Jump to content

King's Quest

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 137.222.231.108 (talk) at 11:27, 26 August 2010 (→‎Books). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Opening scene from King's Quest: Quest for the Crown

King's Quest is an adventure game series created by the American personal computer game company Sierra Entertainment. It is widely considered as a classic series from the golden era of adventure games. Following the success of its first installment, the series was primarily responsible for building the reputation of Sierra. Roberta Williams, co-founder and former co-owner of Sierra, designed all of the King's Quest games.

The King's Quest series chronicles the saga of the royal family of the Kingdom of Daventry through their various trials and adventures. The story takes place over two generations and across many lands, including Daventry, Kolyma, Llewdor, Tamir, Serenia, Eldritch, Etheria and the Land of the Green Isles.

Games and media releases

King's Quest 9

King's Quest 9 was a game in development by Sierra during 2001-2002. It was cancelled before going into production. The game never made it past the prototype stage. Images of two renders of the playable character were leaked to the public.[1]

Collections

  • King's Quest 15th Anniversary Collector's Edition (1994)
Contains 1 (AGI & SCI versions) through 6, The King's Questions, King Graham's Board Game Challenge. It also contains a french floppy version of KQ5, and the german floppy version of KQ6. It also contains Inside the Chest, Behind the Developer's Shield, A View from Inside the Mirror, Hold onto your Adventurer's Cap, and The Royal Scribe, programs which contain concept material, artwork, documents, magazine articles, etc.
It also contains assorted videos, including making of, interviews, anniversery material, promo videos for KQ7, etc. The Fun has Just Begun, Sierra Technology History, 15 Years of Products, Roberta William's Inspiration Interview, Ken & Roberta Sierra Future Interview, Roberta Williams Designer Interview, the Making of KQ6, Intro Sequence, KQ6 Art Slideshow, KQ7 Promo, and two About KQ7 interviews.
  • King's Quest Collection (1995)
It contains 1 (AGI & SCI versions) through 6, King's Questions, Graham's Board Game Challenge. It contains all of the bonus material from the 15th Anniversery Collector's Edition, and added a playable demo of KQ7.
  • King's Quest Collection Series (1997)
Also known as King's Quest Collection 2; it contains 1 (AGI & SCI versions) through 7 (2.0 version), King's Questions, Graham's Board Game Challenge, Wizard and the Princess, Mixed-Up Mother Goose Deluxe, Laura Bow 1 & 2, Mystery House, Mission Asteroid, and Time Zone.
It contains most of the bonuses from the previous versions including; Developer's Shield, Royal Scribe, and Chest. It does not contain all of the videos from the previous versions. It contains making of and intro videos for KQ6, and the intro and ending videos for KQ7. It has an added Sneak Peak of KQ8: Mask of Eternity.
  • Roberta William's Anthology (1997)
It contains KQ1 (AGI & SCI versions) through 7 (2.0 version), Wizard and the Princess. It also contains Laura Bow 1 & 2, Mixed-up Mother Goose (AGI & VGA versions), Mystery House, Mission Asteroid, Time Zone, Dark Crystal, and Chapter 1 Demo of Phantasmagoria.
It contains only the Chest & Developer's Shield. It also contains box covers, and KQ7 concept art. Videos contain some of the videos from the first collection (that were not included in the "Collection 2"), and more interviews from the development teams, and a different Mask of Eternity sneak preview.
  • King's Quest Collection (2006)
In September 2006 Vivendi Universal released King's Quest Collection, a compilation CD for Windows XP encompassing games I-VII. Rather than porting the games directly, however, this release uses the original versions running under the DOSBox emulator and a Windows frontend. As a result, it is also possible to run King's Quest I-VI on other platforms with a little tweaking and ports of DOSBox. King's Quest VII is the earlier 16 bit windows version, version 1.4. It lacks dos compatibility, the improved save and restore functions, and character speed control found in version 2.0. It contains the dragon tail death that was removed from version 2.0, "Father always said to let sleeping dragons lie". It runs natively on Windows 32bit versions but is incompatible with 64bit windows.
Missing in the collection are the original AGI version of King's Quest 1, as well as the Windows CD version of King's Quest VI with high-resolution character art (some of the original Windows files were removed from this release), the 2.0 dos and windows versions of KQ VII, and King's Quest: Mask of Eternity. It also lacks any of the bonus material from previous collections.
This collection was released on Steam in July 2009
  • King's Quest 1+2+3 and 4+5+6 collections (2010)
Two collections consisting of the classic AGI versions of King's Quest I-III[2] released 2010, and the later games King's Quest 4-5-6 released by Activison through GOG.com.[3]

