(Re-release) Keen & the Electromagnet

troublesomekeen · Post by **troublesomekeen** » Sat Mar 14, 2015 23:30

Version 1.0 - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77321787/magnet.zip

Version 0.15 - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/773 ... Attack.zip
Old 2014 Topic: viewtopic.php?t=3027

Hello, everyone! Happy Keen Day! This time I'm not late like last year, although this mod could stand a few more hours of refurbishing. The time is 4 o'clock pm, March 14th. I love it when the Release Forum is buzzing on 3/14. Just like last year!

Alrighty then. I hope you all tried out my mod, even though it was version 0.15. Many of you offered very helpful feedback as well as offer some neat ideas. I was not able to incorporate some ideas due to my foolish waste of tile space. I just finished working on this minutes ago, so if any of you find bugs, please please please point them out.

At first it will seem like not much as changed, but indeed many things have.
The story has been fixed and tweaked.
New and sloppy looking point items have been added.
Construction on the last level, The Moon, is now finished. Some jumps were made easier, but it's still the most outrageous level I've made. It is possible to collect all the point items, but that requires extreme skillz, heavy back tracking, a careful eye on your keys, and familiarization with the level. I tried to out-Bobrick Bobrick Tower with this level. If you can figure out how to get all the points and beat the level without dying, I'll eat my shoes. However, there is a quick and easy route in the first half of the level, so you can skip all of that nonsense.
Keen's House has been enlarged slightly.
2 new optional levels have been added, including another house level.
The Basement level is completely redone.
The Mars level is untouched (the optional level with the Gargs). I might build a new Mars level in the future.
Other miscellaneous details were added or fixed up.
There is a new patchy ending picture.
Green Doors have been added to house levels.
The color of keys now match the color of the doors they open.
Windows with blue curtains act like doors and require a blue key to open.
All levels still begin with the lights off, but there is a lightswitch nearby in most levels.
Patches for enemies are unchanged from the previous version.

So that's a total of 7 levels. Without cheating, 4 levels are required to beat the game. You objective is to destroy the magnets that are creating a link between the earth and the moon. The side-effects of this link make some electrical devices go haywire. Please watch out for TVs and other dangerous tiles. (The electrical bolts above the spinning magnets do not harm Keen.)

This is a mod of Keen2. Please please please please click the top link (hopefully the download link is working) and give it a try. If you don't like Space Bar being used as the shot key, you can open up the patch file and remove that, but it helpful to me. You will need to unlzexe a clean copy of Keen2.exe.

Let me know whatcha think. Thanks! ~Tsk

Lava89 · Post by **Lava89** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 6:03

I wasn't able to get out of the map level and wasn't even able to move around.

This is what it looked like:

My movement is restricted to just a small box.

troublesomekeen · Post by **troublesomekeen** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 6:18

Oh! Are you able to move to the Clubhouse or to the Front Door of the House? I'm afraid the actually level entrances aren't clearly marked on this Overworld, which looks like a WristComputer game. An old screenshot of Mindbelt might help:

That's very strange, because I downloaded the game from the link in my first post and tested it. I was able to move around.

Lava89 · Post by **Lava89** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 16:40

I am please report that I was able to clear the shed \ house level.

I thought I would try an older version of your game and see if that worked. When it did, I noticed that you're newer game didn't have a Keen2.exe.

What I did to get it working: Rather than use my own, un-modded Keen2.exe, I copied the one from v0.15 and that did the trick.

Review:
Pros: Great level design that got you to explore your surroundings. Also, the graphics are really top notch-- simple but they're quality. I also liked how you tried replicating the look of Keen from the Galaxy games.

Cons:
Need more indication about things, like where the levels are on the map. I understand you want to keep the aesthetic of being in the wrist computer. So maybe emphasize them in different ways? Like where spot's bowl is, maybe put some kind of hole or lump there? So you know there's a level there. Or maybe some get some kind of text read out to show up when you're near an entrance. Either way, some kind of visual cue would help.

Lastly, I laughed out loud when I got a game over and saw Spot get spread across the screen, well done! haha

Overall? I liked it.

Quillax · Post by **Quillax** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 18:16

I've beaten this game yesterday, and it's much better than the previous version! Though, is that house in the down-left corner supposed to be Mortimer's house?

troublesomekeen · Post by **troublesomekeen** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 19:53

Haha! The Game Over scene happened by accident. I was switching around tiles for a purpose I forget now. I think the blood animations come directly from Monster Bash. I knew I had something different in mind, but when I tested it and saw the Vorticon Mothership brutally blow up Spot, I had to keep it. It's just too funny...

