Commander Keen: Xmas 2010

Here is where to post about the latest Commander Keen fangame or modification you've finished, a new website you've made, or another Keen-related creation.
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szemi
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Post by szemi »

Damn. -.-
Yeah, piece of cake!
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Post by NY00123 »

So, here's the time for me to write thoughts of mine about Commander Keen: Xmas 2010, about a week after playing and completing the game/MOD.

As usual, a little word of warning:

WARNING: This post may contain potential spoilers from "Commander Keen: Xmas 2010", and in some way maybe even from a few other games (1-3 games). Some of these might be hidden using white text, but it doesn't mean the rest of the text contains no (potential) spoilers! So, well, you've been warned! :)

OK, lets begin talking just a bit about the original "Keen Dreams" game: Well, it's true that this game is considered a "lost" episode, and may be inferior than other original Keen episodes in several ways. However, it did have enough things that made me like portions of it, at least. Among these are the levels: "The Melon Mines" with the few hard-to-get-to places (just about being curious about getting to them - and when one does get to such a place...), "Apple Acres" and the rare occurrence of the Apels plus another hard-to-get-to place, "Spud City" with its complex system of secret passages (only about a year ago I got to actually visit these) and "Rhubarb Rapids". Same goes to at least one of the secrets in "Bridge Bottoms".

Now, Commander Keen: Xmas 2010 is a Keen Dreams MOD, which doesn't intend to be Dreams as-is; So I shouldn't expect many "Dreams specific" elements. Upon looking at the first few levels some time before actually getting into the game, it looked like a nice thing: The snowy and nighty theme which represents Christmas; The few new creatures I encountered so far; And a few sound effect replacements.

*** By the way, have you thought about this: "Keen Dreams" has vegetables, while "Commander Keen: Xmas 2010" has candies :)

Ahem, back to the actual review (if to call it a review...), it is true, as someone has already mentioned, that a few of the new sound effects have their origins in Wolfenstein 3D and Bio Menace. There are a few other effects which I couldn't recognize so far. All of them do help with making this even more of a modification!
Some levels may appear to be short, but I guess that's fine. I do understand that Keen Dreams has technical limitations when to comes to the ability to display many collectable items. Furthermore, it's good that the MOD has a few levels more than the original Keen Dreams; This is clearly the case when we count the two levels reachable using the warp cheat only. At least, I guess these are two: Level 5 "Cookie Cliffs" and level 11 "Santa's Cottage". I do recall that the latter may actually be reachable and I simply haven't found a way to get into it from the map. Oh well, I might figure out the true answer on a later point.

Now, it looks like I haven't played Keen Dreams much, so it took some time for me until I could recognize which creature from Keen Dreams is replaced by which creature in Xmas 2010. When relevant, patching clearly helped with making this somewhat more difficult :)
The patch making creatures permanently stunned is also nice, and that's just for being a change from the original.

Now going to be somewhat more level-specific...

I liked the bottom of "Coal Mine" in certain ways. It could be the theme; Also, even when one goes to the bottom, while this level may still seem to be short, it's easy for Keen to die!
<spoiler>Moving to "Ice Skating Pond" with the nice addition of ice and the water below it, for some reason they remind me of the water found in the level "Bridge Bottoms" from "Keen Dreams". In comparison to the water from "Ice Skating Pond", the water from "Bridge Bottoms" is deadly..oh wait, is it?</spoiler>
Now, I did like "Gingerbread house" with the stairs inside the house. They do remind me of the stairs from the very first level of "Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion". I also liked the structure in the level "Santa's Cottage". It does have such a kind of stairs as well.
<spoiler>Going to the secret level, it might be small, but it's still a nice addition. Finding the rabbit in there is included, and possibly some kind of a structure encountered earlier as well.</spoiler>
<spoiler>Finally, the boss level, "Bad Elf's chamber". It might be true that the boss acts in the same way as within the original "Keen Dreams", but it doesn't bother me so much. It's still just the first actual Keen Dreams MOD we're aware of. Oh and the level has a little addition at the top, just look for it :)</spoiler>

I'd finish with a few bug reports and/or suggestions for changes; Some of them might have be told by others before.

