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General discussionRelease: Commander Keen Complete Pack(101 posts)(101 posts)
(101 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted February 10, 2021
Join the eight-year-old genius by the name of Billy Blaze who learns that the Earth is in danger! Commander Keen Complete Pack, a set of 5 classic side-scrolling platform games, is now available on GOG.COM. Watch as Billy dons his brother's football helmet and his homemade interstellar spaceship to become Commander Keen – Defender of the Earth!

Until 17th February 2021, 2 PM UTC, Commander Keen Complete Pack will be available on GOG.COM 70% off!

Share our love for games? Subscribe to our newsletter for news, releases, and exclusive discounts. Visit the “Privacy & settings” section of your GOG.COM account to join now!
Posted February 10, 2021
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Prah: So to clarify why two games are missing. idSoftware simply doesn't have the rights to publish them.

Keen Dreams is currently owned by an actual idiot who bought the rights of the game for $1500 from Flat Rock Software, who owned SoftDisk (the publisher of this episode, it was not published by Apogee like the other episodes).

Aliens Ate My Babysitter was published by FormGen, so not Apogee either. FormGen was later bought by GT Interactive, which in turn was acquired by Infogrames eventually transformed into today's Atari Inc. which is a subsidary to the french company Atari SA. So the rights for publishing that episode probably lies with them.
Keen Dreams is actually open-sourced and you download the source-port for windows/linux from github and you can actually grab the free shareware files from sites like classicdosgames.com, legally speaking. Believe it or not, the shareware version is the full game for some reason.
Post edited February 10, 2021 by retron22
Posted February 10, 2021
Thanks for parts 1-5. Will happily purchase part 6 IF it reaches GOG (there is a small chance there...), but I will get "Keen Dreams" somewhere without paying for it, this guy does NOT deserve any money.
Post edited February 10, 2021 by Anime-BlackWolf
Posted February 10, 2021
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Prah: So to clarify why two games are missing. idSoftware simply doesn't have the rights to publish them.

Keen Dreams is currently owned by an actual idiot who bought the rights of the game for $1500 from Flat Rock Software, who owned SoftDisk (the publisher of this episode, it was not published by Apogee like the other episodes).

Aliens Ate My Babysitter was published by FormGen, so not Apogee either. FormGen was later bought by GT Interactive, which in turn was acquired by Infogrames eventually transformed into today's Atari Inc. which is a subsidary to the french company Atari SA. So the rights for publishing that episode probably lies with them.
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retron22: Keen Dreams is actually open-sourced and you can actually grab the free shareware files from sites like classicdosgames.com, legally speaking. Believe it or not, the shareware version is the full game for some reason.
Not completely. Yes, the source code was released in 2014 under GPL. But you'll have to compile it yourself in that case. If you run Linux, this person compiled a good source port. With that said, it's easy for anyone to of course pirate a game - I doubt anyone will stop you from doing that for some old DOS game. Just call it for what it is :)
Posted February 10, 2021
Great releases! BTW, the first Keen game was already teasing Quake, in the main menu under something like Ordering Info or Coming Soon options. I don't know if they planned that far back on a 2D or an early 3D Wolfenstein or Doom style game, but I wonder how they originally envisioned it, because it sounded like something ambitious even back then.
Edit: Okay, it's under "Previews", it's a game called Fight For Justice, but the main character is named Quake. It was going to be an RPG.
Post edited February 10, 2021 by SCPM
Posted February 10, 2021
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retron22: Believe it or not, the shareware version is the full game for some reason.
It's been literal ages so correct me if I'm wrong, but as I recall Keen Dreams was a single-episode release. The shareware game and the full game were the same because there just literally wasn't any more content. A bit odd but not super unusual, you had stand-alone episodes of games like Lemmings, Jazz Jackrabbit, Tyrian, etc released around the same time.

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Fandi: Last I checked (a minute ago) Commander Keen had 6 games as a whole, so how can it be called a "Complete Pack", not to mention the Keen Dreams episode?
Yeah. I'm not inclined to fault GOG for not releasing the other episodes since they're owned by folks who just flat out won't let anyone buy them, but calling this a complete pack, and using the box art of a game that isn't even available is super disingenuous.

