Post
by Ceilick » Tue Mar 27, 2012 1:08
I suppose some further clarifications are in order:
1. Earth as at least a partial setting is what Paramultart wanted from the beginning. There are few options, story wise, for how to handle this: alien invasion/occupation, secret aliens/area 51/MIB, or no aliens until later. If there's a better scenario for aliens on earth, throw it out. While the main plot is on earth, we have a lot of "alien settings", including places where the invaders have established their own, alien looking, facilities.
2. From the get go, we wanted levels to include a heavy story element. This means the story will unfold beyond the simple intro story (draft!) and gameplay. In-game dialogue and text are intended to unfold the story. A lot of lore and interest would be developed here.
3. Concerning Keen as an adult: The team discussed Keen character considerably. There's no way in hell we want him to be a Duke Nukem/Snake Logan clone. Keen may be older, but he's still the tech whiz and defender of justice he's always been. Keen has character and we fully intend/ed to make this apparent. Even in his walking animation, I made sure that Keen runs with his gun holstered; he's not the type to have his gun out to shoot something as soon as he sees it (even if all he runs into are enemies).
4. Art style: It's been commented that it's "not keenish" and that it's "too bio menace", but really, what's going on here is both para's art style and my own, unhindered by limitations of "keenishness" or trying to mimic the at style of previous games. We're arting in a manner which appeals to us with no guidelines.
5. Gameplay: Bio menace, unlike Keen Galaxy, is much more suitable for 'run and gun' gameplay. That's just how it is. Keen has an automatic weapon and grenades, and they're damn fun to use. Additionally, the manner in which Para has designed our tiles (which are stunning and beautiful IMHO) so far makes it fairly difficult to create exploration and puzzle elements. Personally, I'm perfectly content with linear exploration in this manner. This test level is always a blast for me to run through. But there are plans to create diverging points for exploration to add some variety. Still, unlike the original Keen games, surviving and blasting your way through enemies is a much larger theme than previously seen (largely due to an Automatic weapon, grenades, and save-points).
This mod is largely Keen only in name and setting, but I feel I speak for everyone on the team when I say that Keenish gameplay is something we try to work into cracks that are there.
(feel free to edit my post if it is, ceilick)
), it'll probably be awesome.
