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-5: July 27, 2002 Working Title: Fan Art (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 Newsletter Index: [1] Featured Articles [1.1] Interview with TMST, (To Much Spare Time) [2] Fan Game Reviews [2.1] Yorphius II [3] Website Reviews [3.1] The Distortion of Mr. Billy Blaze [3.2] The Chasm of Strife [3.3] Korath III [4] Monthly Fiction [4.1] [5] Keen Community News [5.1] Keen Awards 2002 are here! [5.2] First mods released! [5.3] Korath III gets better 'n' better! [5.4] Cool stuff in The Chasm of Strife.. [5.5] Finales! [5.6] New fan games started.. :) [5.7] Something from therealdopefish.. [5.8] John Romero has a message board now! [5.9] Commander Keen Vault redesigned.. [5.10] Monthly "The Universe Is Toast!" thinking. :) [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 TMST CK-Newsletter: Where did you grow up and how did you come to be where you are? TMST: I have lived all my life thus far in the South Island of New Zealand (Baaa!). My early childhood was spent in two small towns (small, even by NZ standards!), until I started school in a not-so-small-but-still-small town called Timaru, where I spent the next ten years, and first discovered Commander Keen during my last year there. After that, my folks moved up to a similar redneck town called Nelson, where I spent my remaining 3 and a half years of high school, before gaining university entrance and moving to Christchurch, the South Island's largest city (but still small!) That's where I am now, chipping away at a science degree. Question: Do you have a life long plan to be an artist and to pursue it as a career? What kind of job do you have now? Answer: At the moment I'm studying computer science and astronomy at university. Although in recent years I have managed to make some money from cartooning, I'm not one to put all my eggs in one basket. Of course I'll continue making cartoons et cetera, but making money off it isn't the motivation, so I wouldn't aim to make a career solely from that. I'll probably publish a book of cartoons some day, so keep watching out for that... (-: Question: What is your interest in art? How would you say this is related to your interest in comedy? Answer: My interest in art is a result of being able to draw, not the other way around. In both cases, ie comedy & graphic art, I'm just using the medium to communicate a story or theme. I've always believed that more people will generally be interested in something if it's humorous. I would probably have gone down the "writing" road, rather than drawing, if I hadn't thought of big, long books as BORING when I was at primary school! (Shock, horror!) So when I started coming up with ideas that would have made great stories, I thought to myself, "Why would anybody want to read a bunch of BORING words that I wrote, when they can save hours of reading time if I simply go to the extra trouble of compressing my story into graphical form?" If a picture is worth a 1000 words, then I could encourage more people to "read" my stories if I could save them some time, at the cost of some of my own time. This worked okay for a while, until I had to admit that my drawing style had developed to the stage where it was taking TOO much time. Coincidentally, I ended up joining the university's Comedy Club at about this time, and I discovered a new medium for my humourous writing: The Stage! (Wow, that was a long, boring, wordy answer! I should have drawn it as a cartoon instead!) Question: Does your comedic ability rival your artistic ability? Answer: Although I consider myself a cartoonist as opposed to a comedian, there is no rivalry between my comedic and artistic abilities. The two work together in peace and harmony, so everybody wins. (Awww.) Question: How ranged are your art abilities? Can you draw realistic things? Answer: I can draw realistic things, but why bother? They're already realistic, and I want to make a difference! When I was 15 I consciously decided to stop regularly drawing realistic things and seriously develop my cartooning skills instead. The next year when I took art at high school, I did a bit of semi-surrealist painting. I suppose I just get a kick out of making people think "What the hell?" instead of "Ooo, that looks just like the real thing." Question: Animation is a challenging thing, most artists can’t animate very well or not at all; how good are you at animation? Answer: (Laughs) I'm getting better. Many years ago I did a lot of short stop-motion animations with an old video camera. Actually animating 2-D drawings is equally tricky, especially when you're trying to imitate the astounding stuff that they did back in the day with the old Warner Bros cartoons. There are a lot of tricks and shortcuts that you discover, though. Of course, most modern animators use computer animation programs, but I can't seem to find any such programs for my computer! (Help me, somebody!) Question: People find solace in personal habits and skills; does drawing do this for you? Answer: "The act of drawing can be one of those familiar activities that distract the artist from the rigour and horrors of real life," eh? (Laughs) Hmmm, that's close