However a massive internet outcry apparently caused the huge game publisher to have a change of heart and over the weekend the official word was out. The Silver Lining would indeed be released for free as a series of episodic games with the first due out on July 10. In their first interview since the announcement this weekend Big Download got Phoenix Online Studios producer and designer Cesar Bittar and co-designer and PR head Katie Hallahan to tell us more about the game, how Telltale Games influenced their decision to make the game episodic and the future plans for Phoenix Online Studio beyond The Silver Lining.
First, can you give us a brief summary of how this fan project came to be?
Cesar Bittar - Sometime in 2000, I was searching for news on a possible King's Quest 9, and I came across this site where they were looking for people to create a fan sequel, now that Sierra was not the same anymore. I joined as a writer, and Richard Flores joined as an artist. The original founders left the project, and in 2002 I became the Producer and Design/Director, and soon, Richard Flores joined me as a Co-Director and Art Director.
At that point, a structure was put into place, and we started to experiment with the art, the engine, write the scripts. Those were the golden days in terms of development, and it was when we had the highest amount of members on the project --close to 70 without counting the voice actors! Around that time, the rest of the Directors joined in, particularly Michael Fortunato (Art), Petter Holmberg (Programming) and Katie Hallahan (Design/PR).
Although it is the five of us who keep everything glued together, we've had the chance to work with so many amazing and talented individuals. We've had an awesome team, and awesome fans that have made of this project what it is today!
What is it about the King's Quest series that has made your team want to work on such a fan project for so long?
Cesar Bittar - Particularly, for me, I think King's Quest better represents Sierra On-Line. I was recently talking with another Sierra enthusiast, Eriq Chang, responsible for putting our website together, and we were discussing how much we owe to that company, and how it has shaped our careers and who we are today. What better way to thank that "school" than to grab their flagships series and give it another chance?
Katie Hallahan - The old Sierra games, and King's Quest especially for me, were just great stories that really involved the player in what was going on. They were fun, clever, funny and witty, tropes and characters you knew alongside brand new ones, and they had themes you could really relate to and enjoy: adventure, family, love, good against evil! They were some of my first introductions to gaming and I had a blast playing them. The Royal Family grew and developed as the games progressed, and I loved figuring out a puzzle, getting myself to think outside the box and getting rewarded for it. There's a great sense of nostalgia in these games, something that people love because it's from their youth and because it has that 'golden age' of adventure gaming feel to it, too. One of my pipe dreams as a kid was to work for Sierra, and this was about as close to doing just that as you can get now!
You were supposedly close to completion when Activision sent out the cease and desist order on the game. How did you feel about this happening after so much work?
Cesar Bittar - We were crushed, but at the same time, it gave us a new energy. An energy to come closer as a team, to fight to make it happen. I had never felt as close to my team as when this happened. And seeing how are fans rallied up and did whatever they could to save our project... was indescribable! We could not give up, we had to fight for them, and so we did our best to reach Activision, and together, with the power of the fans, they listened, and they were extremely generous in their terms. Once we established a link, it was wonderful to work with them -- such a great and professional group of people.
Katie Hallahan - It was a big blow, and at first, with this being our second C&D, I felt like it was over. It was so frustrating and crushing because we'd worked so hard for so long, we'd gone through so much already, and we were so close! But even the day we announced it, the fans were rallying to save the game again, and a new energy really did come forth from it--we were down but we weren't out, and we knew we'd try everything we could before we gave up on this. I can't credit our fans enough for helping us with that realization and reminding us just why and who we were doing this for.
Could the game have been released by simply doing some edits that would have eliminated all direct references to the King's Quest series?
Cesar Bittar - We thought about it, yes. And at one point, I seriously started to draft a document on how we could do it. We owed it to the fans and to the team --we had to release something. However, I was silently dreading it inside, and wishing that it did not have to come to that. And it didn't! It would have been too much work to make it happen, and the game would have completely lost its soul. I'm so grateful we could keep things intact!
Katie Hallahan - Exactly--while technically possible, it would have been a lot of work. It would've taken a few years at least, and I think we would've lost a lot of our drive without that same connection to the old games. The story is tied quite deeply to the original series and characters, so I'm very happy that it didn't come to that and we're able to release this game the way we always intended and wanted to.
Tell us how your team and Activision finally reached an agreement to release The Silver Lining?
Cesar Bittar - Without going into many details, after originally contacting them, we received the cease and desist notice. For a while, they were quiet while the fan campaign was happening, and finally, on a Friday I received a call from one of their business staff, saying that they wanted to see The Silver Lining reach its fans, and that they wanted to work with us, and build a relationship that would allow us to release the game. Needless to say I was ecstatic! I ran to my work computer and sent an email to the whole team!
Katie Hallahan - When we got that email from Cesar, it was amazing! I almost couldn't believe it, I was ecstatic, overjoyed, honestly brought to tears of joy. Yet again, despite the odds, we'd found our "silver lining"! It was just great news, and I thank Activision so much for reconsidering. They've been great to work with in making this happen, and it's a dream come true for the team and the fans. We've been eagerly anticipating getting to tell our fans since we heard the news, it's been hard to keep it quiet but worth the wait.
Tell us about the game's storyline and how it relates to the previous games in the King's Quest series.
Cesar Bittar - The game picks up soon after the last game, Mask of Eternity, and it follows King Graham as he looks for a way to cure his children, Alexander and Rosella, from a dark spell. As Graham goes deeper into his adventure, he finds out that there's much more behind what at first seemed like an evil attack.
