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Keen Day 2008 is almost upon us!

Who knows what sorts of interesting projects this year will bring?

In the off chance that you don't know, Keen Day is a special day in every Keener's heart - March 14 ... 3/14. Many Keeners try to have releases planned for Keen Day.

All we know so far is that KeenRush will (finally!) be putting up a new version of his site. (What took you so long, KR?! LOL, j/k.)

This is also the first Keen Day with the PCKF at its new phpBB home.
CK Guy 2008-03-10 14:22:12

The First Keen Website

Grandy has posted an interesting find at the Keen forum--fragments of the first Keen fansite, backed up on archive.org, and an indication that its last activity may have been late 1996.

According to the old CC314, "Arthur's 'Unofficial' Keen Page" was the first Keen fansite to ever be created. The link there is dead, of course, but fragments of the site do still exist in the Internet Archive - with the hint "Last Updated 01-11-96".

The actual fansite
Arthur's Home Page with a hint on this site

I know, it isn't that much left, but it's still a saved historical piece of Keen history!

Click here to see the PCKF post.
Commander Spleen 2008-02-26 16:05:38

Another Keen 3 Level Pack

shikadi's done it again! Yes, he's created another Keen 3 level pack. This brings his total up to three level packs in about a week!

This one seems to come in 'easy' 'normal' and 'hard' difficulty modes.

Check it out here.
CK Guy 2008-02-23 10:48:13

Kazuhiro's

A new keener, Kazuhiro, has just announced a project to do a remake of the entire Keen; Galaxy trilogy! This sounds like a very interesting and promising project. I personally shall be watching it very closely.

Right now it has two concurrent threads, one on the PCKF and one on K:M. Neither one has been declared to be the 'official' thread, as of yet.
CK Guy 2008-02-18 18:48:56

Some new level packs

A new member of Keen: Modding who goes by the name of "shikadi" has recently released a Keen 3 level pack, followed shortly thereafter by a Keen 1 level pack. Both do a very good job of following the same Keen-ish old-school style of the original levels, while adding a little extra something to keep you on your toes.

Find out about them here and here.

Be warned, however, that although the .zip files contain the executables, they do not include all of the necessary files. Just so you've been warned.
CK Guy 2008-02-18 18:48:33

NEW MOD! Harvey's Mod 2: 2D Disaster!

Levellord has resurfaced momentarily at Keen:Modding to release a long-buried mod. Harvey's Mod 2: 2D Disaster!



My goodness it's been a bit since I was last here...

Well, yesterday Sarah was around and about, and we got to looking around my old Keen folder, to shake out the cobwebs and play Keen Q, which reminded me a bit of an old collaborative project I'd done some months (Years?) back with ex-keener Harvey. As far as I was aware it was just a tileset, but it turned out we'd almost finnished an entire mod, how's that?

Well I thought to myself, I'd better see if I can post this, so a few short fixes later I came up with this: http://levellord.toxicsheep.com/Harvey2.zip

It is (Like both Harvey and me.) simple and crude. It has a rather plain tileset, that hearkens back to the early days of Keen modding (That admittedly I have yet to leave.) If you want 5 minutes of entertainment, download it, you might even enjoy a level or two.

Download

Keen:Modding thread
Commander Spleen 2007-12-05 03:35:58

NEW MOD! KeenQ - Justice on a Yellow Planet

Joriz (formerly known as ezjay) has released his very yellow mod of Commander Keen 2, entitled KeenQ - Justice on a Yellow Planet. Featuring some interesting graphical themes, it's a very welcome addition to the Keen modding community. Be warned, though--you'll probably spend a bit of time figuring out what kills you.



KeenQ
KeenQ Windows (with DOSBox to run it perfectly in Windows)
KeenQ Webpage

KeenQ PCKF Thread KeenQ Keen:Modding Thread
Commander Spleen 2007-11-13 20:38:12

The Keen Forum Moves!

