Many years ago, the Commander Keen series left the fans waiting for the next chapter entitled "The Universe is Toast". Promising the return of Mortimer McMire and most likely a slew of new aliens for Billy Blaze to stun, squash, or just plain avoid on his way to the goal of stopping Mortimer's evil plans. However, as any fan knows, Id software went on to bigger and, technologically speaking, better things. Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake and other games demonstrated that the company was more interested in technology than pure entertainment. Certainly these games were entertaining, but any true Keen fan knows that there was that special something that you just couldn't quite explain, something that added an inexplicable seductive quality that can be described as nothing less than pure fun. Many fans now attribute this quality to the work of Tom Hall, who no longer has the rights to continue the series.

    Since the mid-nineties, there have been many games created by fans, mostly the annoying Klick-n-Play generated material. However there have been a few quality projects, most notably The Mystery of Isis II, with a completely new engine. Sadly, the leader behind Isis dropped the project and moved on.

A sprite editing tool is nearly complete. For now, here is a beta version. You can grab the source as well! At this point, it looks like the sprite editor and the tile editor may become one integrated tool, as their purpose is very similar. Much of the work that went into the tile editor was brought over for using in the sprite editor, so there was little effort wasted.

Here are a few screen shots from the tech demo. Screen 1 Screen 2 Screen 3

The third tech demo is up! Download it here.
This demonstrates the most substantial changes in the game to date. Some of the changes are apparent in the demo and some are not. First of all, the demo is truly interactive! Instead of panning around the demo map, you get to walk and jump around! Plus this demo uses the new architecture which allows for better error handling and system interaction. Simply put, while not visibly apparent, the game is more stable. Finally, you might notice a smaller file size - less than 100k! We changed the graphics so they compress a lot smaller. You can just view the readme file if you want, but it is included in the demo zip and for 100k, why not just download the big file?

Previous tech demos:
Second tech demo download here.
readme file.
First tech demo download here.
readme file.

    We are in the process of creating our own Keen game, complete with a new in-house DirectX engine.
This engine is being designed and developed such that modifications will be relatively easy. (To somebody with a little programming knowledge and an appropriate compiler.)
With that in mind, as of the last update to this page, we have completed the following:

    We are more than willing to accept any help offered! But let's get this clear: This game will not cost anything, do not expect to make any money from this. (See the donations page.) That said, there are specific areas where help would be more appreciated than others. Specifically: Graphics and Sound. Ideas for Actors, Levels and any other creative content are welcomed! (Talk about an easy way to get your name in the credits!)
Zach (the project leader) is the software engineer behind the engine. He claims no artistic abilities, and is nearly desperate for somebody to help out in these areas. Also, Zach isn't particularly interested in writing the input and sound code.
If you're interested in contributing to the project, feel free to contact Zach.
Note: Please make the subject something that will catch his eye. He gets a lot of junk spam in that email address.