Keen 9: Battle of the Brains

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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Toothpick
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Post by Toothpick »

Ceilick wrote:This...is not what I thought you meant. I thought you meant just fix, revise, etc, the unofficial tuit series in its current state.
There are other ways to go about it. Remaking the Unofficial TUIT trilogy with a fan games engine would take longer, but the upside is we wouldn't be restricted within the limitations of modding the original games.

If that doesn't work, we can stick with modifying the games in their current state. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I could make some adjustments to the level design and see what you think of the changes. I had fun modding Keen 3 and changing some aspects of the level design. It would be an honor to do Keen 9.
Ceilick
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Post by Ceilick »

If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I could make some adjustments to the level design and see what you think of the changes. I had fun modding Keen 3 and changing some aspects of the level design. It would be an honor to do Keen 9.
j

I'm not too sure what needs changing in level design, tbh. The most helpful thing at the moment would be a comprehensive, specific, and detailed list of what needs to be fixed and what things to consider changing for the current keen 9 beta. However, it should also be brief enough that I can easily pinpoint things and make them happen. Implenting things isn't too much trouble, usually; knowing what needs to happen is the burden.

Same thing basically goes for keen 7 and 8, however, in keen 7 a primary need is graphical work. I assume this falls to me, but anyone willing to make some efforts there, both in additional content and revision, is welcome to come aboard.
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Nospike
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Post by Nospike »

I'm scared of bumping this topic but I'd really like to voice my opinion.
This mod is brilliant. I mostly have no idea which enemy replaces which. The graphics are even more amazing than DitD and the atmosphere is incredible. The only place I didn't like much was Altaire Prime but that's just a matter of taste.
I LOVED Frosthool. The level design there was brilliant. I've been unsuccessfully trying to replicate Jotundra Mountains in Botafloria because it's exactly the kind of environment and difficulty I'm aiming for.
Fort Yetisburg is a neat pun :) I liked the music but the actual level was a bit confusing. Still not bad though. After playing it I started to kind of like the frosty theme.
Then there were the Jotundra Mountains. Pretty cool, nice jumping, slopes everywhere and good use of Yetis. It really felt like a cold and unwelcoming place. I thought that this was pretty cool.
Then came the Frosthool Station. My jaw dropped.
This was by far my favorite level in the entire game. The detailed environment, the stunning windows with a beautiful sight of the mountains. And the music. I last played the game 3 months ago but I still regularly catch myself humming the Frosthool Station song. Is there an original MP3 version anywhere?
I loved all the clever puzzles in this level. It felt like a completely different game, but still incredibly keenish. The music helped the atmosphere a lot, made the entire level feel barren but at the same time incredibly fun to explore. Like I really was on a far away icy planet needing to find something important.
Of course this wasn't the only level I liked. You did a great job maintaining the Keen 7 feel in the Krodacian Overlabs. The dark, creepy songs were very similar to the ones in TKoK yet much more pleasant to listen to. I liked those levels too.
The secret level was awesome, especially the beginning.
The second-to-last level had awesome music and I liked it. Just like the first level.
And the boss level... I figured that a well patched boss fight would have something like this one, but I had absolutely no idea you could do THIS with the QED tiles. Insane job, Levellass. The actual fight was pretty hard too. And when I was done, there was still the ending with that great song which really made me shed a tear.
Thank you for making this mod, please don't ever change Frosthool. Ever.
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Levellass
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Post by Levellass »

*Nods*

This is indeed a fitting end to the series. It is not often I play a mod more than once all the way through, but darn it, this will always have that... that almost indescribable feeling of the original games.
What you really need, not what you think you ought to want.
Ceilick
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Post by Ceilick »

Thanks for the comments, Nospike :)

While we all put work into each location, Tulip is primarily responsible for Frosthool; the tiles, the unique enemies, and both Fort Yetisburg and Frosthool Station all originally come from him. Mink is the mastermind behind the Jotundra Mountains.

The song in Frosthool Station is called "Airline Backwater", by Xky Rauh. You can grab the midi for it here, as well as the rest of the music: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3654819/Keen%209%20Music.zip
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Nospike
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Post by Nospike »

Appreciated, Ceilick. This mod is a whole lot of inspiration, if only for a single level theme I'll be using in BF. Wish you could do those snazzy tiled backgrounds in Vorticons without breaking doors and items.
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Post by gerstrong »

Thought I just show it.

Image

There are some bugs, but it will be supported very soon and also HQP will be available.

So putting real music into some mods will be possible.
Having fun developing stuff...
Bernie
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Post by Bernie »

Well i'll put in my 2 cents, since its 3am and dont have fucl all else to do. im not as crazy as some other people are about this mod. i think i prefer 'Dead in the Desert'.

I like *some* of the music in it (pretty much just the snow area) but dont really like some other musics (for some reason i hate the map level music and the lvl1 music).

