The Amazanauts

[DrMike2000]

My best looking work yet!

None of which could have been done without being ably assisted by the amazing Afghan Ant as character artist. It's been a privelege to work with Ant, and I'm really pleased with the results. I think they speak for themselves.

Thanks also to bearded, Prev and Detourne for testing the pre-release version. Your feedback was invaluable.

Go get it!
www.fundamentzero.com!
And then come back here with your bugs, gripes, bellyaches and heartbreaks! And any gushing adulation you happen to have lying around...

[Previsionary]

Awesome, Dr. Mike and AA! I really had fun with this mod, and it's nice to see new stuff for FF1 again, especially content of such a high calibre.

If you want, I can make a blog post about the release of the mod.

[Xenolith]

I haven't played it, yet, but I just wanted to say that Amazium 235 is really cool.  The skin really works and I like the biography for this character.

[Gremlin]

WAAAHOOO!

Oh I had to get homework done I hate you so much

[Epimethee]

Congrats Dr and AA!

(Hmmm? Would it be morally acceptable to cancel the trip to see the family this week-end and play this instead? ?Would it be morally acceptable not to?)

[Outcast]

Tried it a little bit and so far...

Spoiler

The (Indian?) music is a kinda catchy and appropriate for the theme of the story. The story takes a little while for me to get into though. It feels like it's about Indian reincarnation or something like that with a mix of time travel. It would have been nice if there were some voice acting added. It just adds to the overall feel of the game and its characters. Having to choose missions in the danger room is a cool concept, though i still have no idea how this game will be never ending. Maybe it's just very hard to finish? I'm just no good with time limited missions. The skins look great of course, and if my computer has any alpha problems with some of the skins/meshes it's hardly noticeable.

[GogglesPizanno]

OK I got a few minutes to fire it up and give it a go.
I dont know if its a bug or a problem with my machine, but during the opening cutscene, the game would freeze up my machine on the second line of dialogue requiring a hard reboot, but if I skip the cutscene everything is fine. The log at the time of the crash ends with: "Unable to locate minuteman_patriotcharge effect resource"

Just an FYI

as for the gameplay:

Spoiler

I'm gonna agree with outcast, the the intro mission is little off. I dont know if its the density of the dialogue, or the pacing or something, but it took me a little while to get my bearings and get into it.

That's said, once I got into the missions and the soundtrack from the prisoner kicked in, thats when it really started working for me. I don't know if it just become lighter and less confusing, or what, but it really grabbed me after that. Then i had to make dinner... stupid nourishment.

I will say that integrating it into the danger room is an ingenious idea and some of the little things like the custom character dropdown, and rebranding of the Primary/Secondary objective screens and what not were nice little touches that made the whole thing more unique.

[BentonGrey]

I so cannot wait until I have time to play this!  I have been waiting for this thing quite impatiently!

[GoldenGladiator]

I tried to post this earlier, but it wouldn't post right, so here goes again.

Spoiler

I only had time to play the campaign mission part of Amazanauts, but I noticed a few things in the text here and there that I thought you might want to look at.

(I'm so sorry, I was a college newspaper editor for three years and now I automatically nitpick text I read.)
But I figured you'd want to know, because I know I would.

When you first speak to Omegazon, she says "prey" instead of "pray" when speaking about hoping that Ms and Miss A never see her time.

In the cutscene with everyone around Sarasvati WOW! the text says Apasara and then Apsara, so I wasn't sure which one is correct.

And in the character description for Miss A, it's the old one about how she cleared New Aeden of Crime 10 years ago, and I wasn't sure if time had passed between Strangers and this mod.

Oh, and when I was flying Miss A around, I clicked to tell her to go next to Sarasvati WOW! but the purple circle appeared around a midpoint between the two char's locations. I'm not sure you'll understand what I meant there, but what I mean is she didn't go where I told her to, but she didn't go far off course either. It was kinda weird, and I think I may have been zoomed out all the way at the time if that helps at all.

Fantastic visually, and the whole atmosphere of the campaign mission is so trippy, I can't wait to have time to try out the actual missions!

[DrMike2000]

Prev: - I would love for you to give Amazanauts a plug in your blog! Go for it!

Gremlin: - Do your homework! I can't tell you how, but your knowledge of trigonometry will be vital to averting a world disaster in 2016!!!

