There have been several King's Quest fangames both original and retellings/remakes of the original games that have been released by various developers.
Contents
- Background
- Fan games
- Kings Quest ZZT
- Kings Quest ZZT 2
- Kings Quest 2 Breast Intentions
- Kings Quest V The Text Adventure
- Owls Quest Every Owl Has Its Day
- Plot
- Gameplay
- Development
- Reception
- Geography
- Mythology
- Good guys
- Villains
- Others
- The Royal Family of Daventry
- Black Cloak Society
- Silver Cloak Society
- Zodiacs
- Shadows
- The Family
- Paladins
- Relentless Army
- Rebellions
- Brotherhood of the Pack
- Developers
- References
Background
Interactive Fantasies created two of the earliest KQ fan adventures were created while Sierra's was still producing games in the King's Quest Series. In 1997, they created two overhead adventure action-RPG games set after KQ7 using Epic MegaGames' ZZT software, King's Quest ZZT and King's Quest ZZT 2. In an idea predating 1998's Mask of Eternity, the game includes weapons and enemies to fight (in a similar style to Ys series by bumping into the enemies, or manually firing arrows), and even includes a few side-scrolling platformer arcade sequences.
AGD Interactive (previously Tierra Entertainment) has released three King's Quest games so far. First, they created a more or less straight remake of King's Quest: Quest for the Crown, with advanced VGA-style graphics and a voice soundtrack, King's Quest I VGA. They moved onto create a retelling of King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne, creating an all new story inspired by the original game. In February 2011, they released King's Quest III Redux, an enhanced retelling of KQ3 (continuing ideas that first appeared in Romancing the Stones). It was not a straight remake as their KQI remake, nor was it a full overhaul like their KQII remake had been; in fact, many of the elements of the original KQIII story were left intact, but details were altered to create a more challenging experience, and the story was tweaked to incorporate elements of the KQII rewrite as progressing into KQIII.
Infamous Adventures released a remake of King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human (on June 19, 2006). The release includes Video Graphics Array-style graphics and an advanced music and voice soundtrack for the game. It offers several new and extended cut scenes, a few tweaks to locations, a new ending, and a streamlined spell casting system.
Phoenix Online Studios is currently developing The Silver Lining (game). It is an episodic game series based on the King's Quest series. It is an unofficial sequel, taking place where King's Quest 8 left off. Four episodes of the game has been released so far.
Smaller developers have released assorted games set in the KQ universe as well. Steve Lingle created a text based remake of King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder. A small team known as Intermezzo Software created a followup set between KQ2 and KQ3, using Sierra's classic AGI system (requires DosBox). Finally, Joel Page created a short adventure/parody called Owl's Quest: Every Owl has it's Day starring Cedric the Owl from King's Quest V, set after KQ8.
In some cases a few of Sierra's former employees such as Josh Mandel, Lori Ann Cole and Andy Hoyos became involved with the fan games, lending their voices to characters. In the case of King's Quest III Redux, several professional actors/actresses lent their voices to a couple of characters, including Robert Adamson.
Another notable aspect is that AGD Interactive, Phoenix Online Studios, and Infamous Adventures each received fan licenses from Activision (or previous owners of the King's Quest IP) to finish their fan remakes and games, and release them for free.
Fan games
King's Quest ZZT
Alexander sets out on adventure to stop Ravenlos (the evil cousin of Mordack and Manannan).
Following Rosella and Valenice's return to Castle Daventry, a big festival is held. A messenger comes to the castle, explaining to them that Ravenlos, the evil cousin of the sorcerer Manannan has conquered the island of Llewdor, and is planning to conquer Daventry. Graham was furious of the news, and asked his son Prince Alexander to defend the kingdom. Alexander was not willing to go fight against him and his army, until his father collapses sick, which changes Alexander's mind. Alexander visits the old wise gnome for a medicine for his father, and after he is healed, he sets off for the long and dangerous mission. Along the way he meets strange creatures like Centaurs, Elves and Ogres and visits many places, like the mountains of Llewdor, the island of Tamir, and the Aberian Desert.
A nod to the King's Quest ZZT games is made in The Silver Lining (video game)'s "The Four Winds" meta-fiction newsletter. This includes the events surrounding the Centaurs and the Ogres in King's Quest ZZT (and a nod towards ZZT2), with expanded material tying it into the Phoenix Online Studios' backstories for the wind Sirocco, Zephyr, and the wizard Crispin.
