Telltale King's Quest timeline

[BagginsKQ]

For those keeping count, first announcement was exactly two years on February 17, 2013, and last confirmed information was given about 1 1/2 years ago on June 2011 (from 01/23/2013).

The last major production/development information was made in an interview on May 2011.

It has now been confirmed that the game was cancelled.

Timeline


February 17, 2011: Telltale's Steve Allison (SVP of marketing) announces several franchises at a press conference including Walking Dead, and Fables. Telltale announces that they have obtained a Sierra license, King's Quest to be the first game, other series to follow. King's Quest is thought to be a reboot.
http://www.adventuregamers.com/news/view/21058
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/02/18/kings-quest-reboot-coming-courtesy-of-telltale/

February 18, 2011: Telltale announces King's Quest in a blog post on the Telltale website. It mentions that Walking Dead will be released first, followed by fable (they were projecting for a Winter 2011, and a Q1 2012 release). King's Quest's release is not clear, but implied to be an undertermined point in the horizon, apparently post Fable. Mentions 'reboot'.
http://www.telltalegames.com/community/blogs/id-764

February 19, 2011: Telltale adds King's Quest to the Telltale forum list for people to discuss the game. The first post is by Alan Johnson the Telltale Community Manager.http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22891
March 14, 2011: Interview with Adventure gamer. Confirmed not to be a true reboot.
http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/18536

June 7, 2011: E3, very little confirmed. It's not to be reboot, and will probably star Royal Family of Daventry. Roberta Williams was 'consulted'. Hints that future Sierra games would be after King's Quest, possibly Space Quest or others. Telltale games to be pushed back to 2012 release dates (this moves Walking Dead to 2012).
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2011/06/09/e3-2011-first-kings-quest-details
http://www.destructoid.com/e3-roberta-williams-advised-telltale-on-king-s-quest-203396.phtml
http://www.cvgames.com/previews/kings-quest
September 11, 2011: Gaming Examiner interviews Alan Johson, who tells them that Telltale is working on King's Quest, but it won't be out for a long time.
http://www.gamingexaminer.com/interview-with-jurassic-park-the-games-alan-johnson-of-telltale-games/10877/

March 12, 2012: Fables is pushed back to Q3 2012 (pushing King's Quest further back).
http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/telltales-walking-dead-game-going-gold-soon-fables-planned-for-q3/

March 14, 2012: CEO Dan Connors makes a nod to wards King's Quest Briefly in an interview. He picked up King's Quest because he felt it was a classic IP, and would be similar to resurrecting other classic adventures like they did with Monkey Island. He mentions that they aren't focusing on it yet (article discusses that Walking Dead and Fables are the next priority).
http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/discussing-the-walking-dead-fables-and-the-rebirth-of-adventure-games-with-telltales-ceo/

April 24, 2012: Walking Dead episode I is finally released (after being delayed since winter 2011).

May 16, 2012: Dan Connors confirms, that Dave Grossman, and his group was starting work on King's Quest. It is mentioned that they were trying to put together the staff, and get it into production. They mention that they had talked to alot of people about it. Other than that he said they didn't have much to say about it yet. Still looks like they were looking for a post-Fables release. Walking Dead is their main focus at that point.
http://www.siliconera.com/2012/05/16/how-telltale-wants-to-evolve-the-adventure-game-genre/

June 2012:E3, mostly talk about Walking Dead, showing of Episode 2. No confirmed references to King's Quest, or much of anything else of importance. Not much on Fables either.

July 6 2012: Walking Dead Season 2 Announced.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118317-TellTale-Games-Planning-The-Walking-Dead-Season-Two

November 20, 2012: Walking Dead Episode 5 released. No announcements on the release date of the next game series. Still believed to be Fables next.

February 6, 2013: Telltale launches beta for new website and forums, that will ultimately replace the old website. There is currently no webpage for King's Quest, and no direct access to a King's Quest forum either. However, the forum still shows up through a hidden link (and is useable).
https://beta.telltalegames.com/news/
https://beta.telltalegames.com/community/categories/kingsquest

February 12, 2013: It is announced that Fables game will be more of a tie-in, and won't be called Fables. It is looking more likely that it will be the next game released. Walking Dead Season 2, will be a future release (how far in the future is unknown). It is also mentioned that Telltale has many other projects they are working on at at the same time (but no specifics as to what these projects are, or when they will be announced). IGN appears to assume that this will include King's Quest. Fables was originally to be released in Q1 2012, got pushed back to Q3 2012, but was not released.
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/02/12/whats-next-for-telltale-games

February 17, 2013: Two year anniversary of when Telltale's King's Quest was first announced (nine months from the previous major announcement).

March 1, 2013: Dan Connors states that they aren't ready to say anything about the King's Quest project yet, but will say something when they are ready to talk about it. Rock Paper Shotgun asked if there were anything beyond Fables and King's Quest down the pipeline, and Connors mentions that they have a couple of unannounced projects being sorted out.http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/01/telltale-on-new-ips-beating-jj-abrams-to-the-punch/ Fables and Walking Dead Season 2 are projected for 2013 releases.