Books

  • Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles - Written by Jane Jenson, it was a booklet packed in with KQ6, which discussed background and geography of the Land of the Green Isles. The book also contained copy protection information for the game.
  • King's Quest V Hintbook - Written by Roberta Williams. Gives a behind the scenes details of the making of King's Quest V and the King's Quest series, and the stories of the previous games. It contains concept art from KQV. The book is split into sections for each major area in the game including; Woods and Town of Serenia; The Desert; The Great Mountains; Beach, Ocean and Harpy Island; and finally Mordack's Island and Castle. Each section begins with a character introduction giving a few details about most of the characters in the game.
  • King's Quest VI Hintbook - Written by Lorelei Shannon. It contains behind the scenes "Welcome" discussing the making of the game, an "Excerpts from "The Royal Family: A Celebration" by Bryanne Eridiphal, Scribe and Herald", which discusses the Royal Family and events leading up to KQ6. A section is devoted to each island, and to the two paths of the Castle of the Crown. Each section a page or two which discusses places of interest and character introductions giving more background to the game. The book also contains concept art from KQ6. There is also a Did You Figure Out...? section which explains Alhazred's schemes.
  • King's Quest VII: The Official Hint Guide - Written by Lorelei Shannon. It also contains an interview with Roberta Williams, a making of KQ7 section, A summary of King's Quest (discussing the events of each game leading up to KQ7), and a section giving the backstories and legends explaining the backstories to King's Quest 7. It fills in details of Lolotte, Malicia, Edgar, Count Tsepish, and other KQ7 characters backgrounds both before and after the events of KQ4, up to the start of KQ7. The book also contains concept art from the game.
  • The Official Book of King's Quest - Written by Donald B. Trivette.
The Official Book of King's Quest: Daventry and Beyond, Forward by Roberta Williams, making of King's Quest IV.
The Official Book of King's Quest (Second Edition)
The Official Book of King's Quest (Third Edition)/The Official Book of King's Quest VI, published with two different cover titles. Has an interview with Roberta Williams discussing development of King's Quest VI, material concerning making of King's Quest V, and line artwork.
  • The King's Quest Companion - Written by Peter Spear and published in four editions. The book contains novelizations of games. It also contained articles that further explained the history of Daventry, its geography, the characters, and magic. The first two editions also contained An Encyclopedia of Daventry (Abridged) which gave even more details about various subjects relating to Daventry (from abominable snowman to zombies).
  • Authorized King's Quest VII Players Guide - Written by Peter Spear. It is a strategy Guide and novelization of King's Quest VII.

Three original novels have been published by Boulevard Books.

  • The Floating Castle (1995): Written by Craig Mills, placed some where between KQ IV and VI, it follows Alexander on a quest to discover what is behind the mysterious Floating Castle and the monstrous invasions over the kingdom.
  • The Kingdom of Sorrow (1996): Written by Kenyon Morr (pseudonym of Mark Sumner and Marella Sands), placed between II and III, it follows the adventures of Graham, who moves to rescue an imprisoned Fairy Queen held by the giant Dunstan in order to return balance in nature.
  • See No Weevil (1996): Also written by Kenyon Morr, set between II and II. Taking place 7 years after the previous book, it focuses on Rosella, just before her 15th birthday, must run the Kingdom of Daventry during an absence of her parents.

Description

The world of King's Quest is sophisticated and immersive. It encompasses many different kingdoms and supernatural realms. Technologically, the series pioneered the use of animation and pseudo-3D environments in graphic adventure games, so that the main character could, for example, walk behind objects on-screen.[1]

The main characters in the series are King Graham, originally a knight of Daventry who won the throne of the kingdom through questing, and members of his family: his wife Queen Valanice and his twin son and daughter, Prince Alexander and Princess Rosella. The exception is King's Quest: Mask of Eternity, where the protagonist is Connor of Daventry, a tanner from the Kingdom of Daventry who is unrelated to the royal family although in the opening sequence there is a brief moment where King Graham is shown and Connor later visits Castle Daventry and sees the King's statue form.

Many famous fictional characters make appearances in the series, including Beauty and the Beast, Rumpelstiltskin, Little Red Riding Hood and Count Dracula. They are featured most prominently in the earlier games, which focus on solving item-based puzzles in a fantasy setting. The later sequels have more elaborate story lines, more complicated puzzles, and more original and well-developed characters.

