Messages

1

General / Re: Disc version/Future Retail plans

« on: January 20, 2008, 03:38:20 am »

Yeah, I think it would do well. It might be that our contact at Valve is no longer there or something. I'm not really sure how to find out what happened.

They may have lost interest after they missed out on the initial release.

2

Support / Re: Aquaria 1.0.3 Cumulative Patch 2007.12.17

« on: January 17, 2008, 07:32:17 am »

Yeah, you can still murder the hell out of monkeys.

So long as the deep sense of shame is intact, I'm happy.

3

Games / Re: Eternal Daughter soundtrack

« on: January 04, 2008, 07:37:25 am »

Wow.  I haven't played the game, but after listening to that, I think I just might have to.

4

Gameplay / Re: Just finished Tree Queen boss, and now I'm lost! :(

« on: January 04, 2008, 07:28:48 am »

I know the feeling.  I hate having to ask for help.

How about "Go far to the east"?

5

Gameplay / Re: Reversion to Normal from Beast Form...an issue

« on: January 02, 2008, 12:49:10 am »

The top-row number keys let you switch instantaneously between forms.  I don't know which is which, though.

6

Gameplay / Re: Reversion to Normal from Beast Form...an issue

« on: December 30, 2007, 03:50:51 am »

The only time I used the keyboard was during the seahorse racetrack; I'm not good with speed-sensitive mouse work like that.

7

Gameplay / Re: Not Buying and Here's Why

« on: December 30, 2007, 03:33:42 am »

16-18?  Wow.  Took me more than 25 to finish, will probably be about 35 by the time I find the few treasures I'm still missing.  But then, I'm obsessive about exploring.

I can see how the time spent travelling can be off-putting.  Still, I'd say that 75% of the time or better there's something interesting to be doing on the way to wherever your ultimate destination is.

The thing is, I don't think that Aquaria is the type of game you think it is, or perhaps want it to be.  Aquaria is not a follow-the-story type of game, or even a goal-oriented game (to a point).  Yes, there's an undercurrent of story (no pun intended), but that's not the game.  If it was, I'd have hoped the story would have been a little clearer in the end.   The game itself is about exploring the amazing world of Aquaria.  There's only about four instances where you have a find-the-key dynamic, unless you count having to gain a form elsewhere to get through an obstacle.  And you don't really have to return to most areas once you complete them unless you just rush through it and miss something.

I've never really understood the complaint about save points.  I don't think I'd like automatic saves or anything like that.  An automatic save may work in more linear games (most FPS campaigns, a number of RPGs), but would certainly have hurt me if I was in trouble over my head.  "Save anywhere" might work, but it might lend itself to abuse during the trickier sections, unless there's a stipulation like "must be standing still with no enemies in immediate area" or something.  There was probably a reason Derek and Alec chose the method they did, and I think it's appropriate to this situation.  Not all, but this one.

I don't see how one could condense the world like you describe without completely changing the game.  Shrink the game down and many things would have to be cut, or the regions made more linear.  Plus, I think there'd be a loss of world realism; real life has plenty of dead space (try living in a small town) and the open areas of Aquaria makes it feel much more realistic--to me, at least.

Aquaria isn't a game to push through in an effort to beat, it's a game to sit back and absorb.  If that's not what you're looking for, that's fine.  I don't think it's a mark against the game, though.

8

Gameplay / Re: I found something I don't know what to do with. *Spoilers*

« on: December 28, 2007, 12:35:52 am »

I've heard you just get various food ingredients.

9

Gameplay / Re: Why I like this game but de-installed it (**spoilers**)

« on: December 24, 2007, 04:36:45 am »

I can definitely say one thing: this is the game Alec and Derek wanted to make, and it exceeds all of my expectations.  The difficulty, I think, stayed just on this side of the "difficulty horizon".  The only times I found myself hitting the forums were times where I incorrectly fell to the strategy that other games had taught me: shoot it till it's dead / if that doesn't work shoot it in the *right spot* until it's dead / if that doesn't work, shoot it at the *right time* until it's dead.  The only times that failed me was (1) the Mithalan god and (2) the final boss's final form.  (1) was because I hadn't realized that I could even grab the frog things.  Maybe if I had thought a bit deeper on Naija's telling of the Mithalans giving it sacrifices and such (was that before or after the boss?), or if there had been some occasion for me to discover that they could be grabbed.  (2) confused me because I hadn't thought of using the sun form at all, since I'd not had any use for it besides seeing in the darkness up to that point.   Perhaps some sort of "giant eye" monster in the Abyss could have had a similar weakness (say, swinging an armored tentacle around when it saw an attack coming but blinded by a charged flash).

Rather than changing the game at all, I would say that some sort of hint system might be more appropriate.  Press a key and a context-sensitive hint pops up, or Naija recalls a memory or thinks out loud or something.  That way they aren't spoiling the game for those who want the challenge, but those who are downright stuck could get a push in the right direction.  There was something of this when you journeyed into the Abyss without a light and Naija made a comment on it.

Anyway, hitting the forum for help created a sort of community feel to the whole experience which I personally thought was great.

Oh, and Alec: if you're being evenly compared with games that had ten or twenty times as many developers and a (probably) similarly scaled budget, you have no business being disappointed.   Especially if you're being compared favorably.

10

General / Re: How did you decide on your character or place names?

« on: December 20, 2007, 09:12:48 am »

During NaNoWriMo I found one good way to come up with distinctive names: Spam.  If you notice, many spam emails contain names to try to throw off the blockers.  The ones that add a large amount of nonsense sentences to the end can also have names in there.  Mostly you'll end up with more real-world names, but occasionally you can get a good fantasy name as well.  Some from my spam box:

Rico Compton
Adrian Day
Tasha Harrison

As far as meanings, baby name books are always useful.  You can just browse through them until you find a name that fits your character.  If you have a civilization that has its own language, take some of its words and corrupt them a bit until they act like names, i.e. if "ri" means "light", "Riko" could mean "from the light" or "bringer of the light" and "Rikento" could be "the city of light".  I've not tried that with my own storyworld, but it seems easy enough.

11

Gameplay / Re: Where is Girl's Costume?

« on: December 16, 2007, 05:54:50 am »

Actually, it's in *the* Sunken City.  Technically, the others were underwater to begin with.

12

General / Re: Conspiricy: Aquaria

« on: December 16, 2007, 05:49:20 am »

I read this and all I can think of is how Rand and Robyn Miller referentially worked themselves into the Myst world.

13

Gameplay / Re: Cooking ingredients and where to get them.

« on: December 12, 2007, 11:49:45 pm »

As far as I've been able to tell, there only appear to be 4 Special Bulbs in the game, appearing after a few bosses.

I've got four right this moment, and I know I've used one to make an arcane poultice.

14

Gameplay / Re: *spoilers!* Do Beds/Clams do anything?

« on: December 11, 2007, 08:22:18 am »

I know you can interact with them to go to sleep, but nothing ever happens for me besides that. I've seen other people mention seeing a dream though. Is that something I've missed? A time dependent thing?

I believe they fully heal you. Haven't seen much use beyond that.

Yeah, they do.

What about the places where Naija just sits down?  Do those do anything, or is Naija fully healed and I'm not noticing?

15

Gameplay / Re: Order of Exploration * Possible Spoilers Kay?*

« on: December 11, 2007, 01:35:42 am »

Thanks for this, guys.  I just spent five minutes blasting on that thing (and starting to wonder whether it's the final boss...that thing is huge!) before giving up.    I ought to have known better by now; Aquaria is a better game than that.

I didn't realize I could bind those "frog things".