Keen: Modding

This topic is to showcase some early screenshots of the mods me and my brother KarZ (formerly known as CaptainKeen) have been working on.

I'll start of with my own mod; currently called "The Clone Attack". I'll post some more info about it later on. These pictures won't tell you what the game is gonna be like but might give you a slight impression.















Please give us some feedback, your reactions will be of great influence on our projects.

...and here are some screens from my mod I am working on









I have finshed all my sprites so I have made quite some progress but it will still take a while for me to release the final version.

adurdin could you change my name to Karz if that is possible otherwise I'll just make a new acount. because a don't like keep posting under the name "captainkeen"(I made that name up in a minute or so).

Looks really sharp, you two. Are the two mods intertwined in some way (story, plot, order) or are they completely seperate items?

EzJay, I really like your overlapping yellow blocks--that works really well.

Karz, you've got a nice variety of colors in your mod so far, and your little blue dudes look adorable.

Any projected release dates?

--Xky

Woah. It's like Keen2 and 3 all over again! EzJay's seems more a blur of the two episodes, however. Intriguing.

Those all-yellow areas work surprisingly well, and the cans (which rock, btw) contrast the background nicely. And the extra level of depth in the second screenshot is quite classy.

All the point items, in fact, are well drawn. Much likey do I--especially the chips... tasty McMire brand... :drool

I like those dynamic-design background elements in EzJay's final screenshot. In fact, I had the same idea for CK:MB--I drew up a bunch of designs a couple of months ago. Great to see it can actually be done well.

Actually... apart from the general Keen2esque atmosphere, I'm picking up an almost Duke Nukemish feel. I likey.

Karz's mod is looking similarly tasty. Definitely Keen3-like all over. The blue dirt (two different types... woo), the green buildings, and those well-shaded red bricks... Excellent.

The levels seem very uncluttered, yet alive. Though the final screenshot looks a bit stagnant... maybe a different background inside the green buildings, as opposed to the plain grey (though it seems to go well with the red bricks in screen two), would do nicely.

I like 'em so far. Keep up the good work, y'all.

>Commander Spleen

Well well well, the brothers keen start simultaneous mods? It shall be interesting.

Woah, great stuff guys! :) I can hardly wait those, seems that there's interesting ideas.

I love this colors! Wow nice work!!

Looking good, both of you. But what's with the SGA txt in Ezjay's mod? "mao k?" "styqh ab?" "kkoqq?"

Looking good. Ezjay's mod has an excellent style; it looks extraordinarily "fort-y" and would make a perfect Mort base. The Keen clone sprites are almost perfect --- I'd like to see some noticable differences, so in a close melee, you don't confuse Keen with a clone and die instantly. =P

Karz's mod also loogs good, though I admit that I did a double take at the blue dirt. (Blue? Really? naw. Really?) The backgrounds are nicely detailed, the sprites look good, and the overall feel is very Keen. It looks like a mod of Keen 3, but I'm guessing its really 1.

Both look really good. Keep up the good work!

I'd like to see some noticable differences, so in a close melee, you don't confuse Keen with a clone and die instantly. =P

You may be right; maybe the colour of eyes could be different?

Also, I think that blue dirt is pretty good, looks a lot better than it would be some other colour.

Mmmm, nah, give 'em morts helmet!

Thanx for the replies guys. I would like to see some negative ones as well - those might help me improve things a bit.
Too answer some of your questions:

Are the two mods intertwined in some way (story, plot, order) or are they completely seperate items?

They where going to share a story. Karz' mod would have been the sequel to mine. However we decided to have separated ones instead. Clone Attack will be stand-alone (or could be perhaps considered something like a prologue for my triology to come), and Karz' will probarbly be episode 1 of his triology (or whateverology). The two are linked in other ways however.

I like those dynamic-design background elements in EzJay's final screenshot. In fact, I had the same idea for CK:MB--I drew up a bunch of designs a couple of months ago. Great to see it can actually be done well.

Takes up a whole lot of tiles, believe me.

I'm picking up an almost Duke Nukemish feel.

how is that?

But what's with the SGA txt in Ezjay's mod? "mao k?" "styqh ab?" "kkoqq?"

Yeah that's the language my mod's alien race speak. Somewhere in a hidden cave in a secret level you will find the translation. You will need to be able to speak this language fluently to be able to complete my mod. Actually there just some random characters. Remind me to learn SGA.

I'd like to see some noticable differences, so in a close melee, you don't confuse Keen with a clone and die instantly. =P

No. I like that to happen. In fact, i think it's a shame it rarely happens. As the screens always follows the real keen, and your always avoiding your enemies it's unlikely the two get mixed up. It happens all the time with godmode on though, when the 2 sprites collide, but the hell with that crap.
Thanks a lot though - these are the kind of replies that might add some value to our projects.

Oh and that blue dirt youre all talking about - It's rock.

You can add confusion easily by making a few levels with limited left/right or up/down scrolling. :-) That way the player-controlled Keen can freely move about one dimension of the screen, allowing for lots of mishaps. Don't blink!

If you want a couple of constructive comments, I'll admit that when I saw KEENV11.gif, I thought the yellow was the background, and the brown was a solid, so I was very confused how Keen was standing in air--but I don't know how to fix it, so I hadn't mentioned it.

In Karz's work, try to help the tree branch blend a little with the leaves--as they are now, they look almost like planks of wood.

[Edit: Okay, I've taken a much closer look at the screens--from what I can see of Mr. Karz's mod, those little blue dudes don't move too much when they animate. I see either two or three different frames of them facing left, with their heads and bodies in much the same position, and just their feet changed. Are these guys the Yorp replacements? That might explain the limited movement... but if these guys are the Vorticons you might want to make their heads move a bit more or something.

EzJay, other than the SGA nightmares, your mod looks consistently solid. I've got nothing I can say that hasn't already been said. All things considered, you just need a few detail tiles here and there and you'll be squared away.]

--Xky