How's the community been?

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GoldenRishi
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How's the community been?

Post by GoldenRishi »

How's it been? I haven't been an active poster on here in a decade, but I thought I'd log in like I do once every year or two and see how people were doing. I really enjoyed my time on here back in high school, working on pixel art, programming, and playing other people's fan games and mods. It's probably been ages/ever since Ilsoap, Levellass, Xtraverse, and the old, old guard have been around, no?

It's cool to see this: http://www.shikadi.net/keenwiki/List_of_fan-games I should play through Rule of a Yorp's Supper Table, I remember really enjoying that fan game. I assume that fan games are pretty much a dead art form nowadays? It seems like the only recent-ish fan game was by Dr.Colossus back in 2017. I see that some people made "keengine", which is cool.

It's dubious, but it'd be cool if Bethesda did hire Hall back to work on a new Keen game. Even if it was a more low-key platformer, the market does seem to like 2-D platformers and they're clearly interested if making some cash off of it given their mobile game debacle earlier this year.
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Benvolio
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Re: How's the community been?

Post by Benvolio »

I never feel like I'm the right person to respond to members like yourself who go back so far in the community, being still only slightly more than a n00b myself... but it looks like nobody else has so it would be quite rude not to at this point. As you can probably tell yourself from clicking around a bit, the community is largely well and has probably seen darker days than the present time, however it is also sleepy and though there seldom isnt some chat or project going on, there is never the hive of round the clock activity there once was.

Of the people you did mention, it looks like Xtraverse has vanished a long time ago. Ilsoap seems to appear at a similar frequency to yourself. And Levellass appears to have retired from PCKF. However in Levellass's case she can be found to contribute almost daily to the Keen Modding forum which actually probably makes her still one of the most active Keeners online.

I agree with you that there are always going to be people with the intelligence and taste to consume a good platformer of the quality of the originals, however the quality would need to excel and almost certainly would require an excellent team as opposed to solely the presence of Tom in an otherwise unremarkable game studio.
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Commander Spleen
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Re: How's the community been?

Post by Commander Spleen »

The forum is a bit slow these days, but there's a fair bit of activity on the Discord. It's a lot easier to drop in and discuss things more casually there than trying to even whatever forum words etc

I still have my WIP mods on hand, but haven't had the right combination of time, energy and proper undistracted state of mind for that purpose for a while. Plans are still churning in the background and I have a much clearer idea of what to do next time the conditions are right to work on them.

As for fangames, there isn't the massive proliferation of amateur stuff that there used to be, but we get more polished stuff like Planet Cloudius IX which probably has a lot of modding potential as well.
Last edited by Commander Spleen on Tue Dec 31, 2019 10:37, edited 1 time in total.
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szemi
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Re: How's the community been?

Post by szemi »

By my side, I'm an active member as well. (The only hungarian Keen fan, who is active and can still makes Keen mods here). Levellass is still around here, who made impressive patches for my Keen Dreams mod, Keen Dreams 2: Another Helping of Veggies for example. Right now, I'm figuring out how to patch things in BioMenace, which went pretty quick in the past few days. I'm planning a BioMenace mod.
I still remember your old Keen mods, especially Vanished to Venus and the other ones. :D

And like Commander Spleen said, there's a fair bit of activity on the Discord.
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Lava89
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Re: How's the community been?

Post by Lava89 »

Hey, I remember you!
And good thread topic, I was just wondering the same thing as I lurk around. :)
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Syllypryde
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Re: How's the community been?

Post by Syllypryde »

I am still here as well. I am not a Mod creator, but I have played a good 3/4's of the Mods, including every single Galaxy Mod. Lately I have played The Krazy Komet Demo, The Prisoner's Dilemma, Bounty Hunter Brouhaha, Short Circuit Oracle, Ceilick's The Universe is Toast Trilogy, and Atroxian Realm. I pop in at least once a day, though I don't always respond to all of the new posts.

I am still here.
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GoldenRishi
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Re: How's the community been?

