King's Quest III Released!

[Kweepa]

Whilst I disagree with Radiant's flagrant use of "bullshit", I tend to agree with his sentiments. The bottom line is that you released and announced your game prematurely.

1. It does a disservice to your voice actors to release the game without the voice pack. You can release it a week later, but a lot of people will have downloaded the non-voiced version already, and you won't get the same kind of "press" for the subsequent release.

2. Bugs. It's true that any game will have bugs. There shouldn't be several apparent on a first playthrough, and particularly not showstoppers. You should have made a limited beta release to iron out more bugs before the game announcement. You can claim that this is a free game and people shouldn't complain, but the fact is thanks to your efforts this is a high profile title for AGS and will attract non-AGSers, only to be presented with a buggy product, which doesn't reflect well on the engine or the community. And again, a lot of people won't see the bug-fixed release, because it won't get the same "press" coverage.

Why shouldn't Radiant post bugs here? I can only assume it's because you can't delete (or move to a private forum) the post. I'd like to know about bugs in a game so I don't report the same bug again.

3. Your press release says "it's up to the fans to tell us what they think". It also says "bringing it up to the quality of Kings Quest 5 & 6" and "one of the best remakes on the fan-game market". You should, as you say, let the fans decide.

4. Congrats on getting the game done!

[GarageGothic]

I should probably follow up on this, since I was the one who brought up the topic before Radiant actually used the word "bullshit" - which I must admit I was thinking as well.

Whats wrong with anything that's been said there. You copy KQ3 AGI to a computer running XP and nothing will happen. It won't work. Unless you use emulation. I just confirmed this again myself, and I'm running XP on a PIII 1.0Ghz.

As far as I know, King's Quest III doesn't have any floppy based copy protection (hence the spellbook in the manual), which made the original versions of KQ1 and 2 impossible to run from a harddrive without cracking them. When Tierra/AGD claimed a few years back that KQ1 and KQ2 wouldn't run on new machines, I assumed this was what they meant - even though the majority of people trying the game today never owned the original but just downloaded a cracked version. However, this shouldn't be an issue for KQ3, so any failure to run must be due to incompatability between your machine/OS and the game code.

I just tried running my copy of KQ3 from the 1994 King's Quest collection, and it works fine under XP (1.6 GHz centrino, 1GB RAM) even running straight from the CD. Even the game speed works correctly as long as you don't choose "fastest". Based on this, and never having had problems running AGI games on XP, even without using NAGI and other updated interpreters, I wanted to know if it was actually an issue for anyone. And apparently it is for you, case solved.

[Hammerite]

right, now ive just cast the spell so i can fly and the manual says to use either the fly's wings or the eagle feather on the rose essence, but when i do.
NAUGHT DOES HAPPEN!!

[gwillimw]

The last time I checked, this game was an amateur project. By amateur, I mean nothing about the quality (which I find to be very good), but the fact that those involved in the creation of it did not do it for money. I find it amazing how critical some people can be of a project, regardless of the creators' claims of it's features/abilities, when these people volunteered their efforts for our entertainment. Many hours went into this project, and that should be applauded. I've started writing music for games, and it anybody ever gave me a watershed of strong criticism for something I was doing simply as a hobby, I'd stop doing it. I hope that never happens. If you don't like something that you didn't pay for, simply stop using it. Save the criticism for the commerical games, my friends.

I'm currently playing the game and having a blast. Thanks for making such a wonderful remake of a beloved game to many people.

[Blackthorne]

Hey, none of this is helping anybody.  We're a community - let's act like one.

I don't like this pointless schoolyard fighting.  We're some guys who invested our own time and money into something.  That's it.

You can either like it, or not, but in the end if you're not my friend, it's no skin off my back.  The game wasn't perfect when we released it, but we didn't charge for it - it was made by fans for fans.  People reported the bugs, we've worked to correct them.  That's all we can do.


Bt

[Mordalles]

bringing it up to the quality of Kings Quest 5 & 6.
...
make Infamous Adventures' remake of Kings Quest III one of the best remakes on the fan-game market.

Last time I checked, this game was an amateur project. Save the criticism for the commerical games, my friends.

they started it. 

no, i think its an excellent game, and i too think people can sometimes be a bit too critical when it comes to games made by amateurs like us. game making should be  fun.
and i would like to congratulate infamous adventures again on an excellent job. and hoping they make many more games. and dont forget to add your game to the games page, you might win a few awards. 

[skyfire2]

bringing it up to the quality of Kings Quest 5 & 6.
...
make Infamous Adventures’ remake of Kings Quest III one of the best remakes on the fan-game market.

