Storyline and Level Theme Consolidation

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doomjedi
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Post by doomjedi »

Deltamatic wrote: The first area is partitioned off from the rest of the world map with impassable blocks. It would have a sunset/forest in fall theme. Keen's in his pajamas
Does it mean I have to redraw all of the Keens to pigamas???
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Deltamatic
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Post by Deltamatic »

Yeah, it'd be easier just to say that he threw his traditional adventuring clothes on rather than redoing all that work.
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CommanderSpleen
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Post by CommanderSpleen »

I wrote:I think we have enough confirmed map content to start work on the map tiles. Remember of course that we have an entire tileset we can allocate solely to the map world, so go crazy(ish)!
I take this back. First we need to refine the concept sketch, figure out proportions and decide how the levels shall interplay to create a progression. i.e. the slugs vs licks feud requiring the player to fetch items. Also, what if that situation was a plot fork? Helping the licks turns the slugs against you and vice versa? Just a thought.
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doomjedi
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Post by doomjedi »

CommanderSpleen wrote:
I wrote:I think we have enough confirmed map content to start work on the map tiles. Remember of course that we have an entire tileset we can allocate solely to the map world, so go crazy(ish)!
I take this back. First we need to refine the concept sketch, figure out proportions and decide how the levels shall interplay to create a progression. i.e. the slugs vs licks feud requiring the player to fetch items. Also, what if that situation was a plot fork? Helping the licks turns the slugs against you and vice versa? Just a thought.
Storywise I have alot of ideas...I also think we should complicate the Slugs vs Licks beyond "good guys vs bad guys"...Keen can start helping Slugs...but then discover info that will turn the one-sided story Slugs told him around - and turn to the Licks side....
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Deltamatic
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Post by Deltamatic »

That's a great idea, but it would require more patched Yorp statues to hand out the extra plot snippets. Making them look different isn't a problem with the multiple tileset patch, but how many different Yorp statue texts are possible?
lemm
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Post by lemm »

Up to one per level, for each level.

On a related note, it's possible to have up to 255 sprite types. Perhaps it actually would be possible to use sprites for keycards, items, treasures as doomjedi has implied?
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doomjedi
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Post by doomjedi »

Sounds cool :)

...I couldn't imply such, as I know near nothing about internal structure of Keen engine (being new in Keen modding...I know it as a player and an old fan, not as a modder)...As such, I'm not sure what is the difference between sprites and Tiles - relating to stationary items like keys and treasure.
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shikadi
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Post by shikadi »

it's never to late to learn it =p
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doomjedi
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Post by doomjedi »

I will :) While making new enemies. Added 2 new enemies today, including my version of Keen 4 Crazy Mushroom.
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Deltamatic
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Post by Deltamatic »

lemm wrote:Up to one per level, for each level.
This is fantastic.
Hopefully limitations on Vorticon Elder messages are the same, for when we get around to doing episode 2?
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Deltamatic
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Post by Deltamatic »

List of levels:

1. Crashed BwB
2. Forest
3. Algal pool
4. Canyon
5. Geyser
6. Tree city
7. Slug town 1
8. Estuary ford
9. Swamp 1
10. Swamp 2
11. Cemetery
12. Slug town 2
13. Waterfall
14. Lick city
15. Lick moat and gatehouse
16. Lick castle
17. Slug town 3
18. Archaeological site 1
19. Archaeological site 2
20. Archaeological site 3
21. Slug town 4
22. Meadows
23. Stream
24. Lake
25. Rainbow
26. Beach
27. Misty woods
28. Foothills
29. Mine shaft
30. Secret area 1
31. Secret area 2
32. Secret area 3
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CommanderSpleen
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Post by CommanderSpleen »

Nice! That's one comprehensive list. Looks complete enough to start fitting everything into physical places on the map.

Something that came to mind yesterday: what if the tropical island has some kind of holiday resort on it, full of tourist critters of some kind. (Those janitor birds would fit in here quite nicely too.)

Not sure if it'd be worthwhile making a separate sprite just for this one purpose, but the general theme would be neat.
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CommanderSpleen
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Post by CommanderSpleen »

Some other tidbits:

I'm somewhat mort on the whole rescuing a princess thing. Including Lindsay somewhere is a must, but it seems way too mario to make this the primary objective.

Naming the cemetery 'Boot Hill' and actually having a footware theme (i.e. shoes/boots/sandals/thongs sticking out of the ground as tombstones) would be amusing. Maybe we could create those critters that were originally intended to be in Hillville that run around trying to kick you (IIRK)? The reason Keen is sent there instead of the slugs going themselves could be that they don't like the smell.
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Deltamatic
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Post by Deltamatic »

Keen doesn't rescue Lindsey, he meets her at the end and they both fall into the mine. She would mainly feature in episode 2, and not in a rescuing kind of way while in there either.
Your footware idea is great, makes me wonder why those creatures are living on a graveyard... maybe they've been living there for ages, and their cemetery's expanded to encompass all their land.

Edit: Or, better yet, they could leave stinky shoes instead of flowers at their graves. An invitation-only funeral is going on when Keen arrives, and they don't take kindly to party-crashers--hence the kicking.
Last edited by Deltamatic on Thu Dec 31, 2009 4:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Deltamatic
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Post by Deltamatic »

I just had a couple of important questions regarding engine limitations in relation to plot design come to mind:

- What's the character limit for Yorp statue messages?
- What's the limit for teleporters?

The teleporters question came up because I was thinking of how it would be awesome to have a Yorp statue in every level, but then I realized than in order for it to be meaningful there would have to be some sequential development, especially with the whole slug quests thing.
Then I was wondering if the slug town levels could somehow be positioned to guarantee that the player would only do the quests after reaching the right slug town level and do the slug town levels in the right order, but I realized that would be impractical with how the map is laid out, so the only solution I can think of is adding extra teleporters.
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