The primary way in which characters solve puzzles and advance through the game is by using items found earlier in the game and stored in their inventory. Even the most apparently useless item (a dead fish, a rotten tomato, or an old board) can have an unexpected and creative purpose in the right situation. King Graham's famous dictum, "Take anything that isn't nailed down," is generally a good rule of thumb, as is the fan addendum "And if it is nailed down, look for loose nails, or solve the nail-removing puzzle." When a situation looks completely impassable, a good idea is often to leave it and come back later with new items. Other puzzles include the mapping of labyrinths, deserts, or other inhospitable places; solving riddles; and tasks involving the use of logic or lateral thinking skills. People who play King's Quest should expect their characters to die rather frequently (due to the difficulty of many of the puzzles and encountering situations for which the character is not yet ready) and should use the "Save Game" option accordingly. Some parts of the game can only be solved by saving and restoring a character many times. Another important strategy is to use all one's character's senses to gather all the information available: look, listen, smell, taste, or touch whenever possible.

Geography

The region in which the first game takes place has no boundaries. Sir Graham can travel north, south, east, or west, but no matter what direction he goes, he will eventually loop back to the same screen where he began. This is the easiest way of programming a closed gamespace. King's Quest II, III, and parts of IV held on to this design, albeit in a more limited manner. The looping takes place only when the character goes north or south. Geographical barriers such as the sea, mountains, or deserts serve as boundaries to the east and west. The desert boundary in III was partially looped in one direction, one could continually travel west almost endlessly, until succumbing to dehydration. But travelling back east at any time, would always take the character back to the edge of the desert instantly.

In I-IV one could sometimes see elements of next screen to the north in the distance. This gave the illusion that the each location was connected to the next seamlessly despite the fact land was looping.

It was less defined in earlier games and IV. In I the elements were the castle in the distance and some views of the rivers (most other areas were obscured by hills and trees). In II and IV this phenomena was primarily seen along the beach (as trees and hills tended to block view inland). In IV one could see various elements scattered throughout various screens, such as the fisherman's shack, the pool, the old mansion, the ogre cottage, and river, in the distance in certain screens. For example, from the first screen the player begins the game they can see small cliffs to the north (the next screen is those cliffs). Traveling one screen north, one can see the Fisherman's shack in the distance (the next screen is the shack). One screen north of the fisherman's shack, one can see the river in the distance (the same river from the first screen). Heading east one screen from the back of the shack, one can see, the pool, in the distance (the pool is the next screen).

However in III it created an interesting situation. The magic map for example shows the topography for Llewdor.[2] It showed the Village of Llewdor and Three Bear's house as being south of Manannan's house (which is also supported by some of the ingame descriptions of each screen). One can see the mountain to the north from the Three Bear's house, supporting the topography in the magic map. Yet from Manannan's mountain, one would see the both the village and Bear's house to the north of the mountain.[3]

According to the manual for the King's Quest IBM, this phenomena was described as such; "Daventry's world is has a three-dimensional quality about it, places "wrap around" like countries on a globe. Imagine Daventry as a country so large it bends around the world."

Looping has affected the drawn artwork maps and diagrams in strategy guides and hint books. For example, various maps were drawn for the King's Quest Companion's first three editions, which tried to portray the various lands of the first four games. The looping caused each artist to portray the edges of their maps differently, and thus locations were shown in different places on each map.[4][5][6] The maps drawn for KQ3 more or less stuck to the geography defined by the magic map. The KQ1 maps show the most dramatic differences in interpretation. For example, the Door into Mountain being shown as being part of a mountain range in two of the maps, and as a central mountain in the third. The looping situation has been explained in The King's Quest Companion (retroactive continuity) by saying that the character is trapped in the region magically, "Magical Law of "Containment".

Beginning with KQ V, looping was eliminated and all game regions had boundaries in all four directions. Where physical boundaries didn't exist such as an endless desert or the ocean the character would usually be killed or die if they traveled too far.

Mythology

Much of King's Quest was inspired by fairy tales, which designer Roberta Williams loved reading.[7] Many creatures, characters and situations from mythology, fairy tales, and folklore are encountered within the world of King's Quest. A Minotaur, Pan, Pandora, Charon, Cupid, Ceres, Druids, Harpies, Oracles, Poseidon, Medusa, Fates and the Graeae appear in various games in the series. In general, the mythology of the King's Quest world is derived from that of the Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome and Celts.

Magic plays a large role in the King's Quest series. Wizards, witches, enchanters, sorcerers, and genies appear throughout. In some of the games (most prominently in KQIII), the main character must use magic spells or items to achieve a goal.