enough. When I am drawing, I am making Order of Chaos, which is all good. Question: In your opinion what would you consider to be Keenish art? Answer: Keenish Art: Pop Art centred around Commander Keen. Anything from graffiti (tsk tsk) to clay sculpture. It's pretty obvious what Keenish art is, regardless of my opinion! Question: What games do you like, and what games don’t you like? Answer: Firstly, I like the old platform games from the early-mid 90's (Commander Keen, Jill of the Jungle, Jazz Jackrabbit). However, secondly, I'm a sucker for games with enjoyable music, regardless of how bad the actual game is (Word Rescue)! Thirdly, an interesting storyline or background scenario can make a "good" game "GREAT" (Monkey Island, Mortal Kombat). Fourthly, I enjoy games that have some unusual twist to them that alienate them from the genre that they might otherwise belong to (Sleepwalker, Pushover, and numerous games that I made in QBasic when I was into that from 1995-1998). These 4 reasons are why I reckon Lemmings 2 is about my favourite game overall. I do not like first-person games, irrespective of how violent or clever they are, or how often they feature semi- s who need to be rescued from mutant aliens! (-; Even if Commander Keen was made into a 1st person game, I probably wouldn't play it for very long. I just don't have the sense of direction to survive in a 3-D world that takes up a tiny percentage of one's field of vision. And the way the world's going in this direction, increasingly more games are becoming "simulations" rather than adventures, and well, you already know what I'm like when it comes to "that looks just like the real thing" stuff. Or maybe I'm just getting too old for computer games... Naaah. Question: Other than drawing and playing computer games, what else do you like to do? Answer: Did I mention that I'm also a musician? I make a bit of music every now and then, which I sometimes use in the short films that I create with my friends here at uni. [PLUG="CHEESY" SHAME=0] If you would like to know what I do in my spare time, you could visit my "Too Much Spare Time" website! It's at http://www.tmst.co-inc.com [/PLUG] CK-Newsletter: Thanks for the time, :) TMST: No probs, I've got plenty of it to Spare. (-; ----------------------------------------------- [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] Yorphius II Game Rating Good (8/10) Quality - 8/10 Originality - 8/10 Keenishness - 9/10 Overall - 8/10 This was the first MOD every released, and it has set a good standard by which other MODs will be judged. It’s true that soon afterwards Xky Rauh, released his MOD, and many people declared it as good as Keen1 or better; but this MOD in my opinion is still the standard for MODs, whereas Xky Rauh’s, MOD is the standard for great MODs. What makes this MOD good? It’s graphics, storyline, level design, and secrets. Graphically the game keeps up with the Keen feel, it has vibrant textures that vary from nice green grass, to white marble, to mountainish snow, and other interior tiles. The games splash screen and ending screen could use a bit of work, but they’re still Keenish and I liked them. Then there’s the foes, they very good, but not perfect. The storyline is creative, although a bit redundant where your mission is to rescue your kidnapped/lost pet. However that kind of theme is a good tradition and doesn’t spoil the game in the least. So you as Commander Keen, travel to mysterious planet Yorphius II, where the alien inhabitants have kidnapped your pet yorp Spot. When Keen arrives he finds Spot, in a cage, he tries to open the cage but discovers he needs four activators to do this. He doesn’t despair though, he heads out across the ancient planet of Yorphius II, to find these activators and get whoever’s responsible for kidnapping Spot. Easter eggs, does that name hold meaning to you? Well if you ever went on an egg hunt at Easter, or have played enough games, than you should know that it means a well-hidden secret that’s usually funny; or in the case of Easter the chief egg would have a nice sum of money. Well this MOD has some clever Easter eggs, but I can’t tell you about them, sorry. Despite the shortcomings I have mentioned before, there’s one I won’t dismiss and that’s the level design. It’s good and challenging, but sometimes to challenging; it made the mistake of not allowing you to know if you were going to die before jumping many times. What this means, is that sometimes the only way to make it through a level is to enter it repeatedly, until you find all the death spots. This kind of level design in my opinion is the mark of an amateur level designer, but KeenRush’s, levels are definitely a good part of the game; despite their shortcomings that is. So this Mod has it’s shortcomings, but doesn’t suck and instead is Keenish to the end. - 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] The Distortion of Mr. Billy Blaze Excellent (9/10) Quality - 8/10 Originality - 10/10 Keenishness - 10/10 Overall - 9/10 link to site here This site is home to some really creative art work. There are three sections of Keen art. The first section are distortions which seem to me to look like carpet but