New Cosmo Game Idea

[T-Squared]

Thanks!

[T-Squared]

Hey guys, Sorry about the wait. I'm waiting for svezzy to finish the importer for the sprites. The project is not dead, it's just on hold until szevvy can get the importer done.

[szevvy]

Which he has done and forgot to let T-Squared know >.<

[T-Squared]

*digs himself out of a crapload of topics*

Whew... long time no see people.

I've decided to get back into this project, and I have a secret weapon with me!

A HEX EDITOR!

Well, not really a secret...

I've found a way to edit some of the text within the game, but it's had some funny results due to the way it's formatted.

I also have a weapon that's secret to most of you:

IMFCreator!!!!!

This is like MIDI2MUS + MUS2IMF, except it does it in one compact step.

Oh, szevvy, I need an updated version of that Cosmo sprite converter. (one that can transfer from higher-bit [16 or 32] pngs)

[Dopefish7590]

Hah, cool stuff man.

[T-Squared]

Hey, I need a snd sound editor, and unfortunately, the link to the one provided here in this topic went dead, and I don't know if there's another one out there I can use.

Does anyone have one?

[Frenkel]

The link still works for me.

[T-Squared]

No, not that. I meant the link in the topic on the Keen modding forums.

[Frenkel]

Me too.

[T-Squared]

OOH! Wadda ya know! XD

[T-Squared]

I made a breakthrough! I can finally put custom music into Cosmo! (IMFCreator and some much-needed information from frenkel, as well as Wombat Tools by szevvy solved that problem) I can also switch music around, which makes it that much easier to get the moods that I want in the game.

Here's a sample of my musical mastery, as well as my graphical gifts [the BG] (XD):
THE MUSIC CHANGED IN LEVEL 6! OMG! D8

I just want to contribute a FEW songs to the project, not all of them, as this will be a group project.

The digitized voices might be a problem, as not only will KeenFX NOT work on the Cosmo PC speaker data files (crashes with an "out of string space" error, and deletes the file along with the crash.), but it takes a long time to set the tones right to emulate human speech (going by a 1-bit resolution recording I made with my Apple II, and even then, the PC speaker sounds don't sound like speech (I tried this with Commander Keen 1, and the sounds worked, but didn't sound like speech.)

Oh, and szevvy, if you're reading this, I need a fixed version of the Cosmo Sprite MNI converter, and an MNI converter for the sprites.

[szevvy]

Ah OK I'll see what I can do.

[T-Squared]

I know that the other stuff that I've posted has been mediocre, but this'll really knock you off your chair.

I finally made a semi-rough draft of the title screen. Needs some work, and I needed a LOT of patience drawing Cosmo. (had to start out with a sketch, then scan it, and then color and add the head details and hair in the computer.) Hope you like it.

[T-Squared]

Whew, been almost a month since I posted...

Anyway, I've composed a few pieces for the game (I won't be composing all of them, just a few.) One of them I've included below. (It's crude, I know, but it'll sound better in-game)

I also realized a trick I could use. In the mod, Cosmo has lost the ability to climb using his suction hands, but he can still grab onto stuff that has holes in it or that a human hand could wrap around(i.e. a grate or balcony safety bars.), so I will use nothing that can be grabbed onto, except if it can be grabbed by normal human hands. A few solid tiles cannot be grabbed onto by Cosmo (one tileset that I can remember off the top of my head is the ones used in the Bonus Stages.) no matter how hard you try, so I will be using those as well.

[Shadow Master]

Originally Posted by T-Squared

I also realized a trick I could use. In the mod, Cosmo has lost the ability to climb using his suction hands, but he can still grab onto stuff that has holes in it or that a human hand could wrap around(i.e. a grate or balcony safety bars.), so I will use nothing that can be grabbed onto, except if it can be grabbed by normal human hands. A few solid tiles cannot be grabbed onto by Cosmo (one tileset that I can remember off the top of my head is the ones used in the Bonus Stages.) no matter how hard you try, so I will be using those as well.

That sounds good, there are also those slippery tiles used in the ice stages; Cosmo could grab on them but not stop falling unless he kept jumping upwards and grabbing again.

However, for me it sounds like a runtime executable patching program could do a better work, once you figure out patches and what they do. It would be kind of difficult though, to write one. I'm guessing the CKPatch program used for Commander Keen could do it if someone figures out how to adapt it to the cosmo executables' specs.

And still, that could be not a perfect solution - either disable grabbing completely, or invert the behavior to trigger on the tiles where you couldn't climb before, and the ones where you could be impossible to climb.

If the tiles had some kind of property sets assigned to them in the executable, it would be way easier to patch. If they were on the data files, well, a new technology would have to be figured out in order to patch the old executable to use a data file already patched and loaded on memory (to avoid redistributing a patched data file, that is).

[T-Squared]

Nah, I'd rather use what I've got. How's the music?

[Shadow Master]

Pretty nice for being the first piece. I cannot say much more since I'm not musician.

It at least sounds good in TiMidity++ with a proper soundfont, dunno how it sounds on Windows.

Also, new humanized cosmo sprite in your avatar?

