(re: What did Sierra do first?)
> Mystery House- First Computer Game with graphics
Of course, this is not the first computer game with graphics. For example, Akalabeth (prequel to Ultima) was created in 1979, and released a few months before Mystery House.
But Mystery House was indeed the first *adventure* game with graphics.
> KQ1- First 3D game
Not at all here. I think King’s Quest was the first *adventure* game where you can move the character on screens that are often called 2.5D. The graphics use front-back 2D objects priorities to show the characters in front or behind things, but it is still 2D. I’m not sure, but I also think King’s Quest was the first adventure game with animation and sound.
Games in 3D are a lot older. For example, Flight Simulator used a true (although very simple) 3D engine.
King’s Quest was the first “3D Animated Adventure Game”, which is basically an adventure game using the AGI or SCI engine.
> KQ4- First game to use speakers,
I suppose you mean sound cards. If this is “better sound than the PC speaker, using a dedicated sound chip”, then there has been plenty of games using complex multi-channel musics and sounds before. All Commodore 64 games for example. Laserdisc games (Dragon’s Lair, Space Ace, …) had pretty rich sound as well, back in 1983, because it was simply CD-quality pre-recorded sound.
On the PC, when using a PCjr/Tandy 1000, Sierra games all used 3-voice sounds and musics (plus noise channel) since King’s Quest in 1984.
If you mean an add-on sound card for IBM PC-compatible computers, then there has also been earlier games. For example, MobyGames.com lists Airball as making use of the CMS Game Blaster sound card. Both the game and the sound card were released in 1987, before the Adlib sound card was released.
Still, King’s Quest IV is definitely the first Sierra game to support PC add-on sound cards, and it is also possible that it was the first game to support some of them, or at least so many of them.
> first game with a female protagonist
With a leading female protagonist, maybe (at least in an adventure game), but “Maniac Mansion” and “Zak McKraken and the Alien Mindbenders” from Lucasfilm Games both featured female protagonists in 1987. In Zak, you take control of Zak, the main protagonist (male) and 3 other female protagonists, alternatively.
> KQ5- First game to have voices
Probably first game to have so many fully pre-recorded voices.
But some games have featured voices since the early 80’s, and some games (for example Mortville Manor, Maupiti Island and I think Explora) have featured synthesized voices throughout the whole game at least as early as 1988, and sometimes in 3 languages! (French, English, German)
> and first on CD-ROM
See my other post on the subject:
http://www.sierragamers.com/BBSDisplayMsg.asp?msgId=48090
Of course, I may be wrong for a number of points developed here, so please correct me if you have better information or knowledge.
Vincent.