Commander Keen 64: Pogo Demo

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Lava89
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Commander Keen 64: Pogo Demo

Post by Lava89 »

I have now released the Pogo add-on to the Keen 64 Demo.

The goal of the Commander Keen 64 project is to eventually recreate Commander Keen: Marooned on Mars in full 3D while retaining a low-poly N64-esque style. And in

The story of this demo is set as a prequel the original Commander Keen adventure, before the ship parts get stolen. Which explains the lack of vorticons. However Keen does stumble upon two martian cities, one of which has a pogo.

I'd like to thank the community for giving me feedback and always supporting this project. And again I'd like to thank ZidaneA for providing the music for this game.

Improvements from Last Version:

Ability to Pogo (obviously)
Remodeled items (thanks DaVince for bringing this up!)
Easier item grabbing (thanks MrBlack for the suggestion!)
New "Pogo" level
Improved falling
Better camera following Classic control scheme
Gamepad support on menu (thanks Iv4n for the advice!)
Better platform collision ( thanks Mink!)
Added crosshairs (thanks again MrBlack!)

This version of the demo now features 2 versions. The first, called Keen64Demo_Pogo.exe, has the menu in-tact. The second called K64DP_Alt.exe and K64DP_Alt_Menu.exe, has the menu separate; that is so one can just select a control scheme but play the game separately. This will hopefully fix an issue some had who could not get the menu working in the last release.

So it would be advised to try Keen64Demo_Pogo.exe first. If that has problems use K64DP_Alt_menu.exe to select your scheme and then use K64DP_Alt.exe to play the game by itself.

Lastly, the details on how to use the gameplay controls are contained in-game, but please read the README on how to use some of the non-game controls, like volume.

Have fun!

DOWNLOAD

Screenshots
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Previous PCKF topics:
Release of Commander Keen 64 Demo
Main PCKF Commander Keen 64 Thread
Release of Keen 64 "Gameplay" demo (or Keen 64: Gamma)
Old PCKF Commander Keen 64 Thread
Release of Keen 64 Beta
Last edited by Lava89 on Mon Apr 24, 2017 4:11, edited 3 times in total.
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Deltamatic
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Post by Deltamatic »

When it's done, will Keen lose the pogo stick, thus explaining why he doesn't still have it at the beginning of Marooned on Mars?
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Post by Ceilick »

:drool

This rocks, awesome job, lava. The pogo took some getting used to, I was surprised by how bouncy it was, but i think the physics there are excellent. In fact, just about everything about this demo is amazing. Nice work on all the improvements mentioned, i could tell the difference on most of them just from memory.

Couple of things for the next demo (or final release, whatever comes first :dopekeen)
-being able to pull out the pogo stick in mid air. Falling to the floor, i wanted to have my pogo out when i landed after i had already turned it off, couldn't do this.
-Yorp stomping. Mostly just looking forward to jumping on a yorp's head and seeing it cry ;)
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Post by Mink »

Wow, excellent work. This really has come a long way since the last demo, and I'm glad to finally be able to use the pogo stick. The pogo physics feel really good.

Aside from what Ceilick mentioned, I noticed that when Keen shoots while pogoing, the pogo isn't toggled off. He just keeps pogoing.

Nice job!
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Post by Commander Spleen »

Hmm. What were you using to make this again? Wine doesn't like it at all. Gives me a Memory Access Violation and then just crashes out (followed by another Memory Access Violation). Don't have a Windows machine to test it on at the moment.
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Post by Roobar »

Now it's much better! And more keenish :). The pogo is very well implemented. And I like very much how easy it is now to collect candy. I may write some suggestions for the controls later.
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Post by KeenRush »

This is going to be the best fan game, no doubt about it. Garging awesome job! :drool This is a true improvement -- in this I could move fast and had no problem to guide the character, like in a well-designed 3D platformed (which this is). And the pogoing, never expected it to work out so great, it's cool! Love the way the pogo level had that secret area done. Also, it was great how the gargs charged the player. And all the details -- done signs, floating and circling SGA signs... The collectiables really look good. The PC speaker sounds work damn well, too -- and the music's rockin'. Waiting for the next release... :drool

(By the way, how do you make levels? A self-made level editor or some modelling program?)
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
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Post by tulip »

Very cool. I like it a lot. I don't know how you guys found a Yorp and got to shoot in this demo, though.
Image You crack me up little buddy!
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Lava89
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Post by Lava89 »

First I want to thank all of you who have played it and also to those who played it and gave feedback.
Deltamatic wrote:When it's done, will Keen lose the pogo stick, thus explaining why he doesn't still have it at the beginning of Marooned on Mars?
Well I don't think full game will mention the prequel pogo stick, but yes the pogo does get lost, in fact it is mentioned in the readme and even somewhat referenced in the pogo demo itself.
Ceilick wrote::drool

This rocks, awesome job, lava. The pogo took some getting used to, I was surprised by how bouncy it was, but i think the physics there are excellent. In fact, just about everything about this demo is amazing. Nice work on all the improvements mentioned, i could tell the difference on most of them just from memory.

