Foray in the Forest (demo)

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.
User avatar
Dr.Colossus
Vortininja
Posts: 89
Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2012 20:47
Location: Germany

Re: Foray in the Forest (demo)

Post by Dr.Colossus »

Nisaba wrote: Wed Mar 15, 2017 21:15 Image
Not perfect but a bit better
https://www.dropbox.com/s/56215pdxji468q8/Hut.png?dl=0
User avatar
Nisaba
Janitress
Posts: 1597
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2016 23:34
Location: The Outpost
Contact:

Re: Foray in the Forest (demo)

Post by Nisaba »

Dr.Colossus wrote: Mon Mar 20, 2017 21:39 Not perfect but a bit better
Image
@Dr.Colossus Thanx for the shading. haven't though about that.
I am also a bit worried about the light green leaves in general. they don't seem to fit the rest of the colour theme. I've tweaked around with some darker colours but not to my liking. some dittering might be an idea.
Ceilick wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2017 3:43 [...] Re that hut: Outline those leaves in black or dark grey instead of dark green, add some dark green shading to the existing light green, maybe throw in some brown or grey behind the leaves.
The Keen 4 Demo Background-Tileset features these tiles over here. But they are a bit dark, aren't they? maybe planed for an inside of the hut kind of view?!
Image

and here is the Romero orig. any further ideas are very welcome!
Image

btw:
to display your dropbox images over here, simply switch the suffix number from dl=0 to dl=1
and replace https://www.dropbox.com with https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com.
Last edited by Nisaba on Thu Oct 18, 2018 20:52, edited 1 time in total.
out now (link) : Image
User avatar
Nisaba
Janitress
Posts: 1597
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2016 23:34
Location: The Outpost
Contact:

Re: Foray in the Forest (demo)

Post by Nisaba »

Roobar wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2017 20:14 For some reason, the browser version is not working. It's showing only "Downloading..." and stays that way.
Yip, this was only some sort of a temporary showcase of a new feature. Commander Spleen hosted the games but had some struggle with the bandwidth. Fleexy was eventually able to implement the js code to the keenwiki server. so we might have a stable solution for this feature soon. check out this thread over here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4025
Bubzrulz wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2017 8:24 looking good
i'll contribute if u give me the tiles and stuff i'd love to do a level for you
thanx. If you don't mind I'd like to borrow the stunned stars from your recent project. You can in fact design a K4 level right away and send over the aslev file. I need to convert some tileset and old but freshly recovered level stuff anyways.
proYorp wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2017 7:36 At the moment I think I'm better with tiles than with sprites, but I could still use practice with both.
I'd love to help with this but man there's so many projects I want to contribute to. [...] I think it would be safe to say I can probably do some graphics in April [...]
When I do start to contribute you might want to keep in mind, I'm a perfectionist so any graphics I do may take a lot longer than they probably should.
ok mr perfectionist, you are very welcome to contribute some graphics in April. just let me know and I'll send you the egg-salad-recipe.
Keening_Product wrote: Mon Mar 20, 2017 15:34 Well this is neat.

I like the design and the music, and don't think the music feels out of place like others have suggested. And yeah, as Zilem mentioned, that dancing larva is super-lovely.

I'm not sure if it was latency caused by browser-based DOSBox, me being generally garg at games, or an actual issue, but the number of times I was killed by a nasty jumping at me from outside the screen was embarrassingly high. Also, I made the mistake of following an arc of bottles and landed in spikes - I guess this is a mod for pixel-perfect players? Which is fair enough, it's just pretty unforgiving.

I'm looking forward to playing other levels :)
Do you like to see more little extras like the larva?
I was always fascinated by yawning trees and the slug in the wall. I like the idea of having some eye candy extras...
the blue guy - let's call him Lick - will show a different behavior in the main release! for this demo, it is just a simple replacement. Concering those point items: they are meant to lead you the way. but if they give you a hard time, you might want to beta test this mod later on, so I can fix issues like this. thanks for pointing that out!
A bunch of further levels are in the making.
Ceilick wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2017 3:43 Great Demo! And I love that you actually used the demo features in the game for demo messages, great touch! Playing this reminds me how much I want to get back to my own Keen work!

For the most part, I felt this was a great medley of familiar graphics from Keen 4 and Dreams, a few from Keen 6 and some all new material. I particularly like the wooden log buildings and all the graphics that integrate them into the world. The biggest drawbacks, I feel, are the point items and the world map graphics for the apple orchard and spud city (hoping these are placeholders?).

