My First Mod: Save Spot!

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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Grandy02
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My First Mod: Save Spot!

Post by Grandy02 »

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Download (thanks to Malv for hosting it!)

Development of "Save Spot!", my Keen 1 mod, started in late 2004. However, there were various long breaks during development. Now, after almost a decade, it's finally done!

Mortimer has kidnapped Keen's pet Yorp Spot and imprisoned him in a shrine on a faraway planet named Cocolores IV. Of course, it's a trap, Mort wants Keen to be killed by the many monsters that inhabit the planet! But our hero has no other choice, Commander Keen must travel to the planet and overcome its many dangers. Help Keen obtain four special items to save his beloved Spot and explore 16 levels of old-school Keen gaming! Enjoy! :)

There's also a little easter egg in this mod - Community Cameos! You can discover cameos for 18 Keeners in total. Each one is a reference to a work or an avatar of a community member, mostly in the form of a single tile. Can you find them all? Good luck!

Special thanks to Tulip and KeenRush for beta testing!
PCKF Archive - The Keen Community's Past (and Present) | grandy02.shikadi.net
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Roobar
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Post by Roobar »

Now I wish I have had an avatar! Anyway, cool mod so far. I think I found 2 so far, but I'm not sure who should they represent. One is looking like Jazz Jackrabbit and I wonder who was with such an avatar?
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Post by tulip »

Oh man I completely forgot about that. Good job finishing that!

Playing it again I remembered many things. Super creative falling rock patch, beautiful graphics, especially on the map, and the classic keen feel.

Definetly recommended mod!
Image You crack me up little buddy!
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Post by troublesomekeen »

Community Cameos?! :O I hope I will be able to recognize all the tribute to the great keeners.
http://youtu.be/texghdfOJt8
Looks great, Grandy!
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Commander Keen in... Canteloupe Quest!
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Post by Benvolio »

Excellent! It didn't take me long to find the Benvolio cameo!! What an excellent idea. The mod is pretty good too!! I really think the map graphics are particularly excellent. I also really like the Yorp replacement - not only is it very well-drawn, but it is also a very neat idea for an alien character. The title screen is of a very high artistic standard.

Finally, something that is probably not often commented on in mods: the font you designed is really impressive. It is difficult to make a legible font with 8x8 pixel character tiles, but you did a really good job. Probably the most readable font I've seen in a Keen1 mod.
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Post by Roobar »

Benvolio wrote:Excellent! It didn't take me long to find the Benvolio cameo!!
In which level? Where? I found lemm and tulip. Found even a tetris reference.
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Post by Benvolio »

Well I don't want to give away the secrets of the game but... let me just say that you will be able to see it within about three seconds of starting the game if you move fast enough!
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Post by VikingBoyBilly »

I'm taking screenies as I find them. I THINK George Broussard or Ken Silverman was a keen modder at one point, if what I found here is a duke nukem tile.

Jazz Jackrabbit... I guess that's levellass, since she's the only one here who copy/pastes jazz jackrabbit art into her previews that I know of.

I found a TooMuchSpareTimeTribute in the forest.
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Post by Levellass »

Cameos I have found so far: (Locations withheld for surprise value, but you can guess a few of them.)

Ugly Keen (Paramultart?)
King Lick
Lemming doll (Guess who?)
Picture of LL, apparently resized from Generic Mod
Upside down Malv avatar
Spleen monkish picture
Andy Durdin photo tile image thing
Calvin and Hobbs snowman image thing
Frozen Dopefish
Garg with'KR' above it (No idea who this is.)
Frozen Xky Keen head


Also, here are all the levels, extracted as PNG images just because I can: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/394 ... otlevs.zip they look quite impressive zoomed out.
Where was the jazz cameo? That was only like 1 mod!
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Post by Tormentor667 »

Ingame Screenshots?
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Post by VikingBoyBilly »

Levellass wrote:(List of cameos)
You didn't see my avatar in the red blocks? :'(
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Post by Roobar »

Well, if you already haven't found them, then: spoilers alert.


Level 01: Green bunny - don't know who would be, but it might resemble something from the Marta mod.
Level 02: VikingBoyBilly.
Level 03: Spleen
Level 04: Tulip
Level 05: No references.
Level 06: There's an S in the water which I don't know what represents.
Level 07: King Lick - TMST?
Level 08: Lemm
Level 09: Ugly Keen head - don't know.
Level 10: Don't know
Level 11: Also don't know
Level 12: XkyRauh. There's also something else freezed and something that looks like it's sleeping.
Level 13: Andy Durdin, but there's also something that looks like a woman's head, so it might be Levellass.
Level 14: Malvenious
Level 15: Keenrush.
Level 16: The Dopefish might be MoffD. There are also tetris blocks, a skull made of candy and a skullfish.
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Post by Benvolio »

wiivn wrote:Level 01: Green bunny - don't know who would be, but it might resemble something from the Marta mod.
I don't see any green bunny but there is a very recognisable brown bunny.
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Post by Roobar »

It's a matter of perception.
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Post by Grandy02 »

I'm totally happy that you like the mod, thank you all! :)

On cameos, 11 out of 18 have been correctly identified in this thread so far, I think. Two have not been mentioned at all yet. Keep an eye on the map as well... Anyway, really glad that you like this idea, too!
Benvolio wrote:Excellent! It didn't take me long to find the Benvolio cameo!! What an excellent idea. The mod is pretty good too!! I really think the map graphics are particularly excellent. I also really like the Yorp replacement - not only is it very well-drawn, but it is also a very neat idea for an alien character. The title screen is of a very high artistic standard.
Thank you! I've also come to like Lippy, and if I ever make (most importantly, finish!) more mods, it will become my "mascot". :D
troublesomekeen wrote:Community Cameos?! :O I hope I will be able to recognize all the tribute to the great keeners.
http://youtu.be/texghdfOJt8
Looks great, Grandy!
Levellass wrote:Also, here are all the levels, extracted as PNG images just because I can: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/394 ... otlevs.zip they look quite impressive zoomed out.
Thanks for your tributes!
Tormentor667 wrote:Ingame Screenshots?
The video and maps mentioned above should give you good impressions. I wanted to keep most content a surprise (at least for the first players), and thus only posted the title screen.
PCKF Archive - The Keen Community's Past (and Present) | grandy02.shikadi.net
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