King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella

King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella
Apple II cover art for King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella
Developer(s)	Sierra Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Sierra Entertainment
Engine	AGI and SCI0
Platform(s)	MS-DOS, Amiga, Apple IIGS, Atari ST
Release date(s)	August 16, 1988
Genre(s)	Adventure game
Mode(s)	Single player

King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella, released in 1988, was the first major graphical computer adventure game with a female protagonist.^{[citation needed]} The player takes on the role of Princess Rosella, daughter of King Graham of Daventry (KQI and KQII) and the twin sister of Gwydion/Alexander (KQIII). KQIV was also one of the first PC games to support a sound card.

This is the only chapter in the King's Quest series where the action takes place in real-time. The events of the game cover about 24 hours. Some activities must be completed during the day, while other puzzles can be solved only at night.

Story

King Graham has suffered a heart attack and is on the brink of death. The good fairy Genesta contacts Rosella through the magic mirror and offers her assistance. Genesta teleports Rosella to the land of Tamir, where she learns about a magical fruit that can heal her father.

However, Genesta herself is in a weakened state because the evil fairy Lolotte stole the talisman that gives Genesta power. If Rosella cannot return the talisman to Genesta, the good fairy will be unable to help her return to Daventry in time to save her father. So in addition to finding a way to obtain the magic fruit, Rosella must win Lolotte's trust. She is charged with performing three tasks for the evil fairy, after which she has the opportunity to recover the stolen talisman.

Although Rosella's primary quest is to retrieve the magic fruit needed to save King Graham, it is possible to return to Daventry without completing this task. However, this leads to a tragic alternate ending to the game.

Characters

• Rosella
• Genesta
• Lolotte
• Edgar
• Frankie of Avalon
• Frog Prince
• Ogre and Ogress
• Troll
• Goons
• Ghosts
• Seven Dwarfs
• Fisherman and his Wife
• Cupid
• Unicorn
• Hen
• Three Witches
• Pan

Name

In 1988 Roberta Williams revealed about the subtitle: "It was sort of based on The Perils of Pauline."

Music

King's Quest IV was the first commercially released game for PC compatibles to support sound cards instead of only the standard built-in speaker.

Sierra's new SCI engine allowed the game designers to incorporate an orchestrated musical score along with more complex sound-effects, a previously unattainable feat. To ensure an immersive soundtrack, composer William Goldstein, known for several Hollywood soundtracks (such as the 1982 television series Fame), was hired to write the game's musical score, totaling over 75 short music pieces.

Versions

This game was simultaneously produced and published in the AGI and SCI engines. The AGI engine was used in all earlier Sierra adventure games, the SCI in all later ones. The advantages of SCI were higher resolution (320x200 vs 160x200), mouse support, and a more sophisticated text parser.

The AGI version was made because Sierra supposed that contemporary low-end systems would be unable to run the SCI version and would require a 'lite' version of the game. However, the SCI version easily outsold its AGI counterpart nearly 9-1.

The two games are identical in gameplay, except that the SCI version was updated with some additional parser responses. However, AGI version 2.0 contains the famous 'beam me' easter egg (which transported Rosella to a Star Trek-esque room with all of the development team present). This easter egg is neither present in any SCI version nor in AGI version 2.3.

A version identical to the AGI version was released on the Apple IIgs with improved music and effects (over the PC AGI counterpart). The IIgs port did not use the SCI engine for performance reasons.

Designer

Roberta Williams wrote in the notes to the King's Quest Collection Series, "Before King’s Quest IV was released, word leaked out that Graham would have a heart attack and might die. Fans were upset enough to write in, asking to save Graham. I wanted King's Quest IV to have some pressure applied to you: a timed game, taking place over a 24-hour period, so you roam around during the day and eventually it turns to night. I don’t remember other games using the same scenes at night; it looked creepy."

Reception

Scorpia of Computer Gaming World reviewed King's Quest IV, noting the beautiful graphics, but also mentioning the game ran slowly if the screen contained animations. The game's puzzles were described as "uneven", but the presentation was considered cinematic in quality.

Copy protection

With the SCI engine, Sierra dropped disk-based copy protection schemes in favor of requiring the user to enter a word from the manual.

Credits

The following individuals were credited with the creation of this game:

• Designer: Roberta Williams
• Programming: Chane Fullmer, Ken Koch
• Interpreter / Development System: Pablo Ghenis, Stuart Goldstein, Robert E. Heitman, Jeff Stephenson
• Graphics / Artwork: William D. Skirvin
• Animation: Carolly Hauksdottir, Gerald Moore
• Music: William Goldstein
• Executive Producer: Ken Williams
• Director: Roberta Williams
• Contribution Not Specified: Robert Ballew, Dale Carlson, Robert E. Heitman, Chris Hoyt, Al Lowe, David Slayback
• Graphics System: Robert E. Heitman
• Cavalry Coding: Robert E. Heitman, Chris Hoyt, Al Lowe, David Slayback
• Wrangling: Robert Ballew, Dale Carlson

External links

• King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella on MobyGames
• Original Soundtrack
• KQ4 Review/Screenshots (Adventure Classic Gaming)
• King's Quest IV at the Sierra Chest
• Internet Movie Database, King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella (Video Game 1988)