Unused screens from KQIV?

[Akril]

Hi,

I was browsing through the resource files of KQ4 a while ago, and I noticed that there were night versions of all the exterior scenes of Genesta's island. I didn't recall ever visiting that location at night in KQIV, so out of curiosity, I started the game up and attempted to do just that. However, when I had Rosella jump off the pier and start swimming due west, I never hit the island. I even tried swimming west from the screens north and south of the pier -- no luck.

Does this mean that those night versions of Genesta's island never appear in KQIV? (I'm running the 1998 KQ collection version of KQ4; I don't know what the AGI version is like.)

[Tawmis]

I don't think there's night versions - except maybe at the end - as a cut scene, perhaps, type thing... but from what I remember, everything for her island remains in daylight.

[envisge0ne]

I think it just goes to endless ocean once you leave the pier. Cause you can't even swim back to it

[MusicallyInspired]

Huh. I never even thought about whether you could get there by night or not. It would seem like you could as the island is just across the water and you can go there anytime. Yet, it's strange that you never found it. Both SCI versions of KQ4 specifically has night-time scenes for Genesta's island, though (early SCI release and modern SCI release). I checked out the AGI version, however, and amazingly these backgrounds don't exist! So you must not be able to get there! I saw those backgrounds in the SCI versions and always just assumed that you were able to go there at night but I never actually checked.

It's definitely not the ending sequence as that all takes place during the day.

[Akril]

Hmm...interesting! Looks like there were more than half a dozen unused screens sitting in KQIV's files and I never realized it until now. I wonder why the AGI version doesn't have the night version of the castle, though.

[Tawmis]

Were you able to extract the images? Would love to see them posted.

[Collector]

The Sierra Resource Viewer makes it easy.

[Tawmis]

Ah, don't have the SCI viewer installed.

I can see why they might have never used them - at least for EGA. You can't tell where the sky and water stop... they should have done them (had they used them) like the first screen you have there... where you can see the water line.

[Rakeesh]

During my present playthrough I am also doing screenshot-harvesting. While I was recently playing KQIV I remember my attempt to swim to the Island during night and capture some screenshots, yet I was always lost at sea.

After some attempts I decided it was some kind of bug, or that designers never bothered to make a night version, since no action takes place there, so they removed the island altogether from the game map.

I can see from the game files you uploaded that the screens are incomplete. I guess the designers decided the night-island to be scrapped before being finished.

[Collector]

When you look through the PIC resources of an SCI game you will see a number of images that look incomplete. This is not because they weren't finished, but because in game the images are often layered with other images such VIEW resources to animate scenes with crashing waves, etc.

[Rakeesh]

That is a correct point. However the second to fourth images look somehow incomplete compared to the first one. While the first one has horizon, many stars and some details on the sand, the following images seem to lack those details.

Also, I don't know if you uploaded all of the island-at-night images, but I remember that the island is composed of 9-10 screens. If you haven't found more night screens, it means that it was never completed.

[Tawmis]

Actually, isn't that the entire island? If you lay out the beaches from one to the next?

There isn't a "back side" to the island. The other screens would be internal screens.

Perhaps missing some... front of the beach? Like with the castle behind it? I can't remember.

But I know the island isn't huge.

[Collector]

The front beach of the island are missing night versions, but if you look through the night resources that were used, many look even more incomplete. Some are not much more than starry skies to be overlaid the day PIC resource. A pallet change can make the rest of the day scene look like night lighting.

Anyone that has poked around inside of the SCI resources know that many resources that were not used in final game were left in the main resource. Some even just conceptual sketches as place holders. Often you will see resources from other games, leading me to believe that some parts of other games were added as templates and not all of the unrelated resources were removed.

The island night scenes were obviously not used in the finished game, but those PICs are probably as complete as would have been needed if the island at night had been programmed in. Not letting the player reach a room was a standard trick to not have to program a room for all circumstances.