#binding of isaac
The first Binding of Isaac AB+ mod booster is finally live!
for those who are out of the loop, we are attempting monthly(ish) updates to Afterbirth+ that will make specific fan made mods official in game, as well as possibly adding a few extras of my own and maybe some guest designers? who the fuck knows, im just flying by the seat of my pants at this point!
Booster #1 features the following!
Items:
Lil Delerium by Scayze & Ashkait
Sprinkler by Kieran & Stewartisme
Buddy in a Box by Scayze & Ashkait
Black Hole by Custom Phase
Broken Modem by Freeze
Angry Fly by Custom Phase
Mystery Gift by Mills
Bozo by Electoon
Fast Bombs! by me!
Trinkets:
Hairpin by Zarat.us
Wooden Cross by Mills & ep
Butter! by Florian Himsl (& me!)
Extras:
a few new magical cards by JOHN MADDEN (of all people!)
a few new hair styles for Eden by Niche Hobby Robot
optionalcharge bars by Wofsauge
newdice room visual cues by Wofsauge (& me!)
(note: some minor changes needed to be made to some items and visuals were added to ones that were missing them by the Nicalis team)
all of these mods came from the first few weeks after afterbirth +s release, but they were all still quite impressive and very well done, ya done good people! and for those who dont mod, i hope you enjoy the labor of love the fans and the team put in to bring you these boosters free of charge!
we hope the next booster will be out late next month, but who the fuck knows anymore.
so here is what im looking for, for the next boosters…
Challenges!!!! i really wanna add fan challenges with achievements and unlockable items in the next boosters, ideally id like at least one each time.. but ill take what i can get.
challenges should do something totally new, they should challenge the player and force them to play the game differently than normal, dont just put a few items on the player, we have more than enough of those.
Enemies / Bosses!!!! just try to stay on theme and ill do what i can to balance and add them in.
Angel Room items!!!! i know people have issue with the angel rooms and i have a few ideas on how to push them up a tad…but id like some new items to throw in there as well, thats where you come in…
im also up for whatever oddball ideas you guys have, ive seen some impressive stuff out there, so please continue!
and please please send me links to your mods on twitter so i can RT them to the masses and also check out what you’ve been working on, my twitter is
https://twitter.com/edmundmcmillen
in other news…
our shop has fully restocked those isaac tarot decks!
We also have signed posters, pc copies and more!
http://edplusdanielle.bigcartel.com/
i wanted to gush about isaac on the switch but ive run out of time and there are people watching me in my spaceship… till next time!
-Edmund
DISCLAIMER 1: i have this post set to auto update at Jan 3rd 12pm pst, our goal launch time for Afterbirth+. there is a chance the game may not be for sale for another hour or 2.. just wait it out and it will appear :)
Afterbirth+ is now out on steam!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/570660/
-You will need the Afterbirth expansion to play it.
-If you own Afterbirth, AB+ will be discounted to $6.66 till the 10th of jan.
-AB+ is an expansion to The Binding of Isaac that adds new items, enemies, unlockables, achievements, endings and a new playable character as well as full access to mod tools and user made mods.
-AB+ is coming to consoles in spring this year.
DISCLAIMER 2: like any launch there is a good chance that we missed some bugs and players may experience some issues that our testers might have missed. the team will be working hard for the week of launch on fixing all major bugs or other issues. i also reserve the right to nerf! (but only if said item is very easily exploited). all other updates will happen when monthly booster packs go live.
be gentle! we are doing our best here.
xoxo
-eggy
Afterbirth+ will close the book on a 5 year journey that started out as a 3 month flash project i made with a friend (florian himsl) for fun. we had no real intentions to sell it, it was originally going to just be a sponsored flash game due to the fact i was worried people wouldn’t be that into it, and we only spent a few months on it.
i never had any idea Isaac would become what it has, this little monster has consumed my brain for what feels like a lifetime and im at a point now where i can be happy with officially finishing the story and calling the Isaac project done.
