Something like a sequel mod

[Goobla]

Thanks, both of you! I think it is just the computer being slow in the heat at this point, but I got OSE 1.002. I don't know much about computers and thought 1.1.1 was newer

[False.Genesis]

Ah. Added a clarification note so that others won't run into the same problem.

Does it work now?

[Goobla]

It's working very well! The note helps, too. Can't wait for more 

[Tullehar]

Found an issue when I ran into the Krotite. after they murdered LI it restarted and dropped me to meager frames per second. As I will momentarily point out this became the straw that broke the camel's back for me personally.
The bug may not be consistent; not sure why it happened.

Overall review up to that point: Its been a number of years for me since i've finished the core game;
 1. seems like you were trying to create a sort of hyper expert mode specifically for people that try to push themselves to gaming ridiculousness. This makes it rather difficult for anyone jumping back in who identifies as a casual gamer. While I guess its good for you that you can hardcore the daylights out of the original game don't develop a mod that way: You will quickly loose people's interest. I have a headache just from getting as far as I did. That's not why I played Aquaria in the first place. No matter how compelling your storyline is, (which in my opinion and reading over this thread its personally not compelling at all), I should be able to remain cognitive during gameplay without needing aspirin to continue.
2. The weight system IS the worst aspect of the mod, because now instead of being able to flip through pages and to easily have what you need you spend time wasting materials to adjust. It limits you combatively even depending on what you are carrying with you. I GET that even under water weight would affect you but look at how Aquaria's core mechanics worked, this would ruin the game severely. I barely ever have more than two pages of materials in your mod. There was an eventual limit, if I recall, in the core game but that didn't happen for a while and you could after getting the third slot just make them into other recipes until you could pick up whatever you were after. After trying to deal with this system I highly disapprove of the mechanic.
3: Adding late game enemies to early game areas: The Dev's didn't do so for a reason.

Without further improvements, i'm probably removing the mod.

[False.Genesis]

Found an issue when I ran into the Krotite. after they murdered LI it restarted and dropped me to meager frames per second.

No idea what this could be, i've tested this situation a lot and never had that problem. Will investigate. Thanks for finding this one.

1. seems like you were trying to create a sort of hyper expert mode specifically for people that try to push themselves to gaming ridiculousness.

Not really, everything was test-played multiple times, by multiple people, and the difficulty adjusted based on the feedback.
E.g. if i'm able to get through without using food, everyone else should manage perfectly fine with food.
(But indeed there are adjustements to be made, see below.)

This makes it rather difficult for anyone jumping back in who identifies as a casual gamer.

Have you tried point & click games instead?
Oh and play meatymod, you'll love it.

2. The weight system IS the worst aspect of the mod [...]
After trying to deal with this system I highly disapprove of the mechanic.

This is still subject to debate. See, this is why we released a preview in the first place. To get feedback on things like this.

3: Adding late game enemies to early game areas: The Dev's didn't do so for a reason.

For example, where?

There are 2 places i remember where there are many normal and 1-2 harder enemies, but both places are designed that it is better to run instead of fight:
1) The room just before the long current in the bottom of the temple
2) The diagonal shaft with ekkrit in it.

But definitely no late-game ones...?

Anyway. Even if my reactions on irc may not seem like: Thanks for the feedback, and we'll see what we can do


EDIT: Followup:
 Looks like we'll implement 3 or 4 difficulty levels, that influence things like spawn rate, inventory system (old vs new), AI, and various other things. Since it's kinda impossible to please everyone with a single, uniform difficulty, this is probably the most sensible thing to do.

EDIT2: i'll give this a shot and possibly update the release to include a difficuly switch. Might take a bit but could be worth it.

[Goobla]

I absolutely love this mod! Thank you for all the time you must have put into it! I did experience a few issues with the world map not tracking and shading where I had been, but that's not a big deal when the rest is so awesome! 

I see you may be adding difficulty levels, but do you have any news about the next chapter(s)?

[False.Genesis]

I see you may be adding difficulty levels, but do you have any news about the next chapter(s)?

How much can you guess from what you have seen?
2nd chapter will be Lucien (i think that's obvious), 3rd and 4th ... hmmm you do want to know what happened in the time between, right? And where it's all going
So no "news" except that we're discussing a lot of details. Won't spoil yet how it'll continue. Is there anything specific you want to happen/have resolved/etc?

The original ending left open a lot of questions and we're trying to answer them where it makes sense.

[Goobla]

Thanks! I am so excited for this!

[Goobla]

I had a random idea...

What if one of the male characters could sing using the lower tones that accompany Naija when she sings near those mushroom-tubey things (I think there are some in the Verse Cave)?

I have no idea if it is remotely possible to isolate those pitches, but I just really love the singing mechanic of the game 

[False.Genesis]

Singing will come back with Lucien. Li can't sing (for good reason).
Just need someone with a musical ear to listen over the pitch changes...

[Goobla]

Cool! 

[lucidfox]

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Have you tried point & click games instead?

I'm sorry, but this kind of attitude isn't really conductive to dialogue with players.

I mostly play games for the story and atmosphere, and prefer it when the gameplay is not too hard but also not so easy it's boring.

I played the original Aquaria for the story and atmosphere as well, and I found its difficulty too frustrating to properly enjoy it. Edited the game files to make Naija invulnerable. After that it was a more pleasant experience. To each their own.

Multiple difficulty levels sound good. In fact, that's something that I wish was implemented in the original game.

As for the mod itself, I've only watched the intro cutscene so far, but I'm impressed with the graphics and, so far, the apparent faithfulness to the original story. I've been waiting to see the story continue ever since I found that the original Aquaria ended with a cliffhanger, and so I've been following the development of this mod with curiosity. I'll post more thoughts once I finish the actual chapter!

[False.Genesis]

Edited the game files to make Naija invulnerable.

Unfortunately this won't work in this mod due to all the customization

I'll post more thoughts once I finish the actual chapter!

yay! much needed

[False.Genesis]

Difficulty switch is on the way, but had to get this here done before:


^ WIP item box. Yay for storage space!

[False.Genesis]

Difficulty adjustment for all of the maps + gameplay constants is done. Also a number of bugs are fixed now.
Updated version should be available sometime next week, but there's one thing left that needs work:


^ WIP Initial screen (click to enlarge). The ugly grey buttons will be replaced with some nice gfx before the update is out

As for the inventory thing, here's what you get based on difficulty:


^ Easy (increased stack count)


^ Original


^ Alternative (no per-stack count, but a global maximum. It's up to you to balance what you need)

Hope that should cover everyone's wishes.
There will likely not be a way to change difficulty mid-game in this release since it's so short, but for the final we'll probably make that possible.

(If you've followed, the inventory stack limits depend on difficulty. If it's changed mid-game, possibly overfull item stacks will be dropped into the storage box automatically so nothing is lost. That's already coded and works fine.)

Oh and the storage box is currently located here:


^ (Click to enlarge)


EDIT: Random GIF because i just posted this on twitter:



Should post animated GIF files more often... kinda adds dynamics.