King's Quest facts for kids

Quick facts for kids King's Quest
Genres	Adventure
Developers	Sierra On-Line The Odd Gentlemen
Publishers	Sierra Entertainment
Creators	Roberta Williams
First release	Wizard and the Princess 1980
Latest release	King's Quest: Epilogue December 20, 2016

King's Quest is a famous series of adventure games. These games were made by an American company called Sierra Entertainment. The first game came out in 1980, and the series continued until 2016. Many people think King's Quest is a classic from the best time for adventure games.

The series became very popular and helped Sierra Entertainment become well-known. Roberta Williams, who helped start Sierra, designed most of the King's Quest games. She worked on them until a new version of the game came out in 2015.

The King's Quest games tell the story of the royal family of Daventry. You follow their exciting adventures and challenges. The story covers two generations of the family. They travel to many different lands and fight bad guys like evil witches and wizards.

Discover the King's Quest Games

The King's Quest series has many games. Here are the main ones and when they were first released:

• Wizard and the Princess (1980)
• King's Quest (1984)
• King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne (1985)
• King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human (1986)
• King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella (1988)
• King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder! (1990)
• King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow (1992)
• King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride (1994)
• King's Quest: Mask of Eternity (1998)
• King's Quest, a new version by The Odd Gentlemen (2015–2016)

Meet the Royal Family of Daventry

The world of King's Quest includes many different kingdoms and magical places. The main characters are King Graham and his family. Graham started as a knight who became king by completing quests. His family includes his wife, Queen Valanice, and their twin children, Prince Alexander and Princess Rosella.

One game, King's Quest: Mask of Eternity, stars Connor of Daventry. He is a knight but not part of the royal family. Later games have more detailed stories and harder puzzles. They also have more unique and interesting characters.

These games were special because they used animation and made it look like characters could walk behind objects. This made the game world feel more real. To solve puzzles, characters often use items they find and keep in their inventory. Other puzzles involve finding your way through mazes or solving riddles. You also need to use logic and think creatively. It's important to use all your character's senses, like looking, listening, smelling, tasting, and touching, to find clues.

The Royal Quests and Adventures

The "King's Quest" in the series' name often means becoming a king. It also refers to the adventures of the royal family. They travel to other lands to save their kingdom. Often, a magic mirror helps the hero by giving them quests. This mirror is a key item in many games.

In King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown, a young knight named Sir Graham is sent on a quest. The dying King Edward asks him to find three treasures and defeat a wicked witch. If he succeeds, Graham will become the new king.

In King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne, King Graham needs to find his queen. The magic mirror, which he found in the first game, shows him Valanice. She is a beautiful woman captured by the witch Hagatha.

King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human and King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella do not star Graham. Instead, other heroes save the king or the kingdom. Gwydion starts as a peasant and a slave to a wizard. He escapes using magic and learns he is Prince Alexander, Graham's long-lost son. After Alexander saves the kingdom, Graham becomes very sick. To find a cure, Princess Rosella must travel to a fairy land. The magic mirror helps her find this land.

King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder! brings King Graham back as the main hero. He tries to save his kingdom and family from Mordack, an evil magician. This game is the first one that does not include the magic mirror.

King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow follows Prince Alexander. He tries to save his true love and marry her. He hopes to become king of the Land of the Green Isles. The magic mirror helps him find this kingdom.

King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride is different. King Graham is not in this game. The story does not focus on Daventry or the magic mirror. Instead, Queen Valanice and Princess Rosella work together. They try to save the land of Eldritch from an evil enchantress. Rosella also finds a romantic interest in Prince Edgar.

King's Quest: Mask of Eternity is like the first game. A young knight tries to save King Graham and the kingdom of Daventry. The magic mirror again plays a big role in showing the danger to the kingdom.

Other Fun King's Quest Stuff

Over the years, the King's Quest games have been released in special collections. These often came with extra bonus materials.

• King's Quest 15th Anniversary Collector's Edition (1994): This collection had the first six games. It also included a trivia game and a board game.
• King's Quest Collection (2006): This version put games 1 through 7 on a CD for Windows computers. It used a special program called DOSBox to run the older games. This collection was also briefly available on Steam.
• King's Quest Bundle (2010): Activision released three collections on GOG.com. These bundles made the classic games work on newer computers.
• King's Quest: The Complete Collection (2015): This bundle includes all five chapters and a bonus episode of the newer King's Quest series.

Bonus Materials from Collections

Some collections came with cool extras:

• Inside the Chest: This program had old magazine articles and interviews about the games.
• Behind the Developer's Shield: This showed early drawings and art from the games.
• A View from Inside the Mirror: This included videos, like an interview with Roberta Williams. She talked about making the King's Quest games.
• King's Questions: A fun trivia game about the series.
• King Graham's Board Game Challenge: Checkers & Backgammon: A board game featuring King Graham.

Hoyle's Official Book of Games series

King Graham and Rosella appeared as opponents in these card and board games. They would talk to other players about Daventry. In one game, Roger Wilco (another Sierra character) even crashed his spaceship into Daventry's moat!

King's Quest Books

Many King's Quest games came with manuals that told short stories. These manuals often had information needed to solve puzzles or for copy protection.

• Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles: This booklet came with KQVI. It described the places and background of the Green Isles.
• King's Quest V Hintbook: Written by Roberta Williams, this book gave hints and details about how KQV was made.
• The King's Quest Companion: This popular book turned the games into novels. It also explained more about Daventry's history, places, and characters.

King's Quest Novels

Three original novels were also published:

• The Floating Castle (1995): This book follows Alexander on a quest to find out about a mysterious floating castle.
• The Kingdom of Sorrow (1996): This story is about Graham trying to rescue a Fairy Queen.
• See No Weevil (1996): This book focuses on Rosella, who has to run the Kingdom of Daventry while her parents are away.

Games That Almost Were

Over the years, there were several plans for new King's Quest games that never happened.

Old Game Remakes That Didn't Happen

After a new version of King's Quest I came out in 1990, Sierra wanted to remake King's Quest II and King's Quest III. But the King's Quest I remake didn't sell as well as hoped, so the plans for the others were stopped.

Cancelled King's Quest 9 Games

Many attempts were made to create a ninth King's Quest game.

• After King's Quest VIII came out, Roberta Williams had ideas for a new game. She thought Graham was too old for adventures. She considered a new hero or even a love story between Rosella and Connor. She also wanted to add multiplayer features. These ideas never became a game.
• Between 2001 and 2002, a company called Vivendi Games started working on a new King's Quest. It looked like it might be an action-adventure game, similar to Legend of Zelda. But this project was also cancelled.
• Another company, Silicon Knights, also worked on a King's Quest game prototype.
• Telltale Games announced a new King's Quest series in 2011. They planned to make new episodic games that continued the story. They wanted to keep the challenge of the old games but make them less frustrating. Roberta Williams gave them advice, even though she was retired. However, Telltale Games cancelled their King's Quest project in 2013.

Eventually, The Odd Gentlemen rebooted the series in 2015 with a new King's Quest game.

Fan-Made King's Quest Games

Many fans have created their own King's Quest games. Some are new stories, and some retell the original games. For example, the creators of the Homestar Runner cartoons made a game called Peasant's Quest. It's based on King's Quest I but also has jokes and references to other King's Quest games.

See also

In Spanish: King's Quest para niños