Keen 14: Secret of the Sorcerer

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DarkAle
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Re: Keen 14: Secret of the Sorcerer

Post by DarkAle »

Nowhere Girl wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 22:52 How to run the game? Since it's a Keen 6 mod, I added the game's exe file to the folder, but none of the game's now three available executable files seem to work. DOSBox immediately closes if I try to run the game using any of them.
(I use D-Fend Reloaded, not "raw" DOSBox. I tried entering each of the three files as the one for running the game's profile.)
Just to add: I unchecked the box "Close DOSBox after closing the program" and could read the message: "MM_Ptr: Out of memory!". What does it mean? What is wrong and what should I do to successfully run the game?
Hi, Nowhere Girl. I'm sorry, I don't know how to fix this bug because it works well for me
Soul Monster wrote: Tue Mar 15, 2022 1:32
DarkAle wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 15:55 Hello and happy Keen Day!
As I said here, here you are an update:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/e926k7f0 ... 1.rar/file

What I have done is just a few edits in the final sequence, since I have not received any news of bugs, glitches and so on. Anyway, have you already played this mod? If yes, please tell me your opinion, it will allow me to understand what the community likes and what it does not and what I have to improve of myself
Awesome! Good to see there's an update already!

I've played a few stages so far and everything I've seen is excellent! Before I play through the whole game, I missed out on the first 2 games in the series and want to do a quick run through both of them within the next few days. Once I've beaten SOTS I'll post a full review.
Thanks, Soul Monster. Anyway, if you will play my other mods, I'd like to tell you to not expect so much from them. Personally, I find them almost horrible. Furthermore, I made sure that the SotS story is only tied to The Ultra Omegamatic and no longer to The Armageddon Continues, as the latter is even worse than the prequel
Commander Keen in... Robot Apocalypse!
Episode 13: The Ultra Omegamatic viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6802
Episode 14: Secret of the Sorcerer viewtopic.php?t=13031
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Re: Keen 14: Secret of the Sorcerer

Post by Nowhere Girl »

Nospike wrote: Tue Mar 15, 2022 11:59 @Nowhere Girl, are you getting this error when you launch using the Keen14.bat file?
Yes.
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Re: Keen 14: Secret of the Sorcerer

Post by Syllypryde »

Firstly, make sure you unzip the Keen 14 folder. You try running anything they will not work. Secondly, copy over the Keen6 execute file. It would probably be better to take it from one of the Keen6 mods rather than Keen 6 itself. I usually copy over Keen6 from DITD.
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Re: Keen 14: Secret of the Sorcerer

Post by Nowhere Girl »

Thanks, it helped. By the way, the file I took from "Keen 6" was named "keen6c.exe", not just "keen6"...
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Re: Keen 14: Secret of the Sorcerer

Post by Nospike »

Yeah it's hard to find the correct Keen 6 version. Cracked executables cause trouble as does having the wrong version. Weird error message though.
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Re: Keen 14: Secret of the Sorcerer

Post by Nowhere Girl »

Nospike wrote: Tue Mar 15, 2022 21:20 Weird error message though.
I wouldn't completely exclude the possibility that I might have made a mistake in memorising the exact message before I could write it down here. ;) I'm, after all, not knowledgeable in error messages, they give me few details about what could be wrong, so it's easy for me to memorise or write them down incorrectly.

Anyway, one little complaint and one "I'm stuck!" message. ;)
1. The Great Cliff level has a dead end potential! If you go down without the blue gem, you're stuck. That's not right.
2. I'm stuck at the Robotic Station. I have a yellow and blue gem (stand with Ukraine! Putin is a murderer!) and I don't know what to do next. I just don't see any place where I could go. I can see a place where the yellow gem is used, but I'm on the other side of the door...
In the worst case I can restart the level - as a double-left-handed player I save a lot, so I already have quite a bit of lives to spare - but I hope that I just haven't noticed some kind of passage.
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Re: Keen 14: Secret of the Sorcerer

Post by DarkAle »

Nowhere Girl wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 6:12 1. The Great Cliff level has a dead end potential! If you go down without the blue gem, you're stuck. That's not right.
I'll fix this
Nowhere Girl wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 6:12 2. I'm stuck at the Robotic Station. I have a yellow and blue gem (stand with Ukraine! Putin is a murderer!) and I don't know what to do next. I just don't see any place where I could go. I can see a place where the yellow gem is used, but I'm on the other side of the door...
In the worst case I can restart the level - as a double-left-handed player I save a lot, so I already have quite a bit of lives to spare - but I hope that I just haven't noticed some kind of passage.
lol I made this level before the war. Anyway, the blue gem opens that green door, while the yellow gem opens the grey one
Commander Keen in... Robot Apocalypse!
Episode 13: The Ultra Omegamatic viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6802
Episode 14: Secret of the Sorcerer viewtopic.php?t=13031
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Re: Keen 14: Secret of the Sorcerer

