Leaked Pictures Reveal Cancelled King's Quest 9

[TheReturnofDMD]

http://www.adventuregamers.com/blogitem.php?id=26

Few people probably know or remember, but in 2001 Sierra On-Line's new management decided to reboot its dormant King's Quest, Space Quest and Leisure Suit Larry series with new 'reinvented' sequels. Out of the three secret projects in development only Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude ever saw the light of day, garnering mixed critical reception and straying significantly from the original adventure gameplay.

The two other projects were canceled before they were ever announced. Maybe you are curious how they might have turned out, though. Here are two pre-production concept renders for King's Quest 9, courtesy of 'Surfer Girl', an anonymous game industry blogger who has been leaking insider knowledge for a couple of months now.

"Unlike SQ and LSL, KQ thankfully never made it past prototype," Surfer Girl notes.

As for the Space Quest game that never was, AG uncovered a clay model for one of the alien characters way back in 2002 (it appears the image was lost during a site redesign). The game was in development at Escape Factory, and apparently had little in common with the Space Quest adventure games. This wiki page documents everything that was ever known about the game.

[Boogeyman]

Interesting. From what little we've seen, and Surfer Girl's comment, I have a feeling it would have been like MoE.

[MangoMercury]

That's pretty cool to learn about it, but judging by those images..  I'm kinda glad it stayed where it did!

[awesomeasapossum]

Yeah, that was the MOST non-KQ thing I've ever seen. I think that this is more KQ than those screens. Thanks for sharing though.

[Deloria]

Macbeth? I guess...though the plots are totally dissimilar.

[PirateKingChris]

Yuck it looked like a crappy version of Final Fantasy. Note I said CRAPPY VERSION, cause I like FFs. Also KQ isn't an RPG and should never had any elements of one. *cough*MOE*cough*

[Oldbushie]

Yeah, the polygon-count looks as low as FF7. And as cute as the idea of a chibi King Graham would be, it just doesn't seem right.

[tessspoon]

The two other projects were canceled before they were ever announced.

Thank goodness. That looks horrible.

[Shades2585]

Doesn't look good to me. Glad it didn't come out.

[jewelkid87]

Yeah...looks nothing like what KQ should look like

[dark-daventry]

That was NOT KQ... I will not allow them to make Graham look like a Chibi! KQ has to be realistic looking! No cell shading, no Chibi characters, and above all, absolutely NO MoE!!!!!!!!! KQ is a sacred game to me. I worship it, and as far as I'm concerned, TSL IS KQIX! If that game was ever actually produced, I wouldn't have bought it. Also, to note about SQ7. It actually WAS in development, and cancelled. It got cancelled twice actually. I've read into it. Escape Factory made the second SQ7 that was in development. There were renders and even walk animation cycles released (or perhaps leaked). Also, I know this isn't the right thread, but a new LSL IS being made. It's been made official, and will star the same character from Magna Cum Laude.

[Storm]

I dunno, the whole thing seem pretty dubious 
I mean, some anonymous blogger who claims to be leaking insider information, complete with 2 pics of a character that would fit snugly in almost any cheesy console game, doesn't exactly scream 'reliability' to me

If you look at Surfer Girl's blog (the anonymous blogger's site), you'll find a one-line reference to the sttnw blog, where she claim that "In early 2002, it was announced that the three most prominent adventure franchises in Sierra On-Line's portfolio (King's Quest, Space Quest, and Leisure Suit Larry) would receive new versions".
Funny, I've been around here in 2002 and I can't remember anything of the sort. My memory may be crappy, but it's not crappy enough for me to forget Sierra announcing a new KQ.

The Adventure Gamers blog post, published 2 days later, tells a slightly different story regarding dates and who-announced-what, but it's probably based on the sttnw blog as it's quoting it and using the same pics (note the watermark there). It doesn't give a link to the original sttnw blog post, though.

I'm not saying this story isn't plausible. It's very likely that Sierra did consider making sequels at one time or another, but is this really it? telling fact from fiction is hard enough IRL, and on the internet it's even harder
So, allow me to remain skeptical at this point, pending more substantial evidence, such as someone with a real name (and preferably 'Sierra' somewhere on their CV) saying this, or concept renders which are even slightly recognizable as King's Quest

[Yonkey]

I remember reading somewhere either last year or the year before about some girl claiming that her father is working on the "official" King's Quest IX.  I'm not sure if the name was "Surfer Girl" or not, but I remember the information sounding pretty unconvincing.

[Deloria]

I thought it was her uncle and I'm pretty sure it was on SierraPlanet.

[dark-daventry]

yes, it was on sierra-planet. I noticed it and I had some speculation about an announcement of some kind in the compilations. I don't believe it was Surfer Girl. It may have been faked, as I don't even see VU considering something as chibi looking as that. The character doesn't even resemble King Graham at the least. And this game was never actually announced. It was only in pre-production, according to the articles. So that's why you didn't hear about it back in 2002. There was no formal announcement of it's existence.

[angel0fmus1c]

Whoever leaked this, I am glad that it never came through, and I personally think that those pictures should have never seen the light of day under the honored name of King Graham.  Blech. I wouldn't have bought it.

[TheReturnofDMD]

Who says those pictures have to be of King Graham? LSL: MCL didn't feature Larry Laffer but instead his nephew.

[awesomeasapossum]

I remember reading somewhere either last year or the year before about some girl claiming that her father is working on the "official" King's Quest IX.  I'm not sure if the name was "Surfer Girl" or not, but I remember the information sounding pretty unconvincing.

I remember that!

[Storm]

I remember that too! But IIRC the 'my father/uncle is working on KQ' girl seemed pretty cryptic and clueless, I don't think it had anything to do with this

And this game was never actually announced. It was only in pre-production, according to the articles. So that's why you didn't hear about it back in 2002. There was no formal announcement of it's existence.

Pardon me, but:

...she claim that "In early 2002, it was announced that the three most prominent adventure franchises in Sierra On-Line's portfolio (King's Quest, Space Quest, and Leisure Suit Larry) would receive new versions".

See the quotation marks I'm using there? That's because the text is quoted directly from that article (I actually just cut & pasted it here). She's the one claiming those games, or at least intentions to make such games, were announced

[Boogeyman]

Who says those pictures have to be of King Graham? LSL: MCL didn't feature Larry Laffer but instead his nephew.

1. Graham never had a beard.
2. Graham would NEVER go on adventure without his usual attire!