I agree with you on the level entrances on the world map. Originally I didn't want to alter its appearance whatsoever, but that notion doesn't hold up anymore. There is some tile space leftover.

I'm glad you got the game to work. Looking at the screenshot you posted, it doesn't look like you're using Dosbox. I wonder if that had anything to do with the problem..? But I don't see how.

The earliest version of Billy's house looked like this:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/773 ... g%20up.png
I also have a handful of videos on my YT channel showing the progress of the mod from last year.

The Galaxy style Keen sprite is based on the Keen Dreams menu, which was resized to fit the proper VorticonKeen dimensions. Something guynietoren posted in the 19th page of the Keen References topic also kinda helped me with the jumping frame. I'm such a terribly artist. Can't draw nothing from scratch (which is why I owe much of the decorational artwork to CyberZero and Bubbatom. I found their previews from last year very helpful indeed).

I did intend the extra house level to be Mort's home, added a secret computer room and a mysterious basement underground. But I'm not sure. The McMire's are neighbors, but not necessarily next door neighbors. Also, the design for Keen's house is based on a board game I used to play as a kid: http://boardgamegeek.com/image/207991/g ... board-book
Notice the remarkable similarities.

My cast and crew thanks you for playing!

Lava89 · Post by **Lava89** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 20:00

@troublesomekeen: I am using DOSbox, but my version is 0.74. Maybe it's a really old version?

Also, people are only "terrible artists" if they don't make art! If you think you suck? Keep making more. It will get better!

Quillax · Post by **Quillax** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 20:04

I don't the art to be bad, so don't feel too bad!

Lava89 · Post by **Lava89** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 20:11

I agree. And there's more to game art than just the sprites themselves. Level design-- how those elements are put together, can be an artform unto itself. Which I think was done well in your game.

Benvolio · Post by **Benvolio** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 10:09

This is good work! I don't think I ever played this one before, not sure how that happened! I enjoy the implementation of colour patches for the light switch, which has not been done a whole lot despite being available for a while. Cool world map idea also!!

Plasma Captain · Post by **Plasma Captain** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 16:37

This might have been the strangest Keen mod I've ever played. But not in a bad way.

The graphics aren't bad. Actually, the enemy and Keen sprites are pretty good. I apologize, but I have no idea what the little red wall-crawler is supposed to be, though.

And the game over screen is unexpected and humorous.

The level design is interesting. The tile-revealing stages were clever. I think that stood out the most to me.

Those TV traps... Uh, what are the odds? You're probably going to see something incredibly similar to that in the future. I swear, I didn't mean to steal it!

I skipped the lower half of the moon level (am I supposed to be able to clip through the top of the tower and grab that key?) and didn't figure out how to beat the Mars level. Also, I ran out of bullets (I lost them all while shooting up Gargs in the Mars level), so when I got to the end of the moon level, I just walked past the magnet and won anyway.

T-Squared · Post by **T-Squared** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 17:30

Just a warning, people. In a few Keen mods, I've found that the UNLZEXE file is infected by a virus. please check before you upload the file with your Keen mod.

Benvolio · Post by **Benvolio** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 17:32

Oh dear! What kind of virus could possibly infect an MS-DOS programme that we, as modders, never fool around with. Is it an internet/spyware/adware type of thing or does it mess with boot sectors and things?

Usually I just copy and paste a keen2/3/5/6 exe from one of my other mod folders.

T-Squared · Post by **T-Squared** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 18:29

Benvolio wrote:Oh dear! What kind of virus could possibly infect an MS-DOS programme that we, as modders, never fool around with. Is it an internet/spyware/adware type of thing or does it mess with boot sectors and things?

Usually I just copy and paste a keen2/3/5/6 exe from one of my other mod folders.

No, I mean the UNLZEXE program itself is infected. (My anti-virus detects it.)

Gridlock · Post by **Gridlock** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 18:54

I'm pretty sure that's a false positive. There shouldn't be anything wrong with UNLZEXE, but the virus software might mistake it for something bad. I'm pretty sure I've seen this happen before.

Meanwhile I need to get to playing these Keen Day releases. So much to do, so little time. This mod sounds intriguing.