The Beaks update and the Phenotype update (or, well, basically, the complete replacement/overhaul of this mod into its new form, which will probably get its own page so as to better differentiate things) are going to happen at the same time.
The primary reason for this is because what I wanted to do with the Beaks update is something that can't be done without overhauling the interface; I need to be able to input a separate spinner (left/right options item) in the character creator (so as to give the option to change beak/podotheca color independent of body). This is because the Phenotype update is reliant on the same thing-- that is, changing the character creation interface, since I'm basically making the game switch out actual races that are "duplicates" of the vanilla ones, with differing body types.
Ultimately, this does mean that the new Phenotype mod will conflict with any creation menu mods, which is why I'm trying to find an elegant way to go about doing this; if possible, I'd like to have the option for a slide-out tab with extra "mod race" slots, as well as support for modded races that could also use Phenotyping. I'm also going to have to set things up so that it plays nicely with races that don't, which means everything I'm planning to add (beak/fluff/leg coloring, eye colors, etc) will have to be retroactively compatible.
This is, as you might guess, Really Freaking Complicated for someone whose only claim to Starbound modding fame thus far is tweaking a few pixel pictures.
More updates to come soon. Like how I plan to support this habit, among others.
This is better than i was expecting, i wonder if you have any plans for the beaks too, since there was a mod for that. Downloading the full tail and arms and legs version
Actually, the version doesn't seem to work at all with upbeat giraffe? I installed it on the mods folder though NMM and it didn't work at all? O_o Forget i said anything, it is just plain beautiful and i'm specially dumb regarding mod instalation on starbound /o/
I do, actually! I touched on it in the sticky up yonder, but Silvestre, the mod author of the Enlarge Your Beak mod, asked if I was interested in integrating his mod with mine, and I promptly went WHARRGARBL and started on expanding the beak selection through the character creator so as to allow vanilla, larger, and alternate colored beaks (and combinations thereof) by way of using the .patch system to basically put all the extra beak types in the lineup, as one might do for hairstyles for other races.
Haven't had too much time to work on that in the past week since he messaged me-- job hunting is a pain when you live in a town with four stoplights, three of which are on the same road, an hour away from what literally everyone here calls "the big city"-- but I'm prodding at it here and there. I need to actually bring up the character creator and jot down what all the active options are/do so I can determine whether there's an option to convert something to a color patterning option for beaks/podotheca.
(There probably isn't, but I actually haven't had time to play Starbound at all since Silvestre messaged me. ...I -have- found time to play Monster Hunter 4U and chargeaxe my way through enough Nerscylla to build a full set of her armor -- and now I look like a Qubeley -- but in my defense I've had it for two days and maybe that's why I'm so tired/wired today. Unrelated: Once you figure out how the A.E.D. thing works and how to combo > shield shot > A.E.D. > dash cancel > reload > shield shot > Hyper A.E.D. > repeat, that s***'s beast. Assuming what you're fighting sits still long enough for you to actually swing. Damned jumping spider. Ripped her apart when I managed to catch her in a shock trap that one time though.)
The beak update will be its own thing, as the only way so far that I can think of to make modular Avians in the way I'm thinking will require essentially creating multiple race entries that inherit all stats/crafting/et cetera from base Avians and implementing them somehow into spawn lists and the use of a race menu mod and that kinda thing is way clunky and complicated and I'm not entirely certain how to go about it yet. (The other option, of course, would be to make my own character creation menu and add buttons to do what I want to do; I can't believe that idea never crossed my mind until now. Hm. Writing that one down for future plans.)
Once I get THAT pile of nonsense sorted, though, Drumsticks is going to become something completely different, on the whole: an expanded races mod implementing a great degree of variety throughout the Starbound official races. Tails here there and everywhere, body type variations (barky/viney Florans! Spotted/striped Hylotl! Android/gynoid/othernoid Glitch! Swirly/aphotic Novakids! ), genetic dimorphism for Apex (because why can't the supposedly most advanced race in the universe give themselves monkey tails for whatever reason?), all sorts of fun stuff.
