KQ8 development

This article concerns the development of King's Quest: Mask of Eternity. It is a repository of details concerning early prototypes of the game, up to its final finished version.

General Game Development
Note: 3Space was apparently used to create many of the game worlds/maps for early phases of the game, before they built there own inhouse engine for the 3rd phase.

Roberta Williams;
 * I decided King's Quest was going to go 3-d while I was working on Phantasmagoria. That was in, around 1994, maybe 95, somewhere around there. It was about the time Doom came out, and it just made a splash. Everybody was playing Doom. Other 3-d games were beginning to come out around that time too. It just became clear that computer games were going to be going 3-d. I pretty much made up my mind during the development of Phantasmagoria. I knew I was going to be doing the next King's Quest. I knew, being the eighth in the series, that's tough, gives the desire...You know its going to be the eighth of the series, its gotta be bigger and better than ever, and you gotta keep this thing going, and its gotta be great, and its gotta be all these things. It's really tough to do that. In all honesty its much better to work on a brand new game, that nobody has ever seen before, that nobody knows about. Because you can do anything, the sky's the limit. But to try to do something that's eighth in the series, is really not easy, and so to me to go 3-d was, we had to do that. ...and also I, Mark and I entertained the idea of making it multiplayer also, but that was nixed. It was like, well were doning 3-d, and that's enough, you know, for now. Maybe Multiplayer later.

-Roberta Williams, Talkspot part 2.


 * Actually I went through three different designs for that game. Three complete designs. The first two got tossed out for various reasons. Probably alot of which I got a little over exuberant in design, then just this was impossible, forget it...It was a three year project even so. We were really developing a new technology here, and there were was alot we had to do, and we were pretty much developing from scratch.


 * "The budget for King's Quest: Mask of Eternity, was three million over three years".


 * "When I started development on King's Quest Mask of Eternity, we also decided, we were thinking at the time to make it multiplayer, and also 3-d, but we dropped the multiplayer aspect of it. It was just too much to try to develop, and also develop 3-d."

-Roberta Williams, Talkspot part 1

'Prototype' phase
Primarily a first person game, with small sections of 3rd person (no engine at this point).

"I think you're wrong about the first person perspective (and the first person perspective will primarily be when you're 'walking.') There will still be third-person views for various 'story point' areas and for various puzzle areas -- where a third-person perspective would work better than a first-person one. There is actually MORE we can do for the game, and make it MORE interactive by having the game be both first-person and third-person. Having a totally third-person game has cut back on interactivity because of all of the animation which has to be done for every single 'thing' which can be done. By mixing both first and third-person, we'll be able to really 'up' the interactivity level. Also -- being able to really 'explore' the world of King's Quest will take on new meaning because you'll be able to 'walk' wherever YOU want to -- there will be no restrictions. Therefore -- we'll put all kinds of different things to find and/or do in many more locations than we normally would. Also -- a lot of people say that a first-person perspective, especially when 'walking around' is much more personally immersive. This is NOT being done for technology sake -- it's being done because more and more people actually prefer a first-person approach...at least during the 'walk' mode. It will feel good...trust me on that. I wouldn't do anything that wasn't great -- and wouldn't feel like King's Quest." "Also -- at this point we THINK it's going to be first-person during the 'walking and exploring' part of the game, but that hasn't been completely determined as yet. It may yet turn out to be totally third-person. Obviously, we want to do what would be the most fun and compelling. We're doing some experimenting right now...I 'think' we're tending to swing the way of being able to be either first-person or third-person in most of the game, but be ONLY third-person in parts of the game where it makes sense -- or be ONLY first-person in other parts of the game where it makes sense. Therefore, it would utilize the best of both worlds, and feel very open and exploratory to the player"-Roberta Williams, late 1995

'Connor mac Lyrr' phase
This phase was done mostly in 3Space 3-d engine from Dynamix (used in Red Baron II and other Dynamix flight sims). While they waited for the copy of the Dynamix flight simulator engine to be completed they worked on the models.

Published in Interaction, Fall 1996 issue, published while Ken Williams was still the CEO of Sierra Online. "My wife, Roberta, is working on the newest King's Quest game, Mask of Eternity. It's an enormous project and has the largest team we've ever assembled. Roberta's feeling is that adventure games are starting to 'all look the same.' She wants to try to completely redefine the genre. For about six months all she did was study games. She studied in detail every successful game on the market, even non-adventure games like Duke Nuke'm, Warcraft II, and Super Mario for the Ultra 64. She is well into Mask now and expects it to complete in time for Christmas '97. It is impossible to describe because there really aren't any games like it. When I asked Roberta how to describe it, she said, 'Imagine a King's Quest game which takes place in a true 3-D world, with true 3-D lifelike characters. I borrowed Dynamix's flight simulator technology and pushed it in a new direction. The result is still King's Quest but it's much more immersive, and the 3-D makes the game more interactive. It also changed how I design. The 3-D allowed me create challenges for the player which never could have been done in a 2-D environment, including many that use physics.'"-Ken Williams, CEO of Sierra-Online, InterAction, Fall 1996, pg 10

Late 'Connor of Daventry' phase and release
They started with the 3Space engine from Red Baron II, but replaced it with their own inhouse engine;
 * "We started with the engine from Red Baron, but pretty much left only the rendering portion of it for the software engine, pretty much everything else we rewrote up here at our location."

-Mark Seibert, Talkspot part 2, December 1998.