April 3, 2013: Steve Allison confirms that Telltale has since cancelled work on the franchise. The forum is still up, so far.
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/telltale-drops-kings-quest-plans/


Note (miscellaneous):
We also know that this year in 2013 that Telltale is expanding in size, to make more games. No idea what they are expanding to make though.
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/11/20/telltale-games-to-expand-starting-in-spring-2013/

Paul Trowe/Replay (3rd party)


April 10, 2012: "The remaining issue, as with King’s Quest, would be licensing the games from owners Activision. Trowe explained that Activision had been a touch unrealistic when he first approached them. Activision told us that they wanted $500,000 up front,” he explained. “And greater than 50% revenue share for those properties. I told them ‘good luck on getting that’, because I don’t think anybody’s going to pay that fee. I can tell you that they changed their tune about six months after that.” But since then Space Quest has been licensed elsewhere, and Replay are currently in negotiations over getting the rights for themselves. “I want to say it’s looking good,” said Trowe, “but right now I’d give us 50/50.”
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/04/10/replay-trying-to-bring-back-space-quest-kings-quest/#more-103251

RPS: So also with King’s Quest, they’ve been uncharacteristically generous in allowing fan projects. Have you seen the project the Silver Lining?
Paul: The Silver Lining wasn’t available for sale…
RPS: That’s right, yes.
Paul:And in addition it wasn’t really a King’s Quest. In my opinion they did an injustice to the King’s Quest franchise.
RPS: That’s interesting, why do you think that?
Paul: I just don’t think it held true to Roberta’s vision, just like I don’t think the Leisure Suit Larrys that have come out after Al wasn’t involved held true to Al’s vision. And that’s why I refuse to work on a Leisure Suit Larry game if Al wasn’t involved. I refuse to work on a King’s Quest game if Roberta’s not involved.
RPS: Would Roberta be willing to be involved, she’s been out of the industry for a while hasn’t she?
Paul: I can’t speak for Roberta, but I can tell you that we’re currently talking to her and Ken.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/04/10/happy-as-larry-al-lowe-on-remaking-his-classic-game/#more-103200


April 12, 2012: "I love the Sierra classics!! Can you bring back King's Quest, Space Quest, or Police Quest? Our good friends over at Tell Tale have licensed King's Quest from Activision. If we do our job right then maybe, just MAYBE we'll be able to partner with them and ruinite the Space Quest team, King's Quest team (go Roberta!!!!) and Police Quest team for re-makes or new versions of those (Space Quest 7 anybody?)."
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1451923705/make-leisure-suit-larry-come-again/#ILoveTheSierClasCanYouBrinBackKingQuesSpacQuesOrP oliQues

June 5, 2012: Trowe related Kickstarter sabotage controversy (false claims/smears about several other competing projects, and sockpuppetry). He later apologies. However it is unclear how much the duplicity affected any previous claims made before it was discovered by MixnMojo and others.http://mixnmojo.com/news/Is-Paul-Trowe-of-Replay-Sabotaging-Other-Kickstarters
http://www.spacequest.net/index.php/topic/286-controversy-paul-trowe-on-the-two-guys/page__st__20__p__2266#entry2266


April 1, 2013: “They had [the King's Quest rights], and we were going to license it from them to make the remakes. I wouldn’t do a King’s Quest without Roberta. [Telltale senior VP of publishing] Steve Allison told me that they have the rights but they don’t have the bandwidth.” Allison offered to look into sub-licensing King’s Quest out to Replay, but Trowe hit a dead end when he brought the conversation over to Activision. ”I talked to the guys at Activision and they were like, ‘No, we’re pulling it [from Telltale] because we’re going to do it ourselves.’
http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/looking-at-leisure-suit-larry-reloaded-and-whats-ahead-for-replay-games-with-paul-trowe/

“Activision’s probably not going to give us the King’s Quest rights,” Trowe told us. “[Telltale] had it, and we were going to license it from them to make the remakes.” Telltale senior VP of publishing Steve Allison told Trowe that it was an issue of bandwidth; the studio behind 2012′s*The Walking Dead simply did not have the resources to handle*King’s Quest, what with a second season and the launch of*Fables both in the works.*

“Then I talked to the guys at Activision and they were like, ‘No, we’re pulling it because we’re going to do it ourselves,’” Trowe revealed. He doesn’t know what the publisher’s plans are for*King’s Quest, but they don’t seem to include either Telltale or Replay. We’ve reached out to Activision for comment and will update this post accordingly when we hear back. Be sure to check out our full interview with Trowe, and to head back here tomorrow for our extensive GDC chat with Telltale CEO Dan Connors."
http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/activision-is-planning-something-for-kings-quest-franchise-rights-reportedly-recovered-from-telltale-games/


