The Silver Lining

The Silver Lining is a fanmade sequel to the series in development by Phoenix Online Studios and is a game inspired by the King's Quest series. The game will attempt to give unofficial answers to many of the perceived unsolved questions which fans had and also to give a climatic resolution to the series.

Phoenix Online Studios had received a special fan license in November 2005 from Vivendi Universal (then owners of the Sierra brand and King's Quest IP), allowing them to make the game after being given a Cease and Desist by Vivendi that September. The game was however given a second Cease and Desist a year after Actvision acquired Vivendi entertainment, in February 2010, but the team, through negotiations with Activision managed to secure a continuance of their fan license, which was announced on June 26th 2010.

The game is said to begin during a celebration in the Green Isles that goes horribly wrong when a dark enchantment befalls the land. From there, King Graham embarks on a journey to reverse the spell, but as he does, he starts finding out that there's much more going on than what meets the eye. The story eventually tells the tale of two societies -- the Black Cloak Society and the Silver Cloak Society -- that were at war more than a thousand years ago. At that time, a prophecy was uttered. This prophecy is linked to the Daventry family and somehow explains all the events that have taken place during each King's Quest game. 

A demo for Shadows had been released to the public. In it, Graham begins an adventure to save his son and daughter from the curse put on them by a mysterious man in a black cloak. The game will be released episodically for free, with the first episode, "What is Decreed Must Be" having a release date of July 10th 2010 as announced on June 26th 2010.

Additional Information

 * An unofficial timeline was created for this game by the The Silver Lining team. However, no official source has given specific calendar dates (except for mentioning how much time passed between each game). It should be noted however that The Silver Lining timeline differs from the official references to time between games made in the sierra games, game manuals and official strategy guides. It is unknown if its merely a mistake on their part, or intentional. It is also not known to what extent the The Silver Lining timeline will affect the storyline of their game (I.E. how many specific references to dates will be made within the game itself).


 * Peter Spear had previously expressed interest in writing an unofficial novelization of The Silver Lining for the TSL team.


 * The developers have said that The Silver Lining follows the events seen in the official KQ games rather than the KQ2 remake. So expanded history, new characters, and altered characters from the remake do not apply to the story. "No, our game and timeline are independent of the AGDI KQ2+", according to The Silver Lining chatlog.
 * The unofficial timeline gives dates for the first withdrawal. The King's Quest Companion, the only official source to mention the withdrawals, never actually mentions when the events took place. The manuals never mention withdrawals and rather give a different theory of Daventry's existance, implying that Daventry existed on the earth in the past. The date was formerly 4000 BDC in earlier versions of the TSL timeline, but changed to 10,000 BDC due to inspiration from the earliest known date in the official timeline, c. 10,000 BGC. That is 10.5 millenia ago, that means 10 millenia before the founding of the Kingdom of Daventry).
 * The silver lining timeline and KQ2+ timeline are off by approximately 83 years, and timing is different. For example the events of KQ2 occur over the course of 3 days in KQ2 (AGDI), where as the developers of the Silver Lining decided to spread the adventure across 3 months.
 * The game was formerly known as KQIX: Every Cloak Has A Silver Lining, but was shortened to "The Silver Lining".
 * The game was originally going to be released as a trilogy, under the titles; Part I: Shadows, Part II: The Two That Are One, Part III: Eternities. Each part was to be three chapters long. However, due to various reasons production stopped on parts II, III, and chapter three of part I. it was decided to release only the finished work under the title The Silver Lining. The rest of the story may never be released.
 * On Feb. 28, 2010, it is announced that Activision ordered the fan group to cease development of the game. An online petition to save The Silver Lining was subsequently launched and can be found here.
 * On June 26,2010, it was announced that an agreement had been reached between Phoenix Online and Activision and that the first episode of TSL would be released on July 10, 2010.

Cast

 * Graham (unofficial)
 * Rosella (unofficial)
 * Alexander (unofficial)
 * Hassan (unofficial)
 * Shadrack (unofficial)
 * Pan (unofficial)
 * Saladin (unofficial)
 * Edgar (unofficial)
 * Hakim (unofficial)
 * Ali (unofficial)
 * Valanice (unofficial)
 * Cassima (unofficial)
 * Shamir Shamazel (unofficial)
 * The Oracle (unofficial)
 * Lord Azure (unofficial)
 * Lady Aeriel (unofficial)
 * Arch Druid (unofficial)
 * Jollo (unofficial)
 * The Prince and Beauty are to appear. Somehow, the Prince has retransformed back into the Beast.
 * Sing-Sing (unofficial) is to make an appearance. He now has a family.
 * Sarah is to be married to Connor MacLyrr.
 * Oberon & Titania visit the Green Isles to be there for Alexander and Rosella's twenty-first birthday party, and the wedding Rosella to Edgar. They are in a garden near the castle kitchen. Being outside soothed them somewhat.
 * The Lamp Peddler (unofficial) had setup a lamp business in the bazaar in an eastern town square in the village.
 * Mysterious cloaked figure.

Minor Details

 * The The Silver Lining Timeline assumed that the cataclysm in KQ8 only affected Daventry, and not any of the surrounding kingdoms. It did not directly affect the Land of the Green Isles. Princess Rosella was able to travel to the Lands of the Green Isles, distressed about the news of the cataclysm in Daventry. Prince Alexander attempted to lead an expedition to save his father but failed, forced to retreat back to his lands.
 * The Four Winds was the name of a newspaper published and distributed in the Land of the Green Isles. It's main publishing hub was located in the town square of the Village of the Crown.
 * According to the related timeline, fiery wolves were said to have attacked Dahlia.

Locations

 * Village of the Crown (unofficial)
 * The door under the lefthand stairs in the Grand Hall of the Castle of the Crown, leads to a hallway (rather than directly to the kitchen as in KQ6). On the left side of the hallway is the castle kitchen, and at the end of the hallway is the entrance to the castle courtyard.
 * The docks have been put back into service again. Hassan had turned the ferry service into a formal business, and charges passengers for the ride. A ticket booth stands near the docks, and a light house can be seen off in the distance.
 * The Ferry has been fixed by Shamir and is running between the islands again. It no longer appears to be owned or supported by the Castle of the Crown, and has become a formal business.
 * Etheria is not part of Eldritch, they are treated as separate lands. Etheria and Eldrich may be part of the same world as Daventry, rather than in parallel worlds of the Multiverse.
 * The Enchanted Island and Crystal Tower are apparently important to the plot of The Silver Lining.

Trivia

 * Roberta Williams has played the first chapter, and enjoyed it.

Episode 1: What is Decred Must Be Reviews
The first episode of The Silver Lining was met with both high praise and scathing disappointment. However, by July 19th 2010 (nine days after the initial release) episode 1 had been downloaded approximately 23,000 times.
 * Kotaku's review of the first part; What is Decreed Must Be (critical)
 * G4's review of the first part. (mixed)
 * Adrenaline vault review of part 1 (mixed)
 * Justadventure review of part 1 (mixed)
 * national examiner review part 1 (critical)
 * impulse gamer review of part 1 (mixed)
 * gamersdailynews.net review (mixed)
 * honestgamers.com review (mixed)
 * Project COE Gaming News Galore review (critical)
 * gamers with casts review (mixed)
 * colony of gamers review of part 1 (critical)