This mod is still as awesome as ever!

A place to talk to other users about the mod.
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ada221
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This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by ada221 »

I just wanted to throw some appreciation towards flower child for this amazing mod. I still play it nearly every day as my go-to game (I have yet to reach steel legitimately) and I guess I consider it a masterpiece!

Every day I log in to the forums waiting for new posts (I've kinda become a lurker) and am sad to see activity getting worse :(

Crossing my fingers that RTH will happen! Good luck everybody, go forth and survive!
-I stopped playing Minecraft a long time ago; BTW is its own game to me

-even after these forums are gone, as long as I have the files, I will continue to play Better than Wolves
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FlowerChild
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by FlowerChild »

Thanks for that man. Your kind words are much appreciated :)
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ada221
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by ada221 »

I swear, the day I finally reach steel, and then eventually a steel beacon legitimately I will absolutely weep with joy (and even if no one is here, as long as these forums exist I plan on posting about it because it will be one of the biggest achievements in a videogame I will have ever done)
-I stopped playing Minecraft a long time ago; BTW is its own game to me

-even after these forums are gone, as long as I have the files, I will continue to play Better than Wolves
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Pelagi
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by Pelagi »

Yeah, I hope to see more activity in these threads... I miss ya FC!! This as been one of the best games ever :D
And I too hope for RTH because I know it'll be amazing if it's made by FlowerChild!
--- VENI, VIDI, VICI ---
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Marasambala
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by Marasambala »

Let me jump on the bandwagon. I took a several month hiatus, but I'm back at it and it's as great as ever.

I, too, check the forums every day; I have loved the discussions that happen in this community.

Flowerchild, thanks for the YEARS of entertainment.
Sometimes I think everyone else is smarter than me, then I realize everyone else is smarter then me.
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Taleric
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by Taleric »

Yeah anyone who has played MC and not experienced BTW is missing out on a "Tolken" level experience. It turned a novel game into an epic journey we will never forget :)
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darahalian
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by darahalian »

Life's been kind of busy, and I haven't played MC (with or without BTW) for quite some time, but like many others I also still check these forums most every day. I'd been noticing things have been rather quiet lately.. I think the number of entries on the active topics page was the lowest I'd seen it. But we're still here. That's how influential this mod has been - the community it started will probably never go away.

Even if BTW never got another update, even if I never played it again (which is pretty unlikely, since when something is as awesome as BTW, you can't stay away forever :P ) it wouldn't change the fact that it completely changed my Minecraft experience for the better, or the fact that it was a big part of my life, especially in college, and as such I've spent countless hours playing BTW over the years (possibly more than any other game, but I don't have any actual stats to compare with the hours listed on my Steam games). It was all time well spent. BTW gave me a reason to really get into redstone when there wasn't anything much to do with it in vMC, and many of the best parts of my Minecraft experience were the things I did with redstone. As someone who studied computer science, I really appreciate the visual representation of digital logic that redstone provided. I think I will always be proud of the mechanical and logical creations I made with BTW, especially the fully functioning simple computer that was made feasible by the lens. And even when I wasn't actually playing, there were cool insights on game design to be had and interesting discussions to read on the forums.

So yeah, I guess what I'm trying to say here is that you made something truly amazing here, FC. Don't forget that. ;)
Minecraft was indeed revolutionary, but without the substance of BTW to provide some lasting purpose, I'm sure I would have all but forgotten about it now that its novelty and popularity has somewhat settled. You took something cool and made it unforgettably legendary.

Thanks again for everything you made possible, and keep on rocking. ;)
FlowerChild wrote:Remain ever vigilant against the groth menace my friends. Early detection is crucial in avoiding a full-blown groth epidemic.
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FlowerChild
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by FlowerChild »

I really appreciate the love guys. Not just saying that, as I've been feeling a bit down as of late, and this thread has been bringing in the smilies :)

Not sure what to say beyond that, but seriously: thanks :)
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SterlingRed
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by SterlingRed »

I've found myself playing a couple hours nearly every night for a couple of weeks here. I don't get much time to play but BTW is still my go to game that I love to play while I mull over life decisions or am trying to spark creativity for a home project or even work. Something about BTW relaxes me. I know given the content that's weird but it does. I've logged more hours on other games than BTW (mostly because I was younger and had more time), but BTW is the only one that resonates with me in a way none of the other games I've played do. I love every aspect of it! Thanks Flowerchild for creating this! :)
julkwiec
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by julkwiec »

