Commander Keen and the Electromagnet

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troublesomekeen
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Commander Keen and the Electromagnet

Post by troublesomekeen »

Mort Day, First Release, version 0.15
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/773 ... Attack.zip
(Enemies are mildly patched. I hope this link works...)

Hello, everyone. I am forthright pleased and delighted to release my very first Commander Keen mod. This is a mod of Keen 2. I started this project during November 2013. I can't believe I missed Keen Day! Oh well. I've been staying up working on this mod till 2-3 o'clock a.m. -- I know, it's stupid of me, but I can't help it. Time flies out the window when you're designing levels. I think I need to take a nap.

But hey! I don't think we've been formally introduced! I'm Troublesomekeen! How do you do? Just remember! No matter what the odds are, nothing is too troublesome for Keen! My goodness. I've been keening since the end of January, 2012. I first started out with a Oakland Raiders skin mod of Keen 4. Basically I just turned Keen's colors into black and grey. How surprised I was when my alterations were successfully imported into the game! After discovering NetKeen, I wanted to make Keen mods starring all the characters of NetKeen. The Janitor, Lindsey, Spot -- all of them. And so, in mid February 2012, I began work on "Guardian of Wisdom" which has been quietly talked and whispered about for a long time. I was on pace to release GoW in July, but then I contracted keensiterosis (procrastination, depression, innersha).

Throughout the following years, I have dabbled in many Keen projects (as you've seen if you've been following my youtube channel), none of them reaching completion. But there is still hope. 2 years into keening, I figure I have to release SOMETHING. It is an honor to join the list of names on the modding list.

So without further ado about nothing, the mod!
Please note that this is the Super Ultra Unfinished Rushed Experimental Edition. Many things still need to be retouched, redone and revamped. I will continue to work on this mod off and on until it reaches a satisfactory level.

Speaking of levels, there are only 5 in this mod. That's right. 5. And you must find out where they are. I should note, however, that the Basement Level and the Mars level are experimental and not at all in the style of traditional Keen. The Clubhouse and The Moon are more keenish. I have some tile space leftover, so I'll be adding more details to those two levels later on. The Moon level is only half complete, but it's the most challenging level. Maybe TOO challenging.

There are text bugs riddling throughout the entire mod, so I'll be hammering those out too. Some themes in the mod aren't correctly fleshed out yet, like "electromagnets" for instance.

Also, the new Keen sprite is chubby, chunky and porky. This is what candy does to you, folks--which brings me to another issue. I haven't replaced the Point Items yet. Currently they look like the default Keen 1 items. I've also not touched the HELP section yet.

There are three underground routes to take on The Moon level. The uppermost path is very short with only a few hard jumps. The middle path is very challenging. Make sure you don't jump up into the dangerous Bulldozers. The lowest path is meant to be the hardest of all. It takes perfect jumps to succeed. I can do it, but I die most of the time.

What else...? Oh. The ending picture with Spot playing in the snow outside isn't changed yet. But I plan to draw up a rulio trulio genuine ending screen. I changed all the text, though, so that's good..

This mod was done in loving memory of my keening parents, Ceilick and Levellass. Special thanks to adurdin. The Keen's House concept was stolen and inspired by Bubbatom and CyberZero. In my rush to complete this mod, I even stole some of CyberZero's graphics. Originally I meant for all enemies to be vacuums: uprights, dirt devils, shop-vacs, and bagless. But the mod evolved into something beyond just vacuums.

The idea came to me as I was compiling a list of all Keen's devices. I've always wanted his inventions to play a larger role in the gameplay. So here you have it. Happy Mort Day. Or rather.... Menacing Mort Day.

Okay... I'm zipping my mod up. Oh my goodness. I've never done this before. This moment is golden. *trembles* Oh. I have a confession to make. This is my first time ever designing levels, so I'll be working on improving them. (Watch out for level design trickery.) *scrolls back up and pastes download link*
Cheers, everyone!
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Roobar
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Post by Roobar »

Cool mod! I like the whole set for it, world map included. The exploration of the dark basement was cool idea. I'd say the mod it's too challenging for me, even though that there aren't that many levels. A bit more ammo would be nice. Also, sometimes the pogo isn't jumping at it's high as it's supposed to be.
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tulip
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Post by tulip »

The graphics in this are really impressive, the level design is unique but has a few problems (several keys and doors of the same colour is not a good idea, I had to learn that myself). But overall awesome work.
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KeenRush
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Post by KeenRush »

