King's Quest III+, Beta-5

Radiant · Fri 17/09/2004 16:40:27

Hi there,

The new beta version of KQIII+ is now available, at
http://www.liacs.nl/~psimoons/kq3b5.zip

This version has VGA screens, courtesy of Zeus (aka IronMan). Yay! I hope you like them.
I haven't updated all the walkables and walk-behinds yet; please don't tell me they are wrong, I already know that.

I believe all bugs mentioned before have been fixed, but as usual feel free to doublecheck. Thanks to Dreammaster and Fluxmaster, and all the other people who helped there.
Spells now work. You can legally obtain all ingredients except amber stone, nightshade, mandrake (but those are available with Stuff Pockets) and make the spells, and you can for instance scare the shopkeeper while invisible. You can also get past all of the bad guys, except the spider, and you can't catify Manannan yet. And, several of the puzzles have had a clue or two added.

Note for any beta testers: when reporting bugs, please try to be as explicit as possible. Anything that starts with 'sometimes' is probably very hard to find for me.

(and I've started a new thread because the other one was getting too long, please lock that one?)

Enjoy everyone!
- Radiant

Radiant · Fri 17/09/2004 16:45:41

Oh and to answer Aldrius's questions,
if by retexturing you mean drawing VGA screens, then the new beta should answer that.
I'm sorry but I don't really like the story effect that would be caused by Manannan re-appearing after you defeat the dragon. Besides, in your plot, Manannan would just kill Gwydion and then take the potion. But thanks for suggesting it.
The story is basically three parts; in the first part, Llewdor, the villain is Manannan. In the second part, the Journey, the villains are the pirates and the yeti. And in the final part, Daventry, the villains are the dragon and

Spoiler

something else...

[close]

In the original, Manannan zaps Gwydion for carrying just about anything not found in the kitchen. I'm making him a bit more lenient, I'll consider your suggestion. A toadstool could be used in soup (except that this particular one is poisonous) but why on earth would anyone carry fly wings?

iron_man · Fri 17/09/2004 19:51:04

Radiant i noticed that you did not use the VGA version of various animated and non animated objects (doors,cups,spoons,drawers,mirrors etc ) nor the new animated flames of candles. Does this have to do with the latest news you told me 10 days ago ?

Darth Mandarb · Fri 17/09/2004 21:25:05

I'm a little confused ...

Why did you start a new topic?

Is this a different remake of King's Quest III+?

Why did you double post?

Calgon ... take me away!

I have locked the old topic.

Edwin Xie · Sat 18/09/2004 02:10:54

There are faults in the game I have noticed, and the graphics (a.k.a sprites) were un-updated. And at night, when you are at the room where you are near Mannanan's bedroomthe outside background shows daylight instead of night. Probably some scripting error? And I know you haven't updated the walkable areas and walk-behinds but they look messy. Do you want me to help you fix that? Or do you want us to wait 'till another beta?

Robby · Sat 18/09/2004 02:57:02

The ladder won't come down even after I looked through the telescope. Is this a bug

Robby · Sat 18/09/2004 02:58:57

I mean even after searching the hole after seeing the bandits use it.

Aldrius · Sat 18/09/2004 04:46:00

I don't know. It's just really, really annoying when Mana kills you over carrying ANYTHING! (Er, Roberta's Fault though)

And okay, I understand. I just really hate how added-on Mana felt. But it's your game and your plot, so my oppinion doesn't matter of course. (In all honesty)

And I asked this elsewhere, but what do I need to do to get the key from the bears?

Just so you know, I think you're doing a great job. And I look forward to "retail".

Robby · Sat 18/09/2004 04:50:53

you haven't answered my question.

Edwin Xie · Sat 18/09/2004 06:07:49

Quote from: Aldrius on Sat 18/09/2004 04:46:00
I don't know. It's just really, really annoying when Mana kills you over carrying ANYTHING! (Er, Roberta's Fault though)

And okay, I understand. I just really hate how added-on Mana felt. But it's your game and your plot, so my oppinion doesn't matter of course. (In all honesty)

And I asked this elsewhere, but what do I need to do to get the key from the bears?

Just so you know, I think you're doing a great job. And I look forward to "retail".

Actually, you could simply hide stuff in the barrel or under your bed. And I think someone already gave a clue on how to get the key... on the old topic.

Robby · Sat 18/09/2004 06:37:19

You still haven't answered my question.

Quote

Robby · Sat 18/09/2004 06:39:25

The ladder won't come down. beta 4 it worked. Do I need to do somethjing else.

