Despite being one of the most popular andsuccessful MS-DOS gamesof all time, not too much is known about the creation of the side characters inCommander Keen. However, thanks to a Twitter exchange betweenKeen’s creator, Tom Hall, and a fan, the origins of Princess Lindsey have been revealed.
In the past, Hall has revealed that the character ofCommander Keenis at least partially based on his real-life brother. Wanting to know more about the other characters, Twitter user Ian Hanschen tweeted to Hall and anotherKeenalum, John Romero, asking, “did one of you put your then-girlfriend intoKeen 4?” in reference to the character of Princess Lindsey.
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Hall replied to the tweet, explaining, “That was aKeenfan, Lindsey Velez, who wrote us a fan letter hoping for a female protagonist too!” In the same tweet he also reveals that the fire monster inCommander Keen 4called the Berkeloid was inspired by a fan named Ryan Berke who had told theKeenteam he’d seen a fire creature in a dream.Commander Keenrecently celebrated its 30th anniversary, and while a new game hasn’t been released in the series for decades, there’s obviously still a lot of new information to be mined from the retro titles.
A mobile game was announced by Bethesda that was to take advantage of theCommander KeenIP back in 2019, but that game was cancelled shortly after the release of a trailer that largely disappointed fans. MostKeenfans agree a true sequel needs the involvement of Tom Hall. Now thatMicrosoft has bought ZeniMax, the rights holder forCommander Keen, a futureKeengame is in the hands of the company behind the Xbox brand. Hopefully, it gives Hall a call.
Commander Keen 1through5are available on PC.
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