King's Quest I Remake v4.2 Release Candidate 1 - Available for Testing

[Anonymous Game Creator 2]

Update: 21 July 2024:

King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown (Version 4.2, Release Candidate 1) has been released for PC (Windows only).

Hello everyone!

It's been over a decade since AGDI's games were last compiled in the AGS engine, and they're starting to encounter some compatibility issues on modern operating systems and hardware. This includes display problems and screen stretching on widescreen monitors. The AGS engine we originally used relies on a deprecated version of the Allegro game library, which was discontinued in the early 2010s.

To address these issues, we've decided to update our remakes, starting with King's Quest I. The new Version 4.2 (Release Candidate 1) upgrades the game library from Allegro to SDL2, adds support for Windows 10 and 11, and significantly improves compatibility with widescreen monitors and modern video cards. We've also included a new OpenGL video driver for enhanced performance. Additionally, we’ve addressed numerous bugs, including all those reported on these forums over the past decade. We've made several tweaks and enhancements to the game, added previously missing narrator dialogue and speech, touched up animations and graphics, and even included a new visual Easter Egg for you to discover.

Please note that this 4.2 version is still in the beta phase and is not yet available on our main King's Quest I site. For now, you can download it via the link provided below. While the build should be stable, we are labeling it as "Release Candidate 1" to allow for an Open Beta period. We encourage you to play through the game and report any bugs or issues you encounter. Based on your feedback, we will release subsequent Release Candidate builds. Once the build is deemed stable, the final Version 4.2 will be made available on the game's main website.

Download King's Quest I (Version 4.2, Release Candidate 1) here

Please note that save-games from previous versions of King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown will not be compatible with v4.2, RC1. Be sure to uninstall any previous versions before installing version 4.2, RC1.

If you encounter any bugs or other issues, please post them in this thread or create a new thread in the King's Quest I forum.

Enjoy the game!


CHANGES TO VERSION 4.2, RC1
-------------------------------------
WARNING: GAME SPOILERS AHEAD

CHANGES:
- Updated to AGS Engine v.3.6.1.
- Upgraded to the SDL2 library (previously used Allegro v4.4.2).
- Improved support for high-res graphics on newer video cards and widescreen monitors.
- Significantly improved script performance.
- Save-games are now saved in Users\%USERPROFILE%\Saved Games, rather than the root game folder.
- New save-game format. Save files from previous versions are incompatible with v4.2.
- Revised all inventory item graphics. Toggle between old and new with CTRL-Y.
- Made small visual tweaks to some background screens.
- Music and sound volume now drops when speech audio occurs.
- Overhauled the audio system. Music, sound, and ambience now remains proportional when volume is adjusted.
- Graham now visibly turns on the spot when clicking with the eye and mouth cursors active.
- Typing the gnome's name is no longer case-sensitive.
- The empty bowl close-up is now displayed via the inventory GUI, not in the game screen.
- Changed the behaviour of the squirrel. It now collects walnuts and carries them off-screen.
- The "Collected 3 Treasures" music now only plays once but will pause and resume if interrupted.
- Confronting the dragon while carrying the Magic Shield no longer results in death.
- Optimized the witch's swooping arc, made her easier to evade. Now adheres to scaling and walk-behinds.
- Revised Graham's kneeling before King Edward animations.
- Revised Graham's animations for falling in water, falling from the sky, and being carried by the witch.
- Revised Graham's climbing animation.
- Revised Graham's fiddle playing animation.
- Revised Graham's animation for climbing into the wishing well bucket.
- Revised Graham's animations for swimming and drowning.
- Revised Graham's animation for giving the bowl to the woodcutter.
- Revised Graham's ducking animation.
- Revised Graham's falling and getting dazed animation.
- Revised water sparkling and fish leaping animations.
- Revised the Wolf's north running, south running, and pouncing animations.
- Revised the woodcutter's wife animations and added some missing descriptors.
- Revised the dragon's animations.
- Revised the pushed rock animation.


