The VR Academia (The Magical Tests 2020) Update Thread

[RoberTime]

Name changed from "A Magical Academia" to "The VR Academia" - Aug 21st



Remember this hub? That one hub I had to rebuild several times to my liking starting nearly ten years ago? I have been doing some thinking earlier this week, and I wanted to try once more into this hub... once more...

This time, the concepts are bigger and better. Instead of a cheesy soundtrack, repetitive test center setting, and a concept 90% ripped off of Portal (Spoiler: I will still base *some* assets off Portal), I have one of the official Wonderland settings to work around, which I'm sure I've done a few years back, that is the Academy of Magic.

If you are not familiar with "The Magical Tests", it started out as an MoFI modded hub where you would visit multiple test places via teleportation, which were dotted around Wonderland. Every adventure relies on a specific magic depending on which area you chose, and there are multiple puzzles revolving around only that magic. I wasn't aware how big this hub was back then. I started this hub in late 2010.

Now, what new ideas do I have lying around my brain that I should talk about? Aside from the obvious name change that I found more professional then puny 16-y/o me coming up with names on the fly...

- Adventure count has returned to 160. This was meant to be a massive hub, however I will take it easy by starting out each adventure selection very small, and gradually expanding each adventure in size as I make progress to the end.

- A new area alongside the hub. A library next to the test center. Learn the ins and outs of each of the seven main magics and learn advanced techniques within the locked sections of the library. Requiring special, color-coded library keys retrieved in some of the adventures.

- Unique Boss Battles. Unlike the samey fire flower fight involving the magic you have entered the final adventure in, there will be different kinds from general monsters to heavy commands. New bosses will take some time since I want to be creative with them.

- Custom Music Overhaul. I really didn't like my choices for track picks. I don't know why, but whatever I found sounded okay at the least and apparently fitting in some angle made me want to insert it. But this time, the custom music will be picked with more love and will really fit in style with which adventure you're in. As most of you know, this music pack is optional and there will be an alternative download to the hub using original music and no custom ones.

- New unique textures and theme aesthetic. No longer will I resort to the same square gradient tile textures and low-effort hue changes. Each texture for its magic section of the hub will be unique and adjusted more to the style of which magic you are in, and not just color! They will also be more VR-esque. Which brings me to the last new feature:

- New extra-significant plot. Honestly the only feedback you will get upon "completing" Magical Tests should I even had finished it up was... I honestly don't know. Since it wasn't "Significant" enough to even remember it. But as a plot for the hub, it will take place of course at the Academy of Magic, which has an expansion for magic training via special Stinker-Made VR style sections. You can read up at the library and take on the VR challenges yourself to earn your diplomas in each magic. But should you acquire all seven diplomas, you can take on the "Ultimate Diploma" challenge to consider yourself a master of the rainbow magics.

I'm also taking quite the inspiration from Metal Gear Solid VR Missions regarding themes. (But inb4 I reference this game more than Portal? Maybe...)
look look

Now, how long will it be before I finish everything up? The answer is yes (Has no idea). But saying all those ideas I came up with before typing this whole thing makes me want to roll through the first few assets and adventures this evening, and all the way through the night! Just gulped my occasional Monster Energy now and now let's see how far I will work through until I get bored for the time being. I can guarantee at least one teaser will pop up in the next 24 hours. And also I will dump some sample adventures here and there, depending on how efficient I am at progress.

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MAIN ADVENTURE PROGRESS: 21/160
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[RoberTime]

Okay I lied about the 24 hour bit, but also I didn't work efficiently enough (Work, etc.). I'll tell you that I didn't get any adventures in *yet*, I'm just rolling in some custom textures for levels and objects, similar to the older hub. It's quite tedious but I'm proud of the result, because it's better than the same flipping level texture at the least!

Here are two of my level textures. Look at the differences between them:

[ab-47]

Very nice textures, but make sure you try them in-game to see if the lighting fits the color, you don't want the bright colors to be eye-straining.

[RoberTime]

The seven main level textures (One for each magic challenge) have been finished a while back. Now I'm in the process of modding in music tracks and object textures. But more importantly, I have done 12 adventures (Small, mind you) in one night. Check the main post of this topic for updated adventure progress and what types of adventures I have finished!

I had an idea to spice up the hub project AND storyline: There will be a set of "Intermission" adventures after completing a set handful of challenges (As in whole magic adventure series). They have a grey theme and uses a mixed bag of magics completed prior to it. But you may be asking "What does this have to do with story improvements?" Well let's just say that the Academy's VR system has a few bugs, and before you know it, there would be a wide glitch which you have to get yourself out of. Those are the intermission adventures.

Finally, In response to ab-47 and his texture suggestion, it *looks* like the textures in-game look okay. It's not too bright or anything. However, I don't know if it's just the way I see things or it's regarding my computer screen settings (Brightness, etc.), but here's a screencap of what one of the adventures looks like with said texture style:



And guess what? That adventure you're looking at will be up shortly as a sample one! There will be six other samples (One for each magic and color) I plan to give away as I make further progress into this mass adventure line.