Keen 4 XL

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guynietoren
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Keen 4 XL

Post by guynietoren »

Here the start of a compilation of art I'm working on to scale up the original Keen 4 graphics by 400% making the overall game resolution at 1280x832.

It's going to be a slow project getting the art together. The plan is to add more in more detail while keeping it with the same feel as the original.

I've made a mock up of what I have so far at my deviant art page here:
http://guynietoren.deviantart.com/art/K ... -185838515
You'll have to click the Download Image link on the right of that page. Other wise you'll just get the JPG along with it's distortions.

Currently it's missing just the trees, but have keen, the BWB and the ground redrawn.

I'll probably need help working it into a mod hopefully after the art is done.

Looking for good or bad comments on what looks right/weird/horrible.

And here's a few of the sprites I have.

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Image
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kuliwil
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Post by kuliwil »

THIS IS MADE OF 314% PURE WIN!
And I love that you chose K4 :D

Your graphics are great! Original yet still distinctly Keen :) :drool
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StupidBunny
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Post by StupidBunny »

Oh my goodness...those are beautiful. I hope to see much more along this vein... :)
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Post by Dynamo »

Very nice graphics!
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Post by Commander Spleen »

This is pretty awesome. The BWB looks great, and the standing sprite is almost great. I would suggest unifying the stunner outline with the rest and making the eyes brighter with some kind of highlight. The running sprite has some issues, particularly the square jaw and weird looking foreleg.

alex87 started a project like this half a decade ago. It didn't get far at all, but that's probably because he was also trying to convert everything to 16-bit. Keeping the original palette is a much more practical idea.
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guynietoren
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Post by guynietoren »

Yeah I'm not content either with the first running frame yet.
They eyes are difficult to change also. I might find a way eventually.

One concern I've had is wondering why the original sprites aren't dithered. I'm worried that it'll flicker when in motion, sort of like what the map screen does for me. Hoping that if that is an issue it can be patched somehow.

Thanks for the encouragement so far!
Last edited by guynietoren on Fri Nov 12, 2010 0:03, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Paramultart »

This plzs me. :drool
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Post by tulip »

woo, but 1280x832? let me see...320x200 times 4 = 1280x800. If you made it 1280x800 we could easily use CommanderGenius as engine for that.
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Post by GARGapplesauce »

This. Is. Epic. Please keep these graphics coming!!!

When I first read this, I thought it was just going to be really scaled-up, like to the point where you could only see Keen's feet on the screen :lol . boy do I feel dumb... :dopekeen
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guynietoren
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Post by guynietoren »

tulip wrote:woo, but 1280x832? let me see...320x200 times 4 = 1280x800. If you made it 1280x800 we could easily use CommanderGenius as engine for that.
Oh weird. Yes you are right. It should be 1280x800 as the original res is at 320x200.

It's this thing that confused me:
http://www.commander-keen.com/levelmaps/4/018.gif
Some reason that picture is 320x208.

But yeah that'd be sweet to have a solid engine to plug it into. :D

I'm still a bit concerned about flickering on dithered areas when they move.
Was looking at the map screen on Keen4 over at the Pit level where the edge around that is dithered. At least it does that in DosBox. Maybe it has to do with screen refresh frequencies or something.
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Post by Flyingmouse »

I almost expected something like that Sonic 2 XL mod... it's still awesome though!
Last edited by Flyingmouse on Sat Nov 13, 2010 15:22, edited 1 time in total.
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Paramultart
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Post by Paramultart »

Well it's a good idea and looks great so far, I just hope you're not taking the trouble doing this anti aliasing by hand, because there's programs that can do this task efficiently. Just make sure you stay true to the Keen 4 palette and whatnot.

It's going to be really interesting to see a 20 year old game brought to high-res without being all modernized and gay.

I also like how it's Keen 4 and it's 4x. :D

Looking forward to this.

(Edit: Square pupils?)
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Post by DHeadshot »

Paramultart wrote:I also like how it's Keen 4 and it's 4x. :D
Shame there's no Keen 16...
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Post by MOM4Evr »

Wow. This is epically awesome! Keep up the great work!
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Post by Genius314 »

guynietoren wrote:It's this thing that confused me:
http://www.commander-keen.com/levelmaps/4/018.gif
Some reason that picture is 320x208.
I think that's the full level map. The level is 13 tiles tall (208 px) while the screen itself is only 12.5 tiles tall (200 px)
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