Sierra is brought back from the dead, and a new King's Quest game is announced

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Maxinquaye

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http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/08/12/sierra-kings-quest-geometry-wars-indie-label/

As expected, Activision have resurrected Sierra in the sense that they’ve dusted off the revered name to use it for a new part of their business. The new Sierra will be Activision’s indie publishing label, kicking things off with Geometry Wars 3 and a new King’s Quest game.
I used to play the heck out of King's Quest. It was also a pioneer in another way: the lead creater of this golden age game was Roberta Williams.
 
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CoffeeBeans

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Well, my day's been made.

I loved these games. A new one cannot arrive soon enough!
 

Shadow Dragon

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@Maxinquaye - You linked a picture from the article instead of the article itself. Here's the proper link: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/08/12/sierra-kings-quest-geometry-wars-indie-label/

As a side note for anyone that wants a King's Quest fix before more official ones come out, here's a fanmade sequel of the series done by an indie studio. It's called, The Silver Lining: http://www.postudios.com/company/games/thesilverlining/index.php

Even got compliments from the King's Quest creator.
 

Latina Bunny

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Oh, yay! :D

My dad used to let me play these games with him. Man, some of those were tough! We had to look some internet cheats for some puzzles--and create lots of saves, lol.

they were still awesome, though.
 

noranne

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This just made me all excited inside.

The funny thing is that I hardly even remember King's Quest--I just know that I loved playing it as a kid, and I loved Sierra (Roger Wilco and Space Quest I remember more clearly).

:banana:
 

DancingMaenid

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Never played King's Quest. But Pharaoh was the first computer game I got when my parents got a new computer in 1999 or so. I also had Caesar III. Pharaoh was my favorite, though. I'm a little sad I never completed it.
 

Lemontree

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Oh, yay! :D

My dad used to let me play these games with him. Man, some of those were tough! We had to look some internet cheats for some puzzles--and create lots of saves, lol.

they were still awesome, though.

There was no internet (BBS only) when these games started coming out.

I remember having to buy the hint book for Space Quest because there was a numbered code you needed aboard the alien spaceship at the end, which if you didn't get before you left the desert planet you were stuck. Of course, we're talking the 80's here so every copy of the game used the same code and you could just ask a buddy. Nowadays each copy would have it's own unique code. And you'd just be screwed.

I played through every Space Quest, Police Quest, and Kings Quest they made but my favorite hands down were the Phantasmagoria series. Beast Within was brilliant too.

Super excited for a reboot :D
 

Anna_Hedley

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Oh my goodness! I've just been replaying Space Quest 5 and thinking how much I loved those games.

I know the Two Guys from Andromeda are working on SpaceVenture, which is apparently a spiritual successor, but maybe we'll get an actual Space Quest 7.
 

Latina Bunny

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There was no internet (BBS only) when these games started coming out.

Then it's a good thing I grew up with some kind of online connection, as slow as it was, when I played these games, lol. (When I was in middle school, I was into Neopets--which is a website and requires some kind of online connection.)

I still have the CD-Roms of King's Quest 5, 6, 7, and 8, as well as Space Quest 5 and Quest for Glory 5.

I also still have the Roberta Williams Anthology, which is a collection of CDs that contain all of the King's Quest games and other Sierra games, such as Phantasmagoria 1, Mixed-Up Mother Goose, Laura Bow I and II, the Dark Crystal, Wizard and the Princess, Mystery House, etc. I LOVED reading and re-reading the manual that came with it: It had a bit of some history of Roberta Williams' career, an interview, and had narrative backstory for some of the games. (Speaking of internet, in the back of the manual that came with it, it even said if you had any problems, then to go to the internet. :) )

I bought some Sierra games from GOG.com (good old games), such as KQ series, Space Quest series, and Quest for Glory series. I never played Quest for Glory nor much Space Quest, so it's been interesting (and frustrating, lol). I hate the text-parser sometimes...
 
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Maggie Maxwell

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I also still have the Roberta Williams Anthology, which is a collection of CDs that contain all of the King's Quest games and other Sierra games, such as Phantasmagoria 1, Mixed-Up Mother Goose, Laura Bow I and II, the Dark Crystal, Wizard and the Princess, Mystery House, etc. I LOVED reading and re-reading the manual that came with it: It had a bit of some history of Roberta Williams' career, an interview, and had narrative backstory for some of the games. (Speaking of internet, in the back of the manual that came with it, it even said if you had any problems, then to go to the internet. :) )

Oh my god THANK YOU. I've spent YEARS with a vague memory of a game I loved as a kid but didn't remember anything beyond it involved helping fairy tale characters. No one ever knew what I was talking about, but it was Sierra's Mixed-Up Fairy Tales! Your mention of M-U Mother Goose jiggled something loose and I just found it through Wikipedia. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. :kiss:
 

Jenkki

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Oh my god THANK YOU. I've spent YEARS with a vague memory of a game I loved as a kid but didn't remember anything beyond it involved helping fairy tale characters. No one ever knew what I was talking about, but it was Sierra's Mixed-Up Fairy Tales! Your mention of M-U Mother Goose jiggled something loose and I just found it through Wikipedia. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. :kiss:

What a great story! I am so happy you found that game that you loved.

As far as Activision reviving the Sierra brand goes, I was never an employee for Activision and never worked for a contractor for them. So I can only repeat what other people have told me, which is that they are a profit driven nightmare where the executives get rich and the workers get worked. Everything you read about "EA Spouse" (google it) applies to them too, if not more so.
 

Latina Bunny

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Oh my god THANK YOU. I've spent YEARS with a vague memory of a game I loved as a kid but didn't remember anything beyond it involved helping fairy tale characters. No one ever knew what I was talking about, but it was Sierra's Mixed-Up Fairy Tales! Your mention of M-U Mother Goose jiggled something loose and I just found it through Wikipedia. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. :kiss:

That's great you found out! :Hug2:

I had that happen to me, too: There were some games where I couldn't remember the titles for a long time. One such game was a poin-and-click adventure game called "Simon the Sorcerer". I kept calling it "The Wizard and the Lizard" (because the demo contained a scene with a talking, anthromorphic lizard) for a long time until I looked recently looked it up, lol. :p

To return to the topic: I wonder if the new game will contain "dead ends" or "unwinnable states"? That was one thing I didn't like about Sierra games vs. LucasArts and indie adventure games. I had to end up using walkthroughs in order to solve some puzzles or to avoid dead-ends in most Sierra games.

l'm not talking about player character deaths. I do like the funny death scenes, and the possibilities of death makes the adventures feel dangerous.

I'm talking about the kind of situation where you missed picking up an item, or you used an item, and then find yourself in a situation where you need the item, but you can't go back to get said items, so you can never progress in the game--ever. You have to restore to an earlier save or restart the game. Sometimes, the game doesn't let you know you're in a dead-end, so you could wander around without knowing you're stuck.

I am liking the AGD fan remakes of King's Quest I because they take out the dead-ends. I don't want to get stuck in a game because I didn't find something earlier in the game.

Most LucasArts games (like Sam and Max, Monkey Island, Indiana Jones, Day of the Tentacle, Loom, etc) and some other adventure games don't have dead-ends, which is why I tend to relax and enjoy them over Sierra games--and I can actually finish them without constantly refering to the walkthroughs.

I do like Sierra games. I love their worlds and their atmosphere. I love to explore and wander around these worlds. The death scenes add a feel of danger to the adventure, too. :)
 
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