Commander Keen Level Maps

helb | 179 points

I spent so many hours playing the first game as a kid, decoding the alphabet (which I would later discover it tells you how to read in episode 2 or 3 anyway), trying to get every last item, etc.

My favourite bit was the dark, fiery secret tunnel underneath one of the larger levels (http://www.commander-keen.com/levelmaps/1/013.gif), which teleports you to the city on the right-hand side of the world map at the bottom of the level maps page, not really visible from the map screen when going between the main cities... but I no longer remember which of these maps is that city, alas

(or maybe not alas: I hope I've put some more currently useful information in that part of my brain instead. Thanks for the nostalgia!)

coroxout | 7 years ago

The entire top half of Keen 3 map 8 is inaccessible because of incorrectly placed blocks:

http://www.commander-keen.com/levelmaps/3/008.gif

It's not necessary to complete the level, and it's harder to notice when your screen doesn't have the resolution to see the whole thing at once, but it's interesting that it was released like this.

mrob | 7 years ago

A few years ago Tom Hall almost accomplished to release the source code of 4-6 online, i still can't believe we lost it on the final step. So close yet so far :(

I've created a twitter account just to ask Tom about the progress.

I still have hopes of seeing commander keen released as software libre.

Here's the discussion on twitter https://twitter.com/0samueloph/status/668911938844401664

samueloph | 7 years ago

I remember having Commander Keen on my 486 and it was the first game where I realized the levels were stored in plain ascii. Changing the ascii values would directly change the level... I lost so many hours of my life to that!

mrspeaker | 7 years ago

Man oh man. I was born in '91; Keen has a special place in my heart.

I remember when my father — a field-service engineer for then Digital (more server hardware than anything software) — brought home an early release of Windows 95 from a MSFT buddy. It was around this time of year, 1995.

I managed to install it on whatever hardware we had laying around the house. Cool beans.

Then I installed Keen. But the sound didn't work.

I asked father dearest. He fuddled around and couldn't figure it out. I tried a different pair of Soundblaster Speakers (looked like these https://iak.olx.ph/images_olxph/834942014_1_1000x700.jpg?buc...), but no dice.

Then I realized that it wasn't the speakers but the game, because the sound worked otherwise! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miZHa7ZC6Z0

I took my father's pager and scrolled through, looking for the MSFT guy. I called him at 9am the next day. "Hi msft guy my name is joshmn I am guy-from-digital's son; I have a question about the operating system I have on this disk. Do you have a moment?"

I remember my mom standing in the kitchen saying "what are you doing joshmn?" "Mom please one moment I am talking to the msft guy"

She almost died laughing.

I explained my issue with Keen and sound. I can only imagine he was amused.

Luckily for me, his son had the same issue! It required a simple change in a text file somewhere, I can't remember where, but after an hour I finally figured it out.

Same guy traded a SEGA Genesis for a whopping 23" CRT a few years later.

My mom says I was a smart kid. Sure, maybe, but little does she know about how I couldn't find the second DOOM floppy for the installer. To replace it, I took a Windows 95 floppy, put a different sticker over it, and tried my hardest to write (physically, on the label) the same exact design/letters/words of the other DOOM floppy, changing the 1/x for 2/x.

joshmn | 7 years ago

I remember playing Commander Keen 4 demo a lot (I finished all the demo levels) then searching for a free version full download in google. (I used to do that a lot when I was younger.) somehow they never yielded any free versions or downloads.

The game was a blast. Then I played and completed Keen 1 when it was released as freeware. They felt like completely different games (Keen 4 is a lot bigger game than Keen 1 which is like Duke 1 compared to Nukem 2).

I still have all 6 of them (Older me now knows how to get full versions without the stupid google search terms) but I no longer play them though they still as good as they used to be.

kronos29296 | 7 years ago

For those who don't know, it's made by id Software : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id_Software#Commander_Keen

speps | 7 years ago

Jason Scott has archived Commander Keen, playable in Browser via DosBox

https://archive.org/details/msdos_Commander_Keen_1_-_Maroone...

https://archive.org/details/msdos_Commander_Keen_2_-_The_Ear...

https://archive.org/details/msdos_Commander_Keen_4_-_Secret_...

https://archive.org/details/msdos__K6DEMO__shareware

https://archive.org/details/msdos_Commander_Keen_-_Keen_Drea...

Commander Keen created iD software.

Also noteworthy for the use of John Carmack's adaptive tile refresh to smooth scroll on early 90s PCs.

deepnet | 7 years ago

I very much enjoyed the speedruns of this game done by CapnClever on twitch. He has records on most official games and also has run some of the unofficial games.

It great to see someone running through levels I sweated blood and tears on as a kid.

https://m.twitch.tv/capnclever/profile

sharpercoder | 7 years ago

Commander Keen and Captain Comic, i do not think i spend more time on anything else at that age.

thinkMOAR | 7 years ago

aand we broke it.

Web archive to the rescue: https://web.archive.org/web/20170628072214/www.commander-kee...

_lce0 | 7 years ago

Related: Video from WeAreDevelopers Conference 2017, "The Early Days of Id Software - John Romero" [1]. Great nostalgia.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFziBfvAFnM

wyldfire | 7 years ago

Ah, such fond memories looking at these levels… This is where I learned my first command prompt skills – cd-ing through directories, dir /p-ing and running the various keen.exe programs :)

metakermit | 7 years ago
[deleted]
| 7 years ago

Some of those would make great posters.

I wish I could see the same for Jazz Jackrabbit.

Waterluvian | 7 years ago

related link, Commander Keen 4 play in your browser

https://classicreload.com/commander-keen-4-secret-of-the-ora...

though personally I prefer Crystal caves, have fond memories of playing it on computer in father's work https://classicreload.com/crystal-caves.html

Markoff | 7 years ago

Very fond memories indeed of playing this DOS game on old Celeron and Pentium II.

The game is honestly much better than the Marios and Sonics that it was trying to mimic (at least part 5 and 6 were IMO)

moovacha | 7 years ago

OMG I didnt know about Keen 1, 3, 5 and 6! Will have something to do in the weekend. I first played Keen 4 on floppy disks installed on Win 98.

vatotemking | 7 years ago

I discovered Commander Keen through a "software of the month club" 3.5" floppy disk delivered by mail

Dowwie | 7 years ago
cdubzzz | 7 years ago

What's up with the swastika in Keen 5 Level 4 (lower right corner)?

georgehdd | 7 years ago

Is the tool available that made these maps?

bluedino | 7 years ago