Messages

1

Modding / Re: Alien Naija Reskin

« on: November 22, 2011, 10:48:02 am »

Well, I wuz poking around teh forumz a bit, and I found this epic topic of awesome proportions:
http://www.bit-blot.com/forum/index.php?topic=2057.msg27477#msg27477

And I wuz like WHOA COOL.

The sad part is that was the last digital painting I made on my computer. I was having so much fun learning to paint at the time. Life has a funny way of catching up with you. Anyway, I'm flattered that you were inspired to create a skin from my character concept. She looks pretty cool, but damn... it's too bad that adding the other arms wasn't an easy thing. She still looks great though. 

Sorry for digging up an old topic, but I'm just tickled that somebody thought I made an "epic topic of awesome proportions". Even though I haven't dabbled in digital art since, I've been sketching these simplistic (much easier to animate and create) alien characters that seem to fit into Aquaria all too well. It would appear that Aquaria still inspires me. I'll be sure to share these new character concepts in near future.

2

Modding / Re: Magic of Aquaria SPOILERS!!!!!!! new pics July 27

« on: February 05, 2011, 08:52:28 pm »

We are thinking of our mod as a transition between Aquaria and a possible sequel.... not to get all ego-proud on you...I still think it would be cool for people all over the world to work on a sequel together, with Alec's blessing, of course.

I like that idea very much.  I'd suggest that Alec helps outline the story though. A sequel just isn't a sequel to me if the creator doesn't have a hand in it.

Nice stuff with the screenshots. It really inspires the community when you share your progress. Honestly. Great stuff!

3

General / Re: graphical overview of Aquaria recipes

« on: January 29, 2011, 10:35:40 pm »

PS: I also have it as a combined PDF file (all 5 pages in one file), which I personally think is the most useful format. However, it's 4.7 MB, which exceeds the upload limit of StrategyWiki. If someone want's it, tell me where I can upload it!

Have you tried zipping the combined PDF file? I'd imagine you could shave off 25% or so on the file size.

Other than that, nice job! I really like the recipe sheets. It looks professional.

4

Modding / Re: Magic of Aquaria SPOILERS!!!!!!! new pics July 27

« on: January 27, 2011, 09:04:57 pm »

My goal is to stop the server at a point so I can go back to Aquaria, but I'm not really sure how to do that and how much time it will take.

I can only imagine that maintaining a server is a huge commitment. You may want ask your community if anyone is willing to take the reigns. When you do shut it down, maybe make the game server files available. I know I always appreciated that when I used to play NWN, which was all private servers.

Glad you chose to take a break from Aquaria and recharge your underwater metroidvania fuel cells.

5

General / Re: Aquaria 2 open source?

« on: January 27, 2011, 06:40:40 am »

If you decide to try digital painting, I recommend downloading MyPaint (http://mypaint.intilinux.com/), as it's the best open-source painting program I've seen and a real blast to play with, and buying an inexpensive Wacom tablet. It's awkward at first because you won't have the control you're used to with a pencil and paper, but you will eventually get the hang of it and then the fun starts. It's really nice being able to fix your mistakes and alter things after the fact. Plus, being able to manipulate colors without repainting a single thing is just plain awesome.

At one point, I thought about just creating a library of creature images and objects for people to use in their own mods. Food for thought.

6

General / Re: Aquaria 2 open source?

« on: January 27, 2011, 12:42:53 am »

Actually, I do have a couple of works posted in the fanart section.

I just checked out your website. Nice stuff!

Have you done any digital painting with a graphics tablet? Your art style is colorful and fun and seems like a perfect fit for an Aquaria mod, is all. 

I wonder, with all the comments Alec's made throughout the site, if he's described some of the story beyond the game already.

And I'm jealous that you've made a children's storybook. That was one of my dreams. Though it's never too late, I suppose.

7

General / Re: Aquaria 2 open source?

« on: January 26, 2011, 06:16:18 am »

Ah... I got messed up with who Mia was. I haven't played the game in quite a while and for some reason thought that she was Naija's daughter. I think I should go play the game again. 

8

General / Re: Aquaria 2 open source?

« on: January 25, 2011, 08:10:37 am »

Count me in!  I'd love to see an Aquaria 2 mod.  I'd also love to help out anyone whose serious about going ahead on this.  Maybe not with moding-- it's not really my thing.  But perhaps in terms of art design, story design, dialogue writing-- stuff on the creative end if anyone needs it.

You should post some samples of your work. Or make a thread about your ideas for an Aquaria 2 mod. It might help get the ball rolling faster.

I rather like Nightmareshadow's suggestion that Mia could be a figment of Naija's imagination.  Who knows the extent of Naija's own powers?  Maybe she created Mia from her own dark desires and need for adventure.  There is the problem that the Creator refers to Mia directly, but I'm sure we could come up with a plausible explanation for that.  Any modders interested in pursuing that idea?

I never got the impression that Naija was or ever would be mentally compromised. I like the idea that Naija may have unknowingly created Mia; her version of Mia, that is. As you say, her powers are not fully explained. Then maybe the Mia that the Creator refers to is someone else. Then Naija's Mia and the real Mia could meet at a Starbucks and hash shit out. It's been a while since I played the game though, and Alphasoldier seems to think it might conflict with established facts, but maybe it's worth exploring further.

