Commander Keen on XBLA

Here, you can get help with anything or just chat about the original Commander Keen games.
Galaxieretter
Arachnut
Posts: 891
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 2:35
Location: Lancaster PA
Contact:

Post by Galaxieretter »

I don't believe ANYONE has the source code until it's been released.

John Romero (or Carmack) wrote Commander Keen and could probably re-program it in a couple of days if they wanted to. I don't see why not.
Besides, I remember something about if John HAD the source code he would have released it by now, but I read that in someone's post on here.
Litude wrote:Because John doesn't actually have it. Tom has it on some 20 year old disk that is probably unreadable by now though.
And right now I don't think his priority is getting the source off the disk.
User avatar
K1n9_Duk3
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 781
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:30
Location: Germany
Contact:

Post by K1n9_Duk3 »

I was referring to this particular piece of information:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?s ... id=5524737

But now I see that this is just another forum post.
Hail to the K1n9, baby!
http://k1n9duk3.shikadi.net
User avatar
DaVince
lazy/busy Keener
Posts: 1476
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 15:34
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Contact:

Post by DaVince »

Galaxieretter wrote:John Romero (or Carmack) wrote Commander Keen and could probably re-program it in a couple of days if they wanted to. I don't see why not.
That's rather optimistic; I'm sure they have forgotten a lot of details on the code, as well as going for different (better) coding practices regarding maybe all parts of the engine.
Wow look at me I'm lurking
Genius314
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 843
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 0:13

Post by Genius314 »

DaVince wrote:going for different (better) coding practices regarding maybe all parts of the engine.
Even better! :p
User avatar
DaVince
lazy/busy Keener
Posts: 1476
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 15:34
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Contact:

Post by DaVince »

Maybe so, but I bet it'd introduce all kind of minor differences in at least the platform engine.
Wow look at me I'm lurking
theromero
Meep
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jun 20, 2010 4:41
Contact:

Source

Post by theromero »

I know i have some Keen source somewhere, but I think it's Keen 4-6 code and not the original 1-3 code. I have to do some digging for it, but I believe it's on a CD or my hard drive. I'm not home right now to check on it though...
John
pizza2004
Vortininja
Posts: 266
Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2009 1:22

Post by pizza2004 »

Okay, I'm not sure if I trust the above post, because when I emailed John he emailed me back and told me he didn't have it.

Edit: The reply I got could be taken to mean the original trilogy, rather than the original source, here it is:

Hi Pizza2004*,

I don't have the original Keen source anywhere, but Tom Hall might. He just found some old SyQuest cartridges that say Keen Source on them - he's trying to recover the data from them.

tom@tomtomtom.com

You've done tremendous work on KeenClone - it looks absolutely great. You probably don't need the source code to finish it. :)

Have fun,

John Romero
john@rome.ro
http://rome.ro

*Name changed.
User avatar
Commander Spleen
Lord of the Foobs
Posts: 2384
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 22:54
Location: Border Village
Contact:

Post by Commander Spleen »

He was on Twitter not long after that post, so it's possible.

Assuming this isn't a silly hoax, it would be good news. Any source is better than no source.
User avatar
kuliwil
Blue-tongued Yorp
Posts: 1731
Joined: Wed May 12, 2010 8:51
Location: Facestalking Commander Spleen.
Contact:

Post by kuliwil »

so does that guy have Tom Hall's email address?
"Hi, I'm Tom Sellick's moustache."
Image
User avatar
Roobar
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 3267
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 16:12
Contact:

Post by Roobar »

What surprises me is that Romero did actually played Clone Keen though it should be Commander Genius. I wonder if he tried the unofficial episodes 7 and 8. Anyway, it will be unbelievably awesome if Tom finds the source and give it to the CG team.
User avatar
Commander Spleen
Lord of the Foobs
Posts: 2384
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 22:54
Location: Border Village
Contact:

Post by Commander Spleen »

It would have significant ramifications for patching, too. Given the complete source such that it can be directly compiled, we can reprogram, expand and remove parts of the game instead of working within the limits of manipulating existing code. Whether the resulting EXE files would be legal to distribute is another question, however...
pizza2004
Vortininja
Posts: 266
Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2009 1:22

Post by pizza2004 »

I have Tom Hall's email address, but he is more likely to respond to posts on his tomtomtom blog than to email address in my experience.
User avatar
lemm
Blorb
Posts: 696
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:18
Location: canada lol

Post by lemm »

or, you know, just reverse it yourself
gerstrong
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 1244
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 14:44
Location: Frankfurt - Germany
Contact:

Post by gerstrong »

I really don't think we will need that source code. I imagine it would be the same to make it run on modern systems than reversing it. Even the physics might change if you compile some old existing source code on your machines. Remember, those were 16-bit compilers for DOS they used.
What surprises me is that Romero did actually played Clone Keen though it should be Commander Genius. I wonder if he tried the unofficial episodes 7 and 8. Anyway, it will be unbelievably awesome if Tom finds the source and give it to the CG team.
Did he really play it? How do you know that? He might only have read our postings... Do you think he is that interested. I'd like to meet that guy, but the wish must come from him.

It would be awesome, but if it helps, I can't say for sure.

We already have a good engine now, and it's getting better day by day.
User avatar
lemm
Blorb
Posts: 696
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:18
Location: canada lol

Post by lemm »

I agree that most of the source code would probably not help you guys. Certainly the memory manager, sound, blitting, and menu code is not helpful to CG. However, I do think the the sprite behaviours, level loop, and those type of game functions are a good idea to reverse because it tells you the relative speeds of all sprites to one another. Since that is less than 1/4 of the .exe, and not really hard to reverse either (it's the same type of stuff over and over), it might be worthwhile, since much of the Keen4.exe is already reversed, so you wouldn't be starting from scratch. Personally I think it's easier to get everything *perfect* that way rather than to try and dig through patches and playtest playtest playtest, given that galaxy patches are fewer and there's more stuff than in vorticons. But perhaps not...
Post Reply