Gestrand op de Rode Planeet

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Benvolio
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Gestrand op de Rode Planeet

Post by Benvolio »

Hello, my good friends. I believe the time has come for a Benvolio release. It has been a very long time since I've released a full mod. I think a lot has changed in these years: me, the community, this forum, the technology behind modding, what people look for in a mod, and what I look for in a mod.

With that borne in mind, I present a Keen1 mod entitled "Gestrand op de Rode Planeet". This mod is in Dutch. The title means "Stranded on the Red Planet". :P

This mod concerns a slight misadventure, whereby Keen is pottering around the planet Mars, as he likes to do, only to find himself ravenously hungry. So now he must gather an (arbitrary) 150 points worth of food items, in order to have enough energy to sustain himself for the flight home. The available foodstuffs happen to be delicacies frequently enjoyed in the Netherlands. I mean, why assume that the food on Mars would be American food? :P

The levels in this mod may, on initial inspection, resemble visually the style of Keen1 levels. Indeed, the graphics are pretty much a re-interpretation/re-drawing of the same imagery. But this game aims to push out the boundaries a little bit when it comes to game physics. This doesn't mean that any of the physics have been patched. Rather, the levels demand things of the player that Keen1-3 never did. So those who have paid keen attention to the physics of the Vorticons engine will hopefully be a match for the challenges held within. I will not give away any of the secrets to the levels here, but please approach me with any difficulties you may have. After all, this mod was quite experimental for me.

I hope you enjoy it. I must give my thanks to Levellass for the 150-points patch as recently requested by myself on K:M. I also must thank the community as a whole for continuing to function so well as a veritable mélange of old faces and new, continuity and revolution. Etc. Now download and play!!

Get it here (from dropbox). <<== Edit: Redownload please: two graphical glitches rectified.

Good luck!

Oh and, if you actually speak Dutch, please give constructive feedback on the Dutch in this game. I am not good at Dutch but I hope to be one day. Hence practicing on this project. :P And, if you don't speak Dutch, well there isn't actually anything important written in the in-game text.
Last edited by Benvolio on Sat Nov 30, 2013 15:18, edited 2 times in total.
Captainkeen
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Post by Captainkeen »

So I started playing this. I really like the idea of collecting a certain amount of points. The graphics I have seen look pretty nice and differnt enough from the original to look it's own unique way. The levels are really hard tough. In a way that is compensated by the infinite lives patch. But the levels depend heavely upon the player having to do triel and error by doing blind drops into areas that are impossible to explore without doing so. dying many times until you know exactly the path to take. If you have a photographic memory less blind drops are needed probably because sometimes you need to jump back. Ok so I'm saying all this and it's not a fatal flaw because with patience you can get through but even with infinite lives I think it's more fun if dying is a results of your own mistakes. Also a lot of it is pretty hard in term of precise jumps reminds me of keenrush's mods in some ways (also because of the blind drops). So far I have 27 points time to take a break but I will definitely get back to this and try to finish it.
Oh and, if you actually speak Dutch, please give constructive feedback on the Dutch in this game.
What can I say, it stil has a lot of mistakes but you know that already probably. But most of it is comprehensable. There is one mistake I'd like to point out tough when I downloaded it the file is named GOTRP. I'm pretty sure you mean GODRP.
Captainkeen
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Post by Captainkeen »

Another thing I'd like to say that the story is delicously silly. Let's overlook the fact that in keen 1 keen can fly to earth in a short amound of time from mars. Keen has an iq of 314 so if he is gonna plan a vacation then you'd expect him to remember to bring enough food. (Then there is also the question why are a few of these items not enough to satiate him). The solution to this should obviously be that keen was high from smoking weed before he went on his trip. This caused him to go on a "vreetkick" (getting extra hungry) and also him forgetting to take the food because the smoking of weed reduced his iq. Maybe keen was visiting a coffeeshop in the netherlands before his trip. Keen is a genius so it's not strange for him to instantly pick up the dutch language (or maybe he studied it before) this in combination with smoking weed causes him to think in dutch for the time being. Really I think you should adapt these points in the story. (Also the iq reduction is a nice reference to the mod "a new dope" that has a similar concept.
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Roobar
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Re: Gestrand op de Rode Planeet

Post by Roobar »

