The Alphamatic (Version 3)

[Gigaman94]

I've known this mod for years and recently discovered there's an expansion available. Thus I've decided to play it, also with the intention of collecting everything (literally) and updating the KeenWiki's respective pages.
I'm about to do that actually, since I've already double-checked the collectibles in each level.
But before, dear Gridlock, I would like to join in and make a few remarks - mainly from the perspective of a player who likes to collect items.

The issues of collecting (all) Bags O' Sugar in Extraction Core and Cryptocorridor have already been discussed.
I'm interested in:
- the intended way to collect them at the end of Defense Tunnel RO - a pogo trick at the far end of the level? Looks like to me that there's an unnecessary extra tile right at the ledge, which makes it too high to grab it.
- the intended way to collect them and at the same time, survive the entire thing, in the 9th room of Command Sector - I'm genuinely interested how you imagined to get the items and leave the room alive with literally nothing solid but all those semi-reusable platforms that plummet into nothingness.

Let's extend it further and generalize to all kinds of items:
- Defense Tunnel XI is manageable to 100%, with good timing and some patience. On the contrary, I'm perplexed by the level design in Atomic Rails. You're supposed to collect Tart Stixes and Cereals - and let's not forget the Vitalins - with Steelstars moving right through them all while balancing and fearing for your life on those platforms. I think that's a bit too much...
- Ventilation Ducts requires a lot of Keen dropping down, but it is doable. The Vitalin chain in AED though - you get no chance to backtrack. It should be a (more) straight line or introduce some method for going back up so you actually get the chance to collect them all as you drop down.

(To anyone thinking about it: Yes, I know, of course you can save and try to complete the same section as many times as you bear, you can warp into the level and/or cheat in other ways, but I still believe the level design is unfair in these cases; I would certainly recommend doctoring them.)

About the Marooned Over Mars Expansion:
- Space Port Tehlah: I think using additional signs could help understand the level better - I would label the one-way teleporters and their respective landing pads too.
- Mars Machineworks: Definitely needs more signs or good hints so you can follow the sequence to complete the level as intended.
- Defense Tunnel Terra: This one is about decorations: when you first display the numbers 1-4, '3' is missing on the left side and '2' is missing on the right side of the level, at the "clue" switches, but all four numbers are present in the center, at their respective "mystery" switches. Same kind of error comes back later: there's a missing '1' on the left side and a '2' on the right side, although all three numbers are there in the center.

+1: Level maps should be updated on the KeenWiki: Ventilation Ducts, Mars Station, Dynamo Access Shaft; v2 of these levels contain more points and/or less ammo than in the previous version (due to re-designs).
+2: On the map of Surge Protection, the starting room shows 6 Stunners, but only 3 of them actually appear on every difficulty.
Are they placeholders for something?

Thank you for bearing with me, and although all of this may seem like a lot of nitpicking (I'm going to live up to that, I promise), I reckon you did a splendid job and the mod is quite memorable in every way. Wish someone continued the story about the Veota!

[Gridlock]

I do appreciate the feedback and interest!

Thus I've decided to play it, also with the intention of collecting everything (literally) and updating the KeenWiki's respective pages.

Fair warning, several levels are going to be receiving minor tweaks in the upcoming version.

the intended way to collect them at the end of Defense Tunnel RO - a pogo trick at the far end of the level? Looks like to me that there's an unnecessary extra tile right at the ledge, which makes it too high to grab it.

There is a hidden pole in the secret passageway to the right of the exit

- the intended way to collect them and at the same time, survive the entire thing, in the 9th room of Command Sector - I'm genuinely interested how you imagined to get the items and leave the room alive with literally nothing solid but all those semi-reusable platforms that plummet into nothingness.

Yeah, this one's tricky and takes advantage of a rather obscure trick. If you pogo on those platforms, they will only shift down a little. You get four bounces on each platform before they start falling. There are enough platforms that you can buy enough time to survive the room.

- Defense Tunnel XI is manageable to 100%, with good timing and some patience. On the contrary, I'm perplexed by the level design in Atomic Rails. You're supposed to collect Tart Stixes and Cereals - and let's not forget the Vitalins - with Steelstars moving right through them all while balancing and fearing for your life on those platforms. I think that's a bit too much...

I can take another pass. Perhaps a few of these tricky points should be removed. Though as long as it's physically possible, I don't mind it being very challenging to get everything so that high skill is rewarded. There's not any mechanical incentive to get 100%, and I'd rather lean into challenge than easy completionism for these levels.

The Vitalin chain in AED though - you get no chance to backtrack. It should be a (more) straight line or introduce some method for going back up so you actually get the chance to collect them all as you drop down.

