Commander Keen X Bio Menace

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szemi
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Commander Keen X Bio Menace

Post by szemi »

Here's 2016's first crossover Keen mod, Commander Keen X Bio Menace! :)

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NOTE: Whenever you report me bugs, I'll automatically try to fix them!

Get it now: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4975825/CKxBM.zip (release date: 15th February)

Demo footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcdD7QQw_I0 (uploaded on the 16th of February)

Rules (especially for those, who always ruins the fun by criticizing every little piece of my game mods):

* no criticizing without playing this crossover mod
* only REAL constructive critiques are allowed
Last edited by szemi on Tue Feb 16, 2016 13:21, edited 3 times in total.
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Benvolio
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Post by Benvolio »

Woah I wasn't expecting this... looks cool so far... the title and menu screens are brilliantly done!! Cool project. Fair play for accomplishing 2D Biomenace levels, something I struggled with back when I made my 'Torgopolis' mod. (Probably due to the size of my sprite). I'm not going to say that this is strictly a full-fledged mod, but certainly a very successful crossover levelpack!!
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troublesomekeen
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Post by troublesomekeen »

I liked this mod a lot. I was able to sit down and beat it without re-sitting down. Some clever patches in here. Be sure to set aside the time to play this one. It's a Keen mod, after all.

As a recap from my play-through, here are the issues that I can remember.
In the biomenace level, High Flat, the airboard take too long to come back down, or doesn't operate properly at all, forcing me to turn on the Jump Cheat. Just a tiny tweak to the level can fix this.

The biomenace blue zappy door that needs a keygem to open should be animating. This is a little tricky. It can be done by making the foreground tiles transparent and the background tiles animating. Then when Keen places the keygem, the foreground tiles become solid, covering up the animating background tiles. Oh wait. Maybe that can't be done. I'll have to test it.
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Nospike
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Post by Nospike »

troublesomekeen wrote:It can be done by making the foreground tiles transparent and the background tiles animating. Then when Keen places the keygem, the foreground tiles become solid, covering up the animating background tiles. Oh wait. Maybe that can't be done. I'll have to test it.
If that involves the foreground tiles animating, then it can't be done.
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Levellass
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Post by Levellass »

I posit the title 'Biokeen' Good comments coming in later post.


Critiques:

* There are a few grammar issues in the story such as 'the headquarter' (Should be 'headquarters')

* In hard mode I can't get up this dome, I am guessing there may be another way around but I cannot find it. A thin invisible platform somewhere nearby would be nice, it'd be suitably hard to find but only necessary on hard:

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* Here you can get outside the door without opening it. I would suggest making another door block this that you open in the red building, then Keen can open the first door, go to the building, open the second and come back for points.

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* These guys shoot too high, I would lower their shot height so they strike at Keen's head. Also these and the big green guys should take two hits to get, one could temporarily stun them for example. like the Arachnut, with the second finishing them off.

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* I can grab a ledge here and pull myself up into the wall. A solid square should be between these two bits.

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* The pink guys should start the level moving left, not right, so more of them attack Keen and it's harder for them to be shot in the back. Maybe also some in the air so they fall down as Keen walks by.

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* The flat level should start here or at least have an easier way to get up. The long boring rise should be optional.

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Post by Levellass »

Pros:

* Level design has really improved here, it's far about Martinez Gold. The levels could use a few extra flourishes, probably just stuff copied from the default levels, a ledge here, a sleeping slug there, small things to fill the big space. But as far as basic structure goes they work out well. There were some considerably challenging spots, especially on hard mode.

* Working patches together is going well; it took me considerable time to figure out which enemies were which originals. There's some real inventiveness here.

* Here we have an interesting trick, items you cannot get unless you jump up poles. This is used again in the pyramid. As it's such a small pole it's easy to overlook these things.


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szemi
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Post by szemi »

* There are a few grammar issues in the story such as 'the headquarter' (Should be 'headquarters')
Tell me the other grammar mistakes as well, I'll fix them.
* In hard mode I can't get up this dome, I am guessing there may be another way around but I cannot find it. A thin invisible platform somewhere nearby would be nice, it'd be suitably hard to find but only necessary on hard:
I tested all the levels x million times, and you can get up this 'dome' in easy and normal mode. I tested ALL the levels in hard mode anyway.

* Here you can get outside the door without opening it. I would suggest making another door block this that you open in the red building, then Keen can open the first door, go to the building, open the second and come back for points.
Optional way, since it's the first BM level in the game. But if it hurts for you, I can fix it it, too.

* These guys shoot too high, I would lower their shot height so they strike at Keen's head. Also these and the big green guys should take two hits to get, one could temporarily stun them for example. like the Arachnut, with the second finishing them off.
They are deadly to touch, so no matter they shoot at Keen's head or not.
But I'll fix though.

* I can grab a ledge here and pull myself up into the wall. A solid square should be between these two bits.
Sorry. But: since nothing is there, that's why it's evident you are not supposed to grab that ledge. It's only for "decoration", not for ledge-grabbing.

* The pink guys should start the level moving left, not right, so more of them attack Keen and it's harder for them to be shot in the back. Maybe also some in the air so they fall down as Keen walks by.
They are deadly to touch + they jump, so actually why?

