Kings Quest 9 Fan Game Cancelled

[abnormal]

Kings Quest 9 Fan Game Cancelled

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On September 30th, 2005, we received a letter from Vivendi Universal Games, Inc. (a.k.a. Sierra Entertainment) requesting that we cease and desist any further development of KQIX. We always knew this might happen and as stated previously, we are completely willing to comply with Vivendi's request as they are the legal owners of the King's Quest trademark. As a result, we are obligated to stop all production on KQIX.

We are not certain what precipitated this request. Whether or not they are planning to begin development on an official King's Quest sequel is unknown at this point. Vivendi is currently rereleasing the King's Quest, Police Quest, Space Quest and Leisure Suit Larry Collections now available for pre-order on Amazon.com. Exact details of the products are not available but if they prove to be worthwhile we suggest you show Vivendi that there is still a strong interest in the series.

What does this mean for the future of KQIX and Phoenix Online Studios?

For the time being we are exploring the various possibilities open to us. There are plenty of ideas floating around the team but no official direction has yet been chosen. The team has become a solid entity in the past few years and has a strong desire to continue working together on whatever project we choose to face.

We would like to thank all the thousands of fans around the globe that have shown their support for our project since its creation. KQIX: Every Cloak Has A Silver Lining was always intended to be a free, fan-made sequel that would give the series some closure. Though we had hoped to spark some curiosity we never expected so much interest would arise from the adventure game community.

To all those who supported and motivated us to always keep going and never give up we dedicate the memory of this project. May your endearing spirit for adventure never fade.

Thank you,

The KQIX Development Team

We would like to hear your thoughts on this, please visit: http://www.kqix.com/forum/index.php?topic=3003.0

Why did Vivendi have to wait so far in production?! hey Vivendi, Fu** You!!!!

[laffer]

Oh no! That sucks BADLY! How about you rename the game and all the characters? Make some small graphical changes and stuff? It could still be a good game.

[Wamplet]

ROL, ownt.

They should have asked permission instead of "waste their time" and expect to be able to bitch about it.

[pjohnsonjr]

laffer said:
Oh no! That sucks BADLY! How about you rename the game and all the characters? Make some small graphical changes and stuff? It could still be a good game.



can't do that, you'd still be under their jurisdiction by infringing on a copyright.

[GrkFire611]

Well, at least this group seems civil about it, unlike those guys who bitched and moaned at Joe for giving them the cease and desist on their Duke3D TC for Doom3 (or maybe it was for a different game, I don't remember) as if they didn't expect to get one.

It's not that hard to ask permission before you do something. You give closure to both possible outcomes at once -- either you get the "no" which saves you the trouble of working on your project, or you get the "yes" which saves you the trouble of looking over your shoulder for the dreaded publisher e-mail. There's really no justification in whining about getting a cease-and-desist, unless you're whining about how stupid you were to not ask for permission first. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hhg.gif

[abnormal]

alot of the old kq and leisure suit larry games are being released. go to amazon!

[Simon Charles]

I'm afraid it's only the beginning. Wait a while and you'll see the fan-made Space Quest being canned as well (if it's not already). The Quest for Glory II VGA remake might also bite the dust, and that one will break my heart.

[avatar_58]

Hey....the only thing surprising here is why it took vivendi so long to react. They should have known better than to just "try anyway".

[XPM]

I felt a piece of me die...It has been stated a few years ago that there will never be made a new Kings quest game...Kings quest were one of the first games that I ever played and I was so looking forward to this one.

[BioHazard]

Vivendi are just as bad EA imo. I totally with Warren Spector when he said that all publishers need to die.

[thefly]

Wamplet said:
ROL, ownt.

They should have asked permission instead of "waste their time" and expect to be able to bitch about it.



http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nelson3.gif

[zakath]

been there, done that.

Sorry to hear this :O

[Thriller]

Sad news, but nothing to get pissy about. Thing is, Vivendi has to cancell it or else they might loose a copyright that obviously has a big crowd of followers.

[Needle]

Why don't they simply remove all kings quest references, call it Prince Adventure or something and keep developing it?

[Paroxysm]

Thriller said:
Sad news, but nothing to get pissy about. Thing is, Vivendi has to cancell it or else they might loose a copyright that obviously has a big crowd of followers.



That's trademark;s you can lose, not copyright. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Thriller]

... Your right. They might loose the trademark. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Other than that, what if the game was really bad and hurt the series? And then Vivendi decides to do another one. Once again it will lose them money. The only solution is if they oversee the projekt wich.. will lose them money. If they dont sell it - produce the sequel - wich they wont. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[Beelze]

laffer said:
How about you rename the game and all the characters? Make some small graphical changes and stuff? It could still be a good game.


That idea is mentioned in their FAQ. I hope they go with it.

[Needle]

Looks like it's coming after all.

http://www.kqix.com/home.php

[Beelze]

Yeah, there's a thread about that. Given its name, though, it's easy to miss.