Last time I checked, this game was an amateur project. Save the criticism for the commerical games, my friends.

they started it.Ã, 

no, i think its an excellent game, and i too think people can sometimes be a bit too critical when it comes to games made by amateurs like us. game making should beÃ,  fun.
and i would like to congratulate infamous adventures again on an excellent job. and hoping they make many more games. and dont forget to add your game to the games page, you might win a few awards.Ã, 

Amateurs my ass. You guys are pros.

[Blackthorne]

Amateurs my ass. You guys are pros.

Aw, dude.  Thanks.  We're not really pros, but we're amateurs who got lucky and finished something... other than a whole pizza.


Bt

[Hammerite]

right, now ive just cast the spell so i can fly and the manual says to use either the fly's wings or the eagle feather on the rose essence, but when i do.
NAUGHT DOES HAPPEN!!

ok, i actually need help, i think ive done something wrong with it, and i actually have NOTHING ELSE TO DO in the game so can someone please tell me where ive gone wrong. THX

[PsychicHeart]

Downloading as we type, will post impressions later.

[PsychicHeart]

For some reason i can't install to any other directory than C?
EDIT: Oh, wait, nevermind.

[Mr. Mozzarella]

Ok, I downloaded it yesterday and also started playing it because I have been waiting for the game for quite a few months ...
There are, however, several bugs. I didn't read the whole thread now, so I don't know which were mentioned, nevertheless I'll mention all those I've found so far.

Spoiler

-when using the magic map to go to the oak tree, you land on a non-walkable area
-one screen south of the oak tree, go to the right (eastern) bottom corner of the screen and try to go down => you will land on a non-walkable area in the next screen
-when the bears arrive or go, mama bear does a strange animation ...
-when you are caught by the thieves one screen south of where the mountain path starts and you walk north to the mountain path, the thieves will follow you up, but they won't catch you. instead their heads appear on the bottom of the screen and will stay there. if you go down, you are caught

[close]

but apart from these I really enjoy the game I was not patient enough to wait for the voice pack, but I hope that you are one of the few adventure game groups who actually know what dates like "next week" MEAN ... I am leaving my country next saturday and have to survive without (my own) computer for about 5 weeks, so I have no chance of finishing the game before but I would love to hear a bit of the voice pack before ... thanks

I also enjoy these little things like

Spoiler

the tapestry thing, the old man in the shop ("haven't seen the last of him") and the "type in the third word" thing

[close]

[Mordalles]

Amateurs my ass. You guys are pros.

i meant "amateur" as in they dont get paid.   

[calacver]

Hi, firstly well done on completing your first game guys, you've just joined about most people here in all the great games the AGSers make. Most people commenting here have finished something here, be it not even an AGS game, but a self made one or in other engines. "At least we finished something" is getting a little over used here.

The graphics are fine, especially the backgrounds.

I have to say KQ3 was also my first adventure and I don't think you did the original justice. KQ3 and all the KQ games carries a huge fan following. What you did was use KQ3's (KQ1and2 vga also did this) name to get you thousands of fans you might not have had (most likely not, most people here make original games and thousands less play it) if your game was original. Now, there is nothing wrong with this, however it might have been better if you guys made some original of your own games first (that does not carry the weight of KQ's title) since you released a premature (buggy) version and it instantly makes the game look very amateur and also AGS since most people following the game doesn't know what AGS is. AGS is a very user-friendly engine, but that doesn't mean you don't need the pracitice. Or just the beta-testing wasn't up to scratch.

I would have liked to see a bugfree game. It doesn't matter if this is your first game, any game, amateur or not shouldn't have bugs, and not so many. That being said, a lot of the bigger titles have had some bugs sometime, though only a few at most.

Anyways, good job, though all in all this game was a bit dissapointing.

[sthomannch]

I also didn't want to wait for the voice pack. The game is nice, especially the beautiful backgrounds and sound, but it has a few nasty and rather disturbing bugs. And if you played the old KQ3 game, you can finish it in a short time, only dependent on the annoying internal timers (other than Tierras remakes or Radiants KQ3-Beta...).

I also never experienced any problems running my old (legal) Sierra games on Windows, except for Space Quest 5. And I found it rather easy to combine a few things in the inventory or to recite a verse, which I missed in this otherwise nice remake.

The team put the stake quite high and many people compare it to the original game, so a bit of criticism had to be expected for this early release.

[Blackthorne]

"At least we finished something" is getting a little over used here.

