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Unofficial Kings Quest Sequel Shut-down. Fans feign shock.

Recently LucasArts Entertainment shut down a fan effort to reproduce Maniac Mansion for more modern hardware. The fan game was to be called Maniac Mansion Deluxe, and included all new art and software, but it's gone now; shut down by LucasArts' legal department. Now Vivendi Universal (current owners of the sizable Sierra game library) has gotten in on the act.

While not actually a remake "King's Quest IX" provided an alternative ending to the multi-game classic saga created by Roberta Williams and Sierra. The unauthorized sequel was slated to have original music, voice acting, art, and story. In short, it would have been a fully fledged AAA adventure title like we used to get from Sierra back in its glory days. However, on September 30th, this impressive fan project was shut down permanently at the request of Vivendi's legal department. This may have been prompted by the imminent release of four classic compilations (1, 2, 3, 4) that Vivendi is putting out, including one of all the King's Quest games.

While I'm disappointed that we won't be getting this remarkable game, I cannot say I am surprised. The temptation to create fan remakes or fan sequels is easy to understand; it's impossible to play a good game without developing strong feelings for its characters, and everyone has ideas for things they would have liked to have seen. Combine that with the simple fact that it's easier to build up a team of fellow enthusiasts if there's already a large fan-base of people excited about your chosen characters, and you've got a seeming recipe for success that's hard to resist.

As you might expect, however, fans are not the only ones to recognize the value of existing characters, and even characters and stories not currently in use are considered valuable properties of the companies that hold them. For better or worse, the companies have the power to control their creative properties and they do. It's also worth noting that there are trademarks involved here, and companies are required by law to defend the use of their trademarks or they're forfeit.

As of this post, the website for the fan VGA remake of "Space Quest III" has mysteriously gone offline. No word yet on what has happened to it, but I doubt they're coming back.

I hope that in the future projects like "Maniac Mansion Deluxe", "King's Quest IX", and the late woulda-been-great "Chronotrigger Resurrection" will serve as warnings to other highly talented individuals not to take the quick and easy path, but to instead invent their own worlds and their own characters. I say this not because I belive in the sanctity of copyright and their corporate owners, but because I want to play your games, and I can't if they're shut down.

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