This was intentional, and I think it's fine as is.

Space Port Tehlah: I think using additional signs could help understand the level better - I would label the one-way teleporters and their respective landing pads too.

I don't really think this is feasible. There's already a fair amount of signage, so to add any more, you'd have to avoid creating confusing info clutter. To communicate this effectively would likely require a lot more unique tiles, and the tilesets are nearly full.

Mars Machineworks: Definitely needs more signs or good hints so you can follow the sequence to complete the level as intended.

I've added a few more arrows in potentially confusing spots, and I'm trying to improve that troublesome spot near the two doors. That said, the level is intentionally non-linear, with many individual sections that can be completed in any order, feeding into each other. The majority of switches are designed so that you can immediately see what they affect.

- Defense Tunnel Terra: This one is about decorations: when you first display the numbers 1-4, '3' is missing on the left side and '2' is missing on the right side of the level, at the "clue" switches, but all four numbers are present in the center, at their respective "mystery" switches.

Good catch!

Same kind of error comes back later: there's a missing '1' on the left side and a '2' on the right side, although all three numbers are there in the center.

I don't see the second instance of this error, assuming you're talking about the upper portion of the level with the red background on the left/right sides.

On the map of Surge Protection, the starting room shows 6 Stunners, but only 3 of them actually appear on every difficulty.
Are they placeholders for something?

The wiki is showing "IF" stunners as regular ammo pickups. This is a type of ammo sprite in the Keen engine that only spawns when the player has < 5 ammo at the start of the level.

Wish someone continued the story about the Veota!

Maybe. I've thought about the true follow-up on and off for the last decade. Despite a few core creative/story questions I've been stumped on for a very long time, I have a lot of longstanding ideas that I wish I could see realized someday. It'd be really appealing to build it in something like Omnispeak, where the stifling technical and memory limitations of the Galaxy engine would be easier to overcome.

The reality though is that it's a commitment of thousands (if not tens of thousands) of hours for a non-commercial project with a tiny audience. It's really hard to justify, especially given the opportunities I have in my professional games industry career. As I mentioned somewhere else, I'm currently working on a project called Fractured Blooms that was announced this year as Summer Games Fest. I'm very privileged to have the job I do, but this kind of work is pretty all-consuming.

I like coming back to projects like The Alphamatic occasionally because it's a relatively low commitment and low barrier of entry way to make Keen stuff. Kind of like the appeal of Mario Maker, I guess. Getting into source modding in particular is a huge undertaking that I don't really have the time and energy for. Maybe someday...

[Gigaman94]

Fair warning, several levels are going to be receiving minor tweaks in the upcoming version.

Very good, once the newest version is available, the wiki will be updated.

There is a hidden pole in the secret passageway to the right of the exit.

I honestly didn't see that coming...thank you.

Regarding my Command Sector question: OK, I will give it a try, although I'm still skeptical... (four bounces is not that much...)

Perhaps a few of these tricky points should be removed.

I would go this way if I were you!

For the rest of my ideas about level designs, including the MOM Expansion: All right, accepted, and thank you. Also,

I don't see the second instance of this error, assuming you're talking about the upper portion of the level with the red background on the left/right sides.

apologies for this one, my vision was blurred or my mind wasn't really fresh, etc. Just checked it again (in-game), these particular numbers are present in the level.

The wiki is showing "IF" stunners as regular ammo pickups. This is a type of ammo sprite in the Keen engine that only spawns when the player has < 5 ammo at the start of the level.

I admit that I didn't think of this either, though it is a logical explanation. Are there any other levels with this kind of Stunners?

About the future: have you ever thought about teaming up with other creators once again? To realize the Veota story together. Not only strictly that, but the gameplay as well - how about Nisaba and K1n9_Duk3? You could turn this finale into another source mod gem. I don't actually know whether you could benefit from this kind of teamwork (whether it would make it less time-consuming for you).

+3: Some typo corrections and other stuff that fit well into an upcoming update.
In the Story section:
- Lt. Barker's dialogue contains "theat" instead of "threat"
- Keen's dialogue contains a "quantam" (which would be "quantum"), also the word "Shikadi" should begin with a capital 'S' in every instance
- the Alphamatic poster reads "armaggedon", it would be nicer if it was remade and read "armageddon" instead

In the Game section:
- on page 6; this is not a typo, but how about changing "QED" to "AED" and "Quantum Explosion Dynamo" to "Alpha Explosion Dynamo"?
- on page 14; similar: "Omegamatic" should be "Alphamatic"
- on page 12; (typo) "Spirogrips" should be capital 'S'

I'm finished.