but as sad as that may sound to some, this is really just the start of things to come. AB+ started as just a mini DLC of mod tools, but slowly ballooned into another game expansion with a bunch more added content… but still at its core the whole point of AB+ was to hand the game off to the community, who at this point knows the game better than i do.
this new year will be a changing of the guard so to speak, we will be giving over Isaac future to the fans and supporting the mod community as much as possible.
this year will be a year of the monthly “Booster pack”!
as you may have assumed, using mods wont allow for you to unlock new game content / get achievements. but we have come up with a way to bring the best mod content officially into the game via mini monthly updates to AB+ or “booster packs”.
(ill probably also join in the fun a little.. honestly i came up with a few neat item ideas during the last week of crunch that i need to see in game.. so maybe this whole “letting go” thing is a lie!)
so all you out there will get to experience a year of free user made content officially added, and all you modders will get a chance brag to the internet about your amazing design skills and unlock the biggest and most sought after achievement in Isaac to date, the “MY WORK IS OFFICIALLY IN ISAAC” achievement!
SO YOU WANT YOUR MOD OFFICIALLY IN THE GAME!?
so when making mods you can honestly do whatever the hell you wanna do, so dont let this post sway you from making a totally nutty mod with guns and Jesus and copy-written material that will put you in jail! but the following is a list of basic guidelines when it comes to content im looking for to be added in this years monthly “booster packs”.
Items-
theme tips:
this can be a difficult one due to the fact that most of the items in Isaac are based on personal items/themes from my own childhood but the best way to stay on theme when it comes to items visual design is to stick with these simple and effective Isaac tropes.
-gross items (bodily functions / liquids / solids / wounds)
-christian items (artifacts / rituals / etc)
-pagan / satanic / occultic items (artifacts / rituals / etc)
and the minor Isaac themes like fetal development, disease, dnd and general 80s nerd bullshit.
design tips:
Isaac has a few hard archetypes when it comes to items, its best to design around these specific groups.
-HP driven items: (items that use life as resource / contact damage stuff / items that like it when you take damage)
-Defensive items: (items that protect you / raise your hp / reduce damage)
-Tear mods: (items that change your tear behavior / add status effects)
-Resource based items: (items that effects pickups / generate things / use your resources in different ways / affecting shops)
-High risk reward items: (stuff like bobs brain / curse of the tower / cursed eye) (people may not like them but items like these are important too!)
-Mod items: (items that affect usable items / familiars / angel,devil rooms / shops / etc)
-Trinkets: (items that passively mod behind the scenes %s, effects and support a range of archetypes)
-Wild cards: (items that dont fit into an archetype but do interesting things none the less)
Enemies/Bosses-
im specifically looking for enemies that will be added as alts to existing ones. this makes them a lot easier to add so we dont need to include 100+ rooms specifically for each of them. they dont need to be like the enemy they are an alt of, but should roughly fit the theme/difficulty of said enemy you are making an alt for.
theme tips:
most of you should know these themes by now.
-most enemies should resemble Isaac in some minor way
-stick to Edmunds 6 Ds of Isaac visual enemy design: decaying, demonic, dead, dying, diseased and decapitated!
- again minor themes of fetal development, insects (decomposers) and body horror in general are always accepted!
design tips:
also im sure there are more than a few zelda enemies i missed out there.. just copy those! :\
Challenges-
it would be great to add a new challenge every month this year.. but they gotta be good!
challenges should force the place to finish the game in a unique / interesting / challenging way that you aren’t usually used to. theme doesn’t matter as much on these, as long as the design is fun or new id be more than happy to add as many as we can over the year.
