Keen's Night At The Improv - Part 1

A Commander Keen modding competition
08/29/2010

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Voting Closed!

Congratulations, Tulip! You won!

Entries:

I personally enjoyed all of the mods that were submitted, but some of the mods, although good, didn't quite fit the idea behind this competition, which was basically "come up with something random within a short ammount of time and release it without second guessing yourself", or as I like to call it, "Modding improv".

Voting results are HERE!

1. Commander Bleen - By Tulip

This mod I feel best captured the spirit of this competition. It's fun, fast paced, quality, humorous, and was made within only 24 hours, which is why it has my personal vote. :)

"I couldn't stop laughing. Tulip, this is awesome! Might possibly be considered slightly racist actually, but it's obviously only aimed to mock in the nicest possible way. As far as glitches go, a guy in Level 2 just ran offscreen at the beginning and there's no proper ending. Gameplay-wise it's easy enough for a terrible player like me if given enough practise at it. Overall fantastic!" - DHeadshot
"Oddly, couldn't complete this mod, just ended up at the map doing nothing. This is a perfect, PERFECT example of a mod made in short time; it *looks* like a lot of effort went into it, but actually, surprisingly little was done. The sparse graphics are used and blended so well, especially in level design, that you don't notice just how little was actually replaced. (I hesitate to imagine what could have been, had the entire tileset been converted.) This is possibly the funniest entry there." - LevelLass
"The main issue is the unforunate implications, but I know you meant well." - Bonevelous
"This one's the coolest. Rasta Keen Funny, with great graphics, reminds me of some old police series (which I have never watched or know anything about)" - KeenRush
"My vote goes to this one. It's short and simple and the map designs and artwork are pleasing. This Bleen guy has some multiplayer potential, if he and keen were ever to meet. But I think changes in the helmet and shirt color might be necessary to set them apart more. Something about this is so charming it puts a smile on my face." - VikingBoyBilly
"+ Really nice overall theme + Clever use of the resources, reminds me of a NES/8-bit game with the clever recycling of tiles to make new stuff + Attitude Happy - Obvious polish due to time limitations - Could have used a bit better graphics/leveldesign, again time limitations. Overall: Really hit the spot with nice design and overall theme." - Oasiz

2. Marta0 - By VikingBoyBilly

This is a cute little mod. Really difficult, too.

"OK, VBB, another space-to-fire - I like that. Hmm: Rule 75 has been applied - We have Female Keen! Wait *reads "About"* this already exists? I like the "Previews" and message to Paramultart. Gameplay-wise, the jumps were really hard - reminded me of pre-mario platformers where if you aren't pixel-perfect you die. Rather unforgiving in that respect. In the end I had to resort to cheats to get anywhere! What you have to go through to do anything rates this as an incredibly difficult mod! At least you have an ending though..." - DHeadshot
"I do so love that comic! I hated this level! The sheer number of game overs I had to get through was aggravating. The new enemies are nice, and the ground reminds me of Patchwork Mod II " - LevelLass
"This wins because I feel it is one of the few that were made with in the originally intended 24 hour bounds of this competition. I really like your sprites, the ending is the best in this competition: funny and a good use of that changing window bitmap. I don't see why everybody found this so hard, I couldn't find a single hazard in it." - Tulip
"The second Keen mod with a world made of cheese... Confused I love those cats, especially the frame when you shoot them." - KeenRush
"What should I say about this? Except my vote is based on the amount of work I did (very little), not the difficulty. I don't think it was THAT hard, when compared to some of the jumps in oasiz." - VikingBoyBilly
"+ Good for the given amount of time + Challenge - Too much tile recycling? - Palette seems to be a bit off. - Could have used a bit more distinction between areas, again points to tile recycling. Overall: Good for the given time. Could have used a bit more work on the tiles but things went well overall." - Oasiz