Josh Mandel comments (3rd party)

March 8, 2011: "Telltale and I have spoken a bit lately, but there's nothing more I can (or should) say about it! But I would love to be King Graham for Telltale, and I trust them completely with the property."
http://archive.adventuregamers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=574476&postcount=27
Jan 19, 2013: Josh Mandel comments & Chat Log:
"And Activision would be foolish to say, "Here, we're renting you the license to King's Quest. Do nothing with it in perpetuity...Telltale seems to be going in another direction anyway. Walking Dead was a hugely popular license and a big success for them, I think. King's Quest would be a big step backwards, a far less well-known and far less popular license...I think it's been safely reported that Activision and/or the Sierra licenses (except Larry) are up for sale...they *had* the KQ license and did nothing with it, opting instead to pick up a license of a national television show that certainly didn't need Telltale's help."
http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=763862&postcount=122
http://pastebin.com/ktzRV5FU

[BagginsKQ]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/04/10/replay-trying-to-bring-back-space-quest-kings-quest/#more-103251

This one is tangentially interesting as in April 2012 the month before the Siliconer article, apparently according to Replay they had attempted to try to get the licenses from Activision for KQ and SQ. But probably got turned down, due to Telltale's involvement. It mentions it was Space Quest was already licensed 'elsewhere'. They were hoping to also be able to get a license themselves, but only had a 50/50 chance at it.

Apparently they also tried get the license earlier, but Activision offered only if they could pay $500,000 up front to them.

There is a reference in the article that things changed at Activision 'six months later', maybe that's a reference to Telltale first aquiering the Sierra license? It's a little unclear maybe Telltale was big enough company and was willing to pay the upfront cost?

Replay explains a bit more, about the situation with Tell Tale on their faq updated about April 12, 2012 (a few days after the other report);

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1451923705/make-leisure-suit-larry-come-again/#ILoveTheSierClasCanYouBrinBackKingQuesSpacQuesOrP oliQues

Our good friends over at Tell Tale have licensed King's Quest from Activision. If we do our job right then maybe, just MAYBE we'll be able to partner with them and ruinite the Space Quest team, King's Quest team (go Roberta!!!!) and Police Quest team for re-makes or new versions of those (Space Quest 7 anybody?).

So apparently there may have been an option to 'share' development and the license with Telltale.|

[MtnPeak]

Wow, very nice! Beautiful work.

Attn Moderators: Maybe this thread could be "sticky" and kept at the top of this category.

[inm8#2]

Hmm, if Telltale misses/missed out on the KQ option, it would be possible that Replay Games picks it up?

[BagginsKQ]

Sticky, I like that. I'll just update it, "if" there are more 'updates', as we go, LOL.

Hmm, if Telltale misses/missed out on the KQ option, it would be possible that Replay Games picks it up?

I think they got turned down, twice...and there is that other issue... That won't be named in this thread. I'm not sure Activisions lawyers hvae much love for 'outsiders'.

Edit: E3 2012, based on what I could find about the only other thing mentioned besides Walking Dead, and maybe a bit of Fables, was a HD port of Monkey Island Tales for the IOS apparently. As mentioned I haven't found any confirmed references to KQ during the event or not.

Although there was an article or two from the month before or just days before E3, that mentioned that they "have the King's Quest license" and/or mentioned it had been 'delayed' to late 2012 or so. I'm not going to bother with those links as I put in plenty of example of 'confirmed' references instead.

[BagginsKQ]

Hey, thanks for the sticky!

[inm8#2]

Hey, thanks for the sticky!

That's what...somebody...said.

[BagginsKQ]

Lol.

[exo]

It may be worth noting that over at Replay games, Paul Trowe has an odd ego about him in that he believe s they are essentially Sierra 2.0. When the two guys from andromeda got back together and ran a kickstarter for their new game, Paul trolled their site and sent several disparaging remarks to the guy working with them (Chris Pope). The gist of it was - who are you and why aren't Scott and Mark working with me on this? Paul got so much heat from his antics that Josh Mandell replaced him as the "voice" of replay games, and now runs all the project updates and answers questions in the forums.

Paul is a trip. In his interviews with Al Lowe (and anywhere else for that matter), he repeatedly states he was the youngest employee at Sierra and talks about himself as much or if not more than he asks questions of others.

When Al Lowe worked with another group on their kickstarter game, Sam Suede, Paul sent them legal threats for claiming that Al was involved on their project... as though he had some sort of contract that prevented Al from working with anyone else. When Al made it clear he *was working with them (maybe Paul shoulda asked before all the very public legal threats?), Paul backed off... but not before permanently damaging the Sam Suede kickstarter and causing quite a bit of confusion among adventure game fans as to who was in the wrong.

All those attempts to get licenses from Activision were just part of his intention to get all the Sierra licenses again, and remake all the games (not produce new ones). Not that it changes anything in this timeline, but it gives some background on what exactly was going on there.

