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Re: Rare IIgs Games
Space Quest III was never released for the Apple IIGS because it was
written using a different interpreter called SCI (Sierra Creative
Interpretter). SCI would also be used for Police Quest II, Leisure Suit
Larry II and so on. The older games (Space Quest I, King's Quest II) used
AGI (Adventure GAme Interpretter). SCI had much better grphics (320x200)
but ran incredibly slow. I remmber talking to a Sierra customer rep and
they said the only way their games would be playable is if everyone had a
TWGS and they figured not enough did. So it could be possible that much
of the game is coded but never released. (I had ordered both these games
only to be dissapointed when it was cancelled.)
Bards' tale III is an interesting story. This game series was initially
developed by InterPlay. EA was just the distributor. InterPLay finished
the Apple II and C64 version but did not finish the other versions before
their contract expired. So the Amiga version looked similiar to the C64
version. (Why they couldn't just work it out is beyond me!) My source for
this info was AmigaWorld (I think). They did a review for Bard's Tale III
back in 89?-90?-91?
Hope this answered some questions,
John
On Mon, 14 Jun 1999, Helix Energy wrote:
> In article <3763AA63.7D1C9FC8@swbell.net>, rubywand@swbell.net wrote:
>
> > Helix Energy writes ...
> > >
> > > As maintainer of the Apple IIgs Gaming Memory Fairway, I'm becoming
> > > increasingly curious as to the rumours surrounding the development of some
> > > IIgs games that were never released. The Fairway archive is currently
> > > quite complete in regards to every IIgs game that was released between
> > > 1986 to 1990. But I'd like to know if I'm overlooking any games, and,
> > > there are any truth to the rumours of certain games made for the IIgs,
> > > including:
> > >
> > > Zork Zero, I'm coming to the conclusion, does not exist for the IIgs.
> > > Although it was slated to be released by Infocom, along with all their new
> > > text/'graphic adventures in 1988/89, it never appeared as a proper
> > > release. Rumours of its existance have been fanned by the fact that an
> > > 8-bit, 3.5 inch disk version has been floating around, but it doesn't
> > > interest me if its not the 16-bit IIgs native version.
> > >
> >
> > Next, maybe, to someone at Activision, the people most likely to
> know about
> > this would hang out on the Interactive Fantasy newsgroups. It seems like there
> > was talk of developing a IIgs interpreter which would run Zork Zero.
>
> Was this talk fairly recent? If such a IIgs interpreter would include
> play for other games at the time of Zork Zero, including Journey and
> Shogun, that project would be quite worthwhile.
>
> > > Manhunter: San Francisco was slated to be Sierra's last IIgs release, in
> > > 1989. I never ended up seeing it anywhere - I would have bought it in an
> > > instant if I did back then. Anyone know what happened? Was it released,
> > > but only for a very limited time?
> >
> > ....
> >
> > >
> > > Space Quest III - although Manhunter San Francisco was to be the last
> > > Sierra release, Space Quest III was advertised for a few issues on the
> > > back page of Questbusters magazine in 1991. Was there any substance to
> > > this, or did the people at Questbusters not have any idea?
> > ....
> >
> > At least in the early 1990's, getting clear answers from Sierra was not
> > always easy.
>
> No, it certainly wasn't :-) I pre-ordered Space Quest 3 in 1989, only to
> have the PC version arrive half a year later. I sent it back to them and
> expected a refund :-)
>
> > > Pool of Radiance, I've only heard rumours about a IIgs version having been
> > > made but not released.
> >
> > POR was the first of SSI's "AD&D" (a.k.a. "Gold Box") series. SSI
> > released a for-PC developement package ("Unlimited Adventures") for
> these games
> > in the early 1990's. The system is very flexible; so, although POR was not
> > released for IIgs, it is reasonably likely that a IIgs version was
> developed but
> > abandoned when SSI dropped the "Gold Box" format and released UA.
>
> Hmmm. Anyone else know any more about this?
>
> > ....
> >
> > > Lords of the Rising Sun, was written in up in InCider magazine in 1988 or
> > > 1989 saying it was being worked on by both Manley and Associates and Ed
> > > Magnin. I emailed Ed Magnin a couple of years ago and asked him about it
> > > and he said he never worked on a IIgs version of Lords of the Rising Sun,
> > > so it looks doubtful a IIgs version exists.
> >
> > Seems like they worked mainly with Accolade on PC games-- very much doubt
> > LRS for IIgs ever existed.
>
> They may have worked on PC versions of Accolade games, but they also did
> the IIgs version of Defender of the Crown, amongst others (which I can't
> currently remember :-) Anyway, Lords of the Rising Sun was a long shot -
> its just a game I would very much like to see a IIgs version of.
>
> >
> > > Faery Tale Adventure was listed in InCider's 1988 gaming issue, but I
> > > never saw it available anywhere. Was it actually released, or not?
> > > Anyone have a copy? :-)
> >
> > If it was released, that would be something of a chap. I was always
> bugging
> > the publisher-- think it was Micro Illusions-- about getting Apple II
> games for
> > review (including Faery Tale). They were mainly into Amiga stuff.
>
> MicroIllusions did release Firepower and Dondra (for a time). I saw Faery
> Tale on a friend's Amiga in 1987 - and I've wanted the IIgs version ever
> since :-)
>
> > ....
> >
> > You left out one of the top pieces of IIgs vapor ware: Bard's Tale III.
> > Supposedly, it is still being held up by the lack of artwork.
>
> I've seen both the Amiga and PC versions of Bard 3, and the graphics are
> nowhere near the quality they were for the Bard 1 and 2. Is the lack of
> artwork due to the lack of quality? :-)
>
> > > I'm also open to 1:1 scans of IIgs game boxes for the following games:
> > ....
> >
> > Pretty nice collection!
>
> Thanks. It didn't take me two and a half years for nothing :-)
>
> > One game you list is Questron II/gs. Do you know if this is the later
> > release version? The original release would trash hard disks-- i.e., I'm
> pretty
> > sure it would trash your hard disk even if you booted from the diskette.
>
> I'm afraid to say I don't know. I'm aware of that particular bug when it
> was reported in A+ magazine in 1987 or 88, but it was a limited run of the
> game that had the bug and I couldn't believe that copies of that
> particular version would still be floating around today. But you're
> right, its a bit of a risk.
>
> >
> > Rubywand
>
> LaTeR!
>
>