Katuko

Eh, "gliding flight", then.

Screenshots to prove that I have a few things in the works. There are three types of flight available: Levitation, which allows you to jump much higher, slow your falls, and stay in the air for a period of time; gliding, which gives you slightly increased horizontal movement speed as well as the ability to float up and down; and full-speed flight, which makes you travel quickly in any direction, but which also has wide turns and forces you to stay in motion. Deflecting a test projectile with a Rhotuka shield. And yes, your character looks in the direction they aim the shield.

I ended up removing it from the web, since it got outdated and is also very much a mess to look at. I am currently working on a new engine, though it takes a while. I'd prefer not to use the old engine for new stuff any more, because it's slowly gotten more and more bloated and prone to errors, especially after the switch to Windows 8. The maps are set up in a very simple manner, though. After making a full in Photoshop, I divide it into slices of 512x512 pixels (anything larger runs the risk of glitching on older computers) which are then exported in bulk via the option for Web & Devices. This export option also lets you save the coordinates of each slice in a CSS file, making it easy to port over into an array in GameMaker. Each map script consists of an array holding the wall pieces and their coordinates, which is looped through and placed when the map is entered in-game. Each wall piece is marked with a terrain type, which is (primarily) used to produce footstep noises. Some maps use graphics for things which are not made of solid material. One example would be the grass on Kini-Nui. Here, I save two slices - one with the background image, and one black silhouette with the actual collision mask. The collision mask is loaded into the map's wall array, and the graphics into its background array. Water and other such things are placed much the same way. Single items such as lifts or teleport pads are placed manually in this script, using only a call to instance_create(). I was thinking of making map files external, so they are perhaps easier to add and test, but I haven't gotten there with the old engine. If you wish to test-run something, I'd advice you to do what I do nowadays, and just stuff everything into a blank project with the bare minimum of resources. The main game project file takes so long to load and test run (old GM version, large size) that I've grown exceptionally tired of it. Ah, and if you did look at my years-old source, you'd cringe at how bad it is.

Me and someone I know is being paid by a small local business to make the prototype of what is best described as an accounting program interface on the web. I can't really divulge any details beyond that, as we've signed a contract forbidding us from doing so. It's not a super project, but it's one that I hope will work as a springboard into future projects and possibly employment.

I would give you an awesome test version, but the test version I have right now doesn't feel epic enough. Give me some time to add basic weaponry and we'll see what we end up with.

Basic walking, flight and slope movement has been programmed. If this looks a lot like the previous list I posted, that's because I'm mostly working on adding character sprites and other mechanics in between lectures and a paid project I'm working on. Naturally, that one will have to be prioritized, but I still got spare time. I'll try to use it for programming.

I really like the Mask of Elemental Energy and the Mask of Sensory Aptitude. They look great! The Mask of Biomechanics would probably look a lot better if you brushed the sides more backwards, so it envelops the face more. Same for the Masks of Elasticity and Regeneration - they are a bit too flat. Apart from that, I'm impressed with what you've done, and I like your choices for headcanon mask shapes.

Some of your characters look a bit too bulky compared to what I imagine they'd be, but it works well for Zaktan, and I love your style otherwise. That Rahkshi is beast.

That looks pretty cool. I like that you've given it good depth by implementing a groove around the thing in addition to the prongs. Must have taken some care and patience to bend the paper without it slipping?

Although I always liked the bright green of the original sets better than the later dark green from Metru Nui and onwards, I think that in this case dark green is an improvement. The lines on the edges still give Lewa a brigth contrast color, and the more muted yellow keeps it from dominating as much as it does in the standard model. I also like how you made the metal colors a bit more unified. The only details I'm not quite sold on are the squiggly lines on his chest design, they look like they are of lower quality than the rest. You did such a great job on adding texture and "chipped" parts that it's very easy to overlook such a minor flaw, however! Great work.