Nice work on the timeline Baggins.

[inm8#2]

^ Good post, exo.

Yea, it was quite unsettling reading about the things Trowe did. It's funny, the last thing I want is a "New Sierra". It's better that each developer can hopefully get the rights to their games. All signs point to Jane Jensen having worked out something for Gabriel Knight (Mystery Game X), so maybe Activision will let up a bit in the future.

But yea, just seeing all of Trowe's comments and forming a picture of what he's like...keep that guy the hell away from these other IPs.

[BagginsKQ]

Exo, I actually had a bit of the stuff you mentioned in the timeline, well actually in an addendum post (I had come across it by researching for the timeline)! I was quite shocked by it, and never even knew about it before! I edited the material out though, after I got jumped on by MusicallyInspired for drudging up water under the bridge. The conservation concerning Trowe situation you can find a link to it where it was moved to the telltale general forum.

http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43751

Blah... the last thing I want to see is a remake of every Sierra game... Quite a few towards the end are already hiresolution... and besides I like the old VGA anyways. Talk about trying to milk the franchises...

That and I actually like to see the series evolve from early simpler days, and become more sophisticated over time. That's not to say I wouldn't mind seeing a VGA KQ2 remake that remains more faithful to the original subject manner, in the way KQ1SCI updated KQ1AGI.

[Jennifer]

Just a heads up that I split out all the general discussion on the Leisure Suit Larry HD remake to the Leisure Suit Larry HD remake(s) thread in General Chat (http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26799).

[Lambonius]

Sigh...

Seriously, I know I'm not the only who finds it a huge pain to have all non-specifically-King's Quest Sierra related discussion continually moved to the already over-crowded General Chat area, otherwise known as the place interesting threads go to die. Can we petition to stop this practice? Please?

[BagginsKQ]

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/02/12/whats-next-for-telltale-games

Only two parts that might be 'connected', or not.

Ign's makes a nod to KQ at the beginning, and they mention later on that Telltale said it is working on a handful of projects including the Fables "tie-in" (it apparently won't be called Fables). Nothing specific about what these other projects happen to be.

"Beyond The Walking Dead, Telltale also has plenty of projects in active development, including Fables, which was announced nearly two years ago."

Whatever, the project are, it seems they are probably still much farther down the pipeline.

In anycase, nothing concrete.

They also mention that their company is still growing, and they hope to make many more products.

[Jennifer]

Sigh...

Seriously, I know I'm not the only who finds it a huge pain to have all non-specifically-King's Quest Sierra related discussion continually moved to the already over-crowded General Chat area, otherwise known as the place interesting threads go to die. Can we petition to stop this practice? Please?This sub-forum is for King's Quest discussion rather than general Sierra discussion, so we try to keep the forum mostly on topic (topics that incorporate King's Quest discussion with other games tend to stay here though as you can see).

The General Discussion sub-forum is not that bad (the Larry thread is several years old now and still active). If you like a topic in General Discussion, feel free to post in it to resurrect it. There's no steadfast rule on topic resurrection, and some mods may differ on their views regarding this, but as long as you contribute meaningfully to the conversation, I personally have no problem with it (and have done so myself on topics I enjoy on many occasions). :)

Ign's makes a nod to KQ at the beginning, and they mention later on that Telltale said it is working on a handful of projects including the Fables "tie-in" (it apparently won't be called Fables). Nothing specific about what these other projects happen to be.
That's not surprising for legal reasons, considering the closeness of the title Fables to the RPG Fable.

It will be interesting to see if they use the Fables name at all in the title. I suspect we'll have to wait for the end of the Fables season until we find out which franchise Telltale intends on tackling next.

[BagginsKQ]

So the Beta King's Quest forum is a hidden community with no direct links to it yet.

https://beta.telltalegames.com/community/categories/kingsquest-top

BTW, King's Graham's father's rules prove to be helpful yet again (you must know how to think outside of the box, and look for answers to obtuse puzzles);

"Boy if I have learned anything in my life, I have learned this: When in doubt, or in trouble, pick up anything that is not nailed down, and if it is, look for loose nails or boards. Check carefully into, under, above, below, and behind things. Read everything; you might learn something. Wear clean undergarments, brush after meals, and always remember: nothing is as it appears."-Sir Hereward.

[MusicallyInspired]

Still don't believe it yet.

[jonathanfrisby]

News-maybe tomorrow?
Comment reply from author of RPS Dan Connors interview: (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/02/28/telltale-on-walking-dead-season-2-and-beyond/#comments)

jfrisby says:
"Call Dan back up and get an update on whether they’re still doing King’s Quest!"

Nathan Grayson says:
"Part two of the interview (going up tomorrow) might be relevant to your interests :)"

[inm8#2]

Oooh that could be the news for which we've been waiting.

[BagginsKQ]

Well hopefully either they tell us if they are still working in the idea, or telling us they let it go. Either way hopefully some concrete information.