I think the level design is good; I played on normal and...died more than I should have, I think I'm just rusty though :dead2 I always felt like I knew where to go though. I also wanted to recognize and appreciate the 'logical' use of the doors; I think doors are the most disorienting feature in Keen games and the use of them in this level made sense.

The world map design, on the other hand, feels crammed and linear. Is this a placeholder to showoff graphics?

I agree with Roobar's assessment of the music too; the world map is a great rendition of the classic, but the BwB level feels off, and the outpost level song, while good, doesn't feel like it fits the setting (it feels more keen 6 to me).

Re that hut: Outline those leaves in black or dark grey instead of dark green, add some dark green shading to the existing light green, maybe throw in some brown or grey behind the leaves.

Great progress, keep going!
The great Ceilick. I need to thank you for your modding tutorial on the Keen Wiki. without it, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing!
And I love to hear that I could actually "push" you and your modding plans. Sign of the Vool is personally my number one most sought-after mod. So be warned, you better protect your files cause I might wanna take them over.
:p
please tell me more about the point items. constructive criticism is always very much appreciated. what are your recommendations? please share your modding knowledge!
but the world map is indeed more like placeholder. remember: this demo is really just a taste of what's to come. so there are a lot of placeholders. nevertheless I'd like to know what's your concern about the apple orchard and spud city?

I agree with your assessment of the music too, but I'd love to keep all of these tracks. But not in the way they are presented. The BwB song needs to be remixed. It is a ripoff from the Keen 4 Demo version. K1n9_Duk3 exctrated them for me (thanx again!). There is also an Oasis track which needs some tweaking. but unfortunately I have no experience when it comes to composing midis & imfs. So I'm looking for someone competent (next to Mr M) who could contribute one remix or two. Or someone who can point out some useful tools.


@Roobar @Ceilick: I've just updated the download link. The Outpost now features a new track, freshly recovered by Mr. M. let me know what you think!
btw.: have you discovered the teddy bears? every level (well only two by now) feature one hidden teddy... just saying.
out now (link) : Image
User avatar
Zilem
Vortininja
Posts: 197
Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2015 2:50
Location: Europe; Denmark
Contact:

Re: Foray in the Forest (demo)

Post by Zilem »

Nisaba wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2017 11:36 I am also a bit worried about the light green leaves in general. they don't seem to fit the rest of the colour theme. I've tweaked around with some darker colours but not to my liking. some dittering might be an idea.

The Keen 4 Demo Background-Tileset features these tiles over here. But they are a bit dark, aren't they? maybe planed for an inside of the hut kind of view?!
Image
I like the tweak Dr. Colossus did to the wood work.
but the thing i don't think that look right is the leaves, that they kind of meld together...
Image
So i made this quick yesterday, which makes each leaves standout from one another.
But it still looks like the leaves could use some shading, and the center area of the leave be black or dark gray, and then use the dark green to shade the leaves.

Romero's look great. but due it is shaded, it look more like the far background instead of the background right behind the player
(background you could stand on, if you jumped above it )

and Yes. The dark tiles, looks they are meant to the inside of the hut. or used at night
The Difference Between a Mod and Fan art?, a Fan art is a Concept and a Mod is that Concept put into life.
User avatar
Roobar
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 3267
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 16:12
Contact:

Re: Foray in the Forest (demo)

Post by Roobar »

There. I've fxdt it 4 u:

Image
Ceilick
The Dude
Posts: 1670
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2008 20:10
Location: Seattle

Re: Foray in the Forest (demo)

Post by Ceilick »

And I love to hear that I could actually "push" you and your modding plans.
Well, I opened the folder :o And I'm actively thinking about it! That's...something :dopefish
The Keen 4 Demo Background-Tileset features these tiles over here. But they are a bit dark, aren't they? maybe planed for an inside of the hut kind of view?!
I think that's what a lot of us who have worked with those tiles believe. If you haven't checked out Netkeen for Keen 4, some of those levels feature these tiles.

Re the Hut: Zilem's example is exactly the direction to go in my opinion. The outlined leaves really bring the house 'forward' in perspective. If you prefer a more subdued presence, perhaps exchanging some of the black outlines for dark grey, or a mix of both. Additionally, I would suggest shading the spine of the leaves with some black or dark grey, and perhaps more dark green dithering (more on the left side than the right). Additionally, I think it would help make the hut look more natural if some of the leaves overlap the wooden poles.