I have to say KQ3 was also my first adventure and I don't think you did the original justice. KQ3 and all the KQ games carries a huge fan following. What you did was use KQ3's (KQ1and2 vga also did this) name to get you thousands of fans you might not have had (most likely not, most people here make original games and thousands less play it) if your game was original.

Who is this guy?

Ah, he goes by the chick magnet net-handle of calacver.

Heh.

But seriously dude, I think the comparison is funny.Ã,  Saying we used KQ3's built in fan base to get fans.Ã,  I didn't make this game to gain fans, man.Ã,  Of course King's Quest III has lots of fans - that's why we took the time to make a fun ole "VGA" remake of it, man.Ã,  It's to celebrate the games we grew up and loved.Ã,  I don't know about you, but I grew up in Sierra's classic era - watching the games move from AGI, to 16 color SCI (Hell, I remember getting SQ3 for my 12th birthday in 1990) up to the 256 color VGA games of the later Sierra era.Ã,  I have a fond connection to those games.

Infamous Adventures is just a bunch of guys who like the games.Ã,  We're not any specially bred, socially inept and lonely people.Ã,  Just a bunch of guys that got together to make a game.Ã,  I'm the co-founder of the company, and I've paid for it out of my own pocket. (As has my co-founder, Klytos.)Ã, 

Another interesting thing to note is, in my own personal philosophy, these "VGA" remakes of old games (KQ1VGA, KQ2+, KQIII - and even Sierra's own VGA release - SQ1, LSL1, QFG1) were NEVER meant to replace the original versions.Ã,  Every game has it's place and time to entertain - and they're all beloved in my heart.Ã,  Hell, I was playing the original AGI version of KQIII on my computer earlier (With NAGI, a great program - easy to use, really) and enjoying it immensely.  I think some people have a personal philosophy that the games somehow "replace" the originals, and I don't think that's a very good idea at all.

So, thanks for the praise - and I note your criticisms.  Sorry you couldn't have had a more pleasing experience, man.  You should watch for our next remake - since it's so hard to play on modern computers, and because it needs a VGA overhaul - we're remaking "Grand Theft Auto III".  Check it, buddy!



Bt

[Nikolas]

I have downloaded and not played the game still.

I'm not in love with KQ games and neither with adventure games !!!! (Kill me now!!!!) And I do congratulate everyone in IA for releasing a game, especialyl such a big huge game as KQ3.

Period.

From what I've heard there are bugs (which happens even to the most expected commercial games like Driv3r for example...). Beautiful BGs, which is a real treat fro mwhat I've seen and great music with lots of tunes.

I really don't think that someone would go on and do such a project to gain some fans.

I understand how Radiant might've felt (athough I alos disagree with the word bullshit), and I do see all his points. Also the fact that he is struggling to make a game as big as ATOTK (from which I'm a part of), is only to be praised, as well as for all the remakes and all the games here in AGS.

I cannot for the love of God understand this little shity war!

IA: I will wait for the voice pack and then play it! I will not stop to thank you enough for having the gain and stamina to complete such a project. No matter what the truth is about fans, bugs, early release, bullshits etc... still I, personally, have gained a very lot from AGS and the community and it is my (and yours if this is the case) to gain to. Simple facts. Plus I do see that you are very understanding about the bug problems and will sort it out afap which is the best thing to do, since there are a lot of bugs.

AMEN

[Al-kashofa]

Dear Friends from IA,

Like many others, I looked forward for your release for months, so now I'm overjoyed to see it finally out. I don't know if you are truly aware of how a beautiful thing you just did, spending so much of your time remaking this fabulous game, so I deeply thank you for what you've done.

“King's Quest III” was the first King's Quest game I ever played and one of my first “Quest” games as well, along with “Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards”, “Space Quest II” and “Police Quest”.

I'm Chilean and, therefore, Spanish is my mother language, but I learned English playing those original parser games. I don't think the public opinion and language software developers have realized the huge potential of those games to help learning languages.

I still remember how addictive “King's Quest III” was, due to its deeply involving storyline and leif motiv, and how one suffered to hide the inventory in time before the wizard returned from one of his trips or woke up from his nap!

I've seen you've received plenty of criticism due to the bugs in the game. I hope you don't get discouraged because of that; this is your first game and it's natural that it should have bugs, which you can correct them with a patch, as I understand you are planning to do.

I have only seen the introduction and first screens of the game, but have my own observations to make you. I'm a journalist, so, by training, I'm proofreading everything I read all the time . And I think you should make some minor corrections in some texts at the introduction of the game.

