Possible Keen 4 mod...

[Grimson]

I'm just doing graphics right now. The outlook of this project is loosely based on the PlayStation RPG Kingdom Hearts. I haven't decided if it will feature Keen as the protagonist or not. Heh, I haven't even decided whether I'll continue it further than just world-map- and level-making or not.

Here's the very first world map layout for a single level I have done. Yeah I know it's not much, but it's better than nothing I guess. You have to start somewhere :P



The level may be called Gates to Oblivion. It is situated high in the air (cyan), and consist mainly of blue, floating platforms, and purple/pink (unless I change the colour in the future) water that floats from and to nowhere. The gate you see is where the exit is. This level is only the introduction to a much more...interesting level (that is located right after the gates). I haven't drawn the graphics for it yet.

[Ceilick]

Nice level entrance and cool idea! I bet you could use the swimming keen function for Keen or whoever to 'fly' to these aerial levels.

[Grimson]

Now that's a good idea. Now I know what to replace the swimsuit with :)

EDIT: Updated image. The bottom part is where transition from normal Keen mode to "swim" mode happens.

[levellass]

Awesome looking stuff. Nice to see people modding away!

[CommanderSpleen]

It looks like a classy level concept. Can't wait to see what it'll look like inside.

[Tulip]

Very nice graphics, Grimson, reminds me of FF, but still keenish.

[Grimson]

It looks like a classy level concept. Can't wait to see what it'll look like inside.

I'll have to create the new tiles first before I can build the level.

Hmm, I wonder if it would be possible to patch the moving platforms to cover a 2x2 or larger area? Keen would have to be able to grab on the edges, naturally.

[Tulip]

The size of the platforms is not an issue of patching - just do their sprites bigger and adjust the collision rectangle accordingly. The only problem I see here is that a big moving platform will use up a lot of memory, and eventually crash the game.

As far as ledge grabbing goes I imagine it is possible for our skilled patchers.

[Grimson]

The size of the platforms is not an issue of patching - just do their sprites bigger and adjust the collision rectangle accordingly. The only problem I see here is that a big moving platform will use up a lot of memory, and eventually crash the game.

Oh nuts. It would've been great to have those blue floating rocks actually move around...

[levellass]

The blue rocks CAN be made to move around; platforms can be made solid so they'll act like... well blocks, and we can get rid of their flames.

Another method is animating tiles. This is more limited because you can't use too many tiles or have too many onscreen at the same time, but it can be done in a number of interesting ways, depending on how you've done your graphics.

As far as ledge grabbing goes I imagine it is possible for our skilled patchers

.

I doubt it, ledge grabbing is a Keen-l/r-tile-property interaction, not a Keen-sprite one.

[Ceilick]

If you do use swimming keen to get to that area, keep in mind that Keen can't access a level while in swim mode (maybe this can be patched?). As such, you might wnat a slightly larger 'sky' area to cross.

Also, concerning moving platforms, what Levellass said. Using tiles you cant create a pretty good illusion of movement, but the larger the platform, the more the illusion breaks down. Additionally, the more animation frames involved in the movement (more animation frames = more movement), the less you can place in a level due to the 'too many animating tiles on screen' constraint.

Its definately worth trying though, even a movement shift of 1 tile would work. You could have a platform of XPPX where the X's animate and the P's remain static. If S=solid and F=fall through, the platform properties would animate something like: FSSS, FSSF, SSSF, FSSF.

[Grimson]

Interesting ideas you've got there, I was more thinking of platforms that move up and down, but ones that move from left to right and vice versa would be neat too!

If you do use swimming keen to get to that area, keep in mind that Keen can't access a level while in swim mode (maybe this can be patched?). As such, you might wnat a slightly larger 'sky' area to cross.

That big rock with the purple waterfall is supposed to be the entry to the level, so there's about two "swim" tiles before the level. Yeah that's not much, I might move the level further from the "beach" i.e. cliff edge.

[thehackercat]

This is looking pretty promising! I had no idea when I started KeenWeb that there wasn't much progress in the way of Galaxy mods. Sure, there's an elite few who know their Galaxy stuff really well (I'll give you a hint, one has posted here twice), but the knowledge hasn't really trickled down to the rest of the community. We're all breaking new ground! :P