The official Ken's Labyrinth page

Ken's Labyrinth screen shot #1 Ken's Labyrinth screen shot #2
Ken's Labyrinth screen shot #3 Ken's Labyrinth screen shot #4

Game versions (in reverse chronological order):

Filename Size, Update Description Date,OS
LABFULL.ZIP 940,242 bytes, 07/03/2008 Ken's Labyrinth v2.1 (Epic MegaGames registered version) The hints that were shipped with the game are also included. In 1993, people paid $30 for this! Now it's freeware due to the fact that Epic (Mega)Games no longer sells its older titles. Now includes a fix (KENSBFIX.EXE) for the 'Digitized Sound' crash. 06/22/1993 DOS16
LABFLSRC.ZIP 59,218 bytes, 07/03/2008 Ken's Labyrinth v2.1 source code. Please read the included README.TXT for further information & license terms. Includes the fix for the 'Digitized Sound' crash. Requires Microsoft C 6.00A to compile
$KEN.ZIP 778,739 bytes Ken's Labyrinth v2.0 (Epic MegaGames shareware version) Please ignore the ordering information. (Note: This version crashes when 'Digitized Sound' is enabled. Unfortunately, I don't have the source code to v2.0. Besides, there is little purpose in back-porting v2.1 to v2.0, when LABFULL is a fully functional super-set of this version.) 03/21/1993 DOS16
LAB11F.ZIP 533,729 bytes Ken's Labyrinth v1.1. This is the original Advanced Systems registered version. Until now, only a few people have seen this version (those who ordered the game in January-February?, 1993). There are some pretty weird features. You have to "find" coins by pressing space bar to pick them up. The soda machines give you no choice on what you can buy. Also, the final boss on level 27 is totally different (I don't want to spoil it!) 01/16/1993 DOS16
LAB10S.ZIP 413,494 bytes Ken's Labyrinth v1.0: First public release. This is the original Advanced Systems shareware version. Please ignore the ordering information. 01/01/1993 DOS16
LAB10SRC.ZIP 34,025 bytes, 03/04/2007 Ken's Labyrinth v1.0 source code. To compile, type "cl /AH lab3d.c". The source code was all in one file at this time. I had to split it for the Epic version because I was running into a 64K barrier. Please use the license included with LABFLSRC.ZIP. Requires Microsoft C 6.00A to compile
WALKEN.ZIP 274,671 bytes, 05/31/2009 Beta copy from September 1992. At this time, the game was called WALKEN: WALK + KEN. This version is probably similar to what I sent out to all those software companies for evaluation. Includes source & editor. 09/20/1992 DOS16
WALKEN_08_23_1992.ZIP 171,842 bytes, 01/01/2023 An even earlier beta copy from August 1992. At this point, I was only sharing the game with my closest friends. This copy came from Andy Cotter. Includes the editor and a few other bonus files. 08/23/1992 DOS16

Ken's utilities:

KLABKIT.ZIP 118,527 bytes Ken's Labyrinth Developer's Toolkit (as it probably would have existed in 1993). I first promised this 11 years ago but I never released it until 03/17/2004. The truth is, Epic advised me not bother with this after I signed on with them. Not knowing any better, I was happy to comply. Anyway, if still you care at all about editing the maps, artwork, or sounds in Ken's Labyrinth, then this is the download for you. If not, then you probably didn't read this far, so why am I even mentioning it? 04/17/2005 DOS16
KLABUILD.ZIP 462,143 bytes Ken's Labyrinth maps converted to Build Engine format. Want all the hints you'll ever need? With this archive, you can view the Ken's Labyrinth v2.1 art and all 30 maps by using the Build engine. I wrote a special program to automate the conversion process so you can be certain that every single secret area is in here. (PLEASE NOTE: In order to view the maps, you will need the Build editor. It can be found on registered copies of Build games, such as Duke Nukem 3D or Shadow Warrior) Requires: Build editor
SONGSPLT.EXE 20,951 bytes Like my music? Use this program to split SONGS.KZP into separate .KSM files. Works with LABFULL.ZIP, but probably with the other versions as well. Then get my Winamp plugin (IN_KEN.ZIP) from my projects page (if you haven't already) so you can play the individual songs. Requires: IN_KEN.ZIP (or KSMSONGS.ZIP + INSTS.DAT) to play music.

3rd party links (ports, etc):

