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Development history of the new King's Quest: Adventures of Graham games series.

First_Look_King's_Quest_Brings_Retro_Wonder_to_a_New_Generation

First Look King's Quest Brings Retro Wonder to a New Generation


Roberta Williams and Family[]

Roberta Williams, Ken Williams, and Roberta's mother got to play a beta version of KIng's Ques Chapter 1, and saw concept art and general storyline for the rest of the series (though is likely the story direction that was originally intended, rather than the one the series ended up shifting to, after removal of content due to player criticism and delays). She enjoyed what she saw.

The beta build of the chapter included most of what was in the released version, though some of the puzzles were not yet in place, but the cutscenes weren't yet in place. It's was similar to the demo version shown at E3 in 2015.[1].

The_Game_Awards_2014_(Full_Show)

The Game Awards 2014 (Full Show)

The Odd Gentlemen, the developers of The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom, handled the new King's Quest development. The "reimagined" King's Quest is comparable to other chapters in the series, with a similar narrative and puzzles that need to be solved throughout.[2][3]

“Then I talked to the guys at Activision and they were like, ‘No, we’re pulling it because we’re going to do it ourselves,’” Trowe revealed. He doesn’t know what the publisher’s plans are for*King’s Quest, but they don’t seem to include either Telltale or Replay. We’ve reached out to Activision for comment and will update this post accordingly when we hear back.[4][5]

The framing story seems reminiscent of the the framing story for Aragorn's Quest which had Sam Gamgee telling the story of Aragorn to his young son, and other children.

The game is an 'adventure' but not a point and click game like the later games in the series.[6] (note depending on the system KQ1-4 are partial point and click and partial parser games, while KQ5-8 are point and click).

RobertaKQ9
RobertaGrahamKQ9

The team received some feedback and suggestions from Roberta and the Williams (though they have nothing to do with the actual development of the game)' family.[7]

To Matt and Lindsey, Bill and Scott,
I, too, wish to thank you for a lovely morning yesterday reliving – to some extent – my old life as a Sierra game designer. I admit that I was a bit skeptical at first, and also somewhat nervous because I haven’t been in the computer game industry (notice I call it computer game industry rather that the video game industry; that shows how far back I go!) in too many years to contemplate! But you guys blew me away with your ideas, your creativity and the beauty of the newest King Quest game. But best of all, I could see that you truly are the ones to take King’s Quest into the 21st century and reintroduce it to a whole new generation. You totally have it down!
I can’t wait to see how it develops, I can’t wait to play it myself – and I truly can’t wait to see how it blows away the competition!!
Best to you –
Roberta

General Story Points removed or changed[]

In the original direction some of the stuff they may have gotten to discuss, and see concepts for were ideas for the dragon subplot that was to go through the entire series (it forshadowed in Chapter 2 during a mirror vision, and last shows up in Chapter 3, but is never brought up again), leaving one of the game's biggest plot holes. It was originally intended that in the last act the dragon would either be an ally, an enemy under control of the villain or loose and free causing havoc for the towns people.[8]

They may have been shown more of the interactions between Gwen and Gart that were planned, which would have lead to alternate endings for later chapters. But was a feature that was also largely cut after Chapter 3.

They may also have been privy to more of the information of how virtue choices in the game would have affected the end game, including more diversified alternate ending in Chapter 5 based on then treasure received in Chapter 4 from the towns people.

They may also have been able to discuss the use of other characters possibly Connor to the series.

However the final game became far more linear than was originally planned for the story.

QTE Sequences like in Chapter 1[]

Chapter 1 had elaborate action set pieces with Quick-time Events choices to be made similar to Dragon's Lair. Due to complaints with chapter 1, many of these sequences were cut, or made to have more direct input in later chapters, or made short and simple.<ref>http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/30267</ref>

Changes caused by 'fan input' affected chapter 2 and all later chapters.

In chapter 2 this included the loss of the second half the chapter related to Acorn, Whisper, and Mordon has the hallmarks of QuickTime chase scenes in which those characters told you were to go, and if you somehow didn't follow them fast enough would lead to deaths and dead ends (similar to the factory cart puzzle in Willy Beamish). Quicksand, drowning, walls collapsing, etc. Perhaps it was the mounted goblins see below that would have also featured in those sections (see the large number of 'rats' related deaths, and Whisper's comment about rats as well).

So rather than being cut due to any issues with time or money, but by extreme fan criticism, there was not enough time to replace them with something more 'traditional' or with real direct input, and putting the time in to change it would have cost more money, it was easier to just cut the sequences completely (and scale back some of the material, and puzzles leading up to sections, in the earlier prison areas), and change the stories in future chapters (which were not yet in development) to fit with the change.

"Open World" gameplay in every chapter[]

"We are playing with some of those [open world].... You get to visit the same map over the years with new areas unlocked. But mostly we are keeping the open world feel by introducing a whole new map each chapter."-Matt Korba

In the final game Chapter 3 and Chapster 4 became very linear and restricted, while new locations were introduced, it was still largely 'linear'. Similar to the linear gameplay of latter half of King's Quest 2 (the blue islands past the magic door to the tower), King's Quest 3 (beach to the mountains to Daventry) and King's Quest 5 (mountains and Mordack's Island). Which had the player journeying across a few more linear screens to reach the end game.

Chapter 5 reopened the world back to an open world based on the original map from Chapter 1.

KQC3 details[]

There is some unused, or removed material.

  • There appears that that the love poem towards the end of the chapter was going to be a much more of a puzzle, and require you to return to Whisper several times until you got the right one that Hagatha would accept.
  • There are several backstories for Hagatha, although its unclear if these are all accessible, or removed.
  • There is a number of extra details related to the prologue and Cedric, and his sister/brothers, that appear to not be accessible.
  • There appears to be references to a few more stops and treasures that Hagatha asks the princesses to go hunt for.

Future Seasons[]

Activision and The Odd Gentlemen had said based on how successful the first season was, that later series would have originally followed the adventures of other members of the Royal Family such as Alexander and Rosella, and possibly even Valanice. There were no plans to give Connor his own season though had discussed his possible appearance as a character in chapters if applicable to the story being told (as the direction of the series changed over the course of its release, there never was a story where he was required to appear, though there are references to KQ8 related subjects in earlier chapters).

However while it had sold moderately well in comparison to average of most modern adventure games (better than most actually, and comparable to the average Telltale Games sales).[9] Adventure games is already an extremely niche market (and no where near the audience numbers of mainstream blockbusters), and didn't meet Activision's extremely unrealistic expectations. So the likelihood of any future sequel is in limbo.

See also[]

See KQC1 development

See KQC2 development

See KQC3 development

See KQC4 development

See KQC5 development

See KQC6 development

Gallery[]

References[]

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