| King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella | |
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Apple II cover art for King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella |
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| Developer(s) | Sierra Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra Entertainment |
| Engine | AGI and SCI0 |
| Platform(s) | MS-DOS, Amiga, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Atari ST |
| Release date(s) | 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 is the only chapter in the King's Quest series where the action takes place in real-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.
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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.
In 1988 Roberta Williams revealed about the subtitle: "It was sort of based on The Perils of Pauline."
King's Quest IV was the first commercial entertainment product to support add-on music cards and synthesizers, such as the AdLib Music Card and Roland MT-32. Standard IBM PCs came equipped with a speaker capable of only simple beeps and tones, at a time when video-game consoles and competing personal computers (such as the Apple IIGS and Commodore Amiga) possessed far more sophisticated sound-generation hardware.
Sierra's new SCI engine allowed the game designers to incorporate an orchestrated musical score along with more complex sound-effects, a previously unattainable feat. To ensure an immersive soundtrack, composer William Goldstein, known for several Hollywood soundtracks (such as the 1982 television series Fame), was hired to write the game's musical score, totaling over 75 short music pieces.
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.
A version identical to the AGI version was released on the Apple IIGS with improved music and effects (over the pc AGI counterpart).
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."
Scorpia of Computer Gaming World reviewed King's Quest IV, noting the beautiful graphics, but also mentioning the game ran slowly if the screen contained animations. The game's puzzles were described as "uneven", but the presentation was considered cinematic in quality.[1]
A notable feature in this game is its copy-protection system, which requires the user to refer to a specific word in the manual. In later compilations, a table was provided for printout, with every possible word listed on it.
The following individuals were credited with the creation of this game:
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