Public Commander Keen Forum

Wow, so there was originally a "moon" tile in the grey rock tileset too?
Cool find.
Any way it would be possible to patch these tilesets back in? Or make mods off of the original demo that (maybe) has support for all these tiles?

Looking at the comparison between the beta/demo and the final, it looks like they did a search for unused tiles/things and just wiped them--it would explain why the ground tiles look so gosh darn confusing in the final, and why there's, say, no Arachnut for "Normal" difficulty (the 2).

Ceilick, as a successful Keen:Galaxy modder, how much easier would the task have been, if you were working off of that demo tileset, instead of the disjointed final one? I have to admit, that was an enormous stumbling block for me, and seeing the demo version really clears up the fog.

Any way it would be possible to patch these tilesets back in? Or make mods off of the original demo that (maybe) has support for all these tiles?

The great thing is that the full version of Keen 4 still has the properties in place for most of these tiles; its just a matter of importing them and adding them to levels. Figuring out how some of these were meant to be used may present some problems though, and it seems some will require some extra tiles be made to be useful.

There no doubt in my mind that Mr. M will be interested in these for his mod, Foray in the Forest. I can think of a few projects these would work terrific in as well (keen 4 enhanced? Keen 4 levelpack? Other mods in the style of Foray in the Forest?).

Ceilick, as a successful Keen:Galaxy modder, how much easier would the task have been, if you were working off of that demo tileset, instead of the disjointed final one?

I take it you mean in terms of platforms, but to be honest I think what can be seen here REALLY over complicates things. In one sense, you have a complete platform sets with pretty much every useable angle that Keen:Galaxy uses. This means a lot of freedom in terms of level design.

But the excess of it all really makes understanding how these tiles 'tile' with each other, how they are used in repetition to create levels, a lot harder in my opinion. The minimal design of the tileset in the final product, as I see it, really tells the modder just how many tiles are needed and how those tiles will fit together to 'tile' or 'stack' with each other to build platforms. Granted the presentation could have been much more organized.

I guess maybe it depends on one's learning style I've been working on a new galaxy platform template and knowing that seeing the tiles in a presentation like this is helpful should be useful for that.

Mind=blown!!

WoW! I wish the digital-looking sign would have made it in the final. A truly amazing dig-up!

Wow, just noticed the wooden platformson the right half way down. I wonder which level they were intended for.... (maybe the other one that seems to have not been included )

Those wooden platforms are a bit of a mystery. I had always wondered what the single two wooden tiles left in the final tileset were for.

Also, have you guys ever noticed this spot on the world map? Seems like they had intended to put a snow level here.

Gridlock wrote:Also, have you guys ever noticed this spot on the world map? Seems like they had intended to put a snow level here.

I'd always thought that that was just being clever with the world map - a certain degree of realism, where surely there would be some unimportant parts of the Shadowlands, But omanyoumaybeontosomething.

Who designed the K4 maps?

John Romero. And maybe Tom Hall, too.

Kuliwil wrote:Wow, just noticed the wooden platformson the right half way down. I wonder which level they were intended for.... (maybe the other one that seems to have not been included )

I wonder about these too. The way they're set up, it almost makes me think they were intended for a unique level of their own. They look made of bamboo to me (along with those tiles in the upper right of the background tileset), like they belong in some kind of tiki hut level. Doesn't seem too far out of scope for Keen 4.

I don't know about an extra snow level in that empty space on the world map, but I would speculate that those neat snow/mountain tiles below the Hillville level entrance tiles were intended for the Chasm of Chills.

The desert style hillville entrance has me very intrigued.

Very cool! Thanks for digging this up!

Wow, just noticed that the flames above the bamboo platforms are different to the normal flames, and seem to be intended to go below that pot to the left of the bamboo. I don't remember seeing any of those in K4.

I just thought of a place the stone tiles could have been planned to go: The Well of Wishes!
Did anyone else think it was strange that Keen swam through the lake, climbed out onto an island, climbed down a man-made structure (the well), and then ended up in a lake level? I always wondered why the only sign of civilization in that level (besides the mines, and who puts MINES in a well?) was the small arch by the council member. Also, the re-used tiles from Crystalus look a bit jagged and unnatural.

Has anyone noticed the Keen 5-ish looking exit signs for the ice tiles?

RoboBlue wrote:...and who puts MINES in a well?...

I had never thought about this before. O.o While we're at it, fish in a well doesn't sound like a good idea either. Fish are just like every other living creature. They have to poo too.