King's Quest V

It was also the first King's Quest installment to replace the typing user interface with a point-and-click user interface. The title is a spoof on the proverb "Absence makes the heart grow fonder". V sold over half million copies and won several awards. It was later released as a fully voiced "talkie" CD-ROM, done by members of the Sierra staff.

• Title — King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder! • Developer — Sierra On-Line Novotrade International (NES) • Publisher — Sierra On-Line Konami (NES) • Director — Roberta Williams • Producer — Roberta Williams • Designer — Roberta Williams • Artist — Andy Hoyos • Programmer — Chris Iden • Composer — Ken Allen Mark Seibert • Series — King's Quest • Engine — SCI1 • Released — November 9, 1990 • Genre — Adventure • Modes — Single player • Platforms — MS-DOS, Windows, NES, Mac, Amiga, FM Towns, Tandy Memorex VIS, NEC PC-9801

• Illustration — MS-DOS VGA screenshot, showing the new point-and-click interface King's Quest V is a 2D graphic adventure game with a point-and-click interface; unlike previous game's in the series before it, which relied on a text parser system where players had to type in commands and actions for the character to perform. Each icon represents a different action, from moving around, examining the scene and objects (with the narrator providing the description), picking up or using items, and talking. Much of the gameplay revolves around solving puzzles and overcoming hazards, some of which must be done in a timely fashion. The diskette version (EGA and VGA) differs from other versions, in that players are required to cast spells throughout the game through referring to the manual as a form of copy protection; this was omitted from other versions.

King Grahma of Daventry returns from a walk in the countryside to find his castle and family have mysteriously disappeared. To his surprise, he finds himself greeted by a talking owl named Cedric, who reveals they were taken by an evil wizard named Mordack; though he does not know the reason why. Seeking to help him, Cedric brings Graham to the land of Serenia, where his master, the good wizard Crispin, resides. Upon meeting him, Grahma learns Mordack lives in the ocean far to the east of Serenia over its mountain range. To help him on his way, Crispin provides him with two items - his old wand; and a piece of white snake, which allows its user to speak with animals and the natural world. To assist him further, Crispin orders Cedric to accompany Graham on his quest. Whilst seeking supplies, Graham meets with a travelling gypsy fortune teller, who allows him to see a vision of his family imprisoned within Mordack's castle. Through this, Graham leans that Mordack is the brother of the wizard Manannan, who his son Prince Alexander turned into a cat. Mordack found the spell can only be reversed by the one who cast it, and thus kidnapped Graham's family in order to force Alexander to reverse it; something he reveals he cannot do, even though Mordack threatens to feed his hostages to Manannan. Securing what he needs, Graham travels across the mountain and across the ocean, dealing with a yeti, harpies, and a large two-headed roc, whilst rescuing Cedric from dangerous situations. Eventually, the pair reach Mordack's castle, with Graham forced to gain entry on his own. Once inside, Graham encounters a young woman named Cassima, a princess from the Land of the Green Isles, whom Mordack is holding prisoner. With her help, Graham overcomes further hazards, gains access to Mordack's lab, and uses a device to repower Crispins's wand. After Cedric saves his life upon Mordack discovering his intrusion, Graham defeats him in a magical duel, killing him with a rain storm when Mordack transforms into a ring of fire. Crispin arrives after the duel is over, and uses his magic to restore Graham's family to normal, who Graham introduces to Cassima; with Alexander falling in love with her. After Crispin heals Cedric, he magically sends Cassima home to the Green Isles, and Graham, his family, and his castle, back to Daventry.

Work on the game was done on a budget of around one million dollars, with Sierra using similar animation techniques that Disney had applied for The Little Mermaid. Live-action actors were used for rotoscoping the framework of the character sprites and the animation frames, while background scenes were hand drawn, painted and scanned. Several characters in the game featured large closeup pictures during conversations. The game was the last in the series to feature EGA and Tandy graphics at 320×200: a separate EGA release contained 16-color 320×200 versions of the graphics, whereas the VGA release featured 320×200 256-color VGA graphics (and, unlike later SCI games, did not support rendering these into 16 colors at 640×350 resolution on EGA cards).

Development of a CD-ROM version focused on basing the game within the High Sierra Format, unrelated to the publisher's name. Work included the addition of voice acting with a voice-sampling technique for spoken words - which effectively removed the need for text boxes - and changes to descriptions, including modification or removal of some close-up scenes. The finished version was released in 1991.

A Nintendo Entertainment System version of the game was later developed by Konami and ported by Novotrade; it was released in June 1992.

An Atari ST version was announced via Sierra Online's magazine: Sierra News Magazine for a Spring 1991 release but was later canceled. Sierra's Srini Vasan and Sierra UK fought for continued Atari ST development but Sierra Online discontinued Atari ST support entirely shortly afterwards. A Sega CD port of the game was announced, but was never released.