ADDITIONS:
- Added support for Windows 10 and Windows 11.
- Added an OpenGL graphics driver option.
- Added a new A* jump point search pathfinder allowing navigation of more complex paths with a single click.
- Added Alt+Enter functionality for switching between windowed and full-screen modes during gameplay.
- Added speech skip protection to prevent accidental dismissing of character dialog. Toggle with CTRL+P.
- Added one new major Easter Egg to the game.
- Added eye blinking animations to the speaking portraits of all characters.
- Added an idle animation when Graham is standing still.
- Added a visible, glistening four-leaf clover to the clover patch screen.
- Added some missing narration, texts, and events when wading/swimming in water while the goat is following.
- Added some missing narration and texts in the wishing well screen.
- Added a sound effect thud when the portcullis hits the ground.
- Added a sound effect when cutting the wishing well rope with the dagger.
- Added a sound effect for crumbling to ash when being killed by the dragon.
- Added a sound effect for the condor's wings flapping.
- Added a sound effect for King Edward's crown falling on the ground.
- Added the ability to fill the bucket in the large lake to the east of the old stone bridge.
- Added a blue tint to Graham and the Dwarf in the walkway screens and inside the mountain door cave.
- Added various missing narrator lines and speech, some new lines, and a few verbal Easter Eggs.
- Added a bobbing motion for Graham when he drowns while swimming underwater in the well.
- Added PageUp, PageDown, Home, and End key navigation for Save, Restore, and Replace GUIs.
- Added [ and ] key functionality for cycling backward and forward through active inventory items.
- Added mouse-wheel scrolling for cycling backward and forward through game icons.
- Added mouse-wheel listbox scrolling functionality to the Inventory, Load, Save, and Replace GUIs.


FIXES:
- Fixed a bug on the title screen where all buttons except 'Begin Game' could get deactivated.
- Fixed the music volume slider not working.
- Fixed an issue where Graham would rapidly glitch (and not walk) if an arrow key was held down.
- Fixed an oversight preventing the magic beans from being given to the woodcutter (dead-ends mode only).
- Fixed a bug that allowed giving the walnut to the Woodcutter while he is feeding his wife stew.
- Fixed a bug (no dead-ends) which erroneously reported the goat's return to the pen after obtaining the magic chest.
- Fixed a bug (dead-ends enabled) where the goat vanished after obtaining the magic chest despite not being released.
- Fixed a bug where the goat would start following Graham when adorning the invisibility ring.
- Fixed some issues with wearing/removing the invisibility ring while the goat is following Graham.
- Fixed a bug where the invisibility ring was not working correctly in the Dragon's Cave.
- Fixed some missing and incorrect hotspot descriptions in the Dragon's Cave.
- Fixed some visual discrepancies in Graham's wading animations.
- Fixed glitches in Graham's walk animations when crossing the stone bridge while invisible.
- Fixed an issue where CTRL+Q couldn't be used to quit the game while Graham was ducking.
- Fixed a bug where Graham could walk on water after attempting to play the fiddle in lake screens.
- Fixed a bug where playing the fiddle caused the "victory" music to repeat after taking a treasure.
- Fixed "victory" music potentially getting cut off by other music after taking a treasure. It now plays to completion.
- Fixed a bug where the crank raised the rope with the bucket attached, even if it was severed in the well below.
- Fixed potential glitches when trying to play the fiddle while swimming, wading, and climbing.
- Fixed a bug where players could experience drowning and falling deaths simultaneously in lakes with high ledges.
- Fixed a freeze when drowning in the wishing well cave, while surfacing at exactly the same time.
- Fixed a bug causing the Protection Spell's sparkles to appear prematurely in the Fairy Godmother screen.
- Fixed a glitch where the points chime would sometimes play twice when taking the dagger.
- Fixed a bug where Graham would turn to face the wrong direction when looking at Object1 or Hotspot5 in any screen.
- Fixed a potential issue if the protection spell is active when triggering the endgame sequence.
- Fixed an issue with the danger music fading out in the witch swooping screen.
- Fixed a bug where the swooping witch could keep moving across the screen while Graham was talking.
- Fixed a bug where Graham could fire the slingshot, throw a pebble, or throw the dagger while ducking.
- Fixed some glitches in Graham's frames when invoking the Quit GUI. He now stops and turns to face the screen.
- Fixed the tree snake's animations in the swamp screen so that it now turns smoothly.
- Fixed a bug that allowed Graham to climb the beanstalk while invisible in the magic bowl screen.
- Fixed a bug in the lower walkway screen where Graham could walk directly over the chasm gap.
- Fixed an oversight where you could give the pouch to the troll, woodcutter, and rat before discovering the contents.
- Fixed ambient sounds (birds, rivers etc.) to make playback persistent across relevant screens.
- Fixed issues with the sound slider auto-adjusting. Sound effect volume levels are now relative to each other.
- Fixed and restored the missing wind ambience sound in cloudland.
- Fixed a bug with the Magic Chest, Magic shield, and Scepter inventory items not being set active when collected.
- Fixed a bug where Graham could walk across air to the eastern troll bridge after clicking an item on the troll.
- Fixed an issue where the chasing wolf could exit via the same screen edge as the player.
- Fixed the music volume level not dropping while narrator speech plays over the Death GUI.
- Fixed some speech pacing and music volume discrepancies in the intro and endgame sequences to improve timing.
- Fixed some minor spelling and grammar issues.

