Atroxian Realm

You can discuss anything about fan-made Commander Keen games here.
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KeenRush
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Post by KeenRush »

Benvolio wrote:This is beautiful!!! Those bees are amazing!!! This will be one of the defining modding events of the decade!! Take your time, I appreciate your perfectionism, especially as you consistently have results to show for it!! There's a certain crisp finesse to your art which is clearly the result of intense attention to detail coupled with sheer artistic brilliance of a kind we are privileged to have at PCKF!
I wholeheartedly second this statement. :) Nuff said. These new shots are just amazing. I especially like/love the Crystalcomb Hive (and the hornets) and the ruins theme. :rasta
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
Gridlock
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Post by Gridlock »

Alright, it's been a while. Not terribly much progress. though the level and graphical revisions continue.

I've done some small updates to the swamp levels. Following Grimson's suggestion, I've revamped the water animation to play much slower and more random. I also reworked the background in Larvae Lagoon to improve the contrast. This video shows off these improvements, though Youtube somewhat messes up the video quality, making them harder to see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZnSs3f ... e=youtu.be

For a clearer look at the background:
Image

If you have any feedback, I'd be glad to hear it.

There has been some sporadic progress over the last few months. I made a lot of progress with the revisions to the crystal levels, and they look so, so much better than they did in the really old screenshots. There have been updates to plenty of other levels as well. But, I don't want to spoil all this, so I don't have a lot to show off right now (though I may ask for more feedback on #keenmodding). The problem is that these updates can be very experimental and tedious, and so it takes a long time to get anywhere.

AR is pretty much a one-man show right now. It's mostly my fault for getting busy and losing contact with project helpers. Please know that your help is always welcome. I'm hopeful that I'll have more time to work over the next month or two. I really wish AR could be done by the end of summer, but I don't think that will happen. There are just too many details for me to juggle right now and too many more difficult tasks that have sat in a partially-finished state for a long time now.

Also, I've asked before, but if anyone is proficient with composing and working with the IMF format, I would really appreciate the help. A few tracks need revisions, and though I can usually experiment enough to get tracks to sound decent, it's very time consuming and difficult for me.
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szemi
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Post by szemi »

Nice background, man.
Yeah, piece of cake!
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DoomJedi
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Post by DoomJedi »

This mod looks fantastic
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Post by Keening_Product »

The sound - music and effects - fits the scenes well. Oh, and the graphics are gorgeous and the water's cooler now etc etc etc.
Keening_Product was defeated before the game.

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VikingBoyBilly
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Post by VikingBoyBilly »

Gridlock wrote: Also, I've asked before, but if anyone is proficient with composing and working with the IMF format, I would really appreciate the help. A few tracks need revisions, and though I can usually experiment enough to get tracks to sound decent, it's very time consuming and difficult for me.
You know what? Here's my advice: stick with the first draft and if the players don't like that, well, a big middle finger to them.
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"I don't trust players. Not one bit." - Levellass
Gridlock
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Post by Gridlock »

I've been hard at work over the last month and have been making some progress. First off, I'd like to show you another tileset revision, this time to the ruins-themed tileset. This before and after illustrates the effect of the tileset improvements I've been doing for the past year:

BEFORE:
Image

AFTER:
Image

Some people might be thinking, "I don't see that much of a difference. Why spend so much time on these trivial revisions, especially when it means this game is taking forever to release?" Well, I do believe these revisions are vastly improving the aesthetics of the game and allowing me to do so much more than I could before. You've already seen the improvements to the swamp levels between the first and second demo. Similar improvements have gone into every tileset of the game now, and I'm happy to say that tilesets improvements are getting close to completion. Of course, I'm keeping the best looking stuff under wraps until release :disguised

The next month will be the critical period of development for Atroxian Realm. Following that, it will be a very long time before I have sufficient time to devote to the project. I've said this every year, but it's especially true this year. Given that a few team members are no longer available to assist, I may ask a few other people on the forums for assistance (mostly for sprite related stuff). If you can help with music revisions, please please let me know.

