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| First off, tell those readers who are less informed
who you are and what your involvement with Commander Keen and it's community
is. |
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Ok. My name is Geoff, and I was the original
creator of the website of what is now known as "Cerebral Cortex 314". At
the time of its creation, I spent my time answering people's questions
and queries about CK, and also updating the website with as much Keen related
information I could get my hands on. Now however, I have moved on, and
am no longer running the site. I still actively take part in CK discussions
every now and then, as well as manage the CK project "The Mystery of Isis
II", and continue to work on my Keen level editor, Keen MakeOver. |
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| So, how did you first come accross keen? |
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I first came across Keen when I was in about
Year 1 or 2 at school, which would have made me about... 5 or 6 years old
I think. I played Keens 1-3 at a friends house, and what fun we had :)
I think though, I really got to like Keen a few years later, with the release
of Keen 4, because I found it more like an adventure game. |
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| What about keen made you such a dedicated fan? |
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To be honest, at the time I created the site, I wasn't very dedicated
at all. I became dedicated after compiling all the information about Keen,
and realising just how much information there was. I became a bit obsessed,
I think. |
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| Why did you make your keen site? Did you expect
anybody to visit it? |
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One day I did a websearch for Commander Keen. Apart from the Apogee/3DR
sites, there was only a few other hits. I think I found only 2 webpages
which were in dedication of Commander Keen. These were:
Arthur's 'Unofficial'
Keen Page <broken link>
William's
Commander Keen Page <broken link>
To my knowledge, neither of these sites exist anymore, unfortunately.
Anyway, these sites were fun, but neither contained much useful information
about Keen, so I decided to create my site. The original aim was just to
collect all the information available about Keen, and put it together in
a nice, organised website. By reading the site, you were able to find out
nearly everything about a given Keen game: the story, the enemies, the
items and point values, cheats, tips, and more. From here, the site just
continued to grow, as it got increasingly popular, and as I constantly
got sent loads of new information from fans around the world. |
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| A small keen community has grown around your
site. What's it like knowing that you're responsible for most of the unnofficial
keen games and that keen might even have a future on the game boy color
or at Ion Storm because of that single site you made? |
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Well, it's a pretty weird feeling. No one even thinks about this now,
but if the site hadn't been created, I highly doubt that any of the MANY
unoffical games / sites would have even been dreamt of. It feels very fullfiling
that so many people have come together with the common interest of Keen,
and became friends, exchanged information and stories, and even come together
as teams of game developers. I think that the community as it is now is
very strong, and nothing will tear it apart. Sure people will come and
go, however it will always be there, and new Keen sites and games will
be continually developed.
I had never actually thought that the Keen color game boy idea was a
result of the recent increase in demand for a new Keen, but I guess it
could be true. Whilst it is great that this could possibly be a stepping
stone to the creation of Keen 7, I do not think the game boy color Keen
will be anything special, that is, if it ever gets produced. (this
interview was done prior to the announcement) |
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| Why did you shut down your keen page and hand
it over to Thea? |
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CC314 had reached over 150,000 hits if I remember correctly, and I
was recieving 10-15 emails per day. about 90% of these emails were asking
for the non-shareware keens, or what the names of the enemies are in Keen
6 (GRRR!). Also, I was under immense pressure to continue updating. I didn't
have the time to update the site and deal with the amount of emails, so
I thought I'd give it to someone who did... |
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| What made you go from "Geoff's Commander Keen
page" "Cerebral Cortex 314"? |
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Well, when I gave my site a face lift, I think its quality improved
a lot. It needed a decent name, something which would make it stand out
from the rest, and when you (eK) mentioned it to me, it just clicked. It
was perfect. |
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| What do you think of the latest 'reincarnation
of cc314? |
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You guys have done a great job. I really, really like it. I think the
graphics and layout are supurb, and the content is a lot more organised
than how I had it. I look forward to seeing it grow in the future.
Note from eK: But it'll never beat the original
:) |
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| What do you think is going to happen to keen
in the future? Anything? |
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To be honest, no, and I think it's probably best that way. We all know
Tom wants to lead a team to create another Keen, but realistically, the
chances are not very high. And if Tom can't convince iD to let him, then
no one can. Even if there was a new Keen, I wouldn't play it. Personally
I hate the games that are created today, and would much rather play one
of the original Keens. |
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95% of the programming for KMO is done. Flaose is helping me complete
if by doing all the tedious parts for me (creating a database of all the
tiles). It could be completed in a few days if we had all the data we needed,
but I just don't have that sort of time right now. It will be done some
day, and I look forward to that day, because we will all be able to have
heaps of fun playing new levels in the worlds of Keen 1, 2 and 3. |
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| After KMO, any other projects planned for the
community and what are your future life plans? College? Job? |
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Apart from leading "The Mystery of Isis II", no, I do have a life outside
of Keen :)
Right now I am in the process of finishing school. Next year I will
hopefully be travelling, and after that, well I'm not really sure. I'll
probably go to university and do some sort of science, but nothing is certain.
Note from eK: Isis II is dead |
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OVER AND
OUT!
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