are still neat. Also in that section are some Keen spheres which look nice. Next there is a drawings section with one quick sketch of Keen running. Last there is a section called other which I think is the coolest. It has advertisements for objects and creatures in the Keen games, some of them are quite amusing. The site is easy to navigate and there are a lot of pictures but they didn't seem to take that long to load even on dialup. It is hard to tell but it seems like the site hasn't been updated in a while but it is still worth a visit to see the author's talent. ---------------------- [3.2] The Chasm of Strife Excellent (9/10) Quality - 10/10 Originality - 10/10 Keenishness - 9/10 Overall - 9/10 link to site here Formerly the Chasm of Chills, this site contains a Commander Keen comic updated about every week or so. Done by a fan named Too Much Spare Time, this comic is very amusing and his sense of humor can be found throughout the site. The site is well designed with bright Keenish colors and easy to move from section to section. There is even an archive section so earlier works from TMST can be viewed. All graphics on the site are done by TMST too. This site is really cool and its worth checking out to see the new comic every week or so. Don't forget to scroll to the bottom to see the Dopefish of the Week! - Yorpy ---------------------- [3.3] Korath III Excellent (9/10) Quality - 10/10 Originality - 10/10 Keenishness - 9/10 Overall - 9/10 link to it here A source for many well made javascript programs, this site is pretty neat. There are programs for encoding and decoding the Standard Galatic Alphabet, a Commander Keen Quiz, and HangKeen complete with cool graphics. The site has a menu to choose which program you would like to view with descriptions as well. The site is constantly being worked on and coming soon is a Virtual Bounder program which seems very interesting. So if you're ever online looking for something Keenish to do check out this site and play these games. - Yorpy ----------------------------------------------- [4] Monthly Fiction [4.1] We're working on getting a more stable monthly fiction or something equivalent. ----------------------------------------------- [5] Keen Community News Hi Keeners, the Commander Keen Newsletter has a new news reporter, KeenRush. If you have some hot 'n' good Keen related news, please e-mail them for me to keenrush@commanderkeen.net and I'll take a look at them are they keenish enough to get here. Enjoy the news! :) [5.1] Keen Awards 2002 are here! I don't know much about these, because this is my first year in the Commander Keen Community, but if my knowledge is correct, there have been Keen Awards before... The basic idea in Keen Awards is give keenish trophies to the Keeners around the world. There are many categories, for example programming, drawing and stuff like that. Voting will happen through the Keen Forum polls, and there is now a whole new forum for the Keen Awards 2002. Check out it right here: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpubliccommanderkeenforumfrm12 And remember to vote there! One of our Vorticon Elders, Flaose, is doing hard work behind the awards; thanks for him! Also, different Keen fans around the world are making those Keen-related trophies. And by the way, Keen Awards 2002 should end at August 4, 2002 if the date doesn't change. :) ---------------------- [5.2] First mods released! The first Keen mods with graphics, levels and other stuff are now released! First I, KeenRush, released my mod, Commander Keen in the Yorphius II. After some days, we saw the arrival of the mod "Commander Keen: Episode X", made by a Keener called Xky. And I can tell you - it is good! Be sure to test both of them, they're worth playing.. You can find Commander Keen in the Yorphius II here: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpubliccommanderkeenforumothercommanderkeenstuff.showMe ssage?topicID=377.topic And Commander Keen: Episode X you can find here: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpubliccommanderkeenforumothercommanderkeenstuff.showMe ssage?topicID=382.topic Big thanks to Andrew Durdin making those Keen 1-3 editors! ---------------------- [5.3] Korath III gets better 'n' better! First of all, Korath III has changed host from Tripod to Geocities. Naturally the new address is: http://www.geocities.com/korathiii/ Be sure to visit there, Korath III has done again new Keen Javascript stuff, this time there is game called HangKeen, well worth trying out! And he is also working with a new game, Virtual Bounder, which sounds good! ---------------------- [5.4] Cool stuff in The Chasm of Strife.. Too Much Spare Time's famous new Keen comic site has lots of cool stuff. However, there is something different coming. TMST gave the Keen community a trailer some weeks ago. Check it out right here, if you haven't seen it already: http://www.thisstrife.com/sluggy/xteaser.htm ---------------------- [5.5] Finales! Thanks to Andrew (once again :D ), now it's possible to edit Commander Keen 320 x 200 pictures. Those are finale and preview pictures. Visit in the link below, to find our more: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpubliccommanderkeenforumtheoriginalcommanderkeenga.sho