King's Quest III+ (call for testers!)

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Radiant · #26 Post by **Radiant** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 11:05 am

By the way there have been several people in the past who've brought suggestions for KQ3 games and/or made a screen or two. If they are interested in teaming up, providing VGA graphics, giving their own ideas of the story or anything, drop me a PM and I"d be happy to talk to you.

Lucasfan -> Well, maybe this is my revenge for the fact that you made a Maniac Mansion remake earlier than I did

and who made that love slave offer, I'd like to talk to him/her (preferably her)

Oh and yes, there is a mysterious lack of response to the other thread, and I got a mysterious msg from Erpy. But that's not critical; KQ3 stands on its own, and whether Manannan can have a letter from Caldaur in his desk or not, doesn't break the game.

Alliance -> I won't do new graphics because my drawing skills aren't up to that task. Sorry. Feel free to volunteer though.

Brainiac -> this was bound to happen

you downloaded the bugged version which was on the web for almost five minutes (because I tested my download and found this bug). Try downloading again.

Fluxmaster -> nice idea. I'll assume you mean a look-cursor, rather than lines? Because they don't show up on a telescope

Got your bug report, thanks.

Dreammaster -> about splitting bugs, good point. I didn't know how big the overlap was between here and AGS. Turns out it's pretty big. Since the AGS thread has a lot more bug reports, let's keep the reports there and stick to general storyline criticism (if any) in this thread.

Zeus -> as in many games, you can press ESC to skip cut scenes. Oh and there is more variation in chores and punishments planned.
Regarding the touching-up suggestion, how exactly would that work? I tried it myself and it didn't give a good result. Please show me!

LucasFan · #27 Post by **LucasFan** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 12:37 pm

Well, maybe this is my revenge for the fact that you made a Maniac Mansion remake earlier than I did.

Aha! Now I understand why your bug report for MMD has been longer than its whole Global Script.

Release it! It would still get more downloads than any Sierra remake.

I got a mysterious msg from Erpy.

Heh, interesting...
A copy to MMDeluxe@gmx.net, please.
I hope it's not written in Dutch, or? $:\$

#28 Post by **Erpy** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 1:32 pm

Tsk, tsk, tsk. I'm not asking people for copies of your correspondence either, am I?

Radiant · #29 Post by **Radiant** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 3:49 pm

And yes, it was written in Dutch. But we're not conspiring against you, honestly!

Zeus · #30 Post by **Zeus** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 5:22 pm

Radiant here is the example :

http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/agi_retouchedkq3.jpg

(do NOT open it with the windows default image viewer because it
blurs pictures, use photoshop or your browser)

i have to note that this picture is created with a completely different
process comparing to the space quest 2 super vga picture i posted.
(the space quest picture was created FROM SCRATCH)

It is the AGI picture retouched : lines were smoothed with anti aliasing
, and i used dodging and burning where it was needed. Finally created a new wall because the gray paint was boring.
Because of the wall and the burning/dodging operation, it took me more than 3 minutes. About 15 minutes. I think that it is still a good time if you consider that i am not an artist. A person who would invest time in this technique, he could do it faster probably.

It does not provide the BEST results, but it provides a healthy
( optical result/(drawing time) ) ratio.

What do you think ?

Blackthorne519 · #31 Post by **Blackthorne519** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 7:28 pm

Nice job, Zeus, but why not just remake it in VGA for all that work?

Bt

fluxmaster · #32 Post by **fluxmaster** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 8:28 pm

Radiant wrote:I'll assume you mean a look-cursor, rather than lines? Because they don't show up on a telescope

I don't understand what you mean. The comment on the lines had nothing to do with the telescope. This is what I meant:

As you can see, the third line is cut off.

Also, there are numerous cases where a box appears with no text in it, but I'm sure that you're already aware of these.

Great game!