At long last, the Public Commander Keen Forum has a new home, a phpBB forum hosted by Andy Durdin alongside the Keen:Modding forum on the durdin.net server.

The old ezBoard PCKF is now freezing over, with all topics locked as attention is shifted towards the new place.

Until the pckf.com domain is redirected to the new forum, the temporary address is http://pckf.keenmodding.org/. Get over there now, and get registered!

[Update: The redirection has been completed successfully. http://www.pckf.com/ is once again the official URL.]
Commander Spleen 2007-10-31 17:54:19

Commander Keen GZDoom Mod Takes Shape

Joe Capricorn has undertaken a project many (including myself) have considered an improbable feat--taking Doom and turning it into a viable platform game featuring Commander Keen. He has made excellent use of GZDoom's floating sector capabilities to create truly 3D environments, and it looks like he intends to adapt Commander Keen 4-6 into this style.

Several alpha screenshots have been made available, and can be viewed in the new Planet Keen Gallery.

"These two screenshots show a very very basic preview of what Keen Doom is going to look like. They turned out really well, despite any texture with cyan turning into a strange color of blue."

"Some of the hardest parts are ... implementing a score system [and] high score - that could even be impossible. I'll have to wait until the time comes to do that, which will be in a long while from now.."

There is no website for this project at the moment, so further details are to be found in the following PCKF threads:

Commander Keen Doom Progress Thread! (The main one)
Screenshots of Commander Keen GZDoom!
Commander Spleen 2007-10-22 00:00:01

Hall confirms Treasure Eaters

There has been some debate at the PCKF about the name of those stealing, smirking red creatures of Keen 4. Some members recalled an earlier e-mail some years back where somebody asked what they were called, and Hall replied 'Treasure Eaters'. Now a new mail has been sent and received, and can be seen here.

And yeah, he still believes Treasure Eaters was the name he used back then, and admits it wasn't the best name in the series.
KeenRush 2007-09-04 23:02:53

Pixel Joint: He-She Keens

A not-so-recent Weekly Challenge at Pixel Joint, called He-She received two Keen-based entries.

Did this for a contest on Pixeljoint a while back. The rules were to pixel a famous character but as the opposite sex. I was busy that week so I couldn't really participate as well as I wanted, so I just whipped up a quick picture on the last day before the deadline just for fun.

Posted here by allstories.

Bailea Blaze by allstories (HMC)
Becky Blaze by DarkfalzX

This thread about allstories' Keen mod originated the semi-officialisation of Keen's sister's name. Alas, the images appear to be broken now.
Commander Spleen 2007-08-31 19:17:36

Keen 64 Art Style

Lava89 has been experimenting with some new art for his 3D Keen fan game, Keen 64 (originally mentioned here). This image compares the newly shaded yorp and soft drink can models with the previous ones. Read more
Commander Spleen 2007-08-30 17:27:55

DoD: Wednesday at the Beach Remix (Keen 5)

For those who don't know, Dwelling of Duels is a monthly game remix contest... except that the main instrument in each remix must be played, not programmed. This month, the theme was PC Games, and someone by the name of thesamaraye submitted a great piano mix of Wednesday at the Beach, from Keen 5.

To find it, go to dod.vgmix.com/past/aug07

Posted here by Yowza
Commander Spleen 2007-08-25 22:58:30

Ceilick Taking Suggestions For Keen 6 Mod

Putting the recently added Modding sub-forum at the PCKF to good use, Ceilick is requesting input for the Keen 6 mod he is about to begin, the concept of which is very open-ended at this point. Read more
Commander Spleen 2006-10-03 07:56:26

Lava89 Begins 3D Keen Game

Yet another attempt at a 3D Keen, which Lava has started work on for a school project, using Blitz Basic Wings3D. Only some screenshots so far.
PCKF Topic
Commander Spleen 2006-09-27 23:10:32