Keen 8: Dead in the Desert

Post by **Ceilick** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 7:40

Sorry, I wasn't being very clear here. What are those things called, anyway?

I refer to them as tubes, but i'm nto really sure. Switchable platforms is a possibility for controlling where they can. In teh upgrade i'll try to make sure teh wild ones aren't a problem.

I think part of the reason might just be that in levels with a sky (and particularly in the mountain levels), it's hard to get lost.

That seems likely, that or knowing where "ground level" is. I'll keep that in mind for when the team begins work on levels in keen 9. We'll have some planetary ones with skylines and such, but we'll do some experimenting with indoor levels to avoid players feeling lost and aimless.

Snortimer · Post by **Snortimer** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 7:56

Maybe you could have the walls in a lower part of an indoor level a different colour (or colours). They could have different features, too. That would also provide some visual variety.

Syllypryde · Post by **Syllypryde** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 15:34

Ceilick wrote:.........That seems likely, that or knowing where "ground level" is. I'll keep that in mind for when the team begins work on levels in keen 9. We'll have some planetary ones with skylines and such, but we'll do some experimenting with indoor levels to avoid players feeling lost and aimless.

For the most part (in any of your mods) I never really felt lost or aimless, except when playing a level for the very first time. I enjoy the level designs just the way they are.

sbartus · Post by **sbartus** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:25

Hello,

I'm currently playing Dead in the Desert. I shot this blue thing in a level with the Bean-with-backon Megarocket, but nothing happens next. When I go to the left, I exit the level. When I re-enter the level I must battle with this thing again. What is wrong here?

shikadi · Post by **shikadi** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:14

did you try to shoot the remains?

Snortimer · Post by **Snortimer** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:23

shikadi wrote:did you try to shoot the remains?

Hmm, I can see how that might be potentially confusing. I wonder if, for the eventual "upgrade", it would make sense to change the "stunned" animation for the Impostor Keen to one of him swaying from side to side, to make it more obvious that you have to shoot him again.

Post by **Levellass** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 14:06

Yes, heck, he could even move a bit I think. It wouldn't be hard, we can scrounge the unused bip animations.

sbartus · Post by **sbartus** » Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:13

Hello,

I've just finished playing Keen 8: Dead in the Desert. I ended with 35 lives and 892700 points. I played in normal mode.

This mod is awesome. I've played Keen 7: The Keys of Krodacia before and I have to say that Ceilick made a huge progress. Overally I finished Keen 4, 5, 6 and Dreams too.

Hits:
1. Graphic design. For me, the Keys of Krodacia episode was a little bit annoying in terms of colours and graphics, but Keen 8 is pretty much as advanced in it's design as original episodes.
2. Hazards. In KOK the hazards were creative and smartly made but they resembled Keen 4 hazards slightly too much. Dead in the Desert has some wonderful cratures which doesn't resemble those from Keen 6.
3. Music. It's awesome. My favourite part of this game. Very in style of origninal Keen 4-6.
4. Levels. Their number and variety is awesome. I like the submarine ride too.

Misses:
1. Demo. It's so clueless. Some random jumps and CK dies in a very dumb way. Like a little kid playing CK for the first time. I would like to see passing about half of the level in demo, in a good way.
2. The need to shoot the remains of blue creature near Bean-with-Beacon Megarocket. It's very confusing.
3. The general idea of boss fight is not really attractive for me. From the "later Keens" it can be only seen in Keen Dreams.
4. I can go through a floor in near Water Corp 1 and walk in the elevator area. Just a little bug.
5. How do all of these characters came in the rocket? Did they fly this rocket especially to save Keen from Calidune? Strange thing for me.

Other comments:
Near the entry to the Water Palace there is a passage that ends shortly with pink columns. Is this a level?
How many lives can you get in this game? About 38?

Thanks for making such an awesome modification, Ceilick! I would love to play your Keen 9 now!

Deltamatic · Post by **Deltamatic** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 5:00

The boss fight was practice for the next boss fight Ceilick's going to make for us, one with Mortimer himself.
Presumably Keen's friends came in a ship of their own, with the Bean-with-Bacon in tow.

Mr. 314 · Post by **Mr. 314** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 10:54

now THAT would be awesome

Snortimer · Post by **Snortimer** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 7:34

My initial opinion of DotD was that it was as good as an official Keen game.

However, I'm now replaying Keen 5 for the first time in years, and I now definitely think that I like DotD better. Keen5's beginning and end-story is somewhat better, but DotD's levels are often more interesting (and much more varied). DotD's map is also far better than Keen5's, which is pretty uninteresting except for the elevators. Keen5 was never my favourite of the later trilogy, to tell the truth - I didn't like how most of the enemies were invincible, for example - but still, I think it's amazing that a few fans have managed to create something that is better than one of the original "products".

For now, in my rankings... Keen 5 handily beats Keys of Krodacia, but is beaten itself by Dead in the Desert, which is around even with or a little behind Keen 4 and maybe a bit better than Keen 6.

Keys of Krodacia beats Keen 3, though.

Deltamatic · Post by **Deltamatic** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 8:29

I like Keen 5 better than DitD, mainly because of the final level.
DitD is a mod of Keen 6, though, so maybe you'd want to do that comparison as well.

Mr. 314 · Post by **Mr. 314** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 12:00

just download DitD, and all i can say is wow!!! absolute genius!!! boss fight was a tad dissapointing as i was expecting someone who acts jsut like keen with neural stunner and pogo and all, but i guess that would have been waaaaaaaay to hard to do. But its brilliant! absolute genius! *Salutes*

Syllypryde · Post by **Syllypryde** » Sat Aug 29, 2009 19:01

I have now completed Hydro Palace, Hydro Corp 1 and Hydro Factory on hard. I now only have 4 levels left to complete: Hydro Corp 2, Devil's Cavern, Cobrit Pit (I have been using it as a storehouse level for extra lives), and Battle for the Ship. Has anyone completed DITD on hard yet? As I have posted before, I have completed it on both easy and normal.

Post by **Ceilick** » Sat Aug 29, 2009 21:08

Thanks for the comments, Szymon Bartus

On the demos: i had trouble getting them recorded properly and eventually just gave up. What you're seeing is Keen trying to navigate the original keen 6 demos while in the DitD level.

When the update comes around, I'll look into making the end of the boss fight more intuitive (and will try to fix the other bugs you mentioned).

I'm not sure how many extra lives there are

The end game will definately be expanded on in the next mod, so your questions will be answered there

The boss fight was, as Delta said, practice. I wanted to see how people reacted to: the idea of having a boss in the first place, boss level design, and boss behavior.

Also, I really appreciate the rankings of TKoK and DitD in comparison to the real Keen episodes: helps put things in perspective and get a grasp of what I'm doing right and wrong

Syllypryde: I haven't even beat in on hard

But in theory it should be possible...Good luck!