Zeus · #33 Post by **Zeus** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 7:54 am

Blackthorne519 wrote:Nice job, Zeus, but why not just remake it in VGA for all that work?

Bt

I need too much time for this Bt.
For example in the space quest screen i followed 3 steps :

1)I draw a sketch with pencil, altering the shapes and lines of the AGI picture, so that :
a)they fit better to a greater resolution
b)the curves are of better quality
c)the objects seem more natural
d)the allignment of objects in the scene is better

2)With the image editing colored and brushed the picture - requires a lot of time to choose and color with the correct colors.

3)And after finishing that i polished it with dodging/burning

In the KQ3 picture i did only the step 3 (plus rough smoothing of lines)
steps 1 and 2 were omitted, and these require most of the time i spend
in a picture. To give you a taste, the 640x480 picture of space quest i made, took me 4-5 hours to complete it with all steps.

If i remade the KQ3 picture from scratch, i would definately change some things. For example i would put more narrow floor boards, and with a different pattern. The wall would be made with greater detail. The stairs would be made cylindrical and allocate less space in the picture.Perhaps i would change the optical view of the camera as sierra did in their remakes.Shadowing and illlumination would be better. It would have great definition at 640x480. Colors would be more realistic, and would not be the AGI ones.

Zeus · #34 Post by **Zeus** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 2:26 pm

ok. I would appreciate everyone's opinion. Please go to Polls forum
and vote for the KQ3 graphics poll question.

=======================================
Now : with more realistic colors :

Shalkar · #35 Post by **Shalkar** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 9:50 pm

Hi, Radiant! I downloaded your version of Kings Quest III Plus the other day and I say, I am impressed. The way you are enhancing the story and making more sense than the origial. (Ex: The Wizard taking the wand from his safe before he goes to his Laboratory. The way alexander discovers the laboratory by spying on the wizard,) I hope its not too late for me to report a bug. (Note I have not used the teleport cheat)
(Spoilers!!!!!!)

I made it until day 2 after alexander obtains the magic orb and he is suppose to drink the red liquid. I dont know what to do so I restore to a previous game at night and think the answer is in the town below. I leave the house and try to go down the mountain at night. I always seem to fall no matter what even if the speed is on slow. I dont know what to do. Is it because at night I Fall or is it in the day too? Or is this a bug your aware of. Another bug is when I try to down stairs alexander sometimes goes back up stairs.

Well, thank you if I see any more bugs I will report them promptly!

Shalkar

MuzlakOofmay · #36 Post by **MuzlakOofmay** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 10:49 pm

I'm kinda stuck. I'm trapped in the basement (cat's int he way to get back up) and I open the book, and clicking everything causes it to go to the wait cursor, and freezes the game.

Good luck.

dreammaster · #37 Post by **dreammaster** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 2:57 am

Slight spoilers below..

shalker, although Radiant hasn't explicitly said it, you can't get down the mountainside at nighttime; the countryside is strictly day only. This is bourne out by the fact that if you try teleporting to any of the countryside screens, it explicitly tells you that it'll need to advance the time to daytime. BTW: The potion situation isn't a dead end. The trick is figure out a way to avoid drinking the potion without Manannan realising it.

muzlakOofmay, you may want to try switching over to beta 2, which at least fixes the spellbook. However, I've yet to figure a legitamate way past the cat either. Even when it doesn't appear, if I go upstairs and go to bed it still keeps waking me up with a "you should check out the basement". Eventually, I used the teleporter to teleport to a countryside screen to force the game to advance to day 3.

anathoth8 · #38 Post by **anathoth8** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 6:37 pm

dreammaster wrote:The potion situation isn't a dead end. The trick is figure out a way to avoid drinking the potion without Manannan realising it.

I too am stuck at this part. I tried [spoiler]pouring the potion on the floor instead of drinking it. But Mannanan just says "So much for that potion. And so much for you." and kills me anyway.[/spoiler]

What else can I try?