Benvolio wrote:...what people look for in a mod...
...With that borne in mind, I present a Keen1 mod entitled "Gestrand op de Rode Planeet". This mod is in Dutch...
:foot
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Paramultart
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Post by Paramultart »

>: :british :barf :o :disguised :birthday
"Father Mabeuf was surveying his plants"
Captainkeen
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Post by Captainkeen »

honestly guys you can play a mod without reading the text.
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Paramultart
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Post by Paramultart »

no ok i mea yes wat wat wat
"Father Mabeuf was surveying his plants"
Captainkeen
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Post by Captainkeen »

do it!
Benvolio
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Post by Benvolio »

Many thanks for your feedback Captainkeen! I was highly entertained by your interpretation of the storyline!:smokin2 And yes i'm glad you mentioned the KR similarity because I have found KR's mods to be the most interesting in recent years so naturally some influence would have been passed on! Keep playin!!

Oh and a slight mishap with the colour replacer occurred on the snow tiles and the lighting, so a rectified version is now available!

As for the rest of you...
Benvolio wrote:there isn't actually anything important written in the in-game text
Captainkeen wrote:honestly guys you can play a mod without reading the text.
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DoomJedi
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Post by DoomJedi »

This seems to be another of those "trick mods"....by makers who might think classic Keen is a bit too dull and easy.
Usually insanely hard, and focusing around 1 or 2 "fresh" ideas or uses - puzzles of a sort.

Such mod can't be immersive as classic Keen adventure and is more of a puzzle game and "Keen jumping skill' test area. Keen could be replaced by any character - and the mod would still achieve it's main goals. As it's not about adventure as a "big word" - just around challenge - which it just part of real adventure for me.

Art is pretty basic, shading of the tiles look quite weird...but art is not the focus of the mod anyway, it's just gotta be recognizable.

For what this mods seems to be aiming for - it does quite a fair job.
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Roobar
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Post by Roobar »

Well, I like it for being really challenging! This mod require master keen skills and keen physics knowledge. I also don't like it for being too challenging. There are also some "aha!" clever parts, which also adds to the value. I like that there are infinite lives, but I don't like the two buttons fire that sometimes clearly can interrupt while doing some hard jumps. Level design is really well done. Overall I like it, but I've completed only a few levels so far, so I may post more about it later.
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Levellass
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Post by Levellass »

Non going to lie, I really wanted this little trick to have paid off:
Image
What you really need, not what you think you ought to want.
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tulip
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Post by tulip »

Looks like classic Benvolio so far, strongly shaded graphics and an absolutely barren and lonely feeling. This is not meant in a negative way. I absolutely loved Vanished to Venus for example.

When it comes to the puzzle character of the game so far it doesn't feel too hard, at least not like Keen S, at least in the beginning, I have got 12 points or so until now. I'm not too keen on the idea to do it in dutch though. I'm German so I'm able get about 75% of it when I read it, but I just don't see the benefit.
Image You crack me up little buddy!
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Roobar
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Post by Roobar »

Image
You must be joking with this one! :)

I have to see someone trying it on youtube!
Benvolio
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Post by Benvolio »

Yes, I know, it's very hard. :celtic You have my utmost sympathy. Perhaps you'd rather see someone else playing it (rather than me), but at any rate, here's how it's done: http://youtu.be/c8Sssx0ifwQ

Keep up the playing, guys!!!

As for the language thing, well it's not for any particular purpose other than my own amusement. And I don't think it's something that does any harm. Dutch is a language that gets an awful lot of hostility from people, and I don't see why. I find it to be a lovely language, particularly in written form. It is like German, as you point out, tulip, but it is quite a bit easier in my opinion.
DoomJedi wrote:by makers who might think classic Keen is a bit too dull and easy
I think you do me an injustice... I do not find such fault with the original games. I merely am one of many people who wish to explore the possibilities of the game. Some do it by drawing fantastic graphics, some by ingenious patching, some by creating endearing and unforgettable characters. I have merely chosen another approach - squeezing more skill out of the players. Apart from that quote, I otherwise fully appreciate your comment. I hope it is immersive in a different way to the original games - more along the lines of "Fall Up" for example - an infuriated urge to overcome the obstacles thrown in the player's path.

Finally, @Levellass, I too wish that little trick had paid off - it just didn't occur to me... I should run my work by you in future :P. Anyway, there's no use crying over spilt milk.
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