Retroist King’s Quest Podcast

Apr 23, 2021

Welcome to Episode 9 of the 13th season of the Retroist Podcast. In this episode, I discuss the ground-breaking adventure game, King’s Quest.

I can’t believe its taken me this long to finish this podcast. It was fun to record, but also fun to play King’s Quest again.

I begin the show talking about my earliest experience with King’s Quest. It was at a store called Computerland. This was a national chain that no longer exists (only in my heart). That store was filled with very understanding worker who let a group of messy kids spend quality time messing with their machines.

Then I jump into the game itself. I talk about the people who created the game, Roberta and Ken Williams and their company Sierra Online. My coverage with how they got into making video games and while I focus on the first King’s Quest title, I do also mention its ports, sequels and a few other games they worked on.

King’s Quest was an amazing game and Roberta and Ken Williams’ contributions to gaming cannot be praised enough. They took an engaging gaming genre and clearly saw its potential. Then, each with their unique abilities, they were able to build a game that would redefine that genre.

Listen and download the King’s Quest Podcast

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Production Notes

The Ninth episode of Season 13.
I planned to do this podcast many years ago and it has been requested MANY times over the years. I hope everyone enjoys it.
I have gotten into MISTer recently, King’s Quest was one of the first titles I fired up.
It looks like some people are still using the Computerland name. That’s a shame, I would have like to turn it into a t-shirt.
Computerland was extremely important to me as a kid, just access to machines opened my eyes to all sorts of possibilities. Every kid should have the same opportunity.
I mention the smell of the place briefly, it has stuck with me and I have entered environments where I found that same smell. It took me write back.
Here is more info about the Versawriter.
PCjr has some hardcore fans. I hope I didn’t offend anyone by saying it was not a big hit.
Interviews with Ken and Roberta Williams are great. They are very open and honest. Do a search on YouTube and enjoy.
I had some quotes about Ken’s programming abilities. They didn’t lead anywhere, so I edited them out. I should mention that people say Ken is a remarkably skilled programmer.
I talked a bit about the AGI Game Engine, but it wasn’t that long or interesting, so I cut it out.
I love the manuals for King’s Quest. Here is the PCjr version.
Between D&D and computer gaming, graph paper was a valuable commodity. Never trust anyone with graph paper, they are always plotting something.
I talked a bit more about the experience of playing later versions of Kings Quest (thanks MISTer). It was all a bit flat, so I cut it out.
Included some audio in this show, featuring both Computerland and the PCjr.
I talked about some other adventure games, including Leisure Suit Larry. I might include that as a Bonus Track.
Included a reading I had done from the manual that I cut out.
All the music you hear in this episode is by the mighty Peachy.
If you want to get into retro computer gaming, do check out MISTer and msg me if you want to discuss setting one up.

Thanks for listening to the show and I hope you have a great weekend.