Great little mod here. The graphics are quality, interesting creatures, interesting take on the world map... I especially liked the house level. The cellar level was a pretty great idea, and could be taken further if you're using the patch that replaces collected tile with the tile that's first in the row -- this way there could be different backgrounds and small details such as strange slime left by some creature, boxes, old toys, water pipes, whatever can be found in the Blazes' basement. :) Anyway, keep up the good work, looking forward to this one in a more completed stage and the ones mentioned in one of the screens, especially the one with Keen shrunk. That idea is great.
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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MoffD
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Post by MoffD »

Nice mod... Hate the lights... not sure if I completed all the levels because I glitched through the wall... how many levels are there?
mortimermcmirestinks wrote: Now I wish MoffD wasn't allergic to me.
Levellass wrote:You're an evil man.
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Re: Commander Keen and the Electromagnet

Post by KeenRush »

troublesomekeen wrote:Speaking of levels, there are only 5 in this mod. That's right. 5.
By the way, I didn't like the lights off by default idea either.
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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szemi
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Post by szemi »

Man, this mod is f***ing cool. :)
Yeah, piece of cake!
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Roobar
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Re: Commander Keen and the Electromagnet

Post by Roobar »

KeenRush wrote:
troublesomekeen wrote:Speaking of levels, there are only 5 in this mod. That's right. 5.
By the way, I didn't like the lights off by default idea either.
Why? It's night and Billy's family like to turn off the lights to save money. Remember, the bulbs in the 90s were incandescent and their typical power consumption was like 60-75w per bulb!
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troublesomekeen
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Post by troublesomekeen »

Excellent! Thank you guys so much! Great feedback--from the keenmodding channel, too! Plenty of chinks and kinks to work out. I can't even beat my own level (the Moon, which is the larger green sphere on the left side of the tree on the world map) so...certainly a lot to change there. Thanks again, crew. This is invaluable info. And thanks also for playing and commenting! What an honor! More to come later on!

I thought that the "lights off" would play an important part in the Basement/cellar level, but not really. You'd still be exploring through a field of black anyway. So yeah, it's kind of unnecessary.

I thought using same colored doors would make for interesting puzzle design, but that isn't necessary either, especially in Keen's House level.
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DoomJedi
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Post by DoomJedi »

This is hard mod...
Love the idea, the art....just can't get too far because I can't - find keys for needed doors.
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troublesomekeen
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Post by troublesomekeen »

The yellow keys go to the red doors.
For Keen's House level, be sure to grab only one yellow key at a time. Don't grab more of the same colored key if you already have one. Find a door to use the key on, then go back and grab the other key.

The brown doors need a blue key. In the Clubhouse level, be sure not to open doors unnecessarily or you will run out of keys. There are Trap/False Doors that shouldn't be opened. This is meant to be puzzly, but... it's not at all effective, so I'll fix all that door/key stuff up later on.

Also, do you see that bird creature in my avatar? His mod is coming soon. The sprites have been done for a long time now. Still have to settle on a theme for the tiles.
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DoomJedi
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Post by DoomJedi »

Thanks for the tips :)
Didn't know that.
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Post by Ceilick »

My first reaction to this wasn't very good. The level in Keen's house was the first one I played and it's kind of a nightmare. The abundance of keys was frustrating, but would have been acceptable if the colors had at least matched (generally I'm against multiple keys of the same color, but your level size makes this pretty fine imko). The tile properties were like the second coming of Levellord, bless her soul, and hard to tell what's background and what isn't.

But, I decided to try again, I've just reached mars now, having completed the three prior to it.

I think the concept and resulting graphics are fun. The theme is zany and one of the better takes on the "Hey Keen is just at home this time" concept.

The vacuum enemies are great. Really clever animation for the grunt replacement, and the patching behind the scrubs is fun and original. The Gargs are fantastic, very clever patchwork. The rats are the only really mundane creature.

The basement level concept is awesome, and I like the idea to have the lights off from the start. Having the initial objective of getting the lights on before finding the exit is excellent and adds to the chaos you seem to be going for in the house.
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Post by DoomJedi »

I've found only 1 level so far.....there are more levels?
How to get to the rest?
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troublesomekeen
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Post by troublesomekeen »

There are two levels at the house. One at the Keep Out sign at the Clubhouse, which opens to way up the bottom right corner of the map, then up along the right-most edge until finally you cross the fence and you're at Mars. Then it's across the try to the Moon.
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Thanks a million for the feedback, Ceilick!
I forgot to mention that the artist for the Gargs is really Ceilick, if I'm not mistaken. I only resized them, but--like my Keen sprite--they may have turned out on the chubby side.

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