What do you want in a Keen game?

Deltamatic · Post by **Deltamatic** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 23:47

What sort of graphics, controls, levels, enemies, story, etc. would you like to see? Post your snazzy ideas here.

Toothpick · Post by **Toothpick** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 0:32

2D sprites with Calvin and Hobbs-style visuals, Goodbye Galaxy gameplay with a few new upgrades, huge world map, tons of unique enemies and a humorous plot. Anything as good as Keen 5 (my personal favorite) will also do.

Eros · Post by **Eros** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 1:02

2 enemy mods for 1 monster (1 normal and 1 boss), and what the other guy said.

if everything goes well, /me sticks a plug into his own hayro thread. (it will include halo-inspired graphics and items! it will have a ginormous worldmap! it will star keen in a spartan armor! it will have humor streaming off the walls! it will have a bigger team in a short while!)

Toothpick · Post by **Toothpick** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 1:13

Wait, is this for a fangame or mod? If so, sorry about that. I should have read that this was for unofficial Keen games, not a general Keen thread. I would like to see those things for any Keen game, but I might have set the bar too high if this is for a fangame.

Dynamo · Post by **Dynamo** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 1:20

Good graphics, clever level design and cool atmosphere.

TerminILL · Post by **TerminILL** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 1:56

Depth. While I know this is probably ridiculous given these are mods of a game about an 8 year old genius who zaps aliens that are mindcontrolled by a slightly more intelligent 8 year old, depth is something that I'd really appreciate in a mod. I'm always good with a nice excuse plot, or no plot at all, and I'd rather those than a half-assed failed attempt at depth which just doesn't work, but if someone genuinely managed to pull off depth, I'd go out of my way to play it through (sadly more than I can say for most mods, I am awful at commiting myself to these things).

Scarlet · Post by **Scarlet** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 5:08

I want something odd in it. Like, a character from some other game being shown in the background - those are eastereggs I think?

Paramultart · Post by **Paramultart** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 5:46

Molly McMire.

Lots... and lots... of mawly...

Post by **Ceilick** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 23:03

Eros · Post by **Eros** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 23:31

aww. the ten contrast with some views of how keen should be handled, as well as the official keen itself.

1: with the keen 6 function of saving items for later, after-level use, it appears gems can also be used this way (use the impossible bullet in bloogton MFG to get the red gem and exit the level, the gem is retained in the slot). this means i can have a level that requires a gem from another level. (there is a helpful 1-up and a spike to save you if you forget)
2: even the official keen games contrast with this, as bloogton tower has 6 gems, 2 of which are repeated. many creators, i would assume would like to have more than 1 gem for a larger or even smaller boss-puzzle level.
3: i don't understand this one.
4: i agree with this one, unless they have some sort of marking.
5: i don't understand this one.
6: agreed.
7: many levels in the keeniverse object to this one, say AAMBA, keen 6 final level, among many others.
8: agreed.
9: agreed, unless said area contains a very powerful enemy. (say, the imposter commander keen as an example?)
10: agreed, but not for extinctionist players.
11: no comment.

but that's just my 2 cents.

Post by **Ceilick** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 0:02

Lol, yeah, those are definitely controversial and mostly just my opinion of what will make the best levels.

As far as saving gems from one level to another, this is a cool idea for giving players new optional paths to take in a level. For example, a level could have a normal path to win, but it could have second path which can only be accessed if a gem was gotten and kept from the previous level.
Forcing the player to commit suicide still isn't ideal in my opinion.

As far as multiple of any one gem, there are two official levels which break this: Bloogton Tower and the Pyramid of the forbidden. Bloogton Tower has only 4 gems, two of which are red. I consider this a mistake; one of those should have been yellow (there are no yellow gems in the level). The pyramid of the forbidden has 5 gems total (two red ones). This does look like the only good reason to have more than 4 gems (the first red gem is used in a very specific, limiting way which forces the player to get it and immediately use it).

Why only 4 gems? Because if a level is using more, that is probably indicative of it being too long, too hard, or using gem doors in an excessive and pointless manner.

The door rule was so hard to write and it's about as confusing as any door puzzle is. It just occured to me that a better way to say it is that door puzzles should not be longer than 4 rooms, in which case the final keen 6 level is in agreement.

Eros · Post by **Eros** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 0:06

well, it'll be interesting to have your idea, which means that you keep a gem from a previous level, then use it to access a bigger point zone than normal, as compared to my outright "get the gem or you die."

personally, i find it fair if there's a 1-up right on the hazard, so you will always die and get the life, making it as if nothing happened.

Syllypryde · Post by **Syllypryde** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 0:07

Ceilick, I guess you are not a fan of CK Guy's Keen 5 levelpack or Keen Asylum are you?

Post by **Ceilick** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 0:12

I am a fan of Keen Asylum, not so much CKguy's keen 5 levelpack (although I have yet to play more than the first level. Was really irked that I spent so long trying to figure it out only find out it was bugged and unbeatable).

As I said, the listed level rules are, in my opinion, for maintaining the original gameplay style of Keen galaxy, as opposed to a puzzle style which can get away with breaking several of those rules.

Syllypryde · Post by **Syllypryde** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 1:03

The first level Exhaust Port 314 is beatable on easy. The bug you speak of is a switch that does not activate a bridge. The gap is really small and you can still make it to the other side by use of the edge climbing feature. This gap cannot be passed on normal or hard without cheating. Level 6- Not So Fast, also has a goplat error that crashes the game and makes the level impossible without cheating in order to get to the first keycard.