I started playing BTW when it was still using parts of the Forge codebase (over 3 years I think).
Since you introduced HC Spawn I've never made it to Soulforged Steel.
Since then I've been going through a cycle of trying, ragequitting, hating you and your game, then realizing that I love it.
What I feel when I bring a first diamond to the surface is something I can't experience in any other game.
Thank you FC! Keep it up! :)
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Gilberreke
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by Gilberreke »

I keep wanting to do another BTW run, but I keep being distracted by all the other cool games that are being posted here :). Currently trying out Empyrion for example.

In any case, if I write my autobiography, it probably contains a chapter about BTW and you guys, seeing as how this mod and especially the people played a major role in my life for the past few years. I can't even begin to describe how huge this all is. So yeah, if there's no more BTW updates, that's more than okay. It does remind me that I should try to make a final version of the modded game and burn it to a CD at some point, so I can put BTW in my list of games to replay now and then.
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murillokb
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by murillokb »

I wanted to post almost the same thing for a while. I also visit this forum everyday. I haven't played BTW(mc) for a while now, mostly because of college. I don't know if here is the place but I have to say it anyway. FC and this forum are two of the main reasons I'm in college right now. A year ago I was completely lost in life and had no hope in achieving my dreams (making games) but by constantly coming here and reading what all of you have written I absorbed a great deal of knowledge on game design. I feel like I'm a better me because of this forum. At some point I started to write down my game ideas and they got me admitted on college. I'm studying Game Design for almost a Year now and it was one of the few right choices I've made. I am happy as never before. Thanks to all of you and especially FlowerChild not only for BTW but for all the insight you give us here.
Equitis1024
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by Equitis1024 »

I never really posted a lot, but I've been a long-time lurker and just wanted to chime in with how much I appreciate everything you've done and shared with us, FC. I'm not much of a gamer, but Better than Wolves is unlike anything I've ever played. I've logged hundreds and hundreds of hours in my world, and learned so much about good design (and I don't just mean game design) from my experiences with this game of yours. And of course that's not to mention how much I've learned from your thousands of forum posts! I am extremely grateful that you kept interacting so much with your community, despite all the stupid crap that people have given you over the years. :)

There's so much I could talk about, but I'll just say that I hope you're really proud of what you've made here: Better than Wolves is a magnificently-crafted work. I do hope you pursue RTH someday, because it doesn't seem like there's a designer out there who better understands this genre that Notch opened up. None of the other voxel games that have come out over these years has come anywhere close to BTW for me. In the meantime though, BTSM is brilliant and I am loving it too, even though it does pain me to watch the update hell that Squad has been making you go through recently...

Anyway, I just sent you a small token of appreciation as well, for the sake of the 'Get-FC-a-modern-graphics-card' fund or whatever else. ;)

Have a great weekend!
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FlowerChild
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by FlowerChild »

murillokb wrote:I'm studying Game Design for almost a Year now and it was one of the few right choices I've made. I am happy as never before. Thanks to all of you and especially FlowerChild not only for BTW but for all the insight you give us here.
That's really awesome to hear man. I'm not sure what exactly to say when people talk about BTW having such a profound impact on their lives, but suffice it to say it fills me with joy to hear stuff like that :)
Equitis1024 wrote:In the meantime though, BTSM is brilliant and I am loving it too, even though it does pain me to watch the update hell that Squad has been making you go through recently...
Yeah, I think that's a big part of the down I'm on right now that I mentioned above. I looked back at my summer and realized I had burned pretty much all my free time on the above and frankly have been regretting not just saying "screw this" and doing other things instead :)

The thing was, at the start it just seemed like a week of work or something, and there was some hope that 1.0 was going to be a stable release version that would minimize update hassles in the future. Nothing could have been further from the truth mind you, and when the whole 1.03/4 thing happened where they completely revised the aerodynamics system yet again, I pretty much lost it and finally accepted that the game was still very much in early access whatever the version number might be saying to the contrary.

