Atroxian Realm

You can discuss anything about fan-made Commander Keen games here.
User avatar
Levellass
S-Triazine
Posts: 5265
Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2008 6:40

Post by Levellass »

It's a custom Keen Dreams engine built from a Frankenstein's (monster) of code cobbled together by a mad programmer who may or may not be Tom Hall in disguise.
What you really need, not what you think you ought to want.
Gridlock
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 617
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2010 2:20

Post by Gridlock »

So, the bad news is that I won't have the mod done before heading back to college. The good news is that it's nearly there.

Right now I'm mostly just fixing minor details, looking for bugs, and making small level design improvements based on testing feedback.

Fleex has been awesome in playing through the entire game and dealing with all the changes constantly being made. To give you an idea of the scope of this mod, he's been playing on normal mode for around 8.5 hours, and he still has probably an hour or more to go. Some of that is due to him running into problems (that have since been fixed) and going back to replay a few things, but I think this is a pretty fair estimate for playtime.

Level design feedback has been mostly positive, although in some cases people found the levels to be overly large and confusing. I added a late touch with dynamic directional arrows in certain levels that change as you play the level, helping to guide you to the right place. Thanks to Fleex for an engine hack that allowed me to do this. Still, these levels are going to much more challenging than traditional Keen levels, and I know this style doesn't appeal to everyone. Sorry. I'm just doing my best to streamline the puzzles and design.

The biggest tasks that remain are getting one last set of sprites made and finishing the extensive story sequences. This game probably has at least as many story pages as all of Ceilick's TUIT games combined, and they're very tedious and tough to do. Fortunately, T-Squared has made some incredible art that really bring these to the next level.

Lemm's also done some amazing work in finishing the code and catering to my often extensive requests. In particular, the final boss has turned out amazing, though I don't want to spoil anything.

Given that this mod is so large, it means there's a lot of content to polish, and that takes time. There's still details that need testing and polish, and I just don't want to rush a release before it's ready. So, I just ask that you bear with me a little longer as I work around my college schedule and try to finish this within in the coming months.

While you wait, I thought I'd give you a little music preview of the help screen music (this is a .midi, so it'll sound different in the game because it'll be converted to the .imf format). This is a piece that I composed, mixing together various themes Gamebird wrote for the game.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/221 ... Screen.mid
Image
Armageddon Begins Again. The Alphamatic has arrived.

Atroxian Realm: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3536
The Alphamatic: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4086
User avatar
Levellass
S-Triazine
Posts: 5265
Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2008 6:40

Post by Levellass »

Nifty. So Fleex is the one to go to before dumping a bug-ridden mod upon the world. I shall keep this in mind.
What you really need, not what you think you ought to want.
User avatar
GalaxyEyesPhotonDragon
Vortininja
Posts: 131
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2015 22:09

Post by GalaxyEyesPhotonDragon »

Fudge... I was really hoping it'd be released soon.

Take as much time as you need though! I am eagerly waiting, as patiently as possible. This will be fantastic once released.

Of this, I am certain.
Gridlock
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 617
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2010 2:20

Post by Gridlock »

Just wanted to let everyone know that this is still going. I had basically no free time in the last few months to dedicate to this mod. Now that I have a few weeks of winter break, I'm hoping to wrap this up for good. This project has been sitting in the near-release rut for way too long.

Most of the remaining work is just a whole bunch of story screen related stuff. Things like finishing some story images, constantly rewriting and revising overlong dialogue scenes, tedious picture/text alignment, and trying to get the last story bits to come together. The story here (particularly the ending) has actually proven quite tricky since I bit off more than I can chew in terms of scope and complexity. Trying to wrap this thing up without any cliffhangers or loose ends is quite a challenge, and I may just have to leave some aspects unresolved. As much as I'd like to continue the story in a sequel, I don't think I'll be able to with real life demands in the coming years.

I'm sure there's a few other details like level design that'll also need another round of testing. There's just sooo much level design in this mod that it's easy to miss when things break. In fact, there's just so many details in general given the scope of this project that it's tough to keep track of everything over long periods of inactivity.

