[Keen2 mod] Moons of Morkador (Unfinished WiP?)

Showcase your completed mod here!
User avatar
The Shifted One
Posts: 71
Joined: Sun Nov 11, 2007 11:32 pm
Location: Utopia

[Keen2 mod] Moons of Morkador (Unfinished WiP?)

Post by The Shifted One »

Well its been years since I was last found here and yet I find myself here again.
I found that I still had an unfinished Keen 2 mod which I never actually released or did anything with anymore...
I decided to upload it and let everyone see/try it out just for fun.
Remember this project started somewhere in 2009 (I think) and hasn't been worked on since save for a bugfix I just added.

Now before you download and play it I advice you read the comments below to get the most out of and so you know what is finished and what is not.

Wall of text alarm!

Features:
New tileset
New sprites
Patched enemies
New alphabet
And more things that are too general to really place here

Image

Unfinished things:
GFX:
Death images for enemies
Replacement image for the moving platform
Any other screen then the title in the menu will look weird

Patching:
Text in the menus is incorrectly aligned.

Levels:
Level 3 is unfinished and can not be finished; its only halfway done.


Story (not included in the mod):
To be honest I don't really remember...
You were trying to stop space pirates from mining crystals with special power which they were going to use for a doomsday weapon.
Other then that I really don't remember...


Purpose and general idea behind the mod:
I started this mod to make it something special.
Something unique not seen before yet feeling familiar...
Something that has features not seen in any other mod...
Now most of that I did however its not all as grand as I wanted it to be.
While it plays like keen and feels like Duke Nukem at times (thanks to my tileset, I guess I had that game on my mind when I made it) its still different enough to stand out.

The main purpose of the game was too hunt down reactor cores to stop the crystal mining operations but this would not be required to finish the levels.
Not finding them all would result in a bad ending (something I don't even know if its possible...).
Now because it only has 2 complete levels theres only 1 core to find there isn't much left of that idea...
I also made a new alphabet with the idea of having to figure it out so you could read hints on how to make it past the last level or something like that (again something that hasn't been done).
There would be a special score pickup in the shape of classic game heroes with their name written nearby in every level so you could decipher the symbols if you knew and could find these (and they are worth enough point for an extra life).
Level design is worked around this idea so they require backtracking and searching so you could find these secrets.
Level 2 is an example of this: It can be finished rather quick but its still a very large level where you need to go everywhere to find the core and the secret score image.
The worldmap was mainly made for testing the levels so its not really fancy and all.
The rightmost level is level 3 which is unfinished.
It still a nice level to play and to check out but theres no exit and the score pickup cannot be reached in its current state.

While its not an easy mod I tried to keep it fair.
No deadly falls such.
Some strange things may still happen but I tried to keep it to a fair level.

The score pickups are things a more adult keen would enjoy: Smokes and booze mainly, suggesting that I was going to make a more adult keen.
I don't remember or ever did this so I'm not sure about that statement...


Authors (me!) comments:
Not a whole lot I haven't said yet but...
This was made when I was still hooked on alcohol pretty much non-stop.
Because of this there may still be old bugs or other strange things I didn't find.
The intro and menu screens point this out pretty well...


Hints:
Proceed slowly and carefully
Your enemies are fast so you'll need good reflexes and old fashioned patience for them to make "that" jump
The rifleman is not deadly to the touch, only his shots are


Download:
I hope I added all the required files without spreading something illegal and it still working ;)
Its been so long ago that I'm not very sure...
Here!


Credits:
Me!
Levellass (Pretty much all patching...)
Joriz (for being awesome, who knows we will meet again someday!)


Closing note:
I hope by reading this wall of text you can value this mod for what it is.
I just believed it needed to be shared even if its never going to be finished and really short.
I may continue working on it someday so who knows it may see a finished state!
Feel free to ask any sort of question ;)
That should be all, enjoy and don't look up the patchfile ;)

- The Shifted One
Last edited by The Shifted One on Tue Jan 22, 2013 6:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
troublesomekeen
Posts: 223
Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2012 7:56 pm
Location: Shadowlands
Contact:

Post by troublesomekeen »

Argh! It does not like my version of Keen 2.exe!
EDIT: Whoops! Partly working now, but I'm likely on the wrong track. I dumped all of your files found in the download into my Keen 2 folder, replacing the files that have the same name. Instead of running "cfsabgf.bat" like I'm used to doing, I ran Keen2.exe. Keen starts out in blue area surrounded by green. The only level entrance I can find is the top-right tile of the tall grey city. Keen immediately falls to his death down a narrow, grey chute.
...
Ah ha! This happens because the platform tiles down have a solid property! Which means that the tile-info isn't being read properly (likely because I'm running Keen2.exe instead of the batch file. Dun dun d-dun!).
Benvolio
Posts: 228
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2004 4:44 pm
Location: Ireland
Contact:

Post by Benvolio »

troublesomekeen did you use UNLZEXE the Keen2.exe?? it worked fine for me when that was accomplished.

