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Ken,
On that same note, do you by chance have a current email adress of a Mr. Tony Caudill? Like the previous post, he and I became quite good penpals when I was younger, and would love to get back in contact with him. He was a great guy and always took the time to respond to my letters (goodness, I’m remembering a day where there was no email!!!!LOL)
If you can send it to me, my email address isMerlynNY@aol.com
Thank you in advance!
-DionFirst 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 “so many pretentious announcements for fangames…”
Very true, but don’t you think all the screenshots and concept art (that is continually updated) on the KQ9 website show that the game is progressing, and show that the project won’t fade away? I think you’ll get disagreement that a release date, or an indication is neccessary. Now if KQ9 group hardly ever told you what they were doing, didn’t show screenshots, didn’t have online chats and only had a dinky little website, then yeah I’d say most people would consider that there’s a chance the project would just fade away. But I really don’t think your argument on this point will convince many people.
“I believe that only the original author may decide what happens next in the story”
True again, and I wouldn’t argue that. At the same time, I do believe there are talented writers out there who can write very convincingly the world of the original author. If you stuck 100% to that statement, then you would never watch a spin-off from the original Star Trek, or read a Star Trek novel that wasn’t written by Gene Roddenberry. See what I mean? You can argue the details of my argument, but that won’t change the premise of it. Again, from what KQIX team has shown so far, I believe they are competent to carry the KQ story, and that they have more going for them than an average fan project. But you would only be able to judge that once the game is released.
“eventually there will be noone left to play those games”
On the other hand, if you successfully remake or make a fan sequel for King’s Quest, you immediately have an audience. And there are new companies making new adventure games (such as Harvest Moon, comprised of former LucasArts folk). I don’t think a fan adventure is going to make a big impact on the industry. But a fan adventure based on a successful genre is going to be recognized, and if that fan group then continues to make an original game, they will receive more recongition because of what they did first. I know that’s the thinking behind AGDI. I don’t know what the thinking behind KQIX is. But furthermore, if I had the chance to make a game follow-up to one of the beloved series, and I thought I / my group had the talent to do it justice, then I would! I think it shows a serious love for Sierra’s old games, and not a disrespect for the original author. Some argue it’s a waste of time, that could be put to making an original game. Re-read from top of paragraph 🙂
Quote:
“… (by Joe ) Thanks a lot. I finally got it to work. I’ve never been able to play it before.
…”Excellent! No problems, hearing someone say they’re playing the games is reward enough.
– Alistair
Cody, you’re right. I’ve reread my previous responses and they are indeed ‘somewhat’ inflammatory. I’m sorry if I came across as a jerk because I didn’t mean to, it’s just that I have a strong (and obviously unpopular) opinion when it comes to fanmade games.
I will try to give some insight into my motivations, and hope that we can continue this thread in a constructive manner:
* Why I care about a release date : I’ve seen so many pretentious announcements for fangames that afterwards slowly withered and died that I am highly skeptical about any fangame that doesn’t have at least an indication of a release date. Even though KQ9 has stuck around for quite a long time now, I believe that without a release date (or a release) even the most hardcore groupie will eventually lose interest and the project will just fade away.
* Why I do not like fangames : I believe that only the original author may decide what happens next in the story and world of a game. No matter how hard you try you can never continue the story in the way that the original author intended. Consider it this way, maybe you can paint just as good as Van Gogh but no matter how good you are, your painting will never be a real Van Gogh, at best it’s just a really good forgery.
* Why I read about fangames, even though I don’t like them : Pure curiousity. I visit the same forums as the people who make fangames (because we both share an interest in Sierra games and adventure games in general), so when a new game is announced I take a look.
* Why I feel that we need original adventure games : The adventure genre has been declared dead by many. For the genre to get back some of its mainstream appeal you need to attract new gamers. A game such as KQ9 has a considerable backstory and this makes it virtually inaccessible to new gamers. A new game with a fresh story doesn’t have this problem. “So what?” you may think. Well, keep in mind that you need to keep running to stand still. If you’re only developing games for the in-crowd then eventually there will be noone left to play those games and the adventure genre will have truly died.
Okay, okay. I can respect that. It sucks that I got rid of all those awesome games. Oh well. Thanks man. You’ve definitely been more than helpful. Much appreciated.
Though Ken hasn’t made a definitive rule about copying games here, I’d prefer that everyone and their dog didn’t start asking for people to send them different games.
It really isn’t hard to find most games on eBay, and if you aren’t a collector looking for a super-nice copy, they shouldn’t be too expensive.
There are also other places selling Sierra games, such as Ye Old Infocomme Shop for example. I’m pretty sure the Shop has a decent copy of Willy Beamish for sale:
http://www.if-legends.org/~yois/
If you just want to download something, you can probably also find it fairly easily using Google. I’m not going to reply to your Eco Quest thread asking the same thing. The same answer applies.
Thank you for replying. I used the patch and it fixed the problem but anotherone came up. At the second world after talking to the Bitternuts if I try to save the game (as Torin) and then load it the game crashes displaying an Error 94. Do you know how it can be fixed or if there are any other patches for the game?
