Easy mode / Hardcore mode

[chiablo]

When I first played the demo and later purchased Aquaria, I was hoping to get a copy as a gift for my mother.  She's a very casual gamer and mostly plays Peggle, Zuma, and other Popcap games.  After reaching the second major boss in Aquaria, it became very obvious that the difficulty was just too high for me to recommend it to her.  I am an avid gamer and even I had a hard time with some of the sections in the Cathedral.

However, with the editor it would be possible to create tiers of difficulty.  Hopefully I'll be able to adjust the damage output of the creatures and bosses in the game, and probably slow down some of the more hazardous mobs and projectile attacks (stupid trilobites... grr.)

Along the same vein, I would imagine it would be possible to create a harder difficulty by introducing more creatures and making them hit harder.  The ultimate goal would be to create a "Hardcore" mode, that works similar to Diablo 2's Hardcore mode.  You only get one save slot and once you die, you have to start over from scratch.

I still haven't beaten the game yet, I want to get through it at least once before starting on such a project.  However, feel free to post any suggestions as to which sections you found particularly difficult and how you'd like to see them toned down (or ramped up, for you sadistic folk.) 

[Derek]

That'd be a great use of mods, chiablo!

[Alec]

I think this might be something that would require some hardcode support before it'd be feasible - if it was going to be the same stuff as the original game, but with override scripts.

*thinks*

[Ian]

Actually, when I read this topic, I had the idea of an Arena-battle type mod. Basically, it would just be a series of boss battles, or waves of enemies, where you'd have to use your various powers to defeat all the bosses, stay alive as long as possible, or defeat bosses as fast as possible. I dunno. I may have some time to mess around with this in the future...

[shinygerbil]

Aye, some kind of Boss Battle mode could work well. Or indeed, just a series of rooms full of increasingly harder enemies would be awesome.

[Braiba]

Hardcore mode should require the use of a microphone ; )

[Don Andy]

Hardcore mode should require the use of a microphone ; )

If you yell "Tonight we dine in hell!!!" as loud as possible, you get +3 Speed and +3 Energy Shots? xD

[rinkuhero]

I like this idea.

I actually know a few people who liked the looks of the game but didn't like playing it because everything was constantly shooting at them. It'd be nice to see a mod of the game where there were no hostile enemies at all (or at least where the hostile enemies couldn't hurt you and didn't shoot at you, but just sort of swam around).

I also felt that for me, the game was a bit too easy. The puzzles were hard to figure out, but once I figured out how to kill each boss it was a snap. It'd be nice to see a version of the game with like x5 as many enemies running around, where you really have to get good at the game to win.

A lot of people are against difficulty levels because they think it's lazy design, but I'm all for them, because there are people who are just inherently a lot better at games than others and there are people who are just really bad at games and have really poor reaction times and dexterity.

[Bionic_Button]

That'd be awesome.
 

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, I love this idea and would love to see somebody implement it.  My wife really wants to play the game but it's just too rough for her, I think.  If you follow through with the idea, Chiablo (I guess if Alec has some pointers on how it could be done), I'll be happy to lend any support it's in my power to lend.

Actually, the arena battle idea isn't bad at all either.  That sounds like tons of fun.  Sort of a survival mode, maybe?  Food drops from certain enemies if you make it to a certain point in the swarm, etc.?  That could be great!

[chiablo]

Well, I dug into the editor a bit, and had my wife look at the LUA scripting language...

However, it seems you can just load up the original game and make changes.  Unless I am missing something, that is.

[Don Andy]

I actually know a few people who liked the looks of the game but didn't like playing it because everything was constantly shooting at them. It'd be nice to see a mod of the game where there were no hostile enemies at all (or at least where the hostile enemies couldn't hurt you and didn't shoot at you, but just sort of swam around).

I'm about to make just that over here

[mosberg]

Well, I'm one of the people who loves the looks of the game and the atmosphere, but who's not that good at timing, twitching and all that stuff. It's not that I don't want hostile creatures in the game at all, but I wish they were easier to beat. I'm already having problems with the first boss, so an easy  mode would be highly appreciated by yours truly

[chiablo]

I can work on it as soon as I figure out how to load the original game into the editor.   This may require cracking the data file so that the raw files can be imported in. 

[SeaTumor]

Yknow, there's at least one thing that needs to be harder: the final stage of final boss' final form. The one where he shoots that huge laser etc.
It's always a bore to just be still and wait til he decides to open his stomach to shoot the laser, so I thought it would be fun if there were some non-homing projectiles flying around in a weird pattern that you have to dodge before the laser comes.
Although then the monsters that spawn might get killed before you get em... If the projectile thing doesn't work, then maybe more monsters spawning instead of projectiles?
So yeah, those few bullets between the lasershootings just aren't enough. It feels dull without more stuff. Especially when its the last part it should be a bit more hectic.