King's Quest (2015 video game)

King's Quest

Logotype
Developer(s) The Odd Gentlemen
Publisher(s) Sierra Entertainment
Series King's Quest
Platform(s) PlayStation 3
PlayStation 4
Windows
Xbox 360
Xbox One
Release date(s) Q3/Q4 2015[1]
Genre(s) Adventure
Mode(s) Single-player

King's Quest,[2][3][4][5] known officially as King's Quest: Your Legacy Awaits, is an upcoming video game in the King's Quest series. Technically a reboot of the series, it was first announced on 18 February 2011 and is being developed by The Odd Gentlemen for Sierra Entertainment, with the release expected in the second half of 2015. While it will be an adventure game like the previous games in the series, the interface will not be point-and-click, and the game is to be divided into five episodes.

The game is one of several attempts at developing a new game for the series. The new game is seen as neither a remake nor necessarily a sequel but a "reimagining" (the original games are considered to be part of the canon of the new series, but each episode will take place between those games).[6][7] Just like the unofficial fan-made King's Quest: Every Cloak Has A Silver Lining, it will center around Graham of Daventry.

Story

King Graham shares his previous adventures with his curious granddaughter, Gwendolyn. It is through these tales that Gwendolyn learns about the life led by her grandfather.

In his story Graham enters into an old well, to fight a dragon, and find the magic mirror hidden there.[8]

Episodes

The story begins with Graham telling about the time he fought a dragon during his quest to find the Three Treasures and save Daventry. At the end Graham has to escape the Dragon's Lair, and has three choices to make either using bravery to blind the dragon with an arrow, free the dragon out of compassion, or using his wisdom and distracting the dragon by shooting its food bell. In the present Gwendolyn (daughter of Alexander and Cassima)is about to have a fencing tournament with her cousin Gart (son of Rosella and Edgar) to prove who is the most fit to rule the kingdom. Gart has been trying to convince Gwen she is a failure. She goes to her Grandfather to get more advice. This leads him to tell the story of a time before he was a knight, and the jousting tournament he joined to prove himself, an join the knights of Daventry, and his competition with a strong knight, fast knight, and intelligent knight. Graham must meet the requirements for applying for the tournament. Graham's choices based on his wisdom, compassion, or bravery will have future consquences such as the blind dragon returning to attack Daventry, or the freed dragon helping him at some point. They also influence Gwendolyn in her own choices on how to best her cousin Gart.[9]
Tells the story of Graham's romance with Valanice after Graham returns to Daventry after their marriage.

Scoring

The complete information about the scoring system is unknown. But there is a characterization system based on choices. The choices determine how 'brave', 'wise' and 'compassionate' Graham is, and also influence Gwendolyn's own choices in the 'present'. There are no 'wrong' choices, and no choices are 'evil' Graham is a heroic and of good character no matter what choice is made, but they may have consequences later on in the story.

Development history

There have been multiple attempts to create a sequel to King's Quest: Mask of Eternity, all of which never went past the announcement or concept stages. After the release of Mask of Eternity, Sierra had planned to develop a sequel, and announced its release in King's Quest: Mask of Eternity Prima's Official Strategy Guide.[10] Roberta Williams had revealed her plans, had she made a sequel, with an interview with Talkspot. Either a new main character would be introduced, or possibly the main protagonist would be Connor from Mask of Eternity, as King Graham was too old to go on his own adventures, and Alexander was busy in his role as king of the Land of Green Isles.[11] Other ideas included massive multiplayer component, and love triangle between Rosella, Edgar, and Connor. Although sales for King's Quest 8 were more successful than King's Quest VII, and other adventure games at the time of its release, they did not reach intended numbers, and future Sierra game sequels in King's Quest and other IPs were cancelled (with exception of Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude).

