I feel like I’ve gotten experienced enough with the Deus Ex scripting to where I can modify anything I want. So, I’ve been modifying everything I want. 😅 The changelog for the next version of my “SnakeMod” is getting to be almost as long as the full list of changes in the initial release itself. All the little things that have always bugged me, I just fix them. It’s kinda more fun than playing the game. I might have a problem.
I’ve also been making some mods for Slime Rancher, one of my favorite “I’m in pain” chill games. To be fair, there isn’t much about Slime Rancher that needs fixing, it’s a really well-made game. But there were a few small things that bothered me. For one: the water. Granted, you aren’t going underwater for 99.9% of the game. But when you do, it feels… suffocating. You’re slow, your jetpack can’t get you out a lot of the time, and you immediately fall to the bottom of the water as soon as you get in. So, I changed some of the physics so it actually feels like water. You can “swim” up by jumping, you sink slowly, and your jetpack resets when you get out of the water so you can easily fly out. It’s a pretty simple yet solid mod. It just occurred to me that I should make a page for Slime Rancher mods now. So, I’ll get right on that.
The other mod I’ve been toying with is something to indicate to the player that their energy is low when they’re either using or trying to use the jetpack. I swear every single person I see play this game ends up falling in the ocean (it “knocks you out” and you lose your inventory) at least once per playthrough, including myself. What’s telling is the code for a low energy jetpack sound was already in the game, it was just disabled. That says to me that the developers likely knew this was a problem, but decided not to fix it, I guess for the added challenge of constantly checking your energy.
I first tried changing the pitch of the jetpack sound as it got close to running out of energy, but that was too subtle to be used as a warning. So, my current iteration plays an alert sound whenever you try to use the jetpack with no or low energy or are using the jetpack and are running low on energy. Should give ample time to find a safe place to land or stop yourself from jumping off the edge. I’m just concerned that the sound might get too overbearing, and that it might make people too lazy about checking their energy levels. Definitely needs a full playtest before release.
The last mod I’ve been thinking about for Slime Rancher is a change to how the plort market works. I’ve always found it a bit tedious to so easily affect the price of plorts by selling too many and then waiting for weeks for the price to recover. I’d like to make the prices a little more forgiving so you’re not stockpiling plorts forever or so worried about selling a single one until it’s time to dump. I’m also considering adding some alternative market modes to make it even easier (for beginners and casuals) or even harder (for a challenge). I’ve already identified the code that controls all of this; I just need to actually make the mod.
And on a final modding note, my Stardew Valley mod for weapons stats exploded in popularity a few months after release, making it now my most popular mod at 16k downloads. It’s funny, I thought most players didn’t give a shit about decoding weapon stats, and that my collection sorting mod would be far more popular. But then one week, the downloads just skyrocketed up 3400%. Eh… the power of algorithms and shares. If only mods weren’t viewed as passion projects that don’t deserve compensation.
Oh… I also posted a small guide about the 1999 tank shooter game Recoil. It’s just a few tips and secrets I wrote down as I played. Fuckin’ love that game. *restrains self from modding it*
