PCKF Patchwork Levelpack VI

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lemm
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PCKF Patchwork Levelpack VI

Post by lemm »

It's been a year or two since we last released a community levelpack, and I say it's time to end the drought! I am, therefore, organizing the PCKF Keen 6 patchwork levelpack. However, this one has a twist. Instead of having each person responsible for completing his or her own level, everyone will get to make a small part of every level. Each part will then be stitched together, like patches on a quilt, to yield the finish product! To start off, please read the following potentially asked questions (PAQ) section:


How does it work?
Every so often (once or twice a month), lemm will make a new post with an image of a shell level that has been broken up into a bunch of sectors (anywhere from 8 to 20). Players will then have an opportunity to claim a maximum of one (1) sector per map, until all sectors have been claimed. Sectors are small, no more than two or three screens in area. Each new map will have a due date, at which time, sector claimants are expected to return their completed work to lemm.

Why would we want to do this?

Code: Select all

<Mink> Make the first screen; do it do it do it
A dozen painters working on an empty canvas? This is madness! The level won't be playable. Level makers won't know where to put platforms
It's a shell level, not an empty level. Each new level will be accompanied with guidelines so that each sector will transition smoothly with its neighbours. Many levels will adhere to the same theme found in the unmodified Keen 6 game. In essence, the "story" that this level pack follows will be identical to that of the original game. Secondly, I will make restrictions on the number of enemies that can appear in the level, and I will assign an overall "difficulty" value to the level. Finally, to make things interesting, I will assign requirements to certain sectors, such as the presence of a gem or a gate, which will accompany an overall "plan" to the level so that everyone is on the same page.

Will there be any new content other than new levels?
There will be no new enemy patches, and no new graphics (unless you desperately need to add in a couple new tiles). I may accept new music submissions, however.

But I've never modded anything before in my life! I don't want to mess up the level for everyone else.
Then this is your ticket into the wonderful world of Keen modding! You may sign up for as few sectors as you want. The sectors are tiny, so you will have no problem finishing your task, and there will even be somebody there to proofread your work. Check out the modding tutorials at the KeenWiki (search for the "Modding Tutorials" section).

Am I allowed to collaborate with anyone else in the project?
You may collaborate with your immediate neighbours with whom you share a connection, and you are encouraged to do so in order to make your sectors mesh. You may not, however collaborate with anyone else, and collaborative puzzles may not span more than two sectors, nor may they violate any of the rules in the shell-level post. Collaborative puzzles may involve switches, platforms, bridges, or the blue gem. The fun in this levelpack, however, is that no one really knows what anyone will be is doing. A collaboration should just be undertaken so that the level is playable and we don't have to end up scrapping or totally rearranging anyone's sector.

When is this all going to be complete?
If we do one or two levels per month, we should be done by Keen Day 2014. If we work faster, we'll be done faster. It depends on community participation. If interest starts to peter out, I'll just end it prematurely.

Why keen 6?
It doesn't get enough attention.

What about difficulty levels?
Unless otherwise specified, design your levels for "normal" difficulty. I'll provide instructions in the special instructions section.

I think you're making too many rules for each level
Aside from making the level playable, there are restrictions with the Galaxy engine. Due to memory constraints, we cannot use every enemy and every tile at once. I'm going to be starting off conservative at first. I would also like most of the levels to retain *some* semblance of coherence. I will, however, try my best to make room for a few levels of unmitigated craziness.

Can I organize a level?
Absolutely! PM me or see me on IRC.

Okay, you've convinced me. How do I get started?
Download the starter level pack at the end of this post. We will be starting off with level 1 (Bloogwater Crossing) and level 6 (Bloog Manufacturing). Once you are done your level, either PM me on the forum or see me on the PCKF or Keenmodding IRC (Foonetic #pckf #keenmodding). DO NOT POST YOUR WORK PUBLICLY. PUBLICLY POSTED WORK WILL BE MARKED AS VOID AND REJECTED.