PS to Radiant: Do you mind using this thread as a hint place or would you prefer that I start a different thread for this?

dreammaster · #39 Post by **dreammaster** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 12:07 am

To get past the potion you must..

[spoiler]First click the potion on the ground near you. This will make you pour it on your clothes and the ground whilst pretending to drink it. You must then click the use hand on yourself to pretend to do the spinning and collapsing that would happen if you really had drunk the potion.[/spoiler]

EDIT: I finally figured out how to get past the cat on night 2. Very sneaky puzzle on the part of Radiant. And a big *doh* from me from having kept reporting it as an error.

Radiant · #40 Post by **Radiant** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 12:01 pm

Okay, new version time: beta-3

Shalkar -> it's never too late for bug reports (especially since the game isn't finished yet). However, any bug that starts with 'sometimes' is almost impossible to track down for me. So kindly provide room numbers, X and Y coordinates (press ^C for coordinates in the game) etc.
You can't go down the mountain path at night, by the way. That's not a bug, it's just dark.
And you can get past the red liquid point, too. You can fully play the game up to the point where you're send to gather firewood.
The spellbook doesn't work yet, but you can get back past the cat.

I don't mind people passing on hints in this place, just please realize that we're still in the beta phase of the game so that things may change later on if people don't like them. If you don't want to test the game but want to play the finished version, I'd suggest you wait.

By the way - an important part of testing is of course the puzzles. If you think any puzzle is stupid or too hard or whatever, tell me! If you think that a particular part of the game should require a puzzle, tell me! Etc.

Thanks!

Shalkar · #41 Post by **Shalkar** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 3:34 pm

Radiant! I see what you mean by now. If each of us does our part by sending you bug reports instead of posting them here (espically the x and y coordinates) it will help you pin point bugs easier. Even when more people send bug reports, one person may discover more bugs that other people didn't discover. That way you cover more in the game and better chance the final version will be bug free, perfect!

Sure I will start doing that. As soon as I download Beta III and take it home tonight to try

! Thanks Radiant for your wonderful game!

Take Care
Shalkar!

Rambaldi0503 · #42 Post by **Rambaldi0503** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 4:42 pm

How on earth do i get past the damn cat on the stairs?

Steffi Evenstar · #43 Post by **Steffi Evenstar** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 9:47 pm

my issue - how the heck do i do the whole teleport cheat?

[spoiler]and now i'm in the store- i can't locate the blasted fish oil. help me out here.[/spoiler]

#44 Post by **Erpy** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 10:29 pm

CTRL-X is a default AGS debug option to teleport unless the scripter turns it off.

dreammaster · #45 Post by **dreammaster** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 12:48 am

Actually, Radiant set up a series of Ctrl+char options for the purposes of beta testing. It explicitly tells you what the sequences are when you start the game.. Ctrl+T is the teleport option.

As for the fish oil, I don't have the beta handy, but I think it was the middle shelf towards the left hand side.

Finally, Rambaldi0503, about the cat problem:
[spoiler]Hint: name the substance traditionally thrown on cats and dogs to get them to shut up[/spoiler]

Shalkar · #46 Post by **Shalkar** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 8:38 am

dreammaster: Come on dude! I really need help with this puzzle as well. Only things I have are saffron and the toad spittle. I am stuck please help man thanks

Shalkar

dreammaster · #47 Post by **dreammaster** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 10:24 am

Okay, explicit spoiler for getting past the cat follows:

[spoiler]Firstly get the empty jar from the box of equipment on the table behind the spellbook, then fill it up with water from the aquarium. You can use it on the cat to give a nasty surprise.[/spoiler]

dreammaster · #48 Post by **dreammaster** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 1:48 pm

I have to say that I'm having real trouble casting spells, and I'm wondering if any of them are even completable in beta 4, despite what you said Radiant. Particularly, I'm confused as to what the strange symbols are meant to represent, and whether they provide instructions on how much of each ingredient.