[MtnPeak]

The moment of truth may be near? I'm suddenly having the feeling a TTG KQ is a go. My prediction: they will confirm that it is in production.

[BagginsKQ]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/01/telltale-on-new-ips-beating-jj-abrams-to-the-punch/

RPS: How about King’s Quest?

Dan Connors: We’re not saying anything about that yet, but we’ll let you know when we’re ready to talk about it.

Bleh... Yep, that could be read many different ways, LOL.

[mosfet]

RPS: Is there anything beyond that, or is it just those two?

Dan Connors: I think we’ve got a couple unannounced things that we’re kicking around. Fables and The Walking Dead are a safe bet to focus on for 2013, as far as what’s coming, what news is coming. No surprises.



We can at least safely say that KQ will not be coming after Fables, and will not be coming in the next year. Beyond that, who knows if/when it will be made.

[BagginsKQ]

We can at least safely say that KQ will not be coming after Fables, and will not be coming in the next year. Beyond that, who knows if/when it will be made.

Do you mean, not coming before Fables and Walking Dead 2, and not coming out in 2013?

We are still stuck at several possibilities;

1. It will come out after Fables (which was the general idea that's been said all along). But as has been shown, everything has been delayed. It is also delayed past Walking Dead 2 (that team must have went right into the sequel after it finished on the first).

2. They are still in negotiations and cannot say anything yet.

3. It's been early production for unspecified amount of time (maybe there is concept art, a story ideas at this point), but they won't say anything or show anything until after Fables has been released, or even after Walking Dead 2 (much as how they haven't said or shown anything about Fables until after Walking Dead season 1 was released).

4. It will not come out at all, its been canned. But they are not ready to announce that just yet.

5. Fables is to be renamed, we will learn it has been renamed "King's Quest", and a new character King Graham will be introduced, living and interacting with the Bigby, Charming, and Red Riding Hood in New York City. It will be a crossover, and Graham will opine about the days he used to spend in his former kingdom. "Dam gummit, you kids, get off my lawn"...

[MusicallyInspired]

Heh, that response is about the last possible positive spin you can put on the subject.

[BagginsKQ]

My post is 'positive'?

I wouldn't be surprised if Walking Dead 2 gets delayed into 2014 at this rate, based on their history of delays.

[MtnPeak]

So much for my prediction. In this case, I feel kind of good to have been wrong.

[mosfet]

Do you mean, not coming before Fables and Walking Dead 2, and not coming out in 2013?



I meant not coming directly after Fables. It sounds like Telltale's next games will be Fables and TWD Season 2, in that order.

[BagginsKQ]

Ya, that's what I'm seeing too.

[jonathanfrisby]

Well, I got my hopes up momentarily -- when the Telltale site was down for an hour last night, it seemed like stars might be aligning for some kind of announcement. I do take, from the fact that Dan even let RPS print that, that it's less-dead than it seemed yesterday.

It still seems possible they're working on it in secret, maybe with Jensen consulting, and it will be amazing, so big, that they're all denying it until press day - to torture us 10 or so true-believers.

[BagginsKQ]

Telltale has essentially about a 2 year turnaround from when actual development starts and release of first episode. Barring any delays.

They generally don't give out concrete information about a game's content until less than 3-4 months before a game's release.

If and only if the comment that they were putting a team together 9 months ago, and that was the start of development, then it would be another 14-15 months before they even say anything important at all.

Until then or if they announce something earlier than their normal MO we aren't going to get jack squat out of their tight assed lips. Up until that time they could potentially announce a cancelation. I'd assume cancellation announcement would come sooner than later once legal issues are sorted out. Is there any kind of gag order/specific non disclosure rules on telltale on discussion of the game and any legal issues over licensing currently?

If there is a gag, probably see them quietly shut down all discussion boards on the topic so not to draw as many questions about a game they have no plans to commit to. The forum will just quietly disappear.

[jonathanfrisby]

Until then or if they announce something earlier than their normal MO we aren't going to get jack squat out of their tight assed lips. Up until that time they could potentially announce a cancelation. I'd assume cancellation announcement would come sooner than later once legal issues are sorted out. Is there any kind of gag order on telltale on discussion of the game and any legal issues over licensing currently?

I wouldn't think a gag-order, but considering they're so tight with press, and important at the moment, they could likely get mentions of King's Quest removed from articles if their intention was to shelf-and-never-address the subject. At least that was my take-away.

[BagginsKQ]

That might still happen even. I wouldn't write off that off as a possibility.

Realize pretty much the only reason we know about the last KQ attempt is because Silicom Knights was sued, and the court ordered all their paperwork issued into public evidence. Even then it seems the companies likely at behest of whoever owned KQ at the time. Activision? Wanted things quiet. Perhaps until screenshots could actually be shown. That would require a game build. Of course it never got that far, before Silicon Knights was sued.

[RAnthonyMahan]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/01/telltale-on-new-ips-beating-jj-abrams-to-the-punch/



Bleh... Yep, that could be read many different ways, LOL.