The concept of the King's Quest series was derived from ideas first established in Wizard and the Princess (Adventure in Serenia). The game's story and setting is a prequel to the series.[8] The backstory for the IBM version was setup as a sequel to the original Apple version. The game versions followed the exploits of unnamed heroes known only as the "wanderers". The game's connection to the King's Quest series led to its inclusion as one of the King's Quest trivia questions.[9] The fifth King's Quest game marked a return to Serenia, the land first seen during the game. The game's backstory was further tied into the King's Quest history through The King's Quest Companion. According to the Companion, in various periods of history people from the real world Withdrew to Daventry, which explains how historical and mythical elements exist there.[10]

According to Roberta Williams;

"Well, ya, King's Quest is on Earth. Daventry is very old city from a long time ago. It's in ruins now and people aren't quite sure exactly where it used to be. There are some archaeologists searching through the ruins, they think they know its Daventry. But its somewhere on Earth." -Mask of Eternity Talkspot Interview, part 1, December 9, 1998 (1:20:40 to 1:59:58)[4][5][6][7]

Good and evil

In the series, the player, as the main character, always plays on the side of that which is right and fair. King Graham, Queen Valanice, Prince Alexander, Princess Rosella, and Connor strive to serve the greater good. The main character is often motivated by a desire to protect his or her loved ones or protect the innocent from evil. The villains of the series have been characters who threatened the safety of Daventry or sought to rule other kingdoms as tyrants. In the first seven games of the series, emphasis is placed upon avoiding violence whenever possible. Many of the villains are not killed but instead are magically imprisoned or otherwise neutralized. Sometimes, especially in the earlier entries, there are multiple methods of defeating adversaries. When dealing with adversaries who are dangerous but not truly evil, non-lethal methods are always rewarded with more points and sometimes more tangible rewards too (most notably the snake in King's Quest II). Even still violent methods are used against certain villains. In KQ1, he pushes the witch into a burning stove or cauldron. In KQII Graham kills Dracula with a wood stake. In KQ3 Alexander slays the three-headed dragon. In KQ4 Rosella kills Lolotte with a love arrow. In KQV Graham kills a Yeti (by causing it to fall over a cliff), he also kills Mordack during a magical duel. In KQ6 Alexander uses a red scarf to cause the mintaur to fall into a pit of fire. This drastically changes in King's Quest 8: where every villain the player encounters is killed, with the exception of Lucreto, who cannot be killed, and is therefore banished into a void.