I have apparently done a shoddy job of expressing my thoughts. I will try to do it again. My point, to make it short and simple, is that the Mask of Possibilities – by acting upon a single event and manipulating it directly – is removing chance to the point where "probability" of both the original situation and the resulting situation is irrelevant. If you are just standing there trying to predict where the next raindrop will land, then yes, it is random chance, because it's out of your control and you have no real data to base your guess upon. If you are monitoring a single raindrop plus its environment, however, and trying to make it land a certain way, then you have all the data and do not need to guess. Once we have control of the smaller variables, we no longer need to make statistics that are based in the idea of chance. I agree that we do not need to know the actual probability in order to make the mask power work in the story, but that is also why I find "probability" mostly irrelevant to its actual effect, and I feel it would be best redefined. The problem stems from the loose definition of what "chance" actually does when manipulated, especially if we say that it can end up as "not 100%" after manipulation. It's hard to envision what the mask can and can't do. We agree that a deck cannot be manipulated once shuffled, and that a boulder can not be made to fall if it would require a major force, right? By dealing with miniscule effects and a vague power description, we have the problem of trying to figure out not just its limits, but what it can actually do in the first place! It also leads to me trying to explain my views on probability in sci-fi, which obviously falls flat because sci-fi rules about chance might as well be no rules. I do hold all masks to a certain standard, and I do think that most details are unimportant so long as the basic description holds up. And everything from the Kakama to the Hau - and even the Mohtrek! - has a description which makes its effect upon activation rather clear. "Possibilities" does not, really. It's right that I don't care how much a Pakari can lift in tons, or how much force in Newtons the Hau can block, and I also don't care about the exact amount of particles Possibilities can affect. I just wish to know if it really works by using telekinesis, or mind control, or whatever, so that I can properly envision just what it is allowed to do. In this case the interpretation of the power can change the usage of it considerably. "Super strength" is usually easy enough, because the actual effect of the power doesn't change regardless of if it makes your muscles stronger or it envelops you in an energy field. I would like to have a few more details of some powers, but in most cases the details are indeed not relevant. Probability, on the other hand, requires more of an agreement of what its power even is. In my view, shuffling cards or rolling dice is indeed "chance" – tiny physics variables which you can not predict, but can conceivably be changed by a tiny force – whereas making a boulder fall or someone close a door faster is not "chance", because the variables involved are much greater and more predictable, and manipulating them requires a level of force which makes the situation more about how much power you're actually packing. The bio on both BS01 and Wikia is a single sentence which doesn't even cite an example! Being open to interpretation is, well... It is too open for my tastes. We had a similar discussion about Conjuring, if you remember. "Possibilities" is another of those powers which is completely up in the air as to what it can actually do, because by its very concept it doesn't seem to play by any rules at all. Yes, it is only semantics. Sorry about that. I, too, see it as making sure your card lands on top. I see that as something it can do, because the cards would already be in motion and it would only require a very slight manipulation of their physics. What I mean is that it is not really making it X percent more or less likely for the card to end up on top. It is actively trying to force it on top, which basically removes chance altogether. It can't be said to now be a "10:52" chance in my eyes, because physics are either manipulated to make the result 100% predictable, or else the manipulation has failed. The situation changes so that it is no longer the original situation; it is now one in which you are deciding whether you win or you lose. This is why I think putting a number on the new probability is wrong. Before activation, the chance can be 1:10, or 1:500, or 1:30000, it doesn't matter. In my eyes, the mask can not activate and change 1:500 to 1:10, because once it activates your wish results in either 1:1 or 0:1. Again, a minor distinction (one which I spent way too many words trying to decribe above) but one I feel is relevant. I agree entirely with this, and it is the kind of thing I want to figure out before passing my final judgement on the mask. As I've realized by talking with others, some view "making a boulder fall" as entirely within the realm of Possibilities to make happen at a given moment, whereas I do not. It's all due to different ideas of how "chance" affects us. Because extraordinary luck is pretty much a magical effect, it's easy to