Happy Keen day! Beta testers required!
Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 3:36
Allow me to introduce my new Keen 4 mod, "Bounty Hunting Brouhaha". Beta is available here (run PATCH.BAT):
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1usw3R ... 6Yq4kNPdGg
Plot summary: a low-stakes mission turns out to have high-stakes consequences.
Artwork: fairly conventional. A few of the backgrounds are colour-flattened 3D renderings, which I can post a tutorial on if anyone's interested.
Level design: Less conventional. Maybe a bit more puzzle-oriented than usual.
Difficulty: fairly easy, though I've no idea whether it's beatable in hard mode.
Number of levels: Only one of the original Keen 4 level slots is unused. You only need to beat eight levels to beat the game, although, it's hard to explain which eight…
Number of secret levels: two
Music: All original. This is the only category of asset where I regularly end up making more than I can use. I may start doing periodic IMF dumps so other people can use them.
Recognizable pop tunes plagiarized with slight alterations: Several
Penguins with teeth: Yes
If you're interested in Beta Testing: First of all, THANK YOU EVER SO VERY MUCH! All volunteers will appear in the credits, and the first five volunteers can have a "message to the world" (autograph, self-portrait, graffito tag, marriage proposal, you name it) embedded somewhere in the final version of the game, if they wish. (Max area: 16 tiles per message.)
While you test, please be on the lookout for:
* The game not starting at all because the ZIP package is corrupt or incomplete
* "Insufficient memory for..."
* Collision/clipping/masking issues
* Tiles not doing what they look like they ought to do
* Game-breaking bugs
* Garbled text
* Guidelines/discolorations on tiles with special properties (I use them a lot so that I know what's what during the level-editing stage, and I'm pretty sure I erased all of them)
* Traps that feel cheap
* Levels that are impossible in hard mode
* Secret level transportation system not working properly (The one in the cave should take you to the cottage at bottom right, and the one in the garden should take you to the stripey place)
* Whether the wind-tunnel level is unplayably glitchy or just mildly glitchy
Deadline: Uhh...oh, I know! April 13th, which shall henceforth be known as "reverse Keen day."
Optional extra credit assignments: There is quite a bit of room on the BMP list, so if anyone wants to make me a few more illustrations for the story and end text, that would be greatly appreciated. (Turns out I can't draw in any perspective other than isomorphic.) I'm not thrilled with the way the title card turned out either, so if anyone wants to draw me a new one, you get EXTRA extra credit!
Personal notes: Keen Galaxy modding provides pretty much everything I'm looking for in a late-night creative outlet, so I'm feeling pretty fired up about it. (I'm already storyboarding the sequel for this. It will be...structurally interesting.) Let me also say how encouraging it is to see this little community still going strong. Who is responsible for paying web hosting fees for this site and for shikadi.net? I want to send along a little token of goodwill, but I can't find the donate button.
Happy Keen day to all, and to all a good night!
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1usw3R ... 6Yq4kNPdGg
Plot summary: a low-stakes mission turns out to have high-stakes consequences.
Artwork: fairly conventional. A few of the backgrounds are colour-flattened 3D renderings, which I can post a tutorial on if anyone's interested.
Level design: Less conventional. Maybe a bit more puzzle-oriented than usual.
Difficulty: fairly easy, though I've no idea whether it's beatable in hard mode.
Number of levels: Only one of the original Keen 4 level slots is unused. You only need to beat eight levels to beat the game, although, it's hard to explain which eight…
Number of secret levels: two
Music: All original. This is the only category of asset where I regularly end up making more than I can use. I may start doing periodic IMF dumps so other people can use them.
Recognizable pop tunes plagiarized with slight alterations: Several
Penguins with teeth: Yes
If you're interested in Beta Testing: First of all, THANK YOU EVER SO VERY MUCH! All volunteers will appear in the credits, and the first five volunteers can have a "message to the world" (autograph, self-portrait, graffito tag, marriage proposal, you name it) embedded somewhere in the final version of the game, if they wish. (Max area: 16 tiles per message.)
While you test, please be on the lookout for:
* The game not starting at all because the ZIP package is corrupt or incomplete
* "Insufficient memory for..."
* Collision/clipping/masking issues
* Tiles not doing what they look like they ought to do
* Game-breaking bugs
* Garbled text
* Guidelines/discolorations on tiles with special properties (I use them a lot so that I know what's what during the level-editing stage, and I'm pretty sure I erased all of them)
* Traps that feel cheap
* Levels that are impossible in hard mode
* Secret level transportation system not working properly (The one in the cave should take you to the cottage at bottom right, and the one in the garden should take you to the stripey place)
* Whether the wind-tunnel level is unplayably glitchy or just mildly glitchy
Deadline: Uhh...oh, I know! April 13th, which shall henceforth be known as "reverse Keen day."
Optional extra credit assignments: There is quite a bit of room on the BMP list, so if anyone wants to make me a few more illustrations for the story and end text, that would be greatly appreciated. (Turns out I can't draw in any perspective other than isomorphic.) I'm not thrilled with the way the title card turned out either, so if anyone wants to draw me a new one, you get EXTRA extra credit!
Personal notes: Keen Galaxy modding provides pretty much everything I'm looking for in a late-night creative outlet, so I'm feeling pretty fired up about it. (I'm already storyboarding the sequel for this. It will be...structurally interesting.) Let me also say how encouraging it is to see this little community still going strong. Who is responsible for paying web hosting fees for this site and for shikadi.net? I want to send along a little token of goodwill, but I can't find the donate button.
Happy Keen day to all, and to all a good night!