 * "Well, ya, it's different if you compare King's Quest: Mask of Eternity, to the story writing process of Phantasmagoria, much different. Phantasmagoria was written in a much more script format, muh in the way you would think about writing a movie script, only much longer. Your average movie script is 100 pages long. Phantasmagoria was just about 600 pages, and that's because you had to write in all the contingency scripts for various other paths you can take, and things you can do beyond the stuff your supposed to do in order to play the game and advance the story. With this game being much more open and being much more exploreatory, because you can go literally anywhere you want, you can wander in any corner of the world, behind any bush, behind any house. It creates more problems with the story writing, but it opens up much more of the interactive aspects. So you just have to be a little more creative in interspersing your story in there. I could go into greater details on how to do it, but I think that would be too long for now. The secret though is learning how to intersperse story with an interactive experience.

-Roberta Williams, MOE Talkspot interview, December 9, 1998, Part 1.

"In some ways, it was harder creating Phantasmagoria and in other ways it’s harder to create KQ: Mask of Eternity. (By the way, I feel to the need to stress that this game is “King’s Quest” first and foremost. “Mask of Eternity” is the subtitle. Basically, it’s “King’s Quest 8.” I noticed that you keep referring to the game as “Mask of Eternity” - but not really referencing “King’s Quest.” I need to make sure that people who read this understand that this is DEFINITELY a “King’s Quest” game.)"

"Anyway - with Phantasmagoria, we weren’t really creating a new game engine, but we were dealing with a lot of issues concerning integrating video, actors, silicon graphics, blue screen effects, etc. - within our old established adventure game engine. With King’s Quest: Mask we are dealing with a game series which already has an established look and feel, but we are creating a brand new 3D engine to evolve the series and bring it up to the expectations of today’s audience. Both were difficult in their own ways; it’s difficult to say which is/was harder. (None of my games are easy! It seems that each one in its own time was difficult! But…I love a good challenge.)"

"I certainly HOPE it survives in this 3D era - and why shouldn’t it? It’s a 3D game, too! “King’s Quest: Mask of Eternity” is a true 3D, third-person adventure game…with some action elements. It’s very “now.” It definitely has its roots in “King’s Quest,” but it also is new and fresh…the whole look and feel is updated. There is a new character to meet, Connor of Daventry, and you can explore SEVEN beautiful 3D worlds to your heart’s content. We also added some “action” elements to give the game more of a “real-time” feeling and to enhance the 3D experience. You kind of know the story - but there are also lots of puzzles to solve in this game, too. The puzzles fit very well into the 3D aspects of the game."-Roberta Williams, 2008

What is harder or easier to design the physic and logic puzzles for Mask, than it was for puzzles in the old days?


 * "Once you get used to it, it's probably just as easy, but its sort of getting your mind around the idea of designing for more physicality, than before. Everytime I've made changes to how you approach the adventure game, you always have wrap your mind around how to do it. When I designed for parsers, then alot of the way I would design puzzles would be based around the parser, based around being able to communicate through sentences, then when we went to the icon bar, then I needed to, we needed to be a little more creative about designing around the idea of using inventory objects, and do a little bit more, and using visuals on the screen better...But when we get into 3-D, and the objects are really there, in a physical forme as far as the computer is concerned, and you can rotate the camera, and look all around it, you can go behind it, objects are inside of them, and look up, climb up, climb down. They could have a solidity to them. So you are able to manipulate objects, much more physical way, and it does require you to think differently as a designer, and I can't say that it was easy at first. I think that I might have stated at one time that three designs were done for this game and the 3rd one, was the one that finally stuck. I think part of the problem was figuring out exactly what to do with 3-d and physicality with adventure games.-Roberta Williams, Talkspot part 2, December 2008.
 * I think just as we went through the puzzle design, and it's always just keep in mind what can we do in 3-d, that couldn't be done in 2-d. How do we really make this a 3-d adventure.-Mark Seibert, Talkspot part 2.
 * Ya, I think a good example might be there is one puzzle, where we, there is a mill house, that's has a water wheel that's on the river, so you walk along the river, and you can see the water wheel is turning, and its being turned by the water in the stream, and you go inside the mill house, there's a turning...mill stone. ...and it's turning and turning, its a big millstone, and up above the millstone is a loft where you can see there is a rope and hook that you want, you know you want to get it, because Connor mentions he might be able to get it. So the only obvious way to get that rope is by jumping onto that mill stone and jumping up again, but everytime he tries, he gets knocked off by this turning mill stone, so he needs to think of a way to stop the mill stone from turning...So anyway you are looking around, and you know you want to get that rope and hook, and try jumping, and you can't do that. There doesn't seem to be any other way inside the Mill House, and be able to get up there, so you go outside, and look around. You can walk all the way around this mill house. You can walk up and down the stream. You can even walk up to that turning water wheel, and get thrown off into the water. But then you notice this tree, and if you click on it, you get sort of a look message, and he says, oh it looks like its leaning over the river. So you can use, get an axe at some point in the game, and he actually chops it down, which causes the tree to fall, and it falls across the river, and it dams it up. Then of course it stops the river from flowing, which stops the water wheel, which stops the millstone inside. So now you can jump up on it, without being knocked off by this turning mill stone, and get your rope and hook. That's an example of using more physicality when it comes to puzzles.-Roberta Williams, Talkspot part 2.

Story Development
Mask of Eternity's storyline went through several phases as the story of the game was developed. Roberta apparently chose Connor, because she felt she couldn't do anything more with the Royal Family, King Graham was getting too old and Alexander was living in the Land of the Green Isles.

Here is a listing of what is known.

Prototype storyline
One of the earliest phases of the game's story (mentioned around late 1995), Connor, then unnamed was to be a marble statue of a knight that was brought to life at the moment of the cataclysm that turned everyone living into stone. The game was primarily going to be in first-person, and switch to 3rd person for cutscenes, and certain puzzle areas.

