NY00123's tests level
Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 8:59 pm
Download link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ellos4bfm3fgs ... 2.zip?dl=0
I'll simply quote from the README here:
======
A few possible comments on this level:
- From the ones who didn't know: Wow, this is a great way to build a little challenge!
- From some JJ2 players: Bringing the unofficial "tests" game type to the Keens? Yay!
- From other JJ2 players: Rats, now the Keens are also infected with this thing!
This is a single Keen 4 user-made level consisting of a few so-called "tests". In each such a test, you basically need to go from A to B, without touching any of the green-colored "warp" tiles. Touching any of these will (or at least should) warp you back to point A. There are warps of other colors that should be used, though.
As hinted above, this is inspired by various levels of a similar nature, constructed for Jazz Jackrabbit 2. These date back to 2007 or earlier.
Why work on such a level right now? Well, this is what happens after partially going back to JJ2, the excuse being the recently-conducted Anniversary Bash 19.
Running the game:
- Simply type "GO4" under a compatible DOS environment. This also covers DOSBox v0.74 and compatible. Starting a new game shouldn't be that difficult afterwards.
Known issues:
- Yeah, the graphics may be far from pretty, but this isn't the main target anyway.
- The winds may be a bit buggy in nature. This is a known issue.
- Hopefully all warps should be corrected, but there may still be a mapping (or possibly a patching) bug.
- As usual, there may be other bugs.
- Keen's momentum will appear to remain unchanged after warping. This may seem a bit unnatural, indeed, but the following should probably be mentioned: Test 10 takes advantage of this in a very clear way.
- On a related note, some debug keys (cheats) might make the game malfunction in different ways. So, watch out!
- Also, enabling the "No Clip" mode will *not* let you go through the warps. They'll still work as usual!
Difficulty:
Let's say that test 5 may include the first actual challenge, test 6 has its difficult part somewhere, test 7 is just a bit annoying and test 10 is probably the most difficult. The latter is actually a bit of a surprise, as it was originally guessed that test 10 won't be that difficult.
Is it possible to pass all of the tests:
The answer is a clear "YES"!
A few misc. notes:
- As originally released, this is just a combination of one user level and a set of EXE patches. EGAGRAPH.CK4 and AUDIO.CK4 remain unchanged.
- Originally, the "moon" tile property was morphed into the new "warp" tile property. It was eventually decided to rather modify the "door" tile property, though, since it's present in all of Keen 4-6, and the "Keen entering door" states were patched anyway.
- In fact, originally the plain pyramid "moon" floor tile itself (as present in Keen 4's level 11) was used for warping.
- A few other tile properties got morphed into the winds. In fact, original tiles were re-used as-is, with their original "tile property" values. This should make it easier for you to guess which tile properties were re-used, when you encounter the winds...
- Gem holders were effectively disabled, freeing up code space for the new warping functionality.
- It can be said, in a way, that other kinds of tests were already made for Keen games. See e.g., KeenRush's "Fall Up" mod for Keen 1.
Tools used (mostly due to past familiarity with them):
- CK4PATCH.
- TEDSETUP and TED5.
- CK456TLI (for temporary applying the "moon" tile property to another tile).
Other information used (mostly for the patching):
- Portions of a couple of disassemblies of Keen 4.
- Small segments of the Omnispeak sources.
- The KeenWiki's patches database.
I'll simply quote from the README here:
======
A few possible comments on this level:
- From the ones who didn't know: Wow, this is a great way to build a little challenge!
- From some JJ2 players: Bringing the unofficial "tests" game type to the Keens? Yay!
- From other JJ2 players: Rats, now the Keens are also infected with this thing!
This is a single Keen 4 user-made level consisting of a few so-called "tests". In each such a test, you basically need to go from A to B, without touching any of the green-colored "warp" tiles. Touching any of these will (or at least should) warp you back to point A. There are warps of other colors that should be used, though.
As hinted above, this is inspired by various levels of a similar nature, constructed for Jazz Jackrabbit 2. These date back to 2007 or earlier.
Why work on such a level right now? Well, this is what happens after partially going back to JJ2, the excuse being the recently-conducted Anniversary Bash 19.
Running the game:
- Simply type "GO4" under a compatible DOS environment. This also covers DOSBox v0.74 and compatible. Starting a new game shouldn't be that difficult afterwards.
Known issues:
- Yeah, the graphics may be far from pretty, but this isn't the main target anyway.
- The winds may be a bit buggy in nature. This is a known issue.
- Hopefully all warps should be corrected, but there may still be a mapping (or possibly a patching) bug.
- As usual, there may be other bugs.
- Keen's momentum will appear to remain unchanged after warping. This may seem a bit unnatural, indeed, but the following should probably be mentioned: Test 10 takes advantage of this in a very clear way.
- On a related note, some debug keys (cheats) might make the game malfunction in different ways. So, watch out!
- Also, enabling the "No Clip" mode will *not* let you go through the warps. They'll still work as usual!
Difficulty:
Let's say that test 5 may include the first actual challenge, test 6 has its difficult part somewhere, test 7 is just a bit annoying and test 10 is probably the most difficult. The latter is actually a bit of a surprise, as it was originally guessed that test 10 won't be that difficult.
Is it possible to pass all of the tests:
The answer is a clear "YES"!
A few misc. notes:
- As originally released, this is just a combination of one user level and a set of EXE patches. EGAGRAPH.CK4 and AUDIO.CK4 remain unchanged.
- Originally, the "moon" tile property was morphed into the new "warp" tile property. It was eventually decided to rather modify the "door" tile property, though, since it's present in all of Keen 4-6, and the "Keen entering door" states were patched anyway.
- In fact, originally the plain pyramid "moon" floor tile itself (as present in Keen 4's level 11) was used for warping.
- A few other tile properties got morphed into the winds. In fact, original tiles were re-used as-is, with their original "tile property" values. This should make it easier for you to guess which tile properties were re-used, when you encounter the winds...
- Gem holders were effectively disabled, freeing up code space for the new warping functionality.
- It can be said, in a way, that other kinds of tests were already made for Keen games. See e.g., KeenRush's "Fall Up" mod for Keen 1.
Tools used (mostly due to past familiarity with them):
- CK4PATCH.
- TEDSETUP and TED5.
- CK456TLI (for temporary applying the "moon" tile property to another tile).
Other information used (mostly for the patching):
- Portions of a couple of disassemblies of Keen 4.
- Small segments of the Omnispeak sources.
- The KeenWiki's patches database.