Planet Of Agony (Keen 1 mod)

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Nisaba
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Re: Planet Of Agony (Keen 1 mod)

Post by Nisaba »

checkpoints! gimme checkpoints!
I promise I will ignore every other upcoming mod by just anybody, if you only equip your levels with checkpoints!
out now (link) : Image
Ceilick
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Re: Planet Of Agony (Keen 1 mod)

Post by Ceilick »

Mod complete! Clever ideas in the ending sequence, I really liked the warp speed graphics lol For a moment the story was picking up with this sequence, but quickly and deliberately cut itself short, leaving me ultimately disappointed, especially in comparison with some your prior stories, which while similarly often had a 'bare bones' story and a cliff hanger, for me at least, they always felt mysterious, surreal, and part of a greater mythos. I know this mod wasn't really about the story though.

The fake last level was enjoyable, I managed to beat it only cheating at one part because I messed up the order of operations in a key/door/falling block sequence and my options were to kill myself and start over, or cheat to fly out of the pit I was trapped in. Rarely do I enjoy levels which use more than one of the same color of key, but I thought this level did that well.

I found the final level very painful to get through. Most of my deaths were from poorly maneuvering around the vorticon creatures. I also found finding the path behind the foreground sometimes interesting and fun, but often not.

Re check points: personally I don't feel these would be an improvement. While they grant the benefit of not having to replay chunks of the level, I don't think they provide enough motivation or sense of accomplishment to keep the player engaged in the same level, as opposed to the player finishing one level and starting another. I may have found the checkpoint but I'm still getting desperate to find the level exit and ignoring the finer aspects of level design. That's my experience, anyway, source: Atroxian Realm.
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Fleexy
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Re: Planet Of Agony (Keen 1 mod)

Post by Fleexy »

At Ceilick's request, I've moved the discussion on checkpoints to a new thread.

Back on topic: I started playing this a month or so ago and completed a handful of levels (about 8 I think?). That was a while back, so hopefully my recollections are accurate. I should have some time over the next few weeks to finish the mod. I'm finding the difficulty very manageable; so far, this is dramatically easier than previous KeenRush productions. The tileinfo tripped me up a bit at first, but I've mostly gotten used to what's solid, what's not, and what's death. It's neat how significant chunks of the game are played without pogo and ammo.

Great work! :)
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KeenRush
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Re: Planet Of Agony (Keen 1 mod)

Post by KeenRush »

Thanks. My reply took a bit time because I've been burned out of Keen for a moment, as usually happens when I work on a mod so extensively.

Ceilick: Yeah, maybe that story stop wasn't the best of ideas. But then again I had little other choice, I was completely unable to think anything further.

Fleex: Neat. It seems to me that the more experienced players clearly see the difference in difficulty. I'm glad of even that. I'm slightly confused how what is deadly is not that clear to everyone. I thought all the death tiles look so and from the way they're placed... But maybe it's again the fact that I knew everything clouding my thinking.

Anyway, I'm continuing my break from modding (even if I tried, I'd be unable to continue right now), but every now and then can't help thinking about it. :dopekeen When I get back to work I'll first patch the garg out of the next project (Ancient Aliens), I'll make every damn patch the mod needs (I have a lot new ideas to implement), and only after that I'll do graphics and levels. And hopefully get a little team assembled once I have a tech demo.
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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XrackProject
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Re: Planet Of Agony (Keen 1 mod)

Post by XrackProject »

I just beat the (I think') optional level, where you get in touch for the first time with amo.... There is nothing much to say, but in a short summary: Are you kidding me KeenRush? ;D

I mean I beat it but, I have to say that my nervs started to play wild on me. xD I hope there is not much left anymore to beat your game. It's almost the "I wanna be the guy"-Level, at least for me. BUT I will continue and beat it..... I hope!
A project for lifetime.
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XrackProject
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Re: Planet Of Agony (Keen 1 mod)

Post by XrackProject »

Okey, I think I am at the end of my own gameplay. I am stuck in the teleporter level. First I tryed to beat that level but then I gave up and let myself get ported to the ice area. Its actually an ok level but I cant get the green key without death. I spent the whole day on trying to beat any of these 2 levels and even after finding out how to do that there is no motivation left to continue.

So in a summary, I have to say that I liked any other levels even if they have been difficult. The difficulty was "ok" compared to the teleporter levels. I am an experienced player and even if I dont know much about the Keen 1-3 series, something got lost with the teleporter levels. From that moment on I could not enjoy the game anymore. The only feeling that I felt during these 2 levels (of course after a while and not from the beginning) was punishment. I dont expect games to be easy but the difference is too big between the rest of the levels and these 2. In my opinion this could have been optional level for some extra challenge. I have reached my limits but I am happy that I made it that far. :)

Maybe I will try to pass the ice outpost level in a couple of days again...
A project for lifetime.
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KeenRush
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Re: Planet Of Agony (Keen 1 mod)

Post by KeenRush »

Thanks a lot for persisting. :) Your gameplay videos have been quite valuable & instructive to me (and the occasional scream and "are you kidding me?!" totally crack me up :lol). Yes, in hindsight it looks like I overestimated the general playing skills. The teleporter level is too difficult. The levels weren't meant to be punishing, but challenging. Anyway, the ice level (The Outpost) isn't that difficult. The only difficult parts are the wide gap (much easier with the 'impossible pogo' move) and getting that green gem (not meant to be overtly difficult) - everything else allows failing and trying again.

I hope you'll play my next mod when it's done (might take a year or more still); it will be my personal challenge to try making it easier and more playable than this. (And also better looking.) Seeing how people played this has helped me a lot to understand them.
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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XrackProject
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Re: Planet Of Agony (Keen 1 mod)

Post by XrackProject »

I will play it if its not too hard! Just always remember that the player needs some kind of rewards while playing this difficulty. Nisaba was right, checkpoints would definetly help out if you want to keep this difficulty and length of levels. :)
A project for lifetime.
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