Villains

  • Hagatha: An evil, cannibalistic witch and the sister of Manannan and Mordack.[11][12] Out of jealousy, she imprisoned Valanice in the Quartz Tower in King's Quest II. She lived in a cave near the coast of Kolyma and was never defeated by King Graham in the original Kings Quest II. According to the King's Quest Companion, she later disappeared from Kolyma soon after her brother kidnapped Alexander from Daventry. The writer worries that Hagatha and a cured Manannan may be together again plotting revenge. In the unofficial remake of Kings Quest 2, however, she is apparently defeated when she is pushed out of the Quartz tower window imprisoning Valanice, but her ultimate fate is unknown.
  • Manannan: An old, twisted and evil wizard who had the custom of kidnapping infant boys and training them as his servants only to kill them at age eighteen. For many years he reigned as the absolute ruler of the land of Llewdor, and under his leadership brigands, thieves and the like prospered. Manannan made a fatal error, however, in the choosing of his final servant, a baby boy who he named Gwydion (who later was found to actually be Alexander, Prince of Daventry and current king of the Land of the Green Isles). Gwydion was able to escape the clutches of Manannan and, learning several magic spells, turn Manannan into a cat. King Graham later encountered him in Mordack's castle, and captured him in sack of peas. After the defeat of his brother Mordack at the hands of King Graham of Daventry, Manannan was never seen or heard from again and his fate remains unknown. King's Quest Companion speculates that he may have clawed his way out of the sack Graham put him in, and may have even affected a cure for his feline condition. It goes on to suggest that he and Hagatha may be together again plotting revenge.
  • Lolotte: An evil fairy, and false ruler of the land of Tamir. She was once an evil fairy from Etheria. She was cast out of Etheria for treachery and wicked deeds. Before leaving though, she kidnapped the baby Edgar (the Prince of Fairies) in revenge for the banishment. She moved into Tamir, and corrupted Edgar's appearance, and tried to twist his mind. He grew up being told she was his mother (and that his father was a human). His parents searched for years but never found him. Years later, she showed her true self and stole a talisman from Genesta, ruler of Tamir and Queen of the Fairies there, in an attempt to gain more power and the rule of Tamir for herself. The talisman was the source of Genesta's powers and her life force. She also sought Genesta's gold egg-laying chicken, a Unicorn, and the fabled artifact "Pandora's Box" in order to rule the world by unleashing its terrible evil. She was killed with Cupid's arrow by Princess Rosella of Daventry. Upon her death she vowed that she would return somehow and take revenge on Rosella. After her death, Edgar's appearance was cured by Genesta, and Genesta returned to ruling the country. Some have thought Lolotte is a sister of Genesta, Malicia and Titania, and related to Edgar, but this was not the case according to references in King's Quest VII, and the backstory notes printed in various official hint guides which state she is not actually related to any of the noble family of Etheria (or Genesta); Edgar states in KQ7 that he knew somehow he wasn't related to her, and Oberon calls her an "evil fairy" and gives no direct ties to himself or Titania, nor does Titania give any indication of her having any connection to Lolotte; however the idea persists in fanfic.
  • Malicia: An evil fairy, Titania is her sister, and the Weaver of Dreams is her brother. Years before the events of King's Quest VII, she had attempted to overthrow the land of Etheria but was defeated by Count Vladmir Tsepish, protector of the land of Ooga Booga. On the same night Edgar returned to Etheria, after being discovered in Tamir, she kidnapped him transforming him into an impostor of King Otar. During the events of King's Quest VII, she sought to destroy the realm of Eldrich by activating a volcano, thereby creating new land over its ruins. To achieve her goal, she kidnapped the troll Otar, the king of the Volcanix Underground, and replaced him with Edgar troll. She had her pet, an evil gargoyle, behead Count Tsepish and let an evil undead creature known as the Boogeyman loose on that land. She imprisoned the Lady Mab (sister of the Dream Maker, a high ranking official in the court of Etheria, whose duty it was to send dreams to their proper receivers) in ice, transformed Attis (the Lord of the Hunt, husband of the harvest goddess Ceres, and a member of the court of Etheria) into a stag and Ceres, mother nature, into an oak tree. She fatally wounded the tree, placing the world in danger because if Ceres died, spring would never come again and the world would be in a state of eternal winter. Malicia was defeated by Princess Rosella of Daventry and through magic was changed into an infant. In her infant form, she was taken in by Queen Titania (Malicia's sister) and her husband Oberon to be raised and given a second chance at goodness.
  • Lucreto: Not much is known about Lucreto except that before his decline into evil he was an Archon, charged with protecting the Mask of Eternity, the Global Icon of Truth, Light and Order. Indeed, Lucreto had been the head Archon, and through use of dark and powerful magics, he shattered the Mask. Its pieces were scattered throughout different parts of the world of Daventry. As a result, Chaos reigned, and creatures of darkness were allowed to roam free in the world. Lucreto was defeated in battle with the hero Connor, whom the Mask had deemed its Champion Eternal, and was plunged into a magic portal. It was stated in the game that Lucreto could not be killed, but that pushing him through the portal would set things right. It is likely that the portal was some sort of magical banishment or "limbo".
  • Shamir Shamazel: A genie in the service of Vizer Abdul Alhazred. While not actually evil himself, he is forced to do his master's evil bidding to cause in-fighting among the islands by disguising himself and stealing each of the islands treasures. Jollo the Clown said that while he usually doesn't kill other people himself, he tends to lure them to their doom. Throughout King's Quest VI he takes on various disguises and tries to lure Alexander to his doom through various traps. He can also be seen spying on Alexander at various points in various forms in which he is recognizable through his glinting eyes. He has a love for peppermint and seems to get drunk or high on it. At the end he takes on Cassima's form in order for Alhazared to marry her, but is exposed depending on the path chosen by either Cassima's parents or Alexander with Beast's mirror. His fate depends on the ending. In the short path you can only destroy him by having him eat peppermint leaves and he destroys himself with an energy ball. In the long path you can destroy him in the same manner, or you can capture him using his lamp stolen by Jollo. Doing this turns him to good and he is happy about it as he always wanted a good master but was forced to do the bidding of his evil master. If you destroy him in the long path rather than capture him the ending is slightly different: the people of all of the islands and Alexander's family aren't there for the wedding as they are if you capture him. Apparently if he's captured he uses his powers to bring them all together for the wedding and also repairs the islands ferry. He is at the wedding at the end if captured and happily celebrates Alexander and Cassima's wedding, his powers now being used for good instead of evil.
  • Minotaur: A monster that dwells within the catacombs on the Isle of the Sacred Mountain in the Land of the Green Isles. According to the game's manual, it took a liking to the place and took up residence. At first the Winged Ones tried to retake it, but were ultimately forced to abandon the catacombs to the Minotaur. The Winged Ones bolted the door shut so no one could enter and every year the Minotaur demands of the kingdom a living sacrifice of his choice or he would attack the city. With no other choice, the Winged Ones agreed. The Minotaur entered and exited the catacombs through a secret passage in his lair (which was a secret room hidden behind a tapestry) that led to behind a boulder right next to the main entrance. The Winged Ones Oracle prophesied someone who would climb the Logic Cliffs (something no one had been able to do for centuries), enter the catacombs and defeat the Minotaur. Not long before Prince Alexander of Daventry climbed the cliffs, the Minotaur took the kingdom's Princess Lady Celeste and Alexander went into the catacombs to try to rescue her. The Minotaur was interrupted in his secret lair as he was preparing to dine on Lady Celeste and Prince Alexander killed him by enraging him by waving a red scarf causing the Minotaur to charge him, miss and land in a fire pit where he burned to death. Lady Celeste was recovered unharmed and the catacombs were retaken by the Winged Ones. Not for long however, its stated in the King's Quest Companion, that soon after another Minotaur took up residence in the catacombs.
  • Harlin the Malevolent: The villain of Wizard and the Princess and Adventure in Serenia. He had kidnapped the Princess Priscilla of Serenia, daughter of King George IV. A wandering barbarian journeyed to his island in order to save the princess, and defeated him. The barbarian would later return to Serenia with the princess and turn down her offer of marriage, journey into the desert and die, leaving only his skeleton and an old shoe (Graham later discovered his body and took the shoe). Harlin was not completely defeated however, in the future he used his magic to turn back the sands of time, and find a new adventurer to challenge. Again he was defeated by the second Wanderer, who saved the princess. She returned to Serenia and married Kenneth the Huge.[10]
  • Karn Megiddo: The villain of King's Quest: Kingdom of Sorrow. The true ruler of Sorrowing Court. He had created it in order to absorb the energy of those staying there in order to increase his power, and prepare for a great spell that would make him the most powerful wizard east of the great seas.
  • Telgrin: The villain of King's Quest: The Floating Castle. The evil ruler of the dark castle. He took over the kingdoms of the world, by stealing the souls of kings from various kingdoms around the world. He took pleasure from enslaving the bodies of the former kings as his dark knights. He had removed the head of the true master of the castle and imprisoned him in the dungeon.
  • Captain Saladin and the Castle Guards: Not true enemies as they are not evil, but they bar Alexander on his quest and throw him in the dungeon if he's caught in the castle. While they follow the Vizier's orders, their true loyalty lies with Cassima and her family and at least a couple, including Saladin were suspicious of Alhazerad but did nothing as they couldn't be sure and he was in charge. When Saladin learned the truth from a letter Alexander found that proved Alhazerad's treachery, he immediately sided with Alexander as did the rest of the castle guards. Captain Saladin and the guards helped Alexander defeat Alhazerad and his genie and Saladin even later married Alexander and Cassima at their request.