imagine anything from Harry Potter's "liquid luck" (a potion which makes you able to be more charismatic and influences you to make better decisions) to Gladstone Duck's "I walk into a mall and I'm automatically customer #1 million". I wish to make sure what the mask can or can't do, before I write a fan fic or something in which I grossly misunderstand its effects. Makes sense? I just want to have a vague idea about where the line goes between "can do" and "can't do", even if that line is blurry. I think we've managed to discuss the topic to the point where we can start doing that, which is good progress in my book. In this case, the definition of what sort of "random" things the Mask of Possibilities can affect is my goal. I have never seen "30% chance" and the likes to be anything except a way for us to approximate and put statistics on the results we get/have observed. I have no problem with putting 1 blue ball in a box with 9 red balls and saying it's "10% chance to pick the blue one". I have no problem with adding 10 more red ones and saying the blue one is now a "5% chance". What I have a problem with is saying that someone could look at that box, magically wave their hand, and then the blue ball has a "5% chance" without actually defining what change occured to make it so. Did the magic power add more red balls? Did it move the blue ball towards the bottom? Did it affect your hand as you stuck it in? Can it affect anything before your hand is in motion at all? That last thing is really what I want to know. From my point of view, the event being observed should only be possible to manipulate if it is already in motion, for any larger change would not make it "probability", it would just make it another direct power such as Telekinesis or Mind Control. Probability is, after all, just statistics about the things we can't fully predict in detail. I find it vague and meaningless to use "probability" in the description when we are using the mask to take active control. If it could add in two more Kings of Heart in the deck, then it'd have changed the odds from 1:52 to 3:54, otherwise it's "an attempt to make 1:52 into 1:1". What I mean is that in my view the mask can't really change the odds of a card draw to be 10:52. It either succeeds and makes it 100% chance to win the draw, or it fails and results in 0% chance of winning. So we agree that the die would be entirely predictable so long as we had access to a larger amount of data, correct? I do not really have a problem with the definition of chance. I just wonder how the Mask could possibly manipulate the probability of an event – therein lies the problem. The mask is doing something which is impossible to do in real life – and the concept of "making tiny magic happen" is so much more vague than "he can run faster" or "he can float in the air". Your example with Qui-Gon, that is indeed how I imagine this mask to work (and I wish I had tought of the Force before, that is a very good example). It takes control over the tiny variables somehow – usually through telekinesis or telepathy – and allows you to change a situation in your favor. I just disagree about calling the resulting event chance anymore, because once you know the details and try to change them, chance essentially goes out the window. In any case, I guess we've argued about "random" for too long. Again, I apologize for the misunderstandings here, but I hope you see that I'm only trying to acertain what sort of events this mask power can actually manipulate. Too few and it's a useless curiosity, too many and it's overpowered. Things I see it as unable to do is to make a falling rock divert its path, unless the path could be diverted with only a tiny amount of force (such as moving a pebble into position), otherwise it'd be full-on Telekinesis. I see it as unable to prevent an unstable rock from falling in the first place. I see it as unable to make a sturdy rock break off and fall. Basically (and I should really learn to write shorter posts!), I view a heck of a lot of things to have a flat 0% chance, and I am of the mind that the only thing which makes it chance in the first place is our inability to predict the event. So tl;dr: I accept that we can describe a situation as a game of chance, but once the mask starts manipulating events I believe that there is no more chance. We just see a trend, I think, in that the longer the series went on, the more outlandish the powers started to become. We went from strength and speed and x-ray vision to time duplication, interdimensional gates and spoken power programming. Perhaps it is silly of me considering all the other things I've accepted/not accepted over the course of an entirely fictional story, but powers like this mask has a tendency to strike me as odd and unfitting for the setting. To sum up: I firmly think probability is statistics, is it not? Things are random because we lack knowledge. When the Mask of Possibilities enters the picture, probability of an event is not relevant at all unless it is absolutely 0% in any realistic situation we could conceive of. Using probability in the single sentence which describes it is a poor choice of words, I think. (I will reply to the more personal things in a PM, and I apologize for any issues with my previous posts.)