Post by Nowhere Girl »

I'm now at the Robots Secret Base level. I went down to where the birds are swimming on the water and I feel stuck, although I may not be stuck... The problem is that the bird doesn't travel to the left side anymore, it turns back before I can get any further back to where I came from. I shoot the "evil" bird, if it's relevant. How can I influence how far does the "good" bird travel? Before it just went straight from left to right, and now it goes a bit left and then turns back, and so on.
By the way: do cheats work here? ;) Pressing A-2-Enter does nothing except show the statistics reached by pressing just Enter. I'm double-left-handed and I'm not ashamed to admit that I completed many platformers only thanks to cheating...
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Re: Keen 14: Secret of the Sorcerer

Post by DarkAle »

Well, the bird moves randomly, sometimes it goes to the right and at other times it goes to the left. Anyway, you don't need to use A+2+Enter to activate cheats
Commander Keen in... Robot Apocalypse!
Episode 13: The Ultra Omegamatic viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6802
Episode 14: Secret of the Sorcerer viewtopic.php?t=13031
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Re: Keen 14: Secret of the Sorcerer

Post by stayfrosty »

Where is the red gem in Electro Company?

I've tried shooting the "don't open" box and the last enemy (that has the temporary invisibility) and it seems I've found all secrets...
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Re: Keen 14: Secret of the Sorcerer

Post by DarkAle »

Normally you should get the red gem from the Giant Roborhombus (yes, it has temporary invisibility, otherwise it would be too easy to beat)
Commander Keen in... Robot Apocalypse!
Episode 13: The Ultra Omegamatic viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6802
Episode 14: Secret of the Sorcerer viewtopic.php?t=13031
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Re: Keen 14: Secret of the Sorcerer

Post by Soul Monster »

Well, last night I beat the game after being stuck inside during a rain storm, and I gotta say, this is easily your best work yet. It was easily worth the wait. Unfortunately, I did not find all the points on my first go, with a final score of 1,128,800.

Before playing through this one, I wanted to check out the first 2 in the series to have full context on the story, and I did. I would review them, but it seems like you dislike your work on those and I feel that anything I could say about them has already been said, and it would just be s****y of me to hammer the point in, especially since you've taken the criticism to heart and worked to improve yourself by taking your time and allowing others to help you this time around. Although, I will say, I considered The Armageddon Continues to be the better of the 2 just because I thought the levels were more engaging and I didn't feel like I was playing the same level over and over again.

Anyway, onto the review:

Graphics: The graphics are awesome! Like Nospike said, that backdrop with the starry, dark sky and the clouds in the distance is absolutely gorgeous! I love it! :drool For a while I was trying to figure out what feeling I had looking at it, and I figured it out as I was playing. Have you ever been hit by a really bad storm in the middle of the night, and either before or after it hits, the moon and stars are out and shining brightly? That's what that backdrop reminds me of, that calm before the storm, or the relief after it has passed. Aside from that, I really like the choice of organic, earthy colors for the earlier stages. They have a more muted, natural look to them that I really like that gives them a more grounded, familiar look to them. In the later half, where more stages take place indoors, the choice of colors is also good, having a nice artificial grey mixed with brighter colors on the backdrop.

Levels: The levels were pretty good. As I mentioned above, one of the problems with your earlier work was the lack of visual variety in the levels, which kept them from being engaging. Here, that's been fixed with a variety of different settings for different stages. As far as playability, they are far more complex then your previous mods, and that's a good thing. There's a lot more secrets this time around, some very well done. There were a few points where the difficulty could feel kind of cheap, such as being trapped in narrow corridors without any way to defend yourself from the robots, but it didn't get in the way of being able to beat the stage. The signs were also a nice touch, giving warnings on where hazards are, as I've often jumped up only to jump into a hazard and die. Also, did one of those say "MOLLY WILL MARRY KEEN"? :confused My favorite levels are Tempest Islands, Robotic Mines, Mountain Mine, Electro Company Ship, and The Magic Hills.

Enemies: To be honest, I thought some of the enemy designs were kind of generic, particularly regarding the robots. As I thought it over I realized they kind of have a vintage 1950's science fiction look to them, but some of them didn't really have a lot to their design and were pretty bare bones, such as the Mirrorrobot, the Acid Roborhombus and the Guardian Robots. I liked the Transporter Birds though, but one complaint I have about them is that for a natural creature, they're too stiff, they don't look alive. Perhaps if they flapped their wings or blinked, they'd look more alive. Another thing about the birds is, while Keen is riding them, he looks more like he's floating above them. One way this could be fixed perhaps, is if one of the wings overlapped Keen.