Anyways, after all that BTSM is at least in a state now where I feel comfortable stepping back from it for awhile, as like I mentioned over on the KSP forums I'm at a stage now where I think if I launch one more rocket, kittens will be punched :)
Anyway, I just sent you a small token of appreciation as well, for the sake of the 'Get-FC-a-modern-graphics-card' fund or whatever else. ;)
Hehe...yeah, I think my video card is nearing "antique" status. Thanks man, that's very much appreciated :)
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kazerima
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by kazerima »

I admit I haven't played Better Than Wolves very much in so much as the past six months, but it has more to do with life and its turns (and the occasional shiny) than anything else. To this day though, I have yet to find few games, much less mods, than serve as better example of solid design than this one. While working on ideas for a mod of my own, or just for games I'm trying to haphazardly develop skills through the process of building, I try to hold the principles of its design up as a yardstick for what I can do better.

In a forum full of buildcraft/industrialcraft clones, dirt to diamond mods, and "check out this new ore I made for tools better than diamond" where everything's made for rule of cool or accessibility BTW has stood on its own as the only mod that attempts to bring balance to the game with such a degree of elegance to it. Many of the others that even try involve clumsy bandaids like lowered HP totals or rely heavily on tiering equipment and/or heavy specialization. Better Than Wolves has stuck close to the feeling I first had in the early alpha builds, alone in a strange world where you gather and build by day to survive the cruel dark nights. Slowly mastering this world you've fallen into and forging it into a mirror image of your own ambition piece by piece. But most of all, I think the best way to express better than wolves is with the following words I felt only became truer the more I thought about it.

"Better Than Wolves doesn't just give every item a use, any old hack with an item list and a function list could do that. The real genius of it is that everything has a purpose, and anyone who can't tell the difference between the two has little business making games."

Where some might invent problems for solutions they add (diamond swords can't piece our new carbon fiber armor, but carbon fiber swords can!) better than wolves has taken existing problems then created new ways of solving them, with a little upfront investment, or merely tweaked the numbers a little so problems that were once trivial need solving. (food is abundant and there's a hunger system with no fangs changed to making sustainable food a desirable goal and even requirement for higher technologies) Where industrialcraft tries to solve the problem of free energy with space requirements and world resources (both of which are infinite), better than wolves balances in the currency of time by providing means of production that start off difficult but you can with significant time investment create means that let you accomplish multiple tasks at once. Not only this, but it accomplishes all these things in a manner that's completely in flavor with the existing world laid out for us.

So, while I may not always get the itch for a little hardcore survival gaming experience, when I do, Better Than Wolves is the first thing I reach for. When I look for an example to measure myself against with the principles of design, or analyzing existing games to see what I can learn, I always think of the almost precision sculpted nature of better than wolves.
FlowerChild wrote:BANG! BANG! BANG!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!! GET OUT OF FUCKING MY HEAD! HIRE A FUCKING GAME DESIGNER! Fuck.
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Thordan Ssoa
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by Thordan Ssoa »

It seems like every other mod out there is just some version of Build-a-Factory Workshop, just throwing survival to the wayside. Better than Wolves is the only mod that really seems to make Minecraft really feel like a Survival game, not just a massive sandbox toy for me to play with. No other mod has put the same fear of monsters in the dark into me the way this one has. Sure, others have massive, nigh impossible to kill megabeasts, but at the end of the day I still never have any real reason to fear them. I almost always get to fight them on my own terms, and with little repercussion for my actions. More than any of that though, what I always miss when I do decide to try playing other mods are the little things you added FC. Things like shift clicking into a crafting grid, or dropping food on the ground for animals to eat. They're both so innocuous, and so perfectly fitting for the game that I often forget you added them and just assume they're vanilla.

In short, thank you FC. Thank you for putting out this wonderful mod for us. Thank you for taking the time and care to refine it into one of the most well designed play experiences I've ever had. And most of all, thank you for creating an example of game design done right, and taking the time to help us understand them.
FlowerChild wrote:Never have I seen folks have this much fun with sheep without wearing a kilt.
FlowerChild wrote:you haven't seen a fight scene until you've seen one with horse schlongs swinging free
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MaxAstro
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by MaxAstro »

I got back into BTW recently and am rediscovering how incredibly much fun it is. I've successfully converted my girlfriend and a couple of her friends from vanilla to BTW and we are slowly and painfully clawing our way up the tech tree.

If not for BTW, I definitely would have dropped MineCraft ages ago. Instead, it is one of those games I always eventually come back to. Thanks for that, FC.

