CCCC OOOO M M M M AA N N DDD EEEE RRRR CC OO OO MM MM MM MM AAAA NN N D D E R R C O O M M M M M M M M A A N N N D D E E R R C O O M M M M M M AAAAAA N N N D D EE E RRRR CC OO OO M M M M M A A N NN D D E R R CCCC OOOO M M M M A A N N DDD EEEE R R K K EEEE EEEE N N K K E E NN N KKK E E E E N N N K KK EE E EE E N N N K K E E N NN K K EEEE EEEE N N COMMANDER KEEN NEWSLETTER :) Issue-8: Dec 31, 2002 Working Title: TomTomTom (C) 2002 by Joseph Burke all rights reserved. All trademarks are properties of their respective owners. Warning: This document may not be distributed without permission. ----------------------------------------------- Newsletter Homepage: http://www.commanderkeen.net/cknews/ Newsletter Index: [1] Featured Articles [1.1] Tom Hall Interview [1.2] Interview with Xtraverse [1.3] Ending Screen and Misc (for Keen MOD makers) [2] Fan Game Reviews [2.1] Elf Land (we review a Keenish game!) [3] Website Reviews [3.1] TOMTOMTOM.com [3.2] Commander Keendom [3.3] Yet Another Commander Keen Page [4] Monthly Fiction [4.1] Chapter 2 of Chris' Story [5] Keen Community News [5.1] New Mod Ready [5.2] First Keen Skin [5.3] Some Keen Art Again [5.4] Bad Astronomy in Keen? [5.5] Keen 4 in SGA [5.6] Commander Keen 2003 Calendar [5.7] (Almost) New Keen Site [5.8] Wannabe a Sprite? [5.9] Games 'n' Games [6] Miscellaneous Stuff [6.1] Fan Art [6.2] Announcements [6.3] Credits ----------------------------------------------- [1] Featured Articles (We aren't looking for a permanent "Featured Article" writer at this time, but if you want us to publish an article for you, we'd be most obliged. Email us at "info@commanderkeen.net" about this.) [1.1] Interview with Tom Hall CK-Newsletter: You've probably changed over the years, how would you describe who you are now? Tom Hall: An older, wiser six year-old. Question: What are you going to do on X-Mas vacation, if you take a break from your job? Answer: We actually took two weeks off. By the end of next week, I'll probably be going stir-crazy. I spent a week with the family (I'm there now) then I'll have a fun New Years with my girlfriend, and probably do some photography in there. Question: The current Keen universe only has one primary villain, Mortimer, have you thought further than that and considers others? Could Mort be around forever? Answer: Well, there are other races and stuff, but Mortimer is behind most of Keen's problems. Once Keen feels okay about only having a 314 IQ, then Mortimer will probably be defeated. Question: Which elements from your childhood does Keen draw most strongly from? Answer: Well, let's see -- I have these picture of my in red Converse high-tops, and others of me in a Packers helmet, I lived in a world of dreams and drawings, alone with the folks and the family dog Linus (after my brother and sister went to college), and was picked on for being a brainiac at school. How about that? Question: Can you give us Keeners, who build fan games, some tips on how to design Keenish foes? Answer: Watch Chuck Jones' Warner Bros. cartoons religiously. Most of the sensibility is there -- watch what he does with the eyes. Very expressive. And watch what he does with bold color and absurdly large things. He was the master. Question: Is there anything you do to promote physical fitness? Answer: Actually, when not in crunch mode, I work out at the gym. I recommend everyone stay fit, as your mind is more alert, and you have more endurance for the long hours of game-making. Question: How often do you find time to play other peoples games, and what's your opinion of that experience? Answer: Sometimes it can be ruined because you wind up analyzing what they did well and poorly. Sometimes you only have time to play like fifteen minutes to see if they did anything interesting. But really great games keep you immersed, and that all goes away. Yeah, I still play games a good bit, but not as often as I'd like to. Question: What elements do you think are needed to make a quality game, but not popular, both on part of the game and the team that's making it? Answer: You need people that are great in their fields (programming, art, design) and for those people to be on the same mental page. Also, working with positive people helps a lot. Question: Do you have a favorite part about game design? Answer: There's four parts: coming up with a great game idea, seeing the idea first start working, coming up with great solutions to problems along the way, and shipping the game. Question: Can you tell us anything about the games you're making now? Answer: We're almost finished with Congo Cube, a really fun casual action-puzzle game, and working on other new stuff. CK-Newsletter: Have a good day Tom, and thanks for the interview, Tom Hall: No problem. Now why did I get this interview email NINE TIMES? (Yorpy who conducted this interview, had this to say, "I have no idea wtf is up with the nine times thing. I only sent it once! Honest! Really! Only once!") ---------------------- [1.2] Interview with Xtraverse CK-Newsletter: Could you tell something about yourself (you, hobbies, pets, etc..)