Standard Galactic Alphabet - Commander Keen - ADG Pro 9

[@Jenkinsmum]

TH stands for Tom Hall. There are more initials for ID and Apogee staff members around the episodes.

[@MrBenMcLean]

Yeah the initials thing seems pretty obvious but I guess hindsight is always 20/20 yknow! :)

[@XBGamerX20]

This legend speaks the enchantment table language

[@andrewpruitt952]

i’m trying to learn it lmao

[@alexisbesst8698]

I can write it but I'm here to learn the pronunciations

[@tacochippy1861]

@@alexisbesst8698 me too ughh. lemme know how the seach goes! :D

[@-TheLegendHimself-]

╎ ᓵᔑリ ℸ ̣ 𝙹𝙹 ||𝙹⚍ ꖌリ𝙹∴?

[@tweedyjuggler1016]

@@-TheLegendHimself- what did you use to write that?

[@daffers2345]

I believe some of the funny names you translated are references to New York. Hals Kitchen = Hell's Kitchen, Beens = Queens, The Bonks = The Bronx (as you correctly assumed). That is my best guess, though I am not sure about the forts or the park.

[@PinkPandaKatie]

The alphabet is also revealed in a super secret area in the secret level (BloogLab Space Station) of Keen 6: Aliens Ate My Babysitter. It's labeled with a sign that says "The primitive Terran alphabet".

[@AlyxxTheRat]

This is the most fun episode so far

[@jarmoranta5184]

In regard to the alphabet being used outside of the Keen Series: Rise of the Triad's E3A8: Eight Ways to Hell has a long secret room at the bottom (south) of the level space. The room has seemingly random walls in the middle. In the map view, the walls say DOPEFISH LIVES in the Standard Galactic Alphabet.

[@icantdecideonaname]

also minecraft enchantment table

[@nemtudom5074]

Also, there are graffities scattered around the world of Ion Fury written in the standard galactic alphabet! Also, minecraft, because notch has about as much originality as a bottle of water.

[@_Tzer]

the people behind doom invented enchantment table language

[@zintosion]

The Bonks - The Bronx Beens - Queens? Hals kitchen - hell’s kitchen?

[@SEGAClownboss]

I used to do this as a kid, since Keen 1. The first one I translated was the "exit" sign because I just figured it made sense. Then "die". Then the keycards A, B, C, D. Then slowly it helped me fill the space for everything else.

[@Orange_Square_Prism]

He is speaking enchantment table

[@DutchmanDavid]

Commander Keen or "small child genocides half a planet" 😂 I always kinda felt bad for the Vorticons :(

[@lilwyvern4]

Something tells me this is why they swapped over to the Neural Stunner in the second half of the series. It's a bit uncomfortable to have Keen performing school shootings.

[@Kawa-oneechan]

And of course in Keen 5 there's an entire letter in the ending, written in SGA.

[@EmperorDodd]

That letter adds J to the list of characters that can be found somewhere other than the full-translation classroom (and an equivalent secret in Keen 6's secret level, displaying a full translation for "the primitive Terran alphabet")

[@rayyanthetechnicalgamer2775]

Me: Trying To Speak Standard Galactic Alphabet. The Demon I Summoned: *bonjour*

[@elimalinsky7069]

I used to have a notebook where I wrote the standard galactic alphabet down and looked it up each time some text in that alphabet appeared in the Commander Keen games. It was the notebook that I used to write down stuff in order to solve Sierra adventure games and have a track of quests and such in those old classic RPGs, which told you absolutely nothing in-game. Many of my friends also had notebooks for keeping track of progress in computer and console games.

[@Naderium]

So this is enchanting table

[@lsb2623]

Hals Kitchen is probably a play on New York's "Hell's Kitchen"

[@cyrus649]

Is it just me or does anybody else miss those old pc speaker sound fx.

[@Christopher-N]

And PC speaker music, also. Yes, the stripped down version of "Ethnicolor" by Jean-Michel Jarre in the game _Captain Blood,_ or the theme from the DOS game and the film, _Willow._ Good times.

[@cyrus649]

@@Christopher-N yea, some "borrowed" songs, but they had a unique sound to them

[@RetroSwim]

My ears were pleased to hear the PC Honker sound effects being done justice in this video. Nice touch.