There can be no chance when we start manipulating events. When you go to the armory to get your weapon, maybe you have two swords. Maybe you have a 50% chance of choosing each. But if I focus my Mask of Possibilities on you at this moment, would you really say I'm making it "20% more likely" for you to pick weapon A over weapon B, if that is my intention? How does one even begin to measure the probability of you choosing weapon A instead of B? If we base it upon your past preferences, the quality of the weapon, and so on, it ceases to be random; and if I start manipulating you with a mask power, the factor of random chance is basically thrown to the wayside. The only example I can find for this mask is from one of Greg's answers to a fan: So basically it does manipulate physics in minute ways. There can be no other explanation, really. What I mean with the deck is that if you manipulate the deck being shuffled, you remove chance and randomness. Manipulating a boulder to fall is not chance. Making your friend able to dodge a bullet is no longer mere chance. These events - and very few events - can be said to be actually random when viewed from the world's point of view. Me saying there's a 1/52 chance to guess the right card is meaningless to the actual physics of the world, especially if we start to factor in the possibility of dropping a card, or having accidentally put an extra card in the deck. If I want to increase my odds of guessing right, I must either obtain knowledge or foresight, or I must make a physical change upon the situation. This should by some train of logic make the Mask of Possibilities able to affect your guess of a drawn card, or the shuffling of the deck, but make it utterly unable to change the state of the deck once shuffled, and unable to make a boulder fall if it is not already going to fall within seconds anyways due to physics. And that would be the point. To the outside observer - such as you, the victim of the boulder - it would be chance that you happened to walk past that boulder right as it fell. But to the world, to nature, to the laws of physics, it is not chance. There is no cosmic roll of the die that determines when the boulder falls. Physics determines when. We have absolutely no way of measuring the movement of every particle at all times, but if we could, we would be able to determine how things will come to be. We would be able to see the way the tiny breeze is pushing away the final few specks of sand that keep the boulder in place. If we know something is happening, but not exactly how, then we can say it is chance. But still, our estimations of "20% chance to fall", or "million-in-one chance of missing" are meaningless unless put in perspective. This is why we say getting heads in a coin flip is 50:50, getting heads 2 times in a row is 1:4, getting heads 10 times in a row is something like 1:1000. But to the coin, nothing really changes. If it happens to be flipped the same way every time, it may well land on heads 100 times in a row. We call this an exceedingly low probability, but we must never forget that probability is just something we have invented. Manipulating the chance of the coin landing on heads is the same as altering either the coin, the coin flipper, the environment near the coin flipping, etc. I just want to know which of these things the Mask of Possibilities could actually manage to do, or if it's just another "meh, it can magically do whatever it wants" hand-wave. In order to even say that the aforementioned boulder has a "20% chance to fall within the next few minutes", we must first have an estimate of how much the state of that boulder is changing over time. If there is no change whatsoever, then there is no chance that it will fall at all, unless someone decides to push it. And if someone pushes it, we do not call it chance, do we? Even though we could say that it is chance that someone decides to push it. "There is a 10% chance that a certain Matoran will push the boulder" is another meaningless probability. 10% as compared to what? His usual mindset for rock-pushing? His new work schedule of pushing rocks? Every other Matoran's rock-pushing destiny? A Toa's need to trap a Rahi with the rock? We can invent percentage probabilities for just about anything, but that doesn't make them sensible. I honestly don't like "powers" that are not even vaguely defined beyond "it does whatever the plot requires". At least with Strength and Speed and Shielding we know what they can reasonably do. "Possibilities" is pure movie magic, basically. So my question is still: What does the Mask of Possibilities actually do to change "probability"? Can it create forces that act upon the world? Can it affect the mind of a person? Does the user have any control over how the "wish" manifests, such as by choosing mind-affection instead of rust to make fishers64 choose weapon A over weapon B? Because if this thing can actually alter reality in any way it wants in order to make things come true, I will say it is overpowered.

