Marta's Keen Rescue

Paramultart · Post by **Paramultart** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 5:36

What started out as a one-day Keen 3 level pack, created almost entirely last Friday (March 9th), evolved over the last 5 days into a complete mod, which actually turned out to be a very relevant staple in the spin-off Keeniverse VBB and I have created. There are a few directly related mods we've been working on, in which the stories intertwine, and VikingBoyBilly and I are proud to present this release today.

The basic premise of the mod is that Keen is arrested by Vorticon law enforcement, and it's up to Space Cadet Marta, Keen's new neighbor, to rescue him from a maximum security prison located on Vorticon VI's neighboring planet, Vorticon V.

How did Keen get into this mess?
Why has Keen been acting so out of character lately?
Can Marta survive the horrors that await her on Vorticon V?
And who the heck is Marta!?

All of these questions and more are answered in this exciting episode, entitled
Space Cadet Marta in Keen Rescue!

Features include:
16 new levels
New artwork
Coherent storyline
Surprise external mini-game
... and much, much more!

DOWNLOAD:
(Update #4... This should be the final one!)
http://files.commanderkeen.org/users/bi ... rescue.zip

Note: For those looking for a basic Keen 3 level pack, just copy and paste levels 1-16 to a fresh Keen 3 folder. This mod was made with compatibility in mind.

VikingBoyBilly · Post by **VikingBoyBilly** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 16:40

Nothing to see here!

StupidBunny · Post by **StupidBunny** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 17:23

Nice surprise! I like it so far...the story is amusing, and I can definitely see both VBB and Paramultart in this mod. I've only played a few levels so far but I'll post a more full review whenever I finish.

Nice work guys!

EDIT: Oh yeah, and the WristGirl 313 is pretty hilarious, mostly for how it's totally impossible to use.

VikingBoyBilly · Post by **VikingBoyBilly** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 19:56

For the wristgirl: To operate, you have to push the buttons on the watch, not the buttons on the screen

Scarlet · Post by **Scarlet** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:00

level 3 is really mean...

Paramultart · Post by **Paramultart** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:50

Okay, the (hopefully FINAL) UPDATE has been posted!
This includes updated world map tiles, and SIGNIFICANT tweaks to level continuity and difficulty.

The game is much more polished, and the difficulty is more balanced now.

Also, a new game "SPACEY" was added to the Wristgirl313, as well as a few new easter eggs.

Give it a try!

This SHOULD be the FINAL VERSION!

EDIT: Okay, I noticed a bug in level 15 that prevented the player from beating the game. It has been fixed, and this should be the REAL final version:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18319523/releases/krescue.zip

Benvolio · Post by **Benvolio** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 21:55

Some very nice levels here!! I was skeptical at first, at seeing what in some ways is essentially a re-telling of Keen3 (with funnier story text I might add), but the puzzle nature of the levels was great fun - perhaps more suited to a Fall-Up levelpack or somesuch. Perhaps these levels deserve more thoroughly re-made graphics but otherwise, good fun, happy Mort Day to all.
I like the instruction, which I follow quite closely at the moment: "Keen Most Days".

Syllypryde · Post by **Syllypryde** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 22:24

I have 11 of the 16 levels complete on this pack. I should have it completed soon. Not a bad pack, a little short, but not bad at all.

VikingBoyBilly · Post by **VikingBoyBilly** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 23:07

Paramultart wrote:EDIT: Okay, I noticed a bug in level 15 that prevented the player from beating the game.

Heh heh, it wasn't unbeatable. It was just really really keenrushian

Well, unless you got trapped somewhere...
It's difficulty matched perfectly with Marta0

Paramultart · Post by **Paramultart** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 0:58

VikingBoyBilly wrote:
Paramultart wrote:EDIT: Okay, I noticed a bug in level 15 that prevented the player from beating the game.
Heh heh, it wasn't unbeatable. It was just really really keenrushian Well, unless you got trapped somewhere...
It's difficulty matched perfectly with Marta0

The light replacements for the lazers were blocking, making it literally unbeatable. I just used some missle bottoms, since you weren't around to run ModKeen so I could have just made a new tile.

I hope everyone playing has the latest version. If you downloaded the zip BEFORE my last post, then you'll need to re-download. The tweaks not only drastically improve the game, but also make it beatable in some cases.

IF YOU'RE USING AN OLD VERSION: Save your game, download the latest version, and throw your save game file into the new folder.

