The Silver Lining (video game)

The Silver Lining
Developer(s)	Phoenix Online Studios
Series	King's Quest (unofficial)
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	since July 18, 2010
Genre(s)	Action adventure
Media/distribution	digital download
System requirements 1 GHz Intel or AMD Processor 512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended) DirectX 9.0c and compatible video card with 256 MB RAM

The Silver Lining is a five-chapter episodic fangame based on the King's Quest series, which was developed and released in free download format by Phoenix Online Studios for Microsoft Windows on July 18, 2010. The most recent release, Episode 4: ‘Tis In My Memory Locked. And You Yourself Shall Hold The Key Of It, was released on 8 November 2011. The final episode is scheduled for released in early 2012.

Although the game features tridimensional graphics, its gameplay departs from Sierra Online's last KQ release, The Mask of Eternity, which was mainly criticized for its RPG-like atmosphere, and settles into that created by the previous titles (for example, the setting returns to the land of the Green Isles, visited in King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow, while some recurring characters include Mannanan from King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human and Pan from King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella). The plot itself revolves around King Graham as he desperately seeks the help of ancient druidic artifacts to undo the evil cast upon his wife Valanice and children Alexander and Rosella.

TSL remains the first release in over fifteen years to feature Graham's family in another adventure, since KQ 7.

Plot

The game begins where The Princeless Bride left off, i.e. at Rosella and Edgar's wedding, except that it now occurs on the Isle of the Crown, in the land of the Green Isles where Alexander and Cassima are rulers. As Rosella is about to vow on marriage, a strange man in a black cloak comes from the crowd and casts a spell on her, which renders Rosella unconscious. As Edgar catches her, Alexander, also present at the wedding with his wife, rushes toward the stranger, only to subdue to the same fate. The stranger then flees the wedding, now followed by Graham, and finally vanishes, leaving only his clock behind.

Graham begins by preparing for an adventure. Edgar's parents point out that maybe the Oracle who lives on the Isle of the Sacred Mountain can explain these unusual events. As he quits the castle, a storm begins and he meets a strange man on the streets warning everyone that the world will soon end. Graham acquaintances a ferryman named Hassan who now works at the dock, and, with his help, reaches the Isle of the Sacred Mountain. After some conversation with the Winged Ones, he is escorted to see the Oracle, who then suggests Graham see the druids living on the Isle of the Mysts. Graham journeys there immediately, and talks to the arch-druid. It appears that the druids know the reason behind the happenings, and as Graham hands him the cloak, the arch-druid now knows what to do. He gives Graham a list of ingredients that must be found and brought to the arch-druid in order to counter the dark magic. Graham prepares to leave the Isle, but an unusual storm occurs, leaving him no other choice but to stay for the night.

Episodes

• "Episode 1: What is Decreed Must Be" (10 July 2010)
• "Episode 2: Two Households" (18 September 2010)
• "Episode 3: My Only Love Sprung From My Only Hate" (17 February 2011)
• "Episode 4: ‘Tis In My Memory Locked. And You Yourself Shall Hold The Key Of It" (8 November 2011)
• "Episode 5: A Thousand Times Goodnight" (Early 2012)

Game development

Production of TSL began in October 2000. After a long period of limited production and loss of focus, the original TSL team was reorganized under César Bittar, previously one of the project writers, in January 2002. Dividing the production crew into five departments (Art, Design, Audio, Programming, and Public Relations), he made POS into an efficient working unit. Little of the original plot was kept, so its resemblance to the original team's concept is limited.

The game was intended to be released as a trilogy, but later was altered to be released as a single game. The finished game was to contain Chapters 1 and 2. The development team said that "Chapters 3 – 9 will most likely never be released non-commercially, because without funding, it would take us 10 or more years to complete them." They have since stated that they intend to complete the story in five episodes and offer a true ending as opposed to a cliffhanger.

A short demo of Chapter 1 was released on July 30, 2006. A beta testing build containing 3 scenes from Chapter 1 was released on March 9, 2008. On June 1, 2009 the team said that in the next couple of months they would be working to put the finishing touches on the game and submit it to Vivendi Games, Inc for approval.

Delays and legal issues

The initial project was titled 'King's Quest IX: Every Cloak Has A Silver Lining' (or KQ IX for short). Due to legal issues with Vivendi Games, Inc in 2005, and parent company Activision throughout 2009—10, the title has been changed.

From its inception, the TSL project's stated intention was to give closure to the King's Quest series with the belief and assertion that the project was legal under U.S. fair use copyright law, though acknowledging that this was a legal gray area. The developers maintained a notice on their site promising to end the project if confronted by Vivendi Universal, the owner of the King's Quest license. In September 2005, after over four years of development, and immediately after providing their first trailer and announcing a release date, Phoenix Online Studios received a cease and desist e-mail from Vivendi. Phoenix kept their word and immediately halted all development on the project as they entered negotiations with Vivendi. Once the news was made public, fans of the game and the series began a mass mailing and e-mailing campaign organized by the Save King's Quest IX team to persuade Vivendi to allow Phoenix Online Studios to complete the project.

On November 29, 2005, Phoenix Online Studios was granted a Fan License by Vivendi. The license allowed for resumption of project development with the requirement that the title be changed to remove the "King's Quest" reference. All characters, locations, art, story, plot, and script content were permitted to remain unchanged.

After Vivendi Games merged with Activision in 2008, Activision became the new owners of the King's Quest franchise. Subsequently, Activision revoked the non-commercial license agreement previously negotiated between Vivendi and Phoenix Online Studios. After several months of negotiations, Activision issued its own cease-and-desist to The Silver Lining team, requesting that they cease production and take down all related materials on the game website. On June 26, 2010, Phoenix Online Studios announced that Activision had changed its mind and decided to allow The Silver Lining to be released.

Release

"Episode 1: What is Decreed Must Be" was released on July 10, 2010 as a free download and served as a "re-introduction" to the world of King's Quest. The chapter focused on setting the stage for the following episodes.

"Episode 2: Two Households" was released on September 18, 2010 as a free download. Marking a return to classic, Sierra-style adventure, Episode 2 sees King Graham investigate the mysterious curse upon his children as he searches for ingredients for an antidote. Taking into account criticism from the gaming community in response to Episode 1, Phoenix Online implemented numerous improvements to The Silver Lining for the release of Episode 2, including an option to toggle between shorter and longer narrations, improved pathfinding, a more realistic walking animation, the addition of a run/walk mode, and widescreen support.

"Episode 3: My Only Love Sprung From My Only Hate" was released on February 18, 2011 as a free download. This chapter contains more puzzles than the last two episodes and features King Graham's continuing quest to free his children. As a return to the classic problem-solving of the older games, note-taking is recommended, as well as returning multiple times to certain areas to see what has changed.

The remaining two episodes will be released as free downloads later in 2011.

Reception

The series has garnered generally fair reviews, and criticisms center on the convoluted plot and poor quality of narration.

Reviews for the first episode were generally positive, but with some criticism of the length and the lack of puzzles. The reaction to the quality of the graphics and music was more mixed in nature.

External links

• Official website
• Phoenix Online Studios
• The Silver Lining at deviantArt
• The Silver Lining at MySpace
• The Silver Lining at Wikia