Fan-Made Space Quest Prequel Released

An anonymous reader writes "Earlier this week, a new fan-made prequel to Sierra's Space Quest series, Space Quest 0: Replicated, was released. Designed by Jeff Stewart, Replicated features a hilarious story centered on cloning, retro graphics and interface, and tons of the wacky death scenes that made the SQ games famous in the first place. You can download Replicated at the Virtual Broomcloset." I adored Space Quest in my younger days... not sure if this will be worth it, but it brings a tear to my eye to see new AGI games being fan created ;)

I wonder...

[Quill]

How long before this project gets shutdown because of copyright or trademark violations?

Same applies to the Fan-Made Sequel [sq7.org].

Re:I wonder...

[Oaktree_b]

I wish Sierra would get it's head out of the sand and make more of these wonderful games. I used to love Leisure Suit Larry as well as Space Quest, but I guess they've shut down the funny game department. Chances are slim to none that they'll make another game from either of these franchises. See allowe.com for details on Larry's demise. Polyester never looked so good...

Re:I wonder...

[RyanFenton]

Forget copyright violations - How long before it's shut down for bandwidth loss due to slashdotting?

Ryan Fenton

Re:I wonder...

[mbourgon]

The file is 658K. Don't worry.

Re:I wonder...

[RyanFenton]

The file is 658K. Don't worry.

Famous last words.

Ryan Fenton

Re:I wonder...

[cswiii]

I'll be dreading the hour... mostly because they host my shell account, too :P.

Re:I wonder...

[Alpha_Nerd]

Sierra doesn't even own the rights to the name Space Quest... Space Quest is a registered trademark of Children's Museum of Indianapolis.

Re:I wonder...

[Surak]

Yeah, but they own the rights to the characters and the names of the characters, so, yes, they could sue for copyright and/or trademark infringement.

Don't believe me? Put a picture of Mickey Mouse on your Website and watch how fast you get a cease and desist order from Disney!

Re:I wonder...

[stickb0y]

Just because the Children's Museum of Indianapolis owns a "Space Quest" trademark does not necessarily that Sierra can't too.

Don't forget that trademarks are adjectives; they're specific to particular domains.

Re:I wonder...

[puntloos]

Actually according to This Slashdot Article [slashdot.org] pointing to This Slate Article [msn.com] making a sequel should be (but isnt, as far as corporations are concerned) legal..

Where's Leisure Suite Larry?

[Saint Stephen]

I would love to see another installment of LSL. The only game (or movie, or anything) that literally made me fall out of my chair laughing (something In Passionate Pattie).

KQIV, SQIII, and PQ1 were some of my favorite games as a kid. I wish they could find some way to capture the flavor using updated tech. Maybe they should let us type commands instead of using the mouse again... I dunno... Games just aren't as fun any more.

Re:Where's Leisure Suite Larry?

[evilroot]

For most people, such is an unfortunate side effect of becoming an adult. Today's kids don't seem to be having any trouble enjoying current games as much as I did the old ones.

Re:Where's Leisure Suite Larry?

[Ashen]

I know a lot of people my age, and even people who are older who still really enjoy video games.

I lost interest in them. Playing video games seems like such a chore. I get much more pleasure out of arguing with people on slashdot. :P

Re:Where's Leisure Suite Larry?

[stinky wizzleteats]

I must disagree. Modern games are brainless eye candy. My four year old actually enjoys playing the Linux games (the collection of puzzle games that come with Mandrake) more than Win32 direct3d flight sims and FPSs.

Yes, my four year old plays FPSs. This is because Serious Sam has hippie mode.

Re:Where's Leisure Suite Larry?

[hoagieslapper]

What's wrong with using the mouse? The Monkey Island series was great.

I will agree with you that the 'mouse' versions of the Quest games are not nearly as enjoyable as the typing versions.

Those were the days, when men were men...

[Anonymous Coward]

and all games did not use variants of the same plot. Over and over again.

Re:Those were the days, when men were men...

[talon77]

What are you talking about? I don't think I have ever read a more incorrect statement. Even games just by sierra at that time were radically different in the plots, king's quest, space quest, quest for glory, police quest, leisure suit larry, robin hood:conquest of the longbow, conquests of camelot, codename:iceman, etc..