? Xtraverse: Well, I'm 14 years old, and a freshman in high school. I like playing old DOS games (platform mostly, although one of my favorites is Scorched Earth). I like making my own programs, games, music, and almost any computer work. My favorite sport is tennis, and my pets are pretty stupid (one fish that attacks everything in sight, such as rocks, the glass, the filter, etc… and another fish that has post-traumatic stress). Question: How long you have played Keen? Answer: I first started playing CK back in maybe 94 or so, with my old DOS computer. My siblings and I would play it for hours on end. At that time we only had Keens 1, 4, and the demo of 6, but we classified them as some of the best games we had ever played, right next to Kroz and Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure. Question: Why do you like Keen so much, if you like? Answer: First of all, any game was fun to me back in 1994… but I guess I still like it because it was more than your average platform game (just like Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure, which I consider on the same level as CK). The pogo made it unlike any other platform game, and it wasn't just running around blasting the hell out of robots; it had much cooler enemies, levels, and everything else than games like Duke Nukem and Bio Menace. When I found the Commander Keen forums about 3 or 4 years back, it added to my liking, especially since I'd forgotten about the game for 2 or 3 years. Then I decided to get Keens 2, 3, 5, the full of 6, and Dreams. When Geoff Sims released KMO, I classified it as the best program I'd ever seen, despite the thousands of horrible bugs. Question: Was it hard to make Norp the Yorp in Diffusion? Answer: I wouldn't say hard, but definitely time-consuming. When I was about a quarter way done editing all of the graphics for the mod, I wanted to see what they looked like in the game. I ran Modkeen, and because of my supreme stupidity, I extracted instead of importing. I was pretty horrified when I saw everything I had done so far was written over. I started making backups then. The next annoying part was the patching. At first I couldn't get anything to work because I had forgotten to dump. Then there was the tedious work of getting offsets, figuring out the amount of characters, running the game, figuring out where I accidentally put an extra space, and so on…I'm actually making a program right now that will make patching much easier for everyone. Question: How do you invent stuff for your mods? Listening music, reading, walking? Answer: Most of the time, I lie on my bed with a pen and a notebook, flip on my stereo, and start writing/drawing whatever comes to my mind. I start building a mod off of that. Every now and then when I'm just doing something random, I come up with what I think would be a great idea, and then add it to my mod. Question: What are your future (Keen related) plans? Answer: Well as I said above, I'm making a program to ease the process of patching at the moment. After I'm done that, I'll probably take a break, and maybe in February I'll start with the final part of my Norp the Yorp trilogy. I also have an idea for a one-part mod that I might start after that. I have possible plans for making mods (too bad we can't mod graphics yet) for Keens 4-6. In the distant future, I'll start working on my Alpha Manhattan fangame. I just started learning C++, so I might try to do something Keen-related in that also. Question: Could you tell something about the final part of Norp the Yorp trilogy? Answer: It's going to be big :) Well, it's going to take place in Mortimer's body, where many secrets will be revealed. The end will be quite unexpected… Question: How much do you play Keen? Answer: Surprisingly, I don't play the original Keens that much. I play all of the games, mods, etc… that people post about on the PCKF, but I spend most Keen- related time making and testing random stuff. Thank you Xtraverse! ---------------------- [1.2] Ending Screen and Misc This month we'll be covering ending screens, animation and art, and limitations of MODs this month. You need to have read the previous articles to make use of this one, you'll find them at our website however it's under construction, so their not availed right now. You'll need to download a program made by Andrew Durdin to edit the ending screens, you'll find it here: http://durdin.net/andy/keen/fin2bmp.zip End Screens Open a command prompt window and navigate your way to the end screen program. Now run the program, it'll