Aquaria 2 open source?

[tounces]

So, now that Aquaria is open source(or has been for awhile now), does that mean that any developer who wanted to could now make Aquaria 2?

Considering someone made a very in-depth prequel for Aquaria already...

Was a storyline for Aquaria 2 already developed, considering how Aquaria 1 ended?

I only wish I had the skills needed to do this myself.   

[Nightmareshadow]

That's actually an inspired idea.

Granted, it could be difficult, but I wonder...maybe Alec would cooperate on working out a story and music if someone else worked on the coding and artwork, which I imagine would be long and time consuming.  Maybe they could even market it as a separate game.  I know that Sindhi and Yogoda are working on a truly epic mod right now...if Alec gave his blessings for the game to be released commercially, maybe they could actually make some money off it...but now I'm looking too far into the future.

I hope others give this thread a look, because this may be where Aquaria 2 lies.  In the hands of a few intrepid fans.

[tounces]

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?  I assume it wouldn't be such a big deal if it wasn't significant in some way. 

Also, it seems to me Aquaria 2 would take less work than Aquaria 1...couldn't you use a lot of the same mechanics, creatures, etc in the second game as well?  Except maybe you could add a few more simple mechanics for the land and/or flight based portion of it(since he was last seen in a flying boat, it makes sense for the game to add more land element).

Considering how advanced the mods already are, I don't care really, I just want more Aquaria

I wish Alec hadn't burned out on it from the criticism.  Aquaria is basically art, and you can't create art without expecting art critics to fling shit at it regardless of how good it is.  Sure, it's not perfect, it's probably really freaking hard to perfect a game with such a small team of testers(since testers weed out the little stuff yes?), but the overall game is incredible. 

[Echolocating]

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.

[Sindhi]

Actually it has always been a hope of mine that the fans would get together and make Aquaria 2, with Alec's blessing... and our mod was supposed to be a continuation of the game after Naija and Li move to another location far from Mia to raise their family and explore new realms and fight even more difficult bosses... in hopes that we could inspire a real sequel. And we haven't even finished our mod yet...but I for one would also like to see Mia get her vicious manipulating power-hungry little ass thoroughly kicked. I even toyed with the idea of having a subdued mind-altered Mia be the nanny for the kids in the opening scenes of our mod, but Yogoda convinced me that Mia was unstoppable and it was better to hide from her than confront her... at least in a mod....

[Nightmareshadow]

Actually it has always been a hope of mine that the fans would get together and make Aquaria 2, with Alec's blessing... and our mod was supposed to be a continuation of the game after Naija and Li move to another location far from Mia to raise their family and explore new realms and fight even more difficult bosses... in hopes that we could inspire a real sequel. And we haven't even finished our mod yet...but I for one would also like to see Mia get her vicious manipulating power-hungry little ass thoroughly kicked. I even toyed with the idea of having a subdued mind-altered Mia be the nanny for the kids in the opening scenes of our mod, but Yogoda convinced me that Mia was unstoppable and it was better to hide from her than confront her... at least in a mod....

You know, on that subject I always wondered about Mia.  There were actually some indications that, if interpreted correctly, she's actually like a split personality from Naija.  Think about it, only Naija sees her, she has dreams when she's present, visions more like, and while the Creator admits to making her, no one in the entire game actually sees Mia besides Naija...and Naija's own desire for adventure could have invented an excuse for her to go off on a new quest.  Granted, it does require some suspension of disbelief(not even I thought of it like this until a few weeks ago) but it's an interesting premise.

Also, I bet that if a sequel was made and Alec and Derek were involved, Mia wouldn't be a horrifying monster...she'd be like the Creator to an extent.  Evil, but sympathetic, driven into a corner from being on the run and not knowing how to be a mom or grand mom.  Maybe all she needs is a hug from Lucien and Naija.

[Alphasoldier]

Haha, I've seen Fight Club as well!