* The flat level should start here or at least have an easier way to get up. The long boring rise should be optional.
Yeah, I know. I'll fix.
Last edited by szemi on Wed Feb 17, 2016 21:29, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Flaose »

One small issue I found:

* The Treasure Eater in Rock Hideout will eat this Green Gem, forcing you to kill yourself to continue. Not exactly ideal.

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Post by Benvolio »

Did treasure eaters always eat key gems? I never recall having such an issue in the Pyramid of the Gnosticene Ancients.
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Post by Nospike »

Yep. If you loitered around for too long without killing them in the pyramid, they would eat the red gem and force you to restart.
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szemi
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Post by szemi »

I fix everything as soon as I'll have power and be in the mood to continue fixing, so quit worrying.
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Post by Fleexy »

Benvolio wrote:Did treasure eaters always eat key gems? I never recall having such an issue in the Pyramid of the Gnosticene Ancients.
Yes, if you're too slow, they'll eat the key floating before the last tar pit.
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Post by Levellass »

I tested all the levels x million times, and you can get up this 'dome' in easy and normal mode. I tested ALL the levels in hard mode anyway.
Nifty, so you CAN jump up there in hard? You tested? 'cause for some reason I can't.

They are deadly to touch, so no matter they shoot at Keen's head or not.
But I'll fix though.
But they can be shot, this makes them easy, just stand there and blast them, they're no threat, they don't even walk. If they shot lower they'd be more difficult, as they are in Biomenace.

Sorry. But: since nothing is there, that's why it's evident you are not supposed to grab that ledge. It's only for "decoration", not for ledge-grabbing.
But you can easily accidentally grab it when falling past. A small block there surely would not be too big a fix?

They are deadly to touch + they jump, so actually why?
Well I found in my playthrough with the forest they were all running away from me, which meant I could just shoot them as they ran away. In fact making them start walking towards Keen would be nifty, I think they do that in Biomeance. Also, put in the green lizard guys.


Grammar issues:
-> Story
*'The Oracle and we' -> 'The Oracle and us'
*'the headquarter. -> 'headquarters.'
*'We can now finally go home! -> We can finally go home!
*'an agent duty' -> 'an agent's duty'
*'What he's gonna do?' -> 'What's he gonna do?'
*'hero kid in helmet up' -> 'hero kid in the helmet up'
*'MEANTIME ' -> 'MEANWHILE'
*'what's this noise?' -> 'what's that noise?'
*'smashed potatoe' 'mashed potato'
*'potatoe ' -> 'potato'

-> About you
*'Bio Menace should deserve attention' -> 'Bio Menace deserves attention'
*'to present you this crossover. Hope you will enjoy it!' -> 'to present you with this crossover. I hope you will enjoy it!'

-> Ending
*'Yay, we are freed of' -> 'Yay, we are freed from'
*'I'm about to wash' -> 'I'm have to wash'
*'freed hostages returns' -> 'freed hostages return'
*'And one is sure.' -> 'And one thing is for sure.'
*Potatoe, headquarter...
*'you will never return' -> 'you would never return'
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Post by Zilem »

I see What you did there szemi ^o^
I quite like the melding of the Commander Keen and Bio Menace Splash and menus.
Levellass wrote: * I can grab a ledge here and pull myself up into the wall. A solid square should be between these two bits.

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I think this "Bug" is rather fun, as you can grab onto the lower ledge, climp up and then fall down and instantly grab the upper ledge and climb unto that
Not quite the Wall-climbing in Megaman x4
This "bug" could be used for an (otherwise) out of reach secret area.


Also i found some Bugs:
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There is ledge to grab onto, instead Keen warps 1 block into the floor
you can run further to the right, and jump out of it and land on the actual floor.
But i think the issue is just the block Keen is standing in

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Some part of the background decoration are in front of keen
the small tube is front of Keen while the tube with red Electricity is behind him
if you look at keen you can clearly see it.


Edit:
Don't get me Wrong, i quite like this Cross-over mod ^.^
it is an Interesting idea

Sadly the Tile-set for Bio Menace, do not fully line up with keens ledge hanging/climbing animations.
due to Bio Menace is Full 2D, while Commander Keen "Galaxy" is 2D asymmetric (refereed as 2,5D)
i am kind of Wondering, if making the Bio Menace tiles look like they are turned a little to the left, would have a better impact and still have the feel of Bio Menace
(I'm merely thinking loud here)

Also the Ladders feel odd, i think they would work better as the Rods from keen
but looking like exposed water/heat tubes, Bio menace have a lot of such in the Lab like levels
kind of like the once in your Keen 10 mod (that you try to garb onto a few times, without success)

and i can't help but wonder why they stun-stars are missing, I'm curious about that
Last edited by Zilem on Sun Mar 06, 2016 8:34, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Roobar »

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I really enjoyed this mod! Its simplicity, funny story and improved level design (compared to some of your previous mods) made it at times more enjoyable to play than Atroxian Realm's too hard difficulty and complexity (that being said, I like Atroxian Realms for other reasons). The downside is that it's short. If you made two more levels per each side, it would be perfect.
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