Those plots are some of the greatest story lines ever in games. Back then is when people actually put some thought into the story, and the end result of the game was worth it to millio

PC only

[sebi]

It doesn't explicitly say so on the page, but the game seems to be Windows/Dos only. The download-able zip doesn't include a read-me, but it does include an .exe.

Re:PC only

[Nicolas MONNET]

On top of that, it doesn't seem to work with either the latest Wine or WineX. Might need some tweaking, it looks like it could need an original msvcrt.dll.

Re:PC only

[JMcEttrick]

This game is written in Sierra On-line's old AGI, language, which compiles to bytecode, so it can then be run on any platform for which there is an interpreter. In the 80's this allowed Sierra's adventure games to run on DOS, Apple II, Amiga, etc.

To run it under GNU/Linux, try http://samhain.cc.huji.ac.il/agi/ , wherein lies a linux AGI interpreter (and studio for game creation). I didn't try it, but it ought to work.

Re:PC only

[Bostik]

I just experimented with NAGI [agidev.com] out of mere curiosity. Unpacked the zip of SQ0 to a separate directory and ran NAGI there. *poof* Instant jump to opening screen and on with the game. From the short experience it seems to be very true to the originals.

As if I didn't have problems with my personal scheduling already. Damn.

Don't worry

[xant]

I started at noon today and I'm 81% done with it (score 81/101 :-) . Not too long, but is it good? Well.. I just spent 8 solid hours playing it :P I intend to finish before I go to bed...

Re:PC only

[John_Booty]

This game is written in Sierra On-line's old AGI, language, which compiles to bytecode, so it can then be run on any platform for which there is an interpreter. In the 80's this allowed Sierra's adventure games to run on DOS, Apple II, Amiga, etc.

Ah, I didn't know that! That explains why all the Sierra games game so god damned slow on my IIgs. Good idea, but maybe not when computers were chugging along at 1-3 mhz. I still loved the games, though. :D

Re:PC only

[nsonneveld]

The interpeter that comes bundled with SQ:Replicated is actually called NAGI which is a clone of the original Sierra AGI interpreter. It has been ported to Linux.

Debian Package of NAGI [debian.org](will probably have more luck with this)

NAGI homepage [agidev.com]

If you're interested in writing your own AGI games, you might want to check out the rest of the site. [agidev.com]

- Nick Sonneveld

Re:PC only

[mechugena]

Do you know of any interpreters that make the later games (SQ3 and higher) work on WinXP? NAGI doesn't seem to recognize those games.

Re:PC only

[Jonner]

It seems to work fine with Sarien [sf.net] as mentioned in the shameless plug. In fact, everything was amazingly intuitive. I saw the post about Sarien, downloaded the source tarball, did "./configure && make", went to the directory of the game, ran sarien, and it was up and running.

Re:PC only

[Anonymous Coward]

You get stuck in the pod if you use Sarien (i.e. the game is unbeatable).

Re:PC only

[Midnight Thunder]

It doesn't explicitly say so on the page, but the game seems to be Windows/Dos only.

That's what I noticed as well, so I decided to go off on a quest of my own see what I could find. Turns out the best place to go is to the AGI Development Site [agidev.com] and see what's available. You will need to download one of the interpreters, which are listed on the 'links' page.

The one I decided to download was the Java AGI [sourceforge.net]. It comes with no documentation so you will need to compile it yourself and then realise that you need t

Re:PC only

[Midnight Thunder]

Thanks - Sarien works wonders. Now if only I could get past the poisonus plants.

Re:PC only

[Midnight Thunder]

double-click on the folder that contains the files.

Re:PC only

[sebi]

As opposed to what, a console version?
What more do you need than a .exe?

Slashdot still is a non Windows-centric site. So people using other operating systems like Linux or Mac OS X might be interested in more than an .exe. But then the majority of visitors seems to be using IE/Win so maybe it really is not an issue.

Erg, those were the days.

[Oscar_Wilde]

Hmmm, its not very often a slashdot story makes you feel like turning your monitor resolution down to 800x600....

And thats a fact I'm very glad of.