display some text that tells you how to import and export the end screen image. For exporting the image you'd type, fin2bmp -b finale.ck# output.bmp and importing, fin2bmp -f input.bmp finale.ck# The "-b" or "-f" tell it whether your importing or exporting. If your exporting you'd next type the name of the file that your exporting from, and replace the "#" with the episode number. Then you'd type the location of the outputted image and it's name, so you could say, "1\output.bmp" or "endscreen\ending.bmp". (The directory you exporting to must already exist!) If you importing you'd first type the location of the image your importing and it's name. Then you'd type the name of the "finale.ck#" file you want it in. (The imported image can be no bigger or smaller than the original.) Okay lets quickly test our new skills and export and import a new image for Keen1's ending screen. Copy the "finale.ck1" file into the end screen programs folder and create a directory named "1". We're going to export our image into that directory. Then type in this text and hit enter/return, fin2bmp –b finale.ck1 1\endscreen.bmp the bmp should be in the folder titled one. Open the folder and edit image anyway you like then save it. Now type in this text to import the new image, fin2bmp –f 1\endscreen.bmp finale.ck1 copy the updated file into a folder containing Keen1 and test the new ending screen. You'll notice after testing that the exported end screen doesn't have the image of light in Keen's room being turn on. This is found when you use the program modkeen, just sift through the images exported by it and edit that one. Limitations and Tips Please note there are probably other limitations and advantages that you'll run into but finding them is part of the fun. In Keen1 you can change the location of the four items Keen must collect in the images file, but when the game displays these items it looks for them at their default locations so it'll display a floor tile if that's what you have there. In Keen1 the rope you shoot in the end to kill the Vorticon commander is a default tile and the rock tiles that fall are default too. In Keen1 done tiles displayed when you complete a level are default. In a previous article we discussed making a "bat" file to execute several commands at once. You can also use them manually export and import stuff from modkeen and the end screen program. In Keen1 there is two background tiles, the second background tile is tile 276, you can use tileinfo to locate it. (I'm pretty sure it's the lower left tile of the pogo sign.) Any items or points you want to use the second background tile must be located below it. Drawing Tiles and Animation I'm not going to teach you how to draw or animate anything but show you how I do it and maybe that'll help you a little bit. We'll use this image as our first reference for drawing, "http://www.commanderkeen.net/cknews/screens/misc5_a.bmp". The first thing I like to do is come up with an idea of what to draw. After coming up with this idea I'll sketch it on paper or the computer. (Sketching things can also help you come up with ideas.) I always try to capture the emotion I want in the image in the sketch and leave the detail for later. For this image I wanted to draw a base on a mountain, so in part "a" you see the sketch. The next thing I needed to do was create some mountains that looked 3d but kept the feel of the sketch; it was pretty hard to translate that exact feel into 3d but it's seen in part "b". In part "c" I color the image and add some stuff to it, one might be tempted to call the image done at this point but it could still use a bit more depth. So in part "d" I do detailed coloring to add extra depth. Part "e" is just the background applied. The next image is, "http://www.commanderkeen.net/cknews/screens/misc6_a.bmp". I've already come up with the idea when I start drawing, I just have to figure out how to draw it. The idea is to have a several snake heads covered in flames continually reaching to the sky biting, it's to be a replacement of the flames in Keen1. In part one I try to draw a concept of the snake, I'm disappointed by it, but it's just a sketch and can be improved later. Part two is a concept for the flames and color usage. The third part is part two applied to an object, I think it looks like a hand. In part "4" I decide to simplify the snake head and draw a sketch of it sideways since it's easer for me. Then in part "5" and "6" I animate it. Since I want more than one snake head I spilt the head up in part "7". Eight through eleven is these being colored. Now in part twelve I combine the two pictures, it looks very bad so I decide one is enough. In part "13" I add some more detail and finish. The final product wasn't very satisfactory to me as an animator since I'm not one, but