wMessage?topicID=348.topic ---------------------- [5.6] New fan games started.. :) Also this month, some people have started to make Commander Keen fan games. Here's the info, in no particular order: Atomic Ryoku has started a new Keen game called Commander Keen's RANT BATTLE, which has an interesting story behind it. You can read more about it here: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpimentogamedevelopment.showMessage?topicID=459.topic Nickssoft has done a new Commander Keen game, "Super Keen Fighter". You can download it here: http://www.commanderkeen.net/files/game47_1.zip LinkTempletonTM has embarked upon creating the great unmade game, Commander Keen 6 [Shouldn't this be "7"? Episode 6 was "Aliens Ate My Babysitter" - TMST.] "The Universe Is Toast". More can be found by checking this link: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpimentogamedevelopment.showMessage?topicID=467.topic There may be more. Yorpy and I have started a Keen fan game too, but there isn't any topic about it yet. Maybe you'll hear something about it later. ;) ---------------------- [5.7] Something from therealdopefish.. Pieter Jordaan, therealdopefish, sent us three new screenshots of RKP3, and a small demo. The demo allows you to use platform, pogo stick, and gun for shooting. :) Read more here: http://www.commanderkeen.net/game4.htm ---------------------- [5.8] John Romero has a message board now! And the great thing in that, is that he and Tom Hall post there and answer all the little questions what we fans ask. So, go and check it out from: http://rome.ro/ ---------------------- [5.9] Commander Keen Vault redesigned.. I have totally redesigned my Commander Keen site, Commander Keen Vault. There is also some new stuff and more is coming all the time. You can check it out and remember to sign the guestbook too: http://www.commanderkeen.net/keenvault/ ---------------------- [5.10] Monthly "The Universe Is Toast!" thinking. :) Could it ever be done? Will they make it? Every year, month, week, day, hour, et cetera. We always think about it. And of course this bit of news doesn't say that it will come or anything. Monkeystone has just turned one year old! Happy birthday to them! Anyways, here is some interesting stuff from the Monkeystone website: "We are going to smash out some great titles in the coming year on almost every platform imaginable." Could that mean one thing? Hmmm... Let's look for more! "We've formed fantastic partnerships and made and published several quality games, and that was just a warm-up!" Fantastic partnership with iD? It could be.. :) Hmmm... That was just a warm-up. So, they're going to make more games! Lot's of more games! But, what about the missing final chapter of the Commander Keen saga, "The Universe Is Toast!"? Of course I don't know if it will ever come. But I hope it will. And I'm pretty sure that it will arrive someday. The original Keens are so dated nowadays that the new computer players haven't even heard of them. They would just buy the new Keen games and think Wow, this Commander Keen is so cool! I hope there's more coming! And then Monkeystone could just make some more Keen games.. :D And that's what we Keeners want! At least I can't wait the moment when I open my totally new Commander Keen in "The Universe is Toast!" box, take out the CD, install the game and start to play it like mad.. :) You can visit in the Monkeystone's site at: http://www.monkeystone.com/ ---------------------- That's all for this month, see you in the next one! ;) - KeenRush ----------------------------------------------- [6] Miscellaneous Stuff [6.1] Fan Art This is Forge315, speaking, as you can see we have a new section; we don’t know who will be updating it or how often it’ll be updated. Although we do know that MRC, will be a contributor to it and we hope you will too. This month we have two peaces of fan art, the first one’s a desktop background made by MRC, and the second one’s a sketch of some Keen foes by Korath III. Background, http://www.commanderkeen.net/screens/fanart21_2.zip Sketch, http://www.commanderkeen.net/screens/fanart20_2pg And for additional older art go to, http://www.commanderkeen.net/fanart.htm ---------------------- [6.2] Announcements It was bound to happen sooner or later, and it has, one of our members has left; VolteFace, is now officially off the newsletter. However two off our active members, Yorpy and me, discussed the matter and decided on a replacement. You probably know him, he’s KeenRush; welcome aboard! Also in special occasion of the Keen Awards, we’ll have two issues in August. The Newsletter’s website should be getting a redesign before the end of the year. We’re still working out exactly how and what to do in this redesign, but it will definitely be better. - Forge315 ---------------------- [6.3] Credits Too Much Spare Time: Proofreading KeenRush: The news MRCMarky/AEWorld: Fan art Yorpy: Website reviews Forge315: Newsletter composition Other thanks: VolteFace, for being a great member and long time community contributor. ----------------------------------------------- "Swim swim hungry, swim swim hungry." Burp!