Space Quest I

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Space Quest:
Chapter I – The Sarien Encounter
Video game box art with bold futuristic lettering outlined in red against a starry space background with the Sierra logo at the bottom.
Original cover art.
DeveloperSierra On-Line
PublisherSierra On-Line
Designers
Programmers
ArtistMark Crowe
ComposerMark Crowe
SeriesSpace Quest
EngineAGI
PlatformsDOS, Macintosh, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Amiga, Atari ST
ReleaseSeptember–October 1986[1][2]
GenreAdventure
ModeSingle-player

Space Quest: Chapter I – The Sarien Encounter (commonly known as Space Quest I) is a graphic adventure game, created by Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe, and released in October 1986 by Sierra On-Line.[3] It is the first game in the Space Quest series, and sees players assume the role of a lowly janitor on a research ship, who becomes involved in stopping an alien race using a new form of technology for evil purposes.

The game was the first to be created by Murphy and Crowe, after working on other Sierra titles at the time, such as King's Quest II. Part of their proposal included moving away from the serious, medieval settings of other titles, in favor of making a "fun, silly game", utilizing Sierra's AGI engine.[4] Space Quest I became an instant hit, selling in excess of 100,000 copies[5] and spawning several sequels, beginning with Space Quest II in 1987.

A remake of the game by Sierra was released in 1991, featuring updated graphics, gameplay, and sound. In 1992, Adventure Comics created a three-issue comic based on the game's plot.[6]

Gameplay

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A pixelated game scene showing a character standing before a set of labeled doors in a brightly colored blue and red spaceship interior, with the command "press left button" displayed at the bottom of the screen
Gameplay screenshot (Atari ST)

The game was created using Sierra's AGI engine and featured a pseudo-3D environment, allowing the character to move in front of and behind background objects. The primary means of input in Space Quest, as in many other AGI games, was through the use of a text parser for entering commands and the use of the keypad or arrow keys for moving Roger Wilco around the screen. The Amiga, Apple IIGS, Atari ST, and Mac versions of the game offered basic mouse support for movement as well. The game had a 160×200 resolution displaying 16 colors. Sound cards were not available in 1986 for the PC, so sound was played through the PC's internal speaker; owners of Tandy 1000, PCjr, and Amiga computers would hear a three-voice soundtrack, while Apple IIGS owners were treated to a fifteen-voice soundtrack with notably richer sound.

A precursor of this game is the interactive fiction game Planetfall, created by Infocom, whose player-character is a lowly "Ensign Seventh Class" who does the lowest form of labor aboard a spaceship and who appears on the cover with a mop. Just as King's Quest adapted the text-adventure puzzle games set in a medieval world to a visual display, Space Quest did the same for the space puzzle game.

As a form of copy protection, coordinates in the VGA version of the game, while in the escape pod, as well as the rocket purchased at Tiny's Used Spaceships, are only found in the manual. Also, the code for retrieving the cartridge aboard the Arcada can only be found in the manual. The AGI version had key disk protection, where the user was required to insert the original game floppy on startup.

Sierra released three versions of Space Quest: the original 1986 AGI V2 release, the 1987 AGI V3 release, and the 1990 VGA release. Aside from minor sound and graphic differences, the PC, Amiga, Atari ST, and Apple IIGS versions are essentially identical. The Mac version is considerably different, however, being monochrome and completely menu-driven. Space Quest I also had an 8-bit Apple II version for the IIe and IIc. This had no pull-down menus and displayed all text at the bottom of the screen.

Along with King's Quest III, Space Quest was the first Sierra game to feature pull-down menus, be hard disk installable, and not require a specially formatted save disk (except the Apple II version as noted above).

Plot

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Setting

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Space Quest I takes place in a universe in the far future, which parodies significant science fiction. Players assume the role of a janitor who they can name; by default, his name is "Roger Wilco"—often assumed to be a reference to the radio communication, "Roger, Will Comply", but actually a reference to a B. Kliban comic strip[7][8], which became the de facto name of the hero in the later games of the series.

Story

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Within the Earnon galaxy, Roger Wilco, a janitor aboard the scientific spaceship Arcada, awakens from an on-duty nap in his broom closet to find that the ship has been boarded and seized by the sinister Sariens. He soon learns that they have stolen a powerful experimental device called the Star Generator, which could cause untold disaster in their hands. Acquiring a keycard from a dead crew member's body, Roger flees the ship in an escape pod. Moments later, the Arcada self-destructs.

The pod crash-lands on the planet Kerona, a dry, barren wasteland. Roger defeats a spider-droid that the Sariens dispatched to eliminate him. In a cave system near his crash site, he is greeted by a mysterious figure, who offers help if he kills a monstrous creature called Orat. After Roger succeeds in the task, the figure supplies him with a skimmer craft to help him reach the town of Ulence Flats, where he can find a new ship.

Reaching Ulence Flats, Roger gambles on a slot machines in a cantina to acquire the money needed to buy a spaceship, along with a navigation droid to pilot it; during this time, he learns from a bar customer the location of the Sariens' spaceship, the Deltaur. Roger boards the Deltaur and secures a Sarien disguise. Roger programs the Star Generator to self-destruct and then escapes the ship just before it explodes.

At the end of the game, Roger's efforts are rewarded when he receives the Golden Mop as a token of eternal gratitude from the people of Xenon.