[T-Squared]

Yes, I refined the sprites and my avatar (The old avatar was blocky with color fringes) I also gave Cosmo blue-colored eyes. (It fits, doesn't it? Now he has a RGB color scheme! XD)

I also forgot to mention that I finally gave Cosmo a spaceship (His spaceship is called the "'Model' X-105") that he can walk on in the last level (Well, not walk around on, cause once he actually gets to the spaceship, he'll be teleported away, but he will be able to walk around on it in the second game where he starts off back at the ETRAC Hangar.) I took a few liberties, as the 8x8 blocks cannot be put on top of each other (layer-wise like so |BG|Tiles|second layer for rain| viewer XD), unless it's an actor. (the stuff that Cosmo interacts with in the game) So some parts of the ship that are usually behind Cosmo will be in front of him.

[T-Squared]

Here's another picture that'll really knock your socks off!

Yes, I understand that Cosmo's skin is a dithered peach-color. It's just that he looks weird up-close with a red-toned skin color, cause he would look sunburned. I guess you can say that his human skin color isn't as defined when he's viewed from far away.

Anyway, this is what happens when you complete the game and get to the spaceship; at the last moment before he can actually get into his spaceship, Cosmo is transported back to the ETRAC facility in Roswell, where it starts again in the second episode.

The picture didn't turn out that bad, although I wish that I could have matched his detailed appearance better with the sprite in my avatar, but that's just my style...

[Bad Sector]

Can't you use the Dave Gnukem engine? It will provide you with more flexibility on what you can do and it will be available in several platforms (wherever SDL is available actually, which includes Windows, Linux, MacOS and handhelds such as Nintendo DS, GP2X, etc).

[T-Squared]

I wish I could, but I got a message from Joe Siegler himself quite a few months back saying that Apogee/3DRealms characters can't be used in other engines, and not only that, I'd rather stick with the original engine. (A lot more flexible than one might think.) (unless the Duke Nukem 2 engine can be reprogrammed to my specifications... [Unfortunately, I don't even have the whole game.] )

[T-Squared]

Hey everyone, (yes, yes, old topic), I'm back. I had some help from szevvy with his improved sprite converter, which fixed the corruption that caused a sort of pixel-column shuffling. (Thank you!)

I've also created a little intro screen with the Apogee logo and fanfare (if you don't mind me using the music and logo, 3DRealms!)

I'm starting to get a little upset at the pace at which this project is going... >.> I need people for music and ideas.

[szevvy]

So it worked? Yay!

[T-Squared]

Originally Posted by szevvy

So it worked? Yay!

Yep! Not only did the sprites work, but the cartoons also worked! 8D

(Unfortunately, the program keeps crashing when I try the Actors file TT^TT)

[szevvy]

It crashes on actors? Hmm. Tell me about it on PM, I'll see what's going on. Works fine for me, you might have to send me through your PNG as there's probably something I didn't take into account. It also relies on the actor file being named 'actrinfo.mni', so if you're renamed it it might mess up. *shrugs*

Move it PM, I'll fix you up.

Also - "I'm starting to get a little upset at the pace at which this project is going... >.> I need people for music and ideas. " - just a heads up, it sounds like you're angry at people for not supporting you...probably not your intention, right?

[T-Squared]

Originally Posted by szevvy

It crashes on actors? Hmm. Tell me about it on PM, I'll see what's going on. Works fine for me, you might have to send me through your PNG as there's probably something I didn't take into account. It also relies on the actor file being named 'actrinfo.mni', so if you're renamed it it might mess up. *shrugs*

Move it PM, I'll fix you up.

Also - "I'm starting to get a little upset at the pace at which this project is going... >.> I need people for music and ideas. " - just a heads up, it sounds like you're angry at people for not supporting you...probably not your intention, right?

No, I know I'm being supported (You're helping me, I know and appreciate that, and I've had some compliments about this project.). Its just I haven't had any ideas for some of the plot, or even music to put in the game, or even a voice actor to work with. In other words, other than you, I haven't had any physical support yet.

As for the sprite converter, I've tried, but it kept crashing with the "Cosmospr.exe has causes a problem..." dialog box.

[szevvy]

Send me the png you're using, and the command parameters you're passing to it. You know my email, right?

[T-Squared]

I forgot... ^^;

[szevvy]

I sent a pm.

[T-Squared]

I think our problems with putting digitized speech into the game are gone.

http://www.keenmodding.org/viewtopic.php?p=12026#12026

I went to the KeenModding Forums, and I mentioned my problems in sampling a 1-bit recording myself to the snd format, and how the KeenFX program crashed every time I tried to save the samples to the snd file. One person is willing (by their own will) to help, not only because his program does what I did manually, but also he's been looking for someone to test the program out: "My program samples a raw wave file to get an approximation of the frequency at each 'tick' of the file, then uses that frequency as the hex value for a Keen [Cosmo] sound.", he says. He says that the output results aren't crystal clear, but since this is an old game I'm working on, I expected and was prepared for that.

[Demon_Wraith]

This is looking good.

