Keen 8: Dead in the Desert

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.
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Deltamatic
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Post by Deltamatic »

Items that give random scores! Now there's an idea.
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Roobar
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Post by Roobar »

Screenshots spoiler alert

Now that the game is out and most of you already explore it, and while I was browsing through the bug shots, I thought it's really funny to show you the most funny situations from the beta testing :) :lol:

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By Iv4n

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By Iv4n

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By Iv4n

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By Iv4n

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By Iv4n
This was a part of the level, where you weren't able to complete it :)

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By Iv4n
Hey! Keen is not supposed to be there :)
Last edited by Roobar on Thu Jul 23, 2009 17:59, edited 1 time in total.
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VikingBoyBilly
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Post by VikingBoyBilly »

Wow. I just beat it and it was incredible. It's hot where I am now so I really felt like I was in the desert when I was playing it.

The cacti scream Central-America, the music is Egyptian, and those red rock levels look like Australia. This planet is the desert to end all deserts.
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Deltamatic
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Post by Deltamatic »

This reminds me of TV Tropes's article on cacti being everywhere in deserts, doesn't matter which desert.
But since it's an alien planet, who cares? Cacti FTW!
Ceilick
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Post by Ceilick »

Glad you guys are liking it :)

Yeah, we went through 6 betas and thsoe are ony some of the problems ran into :o

For the desert, my inspiration came from American deserts but with a lot more sand (not that I'm that familiar with any kind of real deserts anyway). In any case, glad the planent pulls off the 'familiar but alien' desert feel :)

I know some of you have beaten it right now and I'm curious: What were your favorite moments in the mod (and what were the most annoying and/or things that just weren't well designed)? How was the story and end game? Anything there should have been more/less of? Is there anything that should carry over to Keen 9 or should be improved or dropped?
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Post by shikadi »

i am at the level were you find the battery.

when i first met those giks, i died a lot. dind't like them a lot. (i only played on hard only). i liked most of the levels, mostly the underground ones were no giks were. i liked the water levels the least. those flects replcemants were more annoying then anything else.

the falling lava + platforms was more a game of chanche then skill.

i could give feetback about every level, but i let others do it for you.
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Post by Genius314 »

Ceilick wrote:I know some of you have beaten it right now and I'm curious: What were your favorite moments in the mod (and what were the most annoying and/or things that just weren't well designed)? How was the story and end game? Anything there should have been more/less of? Is there anything that should carry over to Keen 9 or should be improved or dropped?
My favorite moments? First entering the cave, and first getting to the water levels. I was totally not expecting that, and the music was great and fit perfectly with the themes.
I was also amazed at the falling lava, I've never seen anything quite like that in a Keen game.

I agree with Shikadi about the falling lava and the platforms. It was an awesome idea, but it was too hard to avoid (specifically that one area where there were 3 in a row)

GRAPHICS:

The graphics in this mod were pretty amazing. Most of it felt really Keen-ish. I liked the dark clouds at the top of the mountain levels.
Even the little details, like the little trickle of sand pouring into the underground areas, were really cool.

The purple and red cave walls were great. It gave the feeling of both a cool, dark cave, and a hot volcano. Although I feel like the background could've been improved - maybe it should have looked more like rocks (like the caves in Keen 4), rather than looking like an abstract painting. :p

The factory levels were just too cool (literally) for words. The backgrounds were nice and varied, and the levels were generally just a refreshing (also literally) change of pace.

ENEMIES:

It was kinda cool that each enemy was only seen in certain types of levels, although it felt a bit monotonous at times, having to deal with the same enemies all the time.

I liked the fact that you used the four blooglets as four different enemies. I (and probably a few other modders) would probably just do the same thing as Keen 6, and make one enemy in 4 different colors.

The enemies were changed just enough to make the game not feel like Keen 6. I hate playing mods and knowing the whole time what game it is (if you get what I mean). I actually had to make a list of all the enemies in DitD and Keen 6, and actually figure out which enemies were what... it almost felt like there were a lot more enemies in your mod than in Keen 6. That's really cool!

My favorites were the tumbleworms and the little scrub-bots.
The nose guys were gross, but kinda funny.

LEVELS:

Not much I can really say about levels. Some areas were difficult (although I WAS playing on hard, so that's expected) but it was overall pretty balanced.
As I said, I liked the variety of levels. It made the game feel a lot bigger than it actually was.