"KQ8 will be set in Daventry -- at the beginning of the game, at least. YOU will be a brand new character -- a marble statue of a knight which has been brought to life through an accidental reversal of a spell which turned King Graham and his family into stone (by an evil sorcerer)...As far as King Graham, Alexander, Valanice, and Rosella are concerned -- they ARE in the game, but they are the poor victims of the evil sorcerer's spell. YOU -- as a 'former' statue-turned-alive-knight -- are the main character of King's Quest 8. You can save the royal family from the evil spell they've been placed under. You -- as the knight -- can save them and then get the chance to become a 'real man' in the end (a la Pinocchio). Princess Rosella might be SO grateful that he saved her and her family that...who knows?"-Roberta Williams, late 1995

Later comments in 1998, near the release of the game. At first the story of KQ8 was going to involve a sort of “evil magic” which causes everybody in Daventry - including King Graham and his family - to turn to stone while, conversely, this same magic would cause a reverse effect on a stone statue…bringing it alive. Then - this “guy” would have to set out to figure out the cause of this evil magic and try to save the people of Daventry by defeating the source of this evil. As the story (and the game) developed, though, the story began to change.-Roberta Williams, 1998

...and a comment by Mark Seibert also in 1998, near the release o the game. "Marble statue... you mean Connor as being the marble statue? You have to excuse me here, this game has gone through so MANY redesigns that I'm not sure which version you're talking about. My guess is that you're talking about when Connor was a one time supposed to be a statue come to life. Well, the story is close to the same, except that Connor is not a statue guy. He's just a guy that lives in Daventry. As for the interesting plot... yes, but I don't want to give it away."

'Connor mac Lyrr' phase
During a later stage of development, c. 1996, while Ken was still CEO, Connor became the son of a fisherman of Daventry, and was initially named "Conner" or "Connor mac Lyrr". These are some of the few references concerning the 'Connor mac Lyrr' phase of the game;

"The backstory: Twenty years before the time of the game, a magic mask analogous to the Holy Grail exploded into seven pieces which - surprise - were scattered hither and yon on the cosmic winds. In this newest King's Quest installment, we meet Conner, the son of a poor fisherman, born at the instant of the momentous explosion and marked, figuratively and literally, by a piece of the enchanted shrapnel. In the present-day of Conner's 20th year, a horrible chaotic spell sweeps across the land - never mind why, it just does - turning all mortals to stone except the auspicious Conner. His only hope to restore the pebbled populace of Daventry is to locate the seven fragments of the mask...-Gamespot, May 1, 1996"

Here is a section from an article published in InterAction magazine while Ken Williams was still CEO; The Mask of Eternity is no mere sword and sorcery adventure. You enter the Kingdom of Daventry as Connor mac Lyrr (the son of a fisherman), who alone has been passed over by an evil spell that turned every mortal inhabitant to stone. Connor must find a way to restore them to flesh and blood. At the heart of the dilemma is the The Mask of Eternity, which was broken into seven pieces and scattered by the Cosmic Winds to seven different lands at the moment of Connor's birth. A piece of the Mask touched Connor as he was born, leaving a vivid scar on his cheek. He carries this scar as an adult - a sign that he has been marked for greatness. The quest to find the seven pieces of the Mask and restore them to the Island Temple is his destiny. Only by accomplishing this can he end the chaos that now rules the land. -Interaction Magazine, Fall 1996, published while Ken Williams was still CEO of Sierra.

The Computer Show Preview The Computer Show, volume 8, number 9, September, 1996

CGW referred to his name as "Connnor Mac Lyrr" (as late as August 1998), but that was published far into the next phase, the 'Connor' phase, after "mac Lyrr" had already been dropped from his name (in other publications). The name had been dropped nearly a year before the game's release.

Early 'Connor of Daventry' phase
"'With past King's Quest games I focused around the Royal Family,' Roberta Explains. 'But I've done just about as much as I could with the Royal Family. I knew I needed to bring in a new character, and I wanted the character to be less Disney-ish and more cerebral. The spiritual father of Mask is J.R.R. Tolkien not Walt Disney,' she concluded firmly. Connor is very much a new character. He is an inhabitant of Daventry, a kingdom he doesn't rule but whose fate lies in his hands. A terrible curse has turned all of the people living in Daventry, including the Royal Family themselves, into stone. Connor must find the answers behind the curse, including why it's been imposed, who imposed it, and, possibly most importantly, why he alone has been spared the terrible fate of his comrades. Connor is a warrior and it's his combination of strength, cunning, intuition, and intellect that makes him best-suited to save the kingdom."-Interaction Magazine, Fall, 1997

"It would seem the King's Quest series has grown up a bit with the creation of Mask. Evidence of this continually surfaces throughout the game but is especially apparent with the central antagonist and Archarchon, Lucreto. His storyline parallels that of Lucifer, the fallen angel whose attempt to overtake Heaven ends him up in Hell."-Interaction Magazine, Fall, 1997

Late 'Connor of Daventry' phase and release

 * Now - it involves a “normal citizen” of Daventry (Connor of Daventry) who survives the onslaught of evil magic, managing, somehow, to “stay alive,” while the rest of the citizenry turns to stone. Connor figures out that the source or cause of this “magic” involves a sacred golden object called the “Mask of Eternity.” A piece of this mask saved him…and it will be the means by which the rest of humanity will be saved….but it’s up to him to accomplish that immense task.


 * What happens in the game is that the most sacred, powerful object in the world, the Mask of Eternity, is shattered by an evil magic (really, an evil “sorcerer-type” guy). When this happens, “Truth,” “Light,” and “Order” are banished from the world and all of humanity turns to stone, while all the supernatural creatures of evil and chaos crawl out from the dark nooks and crannies of the world and begin to spread turmoil and upheaval throughout the land. Connor, being the only “human” left (because he found a piece of the Mask - which saved him), is the one who needs to find the remaining pieces of the Mask and then return it to its rightful place…and to destroy the evil “sorcerer” who caused all of this mess in the first place. If or when he does so, he will cause “Truth,” “Light,” and “Order” to be restored to the world…and humanity to come back to life. -Roberta Williams, 1998

World Development
What do you do to design any puzzles for games, what do you do first?
 * "Roberta: Any puzzles? Mark Seibert: Story first. Roberta: Ya st...I think to design puzzles, I do think that puzzles come a little bit later, the very first thing you need to do, is you need your quest, you need your goal, you need to know what it is your doing, and then...what I usally start doing is developing my story to go along with the quest, and I develop my story and the map of the world, synonomously, and the puzzles fit into the story, and you work those in one by one.-Talkspot part 2.

