This article is about the video game series. For the 2001 Game Boy Color video game, see Commander Keen (video game).
Video game series
Commander Keen
Genre(s)
Side-scrolling platformer
Developer(s)
id Software (Episodes 1–6)
David A. Palmer Productions (2001 GBC game)
Publisher(s)
3D Realms (formerly Apogee Software) (Episodes 1–5)
Softdisk (Episode 3.5)
FormGen (Episode 6)
Activision (2001 GBC game)
Creator(s)
Tom Hall
John Carmack
John Romero
Artist(s)
Adrian Carmack
Composer(s)
Robert Prince
Platform(s)
MS-DOS, Game Boy Color, SteamOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS
First release
Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons December 14, 1990
Latest release
Commander Keen May 30, 2001
Commander Keen is a series of side-scrolling platform video games developed primarily by id Software. The series consists of six main episodes, a "lost" episode, and a final game; all but the final game were released for MS-DOS in 1990 and 1991, while the 2001 Commander Keen was released for the Game Boy Color. The series follows the eponymous Commander Keen, the secret identity of the eight-year-old genius Billy Blaze, as he defends the Earth and the galaxy from alien threats with his homemade spaceship, rayguns, and pogo stick. The first three episodes were developed by Ideas from the Deep, the precursor to id, and published by Apogee Software as the shareware title Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons; the "lost" episode 3.5 Commander Keen in Keen Dreams was developed by id and published as a retail title by Softdisk; episodes four and five were released by Apogee as the shareware Commander Keen in Goodbye, Galaxy; and the simultaneously developed episode six was published in retail by FormGen as Commander Keen in Aliens Ate My Babysitter. Ten years later, an homage and sequel to the series was developed by David A. Palmer Productions and published by Activision as Commander Keen. Another game was announced in 2019 as under development by ZeniMax Online Studios, but was not released.
Invasion of the Vorticons was the only game developed by Ideas from the Deep, and was based on programmer John Carmack's creation of adaptive tile refresh, a technique that allowed IBM-compatible general-purpose computers to replicate the smooth scrolling of video game consoles such as the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game's success caused designer Tom Hall, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, and artist Adrian Carmack to found id Software. Their obligations to Softdisk, where they had worked during development of the game, led to the creation of Keen Dreams as a prototype for the second trilogy of episodes. The final episode was split off during development into a stand-alone retail title, and plans for a third trilogy were cancelled after the success of Wolfenstein 3D (1992) and development focus on 3D first-person shooters such as Doom (1993). The final Keen game ten years later had oversight but little development work from id.
Critical reception and the series' legacy has focused on the two main trilogies of episodes, with Vorticons having large success as a shareware game and impacting the success of Apogee (now 3D Realms) and its shareware model. The second trilogy sold fewer copies, which was blamed by id and Apogee on its split into two parts, and the 2001 game received mixed reviews. The MS-DOS games have been re-released in several compilation packages, and all but the sixth episode are still sold through modern emulation releases on platforms such as Steam. References to the series have been made by dozens of other games, especially to the Dopefish, an enemy in the fourth episode, which has been termed one of the video game industry's biggest in-jokes. An active modding community has grown around the series, producing editing tools and unofficial sequels.
CommanderKeen is a series of side-scrolling platform video games developed primarily by id Software. The series consists of six main episodes, a "lost"...
CommanderKeen in Keen Dreams is a side-scrolling platform video game developed by id Software and published by Softdisk in 1991 for DOS. It is the fourth...
on the Super Mario Bros. 3 demonstration. The first Commander Keen game, CommanderKeen in Invasion of the Vorticons, was released through Apogee in December...
CommanderKeen in Invasion of the Vorticons is a three-part episodic side-scrolling platform video game developed by Ideas from the Deep (a precursor to...
CommanderKeen in Aliens Ate My Babysitter (stylized as Aliens Ate My Babysitter!) is a side-scrolling platform video game developed by id Software and...
was involved in the creation of several milestone games, including CommanderKeen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom II: Hell on Earth and Quake. He served as...
company id Software and was the lead programmer of its 1990s games CommanderKeen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, and their sequels. Carmack made innovations...
business manager Jay Wilbur, had previously developed the 1990 PC game CommanderKeen in Invasion of the Vorticons as "Ideas from the Deep" while still employees...
his work with id Software on titles such as Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and CommanderKeen. He has also been the co-founder of Ion Storm, together with his friend...
was the second major independent release by id Software, after the CommanderKeen series of episodes. In mid-1991, programmer John Carmack experimented...
passed the bar in 1980. Prince has created music and sound effects for CommanderKeen 4–6, Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure, Pickle Wars, Catacomb 3D, Wolfenstein...
up keen in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Keen, Keen's, or Keens may refer to: Keen (surname) Thomas Keens (1870-1953), British politician "Keen" (song)...
Retrieved January 28, 2020. Jones, Richard (June 10, 2019). "A new CommanderKeen game has been unveiled – but only for mobile". pcgamesn.com. Archived...
Carmack's primary role at the company was as an artist, including work on CommanderKeen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Hexen: Beyond Heretic, Quake, Quake II and Quake...
Sanglard, Fabien (24 June 2019). "How id built Wolfenstein 3D using CommanderKeen tech". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 2021-08-15. Matt Chat 52: Wolfenstein...
and has since been cancelled. CommanderKeen: The Universe Is Toast! was intended to be a continuation of the CommanderKeen series, with the story picking...
platform game, it was built on a licensed version of id Software's CommanderKeen game engine. Apart from the engine and music, all in-game content was...
designs. Several ideas were proposed, including a new game in their CommanderKeen series, but John proposed a game about using technology to fight demons...
was most famously used by id Software's John Carmack in games such as CommanderKeen to compensate for the poor graphics performance of PCs in the early...
personal computer such as Duke Nukem and as the publisher of games such as CommanderKeen and Wolfenstein 3D. In 1994, Apogee decided to launch different brand...
company equipment to incorporate this technology into their own game: CommanderKeen in Invasion of the Vorticons. This game was released through the video...
joysticks.[citation needed] Included with the gamepad was a shareware CommanderKeen game, episode 1, Marooned on Mars, which was later replaced with the...
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