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King's Quest I Remake v4.1 released (Now with Mac goodness)

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 12:09 pm
by Anonymous Game Creator 2
Update: 18 November 2010:

Patch Update v4.1 to v4.1b. (Windows only)


Update: 12 September, 2010

King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown (Version 4.1) has been released for both PC and Mac. Thanks for Les Wavrychuk for assisting with the Mac version!

You can get the latest builds from the King's Quest 1 page on the AGDI website.

Important: Remember to uninstall any previous versions of King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown from your system prior to installing version 4.1. Since we have changed installer software, v4.1 shouldn't be installed over an existing installation, as this has the potential to leave ghost files behind when you later uninstall. Also, note that save game files aren't compatible between different game versions.

CHANGES TO VERSION 4.1
----------------------
WARNING: GAME SPOILERS AHEAD

- Fixed: a bug that caused the invisibility ring's expiration message to appear during the end credits
- Fixed: the Magic Chest sometimes disappearing behind trees when killing the giant with the slingshot
- Fixed: a bug where Graham could eat the mushroom while invisible, despite being unable to find his mouth
- Fixed: graphics filters in the winsetup.exe program crashing the game
- Fixed: a crash when loading save-game files by double-clicking on them and then clicking restart
- Fixed: a bug where opening and closing the Restore GUI on the title screen caused the icon bar to appear
- Changed: the appearance of Graham's hair in the dialog portrait without his adventurer's hat
- Fixed: a bug where CTRL+Q and TAB could cause glitches after the Sorcerer freezes Graham.
- Changed: the way the dragon behaves when the protection spell expires within close proximity to it
- Changed: the 'drowning' death GUI picture to one of Graham kneeling when eating the mushroom too early
- Changed: the appearance of the hole in the base of the slingshot tree, making it more visible
- Changed: save-games to be saved in the game directory again, rather than in My Documents/My Saved Games
- Changed: the game's installer to use Inno Setup for better compression and performance
- Added: an Apple Mac port of the game
- Added: a checkbox to the installer asking whether the user wants to create a game desktop icon or not



17th January, 2009

Greetings, citizens of Earth. After several months in development, AGDI's new website has finally launched. Eriq Chang, one of AGDI's lead artists and our web designer has created a fresh new identity, branding, and site design which greatly compliments the new "home" of our re-released and re-polished Sierra remake titles.

The new site design has been streamlined to make navigation easier and now also functions much more effectively to showcase the various games we have available. All pertinent information is now much easier to find. I'd like to shout a big THANKS to Eriq for the excellent, non-stop work that he's done to get this new site up and running and also for working alongside me to incorporate my ideas and suggestions. You can visit Eriq's own website and learn about other projects he's worked on (both game-related and otherwise) here: http://www.EriqChangStudio.com

Everyone feel free to check out the new AGDI site. Browse around and we hope you enjoy the new look! You'll find the new site online now at the usual URL: http://www.AGDInteractive.com

Next up is the announcement of our first re-release. That's right adventure game fans; King's Quest I Version 4.0 is now available for download from the AGD Interactive web site! Actually, the latest revision of the game isn't merely a re-release, but in reality, it's closer to a fully-fledged enhancement. You could essentially say that Version 4.0 is a remake of our original King's Quest I VGA remake!

The decision to enhance our King's Quest remakes to a higher standard came about three years ago. While working on Quest for Glory II, we had noticed that our skills and capabilities had increased with practice and experience, and that our earlier works no longer accurately represented our current pool of talent. What I personally found particularly jarring were the collaged and ripped elements of some backgrounds that had been taken from other Sierra games. When we first started creating Sierra remakes, we put less focus on artwork quality and more focus on simply finishing the games. Originally, we had no idea our King's Quest I would become so popular. We had only intended to remake the game for our own practice and never really intended to show it to anyone else. However, we eventually decided to release it to the public in August 2001 just to showcase the work that had already been done. With the widespread attention the remake received, it also drew various criticisms. We have taken note of these things and attempted to improve upon them in this latest enhanced version.

Another factor in creating Version 4.0 was that, at the time, Vivendi was going to include it on the new King's Quest Collection. Unfortunately, the company had an internal change of staff and the guy who had agreed to include AGDI's remakes in the King's Quest Collection was laid off. A new team was allocated to the project but the information that the AGDI remakes were supposed to be included was never passed along. Vivendi went ahead and released the Collection while we were still working on the revamp. Rather than scrap all the work that had already been done, we decided to finish them as intended and release them via our own website.