That sucks, but at least it was acknowledged somehow.

On that note, it seems confirmed that Telltale's new upcoming schedule is Fables, then Walking Dead 2, then (hopefully) King's Quest.

[jonathanfrisby]

Every day that Telltale doesn't delete this forum is NEWS! :D

[BagginsKQ]

It's to drive people clinically insane!

[inm8#2]

King's Quest Forever?

[Blind Sniper]

Telltale has essentially about a 2 year turnaround from when actual development starts and release of first episode. Barring any delays.

They generally don't give out concrete information about a game's content until less than 3-4 months before a game's release.

If and only if the comment that they were putting a team together 9 months ago, and that was the start of development, then it would be another 14-15 months before they even say anything important at all.

Until then or if they announce something earlier than their normal MO we aren't going to get jack squat out of their tight assed lips. Up until that time they could potentially announce a cancelation. I'd assume cancellation announcement would come sooner than later once legal issues are sorted out. Is there any kind of gag order/specific non disclosure rules on telltale on discussion of the game and any legal issues over licensing currently?

If there is a gag, probably see them quietly shut down all discussion boards on the topic so not to draw as many questions about a game they have no plans to commit to. The forum will just quietly disappear.

Good point. Something to keep in mind was that the press event in February 2011 was one of the few times that Telltale announced plans long into the future for their games since they are usually tight lipped. I get the feeling from the interview that KQ is still a thing, but that Telltale just announced it extremely early during the press event. I guess the cause of the early, multiple announcements from Telltale for Walking Dead/Fables/King's Quest at the time was meant to portray Telltale in a more professional light so that they could show off how they were growing as a company, despite the fact that they had very little to say besides the fact that the games were coming.

For Telltale, knowing what their intentions for the distant future outside of around half a year or so is kind of new for Telltale fans. I'd say that the lack of communication for King's Quest might simply root from the fact that Telltale has made little developments on King's Quest due to their tight knit and small schedule rather than from complications as a result of figuring out how to make a good King's Quest game.

[MtnPeak]

RPS: How about King’s Quest?

Dan Connors: We’re not saying anything about that yet, but we’ll let you know when we’re ready to talk about it.


What's interesting to me is that he didn't even say they still were working on a KQ or even had any plans for one. He could have said, "I think people will like what we have in store for KQ, but I won't say any more."

Combine that with all the other things Telltale people have been saying (wanting to move away from traditional adventure games, insultingly referring to gameplay with challenging puzzles as "the past", wanting to move towards games based on huge franchises like Star Wars), and it makes me think a Telltale KQ is increasingly unlikely. Again, this could be a good thing if it means another development team, which actually respects the series and enjoys true adventure games and not only Telltale-style interactive movies, will end up bringing a new KQ to life.

[inm8#2]

Quite frankly I think Dan isn't sure if they're going to do it. If they still have the license (some say it could have expired or will soon expire), I think all their resources are going into Fables and TWD:S2. So, they don't want to rule out KQ, but at the same time it's not a priority right now.

[BagginsKQ]

One thing that has been a small niggle in the back of my mind is if it was originally delayed partly due to The Silver Lining. Let me explain, Activision might see TSL as a kind of indirect competition to a new KQ game. Having two KQ games produced and released at the same time might dilute the IP a bit. Cause confusion on search engines and the like. For example search engines tend to show links based on relevance as in most active sites. So potentially if someone searches for king's quest they may be directed to TSL instead, this could cause Activision/Telltale to lose revenue and hits from people who casually search for news on the subject.

In my own experience in attempting to make this timeline I almost picked up links to TSL 20 pages to 1 on Telltale. Just searching for telltale KQ for some reason brings up TSL pages.

Then POS decided to delay part 5... Could that indirectly been part of a delay on any major KQ announcements from Telltale as well? As in they are also chosen to delay their own development of KQ until a point TSL loses relevance (no longer in news cycles/active updates on its website so that anything Telltale puts up then becomes more relevant search engine wise, less competition). Of course longer TSl delays their game if it is partially at fault for the delay could also lead to Telltale's license running out, if it hasn't already.

If this part of the issue maybe Telltale should have started with Police Quest? I think they chose KQ because it's more iconic.

[MtnPeak]

One thing that has been a small niggle in the back of my mind is if it was originally delayed partly due to The Silver Lining. Let me explain, Activision might see TSl ad a kind of indirect competition to a new KQ game.

That is a very good point. I had never considered that.

I was thinking about this whole thing earlier. What has bothered me is the lack of respect shown by TTG to the KQ series and the downright insulting (at times) attitude when referring to the original KQ designers. I would feel much better if Telltale reps, whenever discussing their possible KQ plans, always made a point to praise the series. The sense I have gotten from them is that it seems like they see themselves as doing adventure gamers a favor by perhaps creating a new KQ, when in reality I think Telltale should feel fortunate to even have the opportunity to contribute to the legendary series. It's like, "King's Quest? Eh, we'll get to it when and if we get to it. Boy, didn't those games have inane puzzles? Ick. Now let's get back to discussing The Walking Dead..." I mean, it's not hard to see why many KQ fans would be distrustful of TTG in this regard.