StupidBunny · Post by **StupidBunny** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 2:42

This was an enjoyable little romp...it was entertaining and Keenishly lighthearted with a bit of the authors' distinctive sarcastic touch. The original graphics were excellent, and left me wishing that there had been more of those and less recolorings; after all, I know that both the authors are excellent pixel artists. The levels are rather unfair/annoying in places, especially where you have to jump up to where a Vorticon or group of Vorticons are walking back and forth or where you have to fall down a wavy pit of death, but at the same time they're well-composed and mostly short enough that any annoyingness isn't a problem. I enjoyed the last level and ending (you animate beheaded characters better than I do

) as well as all the blatant misspellings in the signs. For the short time it took to make this it's a great surprise, and the character of the mod supersedes a lot of its shortcomings to make it fun to play.

Nice work both of you!

Paramultart · Post by **Paramultart** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 11:39

StupidBunny wrote:The original graphics were excellent, and left me wishing that there had been more of those and less recolorings; after all, I know that both the authors are excellent pixel artists.

Thanks! But this was more of a conscious decision to make the planet very similar to Vorticon VI, and to retain some of the atmosphere of Keen 3.
It does seem lazy, and a waste of our abilities, but it also removed the stress that goes along with time restraints, and gave us motivation to do what original graphics we did do.
The rush I personally got from working on this project has also encouraged me to finish up other projects I have under wraps, Keen related and otherwise. I was also happy to assist VBB interpret and develop the Marta character, and I look forward to working on future projects with him.

The levels are rather unfair/annoying in places, especially where you have to jump up to where a Vorticon or group of Vorticons are walking back and forth or where you have to fall down a wavy pit of death, but at the same time they're well-composed and mostly short enough that any annoyingness isn't a problem.

The level design takes turns between myself and VBB, so he did odd numbers and I did even numbers. I kind of had final say over difficulty of the game, and personally tested every level to make sure there were logical "safe" routes and strategies throughout each level.
I personally like levels to end after a good challenge, and not to exhaust the player with a long sequence of hard parts. It's cool you recognized that. Kind of makes a good challenge feel more rewarding, doesn't it?

I enjoyed the last level and ending (you animate beheaded characters better than I do

VBB told me about that commonality. I haven't made it that far in BTower yet, or very far at all yet. What a strange coincidence that two Keen 3 mods, released the same day, would share that idea. Still, props to you for coming up with it first (in 2008).

I'm glad you discovered this. I was afraid most wouldn't.

the character of the mod supersedes a lot of its shortcomings to make it fun to play.

What does this mean?

Nice work both of you!

Thank you! VBB wrote all of the text in the game. I just gave ideas about the planet and setting and pitched that we make this a full-on Marta episode.

StupidBunny · Post by **StupidBunny** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 15:29

Paramultart wrote:
the character of the mod supersedes a lot of its shortcomings to make it fun to play.
What does this mean?

Basically I meant that, in spite of things like periodic unfairness and lots of recolored graphics and sprites, the mod has a certain charm and...I guess I can't phrase it any other way, character, that makes those issues less noticeable.

To be fair the recolorings aren't that much of a shortcoming anyway. The plot obviously revolves around the Vorticons and so it makes sense for a lot of similar graphics to be used. Plus the new color scheme combined with the new tiles gives the whole thing a kind of surreal feeling.

VikingBoyBilly · Post by **VikingBoyBilly** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 17:58

StupidBunny wrote:I enjoyed the last level and ending (you animate beheaded characters better than I do ) as well as all the blatant misspellings in the signs.

While in-development Paramultart has said he wanted to show that the vorticons of vorticon V are "less intelligent" by using mispellings. And that was the idea at the time. But a lesser known character trait of Marta is she's a dyslexic (or at least in one of her creator's drawings, the words "ranger dyslexia" is scribbled on there). So the mispellings could, in theory, just be the way she sees the signs in her mind (Of course she knows SGA!

)

So I want to leave that open for interpretation .

Scarlet · Post by **Scarlet** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 18:26

The levels are rather unfair/annoying in places, especially where you have to jump up to where a Vorticon or group of Vorticons are walking back and forth or where you have to fall down a wavy pit of death

I liked that level, shooting all those vorticons. I wish there were more of them and more amo.

But a lesser known character trait of Marta is she's a dyslexic

That's the one part of the game that I do not like. To put a disability on a character makes that disability more acceptable/normal. No disability is normal, and therefore I think that this is a terrible thing to do to a character.