The Atmosphere of Commander Keen (Over The Top & Otherwi

Here, you can get help with anything or just chat about the original Commander Keen games.
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The Atmosphere of Commander Keen (Over The Top & Otherwi

Post by -MegaTrip: »

Last edited by -MegaTrip: on Thu Apr 12, 2012 3:40, edited 1 time in total.
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Paramultart
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Post by Paramultart »

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Post by DoomJedi »

Paramultart - seem to be an illegal question to ask on a forum of an 22-year old game :) :) :)
To most people this is not different to any other Keen thread :)
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Post by tulip »

okay Paramultart, although I agree with your sentiment, no more memepics please.

on topic maybe I'm really getting old or something but first Bablet where I constantly have the feeling I don't get anything she says (although I have an idea she's probably extremely witty), and now megatrip, who's posts are also rather cryptic to me.
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Eros
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Post by Eros »

this is like some sort of hipster trolling.

me no gusta.
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Post by Fleexy »

*Cough* Nothing, absolutely nothing, can go between an object pronoun and a verb. No me gusta.

Also, while Bablet's writing is slightly out of order with normal grammar, I can usually understand it fairly well. I kind of like having to think a little about what I read instead of mindlessly absorbing everything.
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Post by DHeadshot »

tulip wrote:okay Paramultart, although I agree with your sentiment, no more memepics please.
Shouldn't that be "No more non-Keen-related memepics"? Surely we want to encourage Keen memes?
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Post by VikingBoyBilly »

What the fucl? I thought you guys claimed you couldn't understand his post in the SOPA thread because it was getting out of hand. But now there's this. So you genuinely don't understand what he's conveying here? Because I feel the same way about Keen 2.
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Post by Paramultart »

I understand perfectly well his feelings on Keen 2, but I think "snow falling at night" is far more lively and beautiful than cold metal in empty space. For this reason, I hate the atmosphere of Keen 2, and consider it to be the worst Keen game, despite the addition of Scrubs, which is one of the most original and useful game-play additions to the Vorticons trilogy.

Aside from that, this thread is incoherent and nonsensical.
It raises no questions, nor does it make many conversation points.
In short, I thought "what the fucl am I reading" sums it up pretty nicely".
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Post by Benvolio »

I think 'snow falling at night' sums up something about the atmosphere of keen2 - and maybe keen1 as well although that might be because i first played keen1 in the winter. There's a stillness (broken only by a blundering vortikid or something) in Keen games (particularly 1 and 2) that you won't find in modern games or even other early 90s shoot-em-ups.

I have long been interested in atmosphere in Keen games - indeed my mods are heavier in attempted atmosphere than they are in actual playability - and find something uplifting in the atmosphere of Keen2 - it feels like anything could happen in those levels. I furthermore think XkyKeen2 channels this atmosphere to even greater success.
What the [fucl] am I reading?
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If yes, then discussion of art is, in itself, a blank canvas onto which creative thoughts should be painted with freedom, subject not to rejection but only further criticism or discussion. -MegaTrip: has illustrated this model with his or her rich post.
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Post by -MegaTrip: »

Last edited by -MegaTrip: on Thu Apr 12, 2012 3:40, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Ceilick »

The image you posted of Keen 4's scrolling seen always held a huge sense of foreboding for me as a kid, like somehow all the while I was on this mildly happy adventure there was some dark, malevolence that I wasn't aware of. Could be considered the Shikadi, or Mortimer, but ultimately, while it sets a tone for "Goodbye Galaxy", it feels out of place to Keen 4.

As a kid, I had a habit of turning the lights off in Keen 2 whenever applicable in a level, so I have strong feelings of quiet darkness there, almost to the extent of 'horror genre', with the fear of vorticon elites charging stealthily from off screen.
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Post by Scarlet »

I love that dark image from keen four! It's awesome.

I don't think we ever had such a darkness in keen. Hm, I suppose some levels in keen 1 are kinda dark at times. Or some in keen 8.



The atroxian realm mod looks like it will have lots of darkness. I prefer it. It's about time that there was a somewhat more spooky environment.


Though now that I think about it... keen five is somewhat, perhaps just a little, dark in the first level... because you can see space around the level.
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Post by VikingBoyBilly »

Scarlet wrote:Though now that I think about it... keen five is somewhat, perhaps just a little, dark in the first level... because you can see space around the level.
This is starkly contrasted by "sunday on the beach" playing in the background.
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Post by Bablet »

I thought it was Wednesday...

(Giving up being cryptic was one of my resolutions. That, and to stop playing Touhou games. So far, I have failed at both.)


Sometimes, when I play any of the games, I feel this strange sadness. Maybe not sadness... I don't really know. It just feels empty, alone, dusty. Forgotten, maybe... I can't articulate it. Never mind. I've gotten those same feelings from listening to the radio on sunny late-afternoons, looking up into the sky and thinking about time passing.

(Nope, no wit here. No 'that which rhymes with wit' either, as I have just returned from the bathroom.)
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