STORY:

Cheesy, funny, creative, etc. The impostor Keen was hilarious (and it was nice to see a boss in a mod that wasn't the Mangling Machine. :p )

The only thing I didn't like was at the end, where all of Keen's friends sent him a message. I just thought that was too cheesy. Although it was a cool reference, especially with the janitor there.
Also, the ending didn't really hint towards the next game at all, which was a bit of a disappointment. At least give some planet name, or mention Mort's fleet of spaceships, or something...

MUSIC:

Amazing! I would honestly play this game again, just to sit and listen to the music.

The Arabian (or whatever) scales used in the desert level music was really cool stuff.
The music in the Water Palace was probably my favorite song. It really gave the feeling of a cool factory.
In fact, all of the music just seemed to work. The songs fit the levels like a glove.


Now, just a few questions:

Which level opens the gate to the submarine? It seems to be Hydro Corp 2, but I'm not sure.
What is the sign "Hot isn't it" referencing?
And at the lake, there was an unfinished bridge at the top... is there a purpose to it, or was it just an extra detail?

Also, in the music credits, there's a J. Greek and Antone S. Wallach. Who are these two people, and which levels are those songs in?


(Oh, and it's kinda funny that I was the first person, except the beta-testers, to play the mod, yet one of the last to comment) :crazy
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The Shifted One
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Post by The Shifted One »

Ive finished it on normal and Il keep it short.

I loved the desert levels music, sweet!
From as far as design goes the later levels were awesome.
I also liked what you did to some enemies like the Gik. Evil!
The difference in level themes were just awesome, and so were having certain enemies only in certain parts.
And the part I didnt like was the part with all the blood in the Hydra Corp 2.
I spend all that time translating it all just to find a bunch of names but no info on the secret level :P I died a gazzilion time!
I still found the secret later though :P
I also didnt like some of the falling lava, I had to use the enter trick to pass some of them.
Oh and the volume difference between the different music tracks was odd :P

I can think of alot more things to say but, I rather keep it short.
Im not a man of alotta words.

All I can say is, are you going to work on the next part? :dopekeen
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Post by Ceilick »

Shikadi: man, i love the gik replacements :) they are hard and annoying though, so I hear you there. Flect replacements are tough if you don't know how to approach them: jump over them and shoot down. A made them kill mostly because of lack of enemies and toughness in those last levels.

Theres some skill, i think, behind the lava falls, but they are very tough. It's important to maneuver around on the platforms as you go through them (the platforms are extra wide for this).

Genius314: Glad to hear about the caves and water levels; i was hoping for shock value on those parts.

The cave background; a combination of laziness and desire to avoid the typical 'rock' background. I like it, but i can see how it's not for everyone.

I hear you on the enemy division; my rational for it though was that many of the enemies didn't fit in certain locals and I decided "What the heck, i'll see how dividing it goes and what the reaction is".

Glad you like the enemy changes! Enemies are one of my favorite things to mod, and i'm particuarly happy with some of the unique ones that Levellass patched. Scrub-bots are called "Bresh" and are the reason the hydro factory is so clean. Nose guys were mainly for humor value :)

On the ending: yeah, cheesy, i know :P But my main reason for this is: I have absolutely no plot in mind for keen 9, other than keen goes to stop Mortimer. Originally, only Lt. Barker was going to find Keen, but I decided to just add the rest (and I wanted to try my hand at drawing Lyndsey ;) ) So, to everyone, I apolgize for the vague, open ended ending. I didn't want to rope myself into any plot I might want to change later.

Glad you like the music! I really love the songs too, Mr. M and ZidaneA did an awesome job.

On your questions:
-Hydro Corp 2 gives access to the secret level.
-The "hot isn't it" is just referencing the weather. Kind of a bugs bunny like phrase "screwy, ain't he".
-Originally, there was going to be a second submarine to throw players off about the secret level, however, It kept giving the game errors so I took it out.
-J. Greek is a friend/associate of Mr. M and Antone S. Wallach is someone Mr. M was familiar with whose song fit the boss level perfectly.

