InsaLevs - collective Keen1 minimalism level pack

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KeenRush
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InsaLevs - collective Keen1 minimalism level pack

Post by KeenRush »

To learn more about what this level pack is all about, see the actual topic: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4019
Here is the finished product.

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INSALEVS
Download here: http://keenrush.shikadi.net/insalevs.zip
Simply extract into a new folder and run play.bat in DosBox or whatever you're using.
Thanks for the levels, people. Have fun. :dopekeen

If you make playthrough videos, link 'em up. Would be interesting to see.
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Re: InsaLevs - collective Keen1 minimalism level pack

Post by ComissionerDeWitt »

No route found error for the link....
Last edited by ComissionerDeWitt on Wed May 10, 2017 18:25, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: InsaLevs - collective Keen1 minimalism level pack

Post by KeenRush »

Seemingly link didn't go out of this site because I forgot http. Fixed now.

By the way, don't quote whole posts unless there's some specific reason for that. It just looks annoying.
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Re: InsaLevs - collective Keen1 minimalism level pack

Post by ComissionerDeWitt »

KeenRush wrote: Wed May 10, 2017 18:03 Seemingly link didn't go out of this site because I forgot http. Fixed now.

By the way, don't quote whole posts unless there's some specific reason for that. It just looks annoying.
Okay, thanks
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Roobar
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Re: InsaLevs - collective Keen1 minimalism level pack

Post by Roobar »

OK my playthrough with 0 deths! :crazy

https://youtu.be/DY9gxyWVawA

But srsly, watch it only if you want to watch gazillion fails. :dead I recorded it only because you said you would be interested in playthrough. :crazy

I want to thank all the people who's levels I pass. You've made good levels! (well, except that enormous labyrinth!). For the others: cool levels, but I didn't have the nerves to make through your levels. You really need to be too good at this game to pass through. Obviously I suck at keen 1 and I've explored your levels with GOD mode later.
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Re: InsaLevs - collective Keen1 minimalism level pack

Post by Quillax »

Yay, it's here! I tried out all of the levels, beaten them (except for Gridlock's level, it's not really bad, in fact, I really liked it, I just find it to be a bit too long and when I died as I was very close to the teleporter, I didn't feel like going through all of it again), and I think they're all very interesting! ;) It's a bit hard to pick a favorite, considering that I like all of them, but I think I enjoyed Roobar's level the most. I like the length and difficultly of it. I also enjoyed Levellass' level a lot too, the lack of hazards made it feel like a nice change of pace.

By the way, congratulations shikadi, for being the winner of this competition! This competition made me look forward to possibly participating in any possible future community levelpacks.
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Re: InsaLevs - collective Keen1 minimalism level pack

Post by shikadi »

So, i tried completing the levelpack and completed all but three of them (but used some god mode here and there because of a lack of patience)
also i made a video of all my attemps. Not exactly death-free

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9g7HD3 ... l3&index=5 - Uploaded every level in a seperate video, but some still need some time to get uploaded. All are my first tries before i knew the level.

When i look at how roobar played my level, i see that i always assume people can pogo from a running start (i always pogo that way), which makes my levels pretty much impossible if you can't do that properly, sorry. (now i hope my last mod, which wasn't supposed to be hard at all, is not to difficulty seeing i did not pay attention to that.)
nothing usefull here
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Re: InsaLevs - collective Keen1 minimalism level pack

Post by troublesomekeen »

I need some help figuring how who made which level.
:stoopid

Playthrough (incomplete):
https://youtu.be/i6UyWftsJOY - Part 1
https://youtu.be/Op2ubRM6uGs - Part 2
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Re: InsaLevs - collective Keen1 minimalism level pack

Post by Fleexy »

The list of who made which level can be found in readme.txt. For example, I made #6.

This level seems super unfair but is actually a big puzzle, requiring neither trial-and-error nor awesome reflexes, but rather investigation. For example, the two fires beneath the symbol to the left of the start warn about the fire on that side of the blind drop under that same symbol on the right. Basically, this was an experiment with a new kind of level for me - judging by what I've seen so far, I probably won't repeat it. I had a good time making it, though!

I've played through about half the pack so far and have put each level I played up as a video in a playlist. Index, with quick thoughts so far:
  • Quinton - nice classic feel
  • Commander Spleen - intricate yet elegant, almost psychedelic
  • Paquo Castor - wonderful for exploration, makes me want to play again and pick a different path!
  • shikadi - clear attention to fairness, and the multiple paths are neat
  • KeenRush - a distinct, creative format of decor
  • Fleexy - video includes developer commentary
  • proYorp - unattached use of fire tiles adds an appropriate amount of extra challenge
  • Roobar - the fire as a kind of lifeblood for the level adds a unified theme
  • Gridlock - I'm not quite finished with this level yet, but I appreciate the design, and especially considering my own level, I feel a bit silly for not getting it sooner :dopekeen
I will update y'all once I record the rest.

