The Silver Lining is a fan-made sequel to the series in development by Phoenix Online Studios[2] and is a game inspired by the King's Quest series.

Phoenix Online Studios had received a special fan license in November 2005 from Vivendi Universal (then owners of the Sierra brand and King's Quest IP), allowing them to make the game after being given a Cease and Desist by Vivendi that September. The game was however given a second Cease and Desist a year after Activision acquired Vivendi entertainment, in February 2010, but the team, through negotiations with Activision managed to secure a continuance of their fan license, which was announced on June 26th 2010.

The game begins during a wedding celebration in the Green Isles that goes horribly wrong when a dark enchantment befalls the land. From there, King Graham embarks on a journey to reverse the spell, but as he does, he starts finding out that there's much more going on than what meets the eye. The story eventually tells the tale of two societies -- the Black Cloak Society and the Silver Cloak Society -- that were at war more than a thousand years ago. At that time, a prophecy was uttered. This prophecy is linked to the Daventry family and ties all the events that have taken place during each King's Quest game. [3]

So far three episodes have been released,

Contents 1 Background 2 Additional Information 3 Story Details 4 Minor Details 5 Locations 6 Trivia 7 Gallery 8 Reception 9 Episode 3 Reviews 10 External links 11 References

Background

Additional Information

• An unofficial timeline was created for this game by the The Silver Lining team. However, no official source has given specific calendar dates (except for mentioning how much time passed between each game). It should be noted however that The Silver Lining timeline differs from the official sources in references to time between games made in the sierra games, game manuals and official strategy guides. It is unknown if its merely a mistake on their part, or intentional. It is also not known to what extent the The Silver Lining timeline will affect the storyline of their game (I.E. how many specific references to dates will be made within the game itself).
• The Silver lining takes many liberties and has many inconsistencies with the previous games and other official content, for more information and examples, see TSL universe.
• Peter Spear had previously expressed interest in writing an unofficial novelization of The Silver Lining for the TSL team.

• The developers have said that The Silver Lining is inspired by the events seen in the official KQ games rather than the remakes, such as KQ2 remake. So expanded history, new characters, and altered characters from the remakes do not apply to the story. "No, our game and timeline are independent of the AGDI KQ2+", according to The Silver Lining chatlog.
• The unofficial timeline gives dates for the first withdrawal. The King's Quest Companion, the only official source to mention the withdrawals, never actually mentions when the events took place (though one reference suggests it was between a thousand to a few eons ago). The manuals never mention withdrawals and rather give a different theory of Daventry's existence, stating that Daventry existed on the earth in the past. The date was formerly 4000 BDC in earlier versions of the TSL timeline, but changed to 10,000 BDC due to inspiration from the earliest known date in the official timeline, c. 10,000 BGC. That is 10.5 millenia ago, that means 10 millenia before the founding of the Kingdom of Daventry).
• The game was formerly known as KQIX: Every Cloak Has A Silver Lining, but was shortened to "The Silver Lining".
• The game was originally going to be released as a trilogy, under the titles; Part I: Shadows, Part II: The Two That Are One, Part III: Eternities. Each part was to be three chapters long. However, due to various reasons production stopped on parts II, III, and chapter three of part I. it was decided to release only the finished work under the title The Silver Lining.[4] The rest of the story may never be released.
• On Feb. 28, 2010, it is announced that Activision ordered the fan group to cease development of the game.[5] An online petition to save The Silver Lining was subsequently launched and can be found here.[6]
• On June 26,2010, it was announced that an agreement had been reached between Phoenix Online and Activision and that the first episode of TSL would be released on July 10, 2010.
• Although The Silver Lining uses information inspired by The King's Quest Companion, the team has chosen to ignore the book for the most part. Instead choosing to only use information originating from the games (though in a few instances they chose to deviate from the details of the games for the sake of their story).

Story Details

• Characters (TSL)
• Characters (TFW)

Minor Details

• The The Silver Lining Timeline assumed that the cataclysm in KQ8 only affected Daventry, and not any of the surrounding kingdoms. It did not directly affect the Land of the Green Isles. Princess Rosella was able to travel to the Lands of the Green Isles, distressed about the news of the cataclysm in Daventry. King Alexander attempted to lead an expedition to save his father but failed, forced to retreat back to his lands. It is stated in Mask of Eternity that the cataclysm actually affected the entire world.
• The Four Winds was the name of a newspaper published and distributed in the Land of the Green Isles. Its main publishing hub was located in the town square of the Village of the Crown.
• According to the related timeline, fiery wolves were said to have attacked Dahlia. In official lore they were just grey wolves.

Locations

• Village of the Crown (unofficial)
• The door under the lefthand stairs in the Grand Hall of the Castle of the Crown, leads to a hallway (rather than directly to the kitchen as in KQ6). On the left side of the hallway is the castle kitchen, and at the end of the hallway is the entrance to the castle courtyard.
• The docks have been put back into service again. Hassan had turned the ferry service into a formal business, and charges passengers for the ride. A ticket booth stands near the docks, and a light house can be seen off in the distance.
• The Ferry has been fixed by Shamir and is running between the islands again. It no longer appears to be owned or supported by the Castle of the Crown, and has become a formal business.
• Etheria is not part of Eldritch, they are treated as separate lands.^{[citation needed]} Etheria and Eldritch may be part of the same world as Daventry, rather than in parallel worlds of the Multiverse.^{[citation needed]}
• The Enchanted Island and Crystal Tower are apparently important to the plot of The Silver Lining.[7] According to the Four Winds, it was part of a land that could only be reached through the three doors (in official lore, it could be reached by sea, but the land's exact location was unknown).

Trivia

• Roberta Williams has played the first chapter, and enjoyed it.^[1] She has as of yet, not given her opinion of the later chapters, nor is it known if she she has played them or not.
• Back when the game was intended to be three long chapters with three playable characters, there was originally plans to visit lands with the names such as Dreoria (Land of the Dragons), Dreamworld, Endless Forest, Maze of Infinity, and Astratos. Kolyma was also mentioned as a place visited briefly as well. Only Dreamworld has been visited briefly, and as of yet Astratos has only been mentioned. Early pictures have also shown darkworld type versions of the Green Islands areas, perhaps part of the Dreamworld. Other early screenshots showed scenes of Etheria, but those have most likely been cut. Most of the other areas will not be seen, as much of the story has been cut (including the Rosella and Alexander storylines). In addition Daventry was said to be visited as well (with several characters heading there at the end of the Episode 4). It seems this may be the case in Episode 5. Though a (dreamlike) version of Land of the Clouds can be seen at the end of Episode 4.

Gallery

Reception

The Silver Lining has been the target of mixed reviews ranging from negative to positive, to a mix of both negative and positive criticism. Fore more detailed synopses, see The Silver Lining reviews.

Episode 3 Reviews

External links

• The Silver Lining - Official Site
• The Silver Lining - Wikipedia
• Phoenix Online Studios
• Official Online Petition to Save TSL
• Demo

References