Couple of things for the next demo (or final release, whatever comes first :dopekeen)
-being able to pull out the pogo stick in mid air. Falling to the floor, i wanted to have my pogo out when i landed after i had already turned it off, couldn't do this.
-Yorp stomping. Mostly just looking forward to jumping on a yorp's head and seeing it cry ;)
Thank you so much!!

Ok, those sound like good improvements, I will try to incorporate both Yorp pogo conking and pulling out the pogo in mid-air.

And yeah, I think the full game will be the next major release, which excludes maybe minor patching of the pogo demo-- say someone can't get it to run or if there's a major problem that someone discovers.
Mink wrote:Wow, excellent work. This really has come a long way since the last demo, and I'm glad to finally be able to use the pogo stick. The pogo physics feel really good.

Aside from what Ceilick mentioned, I noticed that when Keen shoots while pogoing, the pogo isn't toggled off. He just keeps pogoing.

Nice job!
Thanks!

That's true, Keen does put his pogo away when he fires, so I will include that.
Commander Spleen wrote:Hmm. What were you using to make this again? Wine doesn't like it at all. Gives me a Memory Access Violation and then just crashes out (followed by another Memory Access Violation). Don't have a Windows machine to test it on at the moment.
Hmm, sorry you couldn't get it to work. Are you sure you unzipped it completely? Because usually a memory access violation means that it's either not reading the files right or there was a mishap in my coding (say you tell it to move an object that's not there). And by the fact that others are able to get it to work I know my coding works.

But maybe it's something else...did the other demos work? And did you try both the Alt. version and main version of the game?
wiivn wrote:Now it's much better! And more keenish :). The pogo is very well implemented. And I like very much how easy it is now to collect candy. I may write some suggestions for the controls later.
Oh ok, thanks! I will look forward to your suggestions.
KeenRush wrote:This is going to be the best fan game, no doubt about it. Garging awesome job! :drool This is a true improvement -- in this I could move fast and had no problem to guide the character, like in a well-designed 3D platformed (which this is). And the pogoing, never expected it to work out so great, it's cool! Love the way the pogo level had that secret area done. Also, it was great how the gargs charged the player. And all the details -- done signs, floating and circling SGA signs... The collectiables really look good. The PC speaker sounds work damn well, too -- and the music's rockin'. Waiting for the next release... :drool

(By the way, how do you make levels? A self-made level editor or some modelling program?)
Wow...thank you so much!!!

But I can't absorb all of the thanks-- ZidaneA deserves alot of credit, since he provided the music. Along with LevelLord who ripped the sound effects.

For both of those levels I made them in an editor called Maplet and then manually put in the objects. Even though I didn't want to make any new levels if I had to plug in each coordinate I thought it wouldn't be hard for the pogo demo since there weren't many items in those small Keen 1 levels to begin with.
tulip wrote:Very cool. I like it a lot. I don't know how you guys found a Yorp and got to shoot in this demo, though.
Thanks!

Hmm, well if you get ammo and restart the level by dying you can shoot the yorp because he'll respawn when you restart the level.
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Post by Levellass »

-Yorp stomping. Mostly just looking forward to jumping on a yorp's head and seeing it cry Wink
This explains those oh-so-annoying lava falls. It's a question of attitude.


I like this, it's the first fangame I've ever encountered, and it's good one!
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Mitsukara
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Post by Mitsukara »

I just tried this out, and I've got to say it's looking awesome! I'm very excited about the idea of seeing a full game like this!

There were a couple points I thought of while playing it:

:dead2
I died a whole lot in the main level. It's nice to have some tricky platforming jumps in 3D, but a little bit of railing on some of the stages (especially earlier/easier ones) would be nice; Keen has never been quite as known for falling to his untimely demise as certain video game characters :p Plus it makes me a little scared to play with the pogo stick, because I feel like I might fall and die if I don't watch myself really carefully. That said, in a safe room like where you get it, the pogo itself works fantastic! (But is there any way to get up to that secret area above?)

Running around the map is neat, but at first I thought I was playing the normal game and trying to figure out why I couldn't jump. If it's hard to do something like this it's no biggie the way it is, but it might be cool if there were slightly more distinction between the two- could the camera go overhead for the map maybe, or zoom out more?

