Lego Keen

Showcase your completed mod here!
KeenRush
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Post by KeenRush »

You're welcome. :) Can't wait to see this finished version, the beta was real pleasure to play..
By the way, what about the next mod? ;)
Ilsoap
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Post by Ilsoap »

Download Lego Keen now!!!

Next mod?? Who said I'd make another one?

Honestly, I have no plans to make a second mod of a Commander Keen game, at least not one of the Vorticons series. When it becomes more available to do mods of Keen 4-6, I may consider it (I'd love to put my own music in a Keen game). Lego Keen: Special Edition is still a possibility, but no, I think my modding days are over for now.
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CommanderSpleen
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SMEEP!!

Post by CommanderSpleen »

Woooom. Complete Lego Keen! Once I finish this CK:MB demo (yeah, yeah... it's almost a day overdue), I'll be headlong into playing this one.

New word time again!

Smeepulous adj.
1. Comparable to a brand new Keen mod released a couple of weeks before Christmas.
2. That feeling five minutes into running around in circles in a public place, common symptoms being random laughter, nausea, and a compulsion to play a newly released Keen mod.

Smeepule noun
1. A small creature with large green eyes, only visible through a trilonoscope. Constantly behaves as though five minutes into running around in circles. Eats plastic. Often found gnawing on elbows.

Smeepulous this be indeed!

>CommanderSpleen
Last edited by CommanderSpleen on Fri Dec 12, 2003 1:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ckguy
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Post by ckguy »

Yes!!! Lego Keen! Donwloading it now ...
KeenRush
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Post by KeenRush »

Whole day I've waited this..
And when I some hours ago turned my computer on, I noticed that it doesn't work! I had to open it and do some stuff, and after two hours..
I'm going to play it! Whooo!!
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JosephBurke
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jinxed again

Post by JosephBurke »

Lol, you're cursed KeenRush! How many times has that happened to you now? :)
KeenRush
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Post by KeenRush »

Actually, not almost ever. :) You may remember wrong. :)

But my life is now ruinder.

Unload your TSRs! Tee hee! LOL! Heh hah hah heh heh!! I'm so happy! *goes crazy*
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JosephBurke
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to appeal

Post by JosephBurke »

That bad, huh? *amused, sorry*

Anyway, you're getting pretty good at English; you articulated the word 'ruin' into 'ruinder' which isn't even an official word.
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Post by KeenRush »

Heh, managed to run it on DosBox! :) Because of this not-so-good computer, the experience was like playing Keen 4 on slow-mode (anyone else played with it?). :)
Pretty nice stuff Ilsoap, it was pretty clever to use that Previews for that art thing!
Well, nice to know that DosBox really works, I love that program now on. My future Keening is saved, if I ever get a better computer, wheee! :)
Going to try Norp 3 right now.
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Flaose
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Post by Flaose »

Funken' eh! That's incredible! I haven't had this much fun in a long time. Excellent job there Ilsoap!!!
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grelphy
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!!!

Post by grelphy »

Two words: Big Room.

Ilsoap, this is the biggest use (or mis-use, if you died twice in the first level... *shame*) of the "big-room" genre of levels anybody's ever seen... It really creates a feeling of openness and "towm-scape" that's hard to come by in Keen. A little hard, though... and those slopy bricks are deceptive.

Good job with the graphics - very LEGO-y. I liked the baddys - though the "exo-matic" was a bit too big and easy to obliterate. Nice animations, use of available frames - I must admit, until now, I'd never seen a realistic two-frame walking animation.

Nice animations! I think this is really one of the high spots of this Mod. Animations are well-thought out and used; especially the secret level. (did anuone else fine it?)

Good points - maybe a little too contrasty with the rest of the levels. I only died once looking at a pi, though. Nice use of supports, though I have to ask - did you actually build some of those more overhangy buildings with real legos? I didn't think so. Nice backgrounds (though the fading to grey on the brick background could have been a bit better). Really good job with the entrance tiles; finally, something other than foreground!

All in all, an excellent Mod. Use of preprogrammed areas (the ending especially!) are very creative and unique. Good job!
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Post by Ilsoap »

Two words: Big Room.
Yes, I know. Shame on me... can I help it if I enjoy them?