I'm learning from it just the same. Well I've bored you enough with these articles, so goodbye, and may you fair well at making MODs. - Forge315 ----------------------------------------------- [2] Fan Game Reviews (if you want your game reviewed please email "forge315@commanderKeen.net") Rating System Horrible (1-2) Bad (3-4) Okay (5-6) Good (7-8) Excellent! (9-10) [2.1] Elf Land Game Rating: Good Quality - 7/10 Originality - 7/10 Keenishness - 7/10 Overall - 7/10 (average of above) download game here: http://www.dosgames.com/g_side2.php You're an elf in Elf Land and the Trolls are threatening to invade the elf village you live in. The grand elf says that in order to defeat the trolls you'll need the help of the alchemist Gorgimer, maybe he can concoct up something useful for you to use against the trolls. There's a lot of real quality in this game, like when you go underground into a cave the screen darkens, and the other elfs in elf village will talk to you lengthy. The game also has items you'll need to use on your quest, such as in a castle that belongs to Gorgimer you'll find some armor that'll protect you, and there's that item that Gorgimer will give you. The graphics are a little plain but remain creative. There's water, trees, clouds, a castles, and caves. The foes are nice but maybe a little traditional, such as the bird, other foes exist though like a spring. Gameplay is pretty good. The controls are instantly familiar with any sidescroller fan, and since there's a bit more of a plot game will engage you more. I've only played the first episode of this two part game, and found it to be pretty good. I got stuck towards the later half of the game, and wasn't able to finish it the way it was supposed to, I had reached a point I couldn't get past and couldn't figure out how to. After bashing the whole keyboard a couple time a cheat was activated, I've never been able to find this cheat on any websites so it's probably never been released so don't bother looking. This game however is still worth playing. - Forge315 ----------------------------------------------- [3] Website Reviews (If you want your website reviewed, please email "yorpy@commanderkeen.net") Rating System Horrible (1-2) Bad (3-4) Okay (5-6) Good (7-8) Excellent! (9-10) [3.1] TOMTOMTOM.com Site Rating: Excellent Quality - 10/10 Originality - 10/10 Keenishness - N/A Overall - 10/10 http://www.tomtomtom.com/ This is Tom Hall's personal website. It has a nice design, it is easy to find your way around, and the graphics are pretty cool -- a lot of green though. There's lots of stuff to read about. Some news on what Tom is interested in and doing currently and then some information on Tom's history in the gaming business. Also there is an extensive time line with all games Tom has ever been involved with. Random little things all over make the site cool. Worth a visit. - Yorpy ---------------------- [3.2] Commander Keendom Site Rating: Excellent Quality - 8/10 Originality - 9/10 Keenishness - 10/10 Overall - 9/10 http://cosmicoding.com/Keendom/ This site seems to be somewhat ignored but it really shouldn't be. It has a lot to offer! It has an awesome design with some really cool graphics. It is a apparent a lot of time has been put into the site. The main attractions on the site are CK 4 completely in SGA, a walkthrough to beat Keen 6 without getting a single point, and directions on how to ride a blooglet. There is also a screenshot of the day sorta thing that you can submit your own screenshots to. Many of the sections are empty on the site but once they're filled in this will become one of the better Keen sites out there. - Yorpy ---------------------- [3.3] Yet Another Commander Keen Page Site Rating: Good Quality - 9/10 Originality - 8/10 Keenishness - 8/10 Overall - 8/10 http://durdin.net/andy/keen/ This is the site of master programmer Andrew Durdin. The site is very simple and mainly a place to download his nifty little programs. On the site you can download the new improved SGA font, a little mod (I guess you call it that) where you can be a vorticon from Grunt to Vortininja, an utility to edit the finale and preview files for Keens 1-3, ModKeen for changing the tiles, KeenEdit to make new levels, some Keen 4 graphics and level decoding, and some music stuff. Definately worth a visit for those who are interested in making their own mod or learning more about the technical aspects of the Commander Keen games. - Yorpy ----------------------------------------------- [4] Monthly Fiction [4.1] Chapter 2 of Chris' Story Chapter 2 The intercom crackled. "Your first mistake, Blaze, was your routine. I've watched you come to this planet every week for months now. I've only been waiting for the right opportunity to unleash my most brilliant plan ever! "That piece of metal with