'Connor mac Lyrr' phase
Articles concerning the game from 1996 to late 1996 (the first true phase). Will it bear such hallmarks as the Kingdom of Daventry?... Connor begins his adventure in the Kingdom of Daventry, but he doesn't stay there long. Seven new lands await!... The world of King's Quest: The Mask of Eternity reaches from the sunless Underworld of the living dead through the alchemical plains of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire, into the ether of the Celestial Realm--and even to a dark mysterious island temple... -Interaction magazine, Fall 1996.

There may have been discussion of making one large interconnected world, apparently allowing new areas to load on the fly. The zones apparently would have radiated out from Castle Daventry. But due to limitations with the game engine's color palettes, and computer systems at the time, Sierra was forced to make it a linear world, with separate zones. However, this idea was never part of Roberta's plan, and she wanted it to be seperated into different levels. At least two levels were cut (a seaside area and underwater level).


 * "Ya, probably, if we had talked about making it one big world, the thing that really held us back from doing it, was the fact that game was actually palletized, every level was based on a pallete. So we have, you know...the colors in Daventry would be hurt by the colors in the Barrens, which are kinda orange and all that. You have the ice world that's all blue. So, each world has its own little, you know, look and feel which made it alot easier for us to do by separating them out."

-Mark Seibert, Talkspot part 2.
 * "Ya, I think that if you explore one big world, it would get boring after awhile. I always felt the more places and different types of places you can explore is always more fun in the long run."

-Roberta Williams, Talkspot part 2 December 1998.

Daventry would have been much larger zone, with villages, green forests, and farms. It would have taken place during the day (as opposed to the darkness seen in the current game). At one point during the production they added a darker cloudy sky, before finally settling on the pitch black Daventry in the game. The swamp would have been part of Daventry.

There was apparently going to be another zone near Daventry set by the sea, near a seaside tower, in a green hilly area. Another removed zone appears to have been set underwater, with seaweed, fish, and ancient ruins.

Dimension of Death would have been named the Underworld. The art style of the "Underworld" would have been much different, using a Mesopotamian style rather than the current Egyptian motif.

Early 'Connor of Daventry' phase
At this point early 1997 into 1998, the name of the village in the starting area (which made it into the game) would have been known as Daventry (rather than laying "outside Daventry").

Daventry once bustled as a thriving village under the peaceful rule of King Graham and Queen Valanice. Now, continuous darkness covers the land, vile Goblins and monstous Spriggans roam about unhampered, and the entire population has been turned to stone. Connor starts his journey here, leaving behind his home in search for the sacred pieces of the Mask of Eternity-MOE website

There were still ideas to maintain the seaside and underwater levels (including the Hydra ).


 * You talked about a doom like sequence, and a shipwreck underwater. Why was there no swimming in Mask?


 * There is are alot of things I wanted to do, and we discussed doing in KQ:MOE, swimming was one of them. Actually I went through three different designs for that game. Three complete designs. The first two got tossed out for various reasons. Probably alot of which I got a little over exuberant in design, then just this was impossible, forget it. The shipwreck and swimming was part of the first two designs, but by the third the which was the one we went with it was gone, and basically it just kinda came down to time and I hate to say that. It was a three year project even so. We were really developing a new technology here, and there were was alot we had to do, and we were pretty much developing from scratch. Just being able to add the routines for swimming and for underwater currents, and all that was just too much for us to do and get a King's Quest game out. It would have been a four year project, instead of a three year project.

-Roberta Williams, Talkspot Part 1, 1998.

The DOD was still known as the Underworld, the river passing throught would have been known as the River Styx.

"Azriel, Lord of the Dead, once claimed eternal control over this realm. Now, with the evil curse infecting even this seemingly immune region, the 'undead' have a stronghold on the dimension. Passing through this land in search for the key that unlocks the gates of the dead lands, Connor must fight off skeletons and zombies to avoid becoming a permanent resident! And in order to depart from this realm, Connor must find the only way to cross the famed River Styx.-Official MOE Website"

The Underground, included Gnomes looked more like dwarves.

The Barrens were described as the lands of fire, or hotlands (although hotlands may have been a location within the 'lands of fire'). One interesting thing to note is that land would have had still had dry spiny bramble bushes, giving the land some foliage.

The Frozen Reaches was still known as the Frosty Mountains.(Interaction Magazine, Fall 1997) The land would have still had snow covered pine trees, giving the land a bit more life. Snow Demons at this point in time still had horns.

"The seven worlds are: Daventry, Dimension of Death, the Swamp, the Gnome Underground, the Barrens (A lava region), the Frosty Mountains, and the Realm of the Sun (Where the temple for the Mask resides)." -Mark Seibert, 1998

Late 'Connor of Daventry' phase and release
Information concerning early 1998 until the game's release.

"The design of King’s Quest is not finished…and neither is the dialog. Design doesn’t end with turning in a design document. It’s an ongoing thing. You think of new things; you play portions of the game and see that you need to “add” here, or “take away” there; you adjust various aspects of the game; you add, delete, or change dialog; you add more variety/atmosphere/ambience to the worlds; you change characters or add characters. Also - one of the biggest jobs of the designer is to play test the heck out of the game…right up until the minute it ships. You play it and play it and play it until you think you can’t stand to look at it anymore to find each and every little bug, design problem, graphics/animation problem, sound problem, dialog problem, etc. The designer is there at the very beginning - with the initial concepts - and still there at the bitter end…signing it off for shipment."