Well, this mask, by "altering probability" is either a reality-warping OP mask, or it is a mere curiosity. Knowing even the smallest detail of how it makes the probability-changes come true would help knowing if it's OP or not. I don't know what this means. The fact that the card on top will vary randomly and that the math of probability describes this remains without us assigning meanings. And without any humans at all, many things in nature follow random "scatter patterns", like where raindrops land. No, the card on top is not random once the deck has been shuffled and the card you hope for is decided. If the game is about guessing which card is on top, you have 1/52 chance of being right at any point. The mask, when used, would potentially be able to make your mind reach the right guess, or to make the cards fall slightly differently when shuffled so that your guess ends up on top to be drawn first. If the game is well underway, however, and the deck has been shuffled, and you have already said that you need the King of Hearts... then yes, you technically have a 1/52 chance of having guessed right, but it is no longer a situation where "probability" can be altered. The card on top has come to rest, it is already determined with 100% accuracy. Your guess has no meaning. If you were to activate the mask just as the dealer flipped the top card, it should logically have no effect on the outcome. You need the King of Hearts, and you had 1/52 chance of being right when you made your guess, but the mask can no longer change the probability of you guessing right or the right card ending up on top, because that is already decided. The same goes for most other situations involving "chance". It is not "chance" that you get hit by a boulder that suddenly rolled down the hill. You came to work today, you went to that spot to do your job, and the boulder was loosened by years of erosion or some other force acting upon it. Even the path the boulder takes rolling down the hill and striking you is not chance. It is physics. If the Mask of Possibilities were to help you, it could make you able to pick the right direction to dodge, or make the boulder strike a smaller rock and divert its path. But it is not chance. It is not "altering probability". Raindrops are similarly not actually random. Chaotic, unpredictable, yes. But they land where they land due to physics. Due to the exact arrangement of particles and the myriad of forces acting upon them from they form till they drop and land. They are random to our eyes, but the probability of hitting you is only due to us being unable to measure their path. So how will the Mask of Possibilities "alter probability" to make you less wet in the rain? My point is, what effect does "altering probability" actually have on physics, when we know that "chances" and "percentages" are only so because we lack the ability to predict events accurately? EDIT: And yeah, I'll make a new topic for this subject if the discussion isn't concluded within a few posts.