Misc-
im sure there are things out there we somehow missed that we can officially support. out of the box stuff, whatever works as long as it fits the theme and is a solid design im more than happy to consider it.
the best way for me to see your designs is to simply tweet me a gif or video of your mod in action, be specific though dont send me like 20 items or 15 enemies, just send me one of each that you feel is the best, then wait a month to send more.
thereddit page is also a great place to showcase your mods as well as get feedback and maybe even sync up with an artist or programmer you can partner with (romance?).
anyway i hope this was helpful, its a bit hamfisted but as the months roll by im sure we will find a smooth way to exchange ideas and ill keep updating the blog with new info as the year unfolds.
so enjoy the launch, dig into the new content and have fun unlocking all the new bits and pieces we added over the year. Tyrone will be doing a post in a week or so that will go more into mod details and ill do what i can to link any fan made mod tutorials here.
im honestly very excited to see where you guys take this!
(once again tyrone is taking over the blog to write some stuff about things.. im not sure what hes saying.. i didnt read it.)
Herro all.
It’s me again. Ed’s out on the boardwalk getting ready for a new ARG. No, really. (hes lying.. ok i read this part but thats it!)
The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ Less than four weeks before the end of the year so that means less than four weeks before AB+. Ed will tell you our final date next week! You’ve been patient so we might just have another loyalty discount. You’re all awesome, don’t forget it.
It’s been a bit since we’ve shown some new items, so have two:
Items!
CLICKER
This one is fun, what does it do? Check out the gif above.
PAUSE!
How about this one? You tell me.
Mod Samples!
Over the next few weeks and post-release, we’ll have a few samples to give you an idea how to get started modding Isaac. We’ve pasted the text below, but tumblr will likely eff it all up. You can download the .zip here.
This week we have two mods to show:
local hothead = RegisterMod( “Hothead” );local pyrokinesis_item = Isaac.GetItemIdByName( “Pyrokinesis” )
function hothead:use_pyrokinesis( ) local player = Isaac.GetPlayer( ) local entities = Isaac.GetRoomEntities( ) for i = 1, #entities do if entities[ i ]:IsVulnerableEnemy( ) then entities[ i ]:AddBurn( EntityRef( player ), 120, 1.0 ) end endend
hothead:AddCallback( ModCallbacks.MC_USE_ITEM, hothead.use_pyrokinesis, pyrokinesis_item );
POOPING MONSTRO! You can see from the gif what this does, but here’s the code below (and download it HERE)
require(“mobdebug”).start()
– Register modlocal PoopingMod = RegisterMod(“PoopingMod”);
– Filtered callback for NPCUpdatefunction PoopingMod:NPCUpdate( npc ) – Random poop attack if npc.State == NpcState.STATE_IDLE and math.random(5) == 1 then npc.State = NpcState.STATE_ATTACK2 elseif npc.State == NpcState.STATE_ATTACK2 then – Plant a poop each 5 frames if npc.StateFrame % 5 == 0 then local pos = Isaac.GetFreeNearPosition(npc.Position, 80.0) Isaac.GridSpawn(GridEntityType.GRID_POOP, 0, pos, false) end npc.StateFrame = npc.StateFrame + 1 – Back to idle, clear the StateFrame if npc.StateFrame > 30 then npc.State = NpcState.STATE_IDLE npc.StateFrame = 0 end end end
– Register the callbackPoopingMod:AddCallback( ModCallbacks.MC_NPC_UPDATE, PoopingMod.NPCUpdate, EntityType.ENTITY_MONSTRO);
Console AB+-
Expect Afterbirth+ on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and one more console. Sorry no PS Vita or Wii U versions. Date? Spring 2017–we’re already working on the console versions. - Mod support? We’re still investigating a good method to deliver mods. It WILL NOT have built-in mod support as the tools we’ve created have some very specific requirements
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth iOS!
In case you missed the previous update on it (and you’re too lazy to scroll down), here’s what you can expect in the iOS version: - Universal binary (buy it once, and download for free on iPad or vice verse)- iCloud save support, upload and download your save data between devices- MFi controller support–Apple’s licensed bluetooth iOS standard (also compatible with Apple TV- Landscape and portrait orientations- A bunch of other little features to make the iOS experience good. We’re in the final phase of beta testing. I’ll be opening up beta testing to a lot more people and not just David Parkour.
