Valentine's Keen

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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Nisaba
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Re: Valentine's Keen

Post by Nisaba »

yeah, switches are a bit hard to detect. even though if the moon keeps rising, take heart and you'll surely find the switch right on time. just make sure to search the area with the dark grey background carefully. There are a number of things you can switch on and off. one of which is suppose to activate the elevator platform. good luck deciphering
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Nowhere Girl
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Re: Valentine's Keen

Post by Nowhere Girl »

And now how do I find more levels? I have completed 15 or 16. There is one outside gate (around southwest of the "dark area") and I don't remember whether I've been there - I can't see Keen's flag, but I also can't enter it. Close there is also a house - I think I've been there, but I can't see the flag and can't enter either. There seem to be no more open paths. What am I missing? I'm wandering around, unable to complete the game because I don't know where are the missing levels...
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Nisaba
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Re: Valentine's Keen

Post by Nisaba »

... well, in a sense it is the beauty of Commander Keen games to keep on exploring and eventually discover more and more things over time...

:p
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Nowhere Girl
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Re: Valentine's Keen

Post by Nowhere Girl »

Edit: OK, I found the Void... and still nothing!! Still not all!! I guess there's probably another hidden path to the top section, but do I have to check every sprite of the border to see if there is a passage?
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Soul Monster
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Re: Valentine's Keen

Post by Soul Monster »

Nowhere Girl wrote: Wed Aug 11, 2021 18:44 Edit: OK, I found the Void... and still nothing!! Still not all!! I guess there's probably another hidden path to the top section, but do I have to check every sprite of the border to see if there is a passage?
Unless you've played it before, The Void is a very tricky and frustrating stage. The level is all about trial and error, so the only advice I can really give you is to save often, and figure out what each switch does. If you have the patience and you can figure it out, there's all kinds of goodies at the top. If you just want to get to the end, the right side of the stage is just one big exit.
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Re: Valentine's Keen

Post by Nowhere Girl »

Soul Monster wrote: Wed Aug 11, 2021 20:55 Unless you've played it before, The Void is a very tricky and frustrating stage. The level is all about trial and error, so the only advice I can really give you is to save often, and figure out what each switch does. If you have the patience and you can figure it out, there's all kinds of goodies at the top. If you just want to get to the end, the right side of the stage is just one big exit.
No, I meant the whole game world, not the one level. I mean how to find the way to the supposed last level.
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Soul Monster
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Re: Valentine's Keen

Post by Soul Monster »

Nowhere Girl wrote: Wed Aug 11, 2021 21:58 No, I meant the whole game world, not the one level. I mean how to find the way to the supposed last level.
Oh, sorry I misunderstood you the first time. There's a stage to the right of Carpe Jugulum where the path ends called The Broom Ride that will take you up to the last 3 stages.
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Re: Valentine's Keen

Post by Nowhere Girl »

But I think that I have already played The Broom Ride and nothing happened... There's indeed a dead end after Carpe Jugulum, there is a flag indicating that I completed a level there...
That's how the dead end looks like:
Image
I rushed through all the broom rides because I couldn't control them and it was too fast for me even when slowing down, so I just flew to the top of the screen where there are mostly no dangers...
Could there be an error because I haven't completed every stage before? I just didn't know about many of the small levels (Penny Lane etc.) before entering the "dark zone" and only discovered them later... Does it mean I have to replay everything now? :(
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Soul Monster
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Re: Valentine's Keen

Post by Soul Monster »

Nowhere Girl wrote: Thu Aug 12, 2021 6:32 But I think that I have already played The Broom Ride and nothing happened... There's indeed a dead end after Carpe Jugulum, there is a flag indicating that I completed a level there...
That's how the dead end looks like:
Image
I rushed through all the broom rides because I couldn't control them and it was too fast for me even when slowing down, so I just flew to the top of the screen where there are mostly no dangers...
Could there be an error because I haven't completed every stage before? I just didn't know about many of the small levels (Penny Lane etc.) before entering the "dark zone" and only discovered them later... Does it mean I have to replay everything now? :(
The game glitched on you. After you beat the Broom Ride it's supposed to take you to the remaining stages at the top. It looks like you beat it since the arrow at the dead end is gone, and like you said the zombie hand is holding the Keen flag. I hate to say it, but unless you have a previous save state or the noclip cheat works, you may have to start over.
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Re: Valentine's Keen

Post by Nowhere Girl »

I do have some earlier saves, but unfortunately I explored the left part first, so I completed Carpe Jugulum and The Broom Ride early. I will have to replay several levels.
Is it because I didn't have all earlier levels completed when reaching The Broom Ride? I think the game should give some warning...

