King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown (AGD Interactive)

King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown VGA
Developer(s) AGD Interactive (formerly Tierra Entertainment)/Himalaya Studios
Series King's Quest (unofficial)
Engine Adventure Game Studio
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Macintosh
Release 2001/2009 (Enhanced Edition)
Genre(s) Adventure

King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown VGA by AGD Interactive (formerly Tierra) is an unofficial 2001/2009 direct remake of the 1990 King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown SCI remake. It includes improved VGA graphics, sound, and full voice over cast. It would later go onto inspire two sequel remakes set in AGDI's version of the KQ universe, and other aspiring fan developers.

Background

The land of Daventry is dying, decaying and crumbling. Edward has lost the three magic treasures that once protected the land. With no heir, all he can do is wait the inevitable destruction of his land. His last hope is his loyal knight Sir Graham. Sensing his final breath is soon, he sends for his knight, offering him the kingdom if he is able to find the three treasures and return before his death.

AGD Interactive development

Originally was co-developed alongside of Tierra's development of a King's Quest parody known as Royal Quest I: Retrieving Lost Shit.[1] Royal Quest was later cancelled.

In 2001, the group AGD Interactive (then known as Tierra Entertainment) released an unofficial remake based on Sierra's 1990 version of King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown, updating the graphics to use VGA colors, dropping the parser in favor of an interface that mimics that of King's Quest V and VI, as well as adding full speech for all characters of the game. The latter is especially noteworthy in that even though it is an unofficial, fan-made project, the game's protagonist Sir Graham is voiced by Josh Mandel, who also spoke the part in Sierra's official CD-ROM full-speech versions of King's Quest V and VI. In 2003 they released version 3.0, which added translation pack support, bug fixes, optimized music and speech packs. This version of the game used modified artwork with elements fripped from various adventure games including Quest for Glory V, and Quest for Glory IV, combined with the artwork from KQ1SCI.

In January 2009, AGD Interactive released version 4.0 of the game, under the fan license from Vivendi Universal. The graphics, animations and voice-acting was redone and improved dramatically, including corrections to a long list of problems compiled from fan feedback. This version also added voice overs for the narration.

All versions of the game sticks largely to KQ1SCI version, with a few minor changes to the script, and art design. There are a few reinterpretations of the characters such as the Gnome, Dwarf and Troll. Some of these reinterpreted characters later reappeared in later games in AGDI's reimagined KQ trilogy including King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones (the Dwarf), and King's Quest III Redux (the Gnome) but with expanded roles.

Geography

Characters

Version History

Tierra

Quest for the Crown Enhanced Edition (AGD Interactive)

Differences between KQ1SCI and KQ1VGA

While mainly a 1:1 remake of KQ1SCI, there are a few differences in the game.

The main differences are that the game lacks some of the more obscure narrations seen in KQ1SCI, due to the vga version's lack of extra verbs such as 'smell', 'taste', etc. There were some specific bits that could be examined in more detail, for example the leaves of the tree on the gnome's island would get a reference to how they shade from hot summer sun (this reference is missing in the VGA version). In addition some of the easter eggs such as trying to "pick lock" on the Door into Mountain is missing. So the remake is somewhat less verbose in detail (subtracting from the SCI original).

Though less apparent there are spots where the script was modified and changed. For example, the door to the gingerbread house is made out of chocolate (as opposed to candy canes in the KQ1SCI).

There are also a few places where designers took a slightly different art style, different choice of colors, for some of the screens in Daventry, even more so in the Enhanced 4.0 version.

In addition some of the items descriptions are different, and most of the item graphics are different.

Most characters and creatures encountered in the game have been reinvented from their appearance in KQ1SCI, having little resemblance to their original counterparts.

There are some edits to the game script when compared to the original. Such as "Ogre", "Sorcerer, and "Earth" being written in lower case as opposed to upper case as in KQ1SCI.

The ogre, sorcerer, etc. are relatively very slow compared to the version in KQ1AGI and KQ1SCI, it is very easy to avoid.

Some of the death scenes are different, lacking some of the death animation, instead having a close up death description/graphic.

Close-up pictures have been added to the various characters in the game, for the various conversations.

Differences between KQ1VGA and KQ1VGA Enhanced

Most of the artwork was completely hand painted in the Enhanced version, the original used a lot of material ripped from KQ5 (Dark Forest, Forest of Serenia, etc.), Quest for Glory and other Sierra series simply recolored (photoshopped). For example, if you look closely you might spot the Bee Tree, and the Anthill from KQ5, or the Arch from near the Dark One's cave (from Quest for Glory IV) in some of the screens.

Many of the inventory graphics were completely redone. Some areas like the gingerbread house were completely changed. The close up pictures were also modified or replaced.

The Enhanced version also offers a new feature to turn off the original game's dead ends, making it impossible to get stuck.

Developers

The initial King's Quest I remake development team consisted of only two members: Anonymous Game Developers #1 (Britney Brimhall) and #2 (Christopher Warren). They both undertook a variety of tasks, including creating background art, sprites, dialogue pictures, animations, scripting, and music conversion.

Over time, AGDI accepted help from numerous people to enhance the overall quality of the King's Quest I remake. For version 2.0, Tom Lewandowski of QuestStudios re-recorded the musical score digitally, to ensure that the original music written by Ken Allen reached its full potential. And a cast of voice actors contributed their skills to the speech pack, with Josh Mandel once again reprising the role of Graham as he did in Sierra's official King's Quest games.

For version 4.0, John Paul Selwood, Emily Selwood, and Johan Botes loaned their artistic talents to the project, giving the unrefined backgrounds (which had remained largely unedited since v1.0) a complete overhaul, increasing the artwork quality tenfold. In addition, the immensely talented voice actor John Bell provided the game with complete narration vocals, similar to those heard in the CD-ROM versions of King's Quest V and King's Quest VI; a crucial role that was missing from previous AGDI versions of the King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown remake.[3]

Reception

This game and its two enhanced sequel remakes/reimagingings have received positive reception from the press. It received several rewards by Adventure Game Studio including best room art and best animation in an AGS game. Games Rader had it listed as one of the top thirty free downloadable games.[4][5][6]

As of September 2010, AGDI's King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown remake has been downloaded over 494,000 times.[7]

Other members of the community were inspired by AGD Interactive to work on their own remakes such as Infamous Adventures' King's Quest III VGA remake, and Space Quest II remake.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://betax1.justadventure.com/articles/Royal_Quest/Part_1/RQ1.shtm
  2. ↑ http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/kq1/hints/daventry2.html
  3. ↑ http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/kq1/about/aboutdev.html
  4. ↑ Games Radar's top thirty free games
  5. ↑ http://www.reloaded.org/download/King/s-Quest-1-Quest-for-Crown/20/
  6. ↑ http://americangirlscouts.org/agswiki/AGS_Awards_2001
  7. ↑ http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/kq1/about/aboutrelease.html
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