I also had a little bit of trouble finding my way into the main level. It seems you have to stand in just the right spot on the edge of the city to enter it. Maybe a wider range of places you can enter from, or some kind of marked, visible entryway? The pogo room was easy enough to find my way into thanks to the doorway.

One very minor odd glitch I found- when I got game over, if I pushed the arrow keys I heard walking noises! Doesn't really affect gameplay though, just an odd bit.

The music is nice, and I think I recognize these remixes. Unfortunately, I've only been able to find a few Keen remixes out there at all- do you have plans for what you'll do about music in the rest of the game, or are you planning to mostly stick to the ones you have right now?

I notice Keen is wearing his wrist-o-matic. I know you're going for Keen 1, but is there any chance of it being used for something like menus or anything like that?

The graphics are lovely and the Gargs are perfect! There's only one thing I find myself torn about: should Keen have fleshy skin or white skin? Flesh makes more sense and seems more in line with the advanced 3D graphics, and it was somewhat official that Keen had normal skin- the old wristomatic menus and box art showed it. Then again, even the old title cards had him with white skin, and I tend to think of Keen as really having skin like that for some reason. Is there any way to make some kind of option or secret that switches it? :helmet

Also, if it can't be done it's okay, but is there any chance of having customizable control settings? The built in ones don't lend themselves to different styles of gamepad much... although, there's a super duper handy program that can work as-is called "Joy To Key" that lets you use a gamepad and make it act as if it's pushing keyboard buttons, so I could pick out custom buttons for my gamepad just using the classic control scheme as-is.

My point is: This is awesome and exciting and I love it and I hope you see it through! Congratulations on awesomeness!
:eek :rollin :)

I hope my analysis/questions aren't rude though :o
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Post by Roobar »

I think my suggestions are simple. As controller is my primary way for playing such games, so I strongly suggest you to make use of the right analog stick for rotating the camera + the ability to change buttons. That's all I want. And there are some minor things you may fix, like the fact that you cannot use the gamepad to access the menu and it doesn't work in all menus.
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Post by Lava89 »

Levellass wrote:I like this, it's the first fangame I've ever encountered, and it's good one!
Thank you! I'm glad you like it! :)
Mitsukara wrote:I just tried this out, and I've got to say it's looking awesome! I'm very excited about the idea of seeing a full game like this!

There were a couple points I thought of while playing it:
Thanks for the feedback! I like how you asked questions and gave advice. And you're feedback wasn't rude at all! In fact it was very helpful, I appreciate that you've taken the time to write an informative post about my game.

Sorry about all of the endless pits, I admit that first level was poorly designed in that way, I should've had more ground in it. But the Pogo level reflects how more of the full game's levels will be with more ground. And yes! You can get to the secret area in the level, generally you have to stand on the very edge and move Keen forward as your pogo bounces on the edge so he won't hit the ceiling as he bounces up.

A zoomed out map is something to consider. And I think in the full game I might have an icon show up if you're close enough to the city to enter it. But yeah, maybe some kind of ground underneath it to indicate the field where you can enter.

Thanks for pointing out the glitch!! I'll be sure to fix that.

I'm not sure about the music. I could stick to those tracks, try my hand at some, or I could ask ZidaneA if he wants to do more.

Hmm, I never thought about the wristwatch really. I don't think I'd make the menu look like the Keen 4 menu because I want to keep the spirit of the classic menu style, but maybe I could make it so if you pause he looks at his watch as if he's operating the menus. So thanks for mentioning it.

Thanks for the graphics compliment! White skin Keen? You're not the first to ask for one, and I am open to it. Maybe he could be unlocked (like gray skin hulk), or you could choose one or the other from the get go. Just like I have been considering having Mortimer as an unlockable character.

For the customizable controls, I think I'll make it so you can choose what main scheme you want, and then it'll ask you something like "Press a key for JUMP", "Press the key you want to pogo with.." etc.
wiivn wrote:I think my suggestions are simple. As controller is my primary way for playing such games, so I strongly suggest you to make use of the right analog stick for rotating the camera + the ability to change buttons. That's all I want. And there are some minor things you may fix, like the fact that you cannot use the gamepad to access the menu and it doesn't work in all menus.
Thanks! Your suggestions sounds good. I'll add camera control in the right analog stick. But I think I will go back to some console games I have and see if I can improve the gamepad controls.

For the menus, I'll add the ESC and help menus on the gamepad. For the main menu, I'll add the ability to choose "quit" or "start" and then of course able to choose your buttons.
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:garg :garg :garg :garg :garg
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Post by Lava89 »

Thanks Mortimer!

Ok, which version seemed more bouncy to you? The mouse \ keyboard controls or just keyboard controls?
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