[Ledgem]

I didn't get the impression that Alec burned out from criticism, as tounces mentioned.  He's still making games, after all.  I wouldn't be surprised if he and Derek wanted a break from Aquaria, given all of the work that it required.  Based on what Alec has written, it seems that he is open to making a second Aquaria, but that Derek may be hesitant to embark on another project with him.

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.  Naija could still be the main character, but it seemed as if her son would be the protagonist in the sequel.  Even if Naija were the main character, the ending seems to indicate that much of the story might take place above water.  That could potentially require a different control scheme - it wouldn't be much fun if we were forced to hop around on land for much of the game, would it?

I may be underestimating what the modders are capable of, but I'd imagine that it would take a lot more work than people seem to indicate here.

[Sindhi]

My impression is that Alec and Derek will not be working together again; too many creative differences. For evidence look at the projects both are working on now; from what I can tell Derek is all about fighting type games and Alec is still working on motivation, emotions, ethics, and our spiritual nature.

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.

[Echolocating]

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.

[Sindhi]

About playing the above ground stuff in our mod: The Magic of Aquaria mod is not done, and the above-ground abilities happen later in the game; we are close to being done with the first half. I am also wanting to take Naija into space; I got permission to use Don Goldman's wonderful astrophotos of galaxies and nebulae in our mod, with a credit of course. We used his photo as a background in the title shot and the Cave of Creation (see the photobucket site; link in the mod forum of our Magic of Aquaria thread. Also put a pic of Naija flying in a special cloud map with rocks floating like they do in Avatar near the end of the album). The only problems we had were if you don't hit the rocks just right, she doesn't start walking, but does a tuck and roll in the air. I guess that wouldn't matter if she's flying in space; we wouldn't have her land on tiny asteroids. We used the forest maps (there are three, the last one being an homage to the Pandora forest at night in Avatar) for her to climb and walk, with multiple parallax layers so she can walk behind things while the background moves behind her at varying speeds. I suppose we could do a Fraps recording... Yogoda was in favor of keeping as much as possible to ourselves because some fans (like Alphasoldier) wanted to be surprised, so we have not told everyone about all the bosses or offered recordings of boss fights we have done using hair animation instead of bones (for more realism and detail). I don't know if this has changed. If there is anyone out there who is good at creative animation, we could use the help. So far I haven't seen anything in 2D indie games like what Yogoda can do... so I hope he gets inspired to finish the mod soon!

[Nightmareshadow]

Just finished checking on the Magic of Aquaria stuff on photobucket.  The flying seems like a really interesting idea, kind of like the game Cloud, but I wonder how space would work.  Naija...in the future!  Also, the boss teaser makes me impatient for a release of even half the game.

YOGODA!  We miss you!  In all seriousness though, I do write for a small online magazine.  If you think it might help getting the word out, I could try and do an article on the modding community here.  There's plenty do discuss with Beauty, Sacrifice, Angry Li, and of course, Magic, but there's no telling whether or not it would get blocked by the editors(they're an odd lot.)  Still, if I could use some of the screen shots, maybe people would get excited by the art and check out the main game too.

If more people play Aquaria, the chance of a possible sequel, fame, fortune, and all that, does increase, albeit little by little.

[Sindhi]

You are welcome to pull any of the Magic screenshots on our photobucket site for use in an article. I am in favor of anything that would publicize Aquaria and the ability of fans to make mods with the editing tools provided by the creators. Send a PM to Yogoda; I'm sure he would allow screenshots from Beauty of Aquaria and Angry Li. Maybe we will have another mod if Danger Mouse has the time; I have played what he has so far and it is great; I stole some ideas for decorating the Urchin Cave in Magic from him. Glad to have you back, Danger Mouse!!!

[z4t0]

If someone is making Aquaria 2 Id be glad to be part of  it.

Have some ideas and Im a hard worker,

Ill be looking forward Aquaria 2...

[Alphasoldier]

Seems like more and more people are streaming in who'd like to see a sequel. =D