Cultural references

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Space Quest I includes a number of visual and thematic homages to well-known works of science fiction.

Sierra reportedly received complaints regarding the inclusion of references to certain real-world entities without authorization in Space Quest I. The retailer Toys "R" Us objected to the depiction of a robot shop named "Droids R Us," which was subsequently renamed "Droids B Us."[9] In the 1991 remake, a background character resembling the Toys “R” Us mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe, was added as a visual nod to this dispute. The rock band ZZ Top also raised concerns that a group of musicians featured briefly in the game's cantina scene resembled them; despite this, similar characters appear in some versions of the VGA remake.[10]

Reception

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Compute! praised the Apple IIGS version's sound and graphics, stating that players "may think they're watching a cartoon." It concluded that the game "is one of the better new adventure games to arrive."[11] In contrast, Computer Gaming World reviewer Scorpia described Space Quest I as "a middle-of-the-road game," noting that while it would not challenge experienced players, it should provide adequate difficulty for novices "as long as they don't mind the arcade sequences."[12]

According to Sierra On-Line, combined sales of the Space Quest series surpassed 1.2 million units by the end of March 1996.[13]

Remake

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Space Quest I:
Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter
Video game box art the protagonist holding a drink while being surrounded by strange alien creatures, with the Sierra logo at the bottom.
DeveloperSierra On-Line
PublisherSierra On-Line
Directors
ProducerStuart Moulder
Designers
Programmers
  • Jerry Shaw
  • Hugh Diedrichs
  • Dave Jamriska
  • Randy MacNeill
ArtistDouglas Herring
Composers
EngineSCI1
PlatformsDOS, Macintosh, Amiga
ReleaseAugust 20, 1991
GenreAdventure
ModeSingle-player

Space Quest was eventually remade using Sierra's newer SCI game engine, which, among many other improvements, allowed the game to move from its original 16-color EGA graphics to 256-color VGA. Rebranded Space Quest I: Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter to follow the series' new naming convention introduced in Space Quest IV, this version was released on August 20, 1991. In addition to the new VGA graphics, which were drawn in a 1950s retrofuturistic B-movie style, it featured digitized sounds and a new interface, with text-entry being replaced by an icon interface.

When leaving Ulence Flats in the VGA version, the time pod from Space Quest IV appears. Space Quest IV was developed around the same time. However, a continuity error occurs, as the time pod appears in a different place than in Space Quest IV.

Reception

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The 1991 remake of the game was reviewed in Dragon, receiving 5 out of 5 stars.[14] Writing for VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, Arnie Katz noted that the game "benefited from a recent face-lift." He added, "The graphics are much better, and the point-and-click interface makes play easier than the parser-driven original."[15]

Dante Kleinberg of Adventure Gamers stated that the game is "nicely detailed and pleasing to the eye".[16] Retro Freak Reviews recommended the remake over the original, stating that the humor, art, animation, and music were improved.[17]

References

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  1. ^ "Sierra On-Line OTC Standard Stock Report" (PDF). Sierra On-Line. 1989. Retrieved July 12, 2025.
  2. ^ "Sierra Newsletter, The – Volume 1 Number 2 (1987)". 1987. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  3. ^ Weston, D.B. Greatest Moments in Video Game History. DB Weston. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-301-17414-0.
  4. ^ Purcaru, John Bogdan (January 29, 2014). Games vs. Hardware. The History of PC Video Games: The 80's. Google Books. p. 296. Retrieved December 11, 2016.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ "Three More Sierra Games Go for the Gold!" (PDF). Sierra News Magazine. Vol. 1, no. 4. Sierra On-Line. Winter 1988. p. 4. Retrieved October 10, 2025.
  6. ^ ""Adventure Comics (Firm)" to "Adventure Series"". Michigan State University Libraries. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  7. ^ "Interview: Those Two Guys from Andromeda: Mark Crowe & Scott Murphy". QuestBusters. May 1989. pp. 4–5, 11, 13. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
  8. ^ Kliban, B (1977). Whack Your Porcupine and Other Drawings. ISBN 0-911104-92-5.
  9. ^ Kalata, Kurt (September 11, 2017). "Space Quest I". Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved October 10, 2025.
  10. ^ "Space Quest 1 Cameo Appearances". SpaceQuest.Net. Retrieved August 27, 2012.[dead link]
  11. ^ Trunzo, James V. (August 1988). "Space Quest — The Sarien Encounter". Compute!. p. 70.
  12. ^ Scorpia (March 1988). "Space Quest" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 45. p. 51. Retrieved October 10, 2025.
  13. ^ Sierra On-Line Form 10-K (Report). Bellevue, Washington. March 31, 1996. pp. 7–9. Archived from the original on April 16, 2018.
  14. ^ Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia & Lesser, Kirk (January 1992). "The Role of Computers". Dragon. No. 177. pp. 57–66.
  15. ^ Katz, Arnie (April 1992). "Electronic Gaming Comedy: Humorous Games for Computers and Video-Game Systems". VideoGames & Computer Entertainment. p. 84.
  16. ^ Kleinberg, Dante (January 4, 2008). "Review for Space Quest I: The Sarien Encounter". Adventure Gamers. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  17. ^ DarkwyndPT (February 8, 2017). "Space Quest I Review". Retro Freak Reviews. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
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