Good luck with everything, I'm looking forward to this. Loved the originals, and the "human Cosmo" idea is excellent.

[T-Squared]

Originally Posted by Demon_Wraith

This is looking good.

Good luck with everything, I'm looking forward to this. Loved the originals, and the "human Cosmo" idea is excellent.

You would think people would be tired of the human version of a character! XD
(i.e. the human versions of Sonic the Hedgehog )

BTW, I've actually tweaked the first part of the story a bit (this is going to go into the hint text file I'm going to include in the game mod package):


He's back! And he's off on his own adventures now! Three years after his first adventure on the Forbidden Planet, Cosmo has come back to Earth in his own Brand New FS Model X-105 spaceship to learn about how humans have fared in space travel. Following a stop at Quaoar Outpost 85 for a hamburger, a few hours of playing Tactical Raiders (a galactic version of Earth's Battlezone game, and also a tactical simulator) and listening to music on his cool headphones, Cosmo's ship comes within range of Earth. He sets the computer system to auto-reentry mode, but then the ship starts to shake violently! The ship is being pulled off the reentry course by something! The heat forcefield around the ship fails, and the metal heat shield moves
into place, leaving Cosmo scared in total darkness. After a few minutes, the ship suddenly stops with a sickening *SLAM*, Cosmo is thrown against the ship's front control panel, and knocked out.

What seems like moments later, Cosmo wakes up standing in a sealed glass tube, with a scientist standing over a control panel in front of him. "LET ME OUT OF HERE!" Cosmo says, but the scientist won't listen to him. The scientist smiles and pulls a lever on the control panel, and the tube fills with gas. As soon as the gas clears, the tube opens, and Cosmo steps out,
seemingly unharmed, until he notices that he realizes he is no longer quite the alien he used to be. He has clothes on, his skin is no longer the green and red-polka-dotted way it used to be, and his suction-cup like hands have changed into strange 5-fingered appendages... COSMO'S BEEN TURNED INTO A HUMAN! The scientist walks up to poor Cosmo and says sinisterly, "Welcome to Earth, my little friend". Out of the of the corner of his eye, Cosmo notices an unlocked exit door and bolts for it. The scientist gives chase, but Cosmo makes it to the door and *BAM*, the scientist's face meets the door. Cosmo opens the door again, seeing the scientist is in dreamland, but also hears other turned-human alien children in
small living quarters along the wall yelling for help. "Don't worry! I'll be back later for you guys!", says Cosmo, shutting the door, and beginning his quest across the Mojave Desert in New Mexico, and soon to be the entire Country to get home.

Cosmo has been changed into a human, and he must get to his spaceship, which has been taken across the United States to New York to a hangar under the control of "ETRAC", the Extra-Terrestrial Research Association Center, a top-secret government compound in Roswell, New Mexico, jointed with the infamous Area 51 which both specialize in Extraterrestrials, E.T. relations and their technology. Unfortunately, one scientist has gone bad, kidnapping young alien children that happen to pass by Earth to blend them into human society. Transporters have been hidden around the U.S.
by ETRAC, and Cosmo must use them to quickly get to his ship. Unfortunately, these transporters only work for a few hundred miles, so Cosmo must state-hop from city to city, until he finally reaches
New York.

BTW, Quaoar is a real trans-neptunian object (an object or planet out past Neptune) that was just recently discovered.

[T-Squared]

Hey guys, Expect a promo picture on Christmas Eve Day, and something special on Christmas Day. (It won't be much of a special, but it'll be something ^_^)

[Dopefish7590]

Sounds like fun.

[szevvy]

T_Squared, I replied to your email ages ago. Did it end up working for you?

[T-Squared]

Originally Posted by szevvy

T_Squared, I replied to your email ages ago. Did it end up working for you?

Did you send it to tazsonic [AT] sbcglobal [DOT] net?

[T-Squared]

Nope, for some reason, it still crashes, szevvy...

C:\Cosmo2\cosmo\cosmospr.exe (The program)
C:\Cosmo2\cosmo\actrinfo.mni (the extracted actor info file)
c:\cosmo2\games2.png (the picture)
acttest.mni (the output file, doesn't require the same name as the one used in the compressed STN package)

AppName: cosmospr.exe AppVer: 0.0.0.0 ModName: cosmospr.exe
ModVer: 0.0.0.0 Offset: 0000161f

(I think this is where the error occured... [from the error report])

[szevvy]

OK, I'll drop some more output/tests in the code so we can track it down, and I'll send you the converted mni in the meantime.

[T-Squared]

I also need people adept in sifting through raw data, due to the fact that all of the text in the game has been basically obfuscated (in other words, the computer can understand it, but it's been coded in such a way that human people would have a VERY hard time trying to put it back together.)

[T-Squared]

Originally Posted by T-Squared

I also need people adept in sifting through raw data, due to the fact that all of the text in the game has been basically obfuscated (in other words, the computer can understand it, but it's been coded in such a way that human people would have a VERY hard time trying to put it back together.)

Never mind about data-sifting people, I had a tip from szevvy that the executables were compressed, which helped me a lot. Thanks! 8D