I've created a detailed list of everything that still needs to be done on the project. On one hand, it's nice to have a concrete list. On the other hand, it's very long. I figured I'd share a non-spoilerish version of this list if you're interested in all the little details. Just for fun, there's even initials of all the level names.

Code: Select all

_____________________
#####################
####AR TO DO List####
#####################

##########
  LEVELS
##########

(Note: level names are abbreviated by their initials)

* indicates that a level is done and ready for beta testing; may require only minor changes

0 (World Map): Some significant graphical revisions + additional graphics
1 DS: *
2 MM: *
3 LL: Fix music memory issue
4 CC: *
5 EC: *
6 AM: Major music/memory revisions; some level and graphical revisions
7 AB: Major music/memory revisions; some level and graphical revisions
8 SL: Minor level revisions
9 PA: Minor level revisions
10 HH: Major level and graphical revisions
11 BB: *
12 KG: *
13 PR: Minor level and graphical revisions/additions 
14 TC: *
15 GZ: Some significant graphical additions
16 SS: Minor level and graphical revisions
17 BOSS: Finish boss behavior/graphics + likely graphical revision to arena
18 CS: Minor level and graphical revisions
19 High Scores
20 AF: Major level and graphical revisions
21 ?- additional level has not yet been designed 
22 Minor level revisions
23 Level design incomplete; significant work remaining
24 CC *

##########
  MUSIC
##########

###Tasks###

Compress remaining uncompressed tracks with IMFCrush
Configure game to have additional music slots and reconfigure all tracks
Get every track to play at proper instance (tricky for certain sequences like the ending)

###Tracks###

* indicates that music is finished minus compression 
& indicates that a track might need music revision, but may be unnecessary 

0: *
1: *
2: *
3: *
4: *
5: *
6: Finish revised track + reduce track size
7: *
8: &
9: *
10: Fix track position + some instrument revision
11: &
12: &
13: &
14: *
15: *
16: *
17: &
18: Possible track reworking + instrument revision
19: No music currently for high scores
20: Instrument revision
21: No music currently; could reuse track from 13
22: &
23: &
24: *
Scrolling Story: *
HELP! Section: may reuse track from Scrolling Story or a track I composed
Menu: No music currently
Dialogue 1: Minor revision to track; needs import and testing
Dialogue 2: Import and testing
Ending: *

############
  SPRITES
############

(NOTE: this public version blanks out many details. Some of the ???? here are sprites like projectiles and not actual enemies) 

* indicates sprite is finished, minus minor changes

Larvac: *
????: May require redesign by better artist
????: Current behavior is glitchy and unreliable; major revision
????: NOT STARTED
????: NOT STARTED
????: Needs better sprite
????: MAJOR REVISION + likely enemy behavior change
Dart Replacement: Redraw to make more visible
????: Major revision to fix choppy/buggy movement
BOSS: See final boss section
????: Not currently working in game
????: *
????: fix destroy frame
????: Revise frame
????: Redraw
????: NOT STARTED
Larvbat: Patch error causes them to no longer push Keen; revise!
????: Fix choppy movement; add frames
Atroxite: *
Moving Platform: *
Dartfrog: * (though I may consider suggestion to make it a little less detailed)
????: Redraw!
????: NOT STARTED, may require sprite height increase
????: NOT STARTED
Keen Behavior- NOT STARTED

#################
  HELP! Section
#################

Check all pages
Rework Keen Info and Previews Section, possibly add more mod previews from other modders
Revise ABOUT AR section, including revising the credits section and adding special thanks section

###STORY###

Finalize text with feedback from others
Finish and place portrats
Finish 3 story pictures:

###################
  Ending sequence
###################

Rewrite text
Replan all images for improvement
Finish remaining images and portrats
#lotsofwork

#########
  Other
#########

Revise dialogue sections
Record demos for playback
Revise 3-up item for improved memory and get it to work without memory issues in all levels

#################
  Sound effects
#################

Figure out what sfx should go to remaining behaviors, particularly in final battle
Make sfx for final battle + one or two other enemies

##################
  Final Battle
##################

SECRET, though significant work remains including some spriting and patching
Who would have thought making a Keen game was so much work?
Last edited by Gridlock on Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:17, edited 1 time in total.
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Armageddon Begins Again. The Alphamatic has arrived.

