Return to the Shadowlands

[Ceilick]

Commander Keen in "Return to the Shadowlands"



Demo Video

Return to the Shadowlands v1.08

Join commander Keen on a mission that takes him back to the Shadowlands. This is a source mod done in the style of a levelpack but includes many additions to the Keen 4 setting.

Have fun playing, please let me know what you think!

Return to the Shadowlands Extras

Spoilers! Don't view the extras until you've played the game! Included here is a world map for your desktop, the title screens for the series, creature outtakes from this episode, and the game's music in both mp3 and midi.

Return to the Shadowlands Source Code

Here's the source code put together by K1n9_Duk3.

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I'd like to thank and give recognition to the following people:

K1n9_Duke for taking on the programming (a complete recreation of Keen 4! and all the stuff I wanted to add), testing, and general modding assistance. The scale of this project wouldn't be at all what it is without him.

XkyRauh for his speedy music composition for this project, all songs attempting to mimic Bobby Prince's style and the original music themselves. All songs are composed by him except for the original "World of Wonderment" and one other tune (a Bobby Prince outtake).

Nisaba for countless discussions and evaluations of ideas and content, as well as providing artistic assistance, level design critique, and general modding assistance. Nisaba is a hell of a modding motivator.

Roobar for providing extensive level testing and video footage that allowed me alter some design decisions based on his gameplay.

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Changelog:
1.01:
-fixed Isle of Caves bad goplat
-fixed opening credits 'i' to 'I"

1.02:
-fixed Isle of Caves steep slopes
-fixed Frigid Fortress bad tile placement
-Fixed pyramid tile info error
-Fixed bad tile placement in Whispering Woods
-Modified Oasis/BwB level entrance tile properties

1.03
-Fixed misplaced tile in Sand Yego
-Fixed misplaced tile in Pyramid of Footsteps
-Added tile to fix misplaced tile in Reflectalus

1.04
-Changed slopes to flat surface in Arachnut hallway in Pyramid of Fear
-Extended platform in Pyramid of Footsteps so Bounder is less likely to fall to its doom
-Fixed goplat blocker in Backwoods Blockade
-Removed backup/unused level
-Reverted the pit in Bounder Town

1.05
-Corrected Pyramid of Footsteps spelling
-Fixed tile issues in levels: Dunesville, Frozone, Whispering Wood, Jungri-La, Pyramid of the Sun, Backwoods Blockade, Pyramid of Footsteps

1.06
-Corrected Pyramid of Footsteps text box
-misc tile fixes

1.07
-Modification to an area in the Pyramid of Footsteps near the Bounder
-Some levels, particularly the Pyramid of the Sun and Isle of Ice, had item modifications to prevent crashes
-Fixed a misplaced background tile on the world map behind the secret level
-A brief textual congratulations screen now appears before the end story
-Corrected some text colors in the story
-Numerous miscellaneous fixes

1.08
-reduced some areas over crowded with creatures
-added a platform to Frigid Fortress to avoid out of sync goplats

[Multimania]

This is neat!

I'm only a few levels in, but am already enjoying it a lot. Though I'm constantly afraid of a Badoing getting me. The Ruins of Sand Yego in particular lulled me into a false sense of security, so getting speared from below by what sounded like the status screen scared me out of my wits! (It settled down into that somewhat creepy "familiar-but-dangerous" vibe after the first few deaths, but I was definitely tiptoeing around.)

I had a minor issue where it wasn't picking up the Adlib/Soundblaster support at first under DOSBox, but it worked after restarting it a couple of times. I then moved to my 486, and it worked absolutely perfectly there (though I did miss the cyan border, but F10+B brought it back.)

It took me a couple of minutes feeling lost looking for the wetsuit before realising that half the map was above the B-W-B Megarocket, but all's good now.

Looking forward to playing some more!

[Roobar]

Oooh! The new music is so good! And the new menu as well! Excellent, can't wait to play more

[Ceilick]

Glad you guys are enjoying it so far! The Badoing does have shock power, put if you look carefully there is 'worm-sign' that one is present and waiting.

Roobar has pointed out I overlooked an level-breaking bug in the Isle of Caves, so I've just put out version 1.01 with a fix for this. Your saves should be transferable as long as they're not in that level.

[DarkAle]

I love this mod! Read my post on PCKF Discord

[Multimania]

Glad you guys are enjoying it so far! The Badoing does have shock power, put if you look carefully there is 'worm-sign' that one is present and waiting.

Yeah… I noticed it eventually, but after a while I forget to look, and then end up physically jumping in shock when one gets me.

Roobar has pointed out I overlooked an level-breaking bug in the Isle of Caves, so I've just put out version 1.01 with a fix for this. Your saves should be transferable as long as they're not in that level.

Oh… I amanged to get past Isle of Caves on v1.0, but maybe that's why I got to the end with a green keygem and a blue door. (Though I suspect I was just missing a secret something…)

[Nisaba]

I love the story-line! the starring contest is just fantastic. I wish I came up with such a great idea.
And the music track for the worldmap is such a fabulous remix. awesome!

just started the first two levels and can't wait to play the rest

[Ceilick]

Thanks, DarkAle!

I amanged to get past Isle of Caves on v1.0, but maybe that's why I got to the end with a green keygem and a blue door. (Though I suspect I was just missing a secret something…)

Yep, some bonus chambers in that level, but not the big secret

Version 1.02 is up, superficial fixes though, nothing gameplay critical.

[Syllypryde]

Since you used the patch that resets your score to whatever you had at the beginning of the level when Keen dies, and your score can only be as high as all the available points in each level, does that mean we are going to track the perfect score for the game?

[DarkAle]

Since Ceilick didn't tell us the perfect score I don't think so. Anyway, this is a source code mod so no patches, KEEN4E.EXE or Play.bat but only source code

[Ceilick]

So you're correct that the score mechanics were revised to make the score more meaningful, however, because of the nature of the treasure stealer and the way I chose to utilize it in levels, a perfect score isn't quite achievable, and the highest score possible will be luck dependent on how the treasure eater spawns and the players skill in eliminating them quickly.

I could have designed the levels around this, but was more interested in preserving the treasure stealer's life as an annoyance than providing a circumstance for a quick skill shot to preserve points.

If you're interested in competing for the highest score possible, I'll get the info on what the max score is when I get the chance, and we can find out who is able to work around the treasure stealers for the most points.

[K1n9_Duk3]

GalaxyView says there are up to 1,453,000 points in the levels. (Actually 1,493,800 points, but 40,800 of them are located in an unreachable backup level.) The Treasure Eater placement makes it impossible to collect all of these points, so it's hard to tell what the highest obtainable score might be.

[szemi]

I found a few mistakes that I already alerted Ceilick about.

[Ceilick]

Version 1.03 is up now with fixes thanks to Szemi. Some misplaced tiles but nothing game breaking.

This is what happens when I add things after testing has been done

[Nisaba]

I'm in love with all those details that make the planet Gnosticus IV feel so fresh and vital. like for e.g. those big sleepy trees


or the beauty of this sandcastle


and also details like the shadowing on those trees make this place so vivid


At the moment I'm halfway through. What I can already say now is that I enjoy your smaller levels the most. This may be due to the fact that I got lost once or twice in these huge places such as Reflectalus.
like mentioned before I really really like the small details you've added like a couple of extra tiles that make this well now tileset feel much more interesting. the overall environment definitely benefits from those adjustments.

The humorous touch is really fantastic. I noticed the main story before. But those ingame dialogues with the Council Pages made me laugh really hard. Jokes! They are terrific!