King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella

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King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella

Developer(s) Sierra Entertainment
Publisher(s) Sierra Entertainment
Engine AGI and SCI0
Platform(s) MS-DOS, GS/OS, Atari ST
Release date 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. 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 chapter is the only one in the King's Quest series where the action takes place during a specific and limited period of 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.

Contents

[edit] 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.

[edit] Music

King’s Quest IV was the first commercial entertainment product to support optional music cards and synthesizers such as the AdLib and Roland MT-32. This allowed the team to include realistic sound effects and an orchestrated score – things that were previously impossible with the standard one-channel PC speaker. The game includes over 75 short pieces of music by William Goldstein, a composer known for Hollywood soundtracks, including the 1982 television series Fame.

[edit] Versions

The rare AGI version
The rare AGI version
SCI version
SCI version

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 main advantages of SCI are a higher video resolution (320x200 rather than 160x200 in AGI), sound card support, mouse support, and a more versatile scripting system.

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 'lighter' version of the game. However, sales figures proved them wrong and the AGI version was swiftly discontinued. Because of its rarity, the AGI version could be considered a collector's item.

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.


[edit] 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."

[edit] 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

[edit] Trivia

  • King’s Quest IV was the first Sierra game to use dedicated animation and background artists. Previously one person did both.
  • The King’s Quest IV development team included thirteen programmers, developers, and artists, larger than any previous Sierra team.
  • Like King's Quest III, this game contained a manual-based copyright protection. The unfortunate consequence of this is that if a player lost their manual, the game is rendered impossible to play, although the copy protection could be bypassed by specifying the word bobalu.
  • King's Quest IV was the first IBM PC game to support optional music cards.

[edit] External links

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King's Quest series