Atroxian Realm: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3536
The Alphamatic: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4086
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VikingBoyBilly
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Post by VikingBoyBilly »

I can't wait for it to be released next month =D
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DoomJedi
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Post by DoomJedi »

This looks fantastic.
Might be a bit too dithered than average...but it's your artstyle. Does look good.
Gridlock
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Post by Gridlock »

I won't have much time, if any, in the coming months to work on AR, but I figured I'd share the level progress over the last month. As you could see, most of the game's 24 levels are very close to completion.

Code: Select all

##########
  LEVELS
##########

* indicates that a level is done and ready for beta testing; may require only minor changes

0 (World Map): Some significant graphical revisions + additional graphics
1 DS: *
2 MM: *
3 LL: *
4 CC: *
5 EC: *
6 AM: Major music/memory revisions; some level and graphical revisions
7 AB: Major music/memory revisions; some level and graphical revisions
8 SL: *
9 PA: *
10 HH: Major level and graphical revisions
11 BB: *
12 KG: *
13 PR: Minor graphical additions 
14 TC: *
15 GZ: Minor graphical additions
16 SS: *
17 BOSS: Finish boss behavior/graphics + minor graphical revisions
18 CS: *
19 Scores *
20 AF: *
21 ?- additional level has not yet been designed 
22 CTB *
23 CTA *
24 CC *
I'm sorry to keep pushing off the release, but hopefully this will allow time for the source code to release. Having this resource will make it much easier for lemm and levellass to finish the patching, and it will probably give me much more flexibility to achieve the results I want. I'm hoping to keep in contact with people to ensure that some work, particularly with the story graphics/sprites, gets done while I'm busy.

I think the wait will be worth it. I know people are losing interest, but the game is definitely getting closer to completion, and it's looking better than I could have imagined a year or two ago.

Also, I might be looking for a beta tester in the future. I had somebody in mind, but I haven't gotten a response from that person. When I do pick someone to beta test, though, it'll need to be someone who is extremely committed and can give me very detailed, insightful feedback. I'll certainly consider anyone who volunteers, but someone with level design/game design experience is preferable.

I also want to thank Fleexy for taking many of my Abiathar suggestions and requests. Some of the features he's working on will be very helpful for certain aspects of development.
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Armageddon Begins Again. The Alphamatic has arrived.

Atroxian Realm: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3536
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Roobar
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Post by Roobar »

Ok, maybe '14 wasn't a lucky year for Atroxian Realm. But, let's hope 2015 will be the year. :( :( :(
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Post by Levack »

What all is not yet done?
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Post by Gridlock »

With college consuming all of my time, I haven’t had time to work on or even think about this project since early August. There’s still significant work to be done, but not all the details are very fresh in my mind right now. The progress is pretty much exactly where it was at the last update.

I’m very hopeful that I can make progress over my winter break, which is almost a month. I doubt the game will be finished by then, but I’d really like to have it done by the end of the summer. My free time is only going to continue decreasing over the next few years, and I don’t want to keep dragging this out for everyone.

I’ve been out of contact with pretty much everyone here, and things have seemed pretty quiet around here. I’ll definitely need some help to get this done. There are a few other variables that will definitely influence how much gets done.

I may still be looking for a beta tester. If you want to, let me know. I need someone very thorough.

Anyway, the semester will be over in about two weeks, so I’d like to start rekindling the development process soon. Thanks for your patience!
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Armageddon Begins Again. The Alphamatic has arrived.

Atroxian Realm: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3536
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VikingBoyBilly
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Post by VikingBoyBilly »

Levellass is thorough. Have her beta test it and make sure to tell Paramultart to give it to her before pushing it out into the release board. 8)
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Levellass
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Post by Levellass »

VikingBoyBilly wrote:Levellass is thorough. Have her beta test it and make sure to tell Paramultart to give it to her before pushing it out into the release board. 8)
I prefer to think of myself as 'nitpicky' I'm the Zero Punctuation of Keen.

Still doing that tile-life item thing or have your plans for that changed?
What you really need, not what you think you ought to want.
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