[banana]

Speaking of getting stuck, it is actually possible to get stuck on Surge Protection.

I can't believe this never occurred to me. Yeah definitely worth addressing.

Dynamo Access Shaft is actually another one that you can get stuck on.

Yeah there's nothing I can do about this one. I can't even make them climb slower due to how infoplane tiles are spaced. I had to design this one very deliberately so that every row alternates between arrows for the volte-faces and infoplane tiles for everything else.


Anyway, after jumping back in the project, I realized that I had an unused level slot and enough unused bytes left to fit in the necessary level text. So, I decided, what the heck, I'll make one more level. It'll be a late-game optional challenge level called Binary Circuits. It's based on an idea I had a long time ago for a rails level with two concurrent tracks that the player frequently has to switch between. I think it's shaping up to be something pretty special, and it's pretty wild compared to the other rails levels in the mod. I'll be excited to share it when it's finished.

Very curious to the new level, looking forward to it. Is the extra level space because there are now two high score levels in the game you can warp cheat to (level 15 and level 24)?

[Snortimer]

I am also really looking forward to the new level and other changes!
I think I somehow missed the 2021 update as well, so I have 5 new levels to look forward to.

[Gridlock]

I admit that I didn't think of this either, though it is a logical explanation. Are there any other levels with this kind of Stunners?

It's a pretty common practice to add at least one of these "IF" stunners to the start of a level. Most levels in The Alphamatic do this.

About the future: have you ever thought about teaming up with other creators once again? To realize the Veota story together. Not only strictly that, but the gameplay as well - how about Nisaba and K1n9_Duk3? You could turn this finale into another source mod gem. I don't actually know whether you could benefit from this kind of teamwork (whether it would make it less time-consuming for you).

I guess I won't rule it out completely, but I definitely don't have the time or energy right now to organize and lead a project like that. I'm also not going to ask people to contribute to something unless I can have a serious creative vision and production plan for it.

+3: Some typo corrections and other stuff that fit well into an upcoming update.

Thanks! I'll review these more closely at some point.

Very curious to the new level, looking forward to it. Is the extra level space because there are now two high score levels in the game you can warp cheat to (level 15 and level 24)?

Yeah. I don't remember how this came to be, but level slot 24 was an unused high scores duplicate that turned out to be free and usable. Well, at least I think so... haven't noticed any weird memory corruption yet

[K1n9_Duk3]

Space Port Tehlah: I think using additional signs could help understand the level better - I would label the one-way teleporters and their respective landing pads too.

I don't really think this is feasible. There's already a fair amount of signage, so to add any more, you'd have to avoid creating confusing info clutter. To communicate this effectively would likely require a lot more unique tiles, and the tilesets are nearly full.

If you want to know which tiles in your tilesets are never used in any of the levels, load your levels in GalaxyView 2.0 (don't forget to load the correct tile attributes for your mod!) and press F11. Version 2.0 of The Alphamatic still had 197 unused background tiles and 234 unused foreground/masked tiles.

The problem with that one Spindred being too close to the secret with the two bags of sugar in "Extraction Core" (level 4) is caused by the top right Spindred being spawned too close to the ceiling. If you load the level in GalaxyView and press C to display the hitboxes for the sprites, you can see that the Spindred is spawned partially inside the ceiling. Since the ceiling tiles have blocking sides, the object gets pushed to the side.

However, I still managed to collect the items and get out of that secret unharmed by using the pogo stick. I activated the pogo, pressed left, and waited for Keen to fall out of the secret. As soon as Keen fell, I pressed right, to make sure Keen won't move too far and end up touching the Spindred anyway. It took me a save and a few tries, but I pulled it off at least 3 times now. I was playing on Normal, but that doesn't really matter, since the "bad" Spindred spawns on any difficulty.

You might also want to take a look at this patch that forces the teleport effects to vanish after a fixed number of iterations. The teleporter in the top left corner of "Mars Machineworks" (level 20) is still visible from the teleport destination, which means the animation just keeps going on forever until Keen leaves the area. Maybe there are other teleporters that have the same problem, I haven't checked all of them.

Feel free to send me a "release candidate" if you want to have your new patches checked.

[Gridlock]

Some news on the update. Given how much has changed, I'm going to go ahead and call the next version 3.0 rather than 2.1.

Right now, I'm ready to get this out, but I'm finding the QA process to be a little overwhelming given that this mod has 24 huge levels spanning three difficulty levels. There are loads of small changes, and it's hard to fully validate that I haven't introduced any small new issues. For that reason, I'm going to try something different this time and release a public 3.0 beta. I get the feeling I might be overlooking something, and I don't necessarily have the time/energy to play through everything again. This still gives me some room to correct any additional issues later that may have slipped through.

