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Spleen's Land
Of Keen
Current Projects
Monky Business (Ep. 1)
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Since the screenshots are growing in number, I decided I should archived
them to save everyone from wading through six thousand images to get to the
four they want.
Enjoy,
>Commander Spleen
Archived Information
Commander Keen: Monky Business
Episode 1: An Essence of Mayhem
Screenshots:
Added August 21
Added August 22
Added August 25
Added August 27
Added September 01
Added September 06
Screenshots:
Added September 07
Added September 09
Added September 28, 2003
Added November 23, 2003
o~o
Other artwork:
Added August 27
Added September 09
Original drawing of the above
image
Development work:
Added September 09
Basic tile design
Character design
November 22, 2003, 4:06pm
Heh... so much for a beta
version. At this point, I've been distracted by other projects, such as
rebuilding/updating parts of the JimSoft Lair, trying to sort out the
Shedquarters again, and working on a number of Dukematch levels.
Progress has been so gradual that I hadn't even noticed I'd made any until I
decided to put in some work on this site today. 9 new screens, covering a
new font and colours, a new level, and the beginnings of a Keen4+ish map
style.
This mod is really unpredictable, so I'm not going to attempt to predict
what will happen next. Let's just say that if I create a beta, it will turn
up here, and if I complete the mod before the start of the Keen awards,
you'll all know about it, because I'll have gone insane from disbelief and
will be posting all sorts of "*rocks back and forth, shaking, muttering,
'Must finish Keen mod... must finish Keen mod...'*" type posts at the PCKB.
Last minute change during upload: New artwork! Though it's not specifically
designed as part of Commander Keen: Monky Business, it shows the sort of
thing I'm trying to achieve with this mod. Oh, and the M was purely
accidental. In fact, the most specific aim I had for this image was not to
let it have anything to do with Mortimer McMire... so much for that...
September 28, 2003, 8:40pm
It's been an interesting 19
days... I haven't made nearly as much progress on the mod as I'd hoped,
distracted by random social gatherings and the preparation of my own party
this past week (which went down reasonably entertainingly... though I'm now
one amplifier down after some failed Take Me Away karaoke by about four
people at full volume--thanks TMST!! :P)
Anyway, I've been making use of an idea we were discussing on the Keen:
Modding forum (A
twist for collection)--using pogo tiles to hide secret passages.
Well, I took the idea a lot further to enable the creation of gigantic mazes
and tiles that turn into platforms when Keen hits them.
There's a lot of new artwork, in particular the Essence Pools, where the
Garthurians store essence stolen from other unfortunate races, and the
Extractors often found beneath them. I also put together a map tileset. I
may yet change the setting from the Garthurian Orbital Monastery to another
location, or else I'll use those map tiles for Episode Two.
And with all these patches Andrew's pumping out, a lot more ideas are
forming once more. There's so much that can be done with the Keen1 engine
now, and there's more underway (as well as a hint that some form of top
secret Keen4-6 utility/project is in progress). Up to 30 levels, doors on
the map, keycards that can be kept after exiting a level, and all sorts of
other little patches that just increase freedom in modding that much more.
Woohoo!
Also, a lot of Duke Nukum has been played by me over the past week, and I'm
rediscovering some tricks of the trade regarding level development, so
hopefully my levels will be particularly enthralling and challenging.
Well, as for the beta, time will tell. Sooner or later, time will tell.
And with that I'll stop. I seem to have lapsed back into the habit in some
past posts and in general discussion of divulging too much of my future
plans, and when I do that I tend to feel pressured to deliver, and when I
feel pressured to deliver, I usually don't. So, let's just see what happens,
eh? :)
September 09, 2003, 10:00pm
I redesigned the entire tileset,
so now I can do a lot more cool stuff (like items on different backgrounds,
jars that can be stood upon, masked columns, and so forth).
This level I didn't put much effort into... it just shows you some of the
new stuff. I'm going to devise a whole lot of other tiles and such that I
can use... I've only made use of about 170 or so at this point, and there
are at least 500 in total that I can use. This oughtta be fun.
I also added some shots of the development stuff I drew on paper leading up
to the mod.
There's a lot more patching info Andrew's been coming up with lately that
will greatly enhance the end result of this mod. And it sounds like there's
more on the way. So expect a massively oversized insanely tripped-out mod!