3. In The Bloogbrain - By Bonevelous

Erm... :/

"Lot of typos in this one, dunno whether that's intentional as part of Bonevelous's mocking of terrible fangames or just because 24 hours a rush-job doth make. I love the AAAAAAAAAA references and the "Nothing" button! Just the one level compared to Tulip's two (unless there's a secret one) but that isn't necessarily a bad thing... How did you get K4 controls on K1? Wait, what? That's a lot of points... Ummm.... OK, this is a troll, isn't it? And a parody of bad mods..." - DHeadshot
"Burst out laughing a lot with the typos. Got some very odd looks in my household." - LevelLass
"I'm not much of a level designer, but I think I've learned my lesson about thousands of points." - Bonevelous
"You actually have some nice graphics, and you show again that you can work well with the palette patch. Sadly you decided then to make a completely horrible level." - Tulip
"It wasn't bad, but not much playing there." - KeenRush
"A mod has to be really unimpressive to be beaten out by one that isn't even finished (oasiz). Actually, the pallette change and the artwork used in this is very, very cool, and it clearly took quite a bit of work. The 1337 sp33k sense of humor was fantastic LOL But there were no enemies or hazards to speak of, and that's the one thing that kills it. It was so easy you can't lose." - VikingBoyBilly
"+ Palette + Graphics + Felt promising at first but... - ... leveldesign possibly violated every rule known to man Happy - Maybe a bit too much "lolz" and 4chan feel. This might be a personal preference. Overall: Started as a promising mod but ended up being a quick hack that feels like a bad "my first level". Don't take this as an insult. :D" - Oasiz

4. A Matter of Minkcraft - By Levellass

Levellass never ceases to impress me. This is by far the most beautiful submission or possibly even Keen mod in general I have ever played. However, it hardly feels appropriate for this competition, and sadly lost my vote simply because it's too... Good... and serious... But still AMAZING! Definitely check this out! This is one mod you won't want to miss.

"Oh Wow! Music, fantastic graphics, a dancing Mink - this has everything! On the other hand, I shouldn't have expected anything less from Levellass... I like the blank option leading to the dancing Mink! This looks like 256 colours! I love the tounge-in-cheek of the story and its relation to the contest. Wow! Layers on the Map in Keen 1! Everything's such high quality! Keen 4 controls - impossible pogo trick FTW! Wow - it seems 3d in some places! Definitely my favourite so far! It's so beautiful! Just a shame I'm too terrible to get very far... Background animations too! Game Over. The level's just a bit too big. Shame." - DHeadshot
"(Yep, it does indeed say 'natter', originally this was a tile typo, but I liked the reference to natter, so it stayed in.) This is obviously the best mod, and everyone should vote for it. Because.... because... uh, it has a dancing Mink in it!" - LevelLass
"This is my official favorite mod. I don't know how you did it, but you did; music, smooth fading, and addictive, challenging gameplay. Almost seems so good that it may not be fair." - Bonevelous
"This was, of course, amazing. But it's too good looking. It makes me want to stop modding forever because no way I can compete with this stuff." - KeenRush
"Definately the most impressive for art and patchwork, but some of the tricks in the level are so confusing it took me 2 days to figure out how to beat it, and the annoyingly short spiders are hard to line up for shots. But you're given plently of ammo so it's not an egregious problem. This is disqualified for first place because work on it began before the start of the contest (presumably) and more than one person was in on it, even though I don't recall any rules restricting entries to independent work and no group efforts, I think there's a general consensus that was pretty well implied." - VikingBoyBilly
"+ Very nice tileset and music. + Good use of the tileset to make more 'dimension-rich' levels + Clever use of slopes to fake 3D level gameplay - Level is too confusing - Obviously recycles a lot of stuff Overall: Nice modernized feel for CK1, good use of colours and tiles." - Oasiz

5. Commander Keen in Shmaynoria - By Paramultart

11 whopping levels of pure insanity. It's crazy. How crazy? So crazy, I had to tone it down a lot before releasing it. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll.... quit playing it after level 2. ;) (maybe even vomit, as well) Seriously though, I packed a lot of content into this mod, so I'd appreciate it if you guys would at least finish it. Thank you. :)