Vivendi......good?? (http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=1002205&an=0&page=0#1002205)

[Mountain Man]

When will these assclowns learn to stop stealing other people's intellectual property! Here's a tip for all you aspiring game designers out there: If your game is based on IP you don't own, 99% of the time, it will be shut down. And, no, "We asked for permission but received no response" doesn't implicitly grant you permission. Don't even think about using someone else's IP without explicit written permission! If you want to make a game and want to use an existing one as inspiration, that's great, but at least make something orginal! You can even advertise that you used Game X as inspiration which is perfectly legal, just so long as you don't lift anything directly from Game X.

Now these guys are very lucky that Vivendi smiled favorably on them, but honestly, I have no sympathy for idiots who don't follow these common sense rules only to have sometimes years of hardwork flushed down the toilet.

[Needle]

Well, either they are dedicated fans that feel VERY attached to a certain franchise or they they just want quick popularity by using a known name for their amateur project. It depends on the point of view, I guess.

[Simon Charles]

Mountain Man said:
When will these assclowns learn to stop stealing other people's intellectual property! Here's a tip for all you aspiring game designers out there: If your game is based on IP you don't own, 99% of the time, it will be shut down. And, no, "We asked for permission but received no response" doesn't implicitly grant you permission. Don't even think about using someone else's IP without explicit written permission! If you want to make a game and want to use an existing one as inspiration, that's great, but at least make something orginal! You can even advertise that you used Game X as inspiration which is perfectly legal, just so long as you don't lift anything directly from Game X.

Now these guys are very lucky that Vivendi smiled favorably on them, but honestly, I have no sympathy for idiots who don't follow these common sense rules only to have sometimes years of hardwork flushed down the toilet.



Why the hostility?

[XPM]

I was wondering the same thing.

[Mountain Man]

Simon Charles said:
Why the hostility?


It's just a pet peeve of mine.

[avatar_58]

Mountain Man said:
It's just a pet peeve of mine.



Its not just you, I feel the same way. I really wish these people would put their talents to use and create an original idea of their own. What made sierra great back in the day was their ability to create new and fun games.....and some of them just happened to have sequels.

However the sequels are long since passed, even IF sierra were running as it once were I wouldn't want them to make sequels....but new IPs entirely.

I don't understand why they didn't just take the style and gameplay of the old KQ games and make something fresh.

Its like with AGD interactive (they remade KQ1,2 and now QFG2), I like their efforts, but I'm looking forward to their next original IP that is in the works. It uses sierra's old style, but with a brand new character and world. THAT is how to do it.

[Wamplet]

Well-stated, Mountain Man.

It's just using common sense. A lot of people lack it. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[avatar_58]

I just looked at the screenshots and to me it looks like they are ripping KQ6 off heavily.... http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif I thought this was supposed to be a NEW Kq game not a remake...

[Decker]

And yet, this one has been given a fan-license to continue development. Just under a different name.


"After extensive evaluation, Vivendi Universal Games is pleased to announce that the fan developed trilogy project 'The Silver Lining' (previously known as King's Quest IX: Every Cloak Has A Silver Lining), based on characters from Sierra Entertainment's 'Kings Quest' series, has been given approval to continue development. We look forward to seeing the first of its three upcoming chapters, 'Shadows', completed soon."



They're even encouraging the devs. But please, do continue the negative circle-jerking you got going on, if that works for you.


[EDIT] It is a small miracle though that VU of all publishers agrees to do something like this. KQ isn't even that old of a franchise. Maybe they've buried it internally, since traditional adventure games aren't that hot anymore http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[Beelze]

The story involves many characters that have appeared in past KQ games. That's all.

[avatar_58]

Beelze said:
The story involves many characters that have appeared in past KQ games. That's all.



That, and 80% of the locations are from KQ6. It looks like Graham went back the green isles just so they didn't have to create any new characters or backgrounds.

[Beelze]

I'd expect the characters to remain in their respective homelands, and so far most of the screenshots they've released show the first part of the game, which apparently is set in the Land of the Green Isles. Perhaps later parts will be set in entirely new areas, or maybe they'll have us revisit locations from the other games. Either way, I don't mind. If the story is good, the story is good, no matter what characters and locations they use. I don't know where you got the idea to use the words "rip-off" and "remake."

[avatar_58]

Well lets look at the history of King's Quest. Not one of them has returned to places (and especially not looking exactly the same) except for Kq3 where you were in daventry for about 5 minutes.

I'll stick to my comments because its apparent that they needed King's Quest IP to even get their game out there.....so that says alot.

[Paroxysm]

Well it's a fanboy game. Of course they want as much relation to the earlier series they can have. They're salavating geeks obsessed with a single series. If they weren't using the IP they probably wouldn't have bothered to make anything.

[avatar_58]

I'm a sierra fanboy, and what I've seen repells me from it rather than hypes me up. If they wanted to make a fan based sequel.....just ripping off characters and scenes isn't a very good direction.