the flashing light, what was that thing?" Keen asked. "That, Mr. Three-Fourteen, is called a Merger. I got it on my last trip to Dimorphius II. When it is activated, if two life forms touch it, they are instantly merged into one being. I might as well be calling you Commander Yorp now." Mortimer's voice began to chuckle. Spot is. INSIDE me?, Keen wondered. What else about me has it changed? "I'm actually slightly disappointed, Keen. I was rather hoping that you would be walking around with stumpy legs and no arms. Still, seeing you stagger around out there like a Fleex with an ear infection made it all worth it." More laughter came from the intercom. "But. why?" "Why? My mission in life is to destroy the galaxy, but every time I have attempted to do so, YOU come in the nick of time! The simple solution would be to destroy you. the genius solution would be to humiliate you. Thus, here you stand, Yorp-boy. With your new "features", there's no way you could stop me now." "I'll still find a way, Mortimer. I could beat you with my eyes closed!" Keen retorted. "Ah ah ah, Keen, don't you mean EYE? And that's not the only thing this yorp- merger has done to you. I'll be surprised if you're even able to leave this solar system." "But." "Blaze, as much as I'd love to continue this conversation, I have other pressing matters of mass destruction to deal with." The intercom clicked off. "Mortimer." muttered Keen. "Blast his little one-point-higher-on-the-IQ-test brain! He thinks he's SOOO invincible. but first things first. Let's figure out what parts of me have turned Spotty." Keen laughed to himself at his bad joke, then stripped to just his underpants to analyze. "All right," Keen said, after he had finished undressing, "In addition to my single eye, my stomach area has turned green, and I have only two toes. The stomach thing shouldn't be a problem, but at least I know now why I've been stumbling. I hereby promise that if I get out of this, I will appreciate my toes a whole lot more." Keen paused. "Wow. There's a sentence that I never thought I'd say in my entire life." Keen practiced walking around. The bottom of his feet felt harder, as though the skin was tougher somehow. He put his clothes back on, opened up the door of his ship and stepped out onto the surface of Io. "Amazing," Keen thought. Keen took a few hesitant steps, then started running around. "It's easier to walk around barefoot now than with my shoes on! I think my vision is a bit more blurry, but it's nothing I can't handle. Mortimer, your plan hardly worked at all!" Keen threw his hands into the air in triumph, but just as he was about to walk back to the ship to stop Mortimer, Keen heard an awful sound, a short-circuiting of some kind. his Ankh-Bubble!! Keen realized that he never turned it off when he entered the ship, and since it had been on for several hours, its power was wearing out. "If this thing gives out while I'm not in the ship, I'll die!" Keen blurted. He ran back to the ship, hoping to make it in time. *FNIZZ* The Ankh-Bubble sounded a final burst, then shut down. Commander Keen, defender of the universe, fell down onto his hands and knees, gasping for air. TO BE CONTINUED. - Chris (c) ----------------------------------------------- [5] Keen Community News Christmas is over, but now it's time for New Year's! Happy New Year and have a keen time! By the way, be careful with your fireworks! :) [5.1] New Mod Ready Xtraverse has finished his second mod - a very well made one, too. Find out more from this Public Commander Keen Forum topic: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpubliccommanderkeenforumothercommanderkeenstuff.showM essage?topicID=543.topic ---------------------- [5.2] First Keen Skin If we don't count Andy's Vorticon skin for Keen 1-3, this is the first fan- created skin for Commander Keen. It doesn't include any levels or other graphics, just the player skin. Find out more about Manboy's creation here: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpubliccommanderkeenforumothercommanderkeenstuff.showM essage?topicID=535.topic ---------------------- [5.3] Some Keen Art Again Again, some more quality stuff. Yeah, you can find familiar names there! :) Some droolworthy 3D Bean-with-Bacon Megarocket pics by Slasher are right here: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpubliccommanderkeenforumothercommanderkeenstuff.showM essage?topicID=522.topic The Gang's All Here - by Xtraverse http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpubliccommanderkeenforumothercommanderkeenstuff.showM essage?topicID=539.topic A Commander Keen Christmas e-card by Keengamer http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpubliccommanderkeenforumothercommanderkeenstuff.showM essage?topicID=526.topic And send one to your friend