Outcast: - voice acting would always be nice, I know. Even for this one its beyond my scope though, there are hundreds of lines of dialogue, many of which got last minute tweaks. Organising voice acting would have turned this into a production nightmare.
Oh, and the Indian sounding music is British retro 60s hippy revival by Kula Shaker from the late 90s. The album is 'K' - with cover art by Dave Gibbons of Watchmen fame, no less!

Goggles: - I fear that the "minute_patriot" bug may bite you again. In standard FF, any Rally the Troops power causes red white and blue stars to appear on the recipient, with an accompanying bugle noise. (like how stasis always causes the yellow part-rings). I repointed this to a blank effect in FFX, since I use rallying extensively for attributes like Metabolic (which Zenwoman uses). I think my blank FX may have been included in FFX but not in Amazanauts. Do you by any chance not have FFX installed for the original game? If so, that explains it. I'll patch this up for a patch and re-release soon.

Ferrers: - thanks for the spelling catches. Its "apsara", I'll fix that. And for the 10 years thing you deserve a No-Prize! I really should change her bio text to a more up to date version.
As for that flying glitch, I think I have a few objects in the air that are used to spawn effects on for the initial zoom-down. You may have clicked on one of them. I'll have a play while zoomed out, see if it happens to me.

[GoldenGladiator]

That was awesome.

Spoiler

Short, but very, very cool, especially with the replayability factor.

I noticed two more misspellings: when you lose the bomb mission in Omniville, KZ says "nosiy" instead of noisy and Sarasvati says "formward" instead of forward.

On to the awesomeness of that mod - I liked all the levels, but the Lifestar level was my favorite by far, especially how we finally get to see what you mean by Universal Gun and all the other heroes being trained up there. Raiden was especially cool, Barracuda was a major pain though because of the sheer number of summonings.

My second favorite was the Z'Zen level - the central intelligence made me laugh when i first saw it.

It's a great mod, and I can tell you and AA put a lot of time and love into it.

[Gremlin]

Gremlin: - Do your homework! I can't tell you how, but your knowledge of trigonometry will be vital to averting a world disaster in 2016!!!

OH GOD I HAVEN'T TOUCHED TRIG SINCE HIGH SCHOOL

WE ARE DOOMED

[AfghanAnt]

It was a pleasure working with Dr Mike. He has always been a source of inspiration for me and working with him on this mod was a dream come true.

[Drani2007]

So when I try to start the game this window pops up:

alert: CIntlLoader::setLanguage(aunch), No language of that name exist

I've looked in the language folder and it just says english, so I'm not sure what to do.

[stumpy]

So when I try to start the game this window pops up:

alert: CIntlLoader::setLanguage(aunch), No language of that name exist

I've looked in the language folder and it just says english, so I'm not sure what to do.

It seems very likely that the shortcut to start the mod is at issue here. Check that the Target of your Amazanauts shortcut points to something like

Code Select Expand

"C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\freedom force\fforce.exe" -game Amazanauts -log
That may need some tweaking depending on where you have the game installed. If that doesn't help, then you may want  to post your shortcut target and the base game folder and maybe someone can get it sorted.

[Outcast]

Question: How does it keep track how many danger room missions/scenarios one has already finished? Is it automatically saved? How do you save your progress? Is there a reset button if you want to start over?

[laughing paradox]

You guys delivered a great mod. Kudos.

I loved the campaign introduction. I could see all the effort put in with all the camera angles and music and art and everything.. it was pretty seamless.

The skins/skopes were so good, too. Just a lot of fun. Great job.

[Drani2007]

So when I try to start the game this window pops up:

alert: CIntlLoader::setLanguage(aunch), No language of that name exist

I've looked in the language folder and it just says english, so I'm not sure what to do.

It seems very likely that the shortcut to start the mod is at issue here. Check that the Target of your Amazanauts shortcut points to something like

Code Select Expand

"C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\freedom force\fforce.exe" -game Amazanauts -log
That may need some tweaking depending on where you have the game installed. If that doesn't help, then you may want  to post your shortcut target and the base game folder and maybe someone can get it sorted.

My shortcut is: "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\freedom force\fforce.exe" -game Amazanauts -log -applaunch 8880

Start in: "C:\Program Files\Steam"

I'm not sure if the start in is right, but it works for the Exiles mod. The folder "Amazanauts" is in fact in Freedom Force and not the sequel.