The Mask of Eternity

 * "The idea I sorta had in the back of my mind in developing this game, its not really heavy, or fleshed out strongly, it was the idea of exploring spirituality a little bit, I don't want to get heavy with this, but the idea of religions maybe, or lightness and darkness, chaos and order, and why people believe the way they do, and I sort of went back to primitive religions, and looking really at all religions, seeing what was some commonalities among them. ...and one of the things I found was the idea of a sun god as either the main god or even even the sacred God we all believe in today has even had alot of sun symbology with him...and so I looked back at, like Mesopotamia had their big god, who was a sun god, and he was shown by his symbol was a golden disk with wings. If you look at our mask that we have here, he is golden, and gold has been symbolic of the sun, because it's an incoruptible material, it always shines, it never tarnishes. You can see he sort of has that sun look, the rays are coming out from him. The wings above his eyes came from the old Mesopotamian god, the winged disk...and also the beard comes from the idea of the lion and Leo, and lions have also been associated with with God, and sun gods, and the sun in ancient religions, and is also a very powerful male symbol...and so I took those ideas and worked with a very good artist, working for Sierra, by the name of John Shroades, and he, I gave him all those ideas, and I gave him different masks he could look at, and the different symbology of various masks, ancient masks, and he came up with this, and I just think it's a very strong symbol."


 * "ya, and the mask is, I mean really...even the idea of the Mask of Eternity, is a term that means essentially...again it is a reference to sort of a god, or old religions of a god. It is sort of like everybody has their own version of what your god could be or what it could look like or stand for. The image or the mask is each person's version or vision of what it could be. Because you could never really see the face of God."

-Roberta Williams, Talk Spot 2.

Combat
Combat was inspired at least in part by Alexander and Abdul Alhazred's sword fighting in King's Quest 6.

'Connor mac Lyrr' phase
"'In dealing with the challenges of finding the seven pieces of The Mask of Eternity, the title gives you more ethical choices than ever before. A prime example is the potential to destroy some of the evil, magical beasts that get in your way - a mode of behavior that was not included in previous games. 'If this was the real world, you might actually have to fight and kill an enemy, says Williams. 'In the Mask of Eternity there are seven instances where you must mortally defeat a monster before you can proceed.'"-Interaction magazine, Fall 1996.

Late 'Connor of Daventry' phase and release

 * The one thing which is quite different from the older “King’s Quest” games is the fact that Connor can fight many of the evil creatures of “chaos” - but, with the good and friendly characters…he is more than a gentleman.

-Roberta Williams, 2008


 * "I have to admit I was a little nervous about it and I never questioned it, I always felt it was the right thing, and I feel time will tell as to how that eventually works out, only I must say by the sales of King's Quest, and by the fact so many people seem to be enjoying it, it must have been the right thing to do. I think combat, got quite a bit of attention and controversy, because they say that's not part of King's Quest, but it certainly can be part of King's Quest, if its a nightly quest, and its good vs. evil, and if it fits into the story, which I think it does very well in this game."

-Roberta Williams, Talkspot Part 1, December 1998.


 * The reason why combat was added, and first of all, I don't think people should take it negatively because combat is definitely can be part of a story, lot of people think combat, that is just an action game, just action. But if you think about some of the great movies that have been out there, some of the great books where combat has been part of it, if you think in terms of adding it to the story, and if it fits very well with the story, then I think it's very appropriate. My idea was I wanted to do a story that was more in like the tradition of the epic games, where you had your true hero that would go out, and think about some of the old legendary figures of King Arthur or Sir Launcelot or Jason and the Golden Fleece. I mean they were all super heroes that would go out and they would fight the monsters and they were working for good. ...and really also if you sorta think about the quest, the quest for faith, or even your inner self. It can be said fighting the monsters, is the same as fighting your own inner demons. But when you think in terms of putting it into the story, fighting chaos, and your trying to set order right, and your fighting evil, I think its very appropriate. How would Star Wars be without Luke Skywalker out there fighting the bad guys.

-Roberta Williams, Talkspot part 2, December 1998.
 * When we started working on the project, we first started by designing Daventry, and ended up with this huge map, and Connor wandering around this big area, with pretty much nothing to do in between the puzzles, and that in connection with Roberta's story, I started recommending lets add things like combat, and health items, and things like that, to give us more things to fill out the world, and to keep the player involved in between the puzzles. ...and so we came up with this very simplistic combat system that I don't think gets in the way of the story, its a very easy to grasp, click on the guys, until he is dead, diablo-like combat. I felt it really added to the system."

-Mark Seibert, Talkspot part 2, December 1998.

Encounters
Originally there was going to be a redcap goblin who was to lurk around the world, and eventually Connor would have to kill him to get by him.

This idea apparently evolved into a Leprechaun inside the Old Castlekeep of Daventry. Although both characters may have coexisted at some point during development. Both ideas were removed before the releasem version phase of the game (he may have made it in as early as the, "early 'Connor of Daventry' phase).


 * "Whatever happened to him?...He tries to...he was kinda there, then he wasn't there, then he was there, then he wasn't there, and then his last iteration which also didn't survive, the little redcap goblin turned into a leprechaun that was supposed to be in the castle keep ruins in Daventry, and at the very last minute that also died out unfortunately. So he kinda went through several different versions before we finally decided we weren't going to have him."-Roberta Williams, Talkspot part 2, December 1998.

The Redcap goblin/Leprechaun was apparently transformed into an encounter somewhere near the castle ruins. According to Mark Seibert, the encounter still exists in the game in some form (This is most likely the Spriggan Leader at the top of the ruins, where the Leprechaun would have been found).

The Swamp Witch's part in the game was originally much larger.