Edwin Xie · Sat 18/09/2004 06:43:46

Robby, stop complaining. It's obviously going to be fixed and you do not need to post the problem like 2 or 3 times.

Radiant · Sat 18/09/2004 13:24:25

Okay, please let me point out that this is a beta version, which means that several things are not functional or otherwise buggy. You should not play this version if you want to complete a fully functional adventure game. When it's finished, you can do that. The current version is downloadable so that people can point out bugs, plot holes etc.

IronMan -> oh, I'm sorry about that. This actually has to do with a faulty floppy disk, that caused me to lose part of the archive. I did a PKZIPFIX to salvage it but apparently some of the images have been lost. I'm pretty sure I did do the candles and torches, though.

Darth -> I started a new topic because the old one was getting overly long and contained a lot of no-longer-relevant information. Thanks for locking it. And I should probably have hit the edit button instead of adding my own msg, sorry!

EdwinXie -> I don't currently have VGA animations for many things. That's why I just requested a sprite artist in the Help Wanted thread.

Robby -> yes, that is a bug. And I don't monitor the forum 24 hours a day so I hope you don't mind my non-instant responses to questions. You can use the teleport cheat to get up there, I believe it's room 47.

Aldrius -> I think Manannan will be slightly more lenient about objects in the future. But I'm afraid that over half of the objects qualify as suspicious even then.

Darth Mandarb · Sat 18/09/2004 15:54:25

No worries!

I was just confused.

Please add in two screenshots and all will be well

I'm going to download a little later and give a whirl!Ã,Â I'll get back to you then.

~ d

iron_man · Sat 18/09/2004 15:59:13

Radiant no problem i will send you the objects again. I saw the torches of the basement. ( I wanted to play with lighting so the right torch was intended to be off, hence the darkness of the right side of the room)

But i had created several types of candles to be put to specific rooms as well : for example
mannanan's, slave's ,study room etc, which would be light up during night.

Plus Ã,Â i noticed that you put the initial version of some backgrounds i had done ,the ones that had still shots of candles with flames Ã,Â and without the stair 'rails'. The final version omits candles, and candles-flames can be put indepedently as objects.

i also had Ã,Â prepared a starting screen imitating the feel classic king's quest V and VI starting screen.

I will send you again the right pictures.

Aldrius · Sat 18/09/2004 17:59:35

QuoteAldrius -> I think Manannan will be slightly more lenient about objects in the future. But I'm afraid that over half of the objects qualify as suspicious even then.

I just had an idea, perhaps if you have something like Fly Wings or whatever. Obviously Mana doesn't want you to have that, so instead of killing him over it, perhaps he should take the object, punish you, and put the object in a safe or something? Just a thought.

Edwin Xie · Sat 18/09/2004 22:27:15

Uh, Aldrius, he does not punish you because he is worried you will obtain the item, instead, he kills you because you were betraying him and he knows you will do it again after you were punished.

Aldrius · Sat 18/09/2004 22:44:18

Oh? I thought he didn't want you having those items because then you could perform magic...

Edwin Xie · Sat 18/09/2004 22:58:53

It's more like that he kills you for having any item that might hurt him in some way. That is why he does not punish you. Cause then you could get him. I know it is hard to play the game like that but that is how life goes.

fluxmaster · Sun 19/09/2004 04:02:00

I posted some bugs on the AGDI forum before I noticed this thread.Ã,Â Most of them were duplicates of what was already posted here.Ã,Â However, I noticed that you changed the name of the executable from KQ III.exe to KQ3.exe but did not provide a new version on winsetup.exe.Ã,Â I copied the old version of winsetup.exe, but that only worked if the executable was named KQ III.exe.Ã,Â Also, if you save the game and then rename the executable, the saved games won't load.

EDIT: Aha!Ã,Â I finally found a bug before anyone else found it.Ã,Â When I try to make spells but use the wrong ingredients, a screen comes up

Spoiler

which is the crypt from KQ4

[close]

but in some cases there is text overlain on the room.

Also, when I am in the laboratory (and invisible) and restore a saved game, I get a message that I was about to prepare dinner for the wizard.

Edwin Xie · Sun 19/09/2004 08:43:03

It seems you are very excited to find a bug before anyone else but.....