The largest improvement in version 4.0 of the game is undoubtedly the complete revamping of all game backgrounds. Huge thanks goes our to our very talented artists John Paul Selwood, Emily Selwood, and Johan Botes for their tireless efforts in re-editing all of the original backgrounds to a standard that matches the classic Sierra quality and is right up there with the some of the best Sierra artists! Every collaged area has been removed and re-edited with unique artwork done exclusively by the artist's own hands. This process has improved the visual look of the game tenfold and it really does feel like playing a genuine Sierra game all the more! This trio of background artists have worked extremely hard to tirelessly complete re-editing all of the in-game backgrounds, which is no small feat. So, when you play 4.0, take the time to admire and appreciate all the fine details that weren't there in previous builds. The difference in graphical quality is like night and day.

Britney (AGD1) also spent time redoing all of the character dialogue pictures so that they match the quality of the backgrounds. Additionally, all character dialogue pictures now have full lip-syncing in place when they speak for added effect.

Another major element that was missing from the game in former versions was the presence of a narrator vocal track for background and in-game descriptions. I'm pleased to announce that this is no longer the case! The extremely talented and always hilarious voice actor, John Bell, has spent countless months recording the narration track for the KQI project in a crisp, professional tone to match the atmosphere of the game. I really can't say enough good things about this guy's great attitude and professionalism in all aspects. A true pleasure to deal with! Do yourself a favor and check out his hilarious free podcasts at Bells in the Batfry and subscribe. He's very talented and versatile and certainly deserves wide support!

The next notable feature about v4.0 is "No Dead-Ends" mode. Based on fan feedback, it seems that King's Quest I is a mighty frustrating experience for some newbies! In fact, some newcomers find the dead-ends (which often force them to restart the game) to be a complete turn-off and make them abandon the game entirely. For this reason, I have implemented a new feature that can disable all dead-end experiences from gameplay, and ensure that the game is always finishable from any point. Of course, classic mode (with all dead-ends included) is still included for the benefit of sadis... uh, purists!

Among other things, a few of the other features include Windows Vista support, Native Ogg Theora movies (meaning in-game cutscenes/movies will now play under Linux and PC emulation under Mac), and the fact that the full digital Speech and Music tracks are now included as part of the download, rather than being separate downloads.

Thanks also to Prio, Thepal, Deltamatrix, Renodox, and Angelus for beta testing the hell out of this thing, and to Chris Jones who was on-hand to assist with any teething problems as we transitioned across to using the new AGS engine.

Anyhow, I think that's enough rambling for now. Remember to uninstall any previous version of the King's Quest I remake (as well as previous Voice and Music add-on packs) from your system before installing this new version. Oh, and I should also mention that translation packs no longer work with this build. It's too hard for us to verify the quality of 3rd party translations, so we opted to ditch them all together. Have fun!

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 12:27 pm
by eriqchang
A big warm "Thank You" to Chris for your unending patience and attention to detail. We are pixel perfect! And to Stijn, Britney, Brandon, Darin Hanson... my little love birds.

Big Ups to the art team responsible for the incredible new version of King's Quest 1 - such inspiring, timeless work. It's amazing to see how everyone has grown these past five years.

Some quick, fun tidbits:

- Refreshing the studio home page will give you a random lovely new game background from our two latest releases.

- And, as I do with all of my work, I have hidden one easter egg somewhere... Look closely in the AGDI site and click everywhere! Will you find it first? Post a screenshot here! ;)

And now... zzzzzzzzz.

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 3:49 pm
by MusicallyInspired
The new website is GORGEOUS! Well done, Eriq! Beautiful work! Worth every minute of wait! And it's so good to have KQ1 again with all the enhancements! It'll be an even better experience than it already was!

Can't wait for the new KQ2!

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 5:20 pm
by Tom Lewandowski
ditto....beautiful job on the new website!

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 5:45 pm
by Brainiac
I have just one thing to say...

...sweeeeeeeeeet.

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 6:26 pm
by KQartist
Excellent work on the website Eriq! Truly remarkable work! The logos, layout, everything I couldn't picture any better than it is. :D Thanks.

Thanks to Johan Botes(Gronagor), and my sister Emily Selwood(rosel1) for helping me with the artwork enhancements. It's been lots of fun seeing the jump in quality as a result from all the hard work.

Thanks to Chris Warren(AGD2), Stijn van Empel(Erpy), and all the beta testers for bringing the programming up to the best quality it can be. Great work!

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 6:40 pm
by Erpy
And a major jump in quality it has been. Great job to everyone involved. Was this worth the wait or what?

