity, these problems fade away as incremental solutions erode them to nothing over long periods of time.

Not forgetting the simple bordom of living so long that life eventually becomes just too much to bear and suicide will become an everyday occurance....

I don't think this would occur. But given very long life, I suppose anything is possible. If it did come to pass, I don't see how it's tragic - isn't a suicide in your scenario the sign of the fullest possible life?

4

General / Re: Weird Underwater Creatures

« on: January 28, 2009, 08:21:22 pm »

I don't think it could/should be used to create eternal youth for humans (which is ultimately a terrible idea), but it's still cool for science!

Ultimately, it's an awesome idea!

5

Modding / Where is the level editor (Steam)?

« on: January 26, 2009, 06:13:15 am »

I feel like an idiot but I can't find where the actual level editor is. I can load up the mods inside the game, and I can load the tutorial mod, but I can't find any program in the Start menu or in the Steam games directories or on the in-game options that would open it up ... any help? 

6

General / Just finished the game (somewhat spoilers; no plot points)

« on: January 26, 2009, 04:43:19 am »

Hey, I just finished the game and I have to say, I *loved* it. Really, truly, this game is going to be one of those top-5 games that I play over & over & over ... I loved it. Everything about it:

-How orderly & pretty everything is when you start the game, and how it goes from safe -> exciting & wild -> dangerous -> horror is just ... perfect.
-How "large" the world & enemies are
-How the game rewards you for exploring
-How every time you get a new item or ability and think, "oh now the game is going to be too easy..." the difficulty setting gets kicked up just the right amount

This game just has everything about it that makes it look and feel like the best of the old games, and the "worst" (secretly best):

-The fact that you can die, and it's not hard to do, makes the entire world, especially later levels, feel incredibly dangerous - the whole game just walked the tightrope between feeling so dangerous that the game is cheap and hard for the sake of being hard, and being too easy. Going through the Abyss for the first time, everything about it - seeing my first angler fish standing dead still in the water, feeling so clausterphobic in the dark because I have such a small radius of light and enemies can be so big, having this tiny beam of light - this is one of my favorite game memories of all time now. I remember coming through a narrow tunnel, and being precluded from having my light out, and emerging into a small room filled with perhaps a dozen crabs with their glowing eyes and just basically sh**ing my pants and thinking, this game is awesome.

-I know other players have gripes about it, and I do too, a little bit, I guess, but I don't want a thing to change - the fact that the game is so sparse with hints of any kind. There is a definite narrative, but it is patchwork, woven together through exploring, and it is easy to think, Where do I go now? This does two things: 1) gives the game a slightly unpolished feel,  making the game feel INCREDIBLY immersive - that unpolished feel makes it feel unpolished like reality. The game can be unfair and punishing, which makes overcoming its challenges very rewarding and enjoyable. 2) Involves me in the narrative more than I would have expected. This isn't a, "Here is your quest, return to me and I will give you something else to do" - I have to find what to do, which makes plot and direction scarce resources, which makes me value them very much. This can go too far, obviously, and the game did it only once by my count, but at least it never went too far in the other direction - making me feel I was just running from bossfight-cutscene to bossfight-cutscene like so many games do. Bottom line, little communication made it feel like I was chasing it, like it was pulling me, and not it pushing me along a set of railroad tracks.

I remember seeing jumping puzzles and thinking to myself, "JUMPING PUZZLES?! What is this, 1995?" and then smiling, because this game made me feel like it was 1995 again, and I was just a kid with a video game.

You guys are clearly pros, and so you know you're good at what you do, and so I'm sure none of this is a surprise - but damn, what a fun time. Can't wait for the next, you have made yourselves another Aquaria fan, and I will now start doing my best to proseletyze this game to my friends. Thanks for such an awesome return to a $20 investment.