First of all, It wasn’t my intention to sound defensive. It just basically grows a little old when people who have no idea of all the effort put into our project comes and just bashes it in such a disrespectful way, without first really finding out the intentions behind the creators.
Why a sequel to King’s Quest IX? Truly, I never thought we’d come this far. I was just one night surfing the web for info on a possible KQ sequel and came across the team. They were looking for writers, which is what I enjoy doing, and I said “why not? This sounds cool.” I applied and got hired. A year later, after nothing was getting done, I became Project Director and it was then when things started. At the time, I never imagined this game could look and feel this good. At the time, we were a group disappointed by the downfall of Sierra and the abrupt end to the series and we wanted to continue it. The story was born at that time, and we’ve all become so attached to it, that even when it would be a better route to create an original game instead of a sequel to KQ, we all love it too much. King’s Quest is not even my favorite series, but today, it’s our second home.
We are taking the game to a place where Roberta would have probably not taken it, but then again, we never claimed to be Roberta and try to fill in her shoes. This is our vision of King’s Quest. Some may disagree, and that’s totally valid, but opinions are opinions, not to be used in a disrespectful way.
I fully agree with Brandon on something here: While Roberta is the most rightful person to write a KQIX, if she doesn’t want to, and won’t do a King’s Quest IX, why can’t someone else continue it? Especially when she expressed she was happy to see someone continuing the legacy, the universe she created. We have her permission in that sense, and her support. If it was wrong to continue someone else’s work, there would be so many faded stories out there that are still part of our lives. Or, Barry, let me ask you, do you hate and did not see the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies just because Tolkiens did not write the screenplay and Peter Jackson directed it instead? Do you not like the idea that superheroes like Batman, Superman, SpiderMan, etc, are still alive even when their original creators are now dead? Even the Space Quest Series did not have the same designers all the way through. I could name infinite of cases where others have taken the work of someone and continued it, but I guess I already made my point.
On the release date, again, we have a tentative release date, but we won’t announce it until we are 100% sure we’ll make it. In the meanwhile, we’ll keep on giving you guys updates on the progress.
Finally, KQIX does have a considerable backstory, and, being a film/screenwriting student, I am really aware of the to-do and not-to-do elements of a sequel. The number one mistake of many sequels is the fact that they throw you in the world presuming you already know who the characters are. To make a sequel work you must treat every story as if nothing had been exposed in previous installments, which is the case of King’s Quest IX. I made sure that every little detail of relevance from past KQ that are revisited in KQIX, were explained througly, as if there were no games prior to this one. Of course, there’s always the things that true KQ fans will enjoy the most, knowing exactly where they come from, but to a newcomer, the story still makes perfect sense and all the information necessary to understand the plot is given. For example, one of the main storylines of the plot deals with Valanice’s imprisoment in the tower and the events that took place around it. When writing that section of the game, I didn’t assume people had played King’s Quest II. I retold the plot elements of King’s Quest II that were necessary to understand what is going on, without falling in over-expository unnecessary explanation.
With all that said, I don’t expect to convince you to play or even follow the progress of King’s Quest IX. I’m just asking for a little more respect towards the 50+ individuals that are doing this out of passion and with the only reward of making some people happy. I accept your apologies, and please, take mine.
This is our choice, our dream, and something that we really enjoy doing. If you don’t like it, we’ll respect that, but please, respect our views as well.
Sincerely,
César Bittar
Project Director
Unofficial KQIX Development Team
http://www.kq9.org