Oh hey, a new face. Glad to hear you like the game. I am working on a new engine for it, which will hopefully end up in a much smoother game and more to do. Speaking of: I have currently finished the code for jump-through platforms. This allows me to do some things with level design that I couldn't before, such as letting you stand on top of a hut's roof while others can still pass by in front of it. I have also made the player more state-based, so that the new and improved flight scripts don't mess with standard movement. I have also made powers more flexible, so that the same script can be equipped in any "power slot". This means that I can for example equip Hunger as the main power of a Vohrak, while it also works as the mask power of a Toa, no copy-paste needed. At the moment, the new engine contains the following: - Basic movement and jump-through platform engine - Proper flight power (Kanohi Kadin!) - Improved system for powers, equipment, HUD graphics, etc. It's going slow because I'm taking care to write and rewrite every part until it works, instead of the patchwork I've been doing before. Once I have enough progress for an exciting tech demo, I'll make sure to upload it here.

This doesn't follow -- you're talking about the results rather than the chance of success prior to the activity happening. That's like saying the weatherman was wrong to give a 70% chance of rain, after the fact, and it rained. If chance is involved, the results will be one or the other, so getting a result does not logically show that chance wasn't involved... That is the point - there is only a "chance" because we - the people observing - must define it so in order to make predictions. From the world's point of view, there is no actual "chance". Everything that happens, happens due to the laws of nature, which we do not have the capacity to read accurately. Therefore we can not predict exactly how long a hurricane will last, or exactly where the rain will start/stop, we can only make guesses. But the Mask of Possibilities alters "probability". Probability has no meaning apart from that which we assign to it. As I mentioned in my previous post: If you try to guess which card will be drawn from a deck, you have - from your own point of view - 50% chance of guessing red or black correctly. From the deck's point of view - or rather: reality, the world... whatever we want to call it - your guess is either right or wrong. And that is the problem: The Mask of Possibilities "alters probability", but probability only stems from the fact that we do not have all the details at hand. The card stays the same no matter what you guess. So if you are entering a game of chance, such as a card game, and you need an Ace to win... what can the mask do? The deck has already been shuffled, the next card is 100% certain from nature's point of view. If you know that there are 10 cards left and 1 of them is the Ace you need, that is a 10% chance of having gambled for the right card to come up... but what can the mask actually do to alter that percentage, were you to activate it at this moment? If it is to have an effect, it must actually do something physical to the elements involved in your game of chance. It must fudge a die roll, cause a spontaneous breeze to make your paper plane fly straight, make the hinges of a door suddenly turn out to be rusty so that you make it in time before it closes. How does any of it actually work? Saying "there's now a 70% chance rather than a 50% chance that the door will close before you reach it" actually makes no sense. The mask must have an effect upon things around it in order to actually affect "probability" - and that "probability" is still only in the eye of the observer. Let's say you are entering a race vs. 4 other people with the same max speed as you. How does the mask change your chance of winning from 20% to 25%, for example? It must eliminate a competitor somehow. Does it alter the track in your favor? Does it magically make one of the opponents retire early due to exhaustion or stomach flu? Does it increase your top speed? What kind of situation can we actually use this mask in where it is not either going straight for 100% chance to do what you want, or else failing to make sense?

First off, I'm inclined to disagree with this. Let's say I'm in a fortress in the midst of a battle, and the gate desperately needs to get shut before even bigger bad guys show up. Improving the odds of the gate closing in time from 50% to 70% would seem like a substantial advantage. But what does that even mean? "70% chance of closing in time"? You have a max speed, and the gate is closing at a certain speed as well. Either you make it, or you don't. The mask could cause something to distract the guy operating the gate, perhaps, or influence other events in your favor; but that isn't a "70% chance" either. If it works, it works, and if it doesn't, it doesn't. There's no chance involved, at least not when the mask is doing its work. Probability is honestly meaningless if we are not looking at measuring things we cannot control or predict. Rolling a die or drawing a card is "random" in the way that we can not predict the outcome, but only from our limited point of view. When you draw the first card, you can say you have a 50% chance of guessing whether it's red or black, and for every card after that we can count the number of cards on the table and determine if you now have a 60/40% ratio of color, 45/55%, and so on. But the card on top of the deck is not actually random. It is already determined as soon as the deck has been shuffled. If the card on top is the King of Spades, whether you guess red or black doesn't change anything - it will still be the same black-suited card no matter what you guess. When you draw that card, from your point of view you have a 50% chance of being right, but from the deck (or the world)'s point of view you have either a 0% or a 100% chance. So if you sit down with the Mask of Possibilities, what does it actually do? Does it give you foresight enough to predict that the card is Spades? Does it swap the top card with a different one to give you an advantage? Does it cause the dealer to drop the deck, shuffling the cards and putting the card you actually guessed on top? Does it make someone call the dealer out on fraud, so that the game has to be restarted under more favorable conditions? Yeah, here's the thing: For probability to exist as anything other than statistical analysis, the MU must actually be using some sort of random number generator to govern its physics. Either that, or the Mask of Possibilities is actually allowed to tap into the system and force a minor change, which is more in line with its name - it allows you create a minor effect that is possible. You can't make the floor turn to lava, but you can make the wind guide an arrow you've shot a tiny bit more to the left in order to hit your target.

