Do you like my Keen output/work?

This is where you can post your Commander Keen related stories, artwork, or other stuff that is related to Commander Keen but otherwise doesn't belong in another forum.

Do you actually like my Keen work?

Yes
21
95%
No
1
5%
 
Total votes: 22

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KeenRush
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Do you like my Keen output/work?

Post by KeenRush »

I feel like it's time for a small poll I probably should've taken several years ago. Not that the results are guaranteed to have any effect on the future, but they might.

Expand your vote to a comment by trying to tell what aspects of it all you like or don't (or both). You don't have to be coherent. Just speak.

Don't consider this as any attention begging shiit, I just want to have a sort of general view after more than 10 years of doing things. :goth
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
Keening_Product
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Post by Keening_Product »

I enjoy what you do - it pushes boundaries a long, LONG way, creates new challenges (in every sense of the word) and gives something more for the technical or adventurous Keener.

Actually, you probably also give something to the bored Keener, as your work is usually so different and challenging it has an entirely new feeling and new dimensions for people to discover.

Keep pushing boundaries! (Or just doing whatever you like, really.)


-
ALSO: I love how KeenRush of all people circumvented the language filter.
Keening_Product was defeated before the game.

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Benvolio
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Post by Benvolio »

I think you should have gathered how much I admire your mods and levels by now!! There is not really any aspect of your work that I dislike. That should be the way in video games. Of course no-one likes failing at a task and indeed I often fail at levels in your mods - but that is because I am a poor gamer who can only claim to have truly mastered Keen1 among commercial games. When I persevere at your levels the feeling of acheivement is astounding.

Of course it is an untruth to say that you have far exceeded other modders in modding terms. But everyone has something different to bring to modding. Your graphics for instance are solid and easy on the eye, but perhaps someone like Xky has an unequalled level of finesse. Your levels are the thing that is most strongly associated with your mods. I think Episode Smile was the mod that brought this association about - a lot of mockery occurred because of the levels' difficulty and I hope you didn't take it too seriously. No-one ever doubted the quality of the levels in Smile. Instead many were overwhelmed of what was required of the player. If you think of other mods of that time, very few approached the difficulty of Smile. If anything mine did (in terms of a death-to-completion ratio), but that was due to unwise, brutish and childish insistence on overly sized levels - rather than any great intelligent charm.

The world of modding/keen editing has evolved over the years due to patching as well as an expansion in the types of themes addressed. But I think your works have made their mark on that of others. Which is a good sign. Play the Banana Mod to see a fantastic new project that, although it was in development simultaneously with Extinction, has real-time challenges that should appeal to you!

Anyway I shall stop here. Please continue modding as it is appreciated!
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Post by TerminILL »

I wrote out a longish, self-indulgent, ass-kissing post, but then threw it away. Apparently I've earned a vague reputation for being blunt around here. Either way, I'll be fairly short and sweet.

Your mods are way too damn hard for me. I say for me, because honestly I'm a pretty wimpy Keener. Low perserverance and low skill stop me getting too far. But, hard or no, I give most things a look, and I've usually liked what I've seen in your mods, even if I was cursing it vaguely while reaching for a load-state key. You do things with understated but definite style, and your mods are well renowned within the community for good reason. New and interesting things come out of your mods, and I hope they keep doing so, even if I barely play them.
Shonikado wrote:Looking back on what we've done and wanting to change it is the first step in becoming a weakling that cannot do anything.
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Post by Keening_Product »

TerminILL wrote:Your mods are way too damn hard for me. I say for me, because honestly I'm a pretty wimpy Keener.
^Oh yeah, that too.
TerminILL wrote:I wrote out a longish, self-indulgent, ass-kissing post, but then threw it away.
I wish you'd said that before I got a chance to post.
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Post by Benvolio »

TerminILL wrote:longish, self-indulgent, ass-kissing post
Haha already taken care of. My post is tl;dr and yours says the exact same in half the length!
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troublesomekeen
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Post by troublesomekeen »

Keening_Product wrote:
TerminILL wrote: honestly I'm a pretty wimpy Keener.
^Oh yeah, that too.
That makes three of us.

Wow. 10 years. You're like.. one of the untouchables! You're one of the pieces that hold everything up. As a matter o' fact, you remind me of...