King's Quest ZZT 2
While Alexander is staying in the Elven village, hostilities have shocked the country of Daventry again. The Relentless Army attacks the castle and kidnaps his parents. Alexander travels to stop invading forces and prevent the Kingdom of Dalban's plans
King's Quest 2 ¼: Breast Intentions
KQ2 ¼ takes place between KQ2 and KQ3. Valanice sets out on an adventure to find her kidnapped son, and save him from starvation. The game uses the classic AGI system. Along the way she meets the woodcutters and his wife, pirates, henchmen, Charon, Rumplestiltskin, and others.
King's Quest V: The Text Adventure
A text based reimagining of the King's Quest V adventure. It contains an almost completely original script, with all new descriptions for the events and areas in the game.
Owl's Quest: Every Owl Has It's Day
Owl's Quest: Every Owl Has It's [sic] Day is an unofficial adventure fangame game developed and released in free download format by Jstudios for Microsoft Windows on May 26, 2007. It is a short parody of the King's Quest series (specifically King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder! and the fangame The Silver Lining) starring Cedric the Owl from King's Quest V. The game is set a short while after King's Quest VIII: Mask of Eternity.
Plot
Cedric receives an invitation from King Alexander to attend a birthday ceremony in the Land of the Green Isles. Having had a curse put on him by Crispin, Cedric must attempt to make his way to Crispin and have the curse removed so he can fly to the Green Isles. Cedric explores new locations in Serenia, including Cedric's treehouse, the Inverted Tower of Repunzel, and thwarts snakes and scorpions to make his way to Crispin's house, and finally to the Green Isles. The game includes a full voice cast (minus the narrator).
Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to the interface found in King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride. It includes a single icon interface, an inventory section, and a feature to look at items. The single cursor can be used to speak to characters or look at objects on the screen. The art style is a crude mix of KQ7 animation style, with close-up photos from KQ5 and KQ6. The background artwork is a mix of crude hand-drawn art, and images taken from KQ5 and KQ6.
The game has a total of 8 points, with not much more than ten puzzles to solve. There are a total of three ways to die in the game (killed by a scorpion, a snake, or falling into a pit).
Development
The game was developed by Joel Page using the Adventure Game Studio, created for the monthly AGS competition. It has a full voice cast except the narrator. All parts presumably done by Joel Page (as he is the single person on the credit screen). The game uses a mix of music largely taken from KQ7.
The parody aspects of the game poke fun at situations in KQ5 with mixed results. For example Cedric encounters and can be killed by things he warned about in KQ5. He is forced to go into places, he would have told Graham to avoid in KQ5. The game makes fun of Crispin's mispronunciation and use of generic magic words (which case he uses the 'bibbidi bobbidi boo' from Cinderella). It makes fun of Cedric's "annoying" voice and nature. It even attempts to break the fourth wall at times with Cedric conversing with the narrator.
Reception
The game was given a special two part "Let's Play" review on That Guy with the Glasses by Paw Dugan. In the videos he and his co-host kept a running timer of the total number of typographical and grammatical errors in the game's script. They also pointed out the satirical aspects of the game that make fun of Cedric, and certain over-used plot contrivences in KQ5. They poke fun at the game's bugs. The videos also show the replies from the live events audience making fun of the game. Some of the footage will be used in a special on Sierra fan game development scene.
Geography
One thing the fan games have in common is that most have eliminated the 'wrap-around' in the world (that is traveling in one direction will lead back to the screen where the player began). Most of the fan games (with the exception of King's Quest I VGA) have added natural boundaries surrounding the kingdoms, preventing travel too far to the north or the south.
The King's Quest ZZT series show Daventry, Llewdor, and Tamir as individual islands. Ingame maps show the geography of the islands, and each island has boundaries usually physical (such as mountains/rocks/trees/ocean) preventing the player from moving too far around the lands.
In King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones there is an impassible swamp, a tangled forest and a town that were added to the north of Kolyma to prevent too much travel to the north. More areas can be seen beyond the town but the narrator points out that there is nothing of interest for your character to travel that way. On the southern edge of Kolyma are boulders, logs and rocky outcroppings that prevent travel to the south. A mountain blocks travel to the east and the ocean blocks travel to the west (the player will drown if they try to swim too far). Whereas in the original there were no boundaries to the north and the south and the map would just 'wrap around'.
In Infamous Adventure's King's Quest III, there are cliffs and a swamp blocking passage to the north side of Llewdor. A large crevasse, and a broken bridge, block travel to the south. The desert is known as the desert of Talinor.
