iD Software co-founder Tom Hall has launched a Kickstarter for a spiritual successor to Commander Keen, the side-scrolling platformer he designed in the early nineties.
Secret Spaceship Club is the name of the game, planned for iOS, PC, Mac and Ubuntu Linux, but, in an interesting twist, it comes with the tool used to create it, called Worlds of Wander.
If the Kickstarter, which calls for $400,000, is successful, both the game and the tool will be released, the idea being that backers create their own platform games using Worlds of Wander and share them with the community.
Tom Hall is one of the co-founders of id Software. He's basically who came up with the Commander Keen idea. What he's going to do now is create a set of tools called "Worlds of Wander", which will allow people to create their own 2D platformer game. Then with those tools, he's going to make his own game called "Secret Spaceship Club", which he describes as the spiritual successor of Commander Keen.
There's a video on that kickstarter page that explains it all.
I'm not sure if I should be excited about this, but I do cherish the memories I have of Commander Keen. In today's day and age, however, I'm not so sure Commander Keen has that many unique selling points that warrants a sequel/successor/whatever you call it.
Eraser wrote:I'm not sure if I should be excited about this, but I do cherish the memories I have of Commander Keen. In today's day and age, however, I'm not so sure Commander Keen has that many unique selling points that warrants a sequel/successor/whatever you call it.
I agree with you here. The Commander Keen series was never anything special, nor have I given it a thought in the past 20 years, so I can't say I'm at all interested in a "spiritual successor."
also, did CK cost 400k back then to make?
surely this man has money of his own nowadays. this news alone should do most of the marketing.
im just saying; if guys like Almost Human can create a game like Grimrock without any financial backing and get it released, supported and distributed, how could a veteran like this couldnt?
Don Carlos wrote:Depends on what they do; Metal Slug etc are always fun to play so as long as they make this fun and half tidy looking then it should be worth a punt
Interesting that you mention Metal Slug, cause it's not usually called a platform game. Did Commander Keen have weapons in it?
I don't like most platform games, but weapons-based games are another matter
Last edited by DTS on Tue Feb 05, 2013 4:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The game itself looks pretty boring. The editor might be good for kids who want to learn the basics of programming/scripting languages by providing them with a fun and interactive way to see their changes on the fly. I think Tom Hall should change how he's marketing this, instead of "Commander Keen sequel + editor" it should be, "fun game developer/learning tool for kids" and explain why this would be great as a teaching tool.
