The Official Book of Kings Quest (split from New Acquisitions)

[lance.ewing]

Much of the software used to develop KQ and other games was written by Ken.

Curious, as Ken has said on his own board that he didn't really understand SCI.

I guess all that that comment implies is that Ken had a hand in developing the tools used to create KQ. So perhaps that means some of the AGI tools or even the tools that predated AGI. Was KQ an AGI game from day 1? In either case it suggests he wasn't that hands on with SCI.

Interesting response from Don. I guess that completely squashes the SCI code theory then.

[Collector]

I do seem to remember that Ken said that he had a hand in developing AGI. The first AGI game was, of course, KQ1. The Wizard and the Princess/Adventure in Serenia predates AGI and was one of the Hi-Res Adventures, but was not a KQ, though elements were later borrowed.

[Tawmis]

I guess that completely squashes the SCI code theory then.

Where else but here, could we crush your dreams?

[lance.ewing]

I guess that completely squashes the SCI code theory then.

Where else but here, could we crush your dreams?

...And yet I know that a book or magazine or interview or something like that existed at some point in the past that actually did show SCI code. I remember that someone had a text file on their web site back in the late 90s that had some real SCI code in it that came from something that was officially released. It was a very small section, probably as small as the AGI code you see in TOBOKQ. But I've tried tracking that down and its come to nothing. A few people remember it but no-one remembers where it came from or what it looked like. I seem to vaguely remember it being from a Police Quest game, although I don't think it was a classic style 3D-animated adventure because I also have a vague memory of thinking to myself something like "well that looks more like an action game than an adventure game" and I'm fairly sure it was from a newer SCI game rather than those early SCI classics. I may be wrong but I've got a feeling the code was something to do with shooting. I guess that could be any Police Quest game. I definitely remember thinking "yes, that is LISP-like alright".

If anyone has any ideas of what book or magazine or interview or whatever might have had this SCI code snippet, then let us know.

[OmerMor]

Here is some info I found about the elusive SCI script you're talking about:
short discussion from the freesci mailing list: http://www.mail-archive.com/freesci-dev ... 00199.html
the sample sci script from PQ SWAT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3ASie ... r#Examples

I'll paste the code here for convenience:

Code: Select all

(instance hitNineShot of Script
   (method (changestate newstate)
      (switchto (= state newState)
         (
            (theGame handsOff
            (qualProd dispose:,delete:)
            (messager say: ALL ALL QUAL-HIT-9-C ALL self 320)
         )
         (
            (++ nineShotCntr)
            (qualList dispose:)
            (target1 dispose:)
            (messager say: ALL ALL QUAL-RELOAD-9-C ALL self 320)
         )
         (
            (if (== nineShotCntr 9)             
               (Bset fQualifiedSniper)
               (curroom newroom: ANGELES-TABLES)
            else
               (targetl
                  view:    3329,
                  setloop: 2,              ;One inch target
                  setcel:  0,
                  posn:    495 370,
                  setPri:  470,
 
                  init: ((snipeplane casts?) at: 0)ftrlnitializer,
               )
               (= qualList (List new:))
               (qualProd setReal: qualprod 6)
               (theGame hands0n:)
               (self dispose:)
            )
         )
      )
   )
) ;hitNineShot

[lance.ewing]

Yes, this is definitely the code that I recall seeing 10 years ago. Thank you very much for tracking it down for us. The mystery is finally solved. Although I guess the next question is where did this snippet of code come from? Was it a magazine? Was it a book? It is supposedly the only genuine SCI code in public circulation, and given the short length of it this seems to suggest that it came from a source such as a magazine article or book.