REMOVALS:
- Discontinued Windows Game Explorer integration; double-clicking in Explorer no longer loads save-games.

[MusicallyInspired]

Well this is a nice surprise!

[Angelus3K]

Wow! I quite fancy another play through so will hop on this once I finish Chrono Trigger.

Ah how I miss my favourite emoji

EDIT: Just thought, will the new update break compatibility with ScummVM?

[Gal Shemesh]

Wow! This is just wonderful! Any chance that translations would be re-considered so we could finally make both text and voice acting translation to the local audience?

[adeyke]

I can't give it the full beta testing processs, but I did play through it a few times, and it seems to work fine. It's great that the whole resolution issue has been addressed. Or has it? The game now always seems to have square pixels, whereas the old EGA and VGA games had 6x5 rectangular pixels. Is the remake actually designed for square pixels (this seems unlikely given that a lot of it was based on EGA and VGA assets), or do we just always have slightly stretched visuals now?

I have mixed feelings about the new inventory icons. On the one hand, it's theoretically good to have them updated, the same way the backgrounds were updated in a previous release (even now, there are some character animations that could use similar treatment). On the other hand, I don't really like some of the results. Whether they are or not, they feel like high-res assets that were scaled down rather than bespoke pixel-art images. In particular, the golden egg has what looks like anti-aliasing on the side and the scepter just looks indistinct. And the angle and reddish hue of the cheese make it look a bit like pepperoni pizza. Also, the old icons directly corresponded to the their sprites, while the new ones don't (the Magic Chest is a prime example; it now seems to morph when you pick it up). I guess that's what the CTRL-Y is for.

(The fiddle-playing animation seems to give the fiddle a different hue, but that was also the case with the old icons.)

Also, while this isn't new to this version, I have an issue with how the hand icon in the inventory works. Outside the inventory, the hand is the universal "interact" cursor, for everything other than talking or using items. In the inventory, however, it often instead just means "feel", giving a dry, obvious description of the physicality of various objects, or an admonition not to touch them. I think these types of messages should be used only as fallback, and the hand should instead always try to do something to the item, if possible. For example, it should play the fiddle, try to eat the various foods, and read the witch's note. Basically, any time you can meaningfully click an item on yourself, clicking the hand on it in the inventory should have the same effect. This is already the case for some items (e.g. the walnut, pouch, ring), but I feel it should be expanded. Basically, if someone is clicking the hand on the item in the inventory, they're much more likely trying to interact with it than trying to learn that "the paper feels ordinary".

The [ and ] hotkeys aren't mentioned in the help. Also, this release would be a good opportunity to add general cursor-switching hotkeys (e.g. W for walk, E for eye).