9

General / Re: Latest Aquaria builds for Windows

« on: January 25, 2011, 07:36:21 am »

AChurch builds are from http://achurch.org/cgi-bin/hg/aquaria/. They contain patches made by Andrew and others (it seems, at least). Icculus builds are built from the official open-source branch from http://hg.icculus.org/icculus/aquaria. Those contain no patches except code cleanup and major bug fixes (if you consider fixing a lua script comment that major). The achurch.org builds are preferred (it has game script fixes plus a smoother loading screen, on first look), but mods might not work correctly do to scripting system changes (see this mailing list message for details.

Thanks, man.

It's good to see such interest in Aquaria's open-source decision. I'm still surprised that the announcement is not on the front page of bit-blot.com, but I know this is a dead horse for Alec and Derek. Just curious, I remember reading about workarounds for mod scripting, as some functionality was buried in the executable or something... is there more freedom (or control) with the Achurch build for creating mods? Like, is anything new exposed now with mod scripting? Just curious.

10

General / Re: Latest Aquaria builds for Windows

« on: January 22, 2011, 07:37:43 pm »

Excuse my ignorance, but what are AChurch and Icculus?

If I made a mod with all my own content, I'd be interested in making it a standalone game so I'm interested in this stuff.

11

General / Re: Core reason you like Aquaria

« on: January 21, 2011, 07:45:41 pm »

For me, it's the painted look of the game. It's so rare to see digital hand-painted art these days in games. Everything is usually 3D, overly detailed and lifeless. Of course, everything in Aquaria is top notch, but the art direction stood out the most to me.

12

General / Re: Consider updating the pricing

« on: January 21, 2011, 08:33:30 am »

I think $20 is the most I would pay for an indie game (I would never spend twenty on pure speculation though). However, I must admit that $10 is the sweet spot. Heck, I buy most of my full commercial games at $20 to $30 after the price goes down (Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age, for example). I'm patient that way... and cheap. I admit it.

However, Aquaria is one of the few games (indie or not) out there that's actually worth $60; that's the problem with asking the community about a price point. If Aquaria was more than $30 though, I never would have bought it... and I never would have played one of the most magical games I've ever experienced.

13

General / Re: Aquaria 2 open source?

« on: January 21, 2011, 08:18:39 am »

If what we need is the ability for Naija and others to move above ground, we already have that in our Magic of Aquaria mod. Yogoda has made Naija able to walk, run, climb, and fly. I can't think of anything else she or Lucien would need! That is why it has been so hard to find someone to replace him in finishing our mod; I don't know of anyone who can do what he does with scripting. He told me yesterday he will help again with the mod.

I'm curious to see how the land-based movement works in the mod. Is that something we can download and check out? Initially, I wanted to make a mod with both underwater and land-based parts. However, I had no intention of offering challenges above water though. Just having that ability to walk around inside an underwater craft or something to help make the world feel more engaging.

Recently, I thought about making a mod that's in outer space. Maybe exploring an ancient alien derelict space craft or the guts of an asteroid mining facility with a jet-pack of sorts in zero-gravity would work well.

Regardless, I don't get the impression that making a sequel would be as simple as making new art, designing new levels, and furthering the storyline.

Personally, I don't see a need for a completely different gaming experience. Then again, our ideas for a sequel may differ. I'd let the story unfold a bit(-blot!) and bring it back underwater for the duration of the game. I'd keep the engine as is, honestly, and let content creation be the only development struggle.

14

General / Re: Aquaria ever released in stores/amazon?

« on: January 19, 2011, 11:39:47 pm »

I think I mentioned this a while back, but as great as this game is... we may be unknowingly a niche market. After I finished playing this game, my head was swimming (heh!) with why this game wasn't a bigger success. How could this masterpiece go unnoticed by the mainstream public? But, I'm just thankful that I stumbled across this gem.

I know this may be a little early to say, but I think this game is timeless. It wasn't built on the coattails of a gaming fad or a committee designed gimmick; it is art on so many levels. And art is not easily appreciated by the mainstream, unfortunately.

That said, I think it would be a huge risk to setup a big distribution independently. However, if I were Alec or Derek (and I wasn't burnt out on this game), I'd at least talk to a publisher and see what the options are. Heck, if the question of whether this game could sell or not really needed answering, I'd probably design my own package and get some company to make a hundred copies and approach smaller stores about consignment sales. Kind of like Richard Garriott and his plastic baggy Akalabeth days. The worst thing that could happen is that the packaged games could be used for physical copy sales made online. But that's just me.

15

General / Re: Aquaria 2 open source?

« on: January 18, 2011, 06:44:19 am »

Okay - I'm a little ignorant when it comes to copywrites, trademarks, etc, but isn't releasing the source code pretty much an invitation to do whatever you want with the game?  IE, release it commercially or whatever?

Keep in mind that the engine is open source, but not the intellectual property... nor the graphics, music and other media that went into the game. However, there is nothing stopping anyone from working on an "Aquaria 2" mod. That's pretty much the only way it will happen. I'm not saying that you can't charge money for a mod though, but it has to start somewhere and somehow... and a mod the most viable solution.

Even though I thought Aquaria was a masterpiece... it was the work of Alec and Derek that made it what it was. It's going to take a lot of effort, time, and talent... and displine to make a worthy sequel that follows in the footsteps and builds upon the original. I'd recommend reading old developer interviews and stories of Aquaria's early beginnings. When I had it in my head to work on a mod, I found so much  information in those interviews about pacing and keeping the game in motion as the story unfolded, and such. Aquaria is a unique experience that it requires a bit of research to appreciate the intricacies of the design decisions.