Keen 9: Battle of the Brains

Stealthy71088 · Post by **Stealthy71088** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 20:39

It happened for me in the shikadi levels as I was exiting to the world map. Now that I'm past them it stopped happening. And I did the shikadi levels second.

Now I'm on the ice levels. The yeti's are pretty ingenious. It took me a long time to figure out which sprite you replaced with those, but when I noticed how the stacks of snow were being used I figured it out. Very clever.

The bedheads I figured would be fairly easy to avoid, just like the enemy they replaced. But because of where they've been placed in the level, I've died a number of times to them unexpectedly.

Right now I'm on the frosthool station, and I can't seem to find the yellow key. I've gone through the level a couple times, and I have a funny feeling I missed something big.

Edit: Found the thing I missed. I had forgotten about how doors could work in keen 4-6.

Double Edit: Do all the enemies types appear on all the difficulties in this? I'm asking because in Keen 5 there were some enemies that simply didn't appear on certain difficulties.

Post by **KeenRush** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 20:56

Damn...

Just finished this on easy (:o), I'll play it on harder later now when I know the levels. Still to find the secret level though even if I have a feeling I know in which level it is. As everyone has said already, this mod is phenomenal. Great things come when talented authors combine their forces... Starting from the story, I love they way it's done, Keen's crew sitting in B-w-B, the PaddleWar console on the wall... This has the Keen humour. The graphics are so garging good... I can guess only two or three enemy replacements, the patching is done so well. Bedheds are the scariest enemies I've seen in mods... Yikes... I love the idea of shikadi transporting itself up and down the pipes in electric form. The shikadi probes are cool. I was surprised by the snow world, although my favourite levels were probably the Krodakian ones. And the final level -- just wow. The level itself was great in its graphics and design, but Mortimer was patched so well, it was amazing how he aggressively fired at you and kept jumping and running. The end demo was amazing and clever. But I wonder whether it'll be the end...

Hehe, that Lindsey part rocks...

Well done, guys!

DHeadshot · Post by **DHeadshot** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 21:00

Is the design of the "Shikadi Probe" based on that of the Shikadi Sentry by any chance?

Roobar · Post by **Roobar** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 21:07

KeenRush wrote:I was surprised by the snow world

Me too! I didn't expect that! At first it felt really weird. Especially after I played some dark krodacian. It was like a completely different episode and kinda like playing on Keen Dreams Christmas mod. But this part gives me an answer of how the Christmas mod would look like with blue sky.

Post by **Ceilick** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 21:07

It happened for me in the shikadi levels as I was exiting to the world map. Now that I'm past them it stopped happening. And I did the shikadi levels second.

This is very strange. This is probably memory related, but i'm not sure how to go about fixing it.

Do all the enemies types appear on all the difficulties in this? I'm asking because in Keen 5 there were some enemies that simply didn't appear on certain difficulties.

All enemies appear at least once on each difficulty.

@Keenrush: Wooo, glad you enjoyed it man

@Dheadshot: yes, the shikadi probe design was inspired by the Shikadi Sentry design.

@Keenfan: I've modified the area in Vitacorp slightly. The cybloog will still be there on easy, and it is still a hard spot to pass, but hopefully it's a bit easier now. In terms of stategy, i recomend, hopping on your pogo stick on that upper platform, the cybloog has a harder time seeing you that way

DHeadshot · Post by **DHeadshot** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 21:14

Bug!

Dynamo · Post by **Dynamo** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 21:16

Are you unable to move?

DHeadshot · Post by **DHeadshot** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 21:25

No, I'm just showing the collision detection on the sliding thingies isn't that accurate.

Incidentally Is this just a coincidence, or was it intentional?

Roobar · Post by **Roobar** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 21:28

We should give John and Tom this new mod as a gift

Dynamo · Post by **Dynamo** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 21:41

DHeadshot wrote:No, I'm just showing the collision detection on the sliding thingies isn't that accurate.

There is no bug. The cart would attempt to push back the player but since the player can't be pushed back due to a wall being behind him, they simply "collide". But nothing happens really.

DHeadshot wrote:Incidentally Is this just a coincidence, or was it intentional?

Haha. That might very well be the case. Someone post this site in the comments page already.

Roobar · Post by **Roobar** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 21:52

I've watched Ceilicks Keen9 demo video and I was surprised to see how many things have changed since then in terms of graphics, sounds, music and level design!

DHeadshot · Post by **DHeadshot** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 22:04

CKeen wrote:
DHeadshot wrote:No, I'm just showing the collision detection on the sliding thingies isn't that accurate.
There is no bug. The cart would attempt to push back the player but since the player can't be pushed back due to a wall being behind him, they simply "collide". But nothing happens really.

Video Evidence

Post by **Ceilick** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 22:27

This is unfortunately due to the way tile properties are handled. Since the mine carts are tiles, not sprites, animating 'solids' will pass right through Keen if he is standing still. The same bug is present in keen 8.

Stealthy71088 · Post by **Stealthy71088** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 22:44

I've cleared the ice and krodacian levels. The special enemy in the krodacian levels is amazing. The way the levels are designed- on hard difficulty they kept cornering me in room after room, and I'd end up barely sneaking through or luring them away. I think they may be my favorite enemies in the mod.

Edit: I beat the game. Now to find the secret level and see what you did with it

Unfortunately, the music wouldn't play in the last level for me either. Which tune was it?

The final boss fought the way I had guessed ahead of time he would fight, although I have no idea how you managed to make him do one of the things he did at the end (can't be more specific or give stuff away). I do think he's beatable without in level saving.... But it would take a lot of practice/work, mainly for the last bit. I'll try and do it later and record a video. If I succeed, I'll post it on my youtube account. But I won't post it until sometime after the cheats have been released so as not to spoil anything.

The ending was excellent. I think that was a good way to end the series. It fit beautifully. The last scene was funny too.

Post by **tulip** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 23:57

usually you should be able to hear the music when saving, exiting dosbox and restarting/loading afterwards.