Re the point items, and really it applies to the apple orchard and spud city graphics as well, they feel too ripped. I realize the nature of the mod is to use familiar graphics, and indeed the Keen dreams wooden platform set is here and doesn't have that feeling (for me). But when I see several of the point items or those level entrances my first response is "Hey, those are from Keen Dreams, what are they doing here, they don't belong here". If you're determined to include them or feel they fit well, I suggest editing them further, make them feel more new and different. This applies less to graphics that are ripped from Keen 4. ALSO the green soda clashes with the environment a lot, and green soda is Bloog Soda :p

I'll comment on music when I get a chance to play again, and maybe draw up some helpful examples for the hut, points, and level entrances.
User avatar
szemi
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 1722
Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2009 15:19
Location: Hungary
Contact:

Re: Foray in the Forest (demo)

Post by szemi »

Well, I see picked up this project instead of me, which absolutely no problem, because you refreshed the mod itself better that I wanted to (at that time when I wanted to pick it up concretely, if you get what I mean).

I mean you have put in tiles that are better than my ideas. That's how I mean. :)


Also are contributions allowed in FiF, Nisaba?
Yeah, piece of cake!
User avatar
DarkAle
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 318
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2017 17:40
Location: Coral Hideout
Contact:

Re: Mystery of Isis IIa

Post by DarkAle »

I like this demo but I can't try another level
Commander Keen in... Robot Apocalypse!
Episode 13: The Ultra Omegamatic viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6802
Episode 14: Secret of the Sorcerer viewtopic.php?t=13031
User avatar
Nisaba
Janitress
Posts: 1597
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2016 23:34
Location: The Outpost
Contact:

Re: Foray in the Forest (demo)

Post by Nisaba »

some updates I like to share and discuss with you.
I'm working on different tree ideas, which i like to include. here is a sneak peek. I'm very curious about your opinion. constructive criticism is very welcome.
for e.g. should I reduce the dithering? do you think I need to add a black outline like seen on the right hand side?
  • Image Image
Last edited by Nisaba on Thu Oct 18, 2018 20:52, edited 5 times in total.
out now (link) : Image
User avatar
Roobar
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 3267
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 16:12
Contact:

Re: Foray in the Forest (demo)

Post by Roobar »

That is AMAZING!
User avatar
Shikadi-Network
Grunt
Posts: 22
Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2017 21:37
Location: Karthedis
Contact:

Re: Foray in the Forest (demo)

Post by Shikadi-Network »

The style reminds me of acacia. I think it`s quite nice.
We have to wait for your other ideas. :)
The only frontier is our imagination - The Guy from Shikadi-Netzwerk
User avatar
XrackProject
Vortininja
Posts: 83
Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2016 19:10
Location: Unimatrix Zero
Contact:

Re: Foray in the Forest (demo)

Post by XrackProject »

Looks good to me! :) Its gonna be something new, well... at least I have never seen trees like that in any keen mod before. And I love new stuff in Keen Mods.
A project for lifetime.
User avatar
Grimson
The Dragoner
Posts: 1833
Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2009 6:55

Re: Foray in the Forest (demo)

Post by Grimson »

Yeah, those trees look great! I would apply the black outline to them if Keen can stand on them. For consistency's sake, the outline should usually tell that you're looking at a solid object that Keen can interact with.
"All those thousands upon thousands of junk foods made for me on the various planets I explored make me wonder how I'm still alive."
User avatar
KeenRush
Android Dummy
Posts: 2560
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 20:57
Location: KEEN1.EXE
Contact:

Re: Foray in the Forest (demo)

Post by KeenRush »

They're really good. I tend to think like Grimson; if it's walkable on, then black outline.
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
User avatar
Levellass
S-Triazine
Posts: 5265
Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2008 6:40

Re: Foray in the Forest (demo)

Post by Levellass »

Walkable or foreground. Black lines, or black pixels amidst colors tell you the object is foreground. This applies even if you're using a lot of dither. For example in this shot the tree on the left is climable, but the tree on the right isn't. (Background)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jz1iegrh7mmot ... z.png?dl=0

There are exceptions. The grass is of course standonable (What?) but very dithered. I added some black pixels to the top to slightly separate it from the background, but it's meant to blend more than stick out. If your trees are to blend into a background leaf pattern then leaving the leaves unoutlined (Wait what?) might be best.
What you really need, not what you think you ought to want.
Post Reply