It was a mistake in some places, I know... I had to think of ways just to fill up space, and some levels were too big in the top. Still, it gives you lots of exploring room.
(or mis-use, if you died twice in the first level... *shame*)
The first level was originally something somewhat different, but I accidentally saved over it. I couldn't remember what it was like, so I made that level instead... I liked the other level better, personally, but... alas.
A little hard, though... and those slopy bricks are deceptive.
Slopy bricks? Not sure what you mean by those.
Good job with the graphics - very LEGO-y. I liked the baddys - though the "exo-matic" was a bit too big and easy to obliterate. Nice animations, use of available frames - I must admit, until now, I'd never seen a realistic two-frame walking animation.
And you probably never will. The Matiks that replace the yorp sprite are okay, but two frames just isn't enough to walk forward... I had to go to a book called "The Animator's Survival Guide" and grab a few cheating tricks from there to make it work. As for the Exo Matik, I decided to just go all out on him. He was a good five hours of work for all of his animations, and he's not really that hard to beat once you remember that you don't have to be that afraid of him, but he's still my favorite baddy in the game.
Nice animations! I think this is really one of the high spots of this Mod. Animations are well-thought out and used; especially the secret level. (did anuone else fine it?)
Hey, I want to have a career as an animator... that BETTER stand out. :) As for the secret, yes, it has been found by others, but shhhh! Let those who haven't found it discover it themselves. I wanted a secret level that had the same sense of discovery as the secret level in the original game.
Good points - maybe a little too contrasty with the rest of the levels. I only died once looking at a pi, though.
Can someone PLEASE tell me what the points should have been? Math symbols work, but COME ON, there's GOTTA be something better than that in the Lego universe!!!
Nice use of supports, though I have to ask - did you actually build some of those more overhangy buildings with real legos? I didn't think so.


No, really, I did! And for the levels where bricks are held up in the air, I actually created miniature jets, added fuel, and watched them hover in place so I could reference real life! Really! Would I lie?
All in all, an excellent Mod. Use of preprogrammed areas (the ending especially!) are very creative and unique. Good job!
One of the most artistically challenging things was attempting to make a Princess with 16 colors that looked Lego-ish, semi-attractive, and non-Princess Lindsey. I realize no one actually asked me about that, but I just had to share that.

Thanks for the review? Did you have a favorite level? A least-favorite level?

(Oh, and thanks Flaose! Glad you liked!)
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XkyRauh
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re: Lego Keen!

Post by XkyRauh »

Woohoo! Cool to see the final pieces implemented. First, the good:

Your secret level was brilliantly implemented--I stumbled across it by complete accident while running around, and a hunch got the better of me. Score! A bit hard to fully grasp the forms that were laid out, but I really dug the Tetris Room (if you wonder why, see "Xky's Big Level" from a few years back... hehe)

Again, as I said when beta-testing for you, the Exo Matiks are superbly animated :-) The additional art you added for the "Previews!" replacement really helps them stand out.

Grelphy's label of "Big Room" fits ya nicely--but I'll justify it this way: It's a bear to play the first couple of times through; you don't know where you're going, it takes forever to get from point A to point B, and you almost have to take notes on where each color door is. HOWEVER... after you've played the levels a couple of times, and know where to go, the level length becomes more enjoyable.

[As further aid for that justification, remember the Keen1 level where you get the Joystick... it's really quite short; but the exploration on the side (and that huge pile of lolipops/balloons at the front) keep the level long.]

The bad, and this is stuff that one of us beta-testers should have caught:

You... you have a Lego dude who KILLS Keen in your maze level. On the yellow route, past the yellow key, on the way to the right for those two Pi pieces. The Lego dude there kills me. I can't jump over him because the roof is too low--you should have seen me fall out of my seat when he got me the first time! :-)

Other one (and this is a very minor one)... go to Complex One and make sure you have the pogo. Head over to the Green Key, that long vertical shaft over the water. Jump up to the minus sign over the Blue to the Left--you should be standing next to a 6-tall column of grey bricks with a little white platform on top. Be sure you're standing on the right side of this structure. Pogo up and hold left--you'll go INTO this white platform, your head clipping through the blue doorway. O_o

Fantastic work, a fun endeavor to complete in one sitting--and I'll be the first to admit your Lego princess was very cute! :-D

--Xky
KeenRush
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Post by KeenRush »

you should have seen me fall out of my seat when he got me the first time!
Heh, if I remember correct there was something lego man in the beta that killed me too.. I was pretty scared!
Yeah, and I should have reported it, but I just simply thought that it was meant to be! :o Well, it doesn't mind..
Ilsoap
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Post by Ilsoap »

Yeah, the Lego dude of death... don't know how I missed it, but it's been reported a few times now. I'm still collecting bug reports, but I'll release a version 1.1 later this week that fixes the problems people have while playing the game.

The doorway glitch... I guess I'll just redesign the level to make sure that can't happen. It actually was on purpose that I made that tile not-solid on that one side (it makes sense in other levels).

The Tetris room, I'll have you know, was a bit of an homage to that big room you created. I really enjoyed the Tetris room when I played your level a few years back, and when I needed space filler for this game, I figured I'd sneak that reference into it.

I tried to make sure that most of the unbearably long big rooms were not necessary to finish the game with. If people needed to finish Random Hills or The Maze, for instance, to finish the game, I think that might have annoyed them too much.

In other news, while playing the maze level, I just found three Lego blocks that are hanging in mid-air. See if you can find them before I release Lego Keen v.1.1.
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