I originally started the “unofficial KQ9 game project" in late 1999. This tiny doodle is the first physical evidence of it.

That was seven years ago. So much happened since then. The new millennium, The World Trade Center, Douglas Adams’ death, the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker, my first viewing of the movie whose title is spoofed by Chapter 9, the reduction of the number of planets in our solar system from nine to eight, even the perpetually delayed and somewhat disappointing re-release of the Sierra Collections by Vivendi.

Since that doodle, I have sketched, drawn, animated, collected sound bytes, read a lot of fairy tales, learned how to use new programs, mostly on my own, and generally poured almost seven years of my life into this, doing almost everything myself, only to ultimately destroy the project in late 2005. I wasn’t going for anything ground-breaking or inspiring, I was just determined to put together a game in the tradition of the King’s Quest games, with a fun story; new, enjoyable characters and worlds as well as old ones; and a liberal sprinkling of fairy tale elements as well.

In order to adequately explain things, I should note that I have a disorder that makes it very difficult to socialize with other people, online or off. I have seen others with the same condition try to fit in and become targets of ridicule because of their behavior. I thought I had a fair understanding of people when I first started the project, but I didn’t, and I’ve grown convinced that I still don’t. I’ve misinterpreted the actions of many people, just as I myself have been misinterpreted by people who aren’t familiar with me. I am not divulging this information in order to gain sympathy. I am only trying to state things in the most factual context possible so that my actions – particularly that of taking this project on alone – might be better understood.

The turn the KQ9 project eventually took was entirely my fault. Though I did ask for assistance whenever I was desperate, I was asking for a form of help that nobody, no matter how skilled, could provide me with. If I had realized this at the time, I doubt things would have turned out any differently.

When I decided to put the project on hold in the September of 2005, I was depressed with myself at first, but eventually I realized that I had gained a further insight into what I can’t do on my own – I don’t always know my limits, but when I do, I know which ones are surmountable given the time and effort, and which ones are pretty much impossible, my one-person project falling into the latter category.

After a few bitter months, however, I began honing my skills in other areas, and in doing so gained a new sense of confidence in what I was able to do. I knew that I could draw…in a kinda-sorta-okay sense. I could also crank out half-decent prose…on a good day. I also knew that I knew a bit about HTML…an itty bitty bit.

So, on July 31st (Harry Potter’s 26th birthday, of all days), I decided to reinvent King’s Quest IX: It Takes Two to Tangle and release it under the dubious superficial heading of "fan fiction", bundled together with graphics, animations and other media originally created for the game. Sure, the graphics are mostly tripe by now, but I put years of effort into their creation, and it just didn’t seem fair to admit the futility of making a game and simply hoard all that I had created after stringing everyone along for so long.

I only hope that people enjoy the story that was meant to be a game and find it as enjoyable, entertaining and familiar as the King’s Quest games. It’s got action, it’s got adventure, it’s got puzzles, talking animals, magic, enchantments, love, friendship, and a heckuva lot of the obligatory fairy tale/fantasy cameos…see if you can spot them all.

This page and its contents copyright © 1999-2006 by Akril (Akril15[at]aol[.]com) King’s Quest and Sierra Online are trademarks of Vivendi Universal Games (sad, eh?). Please ask me before using anything on this site, capishe? Thank you.