I'm going back to the drawing board (a wooden clipboard I found last year
outside my school's library... it has 'Music Department' written across it
somewhere... it gives it character)... err... yeah, back to that to create
more tiles, the two remaining enemies, and hopefully the map.
And in the meantime, I'll get started on that beta. :D I'll clean up the
front screen and all, build some levels and a small map, copy out the
necessary files, compile them and post it all here. Woohee.
September 07, 2003, 5:20am
Weeeheee!
Early return from party resulted in a five-hour sitting resulting in more
than you can see in the new screens!
I had a lot of fun making this level... it features insane Keen6ish bonus
areas and annoying little traps... but alas I have a couple of bugs that
prevented me from taking more decent screens... so I just took a few random
ones to give an indication of what's been done.
I'm definitely on the verge of releasing a beta version, but with a slightly
more detailed map than the one shown above.
The monks are finally active, anyway, but occasionally they seem to get
themselves stuck to the roof (probably because I made the clipping rectangle
change height in some places) and leap from places they're meant to stay
(bad level design). Nothing a bit of tweaking can't fix.
There's only one screen of the monk--not nearly enough to give it justice.
It turned out a whole lot better than I imagined it would.
Once the problems are fixed, I'll fix up some main-screen art, play-test
that level (it's huge and insane), fix up some patching and upload a beta.
Yeehaw!
September 06, 2003, 4:20am
I think I've scrambled over
that wall.. I've replaced the Garg sprites once again. I like these dudes
better than the last ones.
I got some rather entertaining screenshots this time round, it seems.
I'm getting the hang of the whole patching scene and using TileInfo... Well,
completely rewiring the tiles and installing the monks come next. The next
day or so will tell which will come first.
September 01, 2003, 2:30am
I hit a wall for a few
days... seems to be the pattern with many of my projects... but I forced
myself to get stuck back into drawing up some new sprites... I've been
sitting here more or less since about 2pm yesterday... the Yorps and Gargs
are now modded... they took way more effort than they should have.
And even still the Gargs may change before the final release (I'm
particularly fond of the new Yorps, though).
Next to come will be the Garthurian monk pictured above replacing the
Vorticons.
I'm determined to have all the graphics modded by the end of the week so I
can get stuck into building the levels. I've got a lot of other ideas I want
to put into action, but I know if I start them now this mod will never get
finished.
Then comes a beta! Woo!
God mode's cool with this pogo!
August 27, 2003, 4:50pm
I decided I should enter
the Character Creation Contest on the PCKB, so I drew up the monks that will
feature in CKMB. Whether the shooting sequence will be implemented or not
I'm not certain... maybe in Episode II. I don't like the eyes... they look
too much like a nose... gonna change that.
The Keen vs Monk scene is based on an image I drew on paper during the
initial design phase for this mod (and as such he's not disguised as a
monk). You can see in the background what will be the Garthurian orbital
monastery, with the BWB parked nearby.
August 27, 2003, 2:10am
Whew. I finally got
around to finishing the jump/pogo animations. I couldn't work in the real
trippy effects I intended for jumping, but a less magnificent effect is in
place for the pogo.
I decided I should fix up a death sequence... I'll likely change it over the
course of the mod's development.
I've begun work on the dark levels... they're gonna be quite fun to build...
Next comes Yorp-modding...
August 25, 2003, 2:40am
Making progress on the
Keen sprite. Jumping's gonna be fun... *shudders*
Actually... I just had an interesting idea for that... but you'll have to
wait for the next lot of screens.
I've been asked to include the worm sprite on this site into the mod...
you'll have to wait for the full release to find out where it'll turn up,
though.
Ooh, and I drew up the doors and keycards... I thought I'd taken some shots
already, but they've only just turned up in these latest ones.
August 22, 2003, 5am
It's getting there.
I changed the background tiles so the levels come off looking a bit cleaner.
I'm nowhere near editing the sprites yet, but another couple of these
all-nighters should see the level tiles finshed.
I experimented with the level exit. Gah. There's a glitch in the tile above
it... no matter...
The level I used is not one that will feature in the mod (though I'll
doubtless design similar ones).
August 21, 2003, 3am
As you can see, there's
still much to do. There's a lot on paper that will turn out far better than
this, so keep an eye out.
Enjoy,
>Commander Spleen