Well, if it wasn't 100%, there wouldn't be much point in wearing the mask. Heck, how does it even work in the first place? If a boulder is lying on top of a hill, there is no chance that it will fall by mere chance. It will either fall by some natural cause - due to a force acting upon it, or its weight acting upon the foundation - or it will not fall at all. Saying there's a "30% chance that the boulder will fall" makes no sense to my ears for that reason. The Mask of Possibilities must have a power which somehow knows the user's wish, then tries to make them true. For example, if the boulder has a very loose foundation, the mask may be able to summon a force just strong enough to make it start rolling. Or, once it is moving down the hill, the mask might slightly influence the area so that the boulder changes directions and misses the wearer of the mask. It's not OP simply because you can only influence one event at a time, and if you don't know what to influence you can still be killed. Like, if make your crossbow misfire, that saves my life. If the bolt is already whizzing towards me, it's likely too late to notice, and a Hau would have been a better option that day. Or could you just influence yourself to have a 100% chance to dodge all attacks? I dunno. Probably not. I still find "Possibilities" to be another silly power that should have gotten a better definition, or else be better off left out. The Olmak would be a good fit for Legendary mask, since it messes with dimensions and I therefore think it should require just as much mental discipline as slowing down time. But, since a legendary power has this thing about causing a massive energy release when destroyed, we're probably better off with an OP Toa-level mask that simply breaks instead. That way we can be rid of the things without breaking the story in the main dimension as well.

Exsidian is metal. If any Toa were to control it, I'd say it's the brand of Toa that, well, control metal. Quartz is either rock - and thus the element of Stone - or it's classified as some sort of crystal which no one controls. I'd have no problems with that. I feel that not everything needs a Toa, and gems - being either rare or having effects such as heat or light - are one of those things.

I'm not surprised that the GBs are nothing more than a handful. It'd be more surprising if they were an entire species consisting of nothing but thousands of highly skilled inventors and scientists capable of manipulating nature, time and space.

It's very hard to find good video editing software that is also free. I only know of one that can do chroma key, and that is "t@b ZS4", which is open-source and (as far as I know, at least) free of malware and viruses. I've never used it myself, so I can't really vouch for it, though.

The Kohrak have buzzsaw shields, which can be rather destructive. I'm sure it's nice to have a breed which can contain threats without killing them as well.

I've jokingly referred to Lehvak-Kal as the swarm's vacuum cleaner before. I imagine the Lehvak swarm, if given the actual air element, would be glorified leaf blowers.

It's essential for life, which is what I said. The Mask of Life was being discussed, and you wrote this sentence, so that is why I felt the need to nip the issue in the bud. I probably misunderstood your intention with it.

I agree, with Toa R. Lih Nit here. Why the Mask of Creation was made a Legendary-tier mask is honestly beyond me. It's power is nothing too out of the ordinary - it's honestly not a major force in the universe like time - and its proposed effects if broken (its energies released upon the world) is vague and hard to reason out. It's certainly powerful, but if the Olmak and Mohtrek are not Legendary (and those things rip holes in time and space) then neither should this be. Also, remember: The Ignika is not essential for life to work in the MU. We have seen as a major plot point which demonstrates this: Launching the Mask into space and having it destroyed there equals no harm done to the MU. The inhabitants wouldn't even have noticed that it was gone if Makuta hadn't told everyone. The only thing that would cause harm is its function as a doomsday weapon, or the massive release of energy that would occur if it's broken. This makes the mask a nuke to be worn on your face, but it does not make all life energy in the MU dependent upon it. At least that is what I think you mean when you say "essential for life".

I've been spending my time on exams, mostly. For this game I'm working on the new engine, which is proceeding, but slowly. Currently I only have the very basics of movement controls actually implemented, as I build this piece by piece and spend a lot of time on each. I'll keep you posted.