What if I need help?
Head over to Keen:Modding with your question. Alternatively, come on the IRC and ask your question. (Response times may not be immediate, so stick around for a while).


Level 1: Bloogwater Crossing
Image

Download Modding Package
Sections: 7
Difficulty: Easy
Tilesets allowed:
  • Red rocks, water, eyeball trees
Enemies allowed:
  • Bloog
  • Blooglets
  • Babobba
  • Flects
  • Stationary and Axial platforms (no goplats)
Level start: Left side of sector 1
Level end: Right side of sector 8
Sector Claims:
  1. Mink
  2. Jerry
  3. lemm
  4. Levack
  5. wiivn
  6. Flyingmouse
  7. Bubbatom





Level overview:

Since this will be our first level (a warm-up, if you will), I'm going to request that it should keep the same "style" as the original Bloogwater Crossing. That is, cliffs with channels of water in between, with eyeball trees growing atop. The player is just going from left to right. Note the platform connections at the bottom. Also note the position of the trees. Tree branches go upwards, so the sector with the lower end of the branch has the trunk of the tree.

Special Instructions:
  • Pay attention to the pattern of the rocks at the bottom. Your rocks should align with this pattern. If you are building a cliff, make it "grow" from the rocks, then delete what you need to. We want everything to mesh in the end.
  • Sectors 2, 5 and 7 may add an additional enemy for "hard" difficulty.
  • Sector 4 may add an "easy" enemy.
Due Date: May 1, 2013



Level 6: Bloogton Manufacturing
Image

Download Modding Package
Sections: 9
Difficulty: Medium
Tilesets allowed:
  • Blue Platforms, Red Girders
  • Smooshers, Firejets, Conveyor belts, Bridges, Zappers, Green Cylinders
Enemies allowed:
  • Bloog
  • Blooglets
  • Babobba
  • Blooguard
  • Gik
  • Ceilick
  • Any platforms
Level start: Left side of sector 1
Level end: Right side of sector 9
Sector Claims:
  1. Levellass
  2. Bubbatom
  3. Gridlock
  4. lemm
  5. Mink
  6. Levack
  7. Flyingmouse


Level overview:

This will be the first level with switches and bridges. It will be slightly less conservative than level 1. You may make your own little platforming puzzle in your own zone, and you may collaborate with your neighbours for 2-sector puzzles.
The level starts with keen in sector 1. He must travel to sector 5 to get the red gem. Once he gets the red gem, he goes back to sector 3 to get the green gem, which is hidden behind the red gate. After he gets the green gem, he must progress to sector 8 to flip a switch which will make passage from sector 4 to sector 9 possible.


Special Instructions:
  • Sectors 1, 8 and 9 may add an additional enemy for "hard" difficulty.
  • Sector 2, 5 may add an "easy" enemy.
Due Date: May 1, 2013











Level 2: Guard Post 1
Image

Base Modding Package
Level 2 GameMaps files
Sections: 6
Difficulty: Easy
Tilesets allowed:
  • Anything you see in Guard post 1, 2 or 3
  • Use the UNDERGROUND rock tileset (NOT the one with pink edges)
Enemies allowed:
  • Bloog
  • Blooglets
  • Babobba
  • Flects
  • Stationary and Axial platforms (no goplats)
  • Giks
  • Blooguards
Level start: Left side of sector 1
Level end: Right side of sector 6
Sector Claims:
Level overview:

This is going to be an underground guard post. Your task is to "mine" a cavity in the rock bed and put a level segment in there. You can incorporate guard post elements too, so long as they mesh with the rock. Each sector is connected by a tunnel. The black zones are the segment boundaries (do not place tiles here), and the cyan zones are the periphery (you may place tiles here, but they might be edited by me later).

Keen follows the orange path until he reaches sector three, then he makes it back to segment 6 to escape.