Image

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 7:15 pm
by MusicallyInspired
eriqchang wrote:Refreshing the studio home page will give you a random lovely new game background from our two latest releases
I'm refreshing and refreshing but I still see only the Witch's hut from KQ1VGA.

And as far as easter eggs go, are you talking about the "AGD Interactive Studios" title in the...er...title bar of the browser?

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 7:22 pm
by Lady Pyro
Erpy wrote:And a major jump in quality it has been. Great job to everyone involved. Was this worth the wait or what?

Image

Totally. I'm so not getting my work done today.

Also, I'm terrible at finding Easter Eggs that are thrown directly in my face, But I'm still gonna look later. :)

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:27 pm
by MusicallyInspired
Eriq, you've called the backgrounds in the KQ1VGA website "glorious SVGA...background art and animation" which isn't true. SVGA is 640x400 or higher and the graphics are still 320x200.

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:43 pm
by DrJones
Lady Pyro wrote:Totally. I'm so not getting my work done today.

Also, I'm terrible at finding Easter Eggs that are thrown directly in my face, But I'm still gonna look later. :)
All this describe me perfectly. I should have played more slowly and take a look at all the backgrounds, which I plan to do when I try the "no dead-ends" mode which is more forgiving. I haven't worked anything today, which forms a scary-to-look mountain of paperwork since I'm still on the flu since the past week. :eek

But oh boy, how I've enjoyed this passtime (except the damn condor). Now waiting for Al Emmo, Quest for Glory Anthology, and King's Quest II (though this one can wait more)!! :D

Awesome music, too!

EDIT: Sorry for my totally unintelligible writing! It's the fever and such. :x

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:46 pm
by dosuser
MusicallyInspired wrote:Eriq, you've called the backgrounds in the KQ1VGA website "glorious SVGA...background art and animation" which isn't true. SVGA is 640x400 or higher and the graphics are still 320x200.
Actually, SVGA is correct.

VGA is 320x200 at 256-colours or 640x400 with 16 colours.
SVGA is 640x400 or higher at 256-colours, but also any resolution at 16-bit or 32-bit colour -- therefore, KQ1VGA being 320x200 at 32-bit colour qualifies as SVGA :p

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 12:13 am
by Lady Pyro
DrJones wrote:All this describe me perfectly. I should have played more slowly and take a look at all the backgrounds, which I plan to do when I try the "no dead-ends" mode which is more forgiving. I haven't worked anything today, which forms a scary-to-look mountain of paperwork since I'm still on the flu since the past week. :eek

But oh boy, how I've enjoyed this passtime (except the damn condor). Now waiting for Al Emmo, Quest for Glory Anthology, and King's Quest II (though this one can wait more)!! :D

Awesome music, too!

EDIT: Sorry for my totally unintelligible writing! It's the fever and such. :x
I managed to get ONE 7 second scene done today. (That sentence makes sense if you animate, I promise)
SIGH, just means I have a lot to catch up on tomorrow I guess, which means no replay for a few days. Stupid priorities!

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 1:11 am
by MusicallyInspired
dosuser wrote:
MusicallyInspired wrote:Eriq, you've called the backgrounds in the KQ1VGA website "glorious SVGA...background art and animation" which isn't true. SVGA is 640x400 or higher and the graphics are still 320x200.
Actually, SVGA is correct.

VGA is 320x200 at 256-colours or 640x400 with 16 colours.
SVGA is 640x400 or higher at 256-colours, but also any resolution at 16-bit or 32-bit colour -- therefore, KQ1VGA being 320x200 at 32-bit colour qualifies as SVGA :p
Ok, granted. But that's not what people are going to think. They're gonna be like "What? SVGA graphics? That means high resolution backgrounds!" and will probably be angrily disappointed (and rightfully so).

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 1:34 am
by seraphimdreamer777
Very nice I'll play more after dinner!

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 3:17 am
by 1234567890
OMGYAY! just beat if from memory :lol I am really obsessed with KQ! GREAT JOB! I REALLY wasn't expecting that much of a change!

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 3:24 am
by Ogodosh
Looks amazing...AGDI remains the epitome of Sierra remakes for me. I'm introducing Sierra classics to all of my friends.

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 3:43 am
by 1234567890
DO IT! Some (insane) people will hate them, but the awesome people like them, so only show it to your awesome friends!

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 5:20 am
by GrahamCracker4
Hey, this looks great. I remember hearing you guys say you would do some "minor touch up", and I didn't expect anything nearly this big.

