Most fangames I remember attempted (quite unsuccessfully, in nearly all cases) to recreate the physics of Commander Keen, and come to think of it a great many of them didn't even have very many custom graphics either, apart from some recolors here and there. Some of the ones I played a lot, like Keen 2000, Keen Forever, School's Out etc. were mostly just graphics and sprites from Keen 4-6. Exceptions like the sadly unfinished Isis II and the sadly unfinished Rule of a Yorp's Supper/Dinner existed and definitely showed the potential fangames had, if they were allowed to break out of just being flimsy Keen clones and have play styles of their own. (They also didn't have crappy physics which helped.)
I also remember Asino's Uphail being pretty good, if a bit barren at times. Dopefish Forever! and The Dopefish Challenge were super addictive. Yorp Convention was horrible but oddly funny. Commander Keen Code Name 13 was the finest fangame I have ever played and I continue to lament that it was never finished (or finishable, anyway.) Mortal Keenbat and Commander Keen in Trouble had awesome sound effects. Oh yeah and that TUIT trilogy, which had fugly graphics and a really silly story but hooked me anyway. The mod trilogy may seem better in every way, but then, did it have an evil talking fork and spoon???
I remember never getting RKP to work, even though there were three of them. Maybe when I can get at my old computer I can try and get those running again.
Oh yeah and Commander Keen in the Dream Machine! I thought that one had a lot of potential, though I never got very far in it.
I only ever seriously attempted one, which fell into the usual pitfalls of clumsy physics and whatnot. I had a whole trilogy planned which I guess would roughly have been a TUIT-type story, though most of it never came to fruition, clearly.Commander Spleen wrote:Somehow it never really occurred to me to make a Keen fangame
And yes, there was also The Worst Keen Fangame Ever, which I would remake without all the unfunny self-referential fourth-wall stuff at the beginning and end if it were at all worth the effort.
