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I have a quick question about KQ:MOE. How was it that game came to be such a departure from the other King’s Quests? Was that intended or did it just sort of develop along the way? Oh, and I did want to say this to you Ken, although your stewardship of Sierra is greatly missed, enjoy the golf courses, after nearly 20 years of building Sierra, you deserve a little time off!
-Levi -
(re: About Mask of Enternity….) Thank you!
KQ8 is a wild story.
KQ8 was in development at the same time that the company was sold. Basically, Sierra went through changes during the development of the game, and those changes are reflected in the game. During the first half of the game, I was the CEO – during the last half of the game my status shifted to “reasonably nice guy who used to work here”. My way of doing things was different than the new way of doing things.
My #1 issue was always to maintain the “clarity of vision” of the game designer. A Sierra project, like KQ8, has nearly a hundred highly creative people on it. Many of these people were working at Sierra because they wanted their shot to be a game designer. It was not uncommon for everyone on a project to seek opportunities to “put their mark” on the game. This is a delicate issue. I recruited people who could be designers, and I was a huge supporter of creativity. Roberta wanted ideas from the team, but at some point, if you accept too many ideas, the product can become a muddy mess. There were dozens of people on KQ8 who could have been the designer, any of which would have made a great designer. But, unfortunately, if this tendency, on the part of developers, to add their creativity to a product, isn’t carefully controlled, the product starts to veer into “design by committee”. Roberta had her vision for the product, as did almost every person on the project.
When I lost control of Sierra, Roberta’s ability to maintain her control over KQ8 was also eroded. The product that shipped is very different than what would have shipped had the company not been sold.
There was another issue at work on KQ8. Roberta is a perfectionist (I’m guilty of the same sin). Whenever she would play the game, she would turn in lists of hundreds of “bugs”. Perfectionist can be a pseudonym for nit-picker. When a development team gets a long list, the natural tendency can be to look at some bugs as nit-picky. I always supported my designers. I wouldn’t let a game go until the designer was happy (with a couple of exceptions that I regretted later), even when it seemed like we were spending lots of money to fix stuff no one cared about. It was critical to me that the game our customers played represented the game our designer wanted produced. When I left Sierra, Roberta’s ability to get bugs fixed diminished.
Ultimately, the last year of KQ8 development was a tough one for Roberta. For a long time, she refused to let the game ship and there was threatened litigation floating around.
This is not to say that the game that shipped isn’t a good game. Roberta was reasonably happy with it at the end – but, it reflected a much wider product vision, than Robertas alone. People other than Roberta influenced its development, in a greater capacity than in her previous products. There will be some gamers who see the change as positive, and some who wanted a Roberta product more consistent with her prior products.
There is an example I used to use on this point. One of my favorite authors is: Steven King. I also like Peter Straub. Each alone is a bestselling (mega-selling in Kings case) author. They cowrote a book; the Talisman, which bombed. Either alone could have sold plenty of copies, but together, the whole becomes less than the parts. KQ8 had wonderful people on it. This message should not be construed as being derogatory to anyone (other than that I am definitely critical of the management changes that took place.) My belief is that if the new owners had taken a couple of days to ask about “what made Sierra special” in the days after acquiring it (they could have asked me, or better yet, its customers) before dramatically changing things, things would have gone a lot smoother in the transition.
-Ken W
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(re: re: About Mask of Enternity….)
That explains why Moe was such a failure. Too many cooks spoil the broth. It was lacking in plot and the main kq characters were left out. I wouldn’t have a problem with introducing a new hero as long as the other members of Graham’s family were there, and whatever happened to the end of kq vii? The violence and crude ugly graphics were what I hated most. The ending was disapointing. So if fewer designings with a single vision has worked on it, the game might have ended up better.
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(Many Thanks to Ken and Roberta)
If it wasn’t for my dad letting me play a cool looking game called “Kings Quest” in his computer lab at work all those many years ago, I don’t know if I would have stuck with being a computer gamer for so long. I’d probably be one of those console-only gamers who never realized that PC games existed.
Even to this day, thru my collection of FPS games, RPG’s and action games – I’ll still go back and play thru all the Sierra Quest games (that I can get to work in these modern times) and still have fun doing so.
Thank you for the good times and introducing me to games that were actually FUN! 🙂
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(re: re: About Mask of Enternity….)
Sorry for my terrible English
I never play KQ8 over 15 min . Though it’s not a bad game , but 3D style made me headache . With QFG5 , the 3D style is good and I can play to the end . Perhap KQ8 will be more better if it can be made in 3D style like QFG 5 , Resident Evil .
BTW , the later cartoon-style games of Sierra such as KQ8 , SQ6 are very excellent things . I always love adventure games ( though in this time I use walkthrough more than previous times :)))). They say Adventure is dead , but look at Syberia , Runaway , Black Mirror . If I remember right , adventure games has revived when Tierra out remake of KQ1 . Well , Sierra games create adventure genre and still Sierra games revive adventure genre . -
(re: About Mask of Enternity….)
