Today, take a moment to appreciate KeenX!

You can discuss anything about fan-made Commander Keen games here.
Benvolio
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Today, take a moment to appreciate KeenX!

Post by Benvolio »

Well Xky's great modding debut KeenX came out a decade ago today and, well I felt like marking that date with some recognition. Sadly I was too busy to create any tribute like a levelpack but others have done that before now, rendering this mod one of the most 're-modded' (a poor coinage I know) of all mods.

To me this mod more than any other has stood alongside the Vorticons series as one of the classics. I have installed it alongside Keen1 on the PC's of several mates and cousins and suchlike over the years. And they've loved it too!

The keen sprite is, amongst the Keening community, surely by far the most recognisable of the fanmade keen-sprites, and the opposing characters are flawless in both concept and drawing.

This mod was, along with the earlier Yorphius II, the beginning of Modding. It was an era of no-frills level, graphic and text replacing, and has stood the test of time: those two mods remain among my top 5. I certainly modeled a great deal of my work on KeenX in particular, without any of Xky's great perfectionism and finesse of course, and I can bet that many others did too. The art of modding of course developed and diversified over the years but this was the starting point and deserves recognition for this.

To comment on the game itself, I think my favourite thing about it graphically is how Xky takes command of the EGA dark-grey and creates an exciting atmosphere with it (cf the crudeness of Keen3). At the time not everyone quite appreciated this: "the tiles have a tendency to be drab and odd looking".

The levels in this mod feel like they were planned carefully and intelligently on paper, something that my mods and numerous others do not. The levels present very distinctive and memorable scenarios, and the taunting of Mortimer's message boxes is ever humerous, and spawned many's a modder's cliché.

I'd best limit my ramblings now, but perhaps others would like to pass tribute to this mod and/or share experiences playing it! Happy KeenX day folks!
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troublesomekeen
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Post by troublesomekeen »

Well great gargs, I gonna have to play this now. Been putting it off for too long. Hmm.. The download link on the wiki seems to be broken. But I found an different place to download it. And....already this blows my mind. This truly is an amazing atmosphere. Blast, I'm such a newbie. This is like uTUIT Keen 9. Evidently I don't know my history. Looks like I have some researching to do. Just wow. Is this really the second mod ever made? Man... look what I've been missing. Serves me right for ignoring the Vorticon series. Thanks, Ben!
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Post by Paramultart »

I approve of this appreciation thread, which is in dire need of a link, for those who haven't played it yet: http://www.shikadi.net/keenwiki/Episode_X
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Post by Commander Spleen »

Ah, I'd forgotten this anniversary was coming up. XkyKeen1 also still remains pretty much my favourite Keen mod ever. Its atmosphere has been a strong influence on my own mods, and surprisingly it holds almost as much nostalgia for me as the original Keen games.

I would love to see another XkyKeen, even (and actually especially) if it was "only" another Vorticons mod.
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cyber zero
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Post by cyber zero »

Hello everyone.
First of all, sorry about my English, because I'm Portuguese.
I dowloaded this mod (episode X) but it seem's theres other sequel's that I can't find anywhere (episode Y, Z and Null).
Does anyone knows where can I download those?
Thank you in advance.
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Post by Benvolio »

Hi and welcome!!
The sequels to KeenX fall I guess into two categories:
1) Sequels made by others in the same theme as Keenx:
Grelphy's KeenY: http://www.tl-dr.org/bip/mods/keeny.zip
Ceilick's KeenZ: (sorry i've no link for you but I could e-mail it to you)

2) Xky's own excellent sequels, which each take a totally different approach to modding. These are Keen2 and Keen3 mods so have your legally acquired executables at the ready:
Xkykeen2 (Keen Null): http://www.tl-dr.org/bip/mods/XkyKeen2.zip
Xkykeen3 (Keen Dash): http://www.tl-dr.org/bip/mods/XkyKeen3.zip
Last edited by Benvolio on Mon Jul 02, 2012 0:13, edited 1 time in total.
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cyber zero
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Post by cyber zero »

Thank you very much.
Just another question.
the others games works great, but when I try to play Keen Dash, it gives me this error:

ck3patch xkykeen3.pat
Error: Can't find script file XkyKeen3.pat

Can someone help me with this, please?
Thank you in advance once again.
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Post by VikingBoyBilly »

It looks like you're missing the patch file... somehow :confused

maybe it's case-sensitive? Look to see if you have xkykeen3.pat, and if you do, look at the xkykeen3 bat file in a text editor and tell us what it says.
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cyber zero
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Post by cyber zero »

Yes, I have xkykeen3.pat
I opened the xkykeen3 bat with a text editor and it says:

ck3patch XkyKeen3.pat

------------EDIT----------------------

I don't know why, but now the game works.
I don't know if opening the xkykeen3.bat with the text editor solved the problem somehow, but it's working.
Thank's for all you help :)
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Post by Fleexy »

Case sensitivity is a terrible thing.

Xky's Keen X is indeed an amazing mod, especially for being the second one in existence. There was a level pack made for it by the community and one made by KeenRush (which I cannot locate now).
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Post by XkyRauh »

Ten years ago! Holy cow, that's a milestone. :) This mod was a ton of fun to develop, and the amount of praise and support it has received since its release is overwhelming. Keen Community looks out for its own. :) You guys are the best.

I wish the "Classic Playfield" level was better.

How long do we have to wait for Ceilick's Keen:Galaxy masterpieces to hit the ten year mark? :)
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Post by Gridlock »

I have to say, I'm not much of a Vorticons person, and KeenX is one of the few Keen 1-3 mods that I thoroughly enjoyed. Every level was unique, well-crafted, and enjoyable, unlike some mods I've played which seem to have relentless repetition and difficulty without a lot of originality. Something about the feel of this game is just right, like a simpler but stylish version of TUIT. I can't say I've been around since this game was released, so it's hard for me to grasp the impact this must have had on the Keen community. However, I think it's safe to say that this effort paved the way for future modding projects and ultimately led to modding advances for both Vorticons and Galaxy.

Seeing the legacy you started and many others continued, I feel honored to be able to add to it. My Keen 4 mod Atroxian Realm may be something entirely different, but I do think KeenX provided a great source of inspiration, particularly in regard to using the color black to enhance the atmosphere and other colors. I really hope we see more incredible Keen efforts in the years to come that we too can celebrate. It's too bad things have been so quiet around here for so long lately :dead
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Atroxian Realm: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3536
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Re: Today, take a moment to appreciate KeenX!

Post by KeenRush »

My garg, this means Yorphius II has turned 10 as well some time ago. :eek Never thought I'd see the day. :old

Anyway, happy birthday to XkyKeen1, it's definitely one of the best. Still. Have to play this first installment today.

And yes, I even made a level pack for it, such is my respect for this mod. 8)

Agree with Spleen, Xky should make a new Vorticons mod.
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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Post by VikingBoyBilly »

I remember getting confused about what the sequels are. Xkykeen 2? I thought it was called Keen-X. Keen Y's a logical name. I tried it, then discarded it for not living up to the expectations that were set by Keen X.
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Post by ckguy »

Maaaaaan I played XkyKeen1 not right when it came out but probably sometime later in 2002 as part of my 'rediscovery of Keen'. Goodness has it really been ten years.

XkyKeen1 is an excellent, excellent mod. It made me get really excited about modding until I realized I only really had the skills for level making :o

http://keenmodding.org/viewtopic.php?t=13 Haha 8-9 years ago people were talking about XkyKeen1 bringing back memories. Oh my :old
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