Thanks to everyone for contributing, and especially KeenRush for coordinating!
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Re: InsaLevs - collective Keen1 minimalism level pack

Post by KeenRush »

I knew right away that I was looking at something encoded in the Fleex level but I was too dopefish to decipher the symbols. Eventually I learned - by chance - how to play it the right way, without needing to do accurate jumps, etc. :dopekeen It was already one of my favourite levels - it has a great flow for speedrunning - but now when I hear all that stuff my appreciation for it just went through the roof. Pretty amazing. I love the idea that if you can't have door and key, make a part of the level provide information that one needs to progress. Seems like an obvious idea if you just get it - which I never did. :o Generally, my eyes were pretty closed before this pack. I'm rebuilding my level making from the scratch, almost. This pack really packs a punch. :bloody
Oh, and Fleex, did you know that one can do that jump in the bottom right by pogoing from the tile at the bottom, instead of using the fifth platform or whatever? (It was the first thing that occurred me to try.) Pretty cool that both approaches work, no matter if the pogo one was unintentional.
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Re: InsaLevs - collective Keen1 minimalism level pack

Post by proYorp »

:birthday Congratulations, shikadi!

I spent all my Keening time today playing this. Wow, what a levelpack. I can see exactly what KeenRush was going for with this. With just a bare minimum of tiles to work with, no points and no fancy puzzles, each person's unique designs really shine through.

I did not record a playthrough, but I can give detailed comments of my thoughts on the levels.

*SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS*
Quinton's: This level was short but sweet, and I liked the little "puzzle" of the arrows. Right at the beginning you know you're supposed to go up, but there's no way yet to do it (I actually tried to jump on the arrow a couple times).

Commander Spleen's: A very artistic use of the tiles to make an assortment of fascinating designs. I enjoyed wandering around, seeing all the cool patterns and shapes. (And by the way, I suspected that screenshot was foreshadowing some new mod.)

Paquo Castor's: Multiple paths with a variety of challenges, all eventually leading up to the exit. I like the amount of choices the player is given. I actually ended up getting lost a few times.

shikadi's: Intriguing architecture, and exceptionally hard (no wonder it won). My favorite part of this level is the exploration aspect. Some of my fails (of which there were a lot) ended up in me finding a new place, some of which I discovered could be used as shortcuts to circumvent harder areas.

KeenRush's: One thing I notice about this level is the environment. Detailed and curious designs make it feel like a new alien world, despite the lack of any new graphics. The structures at the end reminded me of the ruined city from Atroxian Realm.

Fleexy's: An air of mystery surrounded this entire level. There were all these signs and symbols, and I had no idea what they were. Some seemed to have clues to cryptically explain their meaning, like those chain things first being shown next to increasing amounts of fire. I thought it meant they would represent how much fire was in an area, but then after that they weren't near any fire. It was like exploring ancient ruins (complete with trap rooms with no escape but death).
Edit after watching developer commentary: Good gravy, this goes way deeper than I even thought. :eek Binary? I would never have guessed. Now that I actually know how to play it I kind of want to see another level like this, to try to solve it as intended. (I said try. :dopefish)

My level: When I first read the specifications for the levelpack, I instantly thought of the Chip's Challenge level "Brushfire" (I see you caught on to that, troublesomekeen). The design of my level ("K-Rushfire", if you will :dopekeen) is heavily inspired by it. I knew many Keeners aren't fans of "Nintendo hard", so I tried to match the difficulty of the original Keen1, with emphasis on exploration rather than death traps and precision jumps. (I now realize this decision probably all but eliminated my chances of winning a competition overseen by KeenRush. Not that I care anyway. It was super fun to make. :D)

Roobar's: A good mix of level length and difficulty, tricky but short. Sometimes easier than it looks, with flames being just out of reach.

Gridlock's: Even with minimalistic limitations, Gridlock still manages to find some sneaky new twist to add (and a very sneaky trick it is. This was the very last level I won, it was so hard). It is introduced very smoothly, first being used as a sort of puzzle before things really get intense.

Nisaba's: A maze like many of these levels, but with an original, intricate, and beautiful design. A couple of times I reached the exit, but wanted to keep exploring the level.

Grimson's: I don't think you need any lessons in unforgiving level design, Grimson. I'm talking about that jump at the very top, which requires absolute accuracy or the player falls back to the very start (rubbing it in as they fall past the exit). But I found the rest of the jump puzzles to be quite fun.

