| Founder(s) | Britney K. Brimhall, Christopher T. Warren |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2001 |
| Website | AGD Interactive |
AGD Interactive (AGDI), LLC. is a non-profit company given a fan license to remake Sierra Entertainment's popular classic adventure games from the 1980s and early 1990s.
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Founded in 2001 by Britney K. Brimhall and Christopher T. Warren as Tierra Entertainment, the group is best known for their remakes of the popular King's Quest games.[1] AGD Interactive uses Adventure Game Studio to create their games.[2]
On December 10, 2003,[3] they stopped using the name Tierra Entertainment and started referring to themselves as AGD Interactive (AGD stands for Anonymous Game Developer). Subsequently, in their games, the two lead designers (the two founders of AGD Interactive, that is) are credited as "Anonymous Game Designer #1" (Britney K. Brimhall) and "Anonymous Game Developer #2" (Christopher T. Warren).[4] Of course, this doesn't imply actual anonymity, because their résumé, complete with all details, could be found in Himalaya Studios' "Team Profiles" page — which they had written themselves.
They have also formed a commercial company, Himalaya Studios, which will focus on creating original, point-and-click adventure games with high-resolution graphics.[5]
AGDI's first release was a critically acclaimed point-and-click remake of King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown, released for download free of charge on August 8, 2001.[6] This remake is known as King's Quest I VGA. In the month of its initial release, sales of Sierra's official King's Quest VIII: The Mask of Eternity skyrocketed.[7] On January 17, 2009, AGDI released version 4.0 of the game, which, among other improvements, included enhanced backgrounds, the addition of narration vocals, and a new optional feature that can remove the walking dead situations which previously could have caused the game to become impossible to complete.
One year after the initial release of their King's Quest I remake, on December 3, 2002, AGDI followed up with the release of their second free remake, a complete overhaul of King's Quest II. This remake is known as King's Quest II+: Romancing the Stones. King's Quest II+ won the 2002 AGS Awards for Best Game, Best Story, Best Animation, Best Music, Best Scripting, Best Documentation.[8] Both games have been greeted by Sierra fans with enthusiasm, and consider these remakes almost equal to Sierra's later King's Quest VI.[8] On March 14, 2009, AGDI released version 3.0, which features enhanced backgrounds, narrator vocals, character lip-syncing, detailed character portraits, and many other additions that increase the game's overall level of quality.
On January 21, 2011, AGDI announced a teaser page, revealing that its final game release will be a remake of King's Quest III: To Heir is Human.[9] The game is titled King's Quest III Redux, and will continue the non-canon plot and lore that was established in AGDI's previous King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones remake. The game is not a 1:1 remake, and is not a complete overhaul like KQ2+ was, but will feature several fleshed-out characters, new areas, and puzzles not seen in the original Sierra version.
AGDI's most recent project is a much-anticipated point-and-click VGA remake of the popular Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire. Started in late-2000,[10] this remake is known as Quest for Glory II VGA, and was released on the August 24, 2008,[11] after missed 2004[12] and mid-2005 release dates.
The King's Quest remake was being developed simultaneously with a parody of the same game entitled Royal Quest: Retrieving Lost Shit.[13] The game was canceled, due to the team wanting to retain the family-friendly image presented by Sierra On-Line (Phantasmagoria and Leisure Suit Larry [which were "presented" by Sierra On-Line] are not family-friendly games), the company that created the original King's Quest games.[14]
Up until early 2002, the AGDI development team was working on a VGA remake of Space Quest II: Vohaul's Revenge. However, due to the lead programmer's sudden disappearance, the development team realized that they wouldn't have the resources required to dedicate to both the Space Quest II remake and the King's Quest II remake. As a result the Space Quest II remake was put on indefinite hold. A small 3-room demo was released to show the progress that had been done on the Space Quest II remake up to the point when it was canceled. Infamous Adventures, another development team that remakes classic Sierra games, has started work on a Space Quest II remake, currently in alpha.