Stuff already mentioned, or at least partially:
- The pole tile appearing where it isn't expected (e.g. in the first level). Guess it's easy to fix that.
- The way one can climb a tree. It's true that even after many times of climbing trees I'm still not that sure about a way to do it properly.
- At least in the level "The Igloo", there are a few tiles you may not know if they harm Keen or not, intuitively.
- The availability of easy-to-get 1UPs, and especially the 3UPs.
- The appearances of some boy and girl. Again, one might think that their hard-to-reach locations stand for some surprises, although there's nothing to see. When it comes to the guy from "The Igloo", there's more than that for me to tell. One may spot a hidden arrow in the sky pointing to the guy. As a result, one may try going towards the guy, expecting a surprise. Well, as it has already been mentioned, there's none. But also...
Now, it's possible to go to the guy and then back, eventually exiting the level, although it's somewhat hard. Furthermore, if you go too much to the left, you'd get stuck. I feel like at least the possibility of getting literally stuck should be avoided, although it's clearly not mandatory.
- In the world map, after Bad Elf's Chamber there's a castle you can't see without using non-existant "no clip" cheat or taking advantage of a map bug and going up. At least to me it feels like wasted graphics, although some could argue it's better than wasted graphics not even being used at all.

Stuff possibly not mentioned before:
- Bad Elf's Castle: As with the hidden castle in the world map, this level does have the actual top of the castle being built. Only that you can't see it without cheating. Again, though, it could still not be a bad thing, and clearly not worse than not having it built at all.
Afterall, in the case of having plain garbage or nothing on the top I could also complain. I shouldn't reach this area anyway (without cheating)!
- Bad Elf's Castle: Spike behavior appears to be inconsistent. Some are harmful, others are not, possibly depending on the direction. Now why does that issue, along with the spikes themselves, make me think of Jazz Jackrabbit... (I don't recall if it's the first or the second JJ game...)
- Sledding Hill: At the bottom-right there are two rooms with two instances of the minecart replacement. The left of the two rooms has a 1UP and appears to be unreachable. However, taking advantage of the right minecart replacement and a pole, along with Keen Dreams glitches, it's possible to get to the left room and the 1UP. Only that by then it looks like one would get stuck, with Keen just being able to commit suicide using the left minecart replacement.
Is there a proper way to get in/out that I'm simply not aware of?
- Cake Canyon: The top-right of a large cake in the beginning of the level (where a lighten candle is) has a "non-native" end. It's like it was intended to continue to the right, only that there are empty sky tiles to the right.
The same thing appears to be repeated in a different location within the same level, and possibly in more locations (but I haven't counted).
- Gingerbread house: The key-locked door to the exit doesn't seem to fit well with the structure. Maybe it's just me, though.

Now, it may not be a bug, where in a few levels there's an unintuitive mix of "mountains" appearing to be the same, only that one is blockable while the other is not. This is also where you can move from one "level" of floor to a different sloped "level" of floor.
Truly, this is not the first and only MOD to have such things. The mount levels from "Commander Keen 8: Dead in the Desert" have similar things (maybe partially), and this is also the case in the level "Jotundra Mountains" from "Commander Keen 9: Battle of the Brains".

Oh well, congrats to anybody involved with "Commander Keen: Xmas 2010"! It was nice to try it out, along with the addition of being the first Keen Dreams MOD to try.
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Post by Syllypryde »

NY00123 wrote:......Furthermore, it's good that the MOD has a few levels more than the original Keen Dreams; This is clearly the case when we count the two levels reachable using the warp cheat only. At least, I guess these are two: Level 5 "Cookie Cliffs" and level 11 "Santa's Cottage". I do recall that the latter may actually be reachable and I simply haven't found a way to get into it from the map. Oh well, I might figure out the true answer on a later point.
Santa's Cottage is reachable on the worldmap. It just takes a bit of maneuvering.
......Sledding Hill: At the bottom-right there are two rooms with two instances of the minecart replacement. The left of the two rooms has a 1UP and appears to be unreachable. However, taking advantage of the right minecart replacement and a pole, along with Keen Dreams glitches, it's possible to get to the left room and the 1UP. Only that by then it looks like one would get stuck, with Keen just being able to commit suicide using the left minecart replacement.
Is there a proper way to get in/out that I'm simply not aware of?
How were you able to get over there? I tried and I tried, but I just could not do it.
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Post by NY00123 »

