Best Fangame Engine

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KeenRush
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Post by KeenRush »

Whoaly garg, a whole community of them!! :eek I had no idea! They have cool, different emotikeens too! And yeah, a logo! :dopekeen I'll have to browse through that forum one day soon...
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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Roobar
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Post by Roobar »

As I promised, I've uploaded Keen: Next v0.3. I've also included the level editor, though I think it was released just for showing how it works, not for making and playing levels. As for the source code, I think Z-1 was released it at some point, but now, while I'm browsing my old files, I didn't find it. Sorry.

So here's the link: http://www.savefile.com/files/1753192
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Post by K1n9_Duk3 »

Thanks for uploading it. I haven't been able to run the game itself (needs allegro dlls) but that should be easy to find.

As for the source, q 90 has already posted a link and I was able to download the source.

Edit: WOW! This really is quite amazing. It's got all the classic Keen movement stuff like grabbing onto edged, climbing poles and impossible pogo trick. :drool
Means I've still got LOTS of work to do on our engine in order to make it the best Keen fangame engine ever... :dead
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Post by memsys »

well i've been thinking about making an open platform engine like a mix between mmf and say keen next thus creating a free powerful yet user friendly program

sadly i have no programming skills :(
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Post by KeenRush »

I don't think any more engines are needed, they're all useless if nobody uses them for any real projects because creating graphics is so difficult and tiring. Who wants to see something test tiles and a square and a circle as enemies? Somebody should rather design a tool for easier creation of graphics, perhaps part of an engine, in case it uses something other than bitmaps, and it might be the best not to use bitmaps for such a thing.
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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Post by memsys »

well i was thinking about something for that but i have to go not i'll post it later
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Post by KeenRush »

Also to say, I wasn't criticizing your attempt at a new engine, go nuts, but I was speaking generally that something system for easier graphics would be a very good thing. I have some ideas but obviously no skills (and not much personal interest either) to make any such. :)
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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K1n9_Duk3
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Post by K1n9_Duk3 »

So you's like some program that uses simple textures and produces the pseudo-3D-tilesets that Keen 3.5-6 are using just by puttin them on an appropriate wireframe and then rendering the stuff or did I get you wrong?
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Post by Genius314 »

I don't think graphics are the problem. If someone provides a solid, well-made engine, I would gladly make graphics for it. Nothing's been completed, though.

I wouldn't know how a system for making graphics would work, anyway.
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Post by Commander Spleen »

I know exactly how it would work. The interface would as take Paint's basic functionality, and add support for keybindings, layers, antialiasing, animation frames and a modular palette.

Hmm... perhaps I should create a design document for that, since there's a fairly solid outline in my head of how everything would work.

KolourPaint in KDE under Linux is as close as I've seen to such a vision, but of course it's as far from cross platform as any Windows program. Everything else that tries to "be Paint" goes too far into photo manipulation territory, rather than supporting us pixel artists.
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Post by Allstories »

Check out Cosmigo ProMotion. It's what I use, and it seems to be the consensual pixeling program of choice among pixel artists.
Last edited by Allstories on Fri Aug 29, 2008 14:11, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by KeenRush »

Genius314 wrote:I don't think graphics are the problem. If someone provides a solid, well-made engine, I would gladly make graphics for it. Nothing's been completed, though.
Sorry, I don't buy that. :) It's so much work I doubt you'd have the motivation to make hundreds of sprites and then the tiles and all the others. Especially if they're needing to be in bigger resolution and with more colours than the ones in Keen 4-6, for example. I think it really is a problem, the graphics.

The system I have in mind: some piece of code that can draw stuff according to data given to it. That piece of code used in both the graphic editor where the graphics are manufactured, and in the actual engine. This system essentially vector graphics, so stuff can be shown in any size. But somehow extremely simple and easy to use. Haven't figured how that'd be possible, though. :crazy
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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Post by memsys »

i don't think that the graphics are the biggest problem
i think that the engine is the biggest problem because you need to write your own engine or use multimedia fusion and to make a quality game is hard [note that is the reason my fangame died]
IF there was a program that is a mix of a simple yet powerful level editor and multimedia fusion you end up with a powerful yet user friendly game creator that everyone can use

i said that i'd post more about my idea so here it goes

name : open platform creator - nice and simple
atleast be able to create 2d and isometric 2d games [like keen 4-6]
multiple layers : background - environment - collision&sprite - foreground - hud
multiple same layers types to be able to create parallax scrolling
grid system with grid paint tools
trigger or counter system to trigger level exit and stuff
able to save as a standalone game that can still be edited
possible build in image editor for sprites and tiles
plugin engine
multiple physics styles [keen duke and stuff]
suport for ledge grabbing , bars ect ect
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Post by K1n9_Duk3 »

Just in case you're still interested in seeing my engine at work: I've hacked some quick multi-language support into the engine so that you won't have to mess around with german menus and stuff.

Link

By the way: I think that some of the key labels used in the game might not be correct when using any onter keyboard layout than the German one. So if you find errors like "Ö" should be ":" and so on, please let me know so that I can fix them.

A word on the MapEditor: This part of the program doesn't use the multi-language stuff yet, so all labels and messages will be in German. And you won't be able to choose a file name when saving, so if you create a new Level, it will be saved as ".ckm"
Use F2-F5 to choose a layer to edit. F2 is background, F3 is main layer, F4 is foreground layer and F5 is objects layer. Press F9 to edit the level's properties. Pressing ESC will save & exit.
Just use the mouse to draw a map. And make sure to draw all the parts that you want to be blocking in the main layer (F3), or you'll just fall straight out of the game. Literally.

EDIT: removed the link. It doesn't work anymore, anyway..
Last edited by K1n9_Duk3 on Fri Jul 03, 2009 17:11, edited 1 time in total.
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Roobar
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Post by Roobar »

Woah! Very well done! The engine so far looks very polished and keenish :). Smooth scrolling, edge grabbing, pogo jumping, up and down look - excellent work. Though I didn't manage to make a super pogo jump. Maybe it's not implemented yet. The movement is a little bit too fast though, but maybe it's for keens sake.

You may add continuing jumping after holding the jump button. You see, as it is now, if you press the jump button and hold it, Keen will jump only once, which in the original Keen is not the case. No problems with the keys.

I also like the menus and the paddle war. I applause the decision that you've decided to use the original gui, but with new additions. Is it me or the screen on the watch is wider now? Also it's good that the game supports 32 bit graphics and variety of screen resolutions, even for wide monitors.

What I dislike is the welcoming screen. Especially the purple-pink background. It doesn't look right. Hopefully you'll change it in future versions. Also a note for the destroyable bricks. Maybe you should add some more depth and shadows.

I wasn't able to open the editor though. It displays me a message for a missing exe file.

Overall you've done a great work so far! Looking forward for more updates :).
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