Special Instructions:
  • Sector 1 has a switch that is only accessible from the tunnel to sector 6.
  • This switch activates a bridge or a platform that makes sector 3 accessible from sector 2.
  • Sector 2 has a red gem that lets keen exit the level in sector 6.
Due Date: May 21, 2013
Last edited by lemm on Fri Apr 12, 2013 1:34, edited 9 times in total.
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Post by Mink »

Sign me up! Sectors 1 and 5 please.
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Post by Roobar »

Wow! This is so cool idea I should learn to make levels with that editor! I want to reserve the 5-th segment of the first level then! I'll see if I could manage to deal with the editor and if it is still hard for me to get to use to it (it'll be my third attempt actually), I'll let you know shortly.
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Post by spikey »

This is all beyond me, but I briefly wanted to thank lemm for this idea, this is awesomesauce (or should I say neat?). Really great work, if this comes to final completion I will be really grateful, I love the Galaxy games, and 6 does not get enough kudos/attention.
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Post by Flyingmouse »

Eh, why not. I'll take sectors 6 and 8 if you don't mind.
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Post by Roobar »

But there's a whole tile of the tree missing in the editor.

Image

And since the foreground layer is reserved only for some specific tiles (for my surprise), this cannot be fixed otherwise except adding it in the bmp.
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Post by Herry Jerry »

Oh man, this seems like an awesome idea. I haven't really tried Galaxy levelling yet, so I don't know if I'll be any good at it, but this looks too interesting to not participate in. Sign me up for level 1, sector 2, please. (If I decide that I can do more than one sector, I can also reserve a sector in the other level later, right?)
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Post by Levack »

how are you going to put all of our levels together?

Do wa get to put in points?

This is a very good idea! :)
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Post by Roobar »

I'm almost done. Just need to fix some wrong tiles tomorrow. The area for editing is so small that we'll finish this within a week, not a month. :P But those guidelines are not quite well placed. Red rocks cannot tile with trees and between 5 and 6 there's a red soil slope, but you insist it's only red rock? Anyway...
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Post by Bubbatom »

I'll get working on sector 7 of bloog water crossing and Sector 2 of manufacturing if that's alright. I'll get onto these after school tonight.
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lemm
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Post by lemm »

wiivn wrote:I'm almost done. Just need to fix some wrong tiles tomorrow. The area for editing is so small that we'll finish this within a week, not a month. :P But those guidelines are not quite well placed. Red rocks cannot tile with trees and between 5 and 6 there's a red soil slope, but you insist it's only red rock? Anyway...
Oh crap I didn't even realize that there were two types of platform tops there Whoops :dopefish. Well anyways, use the Bloogwaters crossing tile tops.

I'll probably have to fix up the tiling anyway... if you want to move the tree a couple of tiles up or down you can go ahead.
how are you going to put all of our levels together?

Do wa get to put in points?
TOM has a feature that allows you to import levels from other gamemaps files. So I'm going to import each level from each gamemaps file into a spare level slot and copy paste each section into the real level slot.

Yeah you can put in points and vivas... just be reasonable with your point and item placement.
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Post by Levellass »

Well now this looks complex.


If there's ever anything left over when this is done I can be slotted in somewhere.
What you really need, not what you think you ought to want.
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Post by Levack »

wiivn wrote:
I'm almost done. Just need to fix some wrong tiles tomorrow. The area for editing is so small that we'll finish this within a week, not a month.

True, I did two sections in less then an hour.:)

oh...silly me I forgot that import thing on tom :dopefish

Do you mind if I just PM the GAMEMAPS and MAPHEAD to you in text?
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Post by lemm »

Levack wrote:wiivn wrote:
I'm almost done. Just need to fix some wrong tiles tomorrow. The area for editing is so small that we'll finish this within a week, not a month.

True, I did two sections in less then an hour.:)

oh...silly me I forgot that import thing on tom :dopefish

Do you mind if I just PM the GAMEMAPS and MAPHEAD to you in text?
Upload them in a zip to some filesharing site and PM me the link.\

Which segments did you do?
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Post by Levack »

4 & 6.

Did the pm work?
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