[GoldenGladiator]

I have no experience with Exiles, but from what I know of it, isn't it  only? Amazanauts is designed for  .

[Drani2007]

I have no experience with Exiles, but from what I know of it, isn't it  only? Amazanauts is designed for  .

I meant being that their both from Steam. The original  shortcut has the same shortcut key: "C:\Program Files\Steam"

[DrMike2000]

Question: How does it keep track how many danger room missions/scenarios one has already finished? Is it automatically saved? How do you save your progress? Is there a reset button if you want to start over?

I copied the campaign data code from my freeroam Patriot City stuff, so a few "campaign variables" could be saved. There's a python file called campdata.py that gets re-written every time the save occurs.
This all happens automatically when you finish a mission - it'll save the number of missions completed (which never gets displayed anywhere), and the number of times each mission type (eg Universe Bombs) has been completed. The number of mission types determines which dialog interruption gets played, so the first time you play Universe Bombs you get some dialog with Sarasvati sounding surprised, after that there are two variation where they seem to knowwhat these bombs are.

To reset, go into campdata.py and set all the variables back to zero.

[lugaru]

Totally cool... I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

[UAF]

I love the concept story-wise.
7 Miss Amazing duplicates.

But the fact that there is no ending is immensly disappointing to me.
I've recently re-installed FF in order to play The Strangers and Tales of the Navigator, so I was VERY excited to see that another MOD in the same universe (and by the same creator) was made.

But I'm afraid that The Amazonouts pale in comparison to the other two...
I don't really want to play the same level several times. Especially so if it'll never lead anywhere.
I was hoping that going through each world would unlock more scenarios or another campgain level, but it didn't.

I'm sorry that I'm making the most negative respond in this thread, but that's how I feel.

Don't get me wrong - the music, the characters, the cutscenes and what there is of a story are great.
But that's the problem - it's not a complete story, it feels like the first quarter of one...

[JKCarrier]

Oops, thought I commented on this mod already, but it looks like I didn't...

It didn't bother me as much as it did UAF, but the lack of closure is admittedly kind of a downer. Everything else about it is great, though; the same mix of crazy-cool ideas, memorable characters, visual panache, and ingenious technical tricks that I've enjoyed in your previous mods. I did appreciate that the difficulty wasn't quite so high...a challenge is good, but sometimes you just feel like having a romp, and this qualified. I think the only time I ran into problems was doing the "Stop the Bombs" scenario on the factory map...the bombs tended to spawn in remote corners, which meant I had to plow through several room to get to them, and I ended up fighting several of the "bosses" at once. Eek! Special kudos for that "Beginning of Time" map, with the prototypical elements and such...that whole concept just sends my brain reeling, but in a good way. Great stuff.

[DrMike2000]

To be honest, in hindsight I feel kind of similar to you about the Amazanauts, UAF.

It was an experiment in story-telling structure that ultimately failed in two important ways:

1) The opening "New Campaign" custscene bit too long
2) There's no ending, and worse, the player is pretty much left to discover this for themselves.

The idea for this mod came up during a heated debate on these boards revolving around someone who has now left, and got me thinking "Whats the bare minimum you need to do to introduce a new character or team?"  In FF, or the Strangers, the safe approach is taken and a series of linear narrative missions introduce the characters one or two at a time in digestible chunks. The main problem for the developer here is it can take months of work just to lay the groundwork. (The smart thing to do of course is lay other foundations along with the characters, and tell a story, I learned that one on the job with Strangers). So, at the start of Amazanauts, I was thinking "What is the bare minimum required to quickly introduce 6 new characters?"

The opening cutscene makes sense in the absence of a website. But, the only people who'd be playing this would be the ones who read my website, so, hmm... not such a hot idea maybe. If you've read the character bios on the website then that whole scene is kind of a waste of time. In retrospect, I could have made a couple of quick missions using existing maps and models to introduce the others. Eg. Mission 1:Sarasvati and Zenwoman pick up Emma on her world. Mission 2: Sarasvati, Omegazon and Ms. Amazing pick up Amazium. These could be told in flashback or whatever framing device would be required, (eg show Miss Amazing being adbucted first and have Emma tell her how she got there) but give the player something to play and allow for better spotlight moments for the new characters.

On to the meat of the mod.
Ideas like "interactive sketchbook" started flying around in my head and I realised I could use the Danger Room for a mix and match play experience. This is the part I still like about the Amazanauts, and I think it worked really well. Mainly, because its five chunks of traditional linear narrative, like five short stories rather than a novel, if you will. I don't think there's a single idea in here that I regret putting in.