When Gwydion is dreaming, a text appears that reads: “Gwydion, you are destined for greater than this...”. That text is correctly written, with the “comma” after the word “Gwydion” correctly placed. But then you have the next text, “… you are not from here… dream young Gwydion…”, where there's a “comma” missing. It should go just before the word “young”, so it should look like this: “… you are not from here… dream, young Gwydion…”.

I noticed that in some texts of the intro, the texts are well written in that regard, while in others, they have the “comma” problem, which could probably be explained by different persons writing the texts.

In the intro, when Manannan finds Gwydion looking at the village and begins to talk to him, the “comma” is missing in all the lines of Manannan when he refers to Gwydion as “boy”. In those cases, the missing “comma” should go just before the word “boy”. For instance, the phrase “You're always day-dreaming boy. Lazy incompetent fool. You're lucky I take care of you”, should read: “You're always day-dreaming, boy. Lazy incompetent fool. You're lucky I take care of you”. There's three such lines by Manannan which need to be patched in the intro.

And there's also a missing “comma” in one line of Gwydion, when he replies “Yes Master”. Obviously, it should read “Yes, Master”.

At the end of that dialogue, it reads: “As poor Gwydion stands there, Mananann quietly begins to laugh as he walks back into the house”. There you may want to change “Mananann” for “Manannan”. And that's what I've seen so far, in case you wanted to include those corrections in your patch.

Also, when you present the game in the intro as “King's Quest III”, I would also have included the sub-header “To heir is human”, as in the original.

There's another thing, but I don't expect you to change it. I just want to share my thoughts about it. It's about Gwydion's clothes. Although they are cool (and remind me a little of Robin Hood's clothes in “Conquests of the Longbow”), I think Gwydion's clothes should have been more ragged, to remark the fact he was a slave and lived in oppression. I think that was the idea of the original “King's Quest III” and, if you look at the original game's box picture, you'll see Manannan watching Gwydion in a crystal ball, in which Gwydion is wearing a bluish, ragged, torn t-shirt or something.

And, finally, I can't commit or promise you anything in advance, but, just in case you wanted, I can give it a try to translate “King's Quest III VGA” into Spanish. I'm currently working on a translation of “Conquests of Camelot” and I'd be honored to make my contribution to one of the classic sierra games which I remember most dearly, as “King's Quest III” is.

My most sincere thanks and congratulations for your amazing release and keep up the good work!

Best regards,

- Pato Abusleme

[Kurdt]

Radiant, I apologize. You consider Gwydion not getting items that he doesn't know he needs yet poor game design? That's fine. You consider us wanting you to actually watch the cutscenes poor game design? That's fine. You consider things we left intact from the original KQ3 such as a teleporting cat and 25 minutes of no Manannan annoying or stupid? E-mail Roberta. Is the game buggy as hell right now and could've benefitted from an extra month? We apologize; next time, we'll find beta testers who actually earn their keep. I'm sorry this game wasn't up to speed. It's our bad, we're sorry. We'll do better next game. We don't try to outclass Sierra or AGDI (how could we?), we're just trying to make something we can be proud of and hopefully will be an homage to something that made us wonder and imagine when we were dough-eyed little kids. Rest assured, though, the new patch will come with fixed bugs, better dialogue portraits, some improved art, and hopefully the voice pack. Keep your eyes peeled.

Hey, it could've been worse. We could've stolen someone's plot and game project for our own means right out from under their nose.

[Broomie]

Radiant, I apologize. You consider Gwydion not getting items that he doesn't know he needs yet poor game design? That's fine. You consider us wanting you to actually watch the cutscenes poor game design? That's fine. You consider things we left intact from the original KQ3 such as a teleporting cat and 25 minutes of no Manannan annoying or stupid? E-mail Roberta. Is the game buggy as hell right now and could've benefitted from an extra month? We apologize; next time, we'll find beta testers who actually earn their keep. I'm sorry this game wasn't up to speed. It's our bad, we're sorry. We'll do better next game. We don't try to outclass Sierra or AGDI (how could we?), we're just trying to make something we can be proud of and hopefully will be an homage to something that made us wonder and imagine when we were dough-eyed little kids. Rest assured, though, the new patch will come with fixed bugs, better dialogue portraits, some improved art, and hopefully the voice pack. Keep your eyes peeled.

Hey, it could've been worse. We could've stolen someone's plot and game project for our own means right out from under their nose./b]

Zing! Take that, Radiant.

Anyways, thanks for comments! Except for Radiants, who doesn't have a damned clue what he's talking about.