Image

I'm not able to critique your stuff seriously, because I'm just a fan. ^^
Simply being able to put a finished Keen mod on the wiki is huge.
Last edited by troublesomekeen on Tue Jul 11, 2017 7:50, edited 1 time in total.
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Commander Keen in... Canteloupe Quest!
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Levellass
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Post by Levellass »

Love your work, hate your implementation.

Not all of us are advanced keening cyborgs from the future with frame-perfect reactions able to glide through levels that destroy ordinary humans. Even making a tribute level to you had to be done with something far easier than you would build.
What you really need, not what you think you ought to want.
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KeenRush
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Post by KeenRush »

Thank you all for your comments. It feels great to read even one appreciative (and it seems there are more than one!) opinion. :) Not to mention the poll results. So thank you people!

Now, I understand the difficulty of my levels is a factor that causes some trouble -- obviously, the levels being what people play in a mod. And I've been trying to work on that -- after A New Dope I've gradually tried to make things easier but it seems to be difficult because meanwhile my skills have gotten better and I lose the perspective again. :o However, I have to keep on trying. One method I've found out is taking enough vodka and playing and seeing if I can pass my levels. :D Not fool-proof though... Anyway -- I thought IceKeen levels were playable but people had problems with them (sure there are some very difficult levels there but on purpose, I'm talking about the majority of the levels). When the next project drops, I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised. ;)
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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Post by Gridlock »

I have enjoyed some of your recent work, because on occasion it is fun to play a harder challenge. I do think you could vary your work more if you adopt a slightly more artistic approach to modding. Some of your recent work (especially IceKeen) has seemed very minimalistic, which isn't always a style choice that draws people in. Level design is a crucial part of that and can be artistic in itself, but I think most mods (except for some puzzle mods) need more than just clever challenges. Perhaps what a lot of your levels seem to lack is setting and structure. My advice is to keep experimenting with visual and design styles. Hopefully this is the honest answer you're looking for :)

And I have been very impressed with some of your mods, particularly Fall Up and Extinction. The clever ideas and puzzles kept me invested in them even when they got a bit long and repetitive.
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Atroxian Realm: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3536
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Post by Ceilick »

As I've mentioned before, your work consistently gives me the impression that while we're all modding, you're designing games that just happen to use the Keen engine.

While I don't mind the difficulty in your work (I've found all except Smile to be very playable for the most part), I think it would be beneficial to the development of your style to experiment with level design that rarely enforces the death penalty.
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Post by Benvolio »

Ceilick wrote:enforces
What I like about KR's later mods (as well as Banana Mod) was the unlimited lives which made you feel less of a cheater/waste less time whilst making multiple attempts at the level. The means of penitence in Keen are limited. I mean, if instead of dying you got teleported to the start of the level, then you would have the task of redoing the level to the point where you were teleported. This is not a very different experience to dying.

Perhaps loss of opportunity to gain power-ups is a penitence applicable in Keen. You could be shunted past a pile of teddybears if you fail to make the ridiculously difficult jump. Etc.
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Post by Ceilick »

Simply losing progress on one puzzle within a level (missing a jump and having to start the puzzle over) rather than that one puzzle and all that came before it (missing a jump and dying) is a big deal--it is the biggest deal aside from a complete game over.

Within levels, the universal reward for skill or completing challenges is progress. This is either direct progress, being that much closer to the exit, or by indirectly making progress easier to obtain; for example, the reward could be shots to defeat enemies in an area that would otherwise have had to be dodged.

Points, and score by proxy, is not a universal reward; as has been discussed from time to time, some players just don't care about points and it is difficult to motivate them to be so.

Keys might be mentioned as a reward, but because of their basic function, allowing you to go from point A to point B, they qualify as either direct progress (the route to the exit) or easier progress (an easier route to the exit).

If the reward for completing puzzles and challenges in a level is progress or easier progress, the penalties for failed challenges are hindrance of progress or making progress more difficult.

The death penalty is the most severe penalty because instances where the player dies not only deny them progress in that instant (that particular puzzle/part of the level) but also all progress made beforehand in that level.

Keenrush's levels rely heavily on the death penalty, not exclusively, but consistently. Since he is someone who is repeatably able to alter how levels are played and beaten in new and fun ways, I'd personally like to see what new or reenvisioned old penalties he can come up with when he next changes how Keen is played.
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Post by Levellass »

And I'd like to add KR-

ANNOTATE YOUR PATCHES! Others would like to do what you do.
What you really need, not what you think you ought to want.
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Post by lemm »

I admire how you can turn one patch into a unique, if somewhat challenging, keening experience.
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