Edit: I managed to get to the "missing levels"! However, something is odd with the castle, I preliminarily suspect a bug...
First, there is definitely a minor saving bug. I save often and if I mess something up (happens all the time with my two left hands), I end game and then reload. And now I can't reload, the game freezes and I have to manually close the window, rerun the game and then reload. Kinda inconvenient. :(
And second: it is possible to get to an exit with a short route, just along the top, without solving all puzzles and collecting everything inside. However, when I did it... I was stuck in front of the castle entrance, unable to move to the probably final level. Maybe that's what you get for cheating... but in several levels (such as the broom rides) I was able to complete the level quickly, and yet it allowed me to progress once I was back on the main map...
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Re: Valentine's Keen

Post by Lower IQ than 314 »

Castle Ramenstein is notoriously confusing, and has already been discussed in the second page of this thread. Try reading Levellass' tips there.
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Soul Monster
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Re: Valentine's Keen

Post by Soul Monster »

Yeah, Castle Ramenstein (as well as the following level) are notorious for having crashing issues. In the Castle, there are 2 ways to exit the stage, one of which I'm pretty sure is impossible without cheating. When you use the key after the bed monster tells you that rhyme, you get a second yellow key that I don't recommend using because it will lock you out of the easier exit. There's also hints written in blood on the walls on how to open the easier exit, just explore the stage, and you should be able to figure out what to do.
Nowhere Girl
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Re: Valentine's Keen

Post by Nowhere Girl »

Ha ha, these bloody words are often hard to read... ;)
I started exploring it, but I find it really unfair to players who just happen to lack the quality of having quick and accurate movements. I'm very double-left-handed, also in real life I drop something more or less every day, I push or "throw" objects when my movement-intention was to pick them up... And it's much harder then usual when every mistake means not just reloading (that said, in all Commander Keen games reloading is anyway inconvenient because it's always ending game and then reloading), but closing and rerunning the game... >:
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Soul Monster
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Re: Valentine's Keen

Post by Soul Monster »

Nowhere Girl wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 8:12 Ha ha, these bloody words are often hard to read... ;)
I started exploring it, but I find it really unfair to players who just happen to lack the quality of having quick and accurate movements. I'm very double-left-handed, also in real life I drop something more or less every day, I push or "throw" objects when my movement-intention was to pick them up... And it's much harder then usual when every mistake means not just reloading (that said, in all Commander Keen games reloading is anyway inconvenient because it's always ending game and then reloading), but closing and rerunning the game... >:
If you struggle with that sort of stuff in real life I can't even imagine what it must be like playing computer games. And yeah, I know what you mean, this game especially seems to be designed specifically for seasoned Keen players. But don't worry, you're almost there! Once you beat Castle Ramenstein there's just 1 more stage to go. Just remember to save often in that stage, it crashes A LOT.
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Re: Valentine's Keen

Post by Nowhere Girl »

Yes, I realised that it's the penultimate stage. I actually managed to beat the castle... once I got less ambitious: I gave up the idea of crossing the pit with moving spikeballs and shooting both skulls in one go, I did it all in three attempts (first skull, second skull, crossing the pit.
Now any advice about Chuck's Lair? Problems I have:
- Flipping the switches from a moving platform is very hard.
- I have no idea which ones and how many I need to flip, how should I know it?
- The game interprets "trying to flip switches" as "doing nothing" and Keen constantly sits down on the moving platform. >:
- Anyway, after the last moving platform there is a big gap which I won't be able to cross unless there is a horizontally moving platform I haven't seen yet because I don't know how to get it moving.
As usual, the map is unhelpful because it has some codes in place of active elements such as locks, switches, moving platforms... I have also seen it in some Dizzy fan games - something was off with some maps when the admin of the late lamented Dizzy.pl site made maps for them by somehow "sucking" them directly out of the game code... I never did such stuff because I don't know a thing about coding, but I made screenshots and wrote walkthroughs, Poland's probably first gamer to insistently, as a matter of principles, write walkthroughs with dual gender forms...*

*In Polish gender is much more then just pronouns - for example past tense verbal forms have a gender too, you can say "grałem w tę grę" (I played this game - masculine form), "grałam w tę grę" (feminine form) or possibly "grałom w tę grę" (neutral form, if you don't identify with any gender and insist on reclaiming neutral gender as one which can be used for people and not only objects). I always used such forms as [masc/fem] to show that female gamers exist and should never be taught garg about "stylistically neutral" masculine gender and "getting used" to linguistic invisibility of women. >:
Despite my username, I'm 40 years old and a proud spinster, asexual, sex-negative feminist, philosopher, spiritual seeker and psychonaut on top of that. ;) (Of course, when saying it in Polish, I take care to use female forms of all the nouns - for example "jestem filozofką", not "jestem filozofem". :P)
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