The presence of "you need to get closer" messages is a pet peeve of mine when it comes to point-and-click games (if the game knows what you're trying to do and there's no actual obstacle in the way, it should just do it instead of making the player do busy work). For the most part, this game avoids that pitfall and just automatically walks closer. I noticed two exceptions, though: talking with the elf and giving an item to the rat. I think those should also work from any distance. There's also the case of tempting the goat with the carrot immediately after opening the gate, but I can see how that one makes sense.

Another exception to this: getting the magic mirror while invisible. Normally, if you click the mirror while the dragon is alive, it tells you about the danger of the dragon. If you're invisible, though, it literally just says you need to get closer. That should also just happen automatically.

I showed the goat the carrot, opened the gate and walked out. A message appeared saying I should wait for the goat, but it didn't actually follow me out. This doesn't happen consistently, so I'm not sure what triggered it. Oddly, that message only appears the first time you lead the goat from the pen (in the no-dead-end mode, you can do so repeatedly).

It's possible to walk through, and stand partially clipping through, the west end of the gingerbread house.

It's possible to get stuck in the fence of the goat pen. While having the goat with me, I stood north of the pen on the west screen, then clicked the walk icon on the top beam of the fence at the bottom right end of the screen. When I appeared on the east screen, I was stuck and unable to move.

If I have the goat with me, enter the east troll-bridge screen from the north, then click the walk on the bush to the east, the goat will appear out of bounds on that screen.

If I go south from the fairy godmother screen with the goat, I appear north of the lake. However, the goat then walks over the lake, and there's a message about it abandoning me because I waded away.

The option menu screenshot in the manual seem outdated, since there's no "esc skips walk" option. Also, the manual doesn't include the new hotkeys yet.

If you shoot the last pebble with the slingshot, the cursor changes to walk.

It's just weird that if someone is trying to "load" the slingshot with pebbles, the message is just that "nothing happens". Ideally, that would either work or you'd get a message saying that it's unnecessary as long as you're carrying the pebbles with you. Unfortunately, both solutions would require new assets and are thus presumably out of scope now (same for fixing the issue of a single pebble referred to by the plural when clicking the hand on it in the inventory or clicking it on Graham).

If you try to close the gate while the goat is following, there's a message about this being unnecessary. However, before this message, Graham walks to the gate. That walking should be removed.

I'd made a list of the various actions that give points but are missing the point sound, but then I checked the SCI version and found, at least in the cases I checked, the same issue there. So I guess that's just a faithful reproduction instead of a bug (though I can't see what logic was used there). Indeed, there's one case where a point sound has been added: opening the pouch doesn't give a sound in the SCI version, so that should probably be removed. I did still note, however, that the sound for getting the key from the gnome isn't synced to the point gain.

Killing the goat doesn't cost 5 points the way it does in the SCI version.

In the SCI version, there's a wolf howl when entering the wolf screen, to signify danger (the ogre/dwarf/wizard/witch screens do this by being visually creepy), but that's missing here.

There are times (while in the bucket or while ducking) that certain cursors are unavailable. Maybe they should be visually greyed out. Also, while in the bucket, middle-click should probably be disabled instead of having its current behavior. The ducking situation is a bit baffling, too. You're not allowed to open the inventory, but you are allowed to cycle through the inventory items via the [ and ]. Theoretically, one might want to use the ring here, but that's also an action that could be done from the inventory screen, if it were allowed.

Going from swimming to wading makes Graham stop in place. That means it takes two clicks to cross the lake.

[adeyke]

I've been editing the above post as I found new things (I didn't want to spam a bunch of one-line posts), but it occurs to me that these additions might get missed, so I'll stop for now and will make a new post if I find more things to say.

[adeyke]

I recently learned of the availability of decompiled and annotated source code for the SCI games. That would potentially let me compare it to the remake to see if everything (within the limits of the point-and-click interface) has been implemented. However, if I found something that's missing, that would require recording a new voice line, so I suppose there's no point now.