Filename Description Date,OS
LAB3D-SDL LAB3D/SDL is a high quality port of Ken's Labyrinth to Windows and Linux, by Jan Lonnberg. It uses OpenGL for graphics, the SDL library for input and simultaneous stereo sounds, and my own adlib emulator for music. He also fixed some bugs in my original game and wrote some technical documentation where he talks about some features and bugs in the original game - very interesting to read. If you enjoyed Ken's Labyrinth back in its day, then you absolutely MUST download this! For those doing source ports, this would be a better starting point than from my original download above. 09/*/2002- WIN32,Linux,SunOS.
Requires: SDL 1.2 and OpenGL.
LAB3D-SDL-enhanced? Katie Stafford has made some improvements to Jan Lonnberg's excellent port of Ken's Labyrinth. Some of the new features include: support for hi-res textures, rendering of shadows/light pools in correct perspective, correct animation speed, noclip cheat, and more! It's defininely worth the download. Now all we need is texture-mapped ceilings & floors, polygonal model support, sky boxes, and network play... any volunteers? :P Unlike some other re-make projects of classic games, I would like to encourage the use of the original Ken's Labyrinth artwork as a base for any re-made textures. 02/13/2005
Same requirements as LAB3D/SDL.
Port of Ken's Labyrinth to OpenGL-ES. by Scott Smith (Pickle). Having no hardware to test it myself, I cannot comment on its quality. Link added 11/10/2010
Ken's Labyrinth port to Nintendo Switch By Cameron Armstrong and based on Jan Lonnberg's SDL port. Here is a forum post with more information about it. Link added 02/08/2019
Ken's Labyrinth port for Android OS By EXL. EXL has written a "porting guide" here. Unfortunately it is written only in Russian. There are some cool screenshots and videos however ;-) Link added 09/15/2019
phLab6D phLab6D is a 6 degree of freedom map viewer by Peter Houska. In addition to the 6dof, it supports texture-mapped ceilings and floors, animating sprites, and other map viewing modes. Peter did this project as a software rendering experiment. As a result, it does NOT use hardware acceleration. 02/23/2009- WIN32
Ancient Dos Games video report Ancient Dos Games video report on Ken's Labyrinth by Kris Asick (Gemini). If you're looking for some more hints, and you are too lazy to read the hint manual, you might enjoy this video. Link added 10/30/2010
Ken's Labyrinth music at VGMPF An online repository of Ken's Labyrinth music rendered to OGG format. Perhaps most interesting is the information I provided to them about the official song titles. Link added 10/30/2010
KKIT/SDL by Kai E. Froland A GUI for viewing, converting, or editing WALLS.DAT/KZP or BOARDS.DAT/KZP files from various versions of Ken's Labyrinth. Link added 05/15/2022

Cheat codes:

The rest of the cheat codes must be enabled by using a command line option: "[executable name] snausty"
For example, type: C:\LAB3D\>ken snausty
<ENTER>
Once inside the game, you will need to hold down 3 keys at the same time. The 3 keys are BOTH shift keys and the 3rd key according to this table:

Note: Since all keyboards are different, some keyboard combinations may not work. I apologize in advance for this. Also, when I originally programmed Ken's Labyrinth (way back in 1992-1993), computers were a lot slower. I never bothered to check for the condition that a key could be held down too long. Good luck pecking at those keys!

Need more help? Warm up your printers :) because this graphic contains all 30 maps of Ken's Labyrinth. Each level is a 64x64 tile arranged in this 10x3 grid (3 episodes, 10 levels per episode)

Anybody lost?

12/11/2013: Here is the artwork from each version of Ken's Labyrinth, arranged 16 tiles per row, with transparent color as 0xcc5c70:
WALKEN.PNG (31,269 bytes)
LAB10S.PNG (123,696 bytes)
LAB11F.PNG (128,274 bytes)
LAB20S.PNG (230,671 bytes) (from $KEN.ZIP)
LAB21F.PNG (230,971 bytes) (from LABFULL.ZIP)

Credits

Programming..........Ken Silverman
Level Design.........Ken & Andy Cotter
Artwork..............Future Crew, Ken, and Andy Cotter
Music................Ken
"Voice of Sparky"....Mark Rein

It's Sparky!

A long time ago (March 1993), Mark Rein of Epic Megagames visited my house to help finish up the Epic version of Ken's Labyrinth. He was looking around my house for inspiration and this wooden dog caught his eye. It became "Sparky" in episode 2 of Ken's Labyrinth.

A Cool Story About The Hint Manual

Now here's something any true fan would appreciate. Epic Megagames shipped a small black hint manual with the full version of Ken's Labyrinth (see picture on right). In November 1999, I released the full version as freeware (see top of this page). As a bonus, I thought it would be cool to include the text of the hint manual. Andy Cotter wrote the original hint manual. Epic then edited it and spiced it up. On my website, I released the ORIGINAL unedited text written by Andy Cotter. In his original description to Episode 3, Level 8, there were a few extra lines:

"By the way, if you find a globe, save the game in front of it and ship the saved game off to us to win a prize (don't bother to if you used any cheat keys, we have ways of finding that out)."

I'm glad Epic removed this since I never had any prize planned. In fact, I had completely forgotten about it. I'm sure if this made it into Epic's hint manual, I would have remembered! Instead, it quietly slipped out in 1999. For the curious, the globe is still there on Episode 3, Level 8 (Map 28).

You could imagine my surprise when a fan by the name of Travis Rezka sent me his saved game on April 12, 2003 to claim his prize. At first, I had no idea what he was talking about - afterall, this was 10 years later! Because Travis was the first person to find the globe and point it out to me, he gets to have his name forever listed here on the official Ken's Labyrinth page. Yes folks, that's his prize. :) Nice job, Travis!

 Ken's Labyrinth Hint Manual
Want to make your own 3-D engine, but don't know how to get started? Here's some code which shows you how to render scenes like those in Ken's Labyrinth. It was written in Microsoft QuickBasic 4.5 code, so it's not going to be fast, but it's very short and I claim that it doesn't have any bugs! Maybe you'll find this code more useful than what you can find in an old book.

LABDEMO2.BAS (6,295 bytes) (DOS) QuickBasic 4.5. QBasic users: add this for mouse support)

LABDEMO2.ZIP (10,936 bytes, 09/10/2010) (WIN32) A port to C originally started by JonoF then optimized by me. Uses fullscreen DirectX.

LABDEMO2.KC (4,542 bytes, 05/20/2022) (WIN32) A port to EVALDRAW with collision detection.

Labdemo2.bas screen shot
Labdemo2.bas screen shot

I get asked the question: "what's wrong with my raycaster?" a lot. The answer is almost always the same: you are using the wrong projection. For your enjoyment, I have written this hilariously entertaining 1-question exam: Raycasting 101 final exam. (1,308 bytes) Note: this script must be run inside EVALDRAW. Who knows; you might actually learn something : )

Speed Limit 70 (FPS not lower than)
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