Topic: The Silver Lining, the unofficial, but legal King's Quest sequel

[Sundoulos]

I don't know if anyone else on these boards still plays point and click adventure games, but since I didn't see a thread for it, I thought that I would point out that The Silver Lining is available for download starting today.  I've always loved the old adventure game genre, and Sierra On-Line was responsible for my two favorite series: King's Quest and Quest for Glory. This is a no-brainer download for me.

The history behind this game is unusual and fantastic.  It's a fan-made project that survived development hell early on (as most fan projects do), as well as two C&D orders from the two different companies (Vivendi and Activision) who owned the IP at different times; both times it was saved by fan support and by the patient professionalism of the game's staff.  They recently got the blessing from Activision to release the game, and it's available for free starting today!


 Here's a trailer in case you're interested:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzDN6d03O3U&feature=player_embedded

The game's download is available here (though it appears to be currently down, as I could have probably guessed):  http://www.tsl-game.com/

[Stratos]

Oh, wow, I thought this project was canned for good. Nice to know it is actually releasing. I was a huge fan of the old ones.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I used to love Kings Quest, Quest for Glory and I think there was one other that I played bay back in the 16bit floppy disk PC gaming days.

It looks like it's free, so I'll give it a shot sometime this week.

[TJ Spyke]

It looks like it's free.

I bet that's the only reason Activision Blizzard is letting them even do it.

[Stratos]

I remember I had the KQ5 and 6 on floppy disc. That was a lot of floppies.

[Sundoulos]

It looks like it's free.

I bet that's the only reason Activision Blizzard is letting them even do it.

Well, yes, and Activision would clearly and legally be right to shut down the project if Phoenix Online was making any profit off of the project.   

As I understand it, when Activision's lawyers sent the Cease and Desist letter to Phoenix Online earlier this summer, they were unaware the existing agreement Phoenix Online had made with Vivendi when they made TSL.   I'm not sure what led Activision's lawyers to suddenly send the C&D; it could have been just because they needed to determine what contractual obligations existed, if any.  Unfortunately, the lawyer who had penned the original agreement for Vivendi and Phoenix Online was no longer available.  The original agreement with Vivendi had stated that they could reuse the characters as long as they didn't have King's Quest anywhere in the title, but as the project was not completed when Activision bought out Vivendi, Activision was not technically required to honor the existing agreement.

Once Phoenix Online showed them the project and explained the existing agreement with Vivendi, Activision gave their okay.
I think that's pretty cool of them, and it was something they really didn't have to do; however, it was probably a really good PR move on Activision's part, particularly with all of the negative press they've been getting lately.   Fans had already fought hard with Vivendi and saved the project once;  they were infuriated when they heard that Activision was shutting it down again, particularly since the project was finally finished and ready to be released after nearly ten years of development. 

Incidentally, Vivendi had also made existing with Anomynous Game Developers   Interactive about their remakes of King's Quest I & II, as well as   Quest For Glory II.   (These are good, but still retain a very old school adventure game feel.)   Activision, to my knowledge, has never sent AGDI a   similar C&D; the difference was that AGDI's projects were already completed before Activision acquired Vivendi.

[TJ Spyke]

I think they also don't care about the IP, it was just a long dormant IP (the last new game was in 1998) that they got in the merger with Vivendi Games. If Activision Blizzard felt like being assholes, they could have sued to get the project shut down; Phoenix Online would probably be legally allowed to release it for free as a parody, but they would not be able to survive the legal fees they would incur. As you said, it's a good PR move and something that probably wouldn't affect them much either way.

[Sundoulos]

I spent a while playing this tonight, and I'm impressed by the art direction, music and mood established in the game.  Kind of ominous, really...and a little spooky, in a fairy tale sort of way.  The character designs are a bit stiff, but given the fact that this a fan game that was built from the ground up, it's impressive.  I loved revisiting some of the old King's Quest VI areas and running into some old characters; it felt almost like seeing old friends after a long absence.   I was please to recognize several of the old VAs from the old games;  both Graham and Alexander were immediately recognizable.  It's worth checking out if you're a fan of King's Quest at all.

I encountered a couple of bugs, and the pathfinding was a bit awkward, at least in the more 3D-oriented areas.  Overall, though, it's a pretty good effort.  Actually, I think Telltale could learn a thing or two from these guys.   This game runs far more smoothly than the Monkey Island and Wallace and Gromit series ran on my laptop;  I love Telltale games, but I've always thought Telltale had weird memory hog issues.

My only real complaint?  The initial chapter is very, very short and very easy...disappointingly so, actually.  It's almost more like a prologue rather than a full-fledged chapter, since I felt like I did more watching than playing.  I wonder if Hideo Kojima was a staff consultant?  Seriously, though, I didn't die even once, and there wasn't much puzzle solving.  My jaw actually dropped when I saw the end credits, but after checking the TSL forums, the staff indicates that the length of the remaining four chapters will be anywhere from 2-4 hours, depending on how fast you solve the puzzles.   They state that the initial chapter was just the set up for what's to come; and one person estimates that the total length of the game is probably close to that of KQ VI.  I hope that's truly the case; the set up looks pretty awesome.    If the length and the puzzle issues aren't fixed, I confess that I'll feel a little disappointed after so long of a wait.

Positives:
- Art Direction
- Storytelling
- Seeing old characters; hearing the original voice cast.

Negatives:
- A little buggy
- Way too short
- Notable lack of puzzles and difficulty

[Dirk Temporo]

I recently replayed King's Quest VI and it was super easy and only like three hours long MAYBE.

[Stratos]

I like how it refers to the alternate choices you could have chosen in the game. I remember going through the game in a different way than my dad. Though I didn't get the best ending because of it.

I'm impressed with the game so far. It makes me want to go back and play the old titles. I got my dad the whole collection on CD a while back for a present, I'll have to borrow it from him some time.

[Ymeegod]

Yeah, I used to love these old school games, The Longest Journey is my favorite game to date for that genre. 

[Sundoulos]

I've never played the Longest Journey, but I've been tempted to buy it on Good Old Games.  I think that I'd have to do that with King's Quest as well; most of my copies were the old floppies, as Stratos mentioned. 

Actually, I think I played the NES version of King's Quest V, which was a pretty poor port, overall.  Sadly, I think it was because my family's computer at the time didn't have a VGA card!