Download Version 3.0 Beta:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XbbGsZ ... sp=sharing

The biggest addition to this new version is a new challenge level called Binary Circuits (level slot #24). It's the most dynamic and challenging rail level yet, spanning two separate concurrent rail systems. To access it, you'll need to complete all four secret levels in the Marooned Over Mars expansion... or you can simply F-10+W to level 24.

Version 3.0 change notes:

• Added a new level: Binary Circuits
• Revisions and expansions to Surge Protection
• Various difficulty rebalancing, mostly to reduce difficulty and improve fairness on Easy and Normal mode
• Various level tweaks/improvements/fixes
• Ventilation Ducts can now only be accessed after completing Mars Station
• Added some static goplats in various levels on easy mode
• Space Port Tehlah: Some signage improvements
• Mars Machineworks: Some signage improvements, and a revision to the middle section of the level with the two doors
• Added additional ammo to Alpha Explosion Dynamo
• Implemented K1n9_Duk3's new teleporter patch
• Various story text/graphic fixes
• Added a few names to a special thanks section in the credits (please let me know if you think I missed your name)
• And maybe a little more...

[banana]

I just tried the new Surge Protection. I like the ideas a lot. The go-plat in the early part of the level is fixed. I also like that not using the yellow key early on can now give a big reward. That said, the bonus area behind the second yellow door is extremely difficult. I'm not sure if it's intended to be effectively impossible to collect the Tart Stixs there on Hard difficulty, but in between the Voltefaces quickly closing in and the Slicestars there just doesn't seem to be the time to wait for the correct timing to grab them, you basically have to just run through and ignore the points. I haven't tried it on Easy or Normal though.

Edit: I'm just thinking of what the actual intended solution probably is for grabbing the points. I'm a bit stupid and missed it in my first playthrough. Clever job on that one.

[Syllypryde]

I just tried the new Surge Protection. I like the ideas a lot. The go-plat in the early part of the level is fixed. I also like that not using the yellow key early on can now give a big reward. That said, the bonus area behind the second yellow door is extremely difficult. I'm not sure if it's intended to be effectively impossible to collect the Tart Stixs there on Hard difficulty, but in between the Voltefaces quickly closing in and the Slicestars there just doesn't seem to be the time to wait for the correct timing to grab them, you basically have to just run through and ignore the points. I haven't tried it on Easy or Normal though.

Edit: I'm just thinking of what the actual intended solution probably is for grabbing the points. I'm a bit stupid and missed it in my first playthrough. Clever job on that one.

Have the new level Binary Circuits yet?

[banana]

Haven't had the time yet to get that far in the game I'm afraid, but I'll post my thoughts on it as soon as I get there.

[SodiumtheGlitcher]

I am currently struggling through Mars Machineworks again. I was gonna go for every point item, but I used the 2nd red gem in Defense Tunnel Terra for fun early on and got locked out of those points at the top. I thought about cheating to get them, but decided otherwise. I will give my thoughts on Binary Circuits when I get there.

[Syllypryde]

Haven't had the time yet to get that far in the game I'm afraid, but I'll post my thoughts on it as soon as I get there.

Since I have beaten every other level before I warped straight to Binary Circuits. I can beat it on easy. Trying to get all the items is what makes it such a bastard. If you just road the goplats and jumped to the second one, and back to the first one only and only when you had to, it's not as hard as it seems. Of course that is on easy. To get all the points on hard with so many cannons and I'm sure added extra enemies would be next to impossible, even with massive in-level saving. We will see, if I ever get that far. I have beaten the entire game on all 3 skill levels, though on hard there were a few levels here and there that were borderline Keenrush and Fleexy hard, but with some patience and some perseverance I was able to final beat hard. Once I am confident that I can beat Binary Circuits consistently with a bare minimum of in-level saving, then I will do a normal mode starting right from the beginning and complete every level properly.

[SodiumtheGlitcher]

I made it to Binary Circuits, but I'm not sure if I completed it in the intended manner. I first rode the whole circuit and got none of the gems. Then it looped back to the start, I rode the circuit again, and that time I got all four! I'm not sure if that's what you're supposed to do, but it worked. Also, I did not get near enough all of the points, but I think all points are collectable just considering that you can ride the circuit as many times as you want.

[SodiumtheGlitcher]

Found 3 tiling errors.

In Fuel Processing: You can grab on a block in the secret passage and climb into the slope.


In Mars Station: You can pogo from the secret passage through this slope. (This has existed since 1.0)


In Command Sector, 1st Robo Red room: The block below this fire tile is solid. You can grab onto it and wait out the whole room like this.