So if you’re interested, watch my twitter: @tyronerodriguez
I’m upgrading the release date from “soon” to “VERY soon”. That means this year, to coincide with AB+ on PC.
Now, if you don’t mind. I have to get back to something very important..
As most of you know Afterbirth+ is 2 things, its a sizable update with new items, enemies, bosses, challenges and achievements as well as a new playable character, new final chapter and boss/ending (as well as a ton of other stuff i cant remember). Afterbirth + also includes indepth mod tools for the community to run wild with and continue to build onto isaac long after we close the book on it.
but how can we combine both of these aspects of the expansion into one mega feature of awesomeness? well a few months ago i had an idea…
what if we pulled from the mod community once a month and updated the game with the best item/challenge or other awesome feature (card, enemy, boss, etc) to turn the best aspects of popular mods into real life ingame playable/unlockable goodness!
so thats the plan, once AB+ is out and the community starts running wild with mod insanity, ill be peeking in on reddit and looking out for my favorite new additions. ill hand pick my favorite stuff, (with a little help from the fans and possibly a twitter poll or 2) toss it to the team and said content will be added to the main game officially!
this is a feature im really looking foward to, i feel like ive personally scraped the barrel when it comes to item design and feel quite depleted, but im positive that there are a ton of cool ideas out there that are so left field that they MUST be added to the main game. so once this thing releases, its time to prove your worth! COME ON DESIGNERS! MAKE IT WORK!
speaking of release, one of the most common questions these days is “when isaac!?”, now i cant say we have a set release date just yet… we are currently in testing and finalizing achievements, but are running into some minor release overlap issues with the holiday rush. what i can say is AB+ will release in the next 60 days on steam the goal has always been to release at the very end of the year and are still shooting for it but there are some things that are a bit out of our control.
once we land the release date, ill be doing a release date trailer post, which is quite awesome btw.
ill close this isaac update with a new enemy tease, “walking stony”
these guys are alts to fatties and pale fatties, they are unkillable walking stone walls that only die if you kill all other enemies in the room.
on a side note, when designing enemies with the AB+ tools, try your best to design enemy alts.. they can be totally new enemies but adding new enemies at this point is only realistic if they run as alts to existing enemies due to not being able to also design 100s of new rooms that feature said enemies, so keep that in mind when modding ;)
———–
LEGEND OF BUMBO! -
Bumbo is currently in a state we are both very happy with, an action puzzle rpg with random elements and an isaac theme has been a hard nut to crack but at this point we have an officially fun and very interesting game on our hands and have decided its time to start a dev blog specifically for the game.
so in the next few weeks expect an update with a link to the dev blog, we will go back in time and detail out the process start to finish, explain how the game plays, why it plays how it does and even post a ton of boring tech and art dev nonsense no one will care about!!!
stay tuned!
———–
ØUROBOROS-
this game is a little beast, ive been spending a lot of time on cut scenes and visual themes.. so sadly there isn’t much new to show gameplay wise but im sure we will have some fun news to share in a month or so.
———–
ISAAC SHOP-
some of you may remember a time when Danielle and i had a merch shop filled to the brim with very limited edition mostly isaac themed items that would usually sell out minutes from posting them… well we reopened the shop last night around midnight, sold out of a few items and got such a huge influx of sales we had to close the shop again to make sure we could keep on on orders.
the shop will reopen in the next few days, and ill do a dedicated post about the shops remaining new content when it does.. till then be sure to follow me on twitter , i tend to give my followers a heads up before the site opens.
till then here is the link - http://edplusdanielle.bigcartel.com/
till next time fuckas!
couldnt stop seeing the original pic as brimstone so
THE BINDING OF FRISK