[@Pixelmusement]

+RetroSwim I wonder how many people actually noticed that... ;)

[@221b]

I think the Descent engine was based around modified cubes. I'm not sure exactly how that worked, but that's how I've heard it described.

[@davicubes5762]

Minecraft enchantment table

[@insertnamehere9015]

Now i can speak Minecraft Enchantment Table

[@PumpkinStrikesBack]

I've been following your videos for 5 years or so and I still don't get why you don't have 100k+ subs yet. Creative and fun videos like this deserve a lot more views.

[@stamoulohta]

I just found this channel and I don't know how ti flew under the radar for all those years!! I love this kind of stuff!! YT algo at it's best... It wasn't even recommended to me, I just noticed it being the first related on LGR's channel... Go figure.

[@Darkstar2342]

Nice way of tackling the SGA. I did this too when I was a kid, but with only Keen 1, 4 and Keen 5 available it wasn't easy. Managed to translate all signs I could find though, even though it involved some creative guessing (I started with the "Exit" sign since that was rather obvious, and the "this is neat" sign which was the next easy, having e, i and t decoded... I still have my notes somewhere, with all the signs copied down and analyzed ;-) )

[@ianeborn6823]

That was a really fun little exploration! Thank you for it! ^_^

[@slenderpichisos4play]

This is actually the language of the enchanting table in minecraft, which makes it a really interesting easter egg.

[@jbcb3378]

Actually its the opposite

[@travisbeamon5356]

this is a great topic!

[@EdmondDantes224]

This video reminded me of this old Superman comic I have (via Superman Archives #1-#3, hardback compilations) where one page had a secret message for Superman fan club members who apparently were supposed to be able to decode it with a tool. I spent a lot of time just trying to crack it and very nearly did. I started out by figuring out a three-letter word (which there's only so many that work and whose letters make sense elsewhere)... ....It's probably no surprise that games like Myst are some of my favorites.

[@Leeki85]

It would be great to have a sheet that we could write substitutes by hand and then game would replace those on the fly. That way we could partially decode messages to figure out new letters. Broken Sword 1 had similar puzzle where we had a one page letter with substitution cipher that we had to decode.

[@Compucles]

You could always download the SGA font and keep a word processor open while you play the games.

[@endymallorn]

When it comes to the SGA, I'd have started with "EXIT" in the first episode. From that, we can also get "__I_ I_ ___T" next to the guns, and under the word "POGO", "_TI__". Logic dictates that's "STICK". While I can get starting with either New York or London - both very distinctive patterns, we can certainly work out some pieces of the alphabet right in Episode 1. By the way, next week - Wolf3D?

[@shdon]

Yeah, I also deciphered it from "EXIT". And "DIE" and the pogo stick. I remember being so proud of myself when I figured it out.

[@Kris-ce1po]

finally we found the minecraft enchantment table language

[@marygracevalderrama5827]

That into was so nostalgic

[@AlexeiVoronin]

Coincidentally or not, one of the four runes you have to collect in Quake looks just like the letter "O" from the SGA.

[@Exuprince]

VC should be VortiCola

[@Skull_Gun]

You would've thought if John "Genius" Carmack invented a language it would be perfect.

[@oz_jones]

Skull Gun not a language tho. Just an alphabet

[@wilavg]

Finally, someone who speaks Minecraft enchantment table

[@thermallance7947]

Okay. I am mindblown by this. I never EVER expect that shit to mean anything. X_X

[@HOUSEWARMING]

9:09 Tom Hall

[@orangeblanket7181]

I can finally speak enchantment table

[@FezTheSpaceBiker]

Gonna take a shot in the dark and guess Wolf 3D though I'm sure I'm wrong

[@mrturret01]

Either that or Rise of The Triad

[@mattfromeurope]

Guys, you forgot Descent! That one's got levels made of cubes as well!

[@stamoulohta]

Didn't he mention System Shock being made out of blocks in the last ADG?

[@demogorgonzola]

@@mattfromeurope It's possible as its level start out out cubes. But... isn't it kind of stretching the definition - pun intended - as the basic "boxes" usually get transformed into trapezoids?

[@TheJamieRamone]

@@mattfromeurope I remember it having non-orthogonal passages. Lemme re-check...