At this point I'm tempted to dismantle my gone-nowhere-in-trying-to-do-it music Patreon and re... uh... mantle? it into a "I MAKE MODS AND GAMES AND SOMETIMES MUSIC AND STUFF, PAY ME SO I CAN DO THAT MORE PLEASEANDTHANKYOU" Patreon instead.
You, mod maker, is a seriously enlighted person. [Also, monster hunter 4 charge axe <3] Even if just a single donation, i'd give to you as soon as i'm sorted with some finances myself.
Can't wait for the next step! ... Actually, i can, waited for the stable update, and now, for the Avali race to be updated for the giraffe.
edit: On the aphotic novakids part... Well, they'd probably have to be kinda transparent considering they'd be non-glowy gas bags do the sprites accept png alpha levels? And after reading what aphotic means, first thing i thought was "white florans with barely any leaves"
Regarding aphotic Novakids: I'd never thought about semi-transparent or transparent Novas. I don't think transparency works with the sprites; even the slightest bit of color in a pixel causes it to show up as white in-game. I'd actually based the idea of aphotic Novakids on lightlessness as a direct representation of darkness-- when you google "aphotic" you get the following:
The aphotic zone (aphotic from the Greek prefix meaning "without light" ) is the portion of a lake or ocean where there is little or no sunlight. It is formally defined as the depths beyond which less than 1% of sunlight penetrates.
So basically aphotic Novakids would be living black holes, rather than neon gasbags. Probably would also give them light-dimming in proximity as an optional property, to really drive the idea home. If I could animate sparkles in any way that didn't involve uniform movement, I'd be able to make true " Deep Space Novakids", even. Black expanses of starlight with the barest glowing features. Maybe make their brand a bright glow.
As for the Florans, I have to admit I'm not entirely certain what you mean by "white Florans with barely any leaves", unless you're implying Florans that somehow managed to survive in (and adapt to) a lightless environment. Honestly, the "nightmares from the deep" thing seems more suited to the Hylotl, to me; anglerfish Hylotl, eyeless bigmouthed monstrosities that could devour a man whole. (Just don't say that to their faces-- they're very sensitive about it, and it's rude to bring it up.)
Just tried this mod out, works perfectly with NMM. After about an hour of playing I started to dig the new look on my little Avian, it really fits... If only I had something besides a pirate outfit to wear. Great work though, couldn't see a problem with it.
When I get the Drumsticks & tailfeathers one, it displays the propper arms, but no body or legs. When I get plain old Drumsticks, it displays the body, but the eyes are missing and the character is in front of a huge white block!
Thats because the tails and feathers file is corrupted, and the author accidentally flatted the png for the drumsticks png (so its an all-white background).
Thank you, I can't believe I didn't realize this before. I was able just to go into the drumsticks file and redo the transparency since the sprites stand out so well. I now have much better birdies
I am proud to announce, as a future project, Drumsticks and Avian Tail Feathers will be rolled into one complete Advanced Avians mod! There will be no need to hunt a new entry for it; this mod will be updated accordingly. You will still be able to have one, or the other, as there will be alternate versions abound! Just figured I'd whet your appetites for things to come. :D
Edit 1/27/2014: Furious Koala now supported!
For future reference, though, if for some reason I'm unavailable to update, assuming mod file structure has not changed: in the mod, there is a file called "Drumsticks.modinfo" or "Drumsticks and Tail Feathers.modinfo". Open that file with the text editor of your choice, and find the following line (using the latest update as an example):
"version" : "Beta v. Angry Koala",
Change "Beta v. Angry Koala" to "Beta v. Furious Koala", keeping the format as necessary, and save the file. It should then be fully functional in the latest Starbound update, as this is an entirely aesthetic mod and alters no code whatsoever.