Music: The music is wonderful! :D I'm glad that you reached out to some of the composers on here to assist you in creating a completely original soundtrack this time around. They did a great job on the soundtrack, giving a nice mix of more organic sounding music for the earlier stages, and transitioning into a more electronic style in the second half. And the one in Magic Hills is really good, giving a climactic and somewhat mystical sound to the final stage. My favorite tracks (I don't know the titles) are used in The Magic Hills, Mountain Mine, Tempest Islands, and the Electro Company Ship. By the way, in some of the demo videos you took down, there were 2 tracks I really liked: one in the Electro Company demo and one in the original demo for the first stage with the original bird sprite, were these used in the game anywhere and who made them?

Conclusion: Overall, I had a lot of fun playing this one. You clearly put a lot of effort into this one, and have worked to better yourself as a modder. All of the criticisms I have about the previous 2 in the series have been corrected with this one. While not perfect, there's a lot more replay value in this one and I see myself playing through it again sometime.

4/5

While I'm here, a couple glitches:
  • The stars are off center on the Spiderytryx when stunned
  • The birds don't always travel to opposite ends of large bodies of water. I ended up having to use cheat codes a few times to get across.
  • When exiting the secret level, the ship doesn't pick me up the first time around.
  • In the Robotic Station, the secret area at the top full of Spiderytryxes is inaccessible. (Never mind, found it. That was pretty well hidden.)

If I find any others, I'll update this post.
Last edited by Soul Monster on Thu Mar 31, 2022 22:30, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Keen 14: Secret of the Sorcerer

Post by Syllypryde »

Soul Monster wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 10:40 ...In the Robotic Station, the secret area at the top full of Spiderytryxes is inaccessible...[/list]
This secret area is reachable. You just have to look deeper.
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Re: Keen 14: Secret of the Sorcerer

Post by DarkAle »

Thanks for your review, Soul Monster!
Soul Monster wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 10:40 The signs were also a nice touch, giving warnings on where hazards are, as I've often jumped up only to jump into a hazard and die. Also, did one of those say "MOLLY WILL MARRY KEEN"? :confused
It said "Molly will marry soon"
Soul Monster wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 10:40 Enemies: To be honest, I thought some of the enemy designs were kind of generic, particularly regarding the robots. As I thought it over I realized they kind of have a vintage 1950's science fiction look to them, but some of them didn't really have a lot to their design and were pretty bare bones, such as the Mirrorrobot, the Acid Roborhombus and the Guardian Robots. I liked the Transporter Birds though, but one complaint I have about them is that for a natural creature, they're too stiff, they don't look alive. Perhaps if they flapped their wings or blinked, they'd look more alive. Another thing about the birds is, while Keen is riding them, he looks more like he's floating above them. One way this could be fixed perhaps, is if one of the wings overlapped Keen.
Ah, yes. For the ideas of behaviors I come up with a lot of them, the problem comes when I have to draw them, for this reason they can seem let's say a little ugly. Abuot your idea on the birds I don't know if this is possible, I'm sorry
Soul Monster wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 10:40 Music: The music is wonderful! :D I'm glad that you reached out to some of the composers on here to assist you in creating a completely original soundtrack this time around. They did a great job on the soundtrack, giving a nice mix of more organic sounding music for the earlier stages, and transitioning into a more electronic style in the second half. And the one in Magic Hills is really good, giving a climactic and somewhat mystical sound to the final stage. My favorite tracks (I don't know the titles) are used in The Magic Hills, Mountain Mine, Tempest Islands, and the Electro Company Ship. By the way, in some of the demo videos you took down, there were 2 tracks I really liked: one in the Electro Company demo and one in the original demo for the first stage with the original bird sprite, were these used in the game anywhere and who made them?
Magic Hills: Bach's Two-Part Invention 13
Mountain Mine: XkyRauh's Too Silent
Tempest Islands: World of Illusion - Magician's Domain taken from BitMidi

Those two demo tracks have been taken from BitMidi but I haven't used them in the game
  • The stars are off center on the Spiderytryx when stunned
I'll try to fix this
  • The birds don't always travel to opposite ends of large bodies of water. I ended up having to use cheat codes a few times to get across.
  • When exiting the secret level, the ship doesn't pick me up the first time around.
I don't know how to fix these. In which levels did you use cheat codes for the bird?
Commander Keen in... Robot Apocalypse!
Episode 13: The Ultra Omegamatic viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6802
Episode 14: Secret of the Sorcerer viewtopic.php?t=13031
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Re: Keen 14: Secret of the Sorcerer

Post by Zeus »

I really would love to play SotS, but I keep getting the "out of memory" error. I have tried any Keen6.exe I found in my directories and none of them seems to work. Anyone that has a version that I could try out?
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