[@krystalkryptonite2427]

this was known as the standard galactic alphabet, but people now know it as the enchantment table language

[@PlasticCogLiquid]

TH = Tom Hall

[@Kawa-oneechan]

First spoken line and it already sets me off. Okay, so the first word decoded is London... yet there's exit signs all over the trilogy that even kinda look like "EXIT". And you can infer the little signs next to the hazards are "DIE" from there. That's where I'd start, and *then* work my way up to London.

[@Pixelmusement]

+ﾠKawa Given how only just over half of the alphabet is even in the first episode, I felt starting on Episode 2 was a better approach. Really though, it just comes down to whatever works, right? ;)

[@GlennMartinAKAMrBadAxe]

Spoilers re: Use of SGA in later games of the series... After Keen 3, SGA becomes much more sparse. Keen 4 only has signs reading "EXIT", "HIGH LOW" and "WATCH OUT", and more than half the levels have no SGA at all aside from the Exit sign. Oh, and the Oracle is labeled "ACME ORACLE". Keen 5 adds "WARNING FUSE STRCTURE (sic) FRAGILE", single-character signs matching switches to toggleable platforms, some monitors indicating "OK", and abbreviated names for parts of the Omegamatic, including a Q in a non-Rosetta-Stone context: the Quantum Explosion Dynamo is labeled "QED". If only John Romero had decided to spell his name out in that one level in SGA instead of Latin characters, we'd have a J there, but nope. Also, there's the letter from Mortimer in SGA at the end, which also has no J or Z. Keen 6 has "U" and "D" signs indicating the intended position of switches, some "OK", "DANGER" and "THIS IS NEAT" signs, and the "TO SERVE MAN" cookbook joke. Keen Dreams, unsurprisingly, has no SGA, because this takes place in Billy's dream, and while by this point he can read SGA, he likely doesn't *think* in SGA. Hence, "EXIT" signs in English. Aside from the complete alphabets in episodes 3 and 6, not one instance of a J or Z in practical use.

[@Scudmaster11]

the sign at 2:40 says “behold the holy ‘POGO” stick” .... not lying that is what is put there

[@bunbangfaiduenhok]

Every Minecraft Player knew that

[@Coffilkeychitea]

Ah yes, this takes me back. Just me, a pen, paper and my Windows 95 laptop (yes, with that infamous blurry screen). I started with the word EXIT, but the final result (i.e. right before finding the whole alphabet) was pretty much the same, of course.

[@nodakamakadon]

Great idea for a video. For some reason I never attempted to decipher the writing. I never knew about the secret level either.

[@arturosandovalsaito2704]

Alternate title: how to speak Minecraft enchantment table.

[@nemtudom5074]

9:09 Tom Hall! Creative lead (until doom...) and one of the main level designers at ID! Edit: Probably because he made this level in particular

[@Maxxxlinoleum]

Minecraft enchantment table language

[@spartonberry]

I wonder if this was inspiration for Final Fantasy X's "Al-Bhed" language (which was just a shuffled normal alphabet). But they expected you to play that game multiple times to read the text, as they wanted you to collect books in game to decipher them (some of them missable before you're even aware to look for them) and the only way to see them otherwise is to find a secret save point near the start of the game which lets you copy the books found in any other save files you have.

[@danverit783]

In which this is how Minecraft got this alphabet.

[@Christopher-N]

Some of the Standard Galactic Alphabet appear similar to the glyphs in the Spellcasting segments of the 1988 DOS version of _Willow_ (based on the film of the same name) by Mindscape. Without a connection between the two games, I'd just assume coincidence.

[@Pixelmusement]

+Christopher Noel I took a look and they don't look similar at all. There's a few similar glyphs, but most of them are very different with a lot of curves going on. :P

[@dominiccasts]

Game made out of cubes next? I'm calling Descent.

[@AMcAFaves]

My guess is Wolfenstein 3D. Descent would be cool though.

[@bdwilcox]

@@AMcAFaves Armored Fist or Comanche. Both were DOS and used voxels.

[@AMcAFaves]

@@bdwilcox They were long, thin rectangular prisms, rather than the cubic voxels we have these days in Minecraft etc, weren't they?