Anyway, The Shifted One, some nice stuff here! I like the crystal underground cave section, with a little polishing that could be some pretty nice scenery. It has atmosphere, a little like Cosmo as well as Duke 1. I like the sprites too, quite original. Though the scrub replacements baffled me a little!
User avatar
troublesomekeen
Posts: 223
Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2012 7:56 pm
Location: Shadowlands
Contact:

Post by troublesomekeen »

...Well naturally I unlzexe'd it! That's the error I'm getting after all. Gah. If you can get it working, I now I can. Half a moment...
levellass
Posts: 3001
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:03 pm
Location: Ngaruawahia New Zealand

Post by levellass »

I'm getting a 'problem loading page' error o that download.
User avatar
The Shifted One
Posts: 71
Joined: Sun Nov 11, 2007 11:32 pm
Location: Utopia

Post by The Shifted One »

Thanks for the replies.

Levelass - The download link works fine for me...
I can send it too you trough email or anything if you want too.

Troublesomekeen - Have you gotten it to work? I'm not sure how all the unlzexe and version stuff works anymore but I'm pretty sure I can figure it out if you need some help.

Benvolio - Thanks! I liked that part myself too. Atmosphere is what I was aiming for so at least I did something right then ;).
And whats wrong with my scrub? I found it quite amusing :P.


I think I may work on it a little more and see if I can release it as a minimod.
I think it'll be worth it.
levellass
Posts: 3001
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:03 pm
Location: Ngaruawahia New Zealand

Post by levellass »

A minimod sounds like a good idea indeed.


Still not getting anything on that download link, possibly it's banned in my country. As always I suggest Dropbox.
User avatar
Gridlock
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2011 7:04 am

Post by Gridlock »

Oh man a RAR from one of those pesky upload sites. Here's a link for you lass:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/22195447/Other ... mirror.zip
User avatar
The Shifted One
Posts: 71
Joined: Sun Nov 11, 2007 11:32 pm
Location: Utopia

Post by The Shifted One »

So theres a better alternative now?
Man I've really been out of it for a while...
Thanks Gridlock!

I'll update the link in my first post.
levellass
Posts: 3001
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:03 pm
Location: Ngaruawahia New Zealand

Post by levellass »

Wow, someone has really strong patch language.
User avatar
The Shifted One
Posts: 71
Joined: Sun Nov 11, 2007 11:32 pm
Location: Utopia

Post by The Shifted One »

As I stated in my first post this mod was made in my days of alcohol abuse.
I may have added strange things like that while I was drunk.
You provided me with most of the patches so for some reason I must have added all that.
My apologies to anyone offended.
Within the next release I'll remove all that...
levellass
Posts: 3001
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:03 pm
Location: Ngaruawahia New Zealand

Post by levellass »

Damn.

I mean DAMN>


The levelwork here... incredible, just incredible. I don't know how you did it. The size and complexity involved, you have my envy.
User avatar
CommanderSpleen
Posts: 1017
Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2003 12:11 pm
Location: The Land of Sparkly Things
Contact:

Post by CommanderSpleen »

This is some brilliant work. Would be amazing to see it finished. The game world has a mystical kind of atmosphere to it, especially the underground areas, and the tech theme complements this perfectly. I'm finding the mod quite OrbKeen-inspiring, as much of the ambience here is what I have tried to convey in that mod. Also the use of masked tiles gives the world a bonus sense of depth.

The level structure works really well, though the vorticon placement and potential to fall blindly into traps could see some improvement if you continue work on the mod. Rows of doors hiding only a keycard usually comes off as unimaginative, but in this environment it seems to work.

The map is very refreshing, yet reminiscent of what it was like playing Keen 3 for the first time. Expanding it with only subtle graphical progression would have quite a powerful result. Especially if it involves jumping between several moons as the title screen depicts.

The main thing that brings it down is the alcohol and cigarettes theme for the point items. I would recommend replacing those with something more in keeping with the magic/technology vibe.
User avatar
The Shifted One
Posts: 71
Joined: Sun Nov 11, 2007 11:32 pm
Location: Utopia

Post by The Shifted One »

Thank you all for trying it out!

Levellass - Thanks, good level design is what I value a lot in a mod as well as what I believe I'm best at.
But coming from such a compliment means something real to me.

CommanderSpleen - Thanks for some hints!

I noticed that the vorticon placement in level 2 is bad at points; they randomly fall in places they shouldn't.
I'll make sure they wont in later versions.
I also do not intend to create more level in that style.
I want them all the be unique and memorable in their own way.
Without a new idea for an approach I will not even begin making one.

The map was only created because I needed one and lacks any form of polish.
I also could not get the teleporter to work in Keen 2 so I have to find a way to work around the several moons.

At first I wanted to keep the points as some sort of self-reflection in the mod but I decided to remove them.
I entirely agree with you on that part.
I'm not sure if Ill change the menus yet for the very same reason.
Ill have to think about it.


I'm also finding it surprisingly difficult to work on this while sober.
I tend to feel less creative...
It may take a while before any progress is made.
I also work about 50 hours a week so I do not have a whole lot of time to spend on it either.
I will post updates and progress to let everyone know it still lives every now and then ;) .
KeenRush
Patch Maker
Posts: 1988
Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2003 2:52 pm
Location: Sand Yego
Contact:

Post by KeenRush »

Just tried this a couple of days ago and have to say that this shows great promise whether there'll be more to follow or not. I agree that the level work is great. You have a distinctive style. The graphics so far are nice as well and it was funny collecting bottles of Jack Daniels.
Post Reply