Spoiler

crypt from KQ4

[close]

?

dreammaster · Sun 19/09/2004 11:19:51

The teleportation spell failure room is the crypt from Kings Quest IV. If you've played it, it was the cemetary crypt where Pandora's Box was located.

dreammaster · Sun 19/09/2004 23:34:04

I was fairly busy on the weekend, but managed to scrounge up a few bugs (I've tried to remove bugs that have already been reported):

* The co-ordinate tracing option is still showing the co-ordinates as screwed up letters like the previous version was
* Looking at the study trapdoor still gives you the "you see the steps" message even if it's shut.
* I finally found the pouch - I'd actually experimented with the garbage dump before; the graphic used for the pouch was simply too distorted for me to recognise it. I only got it now because I tried interacting with the dump again. If you are going to allow people to get the pouch by using the dump, it'd be worthwhile to add in a descriptive message, like "Sorting through the garbage, you discover a pouch that might be worthwhile"
* It's almost impossible to go north from room 63 (to get to the mountain base).. clicking most anywhere just moves player to north end of room without leaving it
* You're already aware of the treehouse ladder not appearing
* Using the hand icon on the sleeping thief in the treehouse seems a bit unstable. If your active inventory item is the rope, then you automatically use it for some reason. Othewise, it says the thief wakes up, but then you get a dialog "you think you can hurt two husky bandits", and the bandit stays sleeping
* There's also a misspelling.. it says "you *d*ie the rope to the thief's leg"
* Fatal error trying to talk to the 3 bears having a picnic
* It's very difficult to leave room 62 to the north on the left hand side.. any click on the skyline has no effect; you need to click on the ground at just the right spot
* You can take mistletoe multiple times
* Some objects still need use messages, such as the bartender or the bushes
* Restoring the game to a postion on day 3 in the house tends to give you a message "You were about to prepare a meal for the hungry wizard"
* If you use the desk in the lab, it displays the message about lions and cats, but then gives you a "no message for touch desk" dialog

Nitpicks
--------
* I think there should be a walkable area added to the left of the tree in room 85. Visually there's enough room to walk, so it doesn't make sense to always force Alexander to go around the tree.

Edwin Xie · Mon 20/09/2004 01:55:57

No, I don't mean what the crypt is, I am asking, why would something from King's Quest IV be in Kings Quest III+?

dreammaster · Mon 20/09/2004 12:57:21

It may be just to tie the whole series in a bit more. After all, the newest beta also contains an old message from Hagatha, and some messages from Al Hazarad and others, which tie in both KQ2+ and KQ6. It gives the games a greater sense of continuity.

PS: Another bug I just realised; on Night 3 I navigated to lab (being invisibile due to the previously reported bug) and used the lab desk to read the messages. After the message was read, the stunned sound started playing in a loop.

Radiant · Mon 20/09/2004 13:07:43

Dreammaster -> thanks! To be fixed asap (beta-6 should be faster than beta-5)
Aldrius -> I actually like that idea (of the wizard punishing you with some ingredients, rather than killing you), it's under consideration. Note however that anything you stole from his lab or bedroom would still make him kill you.
Edwinxie -> Yes, that's an inside joke. Note that the spell you are probably working on was the teleportation stone, no? So, we get a teleportation going awry. Now what would be a candidate for the single worst place you could end up...

Kyng_Graham · Sat 25/09/2004 20:18:02

Firstly, this is great. I haven't found any bugs, but I haven't been looking as I don't want to spoil this finished product.

I think it's great that KQIII+ links into Tierra's KQ II+, though I think the letters are a little unsubtle and should really work like letters did in KQ2. I hope that when you're done the startup, fanfare etc. will resemble KQ5, KQ6, KQ1VGA and KQ2+ VGA rather than the EGA-style intro that exists currently.

Will you be doing a digital music pack of some kind? At the moment the theme comes through my soundcard as pretty cool piano music, but I'd love to see something on par with KQ2+.

Why didn't you use the same interface as KQ2.5, which in itself looked a lot like KQ6's interface?

Lastly - will dialogue be more like KQ2, as in a close-up pic of the character and a few clicks worth of dialogue rather than

You see Mannan who says, "Oi! Do this."

which seems to be the style in KQ2?

Err... that's it for now. Thanks again!

Edwin Xie · Sat 25/09/2004 20:59:53

Oh yeah, try to fix the intro part where it keeps changing from the old graphics to VGA and back.

Radiant · Sun 26/09/2004 15:27:27

Kyng -> Thanks. What do you mean by 'the letters working in KQ2'?

I would love to have digital music. But I'm no composer. So if any music makers are reading this, drop me a PM please!

Edwin -> yep.

Kyng_Graham · Sun 26/09/2004 17:52:58

Quote from: Radiant on Sun 26/09/2004 15:27:27
Kyng -> Thanks. What do you mean by 'the letters working in KQ2'?

The letters in KQ2 were much longer and typically meant you went to a different screen rather than it popping up on screen as a piece of text. The same thing happens when you read a book in KQ2+.