Incidentaly, people might like to check out The Lost Chapter [frostbytei.com] for more fan-made adventures in the SQ universe.

Re:Erg, those were the days.

[Jmstuckman]

What are you talking about? 800x600 for what?

Re:Erg, those were the days.

[honkycat]

nah 800x600 is too much.. 320x200 should be enough

Tierra Entertainment

[master_p]

http://www.tierraentertainment.com/

They have excellent remakes of the King's Quest 1 and 2(especially).

Re:Tierra Entertainment

[Haak]

And here [brinkster.com] is a fanmade sequel to Zak McKracken.

Re:Tierra Entertainment

[Deusy]

Although their efforts (whilst being very good) can't touch the ambitions of the KQ9 [kq9.org] effort.

Seriously, check out the screenshots [kq9.org]!

The thing about fan remakes, is arguably more passion is put into them than the originals whose authors are often in it for the momey. Every member of a fan remake is a fan and wants to make the game as good as possible.

Fixed version

[pacc]

"I bought too much beer, drank it all, and can't finish my quest!"

These people will have to restore a saved game, but it won't happen again.

It seems like this latest version can prohibit you from bad drinking habits. It must be a programmers dream to be able to correct buggy users.

Running it on *nix

[adamsan]

Does it work with Sarien, the linux AGI interpreter, then?
http://sarien.sourceforge.net/

Re:Running it on *nix

[cesman]

Yes... At least it loads up. But I'm stuck in the first room. It has been a while since I've played and AGI game, so I don't remember any commands.

Re:Running it on *nix

[mjrauhal]

Sarien worked for my until trying to launch the
escape pod. Then the game got stuck, while still
accepting input.

Nagi, on the other hand, got me onto the planet.
So, apt-get install nagi ;)

Re:Running it on *nix

[Captain Zion]

I'm playing it with Sarien (CVS version) and found two bugs:

• Message boxes when talking to the tree
• Restoring savegames when you're dead doesn't work very well (sometimes you need to restart the interpreter).

I'm investigating the savegame restore problem, I'll submit a patch soon. Other than that, the game seems to play very well (right now I'm on Mitos 15 with 83 of 101 points.)

Shameless plug

[almightyjustin]

This game was written using the old Sierra AGI engine, which used bytecode and intepreters to allow games to be run on just about every platform back in the day (PC, Amiga, Mac, Tandy, even Apple II and CoCo).

Sarien [sf.net] is a very mature reverse-engineered interpreter that carries on that tradition and will run on just about every modern platform (protected-mode DOS, Win32, *nix, pre-OSX Mac, OSX, Photon, PalmOS, even original platforms like real-mode CGA DOS and Amiga). It even offers improvements over the original AGI like high-res graphics and multi-channel sound even on PCs.

*Disclaimer* I'm an official project member, so I may be slightly biased. ;)

Re:Shameless plug

[named]

It certainly loads up in sarien, and everythin up until the escape pod runs fine.

I do the appropriate things in the pod, including removing the virus, but it won't do anything after that. Something appears to not quite work right. I've tried all of the different interpreter versions, and it still doesn't work. I've even tried not removing the virus, and retrieving (and not retrieving) the money from the char.

Symptom: roger's hand doesn't fully retract after pulling the throttle. The doors in front of

Re:Shameless plug

[adamsan]

I've had problems restoring save games but have made it onto the planet on the OSX version. Are you using Sarien 0.7.0a1?

Re:Shameless plug

[named]

No, I'm using the debian supplied v0.7.0. Huh. Sound and playability would be nice, but I think I'll stick with just playability ;)

Re:Shameless plug

[Mr. Frilly]

i just downloaded the nightly build off the web site, and that version seems to work fine.

i'm currently in the escape pod, heading down to the planet.

Re:Shameless plug

[named]

At the risk of looking silly by replying to myself, it seems to work just fine on nagi (mentioned previously).

The sound, though, on nagi isn't exactly good. Like, not at all.

Re:Shameless plug

[topham]

I tried using the game on Sarien for the PocketPC; same problem.

Good thing I had already got past that point in the windows version, or I would have thought it was me and not a bug in the egine.

Re:Shameless plug

[qqtortqq]

If there was a palmOS version, I'd never get ANYTHING done...

stuck in the pod

[stinky wizzleteats]

Has anyone figured out how to get the escape pod going?

Re:stuck in the pod

[another_henry]

Push the button, then pull the lever.. worked for me

Re:stuck in the pod

[Lord Ender]

"Has anyone figured out how to get the escape pod going?"

Yes. Enter:

press power
pull throttle

But then I just die. Anybody know how to make that damn pod not blow up in space?

Re:stuck in the pod

[p4ul13]

I got the same results. Lets all compare notes. I got the keycard, crowbar and computer chip. Restored power, then got in the pod. Power, then trottle, then died.

Has anybody found anything else, and has anybody been able to do anything with the garbage chute?

Man I really used to love these games...

Re:stuck in the pod

[feronti]

Take the disk out of the drive... it contains a virus. I think that's how I survived long enough to crash into a swamp. Of course I then proceeded to drown because I didn't get out of the underground aquifer in time.

Re:stuck in the pod

[stinky wizzleteats]

You have to use the survival kit that falls out of the pod. It contains a rebreather.

Re:stuck in the pod

[kisrael]

How do you use the elevator on the first room? I say press button and it tells me there are three buttons there and i should pick one but I dont know how...

Re:stuck in the pod

[pimpybra]

type "press one" or "press two" or "press three"

Re:stuck in the pod

[kisrael]

D'ohh... "press 1" didn't do it.

I'm in for a looooong game ;-)

Re:stuck in the pod

[another_henry]

Push the orange button, it's a distress signal. I'm not sure how to get past the next bit, though

Re:stuck in the pod

[MKalus]

Anybody know how to make that damn pod not blow up in space?

Oh geeze, it has been a while (what? 15 years?).

Anyways, if I remember correctly you have to disable the gun, they blow you up otherwise, there was something in the computer if I am not mistaken.

M.

* SPOILER *

[Grr]

look monitor get disk look monitor now try again

Re:stuck in the pod

[gpinzone]

You are going down the wrong path. Don't go in the escape pod. Go through the garbage chute.

Re:stuck in the pod

[Natasha]

Did you remove the disk from the drive after you powered up?

Re:stuck in the pod

[mateo650]

Im using sarien too and of course I took the friggin disk put when I turn on the power and pull the lever nothing happens!
wtf!

Re:stuck in the pod

[badvictor]

You also need to pull out the virus disk. Otherwise you blow up.

In the underground cave/aquifer

[another_henry]

How on earth are you supposed to get past the purple plants?

Re:In the underground cave/aquifer

[badvictor]

I am in the same predicament!

Re:In the underground cave/aquifer

[another_henry]

Found it! You just avoid them, but you have to use the diagonal keys on the numpad.

Re:In the underground cave/aquifer

[los furtive]

That's just fantastic. I'm using my notebook which doesn't have diagonal keys. Now I gotta figure out how to enable the num pad....this Space Quest thing is getting to real :-P

THANKS!

[Fubar411]

mod this guy way up, I was having a hard time on that one!

Re:In the underground cave/aquifer

[jratcliffe]

take the bottom route, and angle downward between the first two plants - don't try to come in level and then drop. I can't find the walking stick!

Re:In the underground cave/aquifer

[stinky wizzleteats]

I'm not sure you're supposed to *get* a stick per se, but something important happens when you attempt to get one. Reply if you want more details.

Re:In the underground cave/aquifer

[jarodss]

I have done everything that I could think of, no stick, nothing interesting happening.

Re:In the underground cave/aquifer

[stinky wizzleteats]

Go to the forested area to the west of Yoda's house. There is an available stick on one of the trees. At least - it looks available.

Re:In the underground cave/aquifer

[Mr. Frilly]

okay, so you can get a gem either by giving the stick back to the tree, or giving the stick to yoda, waiting for him to leave, and then grabing it from the chest.

what next? i've tried putting glue in the totem mouth, to no avail. and nothing else seems to do anything....

Re:In the underground cave/aquifer

[phong3d]

put the fruit in the totem's mouth and pay attention (but save first)

Re:In the underground cave/aquifer

[Mr. Frilly]

aaaah, found the fruit.

you actually don't need to save, the fruit regrows, so you can go back and get another one.

Fanmade Zac McKracken is ...

[rasjani]

here [brinkster.com] Quite faithfull follower of the original.

DNF?

[ruiner13]

So a prequil to Space Quest was completed by a hobbiest before Duke Nukem Forever was completed by a full-blown company? Not bad. Maybe the DNF creaters should license out to this guy if they are ever going to get that game out.

SQ 7

[dominic7]

Space Quest 7, http://www.sq7.org/ looks great. There's a little teaser trailer in quick time and wow, I'm salivating. I wasted much too much time on these games but I'm ready to waste again

SQ0 on PalmOS?

[Captain Zion]

There is a version of Sarien [sf.net] for PalmOS devices [hkpug.org] -- has anyone tested it with SQ0?

money problems

[stinky wizzleteats]

Okay, how do you come up with enough money to buy a droid? I can only raise $200. I also can't find the key.

Re:money problems

[baldmaggots]

*SPOLIER* You can sell the blaster, the gem, and the armor once you've used it to get past the policeman.

Re:money problems

[stinky wizzleteats]

Cool. Now I'm having trouble dissolving the traffic boot. I can't seem to get whatever sequence of commands is required to squeeze the worm's guts on it.

Re:money problems

[baldmaggots]

did you expect the worm to just "pop"? What do you put on worms to destroy them and where would you get some?

Re:money problems

[stinky wizzleteats]

Okay, I did the salt extraction thing, and bought a droid, and got off the planet, but now I can't get out of the ship once at mitas (or whatever it is).

Re:money problems

[rawrats]

Where do you find worms?

For a moment...

[oddityfds]

For a moment there I thought it was a fan-made prequel to Galaxy Quest.

Re:For a moment...

[phong3d]

By Grapthar's Hammer, I will remember to stop walking before I type my commands.

stuck on miltos 15

[baldmaggots]

Anyone else made it to Miltos 15? I'm stuck in the big room with the chasm (east room is the one with clones in chambers)... maybe I'm supposed to climb in the air conditioning vent but I sure cant figure out how to word it.

Re:stuck on miltos 15

[drenehtsral]

Yes, there are cartridges in the murdered scientist's room, in the media center.

Childhood's Back

[orange_ice]

Ah, this game made my day. It's like something's been missing from my life! Dunno why the text parser is so comforting. And today was about to become a BAD day!

I fired up SQ3 on my girlfriend's computer...

[confused philosopher]

And she looked at me like I was a Vogon.

Whatever you do...

[suqur]

... just make sure you save the game before you've gotten to far and then decide to see what happens if you try typing curse words too many times in a row. :(

stuck in dungeon

[drenehtsral]

Anybody know how I can cross the chasm in the dungeon? My first thought was to tie the rope to the crowbar and make a grappling iron, but it won't let me, and my second thought was to use the board, but the ravine is too wide... Any ideas?

If you dig this

[yem]

Check out Ur-Quan Masters [sf.net].
It's the original Star Control 2, ported to SDL & OpenGL and available FREE for *nix and Windows - including source.

What about a version for XT??

[pair-a-noyd]

I used to play SQ on XT's and a friend played it on his IBM PCjr.

The disks have been lost for many, many years now. Where would you go to find an original copy of it?

I have a working IBM XT with a 10meg +hardcard and an IBM CGA monitor, just begging for me to load some of the oldies up on it! Man, those were the days. I remember playing Zork and THHGTTG (text mode ONLY!) on a Columbia XT clone and an Amdek Amber display, and also on a old Compaq (8086) luggable (sewing machine style) with 2 floppys.

I

Fanmade AGI/SCI games....

[retro128]

If any of you are interested in following suit, the tools one needs to write any AGI/SCI game can be found here:

http://www.classicgaming.com/agisci/ [classicgaming.com]

The tools will also open up the resource files and code for existing Sierra games and let you tweak them. Have fun!

Re:*spoiler* stuck at traffic boot

[Hank Scorpio]

You need to get the towel ... and use it with the brandy ... notice how flammable the brandy is? I'll let you figure it out from there. Oh, BTW, the towel is on the dead guy by the treadmill.