Phoenix Online Studios Related Questions:
1. What is Phoenix Online Studios?
2. What does Phoenix Online Studios do?
3. Who is the team?
4. How does the team work?
5. Why do you do it?
6. What should I know before I join the team?
7. I want to be a part of the team. What must I do?
| The Silver Lining General Questions: |
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What is King's Quest?
King's Quest is Sierra On-Line's flagship series of adventure games, designed by the award-winning Roberta Williams. It centers on the adventures of the royal family of the Kingdom of Daventry, and combines memorable characters, often mind-bending puzzles, great storylines, and fun gameplay. Most of the puzzles and many of the characters are inspired by myth and folklore, making the games easy to enjoy for anyone who plays them. |
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What is "The Silver Lining"?
"The Silver Lining" is the fan-designed ninth episode inspired by the King's Quest series. |
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We heard the project was shut down! Is this true?
On September 30, 2005, the team was asked to cease production by Vivendi Universal Inc, the owners of the King's Quest franchise. After weeks of negotiations and with the support of our fans, on November 29, 2005, Vivendi granted the team permission to legally continue production on the game. |
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Why was this game referred to as "KQIX"?
Prior to Vivendi granting permission, the game was called "King's Quest IX: Every Cloak Has A Silver Lining" or "KQIX" for short. As part of the negotiations, we were required to change the game's title. We decided on "The Silver Lining" because in many ways, it represents the spirit that has always represented our project. |
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Why isn't Sierra designing it?
That's a long story. Since the first episode was released in the early 1980s, the King's Quest series has always been very popular. In fact, more than three million copies of King's Quest games have been sold worldwide. Historically, any new King's Quest has sold about 300,000 to 400,000 copies before it is pulled off store shelves. However, the last "official" game in the series, King's Quest VIII: "Mask of Eternity", had very mediocre sales relative to the norm. When the game was released in December 1998, Sierra had made tentative plans to produce King's Quest IX at some point in the future, but King's Quest VIII's lack of success prompted Sierra to unofficially "scrub" plans for a sequel, thinking that the series had lost its popularity. Worse, Sierra has also said that it has no plans to create another adventure game in the near future, presumably because the genre as a whole is no longer popular in the United States. Also, series creator Roberta Williams is no longer employed by Sierra, making the likelihood of an official ninth episode negligible.
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Why are you doing this?
We firmly believe that "Mask of Eternity" broke many long standing traditions followed by the previous King's Quest games:
- Main character is not a member of the royal family of Daventry
- Lack of character interaction
- Little, if any humor
- Violence
- Lack of storyline/plot
In addition, the King's Quest episodes have always "built" on one another. For example, the sixth episode begins where the fifth leaves off, and when a player completes the seventh episode, a strong connection to the fourth is revealed. King's Quest VIII has little or no connection to the other seven episodes. Also, as the official series finale, King's Quest VIII leaves many "loose ends" and unanswered questions. The members of the TSL Development Team believe that the King's Quest series cannot end in this way, and that a ninth and final episode is essential to provide "closure" to the saga.
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Is this legal?
Yes. As of November 29, 2005, the TSL Development Team has received legal permission from Vivendi Universal, Inc. to produce this game. |
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Will the game cost anything?
ABSOLUTELY NOT! The game will be freeware. That is, it will be posted on our site for all to download, free of charge. |
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How can I help?
You could join our team if you like. We are always in search of talented artists, animators, composers, writers to help us bring TSL to life. You may view a more detailed list of jobs available by visiting our Join section. |
| TSL Game Related Questions: |
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When will it be released?
TSL is scheduled to be released in the near future, as a trilogy. The game is divided into three parts:
Part One: Shadows
Part Two: The Two That Are One
Part Three: Eternities
We will make an official announcement once Shadows is ready to be released. As well, we will send out a Newsletter so that everyone will be notified by e-mail.
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Whats the story about?