The only case where this would not work is if the file structure of the game gets changed or if the mod formatting gets changed. The new .pak system you may have heard about is for larger mods, and unnecessary for something as small as this. (It also isn't yet fully instituted in the system: you can .pak all you want, but the game doesn't look for them! So there's that.)
Edit: Update's up! I'm working with a modder from the CMDB who made a tail feathers mod to merge it and Podotheca, and assuming all goes well, this mod will probably end up changing over to that, too, so that's a thing! (Yes, there will be a podotheca-only version up still as well.)
Nice idea! I wish the Hylotl didnt have different coloured hands and feet makes them look like they are wearing gloves and boots. :x An idea if you want to do another race edit.
Funny thing is, I actually like the added color option for the Hylotl hands and feet. Extends their alien appearance beyond just "funny head and skin color". It's one of the things that got me on the thought of giving the Avians proper podotheca instead of just "their feetses are different".
I'm considering going through and making a collection of racial edits (things like giving the Florans a more patterned, wooden appearance, or giving the Apex more ape-like feet, and actual defined wrists for all the arms). If-slash-when I do, I'll consider giving the Hylotl a better "alien amphibian" look. Perhaps mottling/spotting using the fin color, instead of the entire arm/leg.
Hm. I never did look closely at that one, I just guessed at it being the elbow. Which come to think of it doesn't make sense considering the rotation of the rest of the sprite. Hah! Righto, give me a minute.
20 comments
The Beaks update and the Phenotype update (or, well, basically, the complete replacement/overhaul of this mod into its new form, which will probably get its own page so as to better differentiate things) are going to happen at the same time.
The primary reason for this is because what I wanted to do with the Beaks update is something that can't be done without overhauling the interface; I need to be able to input a separate spinner (left/right options item) in the character creator (so as to give the option to change beak/podotheca color independent of body). This is because the Phenotype update is reliant on the same thing-- that is, changing the character creation interface, since I'm basically making the game switch out actual races that are "duplicates" of the vanilla ones, with differing body types.
Ultimately, this does mean that the new Phenotype mod will conflict with any creation menu mods, which is why I'm trying to find an elegant way to go about doing this; if possible, I'd like to have the option for a slide-out tab with extra "mod race" slots, as well as support for modded races that could also use Phenotyping. I'm also going to have to set things up so that it plays nicely with races that don't, which means everything I'm planning to add (beak/fluff/leg coloring, eye colors, etc) will have to be retroactively compatible.
This is, as you might guess, Really Freaking Complicated for someone whose only claim to Starbound modding fame thus far is tweaking a few pixel pictures.
More updates to come soon. Like how I plan to support this habit, among others.
Downloading the full tail and arms and legs version
Actually,
the version doesn't seem to work at all with upbeat giraffe? I installed it on the mods folder though NMM and it didn't work at all? O_oForget i said anything, it is just plain beautiful and i'm specially dumb regarding mod instalation on starbound /o/Haven't had too much time to work on that in the past week since he messaged me-- job hunting is a pain when you live in a town with four stoplights, three of which are on the same road, an hour away from what literally everyone here calls "the big city"-- but I'm prodding at it here and there. I need to actually bring up the character creator and jot down what all the active options are/do so I can determine whether there's an option to convert something to a color patterning option for beaks/podotheca.
(There probably isn't, but I actually haven't had time to play Starbound at all since Silvestre messaged me. ...I -have- found time to play Monster Hunter 4U and chargeaxe my way through enough Nerscylla to build a full set of her armor -- and now I look like a Qubeley -- but in my defense I've had it for two days and maybe that's why I'm so tired/wired today. Unrelated: Once you figure out how the A.E.D. thing works and how to combo > shield shot > A.E.D. > dash cancel > reload > shield shot > Hyper A.E.D. > repeat, that s***'s beast. Assuming what you're fighting sits still long enough for you to actually swing. Damned jumping spider. Ripped her apart when I managed to catch her in a shock trap that one time though.)
