So you want to remake a hero?


A lot of people (myself included) consider Quest for Glory 2 one of the jewels in Sierra's adventure game crown. It's also a much more sophisticated game that King’s Quest and King’s Quest 2. Is it a lot more difficult to remake this game than those games?

AGD#1: Yes, in the sense that there are character stats, skill building and three separate character classes to keep track of with the programming. However, we've started to get this—the most difficult part—out of the way already, so that once we finish King’s Quest 2, we'll have the biggest hurdles of Quest for Glory 2 over and done with, and only the "easy" bits remaining. ("Easy" meaning the rest of the actual game!)

Are you making the same kind of major changes to Quest for Glory as you are with King’s Quest 2? Why or why not?

AGD#1: No, Quest for Glory 2 is a relatively complex game already. King’s Quest 2, on the other hand, is a very simple game, which, when it was made in 1985, was more or less used as a training ground for new artists and programmers at Sierra to cut their teeth on, and learn the ropes of the AGI engine. As a result, King’s Quest 2 always seemed to be the odd game out in the King’s Quest series, being the only game in the series to remain AGI without having a complex plot.

Given Roberta Williams' usual standards for high quality and big budgets, we felt that King’s Quest 2 also deserved similar treatment. However, Quest for Glory 2—as you so eloquently put it—is already one of the jewels in Sierra's adventure game crown, and is already up there with the best in terms of plot and features. So, nope, no major plot changes for Quest for Glory 2 VGA. It's just the graphics and interface we'll be updating.

What prompted you to turn your attention to Quest for Glory over other remake candidates like the Space Quest or Leisure Suit Larry games?

AGD#2: I actually started making Quest for Glory 2 even before we started on Royal Quest or King's Quest VGA. I was just messing around, experimenting with Adventure Game Studio one day and I thought, "Wow, wouldn't it be cool to make a few screens from Quest for Glory 2, just to see how it would look as a VGA game?" So that's exactly what I did. After a while, I really got into it, and finished up a whole bunch of backgrounds from the game. Then I met ADG1, and showed my progress to her. She told me about Royal Quest and suggested that we try making it. I agreed and put Quest for Glory 2 on the backburner, and the rest is now history!

So, Quest for Glory 2 is taking precedence over other Sierra titles for two reasons. First, because it's my favorite game, and second, because it was originally first on the priority list and it's now long overdue! The limitations of AGS were also holding us back and preventing us from progressing on Quest for Glory 2 VGA for a while, but now the engine has enough features in it for us to successfully finish scripting the game.