Re: Magic of Aquaria SPOILERS!!!!!!! new pics Feb 15

[Sindhi]

SPOILERS!!!!! Yogoda and I are still planning to finish our mod, “The Magic of Aquaria”. I’m drawing most of the the graphics and Yogoda made all the maps and animation and some of the graphics and decorating, and Sindhi is now working on the story with Nightmareshadow. We begin the story after Aquaria ends.   Sindhi began by  drawing with pens and scanning art into PS, but she also has a graphics pad and is playing in My Paint and Gimp.   We're including some screenshots and the URL to Yogoda's Photobucket website with lots more pics. Yogoda has finished our first boss battle. We are mostly done with a second boss, and Yogoda made use of the unused creator boss from Aquaria, so that one is done. There will be fourth boss to which DangerMouse is contributing.
After seeing Avatar, Sindhi decided to modify the Secret Garden part of the forest map; pics below. Nightmareshadow is helping now with puzzles, and Yogoda will be working again the end of March after he quits running the Minecraft server. We are releasing part one of Magic probably this summer.




This is the tunnel from the waterfall map to the Forest maps; see a view where it comes out on page 9 of this thread.




The Secret Garden, part of the Forest Maps, an homage to the Pandora forest in Avatar.




We plan to add creatures, both crawling and flying, and a new entity better than a pet.  Sindhi drew everything but the flowers & moss.
Naija can walk along the branches and climb the trees now.



An example of using Aquaria tiles recolored in Gimp for a monochromatic effect; passage to the lowest cave below the home cave.


Two different color schemes in the Sunset map (entire Beauty of Aquaria map re-done) transitioning from one area to another


This is the large waterfall,where Naija walks, climbs, and jumps to the top.  Yogoda made the basic design and a puzzle
 for the door, which goes to the forest maps. New pic with butterflies and toned-down ivy.



 Gaia in the World Tree, Cave of Creation, Don Goldman's astrophoto of the Iris galaxy behind. Yogoda made the tree, I added "leaves"



The entrance to the mystery cave and the coolest boss we've made so far. Yogoda went crazy with the spiderwebs.




This is where the cool boss lives, in the heart of the mystery cave; Yogoda designed and decorated this one.



link to Yogoda's website and more pics:   http://s763.photobucket.com/albums/xx278/Yogoda/Magic%20of%20Aquaria
  

[TheBear]

Looking good! I'm jealous of your drawing abilities but I do have one suggestion about your coloring. I think you need to bump up your saturation. Now that I think about it Aquaria has somewhat of a darker palette than your additions. There seems to be a little to much grey coming through. The best example would be comparing your palm tree with that of Derek's. Keep at it the underlying form is there (awesome jelly!). That crystal tree looks really awesome (a good example of saturation/contrast) but that is an absolutely absurd amount of tiles. Looking through more of the pictures on Photobucket I would suggest pulling back just a little on how many tiles you're using. There's beauty to be found in open water and negative space.

Where I have no intention of spending as much time as I did with Sacrifice on another Aquaria MOD I'd definitely be willing to lend a hand at times (story/writing/mapping/scripting). You guys seem to be off to a good start so keep at it!

[Sindhi]

Thanks, Bear; sent you a PM. You are right  about the saturation and some of the tiles and entities have been fixed already (like the jelly); learning about dodging and burning. The crystal tree did take a ridiculous amount of time; I did the edges of the cave and got permission from Don Goldman (www.astrodon.com) to use his astrophoto of the Iris galaxy behind; Yogoda made the tree and I fiddled with the leaves for several days while watching TV but it's not so bad if you clone them. Yeah, Yogoda thinks I am crazy; he kept saying "Not more leaves!!!!!" Right now he is working on doing a squid boss with separately moving arms and tentacles; rather more complex than the normal boss... he does all the animation and code and maps. We're trying for a more realistic look.  We'll keep posting pics on Yogoda's photobucket website as we go.

[ryos]

The first couple screens remind me of Ecco the Dolphin. The (awesome) tree reminds me of Secret of Mana for some reason. It's good to see people doing their own graphics!

[Alphasoldier]

Looks awesome, good luck with it, I'm sure it'll turn out better than expected!

Also don't let out too many spoilers it'll ruin the surprise. =D

[Align]

I kind of think you should just do your own story rather than try and continue Aquarias..

[Yogoda]

Yes, we are making our own story, it will be very different from what you have in Aquaria, but we also try to make it match the end of Aquaria. This is not easy. For now the script that is the hardest part for us to do, even if we have a lot of ideas

[Yogoda]

Also don't worry for the graphics too much, when we started, we didn't know anything about GIMP, had to learn everything, starting by how to remove the backgrounds.

We came across a very nice tutorial that showed how to shade graphics, and we are now using this technique to improve our graphics greatly. Look at the result on a plant :



And we are still learning. Some of the screenshots are quite old, an the graphics are now much better. (note : screenshots have been refreshed now)

Here is the tutorial if someone needs : http://etomo.deviantart.com/art/Gimp-Shading-Tutorial-83424257

I would like to congratulate Sindhi for leaning to do all this complex stuff at the age of 62, she is really amazing

[Hiro]

Wow that really does look nice. Good work guys. 

You may not see me post in this thread every day, but I'll be sure to check up on whats going on

[Sindhi]

Good job, Yogoda. By the way I am 64 Nov. 1 (omg!), and you know what? There's this little kid inside that never ages, and just because I have brain farts doesn't mean I have one foot in the grave. I am seriously technically challenged, however, and I thank you for your patience; you're a great teacher. Hey you guys, it may not have been real obvious, but there's an URL at the bottom of the first post that leads to more photos...we will update but also take Alpha's advice and not leak everything.

[Sindhi]

Hey, I am so proud of Yogoda; he is inventing new animations that are soooo cool; we have several new entities and new maps, and the squid moves quite fluidly (the arms waving about); almost done with that. We added the Beauty of Aquaria map to our mod and I am redecorating; we have an urchin cave with surprises and a cool new kind of missile Yogoda invented, and a snake cave above the waterline that you will be lucky to survive... hope Yogoda won't be mad at me for sharing; I know he doesn't want to tell everything yet, but I am just super excited. We are updating the pics on our photobucket site every few days. Hey, if any of you know about good software for making videos let us know. DM told me once in a Skype chat but I can't find it now...

[Wenzor]

this looks really nice! but it's only for PC right? 

[Yogoda]

Yes, a mod is an add-on to the main game, and Aquaria is only available for PC right now. But Aquaria may be ported to other platforms in the future !

[Yogoda]

Hey, I am so proud of Yogoda; he is inventing new animations that are soooo cool; we have several new entities and new maps

I wouldn't do anything without your beautiful drawings

hope Yogoda won't be mad at me for sharing

Hehe, it is difficult, we are excited about what we create, and want to show it to everyone, but at the same time we know it will kill the surprise. I would suggest to put big red SPOILERS everywhere

[Alec]

Yes, a mod is an add-on to the main game, and Aquaria is only available for PC right now. But Aquaria may be ported to other platforms in the future !

Mods should be compatible with the Mac version (which is already out) and the upcoming Linux version (still being ported).

Looking forward to seeing this mod when its done.