King's Quest VI - A Multimedia Masterpiece

Ro berta Williams Best-Selling Adven ture $\ is Re-defining CD Games

In a recent review of King's Quest VI in QuestBusters magazine, Peter Spear called the best-selling epic "proof that the era of CD gaming is upon us."

Bold words, considering the multimedia version of the game had not been released at the time and that Mr. Spear was simply anticipating just how good this ground- breaking game would be on CD. He listed all the reasons that King's Quest VI needed to be played in the CD version: Extensive animation, dialogue that begged to be heard instead of read, a dramatic opening cartoon that was pared dramatically to fit on the disk version. But he summed up the main reason in his final paragraph.

"It is because imagination has no limit and current hardware does. There are other games proving this point today, but King's Quest has always been the benchmark. It is the end of one era, and when it is released on CD, it should be the beginning of another."

The era of CD gaming has arrived. King's Quest VI, which is being finished for CD- ROM as this article goes to press, is the best proof that multimedia is no longer the future of computer gaming. It is the high- res, full audio, 3D-rendered present.

A True Multimedia Experience

The King's Quest VI CD team, under the direction of the game's lead programmer, Robert Lindslcy, clearly had their work cut out for them. Given the rich design of the game and the spectacular art and animation of the original disk version, it was tempting to simply port the game over to C.I) like so many game companies are now doing. Thankfully, the game had been designed with an eye toward the final CD and the team set out to build a true multimedia experience. ^^

The proof of this comes up immediately when you start the game. The story opens with a spectacular introductory cartoon. developed by the Hollywood animation company Kronos, best known for their special effects work on the movies Halman Returns and The Lawnmower Man.

On the disk version, this cartoon took up eight megs of hard-drive space and ran about three minutes. The CD version, in contrast, runs seven minutes and spans a massive SO megs of CD space. It includes many sequences and conversations not

found on the original disk opening.

The entire sequence is animated in a process called "3-D rendering". Simply put, this creates a 3-D model of a world where the point of view can shift in full motion video. This creates dramatic camera movements that give the player the impression he is truly moving around the room, looking at the characters from many angles.

This is just the beginning of the visual feast that awaits a player in King's Quest VI.

A spectacular 50-meg cartoon opens the story. The i-D rendering was executed by Kronos, a company that worked on Batman Returns.

The new talkers are high-res, with the lip- synched voices of Robby Benson and others.

Enhanced Graphics and Animation

Players running the new King's Quest VI CD or disk version under Windows will see improved, high-res graphics in many parts of the game. High-res graphics have been added on all talkers (the close- ups of characters during conversation), all inventory items, and the icon bar. k The talkers have also been overhauled to •.include accurate lip-synching during Conversation. Using the same critically- acclaimed technology that Bright Star (Sierra's sister company in Seattle) used on Alphabet Blocks, the enhanced talkers

By Kurt Busch

advance the film-like feel of the game, giving one the impression that he or she is controlling an interactive movie or cartoon.

It's these talkers that truly set the game apart from its disk-based counterpart.

Robby Benson Leads a Talented Cast

While the press praised the multimedia

nature of Sierra's earlier CD games, critics were often disappointed with the acting abilities of the employees who did the character voices. Last year, Sierra began to use professional actors for many roles (including Gary Owens as Roger Wilco in the multimedia Space Quest IV).

King's Quest VI on CD shows the wisdom of this move. Professional actors were cast to play all parts and the resulting quality is phenomenal.

Robby Benson, who gained critical praise for his portrayal of the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, stars as Prince Alexander, crossing an intricate and dangerous world in his quest to save his true love, Cassima. Bill Ratner, one of Hollywood's most sought-after voice-over artists, plays the narrator. In all, over 30 professional voice actors comprise the cast of King's Quest VI.

Sierra went to John Grayson, a Hollywood talent coordinator, to cast the various roles. After the actors were selected, recording was done in a studio in Southern California. The recordings were then synched to the talkers in Sierra's studios outside Yoscmite National Park.

More Music on Multimedia

As a final treat, the full audio recording of "Girl in the Tower", the love theme of Kind's Quest VI. was added to the CD. Written by Sierra composer Mark Siebert, with lyrics by Jane Jcnson (who shared design and writing duties with Roberta Williams on King's Quest VI), the haunting song plays as the final credits roll in the game.

What's Next for CDs?

King's Quest VI will also be released as a Mac and Mac-CD title. In the meantime, Roberta Williams is hard at work on Phantasmagoria, a top-secret, CD-only

title that will once again stretch the technological limits of the format when it's released early next year. The age of CD gaming is truly upon us. Sr