Feral Beast mod

[r_b_bergstrom]

For the past couple of weeks, my wife and I have been working on a mod that focuses on the Beast Form. (We think it's a really fun form, with a lot of untapped potential, so we started building a storyline that would allow the spotlight to be on that particular form.)

 It's going to be a while before the entire mod is complete, but we figured that since we've got 5 map levels done and ready, we might as well share a preview with you all.  At the end of this post you'll find a download link for Feral Beast: Chapter 1.



Installation:
This mod requires a tiny bit more work to install then you may be used to, because the recipe list has been heavily modified and completely rebalanced. (It's now more about the ingredients than about the recipes - you'll see what I mean when you start making and eating things.)  For full functionality, you'll need to install the new food and recipe files into your main Aquaria game, in addition to the normal process of placing the mod directory inside your Aquaria\_mods folder.

To install the new recipe files, follow these two steps:
1) Copy the new "ingredients.txt" file into your Aquaria folder (i.e. overwrite and replace Aquaria\data\ingredients.txt with the new one found in Aquaria\_mods\feral\ingredients.txt)
2) Copy all the .png files found in "Aquaria\_mods\feral\newfood" and add them to the Aquaria\gfx\ingredients directory.

If you forget to install those files, many of the singbulbs in the mod will be unable to produce anything.  This could even potentially cause the game to crash on some systems, so full installation is recommended.

The new food and recipe files will also affect your main game. In fact, we've had a good bit of fun replaying the original game with the modified recipes. Complete backups of the original versions of all the replaced or altered files are included inside the mod folder, so you don't have to worry about losing the originals.

You can download Feral Beast, Chapter 1, from the following link: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8238260/feral_mod.zip
Additional chapters will follow as we get them completed.

EDIT: I forgot to mention yesterday that there are a few areas on some of those 5 maps that you just plain can't get into yet. They require a song or form that you can't access currently. I mention this so that no one spends bitter long hours stuggling against a wall or implied puzzle. If it seems like you can't get to some portion of a map, then you probably can't. This will of course be addressed when we release the future sections of the mod.  In the meantime just have some casual fun exploring what you can, and the rest will open up to you sometime down the road.
Given that the wiki lists three mods that are "on-hold" and "may never be released", my wife and I figured it was better to release an incomplete "teaser" version now than run the risk that we too might run out of steam and never release anything playable.

[Xiagan]

Awesome pic, cool description! Have no time to try it atm, but will do later/next days. Welcome, btw!

[Yogoda]

Looks great, I will play it when I have time.

I think you don't need to copy the Ingredients into the main gfx in Aquaria, if you put them in the mod graphics/ingredients/ it should work.

For the receipts, I have modified the Aquaria source so that we can put the ingredient/receipt list in the mod and it adds it to the Aquaria list without having to modify the game, works great on my computer, I don't know when it will be available for everyone but I will keep you updated

Very nice work, it is great to see a new mod !

[Dolphin's Cry]

For the receipts, I have modified the Aquaria source so that we can put the ingredient/receipt list in the mod and it adds it to the Aquaria list without having to modify the game, works great on my computer, I don't know when it will be available for everyone but I will keep you updated

A nice step towards making mods not only modifications but also modular.

I admit I haven't applied the changes to the main game yet and plunged right into this mod (no pun intended). It hasn't crashed so far, but I also haven't found a way to go to beast form yet. I suspected the altered ingredients might help with that.

[Guy]

For the receipts, I have modified the Aquaria source so that we can put the ingredient/receipt list in the mod and it adds it to the Aquaria list without having to modify the game, works great on my computer, I don't know when it will be available for everyone but I will keep you updated

You mean recipes, right? If so, cool . Have you submitted it to the mailing list? Also, is it just the ingredients file or do other files (like treasures, variables, etc) work too? It'd be awesome to have the world map working eventually.

[Yogoda]

It is just the recipes for now, but I will look if I can do it for the other files too

hey, do you know how do I create those patch files (.diff) ?

(yes, I know, ask in the mailing list, the fact is they seem to be all Linux experts and not very noob helping tbh )

[Guy]

I'm on a Mac I'm afraid so I don't know how much help I can be, but the mercurial 'export' command will generate the diff files.

[Yogoda]

Ok, I figured it out finally. Have to first commit my modifications, then I can select my changeset and export it.