Unfortunately TSL's plot is being kept under wraps. But we can promise you that it will be epic in scope and will tie up all the loose ends from the previous games. For those of you who cannot wait, clues and hints can be found in our Forum, we leave it up to you to find them. |
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Who will be the main character?
There will actually be three main playable characters: Graham, Rosella and Alexander. |
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Will Connor be in TSL?
We have not forgotten about King's Quest's latest hero, and yes he will be involved in the TSL storyline. |
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Will the game take place in Daventry or the Land of the Green Isles?
The game will take place in the Land of the Green Isles. Most of the game will take place in new worlds but there will also be place for some of the lands we once called home. |
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I have heard that TSL will be in 3D. Is this true?
Yes it will be, but not in the traditional way 3D games are made. TSL will be a screen-to-screen, 3rd person game, but it will use current industry-standard technology to bring the scenes to life like never before. |
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Will there be combat?
No. Although a good attempt was done in Mask of Eternity to incorporate an effective combat system, many fans thought this feature complicated the exploration portion of the game because you spent the majority of your time clearing the level before solving the puzzles. For this reason we have opted for a NO COMBAT style game. |
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Will there be original music?
Yes. We currently have a talented team of composers working hard to create a new and exciting soundtrack for your future adventure. |
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Will TSL implement voice acting?
Yes. The major roles were chosen through auditioning live in person at New York City in January 2004 and minor roles were chosen through fans that tried out for online auditions.
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Will there be a downloadable demo?
The Silver Lining Public Demo is now available from our Trilogy page. |
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What else can you tell me about TSL?
Our goal is to bring you the most exciting adventure possible. The decision was made not to settle for graphic, audio and gaming standards that were acceptable a decade ago, but to use today's technology to make the game as enjoyable as possible. |
| Phoenix Online Studios Related Questions: |
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What is Phoenix Online Studios?
Phoenix Online Studios is a team of over 40 talented and hard working individuals located in various places in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. We are all unpaid and volunteering our time and effort to the creation of TSL.
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What does Phoenix Online Studios do?
Currently we are working on TSL. Our team communicates by MSN and e-mail on a daily basis. Assignments are given by directors and assistant directors of departments, and team work is kept privately within our team groups. Since 2001, we have been working very hard on TSL and have completed several milestones in production. With each passing day, we move closer and closer to the game's release.
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Who is the team?
The team is comprised of several departments, and some of which contain sub-departments. The departments are lead by the directive staff (made up of directors and assistant directors) and also contain the regular staff. For more information, please visit the Team page. |
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How does the team work?
The Main Project Direction department oversees and approves all the team's work and is also involved with project coordination. There are also five other major departments: Public Relations, Design, Art, Programming, and Audio. All staff have weekly deadlines to meet, and a deadline may consist of one or more assignments. Since we're aiming for the highest quality game possible, when an assignment is completed, a director will either approve it or indicate where fixes must be made before it is deemed final.
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Why do you do it?
We are all making this game because we truly enjoy what we do, and want to create a game professional enough to be compared with many of the commercial games out there, even though we are unpaid and the game will be completely free. We have high standards for TSL because it is our first game and we want to set a precedent for all future games developed by Phoenix Online Studios.
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What should I know before I join the team?
There are six key qualities we look for in applicants that want to join our team:
- motivation: passion for the game and your prospective role in it
- dedication: managing your time well enough to accomodate assignments
- talent: for the game to be high quality, we pick only the best skilled people
- responsibility: be able to work under pressure, deadlines and the directive staff
- communcation: know how to express ideas and interact with others in the team
- team player: you will be a piece of this puzzle and must fit in with others around you
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I want to be a part of the team. What must I do?
If you feel you are talented and motivated enough to join our team, first you must view the available positions on our Join page and apply for the position you are most qualified for. If you are selected, we may ask you for your portfolio or samples of your previous work. Next, we interview you over MSN and you are given a trial assignment. Once you pass the trial, you will officially join the team and get to meet everyone else. |
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