The Society of the Black Cloak

In King's Quest VI, Alexander discovers a letter that makes reference to an organization called the Society of the Black Cloak (sometimes referenced by fans as "The Black Cloak Society"). Little is known about the organization, it appears to be a shadowy brotherhood made up of malevolent wizards who desire to manipulate the Land of the Green Isles and conquer it.[13] This was an idea created by Jane Jensen (not Roberta Williams), and was not followed up in later games.

"The "Black Cloak Society" was never an actual term that I instigated or thought up. I'm not actually sure where that came from. The closest thought that I have on that subject is that: when I was working with Jane Jensen on King's Quest 6, and we thought up the evil vizier, we talked loosely about the possibility of putting Mannanan, Mordack, and the vizier together as group -- possibly -- in a future King's Quest. There was loose reference to the possibility in King's Quest 6, although nothing was set in stone at that time. I think that it's possible that Jane Jensen might have mentioned the possibility (perhaps) in subsequent interviews on the subject, although, I'm not sure about that. Later on, I heard about the Black Cloak Society and kind of wondered where that phrase came from, but, I never refuted it as I thought it was kind of cool and, probably, would have gone on with the idea in future King's Quests had I had the chance. And, one final thing: Hagatha was never part in any discussion of a Black Cloak Society.[14]

The note found in King's Quest VI only connects three as a group:

