Unofficial Keen FAQ v2.01

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Flaose
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Unofficial Keen FAQ v2.01

Post by Flaose »

That's right, boys and girls, it's the moment that you've all been anxiously waiting for! The long-rumored follow up to my eight-year-old Keen FAQ (and only four weeks later than I wanted to release it), it's The Really Big "Unofficial" Keen FAQ Version 2.01!

Check out these features:
  • Exciting new information: Did you know that Keen is also related to Doomguy?
  • Daring deviations from the KeenWiki: Did you know that the Mangling Machine is powered by pieces of the Big Purple Space Amoeba? According to the Keen FAQ it is!
  • Walkthroughs for all eight Commander Keen games: Never be frustrated by Keen GBC ever again!
Silliness aside, I know that there's really no demand for a FAQ in this day and age, but I made it a personal project to finally finish off everything I'd originally promised in time for the 20th Anniversary. Obviously I missed the date (though I wrote the first four walkthroughs in 24 hours trying to make the deadline), and then final exams and Christmas got in the way, so it took me this long to make the finishing touches.

Okay, enough talking! Without any further ado, I present for your pleasure my Keen FAQ: http://cc314.shikadi.net/keenfaq201.txt

edit: I updated the link and top title to point to the fixed file.
Last edited by Flaose on Tue Jan 18, 2011 5:38, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Paramultart »

That's great about the walk-throughs. :)

But just out of curiosity, what credibility do you have to contradict the Keen Wiki?
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Eros
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Post by Eros »

cool. is it possible to add simple buttons like they have on wikipedia and such? it would speed up finding stuff a few times.
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Post by Paramultart »

Eros wrote:cool. is it possible to add simple buttons like they have on wikipedia and such? it would speed up finding stuff a few times.
:lol lolololololol

----> http://www.shikadi.net/keenwiki/Main_Page
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Eros
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Post by Eros »

yeah, just like that.
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kuliwil wrote:I wish that oa;fdjgnae;ogubneaogiearh;igbnerfgoajfsgoefnh
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Post by tulip »

woo update, I gotta read through that sometime, first version was good, too.
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Post by VikingBoyBilly »

In the keen 5 letter translation you've written "ANDROID DUPLICATE". Isn't it supposed to say "ANDROID DUMMY"?
Maybe thats just keenrush's subtext messing with my memory.
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Post by DHeadshot »

Spot the blatant error:
[2.3.3] Goodbye, Galaxy!
Keyboard:
Up/Look Up/Climb Pole/Toggle Switch - UP ARROW
Down/Look Down/Descend Pole - DOWN ARROW
Left - LEFT ARROW
Right - RIGHT ARROW
Jump Up - CTRL
Jump Down - DOWN ARROW + CTRL
Pogo - ALT

Joystick:
Up/Look Up/Climb Pole/Toggle Switch - UP
Down/Look Down/Descend Pole - DOWN
Left - LEFT
Right - RIGHT
Jump Up - BUTTON 1
Jump Down - DOWN + BUTTON 1
Pogo - BUTTON 2

*Note that if you choose the Gravis Gamepad control option you can map
the additional joystick buttons to both the Shoot and Status Screen actions.

Common Controls:
Status Window - SPACE
Help - F1
Go to Control Panel - ESC, F2-F7
Boss Key - F9
Quit/Cancel - ESC (from Control Panel)
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Post by Keenfan »

DHeadshot wrote:Spot the blatant error:
Found it. :-)
It's not that big but it could bring you in trouble in Keen 6 while standing in front of a Flect. ;-)

Anyway a really great FAQ! I can't say how much I admire these hours of work!
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Post by DHeadshot »

I was referring to it not actually mentioning anything about how to Fire, while still assigning SPACE to the Status Screen...
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Post by Djaser »

Well, I'm not exactly pro-piracy, I thought your notes on piracy are over the top. 3drealms is not going to make any new games and ID does not deserve my money for Keen games. Besides, 20 years after the games were published Keen should have become profitable. In the end the downloading of the old classics does not hurt anybody.

Otherwise, great FAQ and good to hear from you.
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Post by Levellass »

This is almost larger than the original Keen 1 game... as text. I can't believe anyone would take so much time to do this. (Besides me of course.)
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Post by KeenRush »

Good work, old-skool format. :) I can see a lot of work has gone to this. :eek I'll read the GBC walkthrough when I have the time. (It's a good thing that one can't see any screenshots of that game...)
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Post by Flaose »

Paramultart wrote:But just out of curiosity, what credibility do you have to contradict the Keen Wiki?
Hahaha, fair enough question (though I was hoping that my "feature list" was tongue-in-cheek enough to avoid it). Almost all of the deviations from the KeenWiki are just changes to some unofficial level names, and since the unofficial level names found on the KeenWiki are based on the names that I made up for cc314's interactive level-maps, I like to think I have some credibility there.
It also turns out that I've more recently found an official source that actually states that the Mangling Machine is powered by the BPSA, so I guess that even when I was making stuff up, I was right. :D
Eros wrote:cool. is it possible to add simple buttons like they have on wikipedia and such? it would speed up finding stuff a few times.
Unfortunately, as it's a .txt file, hyperlinking isn't possible. If it really bothers you, you are of course permitted to make a beautiful HTML version of the FAQ.
An alternate way to find the section you're looking for is to search for the bracketed number from the Table of Contents. For example, searching for [5.2.2] will take me right to the section of SGA translations for Keen 2.
VikingBoyBilly wrote:In the keen 5 letter translation you've written "ANDROID DUPLICATE". Isn't it supposed to say "ANDROID DUMMY"?
You scared me for a minute there! But yeah, it does say ANDROID DUPLICATE.
DHeadshot wrote:Spot the blatant error:
GARG! :x I would manage to screw up something as important as the shoot button while making sure that the Function Keys are properly explained. Now I know how the Johns/Jason must have felt when the Molly bug was introduced in Keen 6 v1.4; at one point the control section for Galaxy was perfectly right, but it (and only it) got deleted at a later time and I had to redo it, far too quickly it appears. Oh well, I guess v2.01 will be the last version of the FAQ... If anyone else spots other problems, make sure to mention them and I'll fix 'em too.
Djaser wrote:Well, I'm not exactly pro-piracy, I thought your notes on piracy are over the top.
Yeah, you're right. That's actually one of the sections I haven't touched since the first version of the FAQ. I actually kept it because it was quaint, not because my feeling on piracy are that strong anymore.

Thanks everyone for their response! I actually didn't expect more than one or two replies of "cool", so...I guess it makes it worth it? :o

And as I said earlier, any other problems you guys find, I'll fix 'em for the final version (and I mean final, I don't even care if an official TUIT comes out sometime, my work on the FAQ is done).
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Post by DHeadshot »

Flaose wrote:And as I said earlier, any other problems you guys find, I'll fix 'em for the final version (and I mean final, I don't even care if an official TUIT comes out sometime, my work on the FAQ is done).
What about the 30th Anniversary of Keen's release?
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