I'm sort of at that point where I'm just ready to move on. I really do appreciate the feedback and interest you all show, as it helps motivate me to make progress. At this point, I feel like I need a little motivation boost.

Also a big thanks to bubbatom for helping with some last sprites and T-Squared for all the crazy amounts of story screen work. I greatly appreciate the help.
Image
Armageddon Begins Again. The Alphamatic has arrived.

Atroxian Realm: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3536
The Alphamatic: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4086
User avatar
Roobar
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 3267
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 16:12
Contact:

Post by Roobar »

Motivation? Just do it men.

Image
User avatar
KeenRush
Android Dummy
Posts: 2560
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 20:57
Location: KEEN1.EXE
Contact:

Post by KeenRush »

Think of the sweetness of having completed a complicated and long project like this! Not much left to do. We're eager to see the completed work!
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
User avatar
Syllypryde
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 1025
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2009 18:33
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Post by Syllypryde »

Gridlock wrote:Just wanted to let everyone know that this is still going. I had basically no free time in the last few months to dedicate to this mod. Now that I have a few weeks of winter break, I'm hoping to wrap this up for good. This project has been sitting in the near-release rut for way too long......
Now with the advanced engine will you need any more playtesting done? Most of the errors I found you already knew about. One particular error I reported was a trick rather then an error. I am really looking forward to this, even though I have played the mod in most of its entirety.
.niarb ym fo
snoitulovnoc eht tuaba
selbbarcs ssensuoicsnoc
rehgih a ekil smees
User avatar
szemi
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 1722
Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2009 15:19
Location: Hungary
Contact:

Post by szemi »

When will that advanced engine be released?
Yeah, piece of cake!
User avatar
Levellass
S-Triazine
Posts: 5265
Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2008 6:40

Post by Levellass »

*Vibrates intensely*
What you really need, not what you think you ought to want.
User avatar
{DARKDUNE}
Vortininja
Posts: 53
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2015 13:00
Location: Germany

Post by {DARKDUNE} »

dunno if it has yet been acknowledged or fixed, in the 3-level-demo there is a typo in the comp wrist menu, it sais ''generaors''. :dopefish
Netkeen TUIT coming up
Gridlock
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 617
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2010 2:20

Post by Gridlock »

There has been some progress in the last few days. I'm pretty close to having all the story screens fully laid out, though several large images still need to be made for them. Also, level revisions are practically complete. There are a few minor code and sprite problems still to sort out, but hopefully those won't take long.
in the 3-level-demo there is a typo in the comp wrist menu, it sais ''generaors
This has been fixed, but thanks for the notice.
When will that advanced engine be released?
Presumably once the game is out lemm could release the source files and anything else he might want to. I'll leave that up to him.
Now with the advanced engine will you need any more playtesting done? Most of the errors I found you already knew about. One particular error I reported was a trick rather then an error. I am really looking forward to this, even though I have played the mod in most of its entirety.
I will probably take you up on this offer, though there's a problem with code regression that I'm waiting to be fixed before I send out any betas.
Image
Armageddon Begins Again. The Alphamatic has arrived.

Atroxian Realm: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3536
The Alphamatic: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4086
Gridlock
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 617
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2010 2:20

Post by Gridlock »

I've started uploading a few parts of the soundtrack to Youtube. Most of this is stuff you've heard from the demos, but I also included the help screen theme as a bonus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiUwZfR ... ridlock314

I'll never make promises in case something goes wrong, but I think a release could be very close. Just one more bug to iron out before beta testing starts, and then all that remains is several story images.
Image
Armageddon Begins Again. The Alphamatic has arrived.

Atroxian Realm: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3536
The Alphamatic: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4086
User avatar
Nisaba
Janitress
Posts: 1597
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2016 23:34
Location: The Outpost
Contact:

Post by Nisaba »

I'm really curious to see your release. The OST is such a tease, it makes me totally impatient. An outstanding piece of work ...
User avatar
{DARKDUNE}
Vortininja
Posts: 53
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2015 13:00
Location: Germany

Post by {DARKDUNE} »

looking forward to the final boss
Netkeen TUIT coming up
Post Reply