I never really heard the whole story because I don't think I had anything to do with the actual Commander Keen community until a couple of years ago, but from what I understand, this was going to be some revolutionary Commander Keen fan game in the same vein as Isis II, only with even more features and flexibility. Then for some reason--was it that the authors stated an intent at one point to sell the game?--iD told them they couldn't use Commander Keen in their game. This would be where the story ends in most cases, but my understanding from CC314's fan works page, they continued developing the game as a non-Keen platformer that was shaping up to look rather impressive. However, searching the internet reveals nothing but pages about website activity referring to their dead ClassicGaming page as "Stardust Entertainment: Creators of platformer Myth of the Moon Stone."
Some quick detective work with the Internet Archive reveals that way back in 2001 (though I'd initially mistook it as 2007) they switched over to another website to host their content. That site (www.brone.net/sdent) , however, is defunct to the point that the archive doesn't have a copy of it. Even more digging shows me that Brone.net was closed some time between 2001 and 2002. The problem is that this information comes from yet another (at least seemingly) defunct site and from there the trail seems to have gone completely cold.
Now, apart from the few scant details I've raised myself, the only information about the project that I've been able to gather was from an entry in ClassicGaming's news feed, circa 2000. This is all I know about the project in 100% certainty:
So, can anyone fill in the details here for me? Were these guys really a professional company, or were they just holding themselves as such? (According to this it appears that neither is actually true.) If so, did this move somehow ruin their company, or what? The internet has finally failed to explain something to me, and I'm now curious beyond belief. Also, if possible, could somebody include screenshots and/or possibly a link to a MotMS demo or whatever?The newest addition to ClassicGaming's cadre of hosted sites is none other than Stardust Entertainment, the programming force behind the upcoming installment in the Commander Keen series: Commander Keen and the Moon Stone! Stardust has been diligently working on KMS for quite some time, and promises it will be the most advanced Keen adventure yet! Here are a few of the features KMS will support:
* 32,000 colors
* 640x480 screen resolution
* 6 parallaxing layers
* user friendly but powerful level editor
* an all new storyline
* levels are full of puzzles and events!
* digital voices and sound
* 40 huge levels and 10 secret levels!
Commander Keen and the Moon Stone is not an official product of id Games or Apogee, which means it will be available for FREE upon its completion! But don't think that KMS is merely a fanboy effort — Stardust Entertainment is a highly professional organization which produces commercial-quality games. Check out Stardust's site for all the details.