[@bdwilcox]

@@AMcAFaves To be honest, I have no idea. I was always told they were 3D pixels, i.e. cubes, but you could be 100% correct.

[@Pixelmusement]

+bdwilcox +Andrew McAuliffe Just to clarify: A "voxel" is a "volumetric pixel", thus similar to how a sprite is formed from pixels, you would typically describe something as being made of voxels if you have some level of pixel-like interaction with them in three dimensions. The majority of Minecraft is not voxels, it's cubes and objects made of various rectangular forms, however, any sprite-based objects which then become 3D objects you hold and wield, those would be voxels. Although really, it's just semantics and you can make arguments for or against the use of the term in a variety of cases. :P

[@BOYD1981]

I remember Quake 4 having a similar thing with the Strogg alphabet and anything using it would be translated after a certain point in the game.

[@tandbergj]

Yes, the signs had unreadable characters. But you did not need to decipher them. You just had to wait until until you are captured by the Strogg. Then, after the player is put through "forced stroggification," the signs in the game change, so that they now appear in plain english, (albeit with stylized letters.) So, it's not that you decipher the characters, they simply change into English, with the explanation being that, now that you are part Strogg, you have the ability to read them." You brought back memories! thanks.

[@nemtudom5074]

Also, there are graffities scattered around the world of Ion Fury written in the standard galactic alphabet! Also, minecraft, because notch has about as much originality as a bottle of water.

[@Pixelmusement]

...was the inclusion of the SGA in Minecraft even his idea? That was added well after the Mojang team was more than just him. :P

[@nemtudom5074]

@@Pixelmusement Eh, it may not have been his, but by 'notch' i kinda meant the whole of mojang. I find that minecraft lacks personality and is just a bunch of different things shoved into one big pile.

[@Pixelmusement]

@@nemtudom5074 The irony is it actually DID used to have its own personality, but yeah, it's kinda gotten buried under the weight of all of its features now; not necessarily a bad thing, but it does make everything feel a bit more overwhelming and generic. Regardless, I primarily play Minecraft with FTB modpacks nowadays because I like my nuclear power, jetpacks and flower magic! ;D

[@nemtudom5074]

@@Pixelmusement Oh, for sure! I stopped playing minecraft around beta 1.7.3, and after that i only played hexxit and tekkit, and mods like that

[@MutantBittergiggle]

The first sign in the video says This Is Neat

[@PlayStationPaul]

The early Tomb Raider games were based around evenly spaced blocks, it was a big part of the puzzle design. There IS a level editor for that engine too bundled with Last Revelation. Though you specified "cubes" which doesn't quite fit and I'm not sure if TLR was on DOS.

[@Pixelmusement]

+PlayStationPaul If you ever need to look up what games I've covered, I keep an alphabetically sorted list on my website: www.pixelships.com/adg/index2.html

[@PlayStationPaul]

@@PixelmusementLate reply due to KZbin not notifying me, thanks for the link, though I'm fairly well versed with your content, you're one of the few reviewers I enjoy. I should have figured the answer would be something you'd covered in a review, will bear that in mind.

[@Pixelmusement]

+PlayStationPaul Yup! The Pro and Mod format is specifically for videos which have had proper reviews as it doesn't make much sense to go into that kind of stuff without having properly talked about a particular game first! ;)

[@Roobar_Plays]

SGA is also in Planet Cloudius IX (which is similar to Keen, but is a bit more modern) gamejolt.com/games/PCIX/365252

[@Maxxxlinoleum]

12:56 *Dikk*

[@aetherspoon]

I think VC is a reference to RC Cola. V being Vorticon, I'd assume.

[@aeonicbutterfly9662]

Hals Kitchen is a take on Hell's Kitchen, a neighborhood in NY. :) And the next is totally System Shock, isn't it?

[@EvilCobraBR]

Nice job!

[@intel386DX]

if I not mistaken in Keen 5 or 6 there is a hidden alphabet decoded like here but with tiny letters, oh here it is kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZC4c6Roo85pjtU

[@Maggerama]

>nursery Woah! Pretty damn dark, lol.

[@ArayALem]

He spoke enchantment table

[@Mahaveez]

I'm calling it here.... SPACE GOOSE

[@TheCraziestFox]

Cubes. So it's probably descent.

