Myth of the Moon Stone

[Zero X. Diamond]

Whatever happened to this?

I never really heard the whole story because I don't think I had anything to do with the actual Commander Keen community until a couple of years ago, but from what I understand, this was going to be some revolutionary Commander Keen fan game in the same vein as Isis II, only with even more features and flexibility. Then for some reason--was it that the authors stated an intent at one point to sell the game?--iD told them they couldn't use Commander Keen in their game. This would be where the story ends in most cases, but my understanding from CC314's fan works page, they continued developing the game as a non-Keen platformer that was shaping up to look rather impressive. However, searching the internet reveals nothing but pages about website activity referring to their dead ClassicGaming page as "Stardust Entertainment: Creators of platformer Myth of the Moon Stone."

Some quick detective work with the Internet Archive reveals that way back in 2001 (though I'd initially mistook it as 2007) they switched over to another website to host their content. That site (www.brone.net/sdent) , however, is defunct to the point that the archive doesn't have a copy of it. Even more digging shows me that Brone.net was closed some time between 2001 and 2002. The problem is that this information comes from yet another (at least seemingly) defunct site and from there the trail seems to have gone completely cold.

Now, apart from the few scant details I've raised myself, the only information about the project that I've been able to gather was from an entry in ClassicGaming's news feed, circa 2000. This is all I know about the project in 100% certainty:

The newest addition to ClassicGaming's cadre of hosted sites is none other than Stardust Entertainment, the programming force behind the upcoming installment in the Commander Keen series: Commander Keen and the Moon Stone! Stardust has been diligently working on KMS for quite some time, and promises it will be the most advanced Keen adventure yet! Here are a few of the features KMS will support:


* 32,000 colors

* 640x480 screen resolution

* 6 parallaxing layers

* user friendly but powerful level editor

* an all new storyline

* levels are full of puzzles and events!

* digital voices and sound

* 40 huge levels and 10 secret levels!



Commander Keen and the Moon Stone is not an official product of id Games or Apogee, which means it will be available for FREE upon its completion! But don't think that KMS is merely a fanboy effort — Stardust Entertainment is a highly professional organization which produces commercial-quality games. Check out Stardust's site for all the details.

So, can anyone fill in the details here for me? Were these guys really a professional company, or were they just holding themselves as such? (According to this it appears that neither is actually true.) If so, did this move somehow ruin their company, or what? The internet has finally failed to explain something to me, and I'm now curious beyond belief. Also, if possible, could somebody include screenshots and/or possibly a link to a MotMS demo or whatever?

[KeenRush]

Sorry, I know practically nothing about it, in fact, your post gave me information I hadn't before...

Judging by that beta topic, yeah, it seems they weren't such pros as claimed.

[MortimerInBlack]

Who and how many ppl were actually active back then? It's 2 bad Flaose left. I havnt seen Djaser lately either, tho idk how "old" he is.

There should be a history of the Keen fandom that we newcomers can read. KR should do that methinks.

[KeenRush]

Sorry, I'm not much of a historian, and I tend to forget stuff. And I'm not that old either, I joined the ezBoard in 2003, so I've never seen the earlier boards. Djaser stops by now and then, but I think he joined not long before me, can't recall. Or after.

[Vitaminzach]

Not a historian myself, and I have a very bad memory for most things. However, I lurked the various Keen forums/sites for a very long time before joining in 2001 or whenever that was, and I do happen to know a thing or two about this project.
(No inside information, just know what was posted on the forums and some sites back then.)
Coincidentally, I do a small-scale internet search about once a year on this very topic, just to see if the project somehow resurfaced. Anyway, on to the "useful" information.

The project was very ambitious. And given the plethora of similar project plans, a quick read of their claims sounded just like every other fangame back then - which usually got abandoned after a couple weeks, or turned into the usual klick-n-play effort.
But judging from the production quality of their website, it truly appeared they would deliver on their promises. (Or at least enough of them to make a high-quality game.)
However, their last word on the subject was: They recieved a letter from ID's lawyers demanding they shut down their project because it voilated copyrights. At that time, they said they were replacing all the graphics and creating a commercial game starting with their current codebase. They showed some of the new graphics to give an idea of their new direction. But since it was no longer specifically Keen related, they stopped posting about it on the PCKF.

Personally, I didn't like the style of their new graphics, and simply quit paying attention to their site. So unfortunatley, I don't know what happened to the game after that point. (And I don't remember the name of the new game, so I haven't been able to find it.)

[Zero X. Diamond]

According to CC314, the new name was "Myth of the Moonstone," the title of this thread.

[Djaser]

I joined a month or so after Keenrush. I know the story but much all valuable information of the game was lost at the time I joined, so my search was futile. You might want to ask LevelLord, she once screamed hystirically and repeatetly in a topic that she has seen 'it.' I'm not sure how much I believe that but you could try.

And I’m still reading the forums but there isn’t much going on that really interests me at the moment.

[MortimerInBlack]

yea that sounds vaguely familiar--about LL claiming she saw it.

Me i dont even remember when I joined, but i think it was in 2005/6. I can tell you, however, that I searched around for Keen stuff before then. I remember being so overwhelmed because I just HAD to see all the keen fan stuff out there. I would follow all the links on CC314, and all the links on those fan pages, etc.

Don't remember much of them but it was totally cool. BTW I don't even remember how I came across this forum. But i know it was from cc314 and the first thing i really got into on there was keenempire's stories.