  • Mordack: A sinister and powerful wizard, who is the brother of Manannan and Hagatha.[11][12] He inhabits a large castle on an island to the east of the shores of Serenia. Mordack was the "friend" (according to Cassima) and master of the former Vizier of the Green Isles, Abdul Alhazred[15] Through his relationship with Alhazred, Mordack was able to meet Cassima, princess of that land. He expressed his wishes to marry Cassima, and when she refused, he kidnapped her, brought her to his island, and put her to work as a scullery girl. In the opening of King's Quest V, Mordack casts a spell on the royal family and castle of Daventry in an attempt to avenge his older brother Manannan. Having shrunk them, he then places them into a glass jar in his possession. He plans to feed them to Manannan, who had been turned into a cat by Prince Alexander in King's Quest III. King Graham, the only member of the royal family who escaped Mordack's evil spell, later infiltrated Mordack's castle and saved his family and Cassima, using some newly-learned magic spells to kill Mordack in the process. Mordack is not specifically stated to be a member within KQ6, but is connected to both Shadrack and the Abdul Alhazred via a letter (he is also connected to the Vizier via a few lines in KQ5).
  • Shadrack: Very little is known about Shadrack other than that he is a wizard, and the author of the note found in KQ VI. It is known that he has given some advice to Abdul Alhazred concerning capturing the kingdom. He has also played chess with Mordack. He is not specifically said to be a member of the Society within KQ6, but there is an implication that he may be a brother within it. In the King's Quest Companion it is said specifically that he is a member ( "also of that company..."). The Companion also adds that he wanted the body of Cassima dead or alive to fulfill his peculiar interests (if Alhazred hadn't chosen to keep her for himself). It also states that "Shade" is his hidden name for himself. It also mentions that Mordack and Shadrack had plans to set up the destruction of the Land of the Green Isles with Alhazred's help (in KQ6 its said to be primarily Abdul's plan to become king of the islands, but he has received advice from Shadrack).
  • Abdul Alhazred: The Vizier of the Land of the Green Isles and minion of the Mordack[15] He came to the Green Isles and impressed the King and Queen, Caliphim and Allaria, with his intelligence and knowledge. Exploiting the King's desire for a male heir, he gained the King's absolute trust and was named Vizier, in charge of the day-to-day running of the kingdom. Cunning and nefarious, he sought to rule that kingdom and towards that end had the Princess kidnapped by the wizard Mordack. Shortly after her kidnapping, he murdered the King and Queen, claiming that they had died of heartbreak over Cassima's disappearance. With the help of his all powerful genie, Shamir Shamazel, he created feuds and bitterness between the four other islands of the Land of the Green Isles in order to isolate them from one another, thus allowing him to commit his evil acts without much resistance. He instigated these feuds by having his genie rob the islands of their most prized possessions and spread rumors of the other islands' involvement in the thefts. After the rescue of Cassima, he imprisoned her against her will within the Palace of the Green Isles, pretending she was sequestered in mourning for her parents. He made preparations to fake a marriage to Cassima by staging a wedding with his genie playing her role. He also arranged for the subsequent murder of Cassima, which would grant him total control of the Land of the Green Isles. His plot was eventually foiled by Prince Alexander with help from Captain Saladin (Captain of the guard who was suspicious and helped after reading a letter showing the truth) and the resurrected King and Queen in the long path's ending. Also, Jollo the Court Clown helped out in the long path's ending by supplying the genie's bottle. Alhazred was imprisoned by the guards of the Green Isles after being defeated by Alexander and Cassima in a swordfight. In the short path's ending, Captain Saladin says that he was banished forever from the Land of the Green Isles. According to the King's Quest Companion, Abdul Alhazred wrote the Necronomicon, a dark tome feared throughout Daventry. He is named after the prophet of Cthulhu with the same name from H.P. Lovecraft's short story, The Call of Cthulhu.[8] Lovecraft's Alhazred was the author of the infamous Necronomicon. [9] He is the only character in the game that is specifically said to be a member of the Black Cloak.

Fan-created episodes

There are several fan-created remakes in the Kings Quest series that have been released. First, there was a basic remake with more advanced graphics and a voice soundtrack for King's Quest: Quest for the Crown, followed by a far more advanced remake for King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne, both completed by AGD Interactive (Previously Tierra Entertainment).[citation needed]

Continuing in the same tradition (AGD having moved on to other projects), on June 19, 2006, Infamous Adventures released a remake of King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human. The release includes Video Graphics Array graphics and an advanced music and voice soundtrack for the game. Included in the release are a digital manual and many classic King's Quest perks.[16] King's Quest V was remade as a text adventure called King's Quest V - The Text Adventure.[17]

Unofficial games

  • King's Quest I VGA, unofficial modernized VGA remake of King's Quest I SCI by AGD Interactive (formerly "Tierra Entertainment").
  • King's Quest II+: Romancing the Stones, also by AGD Interactive, based on King's Quest II.
  • King's Quest 2 ¼: Breast Intentions - Valanice sets out on an adventure to find her kidnapped son, and save him from starvation. The game uses the classic AGI system.[10]
  • King's Quest III, by Infamous Adventures, unofficial modernized VGA remake of King's Quest III.
  • King's Quest V - The Text Adventure by Steve Lingle, unofficial text adventure remake of King's Quest V.[11]
  • King's Quest ZZT 1 & 2 - Alexander sets out on adventures to stop Ravenlos (the evil cousin of Mordack and Manannan) and the invading forces of the Relentless Army, and the Kingdom of Dalban.[18][19]

Under Development

The Silver Lining

Main article: The Silver Lining (game)

In 2002, a group of fans, under the name Phoenix Online Studios, undertook to create a new episode to the King's Quest series. They intended to call it King's Quest IX: Every Cloak Has A Silver Lining.

