Keef the Thief

Keef the Thief was created by Dream Zone team Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin, their name changing from JAM Software to Naughty Dog Software.

Unlike Dream Zone, being a text-graphic adventure, Keef is a role playing game and a rather cool and humorous one at that.

You are Keef, outcast and exiled by the Elders of your town into the wastelands after their failings in teaching you to avert your mischievous behaviour. You start in a jungle facing the town of Same Mercon (Hint, Do a search command). Like all role-playing games, you begin with a set amount of hit points and attributes which accumulate after doing battle with the nasties in the vicinity (ranging from Drunken Orcs to Headless Chickens), gold is also to be had after such skirmishes. Starting out, like a lot other role playing games, is also very hard - having no real weapon, no armour and very little hit points and in Keef, a very small ability to steal (which would otherwise save you much cash). You'll die a lot to begin with. Save the game whenever you've achieved gaining experience points.

Search Same Mercon and get to know its locales, as they will provide you with most of what you'll need to finish the game and become God King, which can range from simple information to necessary items. With stealing, you become better with practice. But make sure you're tough enough to stand up to local authorities before attempting to increase your thieving prowess. With that, and the walkthrough information I have provided, you are on your own.

While Andy Gavin's programming skills weren't extra ordinary, Jason Rubin's graphic cartoon style improved a lot since Dream Zone, providing the game with its own unique style that compliments the game's humour. And the colour cycling effects, oh! Marvelous! Check the river on the map! The pair has created an excellent role player, standing out from other games of the genre with its humorous approach. Definitely good enough to play to the end, which I had done.

It turns out Keef was not the last game created by Naughty Dog! Since the IIGS, they moved onto producing games for several different gaming consoles and their latest efforts include the very successful PlayStation game series of Crash Bandicoot and Jax & Daxter! Great to see former IIGS developers doing well for themselves! Check out their web page.

Note: the included crack doesn't remove manual word lookup outright. It does, however, prevent the game from quitting if you make wrong answers, meaning you should keep using the same answer until you get two right and you then enter the game.