List of all Commander Keen Speedruns

Xarthok · Post by **Xarthok** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 12:47

I like how you announce non having a YouTube account as if it was a permanent handicap you're stuck with

Plasma Captain · Post by **Plasma Captain** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 18:13

It is, if you're one of the proletariat. The government only hands those accounts out when they assign you to your life-long job.

Cobalt · Post by **Cobalt** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 19:32

I am permamently handicapped by having no youtube account and no way to record.

Post by **Levellass** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 3:41

As noted, if you have DosBox, you can record. Simple.

Xarthok · Post by **Xarthok** » Thu Aug 29, 2013 10:25

My Keen 1 any% and Keen 5 any% runs are now published on SDA

http://speeddemosarchive.com/

troublesomekeen · Post by **troublesomekeen** » Thu Aug 29, 2013 19:46

Awesome! Good work, Xarthok! It's great to see some Keen on that site. Incidentally, I beat a speed run time -- namely the Gourmet Race - Race 1 in Kirby Superstar. Their time is 0:00:21.72
but mine is 0:00:20.83

Post by **Levellass** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 4:41

Interesting, are these new records? Because it's hard to download from SDA.

Levack · Post by **Levack** » Thu Sep 05, 2013 13:28

Has anybody tried a speedrun with the keen6 demo?

My fastest time was 1:29

I can't get the imposable bullet glitch to work every single time.

Post by **Levellass** » Fri Sep 06, 2013 9:31

A patch will fix that right up.

In fact, instant win game patch, fastest speedrun ever!

TL_Plexa · Post by **TL_Plexa** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 16:48

Hi guys

I managed a 2:30.64 in Commander Keen 5 the other day and thought I'd share it here: http://www.twitch.tv/tl_plexa/c/3143204

Post by **Levellass** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 2:41

Why always ALWAYS on twitch tv?

Spatula · Post by **Spatula** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 20:53

On the subject of glitches, would a speedrun that utilized the F8 glitch in the vorticons trilogy be counted? Or would F8 be classified as a cheat code?

I think you could potentially skip a level and save some time in K1 with this glitch.

CapnClever · Post by **CapnClever** » Wed Mar 12, 2014 21:29

Hi! I've been speedrunning Commander Keen over the last couple months (predominantly Galaxy but getting into 1-3) and I thought I'd share some of my better runs with you guys thus far.

Keen 5 any% 2:19
Keen 5 any% (normal, glitchless) 15:16

As far as I know these are the best times under these categories. It's taken forever to get the glitchless run (a little over 1600 attempts) and I'm pretty happy with it, but I think I can shave off another half-minute with better execution and a few more optimizations I've been saving.

If you're into twitch.tv at all, my username's the same there as it is here. I stream most days for a little bit, and I'm always up for company.

To note, the YouTube videos use footage that record the game directly from DOSBox: any highlights from Twitch include me talking, albeit not always (read: barely) related to the run, and include some sort of timer as part of the stream. I also keep the raw ZBMV-encoded footage if anyone's interested.

Now so far this just looks like an advertisement of me (and I guess it is! sorry about that), but I'm also wondering about what everyone here thinks about speedrunning the Keen games, especially per what constitutes interesting categories:

The glitchless run above is pretty cool if you know the game, but I'm wondering if I should try to figure out routing on hard difficulty at the cost of some time. It's already hard enough to do all that without dying, and playing on hard would probably double it: on the other hand, I'm thinking that it would be a far more aesthetically-enjoyable viewer experience, even if it's not quite as fast. In addition, if there are any veterans that are used to playing through Keen5 on multiple difficulties, I'd love to hear your opinions on the matter.

What do you think about the Keen6 any% right now? Specifically, that it's played without sound (I've been running it on normal but I can move to easy). Even though it technically makes the run faster, I feel it's at the cost of the viewer because you're lacking the noises. Indeed, I'm pretty sure you could turn off sound for any of the runs and they'd be faster by the merit that level entrances and exits are quicker: is it worth the loss of typical game experience? I guess, for me, it's silly that the game is optimized using game settings that have nothing to do with gameplay. (Technically, no-sound means you're missing audio cues, so you could argue the trade-offs. In my opinion, however, speedruns should focus on keeping the fundamental rules of the game intact, even if sometimes the assumed rules are thrown away.)

I'm also working on Keen6 glitchless (you can see progress of that here) but it's kind of boring most of the time, so I'm almost definitely cranking that up to hard difficulty. In short, there are more interesting obstacles like the Bobba at Bloogton Tower and it better showcases a level or two. I'd be tempted to just go straight up 100%, except BASA is so incredibly evil to speed through that I'd rather not.

Keen4 on easy? Hard? The current competition is on normal but I wonder if it'd benefit from multiple approaches. I think a 100% glitchless (because non-100% glitchless would be really similar) is also in order at some point.

Keen mod speedruns? I've mostly looked at the "The Universe is Toast!" trilogy casually a couple years back when I stumbled my way into lurking here, but I imagine you guys have a far better idea as to what might be interesting to run. Might be a while before I'd work on these (just because the official series takes precedence), but I'd love to get into a few.