In 2005, Vivendi Universal sent a cease and desist letter and shut down the King's Quest IX project, a few months before the final release date. A Save King's Quest IX petition was started at www.savekqix.org to save the game.

On December 9, 2005, an agreement was reached between Vivendi Universal and Phoenix Online Studios to allow development to continue. The main condition imposed by Vivendi Universal was to remove the "King's Quest" brand from the name of the game, which was renamed as The Silver Lining. This created rumors that Vivendi themselves were either planning or developing the ninth game in the Kings Quest series, though there has been no information to prove this true.

In 2008, Vivendi Universal, which owned the Sierra Online IP[disambiguation needed], merged with video game publisher Activision.

On February 27, 2010, Phoenix Online Studios indicated it was again closing down the Silver Lining project, at the request of Activision, owner of Sierra's IP.[20][21]

In March 2010, Phoenix Online Studios managed to contact Activision and the two were in talks about the release of The Silver Lining. Phoenix Online Studios will possibly attempt to buy the King's Quest license from Activision.[22]

On June 26, 2010, Phoenix Online Studios announced that Activision had changed its mind and decided to allow 'The Silver Lining' to be released. Phoenix Online Studios also announced that the first episode of the first chapter of the game would be released July 10, 2010 as a free download, with the rest of chapters 1 and 2 to follow later in 2010, also as free downloads.[23]

Satire

Mike and Matt Chapman, creators of the Homestar Runner series of cartoons and games, have created a game known as Peasant's Quest, mostly based on King's Quest I.

Monkey Island also pokes fun at how easy it was to die in other adventure games, namely Sierra games. See In-jokes in The Secret of Monkey Island.

See also

References

  1. ^ Wagner, Roy (June–July 1987), "King's Quest III", Computer Gaming World, pp. 18–20{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  2. ^ http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/kingsquest/images/e/ea/Llewdor.PNG
  3. ^ http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/File:Manannanhouse.PNG
  4. ^ http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/1st_Edition_Maps
  5. ^ http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/2nd_Edition_Maps
  6. ^ http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/3rd_Edition_Maps
  7. ^ Scorpia (December 1988), "Interview with Roberta Williams", Computer Gaming World, p. 21
  8. ^ Interaction Magazine, Fall 1994
  9. ^ King's Questions (2004), "The Wizard and the Princess" was made for the Apple computer. What was it called when released for the IBM PC? a. Hello, Daventry!, b. Adventure in Serenia, c. Hi-Res Adventure #2, d. The Princess and the Wizard
  10. ^ a b The King's Quest Companion, 2nd Edition, 506-507
  11. ^ a b The King's Quest Companion, 2nd Edition, 474-475
  12. ^ a b King's Questions; a. Endora That's right! Endora is related to Samantha, Darren, and Tabitha. b. Manannan That is incorrect. Manannan is Hagatha and Mordack's brother. c. Hagatha No. Hagatha is Mordack and Manannan's sister. d. Mordack Sorry. Mordack is related to Manannan and Hagatha.
  13. ^ http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/Society_of_the_Black_Cloak
  14. ^ Roberta Williams at SierraGamers (6-9-2003)
  15. ^ a b "...Abdul Alhazred--vizier of the Isle of the Crown, minion of Mordack, murderer of Cassima's parents, jailer of Cassima, and sower of dissension among the land of the Green Isles.", King's Quest Companion, Third Edition, pg 306
  16. ^ http://www.infamous-adventures.com/index.php?page=kq3
  17. ^ http://www.textadventures.co.uk/review.php?game=112
  18. ^ King's Quest ZZT
  19. ^ King's Quest ZZT 2
  20. ^ http://www.tsl-game.com/
  21. ^ http://kotaku.com/5482221/activision-terminates-fan+made-kings-quest-extension
  22. ^ http://kotaku.com/5529809/the-sequel-they-had-no-right-to-make--now-has-a-surprise-twist
  23. ^ http://www.postudios.com/blog/?p=67
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=King%27s_Quest&oldid=381099447"