Public Commander Keen Forum

As the title has it, are there any Keen 1-3 mods in progress? I see everyone is modding K4-6 or Dreams. We've seen such amazing productions done in those, no denying that, but what about the older Keens? I'm really much more a fan of the K1-3 engine and therefore more curious about what is happening in that modding world. I haven't followed the news too closely (sorry!) - so what's going on? Are we ever going to get a mod like XkyKeen2? That mod is of course a classic and will always remain so but what I mean with this is that it's such a good benchmark, it has raised the bar high, will there be anything like it in 2016, 2017?

I have my own plans but I don't know if they'll ever progress anywhere. I have so many projects I've started - and so many ideas I'll never get started - that I don't know what to do with them. Are they all dead? No idea.

What about others?

By the way - if you want to, feel free to post a screenshot or two from your project. It would be nice to see what's happening.

Anyway, I'm listing what I know - or knew:
-Operation Stardust
-Monky Business (I hope!)
-Grandy02's second mod (I hope it's going to happen)

I'm currently working on a side-mod that was originally going to be a mini-mod like Keendroid, but the concept was too cool so it spiraled into a full project. There's been a lot more creative freedom and minimalism in this one than the relatively rigid criteria I've set in Retrosis and OrbKeen, so despite the family business taking up a lot of my time and energy it has made good progress. Recently I've been working on it more or less daily to tie up loose ends in the level design and overall game structure so then it becomes mostly a matter of polishing details such as sound effects, level ending and so on.

The idyllic setting in this mod has also been motivating, as my usual dark/surreal work tends to put me into a toxic frame of mind after some time, kind of like spending too much time in the city, which is part of the reason for the longer development time on those.

Also I wrote a level editor in Qt for native Linux support called Levelderp. It's not really in a good state to release due to various bugs, but it's been sufficiently usable for my purposes so far. If anyone wants to try it I can send a copy.

Hopefully you'll be back onto Stardust soon. I submitted my level recently (also refreshingly flexible after dealing with the complexities of my other mods) and may put together another one since soem of the other designers seem to have dropped off.

It does seem there is a lot more Galaxy stuff going on than Vorticons. Still cool, but hopefully there'll continue to be a balance as the newschool modding comes of age.

KeenRush wrote:I have my own plans but I don't know if they'll ever progress anywhere. I have so many projects I've started - and so many ideas I'll never get started - that I don't know what to do with them. Are they all dead? No idea.

why don't you just post a view of them. maybe with a little extra help from one person or another these projects can breath some fresh air again...

Gameplay
A The jump is less floaty in Galaxy, you jump when you jump and don't have a short delay before jumping
B You can grab ledges climb up/down rods*
C Jump down through some tiles
D Moving platforms
E secret passage ways behind tiles to secret areas and items hidden behind tiles
F Shoot up and down (and Shoot on "Space" rather then "Alt+Ctrl")
G Wetsuit & Water level
H Enemy mechanics

Graphics
A Isometric 2D instead of Flat 2D
B Player sprite size of 24x32 instead of 16x21
C Story text with pictures (with animated sequences)
D on Screen status window

Sound
Adlib sound and Music, rather then only PC speaker


That is pretty much it comes down to for me - that i can recall from the top of my head at least.


also, Vorticon can be mod-ported into the Galaxy engine ;p

I'm happy for you, and I'ma let you finish, but Vorticons is the best engine for Keen modding.

For me, Vorticons is much more appealing for modding because of its rawness and minimalism. It takes me way too long for me to get anything done on a Vorticons mod as it is, let alone dealing with all the extra features and details in Galaxy. I definitely appreciate the work other people produce with those engines, though.

I enjoy both the PC speaker and AdLib effects. They each provide a different type of atmosphere. Also note that AdLib music is now possible in Vorticons. There is also a one-button firing patch which I use in all my mods.

Vorticons ported to the Galaxy engine would certainly be interesting, but would be a whole different experience and the original games would in no way be rendered obsolete.

Heh, pretty much all those points by Zilem are the reason I find Galaxy the lesser.

Commander Spleen wrote:I'm happy for you, and I'ma let you finish, but Vorticons is the best engine for Keen modding.

For me, Vorticons is much more appealing for modding because of its rawness and minimalism. It takes me way too long for me to get anything done on a Vorticons mod as it is, let alone dealing with all the extra features and details in Galaxy. I definitely appreciate the work other people produce with those engines, though.

Totally agree.

Anyway, I don't see how vorticon mods could be ported to galaxy engine without excessive rewriting of most of the galaxy engine. Unless it's not important that the port acts like the original. I'd rather keep them in the old engine they were made for.


Good news, Spleen. Looking forward to that! And yeah, I got an e-mail notification you had submitted a level for Stardust, I'm sorry I haven't gotten around importing it yet. Don't hurry with making a second level, I like to think those slots will eventually get filled.

Interesting looking level editor there. Is Qt difficult to use? I'd need some GUI solution for a project or two.


@Nisaba: I guess I like to keep suspense. Although I guess it doesn't matter. I might post something, we'll see.

I'm currently working on a non-Botafloria Keen 1 mod. You've all probably learned never to expect anything of me, but if this gets released someday... I think it's a rather unique piece, this mod. Won't spoil. Some people already know a few details anyway.

Commander Spleen wrote: Also I wrote a level editor in Qt for native Linux support called Levelderp. It's not really in a good state to release due to various bugs, but it's been sufficiently usable for my purposes so far. If anyone wants to try it I can send a copy.

YES, oh so many yes-es.
[Edit] Would that include the sauce or no? I'm not sure just how protective of your code you are

Haven't worked on dodo bird (avatar, mascot, comic book and cartoon character) Keen1 mod in years.



I'm in keening limbo on all sides, currently, both Galaxy and Vort, right now.
If I dropped everything right now and lived by myself and didn't need to eat, drink or sleep, I could get a Keen1 mod done in time for Keen Day. 5 days? Hmm...

Nice graphics! I hope we'll see that mod one day. A dodo seems like a great character for a platformer. Is that other thing a mod for Keen Dreams?

Anyway, I decided to release something I had decided to abandon anyway, now I just fixed a few things. It can be found here: viewtopic.php?t=3592 Six levels and some ideas. Etc.

Pretty crazy patches there, KeenRush.

If you follow me on youtube, my channel which you ALL need to be subscribed to, then you ALL would be.... Huh. Not sure there's an upside, actually. Okay, fine, I'll post a link, golly.
https://youtu.be/8SOlak6C4_A

I like the dodo.

I will be working on Keen A-C soon.

Is that a prequel to keen X?

troublesomekeen wrote:

*Surf's
(Though maybe apostrophes are not available, iunno.)