The beak update will be its own thing, as the only way so far that I can think of to make modular Avians in the way I'm thinking will require essentially creating multiple race entries that inherit all stats/crafting/et cetera from base Avians and implementing them somehow into spawn lists and the use of a race menu mod and that kinda thing is way clunky and complicated and I'm not entirely certain how to go about it yet. (The other option, of course, would be to make my own character creation menu and add buttons to do what I want to do; I can't believe that idea never crossed my mind until now. Hm. Writing that one down for future plans.)
Once I get THAT pile of nonsense sorted, though, Drumsticks is going to become something completely different, on the whole: an expanded races mod implementing a great degree of variety throughout the Starbound official races. Tails here there and everywhere, body type variations (barky/viney Florans! Spotted/striped Hylotl! Android/gynoid/othernoid Glitch! Swirly/aphotic Novakids! ), genetic dimorphism for Apex (because why can't the supposedly most advanced race in the universe give themselves monkey tails for whatever reason?), all sorts of fun stuff.
At this point I'm tempted to dismantle my gone-nowhere-in-trying-to-do-it music Patreon and re... uh... mantle? it into a "I MAKE MODS AND GAMES AND SOMETIMES MUSIC AND STUFF, PAY ME SO I CAN DO THAT MORE PLEASEANDTHANKYOU" Patreon instead.
Can't wait for the next step! ... Actually, i can, waited for the stable update, and now, for the Avali race to be updated for the giraffe.
edit: On the aphotic novakids part... Well, they'd probably have to be kinda transparent considering they'd be non-glowy gas bags
So basically aphotic Novakids would be living black holes, rather than neon gasbags. Probably would also give them light-dimming in proximity as an optional property, to really drive the idea home. If I could animate sparkles in any way that didn't involve uniform movement, I'd be able to make true " Deep Space Novakids", even. Black expanses of starlight with the barest glowing features. Maybe make their brand a bright glow.
As for the Florans, I have to admit I'm not entirely certain what you mean by "white Florans with barely any leaves", unless you're implying Florans that somehow managed to survive in (and adapt to) a lightless environment. Honestly, the "nightmares from the deep" thing seems more suited to the Hylotl, to me; anglerfish Hylotl, eyeless bigmouthed monstrosities that could devour a man whole. (Just don't say that to their faces-- they're very sensitive about it, and it's rude to bring it up.)
I am proud to announce, as a future project, Drumsticks and Avian Tail Feathers will be rolled into one complete Advanced Avians mod! There will be no need to hunt a new entry for it; this mod will be updated accordingly. You will still be able to have one, or the other, as there will be alternate versions abound! Just figured I'd whet your appetites for things to come. :D
Edit 1/27/2014: Furious Koala now supported!
For future reference, though, if for some reason I'm unavailable to update, assuming mod file structure has not changed: in the mod, there is a file called "Drumsticks.modinfo" or "Drumsticks and Tail Feathers.modinfo". Open that file with the text editor of your choice, and find the following line (using the latest update as an example):
Change "Beta v. Angry Koala" to "Beta v. Furious Koala", keeping the format as necessary, and save the file. It should then be fully functional in the latest Starbound update, as this is an entirely aesthetic mod and alters no code whatsoever.
The only case where this would not work is if the file structure of the game gets changed or if the mod formatting gets changed. The new .pak system you may have heard about is for larger mods, and unnecessary for something as small as this. (It also isn't yet fully instituted in the system: you can .pak all you want, but the game doesn't look for them! So there's that.)
I'm considering going through and making a collection of racial edits (things like giving the Florans a more patterned, wooden appearance, or giving the Apex more ape-like feet, and actual defined wrists for all the arms). If-slash-when I do, I'll consider giving the Hylotl a better "alien amphibian" look. Perhaps mottling/spotting using the fin color, instead of the entire arm/leg.