News about my new mod...

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KeenRush
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Re: News about my new mod...

Post by KeenRush »

Roobar wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 16:26I may repeat myself, but again: people here are making incredible mods when working (almost) without any help. That's great, but takes a lot of time and effort. I may be wrong, but my observation is that generally, only one guy is working on a big mod with the only help of someone else making patches and the music. Sometimes someone contributes a few graphics too, but that's that. But what if, instead of one man doing all the levels and graphics, two more people unite for making additional graphics, and another two unite for working on additional levels? That way, the mods will be done in not time. That's my opinion.
Yes, you're absolutely right, that's the modus operandi for most. It boggles the mind how persistent and dedicated Keeners are. As I've often said, haven't seen a mod community for any other game crafting such talented productions. You're also right about that part about collaborating. It would ease my pain so much, not to mention how much more intrigue it would bring to the mod because people think so differently. I'm hoping to get a small team together for the next mod but we'll see how that goes... By the way, I'm not against the hard work, no. If I were, I wouldn't be doing this. But by now I see how much more I could get done with a little help and how different the results could be. I've done a full mod on my own enough times to know the process inside and out, to know all it involves. I don't care about all aspects of it - at least not to the extent where I have to focus, for example, on sprites for a million hours more than I'd like to. And when I know there are people who would do a 200% better job on them, who would actually love the task - it seems so stoopid to be doing everything on my own. :dead

@Nisaba: Almost true. But for some reason not in my mods. :( Maybe we'll need a new collaboration mod to add to her mod stack. :evil

Mod update: I've done some new tiles, tweaked some pixels in sprites, worked on the screens (story, previews, etc) which is another seemingly endless task, and soon I'll try to draw some stuff for the ending that I thought of last night.
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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KeenRush
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Re: News about my new mod...

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I'm starting to get the mod fatigue. I've spent about enough time on this thing. Redid the first level from scratch and completed it too. Made some levels easier still and now they're better for it. Added one solid tile to a level and it changed it crucially - sometimes it's like go where one well placed stone can change everything. I've worked on the ending and the mixed graphics - I just hate doing all those screens (high scores, about id, etc). But there's still more to do, more details, more and more... :dead2
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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KeenRush
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Re: News about my new mod...

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It feels great to be able to say that the mod is getting there. :)
  • World map almost completed. The most annoying task in a mod for me but this time I've managed to do a good job of it. Still needs some more decorating for which I have ideas, the actual level entries are done.
  • Two sprites need completing, a few others need some small pixel tweaking.
  • Some more level decorations. But not too much. I've noticed my style here doesn't benefit from too much. Searching for that balance.
  • One level has a small area of about one screen that I want to redesign. :x
  • Game screens and end of game and all that stuff almost completed. Maybe getting that stuff done today.
  • Still not sure about the new sounds. I really don't care about replacing them.
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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Nisaba
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Re: News about my new mod...

Post by Nisaba »

sounds like really good progress! creating a mod on your own is always tough sledding, but it seems that you have finally entered home straight. best of energy for the last bits to come. and make sure to backup your data!
out now (link) : Image
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KeenRush
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Re: News about my new mod...

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Thanks! It's tough sledding indeed but the end of struggle is nearing. Yeah; I should take a backup of the entire project, not just the levels. I still haven't learned doing that stuff. :freud
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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Levellass
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Re: News about my new mod...

Post by Levellass »

Ctrl-A right-click Send to -> zipped file.

A few seconds and everything is saved!
What you really need, not what you think you ought to want.
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Re: News about my new mod...

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^ That's genius. I've never thought about that. I'm not being sarcastic in case I sound like it.

At the moment I'm doing some decorative tiles. Pretty much everything else from title screen to about id screens to levels to sprites starts to be in place. I'm probably going to make some new sounds even though I don't care about that at all. I'm aiming for November 3rd release, which is a Friday, and I plan to hang out all day at #pckf to see people's reactions in case people play the mod and want to comment and ask questions, etc. I don't know if there'll be anyone, I haven't visited the channel in ages, but it could be interesting. Let's see if I can meet that release date. :disguised
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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Re: News about my new mod...

Post by Roobar »

Channel? You mean IRC channel? IRC is no more. We've moved to discord.
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Re: News about my new mod...

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:lol Really? Yeah, I meant IRC #pckf. It looks like I'm a bit behind the times. I'll have to investigate how to join/use that.
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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Levellass
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Re: News about my new mod...

Post by Levellass »

Sounds nifty. With any luck we'll get a burst of mod releases at the end of this year.
What you really need, not what you think you ought to want.
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Re: News about my new mod...

Post by Roobar »

Levellass wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 13:50 Sounds nifty. With any luck we'll get a burst of mod releases at the end of this year.
You said something similar for keen day 2017, yet almost nothing like that happened.
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Re: News about my new mod...

Post by Levellass »

I'm always hopeful, I'm not a psychic.
What you really need, not what you think you ought to want.
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KeenRush
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Re: News about my new mod...

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Hoping for the best, as well. As for current progress, I've spent the last one and a half days working on my sound program (I decided to make some new sounds after all - not for myself, but for those who like to play sounds on) and you can't believe how that work has tired me. :tired This is like the fourth time I've written this program because I keep losing all the incarnations of it. :x Maybe I'll release it this time just to stop that cycle, even though it's pretty non-user friendly. I expect to finish that program tonight and start doing the first sounds.
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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Re: News about my new mod...

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A man after my own heart you are. (You cannot have it, I need it to live.) 'This thing vexes me. I had best spend a week writing a program to address it!' I even wrote a program to make graphics and levels un-extractable, just to vex Fleexy.

Of course if things weren't so chaotic here I'd've had stuff done by now. The endless disruptions are becoming infuriating.
What you really need, not what you think you ought to want.
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KeenRush
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Re: News about my new mod...

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:lol Sigh -- I wouldn't be spending days on a simple program if my brain still worked, but it doesn't. Nevertheless, I've managed to get the sound program functional (through unbelievable efforts) and have begun the garging work of replacing most of the sounds. I've also made two or three levels even better. I'm so in love with most of these levels, I've never done anything quite like them, I so hope people will like them and it's just not my Stockholm syndrome making me think they're playable and good.

It's amazing how fast a week goes by... Tomorrow it's a week till the planned release date. I don't know what'll happen... :disguised

And yeah, damn that chaos. Hopefully it'll get better soon. I'm impressed that despite all that you have the energy to make even the slightest progress.
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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