In my opinion, KQ MOE is a wonderful game. I wish people would take their heads out of the sand long enough to realize that it isn’t SUPPOSED to be KQ8, it’s a spin off of the popular series. Although it borrows ideas and characters from the first 7 games, it is not the next chapter, or conclusion. Unfortunately, Roberta Williams is no longer with Sierra, so there won’t be any more official games. However, I thoroughly enjoyed Mask of Eternity, even though I was not a combat gane type of person. Despite how far it departs the norm of the series, it brings a fresh look to the world of Daventry. I am an open minded person, and when I found out Tierra/AGDI was remaking KQ! and 2, I was overjoyed. I loved the original games, but lets face it-it was time for a upgrade. That is what MOE did for KQ. Does anyone really think another game revolving around the Royal Family would have sold as well? Why do people think the adventure genre died? Because the market is turning to violence and shooting games. MOE was Sierra’s way of keeping up with the times. It’s not their fault that people today can’t appreciate the masterpiece that is Kings Quest. So to all you flamers out there-LEAVE ROBERTA, KEN AND KINGS QUEST MOE ALONE!!!
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(re: About Mask of Enternity….)
Sheesh, calm down! Though I agree to a point with what you’re saying about the game, about how KQ did need to change in order to continue, (and personally I did like it) you have to admit that going from a series about 4 people in a world where weapons are almost never used to a game where they’re barely mentioned with a new character who fights the whole time is a bit strange, just as it would be strange if the next Resident Evil game was a pure adventure game with no fighting. It’s kind of a Catch 22, really. In order to have the series be more successful, you need to add fighting to it, something which none of the main characters do, so you can’t use them, and by not using them makes it less interesting to the fans who have made the series successful.
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Im not trying to flame but, Kevin, that was a horrible attempt to support Mask Of Eternity. The Adventure genre is not dead! Myst is still out there! (exile should have been the last), Syberia had fantastic graphics, as well as The Longest Journey (deemed the greatest Adventure game of the year by Pc Gamer).No offence Ken and Roberta, Ive loved your games ever since my family all sat down and tried to figure out why Cedric was such a whimp (haha) but King’s Quest 8 : Mask of Eternity was a horrible game. The graphics were horrible, the camera was even worse, the audio sucked, the music was sub par to the true Kings Quest scores and the gameplay and story were enough to stop me from even finishing. Oh and the lovely fact that it crashed every 5 minutes helped too.If it isnt SUPPOSED TO be KQ, then why on God’s green Earth is it Called KINGS QUEST!?!? The fact that it take place in Daventry is not just.Everyone has noticed the advances that the KQ series had made in their graphics engine (see pics below). They lept from KQ1 to KQ5 to KQ7. If you were to actually think about it, KQ8 was a step back in their graphics department. I would much prefer being able to make out CLEARLY every visible detail on Rosella’s face IN 2-D, rather than looking at Connor’s smudged ugly face. As for the appeasment of the gaming industry for violence and shooting, thats hardly the case. Any good game can be unique in its own way without the shooting. Personally Im sick of seeing all these Battlefield clones and war games. Theres only so many times you can defeat the Nazi’s and retaking Red Square. KQ8 SHOULD have been true to its name and stayed the same layout as the rest of the series, but still in 3D. I think its about time a TRUE King’s Quest 8 came out still involving the royal family. Possibly Rosella and Edgar or Alex and Cassima.
King’s Quest 9: Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining There are endless possiblities for this series! KQ 7 opened the most posibilities. Roberta……Ken…….If your reading…….ABSENCE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER………
King’s Quest 1…….ahhhhhh 256 colors…..
King’s Quest 5……..Now theres a classic!
King’s Quest 7……..Definitely the best looking
King’s Quest 8………EWWWWW -
I liked KQ8 very much, but to be honest, i played it during one of the best periods of my life…
well the graphics and sounds were not that bad provided it was an old game (i don’t know when you played it), and connor was a quite cool guy…
as for ‘to king quest or not king quest’, i think it’s a cool wasy to ‘expand’ this universe… for example not all Myst games are around Atrus but they are all cool and preent some depth
i only wish it to be more consistent: you travel to the realms of the dead, but it’s totally different than KQ6 and makes it an entirely different universe
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I got stuck at KQ7 with a puzzle I could not solve, so I never continued to KQ8. I was sad to see the adventure games drop off to make way for sex and violence content in 3D. One thing that will be missed and probaly never come back is the scrolling screen layout. The beautifuly drawn artwork that was scanned into serveral pages was just breathtaking and KQ6 was full of them. I remember when Sierra offered customers to purchase some of the artwark copies like you would a painting, I am still kicking myself for not investing in one of those copies.
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