Do you still care about vorticon mods?
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- Vortininja
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 14:36
Do you still care about vorticon mods?
Hey guys. I was wondering how many people stil care about the vorticon mods or if people prefer galaxie mods now. so I decided to make a little poll.
- troublesomekeen
- Vorticon Elite
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Re: Do you still care about vorticon mods?
Don't we all care about Vorticon mods? Don't all of us download and play the every mod that's released? It's not like there's twenty or thirty releases a day that we have to choose to care about. This is the PCKF for Norp's sake. Aren't the mods what we look forward to? We're all keeners who care about all Keen mods. There isn't a separate Vorticons forum and a separate Galaxy forum.
Modding can be a great creative outlet for people. With the tools and patches available these Keen games can almost become independent from the Keeniverse itself. Want to build a platformer without learning a coding language? Mod Keen games! And... well, Vorticons is decidedly easier to mod. Finishing any mod is a glorious and grand achievement that merits and demands a playthrough from every member attached to this community. 'Put a lot of hard work and time into your mod? Nope, don't care, not gonna play it.' Heavens! Yes we do care! If we don't, there goes 60% of everything. The super-awesome modders like KeenRush and Levellass (to name a few) are always pushing the limits and devising new and never-seen-before alterations to Galaxy -- and especially Vorticons, so there's always a possibility of surprise. Imagine! Stuff you've never seen before or things you never thought possible could be in the next Vorticons release! Who knew Vorticon-Map-Keen would be able to jump, as seen in KeenRush's latest mod? Plus, modders have the freedom to create their own story/plot! And build their own world around it! Who wouldn't want to boot up old DosBox and see what it's all about?
Ah, but then Galaxy is so much more appealing, and Keen 4 is the game many of us grew up with, and it's more pleasing to the eye and there's more creatures and backgrounds, etc.. etc.. Since Galaxy mods are so few, so big, so grandios, and so colorful, more buzz surrounds them. But Vorticons won't be forgotten. Some Vorticon mods are irresistible to play, like VBB's Bananasaurus.
Modding can be a great creative outlet for people. With the tools and patches available these Keen games can almost become independent from the Keeniverse itself. Want to build a platformer without learning a coding language? Mod Keen games! And... well, Vorticons is decidedly easier to mod. Finishing any mod is a glorious and grand achievement that merits and demands a playthrough from every member attached to this community. 'Put a lot of hard work and time into your mod? Nope, don't care, not gonna play it.' Heavens! Yes we do care! If we don't, there goes 60% of everything. The super-awesome modders like KeenRush and Levellass (to name a few) are always pushing the limits and devising new and never-seen-before alterations to Galaxy -- and especially Vorticons, so there's always a possibility of surprise. Imagine! Stuff you've never seen before or things you never thought possible could be in the next Vorticons release! Who knew Vorticon-Map-Keen would be able to jump, as seen in KeenRush's latest mod? Plus, modders have the freedom to create their own story/plot! And build their own world around it! Who wouldn't want to boot up old DosBox and see what it's all about?
Ah, but then Galaxy is so much more appealing, and Keen 4 is the game many of us grew up with, and it's more pleasing to the eye and there's more creatures and backgrounds, etc.. etc.. Since Galaxy mods are so few, so big, so grandios, and so colorful, more buzz surrounds them. But Vorticons won't be forgotten. Some Vorticon mods are irresistible to play, like VBB's Bananasaurus.
Commander Keen in... Canteloupe Quest!
Well, I much prefer Galaxy mods but we don't exactly get a lot of them. We can usually count on at least a few Vorticon mods a year, and especially lately there have been a lot of very enjoyable ones. I care about Vorticon mods more than I used to, but that's mostly because we get a lot of other releases.
Armageddon Begins Again. The Alphamatic has arrived.
Atroxian Realm: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3536
The Alphamatic: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4086
The graphics in most Vorticons mods isn't very appealing, which is why I'm put off by the majority of them. Many of the early Vorticons mods had little to no enemy behaviour patches and there was nothing special about the levels in a lot of them either.
