We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Nightdive Studios have managed to rescue classic platformer Keen Dreams [Steam] from oblivion as well as getting it updated. I'm a little late on this (early November), granted, since no one sent it in and I found it while randomly looking around.

It seems the previous owner "Hard Disk Publishing" did some really stupid things and got themselves removed from Steam, so thankfully Nightdive Studios took over and revived it yet again.

Not only that, they pulled in Ryan "Icculus" Gordon (again) to do some polishing work. As a result, they managed to rip out a load of old rendering code which got replaced by SDL 2. They also managed to get gamepad support in a much better state, cloud saves now work properly and more.

I think the work Nightdive Studios do to keep classic games alive is really quite amazing, even if they're not all something I'm interested in, I think it's really important work.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
8 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
9 comments

Liam Dawe Nov 21, 2017
Quoting: GuestHey, didnt NightDive studios also promised the System Shock re-release to come to linux? I believe they answered to you on twitter about that.
Good question, have asked again today: https://twitter.com/gamingonlinux/status/932933737993719808
starfarer Nov 21, 2017
I remember Commander Keen. I loved it when I was a kid. Not sure whether I'd be that keen on playing it again. :E
sr_ls_boy Nov 21, 2017
Where did they get the source code?
Samsai Nov 21, 2017
Quoting: sr_ls_boyWhere did they get the source code?
The code was open sourced a while back. Presumably they used that to update it. https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/commander-keen-in-keen-dreams-has-been-open-sourced.4349
razing32 Nov 21, 2017
Nice they ported it .
Sadly , I recall this one was the weakest in the series.
GustyGhost Nov 21, 2017
Quoting: starfarerI remember Commander Keen. I loved it when I was a kid. Not sure whether I'd be that keen on playing it again. :E

I recently revisited some childhood classics, Cosmos Cosmic Adventure and Monster Bash. Good lord those games did not age well. Honestly, I don't foresee anyone buying such titles unless they too had them as a kid.
starfarer Nov 22, 2017
Quoting: AnxiousInfusion
Quoting: starfarerI remember Commander Keen. I loved it when I was a kid. Not sure whether I'd be that keen on playing it again. :E

I recently revisited some childhood classics, Cosmos Cosmic Adventure and Monster Bash. Good lord those games did not age well. Honestly, I don't foresee anyone buying such titles unless they too had them as a kid.

I remember I had a lot of fun with these games. I think I had a CD with a lot of apogee titles. Commander Keen, Cosmos Cosmic Adventure, Monster Bash, Wacky Wheels. You name it. And I had a lot of fun with them. But I agree with you, I probably wouldn't play them again today. I realised that I have some Commander Keen games in my Steam library. I think I tried to play them a couple of years ago, though not more than for a few minutes. Might try to revisit them again heh.
cRaZy-bisCuiT Nov 24, 2017
You can play all (?) games of the Commander Keen series with the Open Source Engine "CommanderGenius"! It looks and plays exactly like the original one! :)
Cyba.Cowboy Dec 3, 2017
Quoting: razing32Nice they ported it .
Sadly , I recall this one was the weakest in the series.

I too don't think it was the strongest game in the series... Heck, I thought the original ("Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons" ) was better.

But eventually I'll pick it up, purely because they've gone to the effort of porting it to Linux.


Last edited by Cyba.Cowboy on 3 December 2017 at 9:45 pm UTC
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.