[@TheJamieRamone]

@@TheCraziestFox Descent is not made up of cubes. I don't know where ppl r getting this from.

[@Pixelmusement]

+Jamie Ramone Irregularly shaped cubes but cubes nonetheless; You may wanna do some research on that. There's been a lot of solid guesses as to what game it's gonna be and that's definitely a viable one! ;)

[@TheJamieRamone]

@@Pixelmusement Interesting. I'll have a looksie!

[@flame1526]

Interesting!

[@emaleagross2271]

I know how to read and write on the standard galactic alphabet

[@JomasterTheSecond]

I pray daily to my lord and saviour, _Ye Blesser of the Holy Pogo Stick._

[@domutts]

Wait how do you say the standard galactic language letters

[@JosephDCM]

Nailed it!

[@NaoPb]

Awesome!

[@doapin6240]

I can write an essay using that font

[@LeonardGr]

Cubes? Is Wolfenstein already reviewed?

[@LeonardGr]

Oh wait, I think it's Rise of the Triad

[@gamilived7764]

who else memorized the galactic alphebet

[@The-Lonely-Nexus]

that is not missing that spells HC 8:09

[@Pixelmusement]

No, it's a V. The H and V are vertically mirrored copies of each other. :P

[@Compucles]

So South America was too unimportant for the Vorticans to target? Arguably Asia as well depending on which continent you consider to contain Moscow.

[@Pixelmusement]

Ultimately it doesn't matter since firing the Tantalus Ray just blows up the whole planet no matter which city the crosshair is over. :P

[@Ahnonymos]

Best alphabet!

[@The-Lonely-Nexus]

8:25 Londjn

[@theoneandmanyanonymous]

CHALLENGE: *Translate the word "mending" in the form of the standard galactic alphabet!*

[@_Tzer]

enchantment table

[@100cookie3]

i learned minecraft enchantment table POG

[@demogorgonzola]

Is the cube based game original Wolfenstein? (Or maybe you you want to show off Ken Silverman's Cubes5 worked into actual game?) :) BTW Tantalus ray probably was lifted from Star Trek's "Mirror, Mirror".

[@StephanS]

Now make a video about the D'ni/Dunny Language from the game Riven

[@lurkmurk0]

12:56 uhhhhh

[@Pixelmusement]

What? It's just an island with three locations you can visit, two of which are separated into little circular sections while a corridor of sorts extends outwards from between them. I don't see anything wrong here that would involve me associating the shape of this landscape with anything indecent, nope, not at all! ;)

[@TheJamieRamone]

Bunch'o'cubes...Wolfenstein 3D?

[@FuzzballRenakitty]

Cubes...DOS game........ Jetpack?

[@FairyRat]

VC = Vorti Cola? :)

[@alexsandrkerensky7457]

Its not real mystifying why a couple letters are still missing after 3 games, how often do u use z in a usual day? 🤣

[@Pixelmusement]

When you make games you use X and Z a lot more than the average person. ;)

[@hhdhpublic]

The marooned on mars gave me nightmares as a kid.

[@bababadibot-712]

I can read SGA (i swear)

[@Pixelmusement]

Given that it's just English with a different character set it wouldn't actually be all that hard to learn if you were determined to. ;)

[@tuanadamz35]

so this is what roblox noob use to talk

[@binarypench]

∴⍑𝙹 ᒷꖎᓭᒷ ᓭ!¡ᒷᔑꖌᓭ ᒷリᓵ⍑ᔑリℸ ̣ ╎リ⊣ ℸ ̣ ᔑʖꖎᒷ ᒲ╎リᒷᓵ∷ᔑ⎓ℸ ̣ ᒷ!¡╎ᓵ?

[@Pixelmusement]

+Charles H. I mean, I'm sure a lot of people associate the language with Minecraft's Enchanting Tables now instead of Commander Keen. :P

[@moonrobgivawayinfo.3590]

T⍑ᔑリꖌᓭ!

[@Pixelmusement]

You're welcome! :)

[@salemazzam6502]

I find it very stupid and weird that it's just English letters and words but using different symbols for the letters. They could have used a different language

[@hiltenhola_world]

This is minecraft enchantment langue

[@pjgathergood6987]

Totally pointless... compulsive viewing. :)