In King's Quest III Redux the northern edge of Llewdor is blocked by rocky mountains and bluffs and a cave near the desert. The travel into the desert is blocked by an overlook. The southern edge of Llewdor is blocked by rocks or a fence. The desert is known as the Llewdorian desert and it is hinted that the land of Shapeir lies on the other side.
The Silver Lining and the ZZT series expand on the lands visited in previous games showing new locations in those lands. TSL expands into new locations in the Green Isles and ZZT explores new locations in Daventry, Llewdor and Tamir (in addition to adding boundaries to those lands).
Mythology
The King's Quest fan series like their predecessors are often inspired by classical fairy tales, fantasy, classic horror, and mythology.
Whereas the original series references to other works were often direct, some of the fan developers such as AGD Interactive chose to obscure the references in some way. For example Dracula (who was directly taken from the novel of the same name) was replaced with the Count Caldaur who instead of being evil turns out to be good. Little Red Riding Hood was replaced by the character Possum/Anastasia, and Grandma became Lavidia (curiously Anastasia can be seen reading a copy of Little Red Riding Hood, further showing that she is not the classic fairy tale character). Medusa was replaced with the character Smaude, who turns out to be a cursed maiden and innocent.
Good guys
Villains
Others
The Royal Family of Daventry
The main protagonists of the fan games (like the main series) are the family of King Graham. The fan games follow the adventures of Graham, his son Alexander, and even Valanice.
Black Cloak Society
In the fan games and other fan fiction most of the villains in the KQ games are often tied into the Black Cloak organization. It is often portrayed that there is a conspiracy by the organization to take over the various lands of the world. They are often tied to some millennial prophecy, that may or may not also include the Royal Family of Daventry.
The Black Cloak Society is the name of the Society of the Black Cloak as it is usually referred to by the fans. They see it as a shadowy organization made up of political dignitaries, malevolent wizards, witches, magicians, and sorcerers who desire power both magical and political. They speculate that the organization has vast levels of influence and power in kingdoms across the world of Daventry. They include many of the villains of the King's Quest games as members of the group in the fan games and fan fiction.
In AGDI games the Black Cloaks are ancestors of the race known as the First Mages/Ancients (a god like race from the stars). In TSL, the Black Cloaks is the name of a race of demigods.
The Society appears in different forms, having different, yet similar motivations in both AGD Interactive's series (King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones and King's Quest III Redux), and Phoenix Online Studio's The Silver Lining.
Silver Cloak Society
The Silver Cloak Society is an organization and race that appears in The Silver Lining. The Silver Cloak Society was a society that have been at odds with the Black Cloak Society for one thousand years. They were a highly secretive society, more so than the Black Cloaks.
Zodiacs
The Zodiacs are twelve members of the Silver Cloak Society who bonded their souls to the Zodia Stone. They are named for each of the twelve astrological signs. They are mentioned in The Silver Lining. They were once led by Leo the Noble.
Shadows
The Shadows are members of Black Cloak Society who were transformed into evil shadowy creatures through their use of dark magic. They have been sealed away in Pandora's Box.
The Family
The Family is an organization within the Society of the Black Cloak. It is made up of brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers.
Paladins
The Paladins were the holy warriors and guardians of the Silver Cloaks. They helped defend against attacks by the Black Cloak Society, and tried to heal the wounds or repair the damage they caused.
Relentless Army
The Relentless Army is an army of mercenaries and assassins that conquered the Island of Llewdor. They may have been hired by the Kingdom of Dalban to help take over Daventry. However, it is possible that the army made its own decision to conquer Daventry for its own purposes. Boris Darkov, the high commander and marshall of the Relentless Army attempted to turn Castle Daventry into his base of operations. They appear in King's Quest ZZT 2.
Rebellions
The Rebellions is an organization appearing in King's Quest ZZT 2. They are a group of rebels living on the Island of the Rebellions to the south of the Island of Llewdor. They are a group of humans rebelling against the Relentless Army. They used to be inhabitants of the small harbor town on Llewdor. They were driven out of their houses by the Relentless Army and their Ogre allies. They joined forces with escaped slaves, and settled on the island.
Brotherhood of the Pack
The Brotherhood of the Pack is an evil group of lycanthropic monks, living in Kolyma. They are led by Llowh'wof. They have often been at odds with the local counts, over the power of the church and state. They advocate religious rule, while the counts have always supported more secular-based society. This disagreement has led the Brotherhood to try to kill the last of Kolyma's counts, Caldaur, in an attempt take over the land. They appear in King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones.