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Wizard and the Princess

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Wizard and the Princess
Atari 8-bit cover art
Developer(s)On-Line Systems
Publisher(s)On-Line Systems
Designer(s)Roberta Williams
Programmer(s)Ken Williams
SeriesHi-Res Adventures
King's Quest
EngineADL
Platform(s)Apple II,Atari 8-bit,Commodore 64,IBM PC,IBM PCjr,FM-7,PC-88,PC-98
ReleaseAugust 1980:Apple II[1]
1982:Atari, IBM PC
1984:C64, PCjr
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Wizard and the Princess(alsoThe Wizard and the Princess,with a leading article) is agraphic adventuregame written for theApple IIand published in 1980 byOn-Line Systems.It is the second installment in theHi-Res Adventuresseries afterMystery House.[2]Unlike its predecessor, which featured monochrome drawings,Wizard and the Princessintroduced color graphics. Ports for theAtari 8-bit computersandCommodore 64were released in 1982 and 1984 respectively. The 1982self-booting diskversion forIBM PC compatibleswas renamedAdventure in Serenia.

This game was one of the first graphical adventure games and served as a precursor to Sierra On-Line'sKing's Questseries.

Plot

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The game (according to the back cover [box/folder/manual] of the Atari 8-bit family and Apple II original and rerelease versions) takes place in the land of Serenia where King George's daughter Princess Priscilla has been kidnapped by an evil wizard named Harlin. Harlin has held her inside his castle far in the mountains. The King has offered half of his kingdom to anyone brave enough to travel to the Wizard's castle, defeat him and return his daughter. The player assumes the role of a happy wanderer who answers this challenge.

The ports (Apple II, Atari 8-bit, and C64) contain additional plot added to the manual explaining how the wanderer made it to Serenia in the first place; some time long into the future after Harlin had been defeated by the Wanderer, he challenged the player to again repeat the actions leading to his defeat. He boasted of using his magic to change the world creating obstacles for anyone who would challenge him (he moved the desert around the village of Daventry, the northern sea splitting Serenia in two, and Great Mountains in the North on his half of the continent). He turned back thesands of timeleaving the adventurer in the desert just outside the village of Serenia. He mocks the hero telling him that he may have been defeated once, but he couldn't be defeated a second time. The princess gives the hero some words of advice and a computer to help him defeat Harlin, and tells him he has become the wanderer (grandfather paradox&bootstrap paradox). The manual story as reprinted was also included with theRoberta Williams Collection(a compilation of games fromRoberta Williams) and theKing's Quest Collection Series(one of the compilations ofKing's Questgames).

The introduction forAdventure in Sereniaexplains that the adventurer, with the help of a computer, has magically transported to Serenia to save the princess.

Development

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Advertisement from the June 1981 issue ofThe On-Line Letterfor some of On-Line Systems'Hi-Res Adventuregames, includingWizard and the Princess.

As with their previous gameMystery House,Wizard and the Princesswas distributed byRobertaandKen Williams's company On-Line Systems in plastic bags with the5 ¼-inch floppy diskand instruction sheet. The instruction sheet had the title listed asThe Wizard and the Princess.

The story was based on the manyfairy talesRoberta used to read as a child.[3]The game improved uponMystery Houseby adding color graphics. It was the first adventure game to have full-color graphics selling over 60,000 copies.[4]The Apple II could only display six different colors simultaneously, but clever use ofditheringmade it possible to give the illusion of more colors on the screen.

Ports

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Wizard and the Princesswas ported to the IBM PC in 1982, Sierra's first game for the PC platform. For unknown reasons, this version was re-titledAdventure in Serenia.Roberta Williams reputedly referred to the colors on the IBM PC as "atrocious" upon seeing the completed game running for the first time.Adventure in Sereniawas alaunch titlefor theIBM PCjr,announced in late 1983.[5]

The Commodore 64 version uses more on-screen colors and solid colors and no dithering. The items in the game were more detailed and of higher resolution have alternative artwork. The game was ported to various Japanese computers by Starcraft, which completely redrew the artwork with more colors and higher resolution.

Reception

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Mark Marlow reviewedMission: Asteroid,Mystery House,andThe Wizard and the PrincessforComputer Gaming World,and stated that "The Wizard and the Princesshas the best graphics and has a beautiful fairy tale setting as its theme. Of the three it was the most challenging and should be attempted only after you are familiar with the gaming system ".[6]

Debuting in August 1980, the game sold 25,000 copies by June 1982, tied for fourth onComputer Gaming World's list of top sellers.[7]It sold over 60,000 copies in total.[citation needed]Creative ComputinglikedWizard and the Princess,approving of the Atari version's graphics and comparing its difficulty to "some ofScott Adams' efforts ".[8]TheAddison-WesleyBook of Atari Software 1984gave the game an overall B rating, stating that it "may well set a standard by which future graphic adventure games will be judged".[9]

Ian Chadwick reviewedThe Wizard and the PrincessinAres Magazine#11 and commented that "if you're any fan of computer adventures, then this is one of the most amazing, intriguing, fascinating, frustrating and graphically appealing adventures around".[10]

Legacy

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Apple and DOS version

Wizard and the Princessis recognized for pioneering color graphics, offering more detailed and vibrant visuals than previous games. This technological advancement not only enhanced player immersion but also influenced other developers, prompting a broader industry focus on graphical development.[11]

According to Sierra'sInteractionmagazine, this game can be considered a prelude to theKing's Questseries.King's Quest Vmarked a return to the Kingdom of Serenia.[12]The events are mentioned and expanded upon inThe King's Quest Companion,2nd Edition. It mentioned that the wanderer, a barbarian, had turned down the offer of marriage after saving the princess. He journeyed into the desert and died. All that remained of him is his skeleton and a single leather shoe (a reference toKQ5). Princess Priscilla later married an individual named Kenneth the Huge and became the queen of Serenia, after her father's (King George IV) death.[13]It was further referenced as part of theKing's Questseries through a trivia question in theKing's Questionsgame that came with certain versions of theKing's Quest Collection.

The extended backstory forWizard and the Princessin the rereleases helps to explain the geographic differences between the game, and later games in theKing's Questseries (KQ3andKQ5). InKQ5,Serenia and Daventry are part of the same continent. InKQ3,the continent consists mostly of Daventry only with most of the northern half of the continent missing as seen in maps and charts in the game. According to theWizard and the Princess,Harlin had divided the continent of Serenia in two and transformed the geography to create obstacles for any adventurers trying to reach him and free the princess. Thus it explains why the desert surrounds the village in the earlier game, but not during the time ofKQ5,or why the Great Mountains are located across the sea on Harlin's continent, but just north of the town inKQ5.By the time ofKQ5,Harlin's magic was no longer active, and geography was restored.The King's Quest Companionplaces the events ofWizard and the Princessas having occurred several years beforeKQ5.

References

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  1. ^"Wizard and the Princess (Game)".
  2. ^Katz, Arnie (March 1, 1995).Inside Electronic Game Design.Prima Pub. p. 23.ISBN978-1-55958-669-6.
  3. ^"Roberta Williams - Sierra On-Line - Interview - Adventure Classic Gaming - ACG - Adventure Games, Interactive Fiction Games - Reviews, Interviews, Features, Previews, Cheats, Galleries, Forums".adventureclassicgaming.
  4. ^Hackers Heroes of the Computer Revolution p 301
  5. ^Wiswell, Phil (January 24, 1984)."Coming Soon: Games For The PCjr".PC.pp. 142–145.RetrievedJanuary 26,2015.
  6. ^Marlow, Mark (January–February 1982). "Micro - Reviews".Computer Gaming World.Vol. 1, no. 2. pp. 31–32.
  7. ^"Inside the Industry"(PDF).Computer Gaming World.September–October 1982. p. 2.RetrievedMarch 28,2016.
  8. ^Small, David and Sandy (August 1982)."The Wizard, the Princess, and the Atari".Creative Computing.p. 64.RetrievedNovember 18,2013.
  9. ^Stanton, Jeffrey; Wells, Robert P.; Rochowansky, Sandra; Mellid, Michael, eds. (1984).The Addison-Wesley Book of Atari Software.Addison-Wesley. p. 33.ISBN0-201-16454-X.
  10. ^Chadwick, Ian (November 1981). "Games".Ares Magazine(11).Simulations Publications, Inc.:27.
  11. ^DeMaria, Rusel; Wilson, Johnny Lee (2002).High Score! The Illustrated History of Electronic Games.p. 135.ISBN978-0072224283.The Wizard and the Princesswas a breakthrough game. Ken created the game to draw the lines on screen and then wrote a routine to fill in the colors. There's no way he could have fit all those graphics on a disk, but by using draw commands and the fill routine, he could put a ton of full color graphics into the game. — John Romero
  12. ^Interaction Magazine, Fall 1994
  13. ^King's Quest Companion, 2nd Edition, pg 506–507
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