Keen Legacy (A Commander Keen Fangame)

[Shoba]

Hi there. This is pretty much my first post in this Forum. I'm Shoba, around 33 Years for the time being, and I am a pretty big Commander Keen fan. Commander Keen and Prince of Persia are the reasons, why I decided, back in the 90's to become a Game Developer. Well, it didn't really work out with the whole Game Development stuff (unless you count a 6 Month Gig in a Sub Par Company), but I still became a Developer.

Anyway, with Commander Keens 25th anniversary around the Corner (December 17, 2015), I had some ideas for a Commander Keen Fan-game in my Head for quite a while. This game is based upon the Story-line from Keen 1-6 ignoring Keen for the GBC, since I never played that one. And Since I started writing down details for the Story-line before I even knew Keen had such an active Modding Scene any Fan-Mods and Games (7-9 for example) are Ignored as well.

The Story so far:

The Game Takes place in 2015, and Commander Keen, in these days calling himself William J. Blazkowicz, has grown tired and frustrated of earths inability to take care for itself. He was sitting at home, moping around and enjoying some booze while doing this, when suddenly his ex-wife called:

"Bill!"
"Relax Baby, I already sent you the alimony for this month."
"That's not what I meant! Our daughter has been kidnapped! I cant make anything of the Kidnappers note. It Says 'Dear William. If you want to see your daughter alive again, meet me where it all began. Yours truly, MM'."

It seems that Commander Keen has to do one last Mission.

Gameplay:

While I want to stray true to the source Material, there have been lots of other Games which influenced me as well. Specially Metroidvania Type Games like Castlevania Symphony of the Night, Super Metroid or Cave Story.
Original features like limited Ammunition, Ledge Grappling, the Pogostick will of course be featured, but I want to create a non linear Level structure, where maps will be connected via World Map, but you can revisit Levels to find more secrets or maybe visit locations you were unable to visit before, because you have an item that allows you to pass a certain obstacle.

Like already Mentioned in the Story I plan to revisit locations from Keen 1 to 5, but with a twist, since 25 Years have passed.

The screen below is only a mockup, I've been working on. Even though I kinda like the old EGA Style Keen Games, I want to create something that has my own style on it, resembling a classic Console game.

[guynietoren]

Welcome to PCKF!
I'd love to see more of this happen. Tired of seeing Keen smarter than Batman but with fewer gadgets. It's understandable if he left Earth abruptly in the first few games though.

[Flaose]

I love the premise! I've had a metroidvania-style Keen 1 mod on the backburner for years now, but a stand-alone fan game has a ton of potential!

[Roobar]

This looks a lot like Azura's work. But looks cool non the less!:)

[Keening_Product]

Welcome!

Nice graphics, though those are very tall yorps!

I was wondering about the arms - exoskeleton he developed or something else?

Anyway, sounds neat game which kinda brings together a few mods that have been under development lately.

[Shoba]

Thanks for the nice comments and the warm welcome :3.

Yeah, these Arms are supposed to be some kind of Exo Skeleton with Strength Enhancement. I'm not yet sure if Keen was brilliant/crazy Enough to enhance himself with Cybernetics, but if he can build a Spaceship with 8, I'm sure he is capable enough to build an exoskeleton/muscle suit.

The Yorps on the Screenshot are called Savage Yorps, they are mutated/twisted brethren due some cataclysmic events which befell mars after the events of Keen 1. And unlike their pacifistic and smaller counterparts these are quite deadly.

[MoffD]

Sorry I'm late, welcome Shoba!

Ohh shiny graphics!

*leaves in flash*

[tulip]

This looks great! Good luck with the project.

[DoomJedi]

Welcome! Looks fantastic!