And besides, removing a creeper's oysters never fails to bring a smile to my face. :)
"In the near future, the apocalypse has had an apocalypse."
VegasGoat
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by VegasGoat »

I just started a new world 2 weeks ago because I missed BTW. Then the new Blightfall was released so I've been stuck on that instead. I'll definitely go back to BTW once I finish cleansing the world of taint. Doing the full progression to steel and beyond is something I haven't completed yet, and something I really want to accomplish.
woggy
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by woggy »

Rolled up a new world today because I was getting frustrated with the arbitrary unfairness of some of the other games I'd been playing.

BTW is frequently challenging and frustrating, but it's challenge with purpose. Which is glorious.
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Fereval
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by Fereval »

MaxAstro wrote:I've successfully converted my girlfriend and a couple of her friends from vanilla to BTW and we are slowly and painfully clawing our way up the tech tree.
Assuming you are playing on a server with your friends and not on your own, I'd be interested to know how you guys deal with hardcore spawning ?

I'm planning to get my younger brother into BTW, but I can't see how we could experience the game together if one of us dies (which will most likely happen :)). Of course we can spend some time separated but it spoils a bit the co-op experience we seek. Idealy whenever one of us dies I'd wish we could have a way to both hardcore respawn at the same place (and thus experiencing together the joys of the long path to home) but as far as I know that's not how things work, unless there some tricks of some kind.

-

Just saw I've missed 2 recent releases (!) I'm eager to experience the early game again, be it alone or with my brother :).
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Ethinolicbob
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by Ethinolicbob »

Fereval wrote:I'm planning to get my younger brother into BTW, but I can't see how we could experience the game together if one of us dies
This is just one of the realities you have to face when playing BTW, but it also opens up the opportunity to overcome some of the initial challenge of hardcore spawning.

On one of my more recent play-through's with a good friend he died very early on and I spent a good portion of the pre-mechanical power stage solo. During this time I explored the surrounding lands searching for him leaving beacons while he got more lost, ended up finding a populated village and started working his way through the tech tree to get a compass.

By the time he made his way back I had enough of the area explored with beacons and safe houses that most sequential deaths were met by an extremely quick recovery time. On top of that I had stores of meats from all my exploring and with his bringing back wheat gave us access to tasty sandwiches which pushed out our food supply to last us a very long time.

While dying while playing coop sucks, treat each death as an opportunity to create a safehouse and leave behind resources such as wood, stone and food to help with death recovery and later on you will find little time together is wasted when you die... That or don't die :P
abculatter_2
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by abculatter_2 »

Ethinolicbob wrote: Assuming you are playing on a server with your friends and not on your own, I'd be interested to know how you guys deal with hardcore spawning ?
Once you get to the nether, the surviving player can toss a pile of soulsand into the air in the overworld, which will point you in the direction of the most recent HC respawn. You can then make an expedition for them yourself (ideally with a compass, so you don't get lost) or, if you have a large area with easy-to-see landmarks in it, you can just tell them the general direction to go.
Last edited by abculatter_2 on Fri Dec 25, 2015 8:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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MaxAstro
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by MaxAstro »

How we dealt with it at the time was to cheat, basically; we used tp to overcome hardcore spawn. It just didn't fit with our desire to play together.

That said, for a slightly less cheating way to handle it: When one person dies, the other person puts everything they are carrying into a chest (or for the truly hardcore, just kills themselves) and then tps to the first person's new spawn point.
"In the near future, the apocalypse has had an apocalypse."
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Ethinolicbob
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by Ethinolicbob »

MaxAstro wrote:How we dealt with it at the time was to cheat, basically; we used tp to overcome hardcore spawn. It just didn't fit with our desire to play together
I understand what you mean but the problem with that is that it will ultimately harm your overall play experience.
I was pretty gutted when our coop game got turned into 2 solo games but in the end the experience more than made up for it.
By the time we got to the nether any death only had a 2-3 min downtime as we sprinted down one of our roads back home. It wasn't until my current play-through that I had to work out how to use soul sand.
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MaxAstro
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Re: This mod is still as awesome as ever!

Post by MaxAstro »

It did not harm our overall play experience but rather enabled it; the person I was playing with had no fun at all playing by herself. Yes, we did test this. :)
"In the near future, the apocalypse has had an apocalypse."
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