So that's my extremely wall-of-texty first post! Sorry about that. I'm eager for some feedback and tend to just get everything out there.

EDIT: I think someone asked for an easier-to-access video of Cosmo's 10:21 run in another topic. You can find a YouTube video of it here.

troublesomekeen · Post by **troublesomekeen** » Thu Mar 13, 2014 6:09

CapnClever! Welcome to the PCKF! Great Keen 5 runs! I really enjoyed those. I'm not an avid speedrun fan, so when you ask something like "What mode should I try next?" I'm happy with whatever you decide, you know what I mean? I don't look forward to speedruns, but when they're posted, I'll definitely watch them. That's just me.

The highest difficulty makes for a more pleasurable viewing experience because it's more risky. Sound and music also plays a large part in viewing. It's not terrible without sound since I have my own music playing, but I like hearing Keen sounds, and they're especially audible over my background music.

If you're going to try Keen 6 on Hard, just make sure to watch out for one thing:

But dang! Keen 6 levels are so long and hairy without glitches!
I reckon you look at a full pic of the levels plotting your course before you make a run? Pretty intense stuff!

And... Well, I changed my mind about not being just a speedrun fan. I've never seen a speedrun I didn't like. I would absolutely love to see a "The Universe is Toast!" trilogy speedrun.

CapnClever · Post by **CapnClever** » Sun Mar 23, 2014 6:42

troublesomekeen wrote:I reckon you look at a full pic of the levels plotting your course before you make a run? Pretty intense stuff!

Knowing the full extent of the level is important, not just spatially but also temporally. Planning a level usually goes as follows:

1. Play through casually, find everything there is in the level. I might skip obvious side-rooms but Keen maps are generally fun to explore so taking my time here is fine: detours might happen to include ammo that I may need if I accidentally waste too many shots, so it's good to know what caches are available.
2. Find the shortest path through the level. This includes keys, keycards, whatever I need to reach the exit or activate the level-ender. If known glitches exist (for non-glitchless routes), try to use them as much as possible.
3. Learn the timing of the level (if necessary). You guys probably know this from experience, but I sort objects Keen interacts with into two categories: local (only moves when Keen is close) and global (moves all the time). Additionally, some global objects such as platforms only enter a new cycle when toggled. Levels like Bloogton Tower from Keen4 and Security Center from Keen5 have to be precisely executed in order to reach certain object cycles in time, and knowing the window of opportunity helps guide a level's progression.
4. Determine ammo necessary to complete the level. This can be tricky because sometimes killing an enemy isn't worth the time necessary to pick up ammo elsewhere, especially if they can be maneuvered around. Unlike the previous steps, this can involve routing between or across levels: in Keen5 you're never short on ammo past Security Center, but it's ideal to save ample amounts for QED's shockshund pit; wasting almost any shot in Keen6 any% might mean manipulating your ammo count to 4 so you can pick up five at the level's start; and so on.

I usually start running the level after step 2, with steps 3 and 4 learned after picking up on AI movement possibilities and object cycles. The enemy AI is what makes this game very difficult to run: not because it's complex, but because it's absurdly random between states and forces you to react to every single enemy, often with little time to decide what to do. It keeps the run interesting, though, so I don't mind (mostly).

As a matter of consistency, I typically exploit map errors (which really just comes down to walls that aren't solid enough) in glitchless runs, as it's usually a flaw in the design of the level, not a fundamental flaw in the code. That's why I skip the green door in Bloogfoods: I am, however, curious if others would interpret that as "glitching". Part of this discussion should involve standardization of what the categories mean, and forcing my singular opinion as de-facto isn't very convincing.

EDIT: Got some new runs! I don't really have any good Keen6 ones for show (and I really want to grab the Keen6 from my old Pentium to be absolutely sure I have a legit copy so I'm waiting on a USB floppy drive) so I've been working a little in the Vorticon series:

Keen 1 any% 3:59 (not great but I was just aiming for sub-4:00, probably coming back later to match Xarthok's 3:52)
Keen 3 any% 1:58.57 (not significant enough a time difference to oust Xarthok's record IMO but I'm happy with it nevertheless)

I've also better optimized my movements with this Keen 5 any% of 2:14.85. Probably not coming back to this one ever, as fun as it is.

Ultimately Keen6 on hard without glitches adds a very small amount of time to the run, which can produce a time very very close to 14 minutes. It's not as exciting as Keen5, but hard difficulty adds some excitement so I like it anyway. If you're interested in a WIP and aren't afraid of twitch, you can check out this link. (I accidentally somehow get the gem-collect glitch but I completely don't notice it and play like normal anyway: otherwise I'd upload this video properly.)

Keen2's my next target, but after that (and polishing up Keen6) I'm pretty ready to try out some mod routing. Anyone have ideas on what would be good? At this point I'm comfortable enough with the Vorticon engine to go either or, so don't be shy on the suggestions!