 * "In Daventry there is this Swamp, and there is this Swamp Witch in there, and she kinda looks like a part snake, part alligator, and part mermaid."

-Mark Seibert

She would have been able to change herself into a beautiful woman, to persuade Connor into thinking she was good, and lure her into her castle, before exposing herself, and showing her true form. Conner would have been forced to escape, and fight her for his life. This was removed from the final version of the game as well, and the witch stays outside of her castle. However references to the witch's wiles are still mentioned if you examine the skeletons in her castle. Most if not all info relating to this encounter exists in material relating to the 'Connor mac Lyrr' phase of the game.


 * "Well, it was in the design at one time"-Mark Seibert
 * "The swamp witch turned into a beautiful lady? I don't remember that in the design?-Roberta Williams
 * "Remember in the design, she was going to be like this siren, she was going to be this beautiful woman, that if you followed her up into the top of the tower, she would..."-Mark Seibert.
 * "Oh that's right."-Roberta Williams
 * "That was a long time ago"-Mark Seibert
 * "That was long ago, that was like two designs before the design that we..."-Roberta Williams.

-Talspot Part 2, December 1998.

Fire bugs could be found in the hotlands. Connor would have had to find a special way to defeat them as he couldn't fight fire with fire ('Connor mac Lyrr' phase )

A fire breathing hydra, would have been encountered in ocean near the sea-side town (pictures may have been shown as late as 'early 'connor' phase'?).

Connor would have also encountered a red weeper, presumably more powerful than the standard variety. The skin for the enemy can still be found in the game's graphic files.

While Frost Demons made it into the game, they went through some graphical changes, around the face (notably the removal of the horn on their forehead). Horns were still shown as late as the early 'Connor' phase.

Fire ants went through an even bigger model change, with the original model from the 'Connor mac Lyrr' phase, being completely replaced in the released game.

Graphics for a snow beast exist in the files of the released game, but were not used in the final release. Its unknown if it was a graphic for the Snow Mane, or for something else encountered in the Frozen Reaches.

Graphics for an ice serpent exist in the files of the released game, but were not used. It is assumed it would have been an encounter in the lake in the Frozen Reaches, but are perhaps prototype graphics for the two-headed dragon.

Graphics for a red eyed variation of skeleton enemies could be found in the files of the released game as well. Perhaps representing more powerful versions of the enemies. Additionally another graphic exists for what appears to be skeleton noble, in pharaoh like regalia that never made it to the final version of the game (perhaps it was an alternate graphic for one of the characters currently in the game).

While graphics for mage snow nymphs made it into the game, there was also a graphic for a snow mage healer in the game files of the released game. The character did not make it into the game. She would have presumably been able to heal Connor from injuries.

Items
Silver currency was going to be an extra currency in the game, during the 'Connor mac Lyrr' phase. While it didn't make it into the final release, it is possible to access the silver through an in-game cheat, although it serves no use.

The Woman Behind the Mask: A Q&A with pioneer game designer Roberta Williams
Conducted by Eric Twelker, summer 1998

We recently sat down with Roberta Williams in her Seattle home and chatted with her about the evolution of her games through the years and the ever-changing face of adventure games as evidenced by her next revolution, Mask of Eternity.

You are well recognized as one of the inventors of interactive storytelling. How did it all begin?
Now that I look back, I realize that I was compelled to design an adventure game of my own. As a child, I loved fairy tales. I would go to the library, pick up every fairy tale book I could get my hands on and read them cover to cover. At night, I would go to bed and stay awake creating adventure stories in my head, all along thinking, "Wow, this is a great story!" So, I've always had these stories inside of me that I wanted to somehow convey to others. In the late '70s, I played Colossus Caves [one of the first text-based adventure games] and was immediately addicted to it, playing it for hours on end. I was compelled to get through it and see every path and solution. It was much like what I'd always done, controlling my own stories in a way very different from the linearity of, say, a book. When I finished the game, I immediately wrote the story for Mystery House and Ken, a great programmer, created it on our Apple computer.

===Mask of Eternity departs from the traditional two-dimensional adventure game by using a three-dimensional game engine most commonly employed in first-person action games. How is Mask's story conveyed using this technique?===

In interactive storytelling, it's important to blend the right amount of interactivity and story telling. Phantasmagoria, for instance, was heavy on storytelling, but didn't have too much interactivity. Mask of Eternity is an adventure game on the other side of the spectrum with an emphasis on interactivity in it's virtual world. It's not story-like in the traditional sense: I've experimented with adding as much freedom of the player's control while, at the same time, maintaining a strong narrative.

In Mask of Eternity, the entire world is designed with story in mind. The world is in chaos - order and humanity have been banished and you, as Connor, must restore it. The player learns about the world and furthers the plot by exploring locations, finding and using inventory items and interacting with other characters. And unlike a first-person combat game, even fighting creatures is part of the story. By doing so, the player will discover who these creatures are and why they've emerged into the world.

Tell us a bit about Mask of Eternity's story.
In the opening scene, we see a fantastic world off in the celestial realm. A white-robed, priest-like character approaches a gold mask set atop an altar, and summons to the sky. He transforms into a dark being as lightning crashes down on the altar, exploding the mask into pieces that hail down to the world below. In Daventry, King Graham's magic mirror begins swirling and displays the bad omen of the mask breaking apart. We then meet Connor. While walking down a road the wind kicks up and clouds begin to roil. A piece of the mask sails down from the sky and lands at his feet. Just as he picks up the piece, a storm swirls overhead, the sky turns dark and everyone turns into stone... except for Connor, who is somehow protected by the piece of the Mask. The player will soon discover that it's up to him restore order to the world. Eventually, Connor must face the dark being himself and attempt to banish him from the celestial world.