I also kinda don't like how theres so many variations of places to go. i can see how it might seem cool as a concept on paper but theres only, like, 3 levels for each area and it just seems messy to me. i think, generally, its best for a mod to concentrate on a particular theme so as to explore it thoroughly enough (And the keen games dont usually have too many levels anyway).

some of the patching though is really well done (that mort at the end. whoa).

well arent i a sour-puss. but there you have it.
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Post by Boreas249 »

Dead in the Desert was awesome, though it felt lonely at times... but he what could you expect, it's a desert planet, course there won't be much life.

Batlle of the Brains was epic though. Settings were awesome, foes were awesome, levels were nice and challenging, though not TOO insane in terms of difficulty..

Lovely way to (unofficially) end the Keen story. I consider this to be tge official ending.
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Roobar
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Post by Roobar »

Well, now that we pop up this topic...

Isn't it time for new Commander Keen community mod using Keen 9 graphics? :evil :evil :evil :begging
Gridlock
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Post by Gridlock »

It's been considered in the past, though the Keen 9 tilesets are so complex that most people would have too much difficulty using them effectively (it'd be hard for me at least). Ceilick, Mink, and Tulip are probably the only people familiar enough with the tilesets to use them well.

I've been wondering though. Now that we have gained the ability to extend the amount of levels we can have in Keen (at least in Keen 4), I think it would be great to create expanded versions of the TUIT games. I know Ceilick isn't particularly enthusiastic about revisions (especially Keen 7), but I think it could be plenty of fun.
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szemi
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Post by szemi »

I also love Keen 7-9. But I don't understand something: I thought if in Keen 9 you shoot Mortimer 25 times(am i right?), the game ends.
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troublesomekeen
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Post by troublesomekeen »

szemi wrote:I thought if in Keen 9 you shoot Mortimer 25 times(am i right?), the game ends.
I believe Mortimer has 30 hit points. After he is shot 29 times, every shot that hits him afterwards will stun him for a few seconds. Keen9 ends by touching a specific tile.
wiivn wrote:Isn't it time for new Commander Keen community mod using Keen 9 graphics?
Keen9 includes 6 unique ground tilesets (Crystal, Green, Snowy, Red, Gray, Earth) instead of the standard amount of 3. I remember trying to fiddle around with Keen9. Like Gridlock said. Complex! My Keen4 mod project is going to need 4 or 5 tilesets. This can only be achieved through precise organization and much rearrangement! If you wanted to save as much room as you could while at the same time reducing complexity, how would you structure your ground tilesets? In the original Keens, the ground tiles take up a lot of room. Is there a "best way" to do it? Take the Vorticon Netkeen tile sheet for instance. 6 different ground tilesets in there too, despite the loads of other tiles crammed in there. Anyways. I have to restructure my ground tiles. Looks like Keen9 and VortNetKeen are great models for saving room.
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Commander Keen in... Canteloupe Quest!
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Roobar
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Post by Roobar »

troublesomekeen wrote:Keen9 includes 6 unique ground tilesets (Crystal, Green, Snowy, Red, Gray, Earth) instead of the standard amount of 3. I remember trying to fiddle around with Keen9. Like Gridlock said. Complex! My Keen4 mod project is going to need 4 or 5 tilesets. This can only be achieved through precise organization and much rearrangement! If you wanted to save as much room as you could while at the same time reducing complexity, how would you structure your ground tilesets? In the original Keens, the ground tiles take up a lot of room. Is there a "best way" to do it? Take the Vorticon Netkeen tile sheet for instance. 6 different ground tilesets in there too, despite the loads of other tiles crammed in there. Anyways. I have to restructure my ground tiles. Looks like Keen9 and VortNetKeen are great models for saving room.
Well, It wouldn't be that hard. I mean yeah, it may look confusing at first, but after you play with it for a while, you'll start to handle it. It won't be looking that hard any longer after that. Don't underestimate keeners here after all ;). Btw is there a link to an image with the tileset?

As for the space concerns, in my project I don't have to think about that as I don't have a limit. But even then, I'm making each world to use its own tileset. That's probably the best way to do it. Unfortunately, that's not the way how this works in the original keens. But beside the obvious benefits of separate tielsets, there are also some downsides, so it's really a matter of how you get used to it.

Anyway, it really would be great if a keen 9 community mod sees the light of the day!
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troublesomekeen
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Post by troublesomekeen »

wiivn wrote:I mean yeah, it may look confusing at first, but after you play with it for a while, you'll start to handle it. It won't be looking that hard any longer after that. Btw is there a link to an image with the tileset?
Anyway, it really would be great if a keen 9 community mod sees the light of the day!
Ummm... this link might work:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/77321787/5TIL0001.BMP
All those blue and purple crystals. Yikes. But yeah. It's not impossible. You guys made a great DitD levelpack. Why not for BotB? Patched conditions for certain levels might be a speed bump.
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Commander Keen in... Canteloupe Quest!
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