The Game songs are as follows:
World Map - Snakes on a BwB Megarocket
Dusty Dunes - Water in the Desert
Arid Hills - Dunes
Red Rock Mountain - Sun, Sol, Soleil
Lava Lake - Brimstone Alley
The Molten Passage - Vortiblue
The Hydro Palace - Robotic Keenery
Hydro Corp 1 - Ceilicked
Battle for the ship - Carchase

Edit: replying to The Shifted One because he snuck a post in while I was posting:

Glad you like the gik, really is one of my favorites.
The messeges in red in the Hydro levels are supposd to be graffiti, not blood :P Some of the signs have been 'vandalized', and example being "Go" painted over to say "Yo"

Not sure about the sound difference, I may try to fix that.

And yes, after a break, I and probably a few others will be working on the next installment :)
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Post by Genius314 »

Ceilick wrote:The cave background; a combination of laziness and desire to avoid the typical 'rock' background. I like it, but i can see how it's not for everyone.
I kinda get it. You already did have a rock background in the desert levels, so it might have been boring... I dunno, the purple and red rocks in the background might have been cool, though. Although the background isn't that bad now, it does give the background a dark feel to it.
Ceilick wrote:On the ending: yeah, cheesy, i know :P But my main reason for this is: I have absolutely no plot in mind for keen 9, other than keen goes to stop Mortimer. Originally, only Lt. Barker was going to find Keen, but I decided to just add the rest (and I wanted to try my hand at drawing Lyndsey ;) ) So, to everyone, I apolgize for the vague, open ended ending. I didn't want to rope myself into any plot I might want to change later.
I figured it was something like that. I completely understand. When I made my first mod, I included info on what the next two games would be, and now I feel like I've backed myself into a corner.
Ceilick wrote:-The "hot isn't it" is just referencing the weather. Kind of a bugs bunny like phrase "screwy, ain't he".
Ah, I get it now. The lack of a comma and question mark in SGA threw me off. Instead I read it as more of "Hot is not it." I thought maybe it was a hint to the secret level - hot isn't what you're looking for, you need to find something cool.
Although that actually works, since the secret level was accessed in the lake.
Ceilick wrote:-Originally, there was going to be a second submarine to throw players off about the secret level, however, It kept giving the game errors so I took it out.
That would've been cool. Too bad, though.
Ceilick wrote:-J. Greek is a friend/associate of Mr. M and Antone S. Wallach is someone Mr. M was familiar with whose song fit the boss level perfectly.
Ah, so he knows J. Greek, and just borrowed the song from the other guy? That's not a bad thing, though, since even Bobby Prince borrowed music from people.

Thanks for the list of songs. So ZidaneA made the music for Hydro Palace, which was my favorite song. Yet I also really liked some of the other tracks, like Brimstone Alley. So I guess I liked both their styles. :)
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Post by VikingBoyBilly »

SGA's total lack of punctuation (question marks) totally made me misinterpret the "hot isn't it" sign as saying "hot is not the correct answer" :dead
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Deltamatic
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Post by Deltamatic »

There need to be some fanmade SGA punctuation marks.
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Post by Roobar »

I pretty much like everything. The only annoying enemyes were the Squibs! Man, these creatures were driving me crazy! It's funny how you've changed their behavior and are something completely different from Giks.
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Post by Dynamo »

I just downloaded the mod and gave a quick try on the first level to see how it looks like. Before I even play it, I have some things to say. First off, thank you for releasing it. I've been waiting for dead in the desert the day I heard about it (so about 4 months ago) and it didn't take long to come out : D
Second, what I noticed (from the first level) is that, while keen of krodacia looked pretty much like something ID software could have made after keen 6, keen 8 does not. In fact, keen 8 to me seems to have superior graphics/details to the other keen episodes. This obviously shows how much you have progressed since you made your first keen mod. Congratulations : )

Now I'm going to join those who are playing it on hard and enjoying this great new episode!

KEEN LIVES!
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The Shifted One
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Post by The Shifted One »

Ah graffiti....
In red.... :P

Well considering the amount of enemies there I really thought it was blood :P
Ah well doesnt matter I geuss, it didnt change that I died there alot and Im not a frequent saver (I dont use in level saving alto unless theres some real hard points) so I had to travel trough a few times until I acually saved on the spot :P

And as far as ideas go for the next part, have Keen shrink down to size togo inside MMs brain to shut it down (like how the QED in Keen 5 could be the centre of his brain or something).
Problem I wouldntknow how to tile that or have any other ideas to back that up :P
Besides Im not even sure if its a good idea >.>
Im sure you know best what works and what not anyway.

Meh makes me wanna mod again but right now I dont even haev time to make a Keen 2 mod, let alone a keen 4-6 one...
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