What were your goals when setting out to create Mask of Eternity?
My goals are always the same: to make the player feel like they are in the game, so much that they forget the real world around them. Playing 2D adventure games, I always wanted to have the ability to see what's behind the backgrounds, peek under a table or on top of a roof and explore every corner. In Mask of Eternity's 3D world, the player has a much better sense of really being there. Mask of Eternity is a beautiful and open environment that is very exploratory. You're no longer limited to the flat picture on the screen.

Tell us about the puzzle elements in the game.
The puzzles are based around connor's experiences and actions. Some puzzles involve finding and using inventory items to get around a problem. For instance, in one part of the game, Connor must find a way to cross the River of Death. To succeed, Connor must find a way to activate a lever on a drawbridge on the other side of the river [nope, we won't give away the solution!]. In another part of the game, Connor must find a way to enter the sanctum of the Lord of the Dead. To do so, Connor must cross tiles, each bearing a symbol, in the right order. But first, Connor must search for clues that will decipher the correct order of jumping across the tiles for getting across.

What is the theme of Mask of Eternity and what does the mask itself represent?
Mask of Eternity is about spirituality: what is means now and through the ages and where people have searched for it. As you go through the game, you sense that Connor is looking for his own meaning and discover the game's main themes: truth, light and order. Puzzles in the game revolve around these themes. For instance, the City of the Dead's theme is truth. When he reaches this section of the world, Connor is tested and, if successful, will be affirmed that he is the deliverer who will bring truth back to Daventry.

The mask stands for the all-powerful being, the creator. The mask is sun-like and, in many religions, the sun represents God. In most religions, like the sun itself, you never can look directly at the creator unless you become immortal. There are certain places in the game's quest - obstacles, puzzles, interactions with guardians that you meet - where the player is trying to accomplish that feat. It's all integrated into the story in such a way that people who know what to look for will understand the overall quest.

Roberta Speaks Out
Roberta Williams Speaks Out on JustAdventure.com:

The question you asked above is the reason King's Quest: Mask of Eternity was different. The adventure game as we all know and love it is a dead animal, except for those of us who love and revere them. The problem is that those of us who love and revere them are becoming a smaller and smaller audience. If I had created King's Quest 8 exactly the same as the other prior seven, it might have gotten great reviews and kudos from its biggest fans, but it wouldn't have sold as many copies as it has ... I'm sure of that. The people who seem to hate Mask of Eternity are, ironically, King's Quest's biggest fans, and the people who seem to love it are those people who have never played an adventure game before, but who have played lots of other types of games ... especially more action games.

The idea was to bring a brand new audience into adventure game playing--those who would never even consider playing an adventure game. The idea was to show all of these "new" gamers that there is another type of game out there--the adventure game--and that it, too, can be cool. Rather than the hard-core adventure gamers out there being mad at me for "tinkering" with the adventure game, they should understand that, rather than just sitting around and doing the same old thing, I was trying to bring new blood into the genre ... thereby trying to keep it from dying. Times change, and tastes change ... they just do, and you've gotta do what you've gotta do to try and reach the biggest possible audience to keep a genre alive.

One final comment on this: Even though in reviews of "pure" adventure games--places where an adventure game is an adventure game, and never the twain shall meet with other types of genres--Grim Fandango seems to garner great reviews while Mask of Eternity is a dud, a traitor, and a terrible game ... Mask of Eternity has outsold Grim Fandango two to one. What does that prove? It proves that I was successful in bringing in new people to the adventure game marketplace, which is good for all concerned, but ... it also means that there will probably be some changes in the adventure game that today's big fans of adventure games will have to accept. The old-style adventure game that we all know and love will just not cut it in today's world.

Josh is right in that it is "different." No doubt about that. As far as the term "commercial" is concerned, that really has no meaning for me. All of my games have been "commercial." They've never not been commercial. What does the word commercial mean? It means "having to do with commerce," and also, "designed for profit or mass appeal." Now, I ask you, what's wrong with that?! If a game doesn't sell, it's not going to stick around and there's certainly not going to be another one! When you design a computer game which takes a couple of years and a lot of money, you obviously want as many people as possible to see it. I have always approached each and every one of my games with the idea that I wanted as many people as possible to play them. Maybe some people see that as offensive; I don't.

I do want to let everyone know, though, that nobody loves adventure games more than I, and it has always been my goal to have as many people as possible experience this wonderful genre. However, it's important that people understand, Josh Mandel included, that things change and tastes change. The adventure game has to change also, albeit perhaps not exactly in the same way that I changed it in Mask of Eternity. If experiments are not done to find how to mainstream the genre or to make it more "commercial" for today's audience, it will die ... and then everybody loses. Those "purists" may have gotten their way to keep adventure games from evolving, but all they would have really succeeded in is helping to kill it.

Information from Mark Seibert
Monday, June 22, 1998

It's been awhile since my last progress report. The game is really starting to look good, and we're heading into the home stretch as far as development goes. That's why this will probably be my last progress report. The design is complete, the technical issues have been mostly resolved, we're down to just doing it, and I don't want to take my attention off of the most important thing...Making a great game!

So what have we done, and what can you expect? Most of the engine issues are resolved, or are very close to being resolved. Here's what we have been adding and tweaking:

Real shadows - Not just some blob of color below the character, this is a shadow that is generated on the fly from the actual character moving. These shadows can be turned on separately for Connor, the characters, the monsters, and the objects (Depending on your machine speed).

Dynamic Lighting - Lights in the world effect the characters, the objects, the terrain, and the buildings around them. This has created a lot of great moodiness in the worlds. In addition, these lights can move around, flicker, and can effect distant objects causing light pooling effects.

Translucency - We added this effect to water, magical items and effects, spirits, glass, etc. All of these translucent objects can have their opacity set to optimize their appearance in the world.