After Vivendi Universal purchased Sierra, they had a new King's Quest title in development between 2001 and 2002. It was cancelled before going into production and the game never made it past the prototype stage. However, images of two renders of the playable character were leaked to the public. The elderly bearded character wore a crown-like feathered armored adventurer's cap (inspired by Graham's headwear) and wielded a giant sword and wore full armor. Because the character had the ability to flip in the air, the prototype might have been a third-person action adventure.[12]

In addition, Silicon Knights worked on a prototype for a King's Quest game at some point before Telltale Games acquired the rights. This information was released to the public through documents on the Silicon Knights suit against Epic Games.[13]

On February 17, 2011, Telltale Games announced that they reached an agreement with Activision to create new episodic games based on Sierra franchises.[14] The first Sierra intellectual property they intended to work on was King’s Quest.[15] The game was to follow the format of previous Telltale Games series such as Tales of Monkey Island, as a continuation of the series with all new episodic games and multiple series.[16][17] It was intended to preserve the back story of King's Quest, and fit into the established canon. It was intended to include the challenge and possibilities of death of the original games, but the gameplay was going to be adapted to relieve some of the frustration present in the original games.[17] Telltale approached Roberta Williams, the originator of the series, and one of the designers on all of the original games, to see if she was interested in working on the new one. While she declined by saying she had retired from games, she did offer the development team advice, which was "very valuable," according to developer Dave Grossman.[18][19] In May 2012, Dan Connors confirmed that Dave Grossman was in charge of the King's Quest project, and Telltale was working on how to proceed.[20] Then, on April 3, 2013, it was announced that Telltale's King's Quest game was cancelled. Activision had recovered the rights to King's Quest, and had their own plans for the franchise.[21]

In August 2014, Activision announced that they had revived the Sierra brand, and had passed development responsibilities for a King's Quest: Mask of Eternity sequel over to The Odd Gentlemen.[22]

References

  1. ↑ Matulef, Jeffrey (6 December 2014). "King's Quest reboot debuts first footage". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  2. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/OfficialSierraGames Official Sierra Facebook page
  3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etg8LrZBvGQ Reveal Trailer
  4. ↑ http://www.gamereactor.eu/news/276354/King's+Quest+revealed+via+new+trailer/ Gamereactor news
  5. ↑ http://omnifeed.com/article/www.joystiq.com/2014/12/05/new-kings-quest-coming-from-activision-the-odd-gentlemen/ Joystiq
  6. ↑ http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2015/03/06/passing-the-hat-an-in-depth-look-at-the-new-kings-quest.aspx Passing the Hat (Game Informer)
  7. ↑ http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/28311 Adventure gamers preview
  8. ↑ Reveal Trailer
  9. ↑ Game Informer, February 2015 issue
  10. ↑ King's Quest: Mask of Eternity: Prima's Official Strategy Guide, pg VIII
  11. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20120331214945/http://www.sierragamers.com/uploads/49/8414..rm Mask of Eternity Talkspot Interview, part 1
  12. ↑ "[DEAD LINK] Blog : Leaked pictures reveal cancelled King's Quest 9". Adventure Gamers. 2008-01-24.
  13. ↑ "Epic Wins Advantage in Too Human Lawsuit". Escapist Magazine. 2011-12-27. Retrieved 2011-12-31.
  14. ↑ "King's Quest 9 in development at Telltale Games as a new reboot". Video Games Blogger. 2011-02-22. Retrieved 2013-04-04.
  15. ↑ http://www.adventuregamers.com/news/view/21058 Report of the Telltale 2011 press event
  16. ↑ "King's Quest reboot coming courtesy of Telltale - Joystiq". I.joystiq.com. 2011-02-18. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Telltale Games - Dave Grossman and Dave Felton". AdventureGamers.com. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  18. ↑ "E3 2011: First King's Quest Details - IGN". Pc.ign.com. 2011-06-08. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  19. ↑ "E3: Roberta Williams advised Telltale on King's Quest". Retrieved 2013-02-06.
  20. ↑ http://www.siliconera.com/2012/05/16/how-telltale-wants-to-evolve-the-adventure-game-genre/ Interview
  21. ↑ "Activision is planning something for King's Quest After Recovering the Rights From Telltale Games". Digital Trends. 2013-04-03. Retrieved 2013-04-03.
  22. ↑ "Sierra And King's Quest Are Coming Back From The Dead". The International House of Mojo. 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-17.

External links