Post by GoldenRishi »

Benvolio wrote: Thu Dec 26, 2019 22:41I never feel like I'm the right person to respond to members like yourself who go back so far in the community, being still only slightly more than a n00b myself... but it looks like nobody else has so it would be quite rude not to at this point. As you can probably tell yourself from clicking around a bit, the community is largely well and has probably seen darker days than the present time, however it is also sleepy and though there seldom isnt some chat or project going on, there is never the hive of round the clock activity there once was.
Yeah, it's funny. I am not a big forumer anymore (although, I think forums are a far better medium than modern social media), but there's a bunch of forums that I've been on for a very long time. And then there's people who I've barely interacted with, and yet they've been around on the forum for 8 or 9 years like you have. Technically I've been on PCKF since 2002 and been reading it since 2001, but I don't think I was that active after 2007.
Of the people you did mention, it looks like Xtraverse has vanished a long time ago. Ilsoap seems to appear at a similar frequency to yourself. And Levellass appears to have retired from PCKF. However in Levellass's case she can be found to contribute almost daily to the Keen Modding forum which actually probably makes her still one of the most active Keeners online.
That's cool, and it must be why I never see her. I did modding back when the first level-editor was released back in like 2003 (I have no idea if that program still exists), but I never got into it like she did. I always liked coding games, even if I never could manage to complete them, lol.
I agree with you that there are always going to be people with the intelligence and taste to consume a good platformer of the quality of the originals, however the quality would need to excel and almost certainly would require an excellent team as opposed to solely the presence of Tom in an otherwise unremarkable game studio.
Well, indeed. Whenever I go back and read through id Software's legacy, I'm always struck by how little the team seemed to understand the importance of each other's work. I mean the worst was obviously Jack Carmack who clearly didn't value anyone else's work or understand why id Software's games were so legendary. Brilliant programmer, but clearly an incredibly bad leader.

But yes, a good artist team, a good composer, and a programmer who understands the crunchiness of Keen controls is also necessary.
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GoldenRishi
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Re: How's the community been?

Post by GoldenRishi »

Lava89 wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2019 2:14 Hey, I remember you!
And good thread topic, I was just wondering the same thing as I lurk around. :)
Always nice to see you around!
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GoldenRishi
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Re: How's the community been?

Post by GoldenRishi »

Commander Spleen wrote: Sat Dec 28, 2019 12:07 The forum is a bit slow these days, but there's a fair bit of activity on the Discord.
Wait, wait, wait... We have a Discord?
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GoldenRishi
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Re: How's the community been?

Post by GoldenRishi »

szemi wrote: Sat Dec 28, 2019 15:50 By my side, I'm an active member as well. (The only hungarian Keen fan, who is active and can still makes Keen mods here). Levellass is still around here, who made impressive patches for my Keen Dreams mod, Keen Dreams 2: Another Helping of Veggies for example. Right now, I'm figuring out how to patch things in BioMenace, which went pretty quick in the past few days. I'm planning a BioMenace mod.
I still remember your old Keen mods, especially Vanished to Venus and the other ones. :D

And like Commander Spleen said, there's a fair bit of activity on the Discord.
Alas I never uploaded any mods, I don't think. I made some levels and played around with modified artwork, but it never went anywhere.
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troublesomekeen
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Re: How's the community been?

Post by troublesomekeen »

GoldenRishi wrote: Tue Dec 31, 2019 4:09
Commander Spleen wrote: Sat Dec 28, 2019 12:07 The forum is a bit slow these days, but there's a fair bit of activity on the Discord.
Wait, wait, wait... We have a Discord?
Happy New Year, keeners! Thanks for dropping by, Gold.
Stop by the sticky-ed post at the top of Other Keen Stuff and follow the first link in the first post that leads you to another thread wherein contains a special Discord invite just for you found only in the fifth post of that topic. A bit convoluted perhaps but hey, I never discovered the secret of the 12 inchworms when I was a kid. :poison
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keenmaster486
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Re: How's the community been?

Post by keenmaster486 »

I've been largely inactive here for a long time, not because I've lost interest in Keen (in fact, I just finished reorganizing my room with a large space reserved for my 486, the only computer in the house that can run Commander Keen the way it was intended), but because life interferes. A lot has happened in the last few years for me, and there's more to come. I'm in the chaotic and ever-changing early years of my independent adult life.

I look forward to the day when I am more settled and have a little free time to do Keen projects, among other things.
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nanomekia
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Re: How's the community been?

Post by nanomekia »

Hey mate, welcome back to the board! (says the n00b who is probably one of the newest actual not-spambots here, ah-heh...)

I popped on here to do a potential Japanese translation of the Keen games - that's been put on hold for the time being, because life - and possibly maybe do a wee bit of modding myself in the future, though I'm still trying to figure out where I want to go with that. For the time being I just hang about, probably annoy people, and take up forum space with my friendly translator face. :P
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Re: How's the community been?

Post by MoffD »

Hey GoldenRishi! Yeah most activity I think goes on in the discord server currently due to the convenience of quick posting and back-and-forth. I took a bit of a leave here as did a few others I think, but I'm trying to hop back in when I can
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