Sent the patch to the mailing list !

[Inyssius]

A promising start! My interest in Chapter 2 = piqued. 

The way you start the mod is fantastic, and I wish I'd thought of it myself. It really does set the tone very nicely. I'm not sure the subtitles help, though. For one thing, they seem to imply that the main character blacked out after falling--I think I'd have noticed that, seeing as how I was there at the time! I think less exposition would be more effective, here.

I love the idea of the Beast Cave, too, but the execution of that has some rough edges to it as well. First off, accidentally missing the whole plot really shouldn't be possible at all, let alone likely, which it is here. This big ol' plot point--and primary game mechanic!--is tucked away in a tiny and easily-missed subsection of the map. Things like this ought to grab your attention, not hide from it. Making the area considerably larger and more prominent would be a good start there. Second, the subtitle seems a little off, like you're trying to mix "I AM WOLFMAN HEAR ME ROAR" and "am I the monster?"-and those two themes can go together, but you need to build up to it beforehand! (And if you want your beast-self to be bestial and ferocious and addictively powerful, you're probably going to want to emphasize that part quite a bit more.)

That's all for now--I have to go work on my own mod!  --but I'll post more thoughts later. Keep it up with the mod-making, Mr. and Mrs. Bergstrom!

[Yogoda]

Played through it, really love what you have done , nice atmosphere.

Some remarks :

- It is very easy to miss the beast cave and go into the other maps without the beast form. You could add strong currents so this is prevented.
- You heal mainly with the health plants. I would prefer if eating the entities would heal us / drop food instead, because there is not much point in eating the creatures. (only the small fishes are healing Naija)
- Save points !!! Please add some
- I love how you can kill the giant worms by jumping from a wall to another fast, that's cool.

You are doing an amazing job, looking forward for the chapter 2

[ShadowOnTheSun]

I'm interested in checking this out.

Edit: I think I figured out my problem

[Nericor]

  Cool start!  Please keep us posted for chapter 2.

  I especially like the little touches you added around, like the door at the top of where you fell (yes, climbing up there was the first thing I did).  I was fully expecting the classic hole in the ceiling that I couldn't go into.  It was a pleasant surprise when I got there!  Then i started wondering if I fell or was thrown-out, who threw me out?  Lets go look around...

  One problem that I did run into was I couldn't get the map to work.  Was I missing something or...?

[Inyssius]

One problem that I did run into was I couldn't get the map to work.  Was I missing something or...?

Aye, the built-in world map feature doesn't function in mods. There is a script which makes it work in a given mod, but this mod does not yet include it. (It'd be a good idea, though.)

(Well, technically that script doesn't make the existing world-map work properly so much as it assembles an almost identical world-map feature that works, then just staples it down on top of the extant-but-nonfunctional one. But I digress.)

[Lady-Succubus]

It's a official world map imitation. ^^

[r_b_bergstrom]

Aye, the built-in world map feature doesn't function in mods. There is a script which makes it work in a given mod, but this mod does not yet include it. (It'd be a good idea, though.)

We considered putting the world map scripts into the mod but were a little intimidated by the line in the world map mod thread that says:

Note: I would recommend not trying to integrate this into any mods until I've gotten some more bugs ironed out.

Has that status changed and just never been updated in the thread?  If the designer is still saying not to use it because of bug issues, it makes me inclined to not use it.

Plus, a few lines after that the worldmap's designer said:

2) The map appears below layers 8, 9, and the shadow layer.

Does that mean if I put something in any of those 3 layers it will blot out and obscure the world map? So far in our levels we've made pretty extensive use of layers 8, 9, and J (shadow).  I'm not sure that the things gained by including a world map are worth what would be lost by leaving out those three layers. No darkness, limited radar blackout, no hidden passages, no objects that Naija can move behind. We're not sure we're willing to give that stuff up. But if we leave intact, there'll be whole levels where the worldmap is practically inaccessible, blocked by giant mushrooms, or layers of dark shading.

Reflecting on it, though, I realize that when we get a lot more done and the mod hits 10 or 20 levels, trying to navigate and backtrack without a world map will be a pain.  I guess having the map in the mod, but ridiculously occluded by a giant toadstool, is probably at least a little better than not having a worldmap at all. Or will be once we hit a certain threshold of map complexity. Hmm...