Look, I would rather Telltale make a new King's Quest, even if it weren't a true adventure game, rather than never have a new KQ. Ideally, I would want a new KQ (of course with the best graphics possible, etc) with plenty of opportunity for exploration and lots of fun, ingenious, logical puzzles, and if that means another developer besides Telltale, then great. Letting KQ stay dormant would be the worst of all possible scenarios and is not an acceptable option, as far as I'm concerned.

[BagginsKQ]

Personally I'd never put much stock into what a CEO says.

I could quote Ken Williams "bashing" adventure games. Even discussing phasing them out completely.

It you want a more trust worthy interviews you kind have to straight to the programmers and individual game developers themselves.

CEOs don't necessarily see the big picture or the views of the programmers.


I'm not saying the CEO is lieing just that maybe CEO's viewpoint may have very different ideals Or priorities than the game makers themselves.

[Lambonius]

The idea that Activision/Telltale would make special considerations for a fangame is pretty ludicrous. Telltale isn't making King's Quest. The only plausible explanation for the lack of cancellation announcement is that they are either looking into re-licensing the IP after their license expired, or more likely, that they are waiting until the opportune moment to announce the cancellation. Dan Connors said absolutely nothing in that statement. As has been pointed out, his statement was very carefully worded to put absolutely no positive spin on it, so as to not get people's hopes up. Telltale's King's Quest project is dead, mark my words. And thank God, too.

[MusicallyInspired]

My post is 'positive'?

I wouldn't be surprised if Walking Dead 2 gets delayed into 2014 at this rate, based on their history of delays.

Actually, I was referring to Dan Connors' quote.

[BagginsKQ]

Ah ok.

[Jennifer]

The Walking Dead Season Two is scheduled for Q3 2014 (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-06-season-two-of-telltales-the-walking-dead-will-be-out-in-autumn-2014), so it looks like it might not be the game they plan to release directly after Fables after all.

[Zeruis]

Sudden update:

TWD Season 2 is set for late 2013:
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/03/06/telltale-s-the-walking-dead-season-two-on-track-for-release-this-fall.aspx

This sticks with TT's anticipated schedule: Fables, then TWD, then maybe King's Quest.

[exo]

why would then even announce a cancellation? To make the 10 f us who keep coming here aware? No one else remembers or cares anymore.

[corruptbiggins]

why would then even announce a cancellation? To make the 10 f us who keep coming here aware? No one else remembers or cares anymore.

A lot more care than post on here.

You could even say that most that post on here don't care themselves.

[gamingafter40]

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- I'm pretty confident that whatever Telltale Games decides to do with King's Quest will feel right. In fact, pretty much the only reason I could imagine them NOT going forward with the project is if they don't feel like they're doing the property justice in some fundamental and unfixable way.

Telltale has demonstrated repeatedly, with IPs as diverse as Strong Bad and Jurassic Park, that they will honor the spirit and style of the original property. Their dedication to nailing the look and feel of a license has been far more consistent than the quality of the finished products, IMO. Jurassic Park wasn't much of an adventure game but it looked and felt like one of the movies. Tales of Monkey Island didn't LOOK exactly like any one of the earlier games, but it definitely felt like the same universe and played like the classic series. I expect we'll get the same vibe from KQ.

That said, I can also see value in separating King's Quest from the Fables tie-in marketing-wise -- now that The Walking Dead has been such a huge hit with a mainstream audience, it may be worth allowing some time between those series so that two very different "fairy tale universe adventure games" don't create confusion. It's been a long time since an adventure game has sold millions of copies, and Telltale has visibility and marketing reach they didn't have a year ago. The last thing anyone would want is clueless consumers complaining that this awful King's Question game has foul language, violence and sexual themes in it.

[jonathanfrisby]

Well, I've tried to post something about TT's King's Quest whenever possible on other sites, Telltale articles, to try to keep some presence of "people still wanting to know what's going on" out there.

In other news, folks at the Double Fine gameclub (fan group) are playing Sam & Max with a couple Telltale devs this weekend... I'll try to politely pester them. :) Details here (http://www.doublefine.com/forums/viewthread/8841/).

[MtnPeak]

Has Telltale ever published a game that they didn't also develop? Could that be what they are doing with KQ?

[Jennifer]

Has Telltale ever published a game that they didn't also develop? Could that be what they are doing with KQ?
They did that once so far with Hector: Badge of Carnage.

I suppose it's possible that could be Telltale's plan for King's Quest. We don't know anything about Telltale's King's Quest so far, other than the fact that an internal team was set up for it a while back (but they also had a team at Telltale working on Hector since the game was converted to the Telltale Tool internally by Telltale themselves).

