30 Years of "Goodbye, Galaxy!"

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proYorp
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30 Years of "Goodbye, Galaxy!"

Post by proYorp »

30 years ago, the second set of Commander Keen games, entitled Goodbye, Galaxy!, was released. According to Wikipedia, that momentous date was December 15 1991. However, KeenWiki states that Keen 5 was released on December 18 (and puts Keen 4's release earlier, on November 22), citing file modification dates. Any idea why the inconsistency between KeenWiki and Wikipedia? I didn't think Keen 5 was ever sold as a stand-alone game without including the first half of the set. (Honestly I'm not quite convinced of the accuracy of using modification dates to determine the release date either. Surely it must have taken a few days after the floppies were prepared to ship them to physical stores, since this was before the internet.)

Whatever the date, I think we can safely say it has passed. In celebration, I thought I'd at least start a thread about it. Anyone have any fun memories of how you got your own set of the Goodbye, Galaxy! games? Did anyone go out to purchase a copy on the day of release all those 30 years ago?



I had planned to have something to release for the occasion (and I thought for sure that it'd be ready on time) but demands of real life put a stop to that. "When it's done," I guess. At least Multimania had something ready.

By the way, I still haven't been able to find this, so I'll repeat this question here one last time: Does anyone remember where the source was for the tip that Tom Hall would reveal the plot for The Universe is Toast on Keen's 30th anniversary? (Obviously it did not happen, but I'd had this on my mind for like 4 years so I'm wondering where I heard that was supposed to happen.)
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Re: 30 Years of "Goodbye, Galaxy!"

Post by szemi »

proYorp wrote: Fri Dec 24, 2021 5:02 By the way, I still haven't been able to find this, so I'll repeat this question here one last time: Does anyone remember where the source was for the tip that Tom Hall would reveal the plot for The Universe is Toast on Keen's 30th anniversary? (Obviously it did not happen, but I'd had this on my mind for like 4 years so I'm wondering where I heard that was supposed to happen.)
I was who asked Tom about TUIT. I think he said to me on Facebook (?) (as far as I remember) that if 30th comes, he will reveal. But maybe he is still hoping that he gets the rights back, which would have high time now...
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Re: 30 Years of "Goodbye, Galaxy!"

Post by NY00123 »

I remember the claim about a future reveal of TUIT's plot, just not it's source. There's still one more year before it's 30 years from Christmas '92, by the way.

An earlier message was written here in 2012: https://twitter.com/ThatTomHall/status/ ... 8211955712

To quote Tom:
@eisnerguy1 Will only make Keen again if I can control his destiny… but if I turn 50 and no Keen, will probably reveal what TUIT was about.
Around the time Tom turned 50, though, what did happen was that Keen Dreams was open sourced.

Additionally, while this might not have any practical implication, I recall the following two tweets, one from John Carmack and the other being a relevant reply:

https://twitter.com/id_aa_carmack/statu ... 8138771456
https://twitter.com/Smookie_TRabbit/sta ... 3950043136
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Re: 30 Years of "Goodbye, Galaxy!"

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Amazing to think of others besides Tom feeling involved enough in the Keen universe (or section of the ID universe) to want to write new Keen material. If PCKF had enough collective financial clout we could bring this about...
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Re: 30 Years of "Goodbye, Galaxy!"

Post by Quillax »

Wow, the galaxy has left for 30 years and it still hasn't returned? What's going on, did someone kill it? Perhaps with a knife, gun, or *GASP* the Omegamatic!? :O

Jokes aside, Keens 4-6 are such great games! Keens 4 and 6 were some of the first games I remember playing. Even to this day, the Keen games (all 7 of them) are still perhaps my all-time favorites! Billy has truly aged well, I say! I played and beaten 4-6 on Normal not long ago, but I already am thinking of playing again! I really want to try out Hard! Actually, soon after I beat 6, I played 1 and 2 again! So maybe after 3 and Dreams, it'll be time for brain-busting action like never before! Lately I've been playing them on a newly installed Windows 98 rather than the usual DOSBox, and it's really fun! Keening the way I remembered it from long ago! :D The (true!) PC speaker sound effects bring back memories, although I kinda miss the music. Do I have to get a special soundchip for that, or is 98 incapable of producing Ad-lib music?

Happy 30 years, Goodbye Galaxy!! :birthday :dopefish :korath :lindsey :moon :pogo :poison :dopefish :shockshund :slug :dopefish :wormouth :dopekeen :dopefish :dopefish
proYorp wrote: Fri Dec 24, 2021 5:02 30 years ago, the second set of Commander Keen games, entitled Goodbye, Galaxy!, was released. According to Wikipedia, that momentous date was December 15 1991. However, KeenWiki states that Keen 5 was released on December 18 (and puts Keen 4's release earlier, on November 22), citing file modification dates. Any idea why the inconsistency between KeenWiki and Wikipedia? I didn't think Keen 5 was ever sold as a stand-alone game without including the first half of the set. (Honestly I'm not quite convinced of the accuracy of using modification dates to determine the release date either. Surely it must have taken a few days after the floppies were prepared to ship them to physical stores, since this was before the internet.)
The good old legacy 3D Realms site (ah, such a nostalgic website!) also says that Goodbye Galaxy! came out in December 15, 1991. I agree with your point about using modification dates to figure out release date. While I'm sure Keen 4 was wrapped up and ready to go a while before Keen 5 was, I don't think they would ship 4 out so soon, would they? Otherwise those who bought 5 around 4's supposed release would have to wait for almost a month!
proYorp wrote: Fri Dec 24, 2021 5:02 I had planned to have something to release for the occasion (and I thought for sure that it'd be ready on time) but demands of real life put a stop to that. "When it's done," I guess. At least Multimania had something ready.
Well, I'm looking forward to it! :)
proYorp wrote: Fri Dec 24, 2021 5:02 By the way, I still haven't been able to find this, so I'll repeat this question here one last time: Does anyone remember where the source was for the tip that Tom Hall would reveal the plot for The Universe is Toast on Keen's 30th anniversary? (Obviously it did not happen, but I'd had this on my mind for like 4 years so I'm wondering where I heard that was supposed to happen.)
I could've sworn Tom Hall said right here on PCKF that he would someday show the TUIT story. I just did a quick search and he did, indeed, sorta: viewtopic.php?p=59147#p59147
TomHallKeen wrote: Tue Feb 05, 2013 3:14 TUIT just had the same look as Keen 4-6 in 256 colors with parallax backgrounds. The idea for the large arc of the story was more formed AFTER I left id actually. If I don't get to tell it within a couple years, I'll hint at it somehow....
That post was made in early 2013, however, and I don't recall any hints. As NY00123 suggested, maybe in Chrsitmas '22...
Benvolio wrote: Sun Dec 26, 2021 19:51 Amazing to think of others besides Tom feeling involved enough in the Keen universe (or section of the ID universe) to want to write new Keen material. If PCKF had enough collective financial clout we could bring this about...
Yeah, I like that it's not just Hall who cares about Keen! A Keen comic from John Carmack would be a lot of fun!
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