Radiant · Tue 28/09/2004 14:08:51

Okay. The next beta for KQIII+ is nearly complete and should have the land of Llewdor completely finished. However, I have noticed that this thread has turned mostly into people asking for help on how to finish the game. While I'm glad that people are enjoying the game, I would like to have a full version with as little bugs as possible so that adventure gamers can enjoy it to the most.

So, I believe it best if future beta versions are not to be released to the public, but rather to a group of testers. If you're serious about wanting to beta-test KQIII+, drop me a private message. This does mean that you should be prepared to not just play the game, but also to walk around a lot to check walkbehinds and cliff edges, try lots of little details over and over again to check if I have made any mistakes, and restarting the game and trying puzzles in different order or from different angles, so it's quite a bit more work than simply trying to solve the game.

As a side note, any artists, animators or musicians at large, if you want to help with the game, feel free to drop me a line!

Edwin Xie · Wed 29/09/2004 07:25:57

Wierd that you can't see Manannan's eyes in VGA format, his eyes look like the were pasted from the old beta $:-\$ . The enly part where it does not look VGA is the intro. About how he gotten to this area and stuff but I guess his dreams were also not put into VGA format. You might need a very experienced VGA artist (maybe you couldn't find the images from iron_man?).

iron_man · Wed 29/09/2004 09:20:32

Edwin, believe me the introduction screen with the logos was the easiest part of the job. I did not neglect to do it
because of lack of experience.

I had already prepared the vga version of the introduction, but unfortunately due to disk errors in a disk of Radiant, he lost them (and vga objects were lost as well). No worry though as i have resent the files to him.

About the eyes , i decided not to make him looking right and left like a autistic, and instead have him STARING at the player with this imposing-scaring look and only move his hand. Maybe the ega eyes animations has to be removed.

I could draw a vga version of his dreams, but we had
decided with Radiant to work only on background art
objects, and animated objects of the backgrounds, and NOT on sprites because i had not so much time.

Then a second artist could offer his help in this area by drawing sprites.(including the dream of Alex which shows sprites only).

Radiant=>please check your PM of this forum!

Radiant · Thu 30/09/2004 12:19:09

Ironman -> Done.

Edwin -> I seem to recall you offering to do graphics as well, but I haven't heard of you since?

Edwin Xie · Sun 03/10/2004 05:10:26

Sadly, I have been busy these days and had no time to notify you.

Ninjagirl · Wed 06/10/2004 12:22:42

Hello! None of you know me, so this might seem really rude

but from my experience it's always best to just jump on in when trying to get involved in a new community.

Soo..Nice to meet everyone, and cool to see this new project you are working on, Radiance!! I love the KQ series!!

Do you still need an artist? What sort of stuff do you need? Yes, I am an artist!

Ninjagirl · Wed 06/10/2004 13:45:16

AND I have joined the forum now

~Sorry about the post before, I didn't really intend it to be a sidetracked sort of intro in the wrong sort of thread. I just intended to offer my services.

deltamatrix · Thu 07/10/2004 12:32:02

Any chance we could see a sample of your skills as an artist?

Why not redraw a old KQ3 into VGA or do a character portrait.

Ninjagirl · Thu 07/10/2004 23:18:59

Yeah sure

I would have posted some before, but I thought that would have been pre-emptive and rude. I've already given this link to Radiance, but for anyone else who is interested... http://evilninjarochelle.deviantart.com/

I was an Epilogue artist but I've recently left. There is one image in my gallery there that I've kept there for the purposes of their New Masters of Fantasy 2004 promotion. I'm trying to hone down the number of online communities I'm involved in.

I think I am doing portraits for this project - I have yet to respond to an email that I can see sitting there in my inbox

yay, exciting!!

Deloria · Sat 16/07/2005 11:37:24

Radiant,
I found another bug. When Mordack comes to visit on day three or four, after I go prepare dinner I am sent to my room where I then (after the cutscene) turn invisible, but as it turns out only to myself! When I walk in on Manannan in the bedroom he kills me. When the scene turns back to myself it shows the "poof", or the "zap" as though I'm teleporting but againÃ,Â all it does is make my not see GwydionÃ,Â at all.

Darth Mandarb · Sat 16/07/2005 14:15:13

** sigh **

Once again, the rules fail to be read first.

Radiant, if you're still working on this, send me a PM to let me know and I'll unlock it.

King's Quest III+, Beta-5

Robby

Robby

Aldrius

Robby

Robby

Robby

Aldrius

Aldrius

Kyng_Graham

Kyng_Graham

Ninjagirl

Ninjagirl

Ninjagirl