The invisibility spell, for example; I get as far as a spoonfull of cactus juice and then of lard (and I only figured the amounts out by trial and error), then can't figure out what to do next, since any amount of toad spittle causes the spell to fail. Likewise for the "Transform into flying creature" spell.. I can pit a dash of saffron into a bowl, but no amount of rose essence seems to work (although in the original you put the saffron directly into the rose essence vial).

The Principala Mathamatica isn't much help. If I treat it as a set of algebraic expressions, I get a+b=c, c/d=d, and e-a=c. There are multiple solutions for this, such as a=1, b=3, c=4, d=2, e=5.. but I can't see any way it would fit in to the spellbook as instructions for how to cast the spells.

Am I missing something here?

Radiant · #49 Post by **Radiant** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 9:21 am

Well, casting spells was never supposed to be easy! Several spells are completable in beta/4, and those that aren't, simply have some ingredients that cannot be found. Try the flying potion, it's easiest probably.

The Principia should help. If I've done it correctly, there's exactly one solution that makes sense in decoding some of the alchemy runes. To decode the other half, well, maybe you have some other literature that helps?

Code: Select all

like the cookbook

Khalon · #50 Post by **Khalon** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 6:13 pm

I've just had a go at playing it, and have run into a few things. Hopefully I'm not just nitpicking.
Most minor first:
When looking at the moose (I did this near the start of the game, and didn't make a formal note, since it's such a small thing) it says something like "You foresee this appearing in many other places!"... This seems to imply extra-sensory perception or something, to me at least... I'd say something like "You have a feeling this will appear in many other places", or somesuch.
Another minor point was that in Manannan's bedroom, looking at the windows on the left (which appear to be the lattice type that don't open), it gives the same message as for the one on the right, namely "Manannan likes to keep his window open for fresh air", or something.

To the more important things. After I was told to dust the desk, I went into the entry room, and Mannanan suddenly appeared on the stairs. The message "Oh no, it's him again" appeared, and then Manannan left again. Maybe this is supposed to happen, but to me it made no sense.

The trapdoor seems to be always treated as open for the touch and look commands, that is, when one clicks look on it, it talks about the stairs descending into darkness, and when one clicks hand on it, it says you can't close it with your bare hands. Both of these occur when the trapdoor is closed.

When hanging from the cieling, the message "You can't do that now." is displayed backwards at the bottom of the screen. Presumably, the idea was that the message be displayed when you try to click somewhere, but it doesn't seem to make much sense if you don't do anything. I guess the backwardsness might be to do with the fact that Gwydion is upside down, but I just thought I might as well report it.

I'm not sure how important this is, but it might be important if the items from the kitchen are needed later. If you take the items from the kitchen before being robbed, which the game allows, there's no way (that I can see) to get them again. On the other hand, I haven't yet found a use for them, so perhaps this is unimportant.

I found the use of the AGS blue cup unnerving. I suppose it could pass as a potion cup to someone who doesn't know it's the default item, but its acting skills are stretched a little more by the role of cinnamon stick. On a similar note, I don't know if you want to make smaller inventory cursors, as the current ones seem rather large.

This point may well be my ineptitude, but some items cause manannan to vape you, and I can't find any way to put these somewhere safe to prevent that happening. I had to save, read the principia, and then reload, in order to survive. The toad spittle I'm just leaving for later.

Finally, if you walk past Manannan when he's sitting down at the table, he tells you to get out of his way, which doesn't seem necessary. This is understandable though, as Manannan is a very angry man, and I guess it's just scripted to do that whenever you get close to him anyway.

That's just my picking at the game so far. I know I'm rather over picky, but I guess if you don't like the suggestions, you can always ignore them.

King's Quest III+ (call for testers!)

Curiousity kills the cat

And

...

...

...

Kings Quest III Plus

sure

King's Quest III. Plus!

Grin