And the ending...
Well, "What was I thinking?" is all I can say now. I knew it wouldn't end, but the player didn't really know that at this point, which is a major game design crime. A final campaign level that gets unlocked once you've accumulated 10 or 20 orgone points would have been the decent thing to do. Have a final line of dialog in each cutscene where Sarasvati says how much more you need roughly,or to proceed back to the campaign.

So, to sum up, traditional narrative structures exist for a reason. Be careful how far you bend them, they may break.

Anyone got a time machine handy?

[kkhohoho]

You could always update it and add in that final mission you're hypothesizing.

[UAF]

I agree, you can still finish it.

Although to really make it complete (IMO of course) will require more then just a final level.
Have the player visit every world 2 or 3 times to finish a short story there. (In Emma's case, to use the obvious example, by the end of the third visit the inhabitants should be free). Preferbly have the Divine objective also a bit harder with each consequent visit, but that's not vital. It's the Wordly objective that must develop.

Then, after all such mini-stories has been completed, the final level (or levels) will be unlocked.


As for the bare minimum required to introduce characters - I think that partially worked. I liked the introduction level and didn't find it redundant. However, this worked because we all already know and love Miss Amazing. You had to use a familiar character as anchor, and I still see her as the main hero of the game. The other Amazonauts are more or less supporting cast.

That said, it's still not as good as the old fashioned deep-involving-story introduction type.

[DrMike2000]

Interesting idea.
I can definitely see further story development in Omniville, but I'm not sure about the others.

Omegazon's end of time is by definition after everything has happened, so any kind of progress there is a bit off. Since the story there takes place between the last bloom of superhuman life and the literal end of everything, there's not much else to do.

The Planck Epoch could unfold quite nicely I guess, as it cools various intermediate laws of physics are revealed. In other words as long as it's psychedelic science it fits.

The Life Star and Z'Zen empire both have the same issue in they're both kind of powerful backdrop constants in the universe I've sketched out. Neither should really change eg having the players bring down the Z'Zen Empire would be a bit too much, like Russell Crowe personally dismantling the Roman Empire in Gladiator (which I havent watched, so forgice me if he actually does that.. ). Maybe inter-twine those two in a war between the two? Chaos (the Life Star) vs Order (Z'Zen?) Possibly a skirmish brought about by the orgone/cosmic energy thefts that took place earlier? Zenwoman and Ms.Amazing being identified as hostile perpetrators...

I'm not saying I'm going to do this, by the way. Just tossing around ideas here.

[UAF]

Are the Z'Zen empire even in the same universe as the Life Start, if the Z'Zen are part of Miss Amazing universe?

The Z'Zen empire already have some kind of story beginning, with Zenwoman starting to realize that sometimes their central computer is wrong and UnZ'Zen thing are more important.
I'd imagine it as a personal quest on her side. The Z'Zen empire is never changing, but she can change. And perhaps the central computer will understand that by their nature Those-Who-Know won't ever be unquestionably loyal to it. (A paradox that could, technically, be used as a plot device to bring it down. But perhaps like any good dictator we'll see that the computer is quick to simple dismiss this conclusion and just shut down the One-Who-Knows program).

As for the LifeStart - that one is strange. Is it just about Ms.Amazing, or is it also about Miss Amazing? Where exactly is it? Which is real, which is a parallel universe, and who is dreaming who? (Can't help but think about Through the Mirror's Glass, and the sleeping Red king there).

And then there is the Life Star's alledged godhood. Or at least the godhood of its computer network. Is it a god? Does it think it's a god? Does it answer at least some of god's definitions? Can it compete with Zenwomen knowledge of things? Does it know about The Architect and the Fundumentals? Does it know about Krishna and the danger to heaven?
And who is in control there, Zod or Professor Zandor?

Of course, you can ignore all that and just proceed with crazy the results of Professor Zandor's descision to make himself a superhuman.

Also, will any of this include Ms.Amazing being shot in the universe? Or perhaps the Anti-She? I just really liked the whole concept of being shot in the Universe. It's defiantly a sensitive spot to be shot at. Is it an individual spot, or does it really effect the universe?

[UAF]

BTW, about Omegazon's time. We already saw what happened next - The Navigator fought the Shining Glorious Engine.