I do have a problem though. I use a Windows ME to play my adventure games on (since it can handle them and then I don't have to borrow my friend's computer all the time). My computer meets all of the specified requirements, but when I try to play the game it says "A device attached to the system is not functioning" and that the .exe file expects a newer version of windows. Quest for Glory 2 runs perfectly on it, so I'm not sure why it's not working. Any idea what the problem is? If not that's fine, I have other systems available.

Great work. It's unbelievable that groups of people like those at AGDI and Infamous Adventures will spend so much time remaking these classics (and for free!).

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 8:08 am
by Anonymous Game Creator 2
The latest build of King's Quest I was compiled under AGS 3.1 (which Chris Jones uses Visual Studio to create). Microsoft have stopped supporting Windows ME and Windows 98 so the latest version of Visual Studio doesn't support these older Operating Systems, meaning AGS games compiled with AGS 3.1 won't either. You'll need to use a PC with XP or Vista installed in order to play King's Quest I v4.0.

The reason Quest for Glory II works under Windows ME and 98 is because it was compiled in AGS 2.72 which did not have this restriction.

As to the VGA/SVGA thing, it was actually a conscious decision. You'll also notice that we have stopped referring to (and branding) the remakes with the 'VGA' extension at the end, since it's really a misnomer. Just trying to be technically correct and also indicate that the backgrounds have millions of colors in them and aren't limited to only a 256-colour palette. :)

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 1:29 pm
by dosuser
Anonymous Game Creator 2 wrote:The latest build of King's Quest I was compiled under AGS 3.1 (which Chris Jones uses Visual Studio to create). Microsoft have stopped supporting Windows ME and Windows 98 so the latest version of Visual Studio doesn't support these older Operating Systems, meaning AGS games compiled with AGS 3.1 won't either. You'll need to use a PC with XP or Vista installed in order to play King's Quest I v4.0.
Just to elaborate a bit on this ... Windows XP has now been around for almost 8 years, which means that if you still have Windows 98 or ME the chances are your computer is at least 7 or 8 years old, and may not be able to handle running the game anyway.

But more importantly, because Microsoft has stopped supporting 98/ME, that means no security updates are being provided and so if you have a Win98/ME computer connected to the internet it would be extremely vulnerable to getting hacked, viruses, etc.

As AGD2 says, as a result of Microsoft discontinuing support for those operating systems, you'll also find that fewer and fewer new games/apps now will run as more and more manufacturers follow suit and stop supporting them. A lot of software applications have already stopped supporting Windows 98, and AGS is just the latest one to do so.

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 2:35 pm
by GrahamCracker4
Alrighty, thanks alot for the reply. I was wondering before I installed if it would work, the only reason I thought it might was because the readme said Windows ME and 2000 were supported, but I figured it might still be outdated. Ah well, I guess it's time to install Vista. :)

Thanks again for all the hard work and the quick reply.

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 4:02 pm
by daventry
Awsome, thanks for the Remake of KQ1VGA, but i thought you guys were gonna do the Game a little diffrent when i talked about it a few years ago. http://www.agdiforums.com/forum/viewtop ... =2&t=10218 Infamous Adventures made a Special Sequence for KQ3VGA where we saw Manannan took a baby from a housekeeper and he vapourized her, why not make an Extra Sequence where we see King Edward and his Wife getting help from a Dwarf where he Steals the Magic Chest and then he gives it to a Giant in the Clowds, then Edward Marries a Woman and she turns into a Witch and steals the Magic Mirror and put it in a Cave with a Dragon, then we see a Leprichaun coming to Edward and steals the Magic Shield. You know, be creative with the Story. :p

Is KQ2VGA gonna be fixed, the Father Story with the Crown Bussiness to make us understand it more.

Any thought on Remaking KQ4VGA since KQ3VGA has already been made.

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 5:27 pm
by adeyke
Anonymous Game Creator 2 wrote:As to the VGA/SVGA thing, it was actually a conscious decision. You'll also notice that we have stopped referring to (and branding) the remakes with the 'VGA' extension at the end, since it's really a misnomer. Just trying to be technically correct and also indicate that the backgrounds have millions of colors in them and aren't limited to only a 256-colour palette. :)
It's hard to have millions of colors on a screen containing only 64,000 pixels ;).

Re: New AGDI site goes live & King's Quest I Re-released!

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 7:19 pm
by MusicallyInspired
Is KQ2VGA gonna be fixed, the Father Story with the Crown Bussiness to make us understand it more.
No. It's easy to understand already. It's supposed to be a mystery.
Any thought on Remaking KQ4VGA since KQ3VGA has already been made.
KQ4VGA is already being made, too.