AGI was capable of running animated, color adventure games with music and sound effects. The player controls the game with a keyboard and, optionally, a joystick.
After the launch of King's Quest, Sierra continued to develop and improve the Adventure Game Interpreter. They employed it in 14 of their games between 1984 and 1989, before replacing it with a more sophisticated engine, Sierra's Creative Interpreter.
In late 1982, IBM began work on the PCjr, a lower-priced variant of the IBM Personal Computer with improved graphics and sound. The PCjr's Video Gate Arrayvideo adapter could display up to 16 colors at a time—a major improvement over the Color Graphics Adapter's four-color limit. The new sound chip, too, could output a wider range of tones than the PC speaker.
IBM commissioned Sierra to produce a game that could showcase these new capabilities.[1][2] They discussed some requirements for the game, and IBM supplied Sierra with a PCjr prototype.[1] They both agreed that the game should be animated—a first for Sierra.[citation needed] A team of six designers and developers, led by designer Roberta Williams, worked on the game that was eventually titled King's Quest.[1] Among the developers were Chuck Tingley and Ken MacNeill (later releases[which?] also credit Chris Iden. An Apple II version credits Arthur Abraham).[citation needed]
IBM premiered the PCjr in 1984; it did not sell well and, therefore, neither did King's Quest. However, later that year Tandy Corporation released the Tandy 1000, an IBM PC compatible that succeeded where the PCjr failed.[2]King's Quest caused a sensation in the burgeoning market of PC-compatible computers, and Sierra sold more than half a million copies.[citation needed] They ported it to other computing platforms, including the Apple II, Apple IIGS, Macintosh, Amiga, and Atari ST, but the PC remained the primary platform for their games.
In 1988, with the release of King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella, Sierra debuted a more sophisticated game engine: Sierra's Creative Interpreter, or SCI. Since the SCI engine required a more powerful home computer, Sierra released an AGI version of the game at the same time. However, Sierra overestimated consumer demand for the lesser version, and ceased production.
The following year, Sierra published its final AGI-based title, Manhunter 2: San Francisco, then focused exclusively on SCI for new adventure game development. Among SCI's enhancements were a more versatile scripting system, an object-oriented programming model, higher-resolution graphics (320×200 rather than 160×200), a point-and-click interface, and support for additional sound card hardware.
Like Sierra's earlier adventure titles, such as Wizard and the Princess (1980), AGI games used vector graphics. The PCjr accepted floppy disks with a capacity of 360 kilobytes, and raster graphics would have consumed an excessive amount of disk space.[1] Instead, King's Quest drew polygons on the screen, and then colored them.[1] Beginning with AGI version 2, the game engine drew graphics in an off-screen data buffer, then blitted them into video memory. This approach was not just to economize use of system resources; it also prevented the game from revealing hidden objects while it drew the screen.
^Donald Duck's Playground was released for the Apple II and Tandy Color Computer platforms but did not use the AGI engine for those ports, nor did the game's release for the Commodore 64
^ abcdefTrivette, Donald B. (February 1985). "Inside King's Quest". Compute!. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
^ ab. King's Quest Realm. 2006. Archived from the original on March 31, 2008. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
^ abcKelly, Peter (January 21, 2000). "Making adventure games with AGI". Adventure Classic Gaming. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
External links
Adventure Game Interpreter at Curlie Retrieved August 15, 2014
Further reading
Excerpt from a 1984 interview with Roberta Williams
February 28, 2023
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This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Adventure Game Interpreter news newspapers books scholar JSTOR September 2014 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Adventure Game Interpreter AGI is a game engine developed by Sierra On Line The company originally developed the engine for King s Quest 1984 an adventure game which Sierra and IBM wished to market in order to attract consumers to IBM s lower cost home computer the IBM PCjr Adventure Game InterpreterOriginal author s UnknownDeveloper s Sierra On LineInitial releaseMay 1984 38 years ago 1984 05 Stable release3 002 149 August 17 1989 33 years ago 1989 08 17 Operating systemDOS Apple SOS ProDOS Macintosh System Atari TOS AmigaOSPlatformIntel 8088 x86 Apple II Apple IIGS Macintosh Amiga Atari ST TRS 80 Color ComputerAvailable inEnglishTypeGame engineLicenseProprietary softwareAGI was capable of running animated color adventure games with music and sound effects The player controls the game with a keyboard and optionally a joystick After the launch of King s Quest Sierra continued to develop and improve the Adventure Game Interpreter They employed it in 14 of their games between 1984 and 1989 before replacing it with a more sophisticated engine Sierra s Creative Interpreter Contents 1 History 2 Technical design 3 AGI based games published by Sierra On Line 3 1 Table Notes 4 See also 5 Notes 