Public Commander Keen Forum

I'm currently trying to figure out *how* to release this thing.

It's 55 MB, and it is called "Joe's Journey"

I cannot remember the author, but there was a Commander Keen fan demo featuring all new or redrawn graphics, and it had some form of parallax scrolling and it was really neat and atmospheric. It would have to be sometime around the year 2000, since that's when I started on this game.

It took me a year, but I completed 115 levels. I used The Games Factory, and I used the default platformer engine - which was severely buggy - but I made the best of it by making sure that the levels were beatable. Each level is beatable, although there are instances where you get stuck - pressing 'R' will fix that and restart the level.

Now, for some reason, the game crashes at seemingly random instances, so I'm thinking about remaking the game, or digging up an old copy off of an old laptop and reconverting the game with either MMF 1.5, or getting a copy of MMF 2.0 and using that.

I might do both, I might release a cleaned up version of the original (to reduce the 55MBness), but still keep most of it in all of its noob glory. Then I'll remake the game to replicate the style and atmosphere of the original, but improve upon game play, graphics and plot. It'll probably still reach a large level count - maybe around 90.

I might also incorporate a form of 2.5D that was done well in a game called "Abuse" - it's a platform game with isometic floors, but instead of one side of a wall being visible, and the other side being invisible, both walls on both sides are visible. It may not be that logical, as pits would have a trapezoidal shape.

The style of Joe's Journey is similar to the Commander Keen Andromeda project I was working on a while back.

http://www.dosclassics.com/download/91

I'm like a stove. Commander Keen Doom and Unnamed Project are on the front burners. Joe's Journey and the novels I'm writing are on the back burners, and everything else is in the oven.

115 LEVELS?

I've no idea which Keen game had redrawn graphics around the year 2000. Spork maybe?

Maybe early Isis? (I don't know when it was started.)

I seldom try out new games, and won't be doing so with this either, at least not yet, but some screens would be nice. The level amount is indeed honourable.

That's a lot of levels. Are they short levels or standard?

Some of them short, some of them really long. It took me 6 hours to beat one time...

If you send me the game, perhaps I can help reduce the file size? And play the game in its pre-cleaned-up stage?

I'm working on cleaning up the original, as well as remaking the original, as well as a complete remake.

In all, I'll probably release three or four games.

The cleaned up original will contain all 115 levels, and all I'll be doing is making sure that the levels are playable. They were made with an old version of Multimedia Fusion 2, so updates to the program has caused some levels to be unplayable.

For example, the in house platform engine renders Level 19 nearly unplayable, as you fall down a rocky tunnel, which has icicles and other obstacles, all of which make it really easy for you to get stuck.

And sometimes the game crashes for absolutely no logical reason.