Syllypryde wrote:
NY00123 wrote:......Furthermore, it's good that the MOD has a few levels more than the original Keen Dreams; This is clearly the case when we count the two levels reachable using the warp cheat only. At least, I guess these are two: Level 5 "Cookie Cliffs" and level 11 "Santa's Cottage". I do recall that the latter may actually be reachable and I simply haven't found a way to get into it from the map. Oh well, I might figure out the true answer on a later point.
Santa's Cottage is reachable on the worldmap. It just takes a bit of maneuvering.
So as I recall hearing from Ceilick before, now I know for sure that it's possible to reach Santa's Cottage. Guess I should try a bit more to look for it if I want...
Syllypryde wrote:
NY00123 wrote:......Sledding Hill: At the bottom-right there are two rooms with two instances of the minecart replacement. The left of the two rooms has a 1UP and appears to be unreachable. However, taking advantage of the right minecart replacement and a pole, along with Keen Dreams glitches, it's possible to get to the left room and the 1UP. Only that by then it looks like one would get stuck, with Keen just being able to commit suicide using the left minecart replacement.
Is there a proper way to get in/out that I'm simply not aware of?
How were you able to get over there? I tried and I tried, but I just could not do it.
Try this: Get on the very bottom of the pole, e.g. by jumping and then pressing up immediately. If done correctly, then when minecart replacement comes out, it should push you into the wall to the left while you're still in the "climbing pole" state. At this stage, try jumping and moving to the left. If done correctly, you should find yourself in the adjustment room, or at least on the pole right above it.
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Post by Syllypryde »

NY00123 wrote:Try this: Get on the very bottom of the pole, e.g. by jumping and then pressing up immediately. If done correctly, then when minecart replacement comes out, it should push you into the wall to the left while you're still in the "climbing pole" state. At this stage, try jumping and moving to the left. If done correctly, you should find yourself in the adjustment room, or at least on the pole right above it.
I made it in there, but I cannot get back out. Did you ever find a way out?
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Post by NY00123 »

Syllypryde wrote:
NY00123 wrote:Try this: Get on the very bottom of the pole, e.g. by jumping and then pressing up immediately. If done correctly, then when minecart replacement comes out, it should push you into the wall to the left while you're still in the "climbing pole" state. At this stage, try jumping and moving to the left. If done correctly, you should find yourself in the adjustment room, or at least on the pole right above it.
I made it in there, but I cannot get back out. Did you ever find a way out?
No I haven't found a way out :P
If that's indeed the case, then it's a bug just like the rest of the bugs I've reported. Unless it's a room designed to be inaccessible. There's still the glitch regarding the pole, which can be fixed by making the pole start a bit higher.

P.S. Thanks for going over my review about Xmas 2010!
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Post by Snortimer »

Guys, this is fantastic! I'm just playing through it now, finished about 5 levels. This is more entertaining than I remember Keen Dreams being.
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Post by Eros »

i also suggested and created some item descriptions, my favorite being the chrustmas bauble bomb: knock some "christmas cheer" into Bad Elf!

the game is amazing, but the cheap restock lives trick in the mine is really unfair, just keep collecting it and losing, what about making it so they can only be collected once or something?
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Post by Levellass »

That's very hard to do, maybe impossible. Either way, I've always found lives in Keen to be meaningless, especially in Keen Galaxy where you can in-level save, I think I shall change any galaxy mods I make to not use lives at all.
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Post by Syllypryde »

Levellass wrote:That's very hard to do, maybe impossible. Either way, I've always found lives in Keen to be meaningless, especially in Keen Galaxy where you can in-level save, I think I shall change any galaxy mods I make to not use lives at all.
Extra lives are meaningless when you abuse the in-level saving like I suspect many Keeners do. Try playing the galaxy games, mods and levelpacks on hard without in-level saving. Then get back with me and tell me how meaningless those extra lives are then!
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Post by Levellass »

Yes, but that's rather like saying 'two button firing is meaningless when you have it turned off, turn it on and see how useful it is'; what you're saying is that the game should be played under a self imposed challenge; by as it were not doing something you could do. Which rather defeats the point of anything.

So I don't see what anyone would lose by removing the lives system entirely, or maybe replacing it with a death count system. (Heck, even different endings depending on how often you died... hmmmnnn...)
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Post by Toothpick »

Levellass wrote:So I don't see what anyone would lose by removing the lives system entirely, or maybe replacing it with a death count system. (Heck, even different endings depending on how often you died... hmmmnnn...)
This is a good idea that should be in every Keen game ever.
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Post by Syllypryde »

Levellass wrote:Yes, but that's rather like saying 'two button firing is meaningless when you have it turned off, turn it on and see how useful it is'; what you're saying is that the game should be played under a self imposed challenge; by as it were not doing something you could do. Which rather defeats the point of anything.

So I don't see what anyone would lose by removing the lives system entirely, or maybe replacing it with a death count system. (Heck, even different endings depending on how often you died... hmmmnnn...)
Talking about extra lives and in-level saving is kind of off-topic for this particular thread, so I will start a new thread for it in the unofficial Keen games topic and we can discuss it there.
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Post by neek »

Fantastic MOD, I love it! Somehow the Christmas atmosphere really adds to the Keenish feel.
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Post by szemi »

Somebody made a short let's play walkthrough with the mod:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4WCPeg8 ... 3D4EB3AF54
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