The Vorticons mods that I like the most are those which take a gimmicky patch and build a game around it, like the side scrolling patch mods or Fall Up. I like them even better if they have a simple, cartoony style. It seems that we've been getting quite a few of these recently.
I think the epic, Wagnerian mods are better left to be implemented in the Galaxy engine.
The Vorticons mods that I like the most are those which take a gimmicky patch and build a game around it, like the side scrolling patch mods or Fall Up. I like them even better if they have a simple, cartoony style. It seems that we've been getting quite a few of these recently.
I think the epic, Wagnerian mods are better left to be implemented in the Galaxy engine.
- Flyingmouse
- Vortininja
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Like troublesomekeen said, they're all worth playing and it doesn't matter what Keen they're made for. And just to add, it's not about not being able to program a platformer game and thus sticking to modding a Keen game, it's all about appreciating the old game and working within its limits and the limits of the hardware it was run on. I could make a platformer, as could many others, or we could use any of the billion freely available modern platform game engines supporting 100 layers, mp3 music, 32bit graphics -- but we don't want to, we're not too keen on fan games, we like modding! Modding is a much more complicated art, I'd say. (And making more complicated patches does require you to know about programming too.)
As for me, I prefer Vorticon mods because I love the 2-layer (tiles + sprites) engine and the player physics. I play through every non-Vorticon mod just the same but I just like V. mods more. But I've been seriously thinking about making a Keen 4 mod too because it'd be so different. I started one a long ago and it was discontinued but I might just start a new and different one.
As for me, I prefer Vorticon mods because I love the 2-layer (tiles + sprites) engine and the player physics. I play through every non-Vorticon mod just the same but I just like V. mods more. But I've been seriously thinking about making a Keen 4 mod too because it'd be so different. I started one a long ago and it was discontinued but I might just start a new and different one.
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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- Kuliwho?
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Each have been patched in different and unique ways - I just go on creativity. I play more Galaxy, but that's because I've never been so big on Vorticons. Having said that, the quality of the Vorticons mods coming out is making me want to play more and more.
Keening_Product was defeated before the game.
"Wise words. One day I may even understand what they mean." - Levellass
"Wise words. One day I may even understand what they mean." - Levellass
I definitely care more about Vorticons mods. This is because it remains a more accessible and versatile canvas to the modder and thus it has given us fascinating projects over the years now numbering about 100. Many of which I have spent extended amounts of time enjoying.
Whereas Galaxy modding is earlier in its evolution than Vorticons. Its evolution has been slower because it is more complex and because it seems that a good Galaxy mod requires a workload equivalent to a short film or something. Not a trivial hobby for the pre-teen dabbler, or the busy adult either. But when and if a day comes when Galaxy mods produce the range that Vorticons do, then I will probably care about them equally.
So there is merit to all categories of mod across the ages, and the deciding factor is the same as any artform: an unquantifiable blend of talent, inspiration and effort. Mostly effort.
Whereas Galaxy modding is earlier in its evolution than Vorticons. Its evolution has been slower because it is more complex and because it seems that a good Galaxy mod requires a workload equivalent to a short film or something. Not a trivial hobby for the pre-teen dabbler, or the busy adult either. But when and if a day comes when Galaxy mods produce the range that Vorticons do, then I will probably care about them equally.
I think that, from the starting point of the granular graphical style of the original Keen1-3, with few items bigger than a 16x16 tile, the modders have made huge improvements in many works. Xky's mods are the timeless classics graphically, but in a similar quality category fall mods including but not limited to Keens Y and Z, Bananasauros, The Last Moon, the later Silcar mods. Though KeenRush is known for his gameplay, I love the graphics of Yorphius and Smile. And though my own graphics were generally pretty shoddy, I am quite proud of A Sham on Inishmort and Bunny Basher 2.DoomJedi wrote:Sloppy art in most Vorticon mods is what turns me off.
So there is merit to all categories of mod across the ages, and the deciding factor is the same as any artform: an unquantifiable blend of talent, inspiration and effort. Mostly effort.