King's Quest

At E3 2011, one of our goals was to learn all we could about the new reboot of the King's Quest franchise. Fortunately for us, Dave Grossman of Telltale Games was willing to share a few details.

On a cloudy Wednesday of E3, we awoke after a night of E3 parties and other social gatherings to race towards the LA Convention Center.  Our hotel is only a few blocks away so getting there was no issue. Tucked away in the smaller Concourse Hall was the Telltale Meeting Room. Unlike the larger halls, this meant things were very quiet and the lack of flashing lights resulted in far fewer seizures.

Dave Grossman started off our meeting by telling us he would introduce a few details on the new King's Quest reboot but there were many things they would not discuss. Fair enough---we, in the media, and all the fans are starving for details.

The first thing Telltale did, after securing the rights to the beloved franchise, was to begin getting in touch with the original creators. Roberta Williams was one of the first calls and they were eager to get her involved in the franchise. Sadly, she loves retirement and has no desire to get involved with the video game industry. Grossman did not give any reasons why but we can speculate.

Perhaps Roberta Williams realizes that the industry has changed far beyond anything she has ever imagined. She has seen the industry move from PC focussed to now being on consoles. She has also seen games move from floppy, to CD ROM, and finally to newer formats like download only titles.  Other changes are that players demand much more from their titles and if she tried to come back, fans would probably never be satisfied with the results.  

While Robert Williams won't be joining Telltale in this venture, they did leave the door open to her and she offered them the best of luck and advice in how to handle the franchise. Grossman failed to comment on what that specific advice was.

Telltale is also in talks with others from Sierra but won't comment on any names or their status on the project.

Telltale is also unwilling to discuss the style of game the new King's Quest will be. More than likely this is cause they are trying to figure out how to best handle the franchise. They strongly hinted that Space Quest and Quest for Glory reboots could definitely be coming next without officially announcing it. Telltale feels King's Quest was the premier franchise while others in the room argued for Space Quest and Quest for Glory. I fall in the Quest for Glory camp myself.

Dave Grossman also talked about the open source King's Quest project and says they will not try to stop it or any other attempts at bringing back the franchise. They are first and foremost fans of the franchise and feel the more games, the better. 

Sadly, this is about the extent of what we know. We will keep you posted as we learn more.