Monster AI - Yes, it's been controversial. King's Quest: Mask of Eternity will be the first King's Quest that has an element of real-time combat. Remember King's Quest VI? Wouldn't it have been fun if you could have participated more in the final sword fight ? Well now you will! Don't worry though, this is not a combat game, it's just one of the many parts of the game that make it fun. We have included 3 difficulty levels for combat: Easy (For those who might have difficulty with fighting), Normal (The way we think it should be), and Hard (For those who are gluttons for punishment).

3D - It's a whole New World out there. You're no longer stuck moving from picture to picture. You move Connor and the camera where you want, when you want. There's never been a more open explorative game.

Adventure - Yes, this is what it's all about! King's Quest has always been an adventure, and King's Quest: Mask of Eternity will be the biggest and longest King's Quest to date. The seven worlds are huge. Exploration is a major factor. A map for each world uncovers as you explore every road, house, cave, and structure. As you explore, you'll meet over 50 characters to talk to, dozens of creatures to fight, and a plethora of puzzles to solve.

Story, Story, Story! - Roberta has always been a great storyteller, and she won't disappoint with this new episode in the King's Quest saga. As in all King's Quest's you will discover a story steeped in myth and lore, ancient civilizations, and characters from legends of old.

Well, as you can tell, we're all very excited about this game. It feels very new and fresh. We can't wait to get this done and out for you to play. So, with no further ado, I'm going to get back to work and try to get this thing done!

-- Mark Seibert, Mask of Eternity Producer

December 1998; What would the game have lost the most if you had made in the KQ7 style?
 * "I think the ambience, I think the game has a wonderful mood to it, it's kinda of dark and mysterious and look of the screen and the music and the sound effects just make for a wonderful experience. I don't think it would have gotten the same experience from cartoon animation."

-Mark Seibert, Talkspot Part 2.

"Yes, this was the only KQ game that was not fully developed at one location. The idea was to leverage the 3D engine Dynamix was building in Eugene. We were to use their engine and focus mostly on content.  The problem was that the engine work ended up WAY behind schedule and that had disastrous results on our content development.  To make a long story short, we finally took what they had and finished it ourselves.  Unfortunately, by the time we did this the project was way behind schedule, way over budget, and we still didn't have an engine.  We scrambled to complete the project and it unfortunately showed.  It saddens me to have had the King's Quest series end with a product that suffered so."

"Yes, the castle entered through the passageway behind the waterfall is Castle Daventry. The reason you don't see much of it is that it was damaged in the opening scene. That is why you can only go so far in before you find blocked passageways. We wanted to originally let you explore the entire castle, find the royal family turned to stone, etc, etc, but as you know, things had to be cut and this was one of the many things that was easy to have a story reason why not to do it."

"So yes, many things were cut - the leprechaun, the Red Capped goblin, I think two complete levels, and then MANY major cutbacks on what is there. As you point out, a good example is the Swamp Witch. In the original script as it was developing, her part was much larger. But as we had to devote time to technical issues, the aesthetic issues and the amount of detail and breadth of content continued to get chopped.  Remember, this was also right at the time the industry was saying that 'Adventure gaming is dead.'  It was not easy to convince marketing to invest more to develop an adventure game. The end result was that we shipped what we could, and it was a pretty sad showing for such a great series." Information about Mark Seibert and Roberta's discussion of King Graham's age in the game; "I’m sure we had this conversation. Since Graham is still around, it can’t be too long of a period of time, but I don’t think we ever gave it an exact time frame – I think we merely discussed it in terms of “Graham is now old.”"

"'Roberta's point of view was that the 'Dimension of Death' was not the under world(KQ6). It was a unique and different place.'" -Mark Seibert, Mask of Eternity's Producer. -Mark Seibert, March 11, 2006.

Just Adventure Interview


 * What is Roberta Williams currently doing with MoE?
 * She has been the designer from day one. She's still very much involved in the process.

Another interview with Mark seibert from 1998; "Roberta is great to work with. Since she has a winning track record here at Sierra, her projects are given more freedom to experiment. In addition, she seems to feel very comfortable to have everyone on the team give input to the project. On her projects we've tried to make it a very creative and open environment for the team."

Talkspot Interviews
The three part, Talkspot radio interviews made several weeks/months after the release of Mask of Eternity. Discussing the success of the game, and the design of the King's Quest Series, and King's Quest: Mask of Eternity in general: What is your favorite games?
 * Mask of Eternity Talkspot 1/3


 * Oh gosh, My favorites are...obviously the latest one I just did, I gotta mention that one, King's Quest: Mask of Eternity. Beyond that, Phantasmagoria, I really just enjoyed working on that. King's Quest V, King's Quest 4, and The Colonel's Bequest. If I had to name any of them those would be them."

What characters of yours would you license to another company?


 * "Well, right now I'd have to say Connor, from the Mask of Eternity, because he's the latest and greatest. You know, I really really like him, and I think he's a great guy, as far as guys go, he's a great guy, and a great character."

-Roberta Williams


 * Mask of Eternity Talkspot 2/3
 * "Ya, my favorite spot is, there is this place where you can get inside Castle Daventry, and it's the dining room and throne room, where you can see the pictures of King Graham and Queen Valanice and then also the Magic Mirror, which reminds me of the Older Games, so that's my favorite place."-Roberta Williams


 * Ya, I like the pictures of Graham and Valanice in the castle, because we actually went back to the original paintings from KQ5, and scanned them in, that was kinda fun. Personally, I like the ruins, the castle ruins, because their kinda fun, and there are a few trick traps there, that are kinda fun to play with.

-Mark Seibert


 * "Ahem, and you can get some good views from there also"

-Roberta Williams
 * "...and there is a little secret place you can find, and get a stash of cash...behind an illusionary wall."

-Mark Seibert
 * Mask of Eternity Talkspot 3/3 File Wanted

Making of Mask of Eternity
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