"Music! W00t! The artwork in the titlescreen etc is incredible! Spacebar firing - good. I like the story... Heh, I like the previews replacement Cheeky . Multiple Levels! Erm... I fell off the map and didn't die. Now I'm stuck... OK, restart game... Apart from that glitch, I like the gameplay on the first level! Tricky to tell the bricks apart in level 2. Aargh! Level 2 is Hard! Game Over! Pretty good, just a shame about that glitch..." - DHeadshot
" I LOL'd Seriously, this is another example of something I could have done had I not been so lazy and, more importantly, been superhuman. This looks like a whole custom tileset, custom enemies, custom MUSIC, how, HOW did he manage this in 24 hours? HOW? I can't.... believe it! This is literally an entire mod. No 1-level cop-out here, this would pass as a normally released project and I'd believe months of development could go into it. While playing it I also got two vibes from the game: 1.) The creator is old. Possibly the oldest person on this board. 2.) But not that old. Evidently young enough to hang around imageboards and/or watch south park." - LevelLass
"So Strange, it's Awesome! This is even weirder then it looked when I first glanced at it. Very random, but in a good way." - Bonevelous
"Many levels which is a plus. I feel you put in a little more time than 24 hours, that's why I put you on 2nd. The theme is great with it's crossover between MonsterBash and Simon the Sorceror (even the music sounded like in StS). Gross but funny. Cute giraffes. Why are spoons deadly? And the "Mimes everywhere" level had some broadly found leveldesign flaws that made it extremely annoying: You let the player pass literally the whole level trice, on the same patch from beginning to end only to collect keys, a huge level, and all that with a soundtrack that loops as fast as "Too hot"." - Tulip
"Some of those graphics are pretty neat, like the cat's head and the clown's head." - KeenRush "I was extremely tempted to vote this one. Honestly, the amount of work for such a short time is fantastic and its nice to have some music while keening. But there is the notorious bug of disappearing ship parts, so I had to consiously keep myself alive. These maps are surreal and cooky with their tricks and uh... humor... it's bright and colorful as well. If drinking giraffe poop and a shot of keen emptying his bladder is a 'censored' version, I'm really curious just how rank the original is." - VikingBoyBilly
"+ Has a custom tileset + Music + Overall feeling of polish - Some harder parts, not often. Overall: Solid and an original feel." - Oasiz

6. Oasiz's Mod - Oasiz

This mod is quite an impressive attempt for what it is. I literally IM'ed this guy who had never touched Keen in his life and asked him to make a mod, and he came up with this. Really innovative design. A for effort. Too bad he didn't finish it. :(

"Very little changed pre-game. A few squares of invisible wall on the map - not sure where that's come from... Oh dear, I can walk off into space - there's no wall to the waterfall. Nice animation for it though... Wait, a bath? The stars are points? No creature mods it seems... Nice foreshadowing with the points though; guide the player through... Oh wow - appearing blocks! Bit deceptive in many ways but a nicely designed level in terms of gameplay. Game Over! OK, so it was quite difficult, but not so difficult it wasn't entertaining. Though Minkcraft remains my favourite overall, this has the nicest feel and I can see myself playing this again quite a bit." - DHeadshot "Whooo man! I mean wow. This is what my mod should have been like if I weren't so lazy. All original graphics, in a united theme and with an awesome atmosphere. The level play was brilliant too, plenty of curious and interesting gimmicks were used. My only complaint was that the level reminded me of Nintendo games, a bit large and hard for me. (I would have split the level in 3 or 4, one for each part.) Again, what could be done with a full tileset boggles the mind." - LevelLass
"It's sad that this was never finished, I would have loved to see where it would have gone." - Bonevelous
"Nice mod, sad that it wasn't finished, I hope you'll continue this mod, even if it's not for this competition. A lot of potential here. The map reminded me a lot of "The Last Moon"" - Tulip
"I like that the keys are used to make platforms instead of open doors, which is a very neat idea. But the enemies are yorps and guardbots from mars that weren't replaced, and the guardbots were the most annoying thing in this level. And there was no ending. That stinks. :(" - VikingBoyBilly