You could easily say that this story is a King's Quest for grown ups. The heart of King's Quest is still strong and you will find the wonderful creatures and mythology that made King's Quest what it was, but we've turned the heat up, and crafted a story deeper and darker than anything seen before in the world of King's Quest. It's also a very cinematic story and the team did wonders to bring the story tightly together.
Cesar Bittar - Sometime in 2000, I was searching for news on a possible King's Quest 9, and I came across this site where they were looking for people to create a fan sequel, now that Sierra was not the same anymore. I joined as a writer, and Richard Flores joined as an artist. The original founders left the project, and in 2002 I became the Producer and Design/Director, and soon, Richard Flores joined me as a Co-Director and Art Director.
At that point, a structure was put into place, and we started to experiment with the art, the engine, write the scripts. Those were the golden days in terms of development, and it was when we had the highest amount of members on the project --close to 70 without counting the voice actors! Around that time, the rest of the Directors joined in, particularly Michael Fortunato (Art), Petter Holmberg (Programming) and Katie Hallahan (Design/PR).
Although it is the five of us who keep everything glued together, we've had the chance to work with so many amazing and talented individuals. We've had an awesome team, and awesome fans that have made of this project what it is today!
What is it about the King's Quest series that has made your team want to work on such a fan project for so long?
Cesar Bittar - Particularly, for me, I think King's Quest better represents Sierra On-Line. I was recently talking with another Sierra enthusiast, Eriq Chang, responsible for putting our website together, and we were discussing how much we owe to that company, and how it has shaped our careers and who we are today. What better way to thank that "school" than to grab their flagships series and give it another chance?
Katie Hallahan - The old Sierra games, and King's Quest especially for me, were just great stories that really involved the player in what was going on. They were fun, clever, funny and witty, tropes and characters you knew alongside brand new ones, and they had themes you could really relate to and enjoy: adventure, family, love, good against evil! They were some of my first introductions to gaming and I had a blast playing them. The Royal Family grew and developed as the games progressed, and I loved figuring out a puzzle, getting myself to think outside the box and getting rewarded for it. There's a great sense of nostalgia in these games, something that people love because it's from their youth and because it has that 'golden age' of adventure gaming feel to it, too. One of my pipe dreams as a kid was to work for Sierra, and this was about as close to doing just that as you can get now!
You were supposedly close to completion when Activision sent out the cease and desist order on the game. How did you feel about this happening after so much work?
Cesar Bittar - We were crushed, but at the same time, it gave us a new energy. An energy to come closer as a team, to fight to make it happen. I had never felt as close to my team as when this happened. And seeing how are fans rallied up and did whatever they could to save our project... was indescribable! We could not give up, we had to fight for them, and so we did our best to reach Activision, and together, with the power of the fans, they listened, and they were extremely generous in their terms. Once we established a link, it was wonderful to work with them -- such a great and professional group of people.
Katie Hallahan - It was a big blow, and at first, with this being our second C&D, I felt like it was over. It was so frustrating and crushing because we'd worked so hard for so long, we'd gone through so much already, and we were so close! But even the day we announced it, the fans were rallying to save the game again, and a new energy really did come forth from it--we were down but we weren't out, and we knew we'd try everything we could before we gave up on this. I can't credit our fans enough for helping us with that realization and reminding us just why and who we were doing this for.
Cesar Bittar - We thought about it, yes. And at one point, I seriously started to draft a document on how we could do it. We owed it to the fans and to the team --we had to release something. However, I was silently dreading it inside, and wishing that it did not have to come to that. And it didn't! It would have been too much work to make it happen, and the game would have completely lost its soul. I'm so grateful we could keep things intact!
Katie Hallahan - Exactly--while technically possible, it would have been a lot of work. It would've taken a few years at least, and I think we would've lost a lot of our drive without that same connection to the old games. The story is tied quite deeply to the original series and characters, so I'm very happy that it didn't come to that and we're able to release this game the way we always intended and wanted to.
Tell us how your team and Activision finally reached an agreement to release The Silver Lining?
Cesar Bittar - Without going into many details, after originally contacting them, we received the cease and desist notice. For a while, they were quiet while the fan campaign was happening, and finally, on a Friday I received a call from one of their business staff, saying that they wanted to see The Silver Lining reach its fans, and that they wanted to work with us, and build a relationship that would allow us to release the game. Needless to say I was ecstatic! I ran to my work computer and sent an email to the whole team!
Katie Hallahan - When we got that email from Cesar, it was amazing! I almost couldn't believe it, I was ecstatic, overjoyed, honestly brought to tears of joy. Yet again, despite the odds, we'd found our "silver lining"! It was just great news, and I thank Activision so much for reconsidering. They've been great to work with in making this happen, and it's a dream come true for the team and the fans. We've been eagerly anticipating getting to tell our fans since we heard the news, it's been hard to keep it quiet but worth the wait.
Tell us about the game's storyline and how it relates to the previous games in the King's Quest series.
Cesar Bittar - The game picks up soon after the last game, Mask of Eternity, and it follows King Graham as he looks for a way to cure his children, Alexander and Rosella, from a dark spell. As Graham goes deeper into his adventure, he finds out that there's much more behind what at first seemed like an evil attack.
You could easily say that this story is a King's Quest for grown ups. The heart of King's Quest is still strong and you will find the wonderful creatures and mythology that made King's Quest what it was, but we've turned the heat up, and crafted a story deeper and darker than anything seen before in the world of King's Quest. It's also a very cinematic story and the team did wonders to bring the story tightly together.
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