too.. :) http://www.freewebz.com/jawawars/ck-ecard/ecard.html Thanks to Killspy, there's a new Christmas emotikeen at the PCKF. Read more here: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpubliccommanderkeenforumothercommanderkeenstuff.showM essage?topicID=534.topic Make one appear by writing :christmas ! :) And Manboy's very cool winter-themed picture. You need to check it out here: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpubliccommanderkeenforumothercommanderkeenstuff.showM essage?topicID=545.topic ---------------------- [5.4] Bad Astronomy in Keen? This is for geex only (no, not fleex): http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpubliccommanderkeenforumothercommanderkeenstuff.showM essage?topicID=528.topic ---------------------- [5.5] Keen 4 in SGA Yeah, that's true! Just follow the link! :) http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpubliccommanderkeenforumothercommanderkeenstuff.showM essage?topicID=530.topic ---------------------- [5.6] Commander Keen 2003 Calendar Too Much Spare Time has released the Commander Keen Calendar! Be sure to print it off and hang it on the wall of your clubhouse! http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpubliccommanderkeenforumothercommanderkeenstuff.showM essage?topicID=549.topic ---------------------- [5.7] (Almost) New Keen Site Zorath has totally redesigned his old Keen site and renamed it. The new name is Commander Keen Maximum and you can find it here: http://www20.brinkster.com/te87/ ---------------------- [5.8] Wannabe a Sprite? No no no! I'm not talking about that drink, I'm talking about the cool patch for Keen 4 that turns you into a Sprite (that albino rat-like thing that shoots energy blasts in the Well of Wishes). It's made by Xtraverse and is really cool - and remember: it's made only for the Well of Wishes, so there may be some bugs and crashes if you run other levels with that patch. Get it right here: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpubliccommanderkeenforumothercommanderkeenstuff.showM essage?topicID=550.topic ---------------------- [5.9] Games 'n' Games BlueIllusionX has released some neat screenshots from his upcoming Keen game called Commander Keen Masked Crusades: Asinos Uphail. Check them out right here: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpimentogamedevelopment.showMessage?topicID=661.topic Bloogaurd tells some news about his game's progress: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpimentogamedevelopment.showMessage?topicID=661.topic Killspy's Flash Keen game is near completion. And if my knowledge is correct, it's the first Keen game ever made in Flash! Check out the topic here: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpimentogamedevelopment.showMessage?topicID=648.topic Have you ever played this astounding QBasic-made Keen game? Find out: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpimentogamedevelopment.showMessage?topicID=655.topic Some news about GooberMan's Keen fan game: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpimentogamedevelopment.showMessage?topicID=653.topic ---------------------- See you again in the next issue... and in the next year, too! :) - KeenRush :) ----------------------------------------------- [6] Miscellaneous Stuff [6.1] Fan Art We have box and manual scan for Goodbye Galaxy this month. Box: http://www.commanderkeen.net/cknews/screens/art30_b.zip Manual: http://www.commanderkeen.net/cknews/screens/art31_b.zip ---------------------- [6.2] Announcements Next month we'll have an interview with MRC Marky about a fan game he and friend of his called Gorf are making. And an interview with Keen fan Keengamer about his fan game. There's probably something else *did I leave the fridge door open* but who knows right! :/ Go check out our website, we've changed the design; it's under construction but it'll be better than before after about a week of off and on work. The new look is in credit to Marky, he created the design many months ago and even forgot about it, but we still found it and used it! :D Our Homepage: http://www.commanderkeen.net/cknews/ Actually at this moment it's close to 12 at night and I don't wanna upload and test the new design, so it'll be uploaded tomorrow and finished over this week and the next. Goodnight Keeners, *snore* - Forge315 ---------------------- [6.3] Credits Too Much Spare Time: some Proofreading KeenRush: The news MRCMarky/AEWorld: internal comments guy, and the new web design! Yorpy: Website reviews Forge315: Newsletter composition Other thanks: The six year-old Tom for talking to us during break-time in kindergarten, "thanks Tom!" Chris for the second part of his story and Xtraverse for being interviewed! ----------------------------------------------- "Swim swim hungry, swim swim hungry. I'm gonna eat a monkey!"