Levellass': Evidently I don't know how to properly use this "follow the right wall" trick. Tried to do that in my first attempt at this level, 40 minutes later ended up right back where I started. Next time I just used whatever sense of direction I have, and with the help of some memory of my earlier exploration, found the exit in less than 10 minutes.
I didn't by any means think this level was poorly designed. I frequently found myself admiring how it was structured. (Back in the day, I would design mazes all the time in Excel.) No two paths are alike, so it's possible to get some sense of where you are.

troublesomekeen's: By the time I played this I'd already read the list of who made each level, so I was a bit confused when I entered and saw giant flaming letters that said "LEMM". Further exploration revealed more letters saying "FLEEX", "LASS", and "RUSH". Mysterious and intriguing. Still doesn't make sense to me, but for some reason I found this to be very cool.


All in all, a very Keen levelpack. So many of these ideas I would never have thought of. Really such variety between levels. This was a brilliant idea, KeenRush. Brilliant levels, everyone.
*Applauds*
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Re: InsaLevs - collective Keen1 minimalism level pack

Post by Grimson »

shikadi wrote: Wed May 10, 2017 21:52When i look at how roobar played my level, i see that i always assume people can pogo from a running start (i always pogo that way), which makes my levels pretty much impossible if you can't do that properly, sorry. (now i hope my last mod, which wasn't supposed to be hard at all, is not to difficulty seeing i did not pay attention to that.)
That was kinda my assumption as well. I didn't think those parts, where you have to pogo from a lone floating block to another block that's 3 tiles above you, would be too hard. I always manage to perform the necessary jumps by first gaining a bit of horizontal momentum and then making a the pogo jump (similar to Galaxy's "impossible pogo" trick) - and I consider myself to be a mediocre Vorticons player at best (I'm better with Galaxy physics). For example I intentionally wanted to avoid parts that require you to perform what I consider to be very advanced tricks (that I've seen a lot in previous Vorticons mods), like the one where you allow Keen to fall slightly from a tile's edge before jumping - if timed perfectly, Keen jumps from the air, in an arc much lower than otherwise possible.

I'll have to take this into consideration when making future levels. It's cool to see how people play your levels, how you as a level-maker can learn from it :)
Grimson's: I don't think you need any lessons in unforgiving level design, Grimson. I'm talking about that jump at the very top, which requires absolute accuracy or the player falls back to the very start (rubbing it in as they fall past the exit). But I found the rest of the jump puzzles to be quite fun.
Hahaha, my plan worked perfectly then :mortlol Seriously though, I designed that part where you can fall down back to the start not as a mockery, but as a safe way to start over again if you fail the jump - granted it doesn't have much value in this level pack since Keen has infinite lives :crazy I admit I made some parts require too precise movements/jumping. In retrospect I may have made the level too challenging (though I swear it is beatable!)
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Re: InsaLevs - collective Keen1 minimalism level pack

Post by Fleexy »

Just finished playing through the pack. Great times!
  • Gridlock - I'm a :dopefish
  • Nisaba - nice use of space, intriguing maze-like aspect, do the symbols/letters in the walls signify anything?
  • Grimson - a little on the trickier side when it comes to jumping, but I enjoyed the challenge!
  • Levellass - nice to relax in a hazardless maze after the precision-jump levels
  • troublesomekeen - the jump down the left side is epic!
KeenRush wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 6:22Oh, and Fleex, did you know that one can do that jump in the bottom right by pogoing from the tile at the bottom, instead of using the fifth platform or whatever? (It was the first thing that occurred me to try.) Pretty cool that both approaches work, no matter if the pogo one was unintentional.
Ah, I had not intended that. I tested all the simple falls to make sure only the right one worked, but I forgot about pogo. Oh well, I think it's good that blind luck sometimes gets you lucky. :)
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Re: InsaLevs - collective Keen1 minimalism level pack

Post by NY00123 »

I shall try this sometime soon, sure there'll be some fun (albeit I guess certain parts may be a bit frustrating, heh).

Funnily enough, I considered building a level for this, but for some reason postponed it more than once... and then when only ~one day was left I decided to scrap it and not even start, heh. I haven't really made a lot of levels anyway.

Again, I should check this pack.
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Re: InsaLevs - collective Keen1 minimalism level pack

Post by proYorp »

So was my trying to remind everyone about the imminent deadline utterly pointless? :-b

There was talk about doing a second round... does anyone have the time and ability to direct it, and is planning to do so, or was it just talk? Maybe in a few months?
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