[BagginsKQ]

A lot more care than post on here.

You could even say that most that post on here don't care themselves.


The extremely vocal "don't care/haters" probably scare away most who care, and want to have meaningful discussions, since they would be mostly attacked for 'caring'.

[inm8#2]

The extremely vocal "don't care/haters" probably scare away most who care, and want to have meaningful discussions, since they would be mostly attacked for 'caring'.

Yup. It's funny how people saying something as simple as, "Hmm, a new KQ game could be interesting," were told over and over how they were brainwashed by Sierra marketing and addicted to the brand name. I guess it's not possible to enjoy something because you simply enjoy it? :confused:

And the people who didn't care about the game had to announce their lack of caring almost irrationally to the forum in every thread. But the good news is people can share their opinions now without fear of being attacked and insulted repeatedly by the 'true fans'. :)

It doesn't really matter either way. If Telltale does KQ, cool. If they don't, okay. But if it's a possibility, then certainly we should talk about what we think it might be. I think when all is said and done Telltale isn't going to do this game. They have Fables coming up and they already have a cash cow in TWD. Doing KQ could only be a potential commercial setback for them, but you never know.

[BagginsKQ]

If Telltale does KQ, cool. If they don't, okay.

That's kinda of my perspective. I'll judge it on its own merit if and when it comes out. Just having a new KQ story if it is compelling might be worth it ot see.

What I would like to know though, is what else is Telltale going to do... They have reportedly expanded the company in size, increased the number of employees, moved into larger building, etc... Are they using all that new task force on making other games they aren't ready to announce yet. Or is it being used to 'port' currently made games on more consoles with less of a waiting period? They did mention that this expansion would allow them to make more games at once, and maybe delve into more variety of genres.

If the former are there going to be some products that just appear out of nowhere when they are ready to advertise/release them?

[inm8#2]

If the former are there going to be some products that just appear out of nowhere when they are ready to advertise/release them?

That's what I'm guessing. They could have one other IP on which they're working, but they won't reveal it until a month or so before the release.

But from recent interviews Fables could be out next month, so Telltale will be back in the spotlight.

[jonathanfrisby]

In other news, folks at the Double Fine gameclub (fan group) are playing Sam & Max with a couple Telltale devs this weekend... I'll try to politely pester them. :) Details here (http://www.doublefine.com/forums/viewthread/8841/).

Jake Rodkin came by and chatted while we played the first S&M season- asked if he could say anything about whether KQ was ever going to happen - "<ja2ke> I can't talk about KQ"

Shortest answer of an awesome chat :D
It also didn't particularly sound like a return to more traditional point & click TT games was going to happen for awhile/ever.

At least the lack of information is consistent... Back when I was 12 and would try to pry new game information out of the Sierra customer service people they'd all say different things. :D

[MtnPeak]

Refusing to say now whether or not a KQ is even going to happen speaks volumes, especially when you consider that they previously announced their intention to create a new KQ.

Since TTG doesn't even make adventure games anymore and likely never will again, I want KQ freed from TTG's hold so that another developer can get the license to continue the series properly.

[BagginsKQ]

At least the lack of information is consistent... Back when I was 12 and would try to pry new game information out of the Sierra customer service people they'd all say different things.

Even if you went to visit Sierra, you couldn't even talk about what you saw. You had to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

[BagginsKQ]

For various reasons (I previously alluded to the fact in several threads), I've moved out most of the third party references from Trowe/Replay from 2012, and onward to its own secondary timeline in the timeline thread.

This is important, since its very difficult to trust or verfiy anything Trowe may have said or posted prior to the June 2012, due to the fact that he was actively trying to sabotage competing companies at the time. He was caught doing it in June. He apologized later. However, that still leaves anything prior to June potentially suspect.

I added in a short reference to the cotroversy in the timeline at its correct point in the timeline, as it does relate to the Replay history, and this topic. In addition i've added the Trowe interview, published on April Fools 2013 (It doesn't seem to be a 'joke' :confused:), as it is the latest information from Trowe/Replay and their third party attempts at getting the King's Quest license. It does seem to be partially a retelling of the previous claim made in April 2012, but with a few alternate details.

Hopefully verification from Activision, and Telltale will be forthcoming.

[BagginsKQ]

Pulling out the Josh Mandel 3rd Party comments to its own section. As it may not be as reliable, and more speculatory than anything. Also I don't have a strong direct reference to the 2011 quotes, its someone quoting him, but no specific citation to the original source. Hopefully not putting anything Josh's mouth.

Edit: found an archive of the original quote, now updated.

[jonathanfrisby]

Edit: found an archive of the original quote, now updated.

Yeah, I'd paraphrased Josh's comments in my original post -- out of some deference to the casual setting of the chat (I didn't want him to get in any trouble by saying anything off-the-cuff-ish in a room of fans). The last sentence seems particularly candid.