That’s quite possibly the most horrible news I’ve ever heard. That’s awful! I can’t imagine how horribly frustrating that must be! That’s like losing your baby! What possible gain would Vivendi have had taking King’s Quest and Quest for Glory? The only thing they’ve resurrected is Leisure Suit Larry and I never played any of those games. Never cared to. It just sucks. Alright, alright, I’ll stop venting.
Same here. I still have Antara sitting on my desk. Weird. It’s just sat there collecting dust. Never finished it, either. My brother and I played it, but it was too slow. Now my XP’s too fast. But Antara was actually never part of the Krondor world. Did you ever check out the books? Great reads. The Riftwar Saga was the first and was started in ’82. I might try and make a movie out of it someday.
There’s actually 3, depending on what you’re counting I guess. Betrayal, Return To, and the Antara game. Return To was a very different gameplay style. I got a copy of the CD only, but never played it. Antara was similar style to Betrayal, but with better graphics, sound, etc.
My brother and I both loved the original Betrayal. I never finished Antara, because back when I bought it my computer was too slow. I haven’t had a chance to play it again.
Your best bet to get a copy is on eBay. However, the Eco Quest games are some of the harder ones to find.
“I’ve never been into art for art’s sake.”
Interesting you should mention that. I can go both ways. Actually, the site I started (today nontheless) is for my friends’ and mine production company so we can get ourselves out there a little more. Hopefully, I’ll be able to post some of our short films that we’ve done and update family, friends, and fans of new projects. Since I’m still in school, the art side of things is what I’m focussing on. Even so, I’m trying to market a few TV concepts to my contacts at Sony Studios. It may or may not happen as of this point.
Back to the documentary. I want to do it as part of a future school project, hence my desire to do art for art’s sake. But I’d like to market it as well. I have contacts at KOCE as well as a production company for television owned by non-other than Danny DeVito. So I HAVE thought about pitching the idea to KOCE. Of course it would have to be funded privately.
I’m really glad to have gotten in contact with you. It’s amazing what happens when you’re not ‘looking’ for anything in particular on the internet. Perhaps we could talk some more via personal e-mail when the time comes? Thanks again.
-Aaron
Ken, could you send me your Seattle address? I’d like to send my King’s Quest collector’s box to get it signed. That would be awesome. Thanks.
It’s been almost a year since anything’s been posted here. I just recently sent a message to Ken asking the very question that has been discussed on here. I’m hoping someday to make Quest for Glory and Space Quest into films. It seems, according to Ken, that Space Quest would be incredibly hard to get done. I used to have connections at Vivendi, but have since lost them. I’m still in film school, but I’m working on several projects with Sony Studios that may or may not fly. We’ll see. I gathered e-mails from the ‘filmmakers’ who made comments here and will be contacting you. Maybe someday we WILL get something going.
-Aaron
Quote:
“… (by Aaron Keller) Hey Mr. Williams. I have a quick question for you. I sent you a detailed e-mail recently to the e-mail address you have listed under your profile settings. I know you’re extremely busy and all, but I was wondering if you’d had a chance to read it or not. Also, I started a webpage using your program, but want to cancel it and start over. Is there a specific way to do that? Let me know, when you get a chance, what you thought of my idea. I have two years left of film school. I’ve previously worked with people like Adam Sandler at Sony Studios. My goal is to do a documentary film about Sierra’s impact during the drastic changes in PCs over the last 20 years. I’d love to get in touch with you on this project. Again, no rush. I’ve got a year to prep and plan. Thanks.-Aaron Keller
…”Greetings Aaron:
I did receive your email.
Sorry not to respond. I’m in crunch mode working on my project. I always warn programmers to work in small bites, with frequent releases. ALWAYS avoid making major changes with long gaps between releases. I should have listened to me. My product has been buggy for four months while I’ve coded on the new release. Now I’ve got a huge mountain of new code, and know that when I release it, nearly one thousand websites will be in chaos for at least a couple of days. Hopefully, I’ll have the new version of the software ready for release sometime in the next two weeks. If you have a website using my code, you may want to hold off doing much to it until after the new release.
As to a documentary on Sierra: It could be a good idea. I’d broaden it beyond Sierra though. Include Id and Valve, and some of the new hot companies (who I don’t even know who are anymore) and you might have something worth watching. I’m not plugged into the film industry (although I’d like to be someday) .. but, it might be worth talking to some buyers for cable, with a short summary of the documentary, and see if they would be willing to air it. If you can’t convince yourself there is a market, then why shoot it? I’ve never been into art for art’s sake.
-Ken W
Quote:
“… (by Aaron Keller) Oh, by the way, I’m shooting my first music video this week at Disneyland after the park closes. Wish me luck.-Aaron
…”Good luck!
-Ken W
Quote:
“… (by Aaron Keller) Hey Ken, so Vivendi actually now owns the rights to ALL of the game franchises you helped create? Does that mean that Vivendi owns the rights to Quest for Glory?
…”Yes. I have ZERO rights. Neither do any of the designers (such as Al Lowe, Jane Jenson, Roberta Williams, etc.)
-Ken W