That said, what is in this bundle is well worth the asking price. Not all old DOS platformers still hold up (lookin' at you, Megaman ಠ_ಠ) but Commander Keen certainly does.
Posted February 10, 2021
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PassiveZombie: Reading through the quotes of the new owner made this an easy decision. No thank you. As an American, I'm still shuddering at the thought of how many of my tax dollars went to trump (lowercase intentional).

I'll pass, but GOG, thank you very much for the thought and generous discount! :)
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Prah: If you misunderstood, the Commander Keen games published here on GOG today are not published by this person. It's by idSoftware, owned by Bethesda. So the decent folks.
Okay. Yeah, I likely misunderstood, then.

Would that individual receive royalties? (curious)
Posted February 10, 2021
Nice move, GOG! This release will make a lot of people happy!
Posted February 10, 2021
I've been waiting for this for a long time.
Posted February 10, 2021
Holy #$%#, it actually happened!

I've been playing the installs from my DOS image of the hard drive on my old 386, looks like I can finally buy them again rather than continuing to try and keep them working on an ancient disc image. Already lost my 8086 hard drive image, figure it's only a matter of time until the 386 one dies as well. This, however, brings most of the games that I would go back to (that weren't released for free when they hit EoL) onto GOG.
Posted February 10, 2021
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GOG.com: Join the eight-year-old genius by the name of Billy Blaze who learns that the Earth is in danger! Commander Keen Complete Pack, a set of 5 classic side-scrolling platform games, is now available on GOG.COM. Watch as Billy dons his brother's football helmet and his homemade interstellar spaceship to become Commander Keen – Defender of the Earth!

Until 17th February 2021, 2 PM UTC, Commander Keen Complete Pack will be available on GOG.COM 70% off!

Share our love for games? Subscribe to our newsletter for news, releases, and exclusive discounts. Visit the “Privacy & settings” section of your GOG.COM account to join now!
Do you guys also have plans to get Commander Keen: Aliens Ate My Babysitter as well? That one is apparently in Atari's hands.
Posted February 10, 2021
I wonder when the next "No more good old games here" thread will popup... should be postponed for about a week ;-)
Posted February 10, 2021
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Prah: If you misunderstood, the Commander Keen games published here on GOG today are not published by this person. It's by idSoftware, owned by Bethesda. So the decent folks.
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PassiveZombie: Okay. Yeah, I likely misunderstood, then.

Would that individual receive royalties? (curious)
Since he is not involved with this realease
No, he wont

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toxicTom: I wonder when the next "No more good old games here" thread will popup... should be postponed for about a week ;-)
Are People still doing this?
Sure gog doesnt realese only old games or old games as frequently as the old days
But , No more good old games here is just silly
Post edited February 10, 2021 by Lodium
Posted February 10, 2021
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PassiveZombie: Okay. Yeah, I likely misunderstood, then.

Would that individual receive royalties? (curious)
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Lodium: Since he is not involved with this realease
No, he wont

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toxicTom: I wonder when the next "No more good old games here" thread will popup... should be postponed for about a week ;-)
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Lodium: Are People still doing this?
Sure gog doesnt realese only old games or old games as frequently as the old days
But , No more good old games here is just silly
Okay. Thank you, both of you, for clarifying.
Posted February 10, 2021
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Prah: If you misunderstood, the Commander Keen games published here on GOG today are not published by this person. It's by idSoftware, owned by Bethesda. So the decent folks.
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PassiveZombie: Okay. Yeah, I likely misunderstood, then.

Would that individual receive royalties? (curious)
No, he only owns Keen Dreams which is not included here (or for sale anywhere else besides on his website and on the Nintendo Switch).
Posted February 10, 2021
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toxicTom: I wonder when the next "No more good old games here" thread will popup... should be postponed for about a week ;-)
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Lodium: Are People still doing this?
You just can't kill a tradition.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionRelease: Commander Keen Complete Pack(101 posts)(101 posts)
(101 posts)