6 External links 7 Further readingHistory EditIn late 1982 IBM began work on the PCjr a lower priced variant of the IBM Personal Computer with improved graphics and sound The PCjr s Video Gate Array video adapter could display up to 16 colors at a time a major improvement over the Color Graphics Adapter s four color limit The new sound chip too could output a wider range of tones than the PC speaker IBM commissioned Sierra to produce a game that could showcase these new capabilities 1 2 They discussed some requirements for the game and IBM supplied Sierra with a PCjr prototype 1 They both agreed that the game should be animated a first for Sierra citation needed A team of six designers and developers led by designer Roberta Williams worked on the game that was eventually titled King s Quest 1 Among the developers were Chuck Tingley and Ken MacNeill later releases which also credit Chris Iden An Apple II version credits Arthur Abraham citation needed IBM premiered the PCjr in 1984 it did not sell well and therefore neither did King s Quest However later that year Tandy Corporation released the Tandy 1000 an IBM PC compatible that succeeded where the PCjr failed 2 King s Quest caused a sensation in the burgeoning market of PC compatible computers and Sierra sold more than half a million copies citation needed They ported it to other computing platforms including the Apple II Apple IIGS Macintosh Amiga and Atari ST but the PC remained the primary platform for their games In 1988 with the release of King s Quest IV The Perils of Rosella Sierra debuted a more sophisticated game engine Sierra s Creative Interpreter or SCI Since the SCI engine required a more powerful home computer Sierra released an AGI version of the game at the same time However Sierra overestimated consumer demand for the lesser version and ceased production The following year Sierra published its final AGI based title Manhunter 2 San Francisco then focused exclusively on SCI for new adventure game development Among SCI s enhancements were a more versatile scripting system an object oriented programming model higher resolution graphics 320 200 rather than 160 200 a point and click interface and support for additional sound card hardware Technical design EditThe technical complexity of King s Quest made it a burden to write in assembly language so the programmers created a game engine to simplify development The engine comprised a bespoke programming language called the Game Adaptation Language 1 a compiler and a bytecode interpreter the Adventure Game Interpreter 3 The Game Adaptation Language was a high level programming language that resembled C 3 This was compiled into bytecode which was executed by the interpreter 3 Like Sierra s earlier adventure titles such as Wizard and the Princess 1980 AGI games used vector graphics The PCjr accepted floppy disks with a capacity of 360 kilobytes and raster graphics would have consumed an excessive amount of disk space 1 Instead King s Quest drew polygons on the screen and then colored them 1 Beginning with AGI version 2 the game engine drew graphics in an off screen data buffer then blitted them into video memory This approach was not just to economize use of system resources it also prevented the game from revealing hidden objects while it drew the screen AGI was principally developed for 16 bit computer architectures which were the state of the art in home computers at the time These included the IBM PC compatible the Atari ST Commodore s Amiga series and Apple s Macintosh computers In addition Sierra ported AGI to three 8 bit computer models the TRS 80 Color Computer the Apple IIe and the Apple IIc AGI based games published by Sierra On Line EditGame PC Apple II Atari ST Amiga Apple IIGS Mac TRS 80 CoCoKing s Quest 1984 1984 1986 1987 1987 1987 NoKing s Quest II Romancing the Throne 1985 1985 1985 1987 1987 No NoThe Black Cauldron 1986 1986 1986 1987 1987 No NoDonald Duck s Playground note 1 1986 No 1986 1986 No No NoKing s Quest III To Heir Is Human 1986 1988 1986 1986 1988 No 1988Space Quest The Sarien Encounter 1986 1986 1986 1987 1987 1987 NoLeisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards 1987 1987 1987 1987 1987 1988 1988Mixed Up Mother Goose 1987 1990 1987 1988 1988 No NoPolice Quest In Pursuit of the Death Angel 1987 1987 1987 1987 1987 1987 NoSpace Quest II Vohaul s Revenge 1987 1987 1987 1988 1988 1988 NoGold Rush 1988 1988 1989 1989 1989 1989 NoManhunter New York 1988 1988 1988 1988 1988 No NoKing s Quest IV The Perils of Rosella 1988 1990 1990 1990 1989 No NoManhunter 2 San Francisco 1989 No 1990 1990 No 1989 NoTable Notes Edit Donald Duck s Playground was released for the Apple II and Tandy Color Computer platforms but did not use the AGI engine for those ports nor did the game s release for the Commodore 64See also EditSCUMM ScummVMNotes Edit a b c d e f Trivette Donald B February 1985 Inside King s Quest Compute Retrieved March 26 2016 a b History of King s Quest King s Quest Realm 2006 Archived from the original on March 31 2008 Retrieved September 28 2016 a b c Kelly Peter January 21 2000 Making adventure games with AGI Adventure Classic Gaming Retrieved September 25 2016 External links EditAdventure Game Interpreter at Curlie Retrieved August 15 2014Further reading EditExcerpt from a 1984 interview with Roberta Williams Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Adventure Game Interpreter amp oldid 1121853584, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
