The Silver Lining (TSL) is an episodic video fangame based on the King's Quest series, which was developed and released in free download format by Phoenix Online Studios for Microsoft Windows starting on July 18, 2010. While five chapters were planned, the most recent release, Episode 4: 'Tis in My Memory Locked. And You Yourself Shall Hold The Key Of It, was released on November 8, 2011.
Although the game features 3D graphics, its gameplay departs from Sierra Online's last King's Quest release, The Mask of Eternity, which was mainly criticized for its RPG-like atmosphere, and settles into that created by the previous titles (for example, the setting returns to the land of the Green Isles, visited in King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow, while some recurring characters include Mannanan from King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human and Pan from King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella). The plot itself revolves around King Graham as he desperately seeks the help of ancient druidic artifacts to undo the evil cast upon his children, Alexander and Rosella.
The fifth and final episode for the series, A Thousand Times Good Night, remains in development in 2020 after multiple delays since 2011. Since Phoenix Online Studios changed its name to Phoenix Online Publishing on 19 May 2014 in order to respecialize for publishing of independent quest games and focus on more profitable endeavors. The company soon made a statement of releasing all rights to the game to Activision upon request. In August the same year, Activision began to collaborate with its Sierra Entertainment division on new King's Quest game.
Episodes
"Episode 1: What is Decreed Must Be" (July 10, 2010) "Episode 2: Two Households" (September 18, 2010) "Episode 3: My Only Love Sprung From My Only Hate" (February 17, 2011) "Episode 4: ‘Tis in My Memory Locked. And You Yourself Shall Hold The Key Of It" (November 6, 2011) "Episode 5: A Thousand Times Goodnight" (Unknown. Development team has not announced a date)
Game development
Production of TSL began in October 2000. After a long period of limited production and loss of focus, the original team was reorganized under César Bittar, previously one of the project writers, in January 2002. Dividing the production crew into five departments (Art, Design, Audio, Programming, and Public Relations), he turned Phoenix into an efficient working unit. Little of the original plot was kept, so its resemblance to the original team's concept is limited.
The game was intended to be released as a trilogy, but later was altered to be released as a single game. The finished game was to contain Chapters 1 and 2 at first, but soon into the plot writing, a third chapter was added, and then the team has added two more. Although it has been originally proposed to end the game on a cliffhanger, the team has actually thought through a "decent" ending, but has yet to implement it due to delays and increased attention on commercial projects.
A short demo of Chapter 1 was released on July 30, 2006. A beta testing build containing 3 scenes from Chapter 1 was released on March 9, 2008. Later in June 2009 the team said that in the next couple of months they would be working to put the finishing touches on the game and submit it to Vivendi Games, Inc for approval. There was a delay in production from late 2009 to early 2010, when the first chapter was finally achieved and released on 18 July.
After releasing Chapters 3 and 4, many of the team workers have abandoned the project due to budget issues, and went on to perform paid work for their second game, Cognition. Bittar said in late 2011 that he has managed to keep 5-6 guys still working on TSL, basically for free, and that he was looking to split the studios into two divisions in order to retain interest in the game. Several files have since then leaked online on quest forums, but none amount to be sufficient to complete Chapter 5. In mid-2012, one of Phoenix's workers said a Telltale Games forum thread that the company has decided to release Chapter 5 for free to anyone willing to finish it. The sequence of events surrounding this statement remains unclear.
Delays and legal issues
The initial project was titled King's Quest IX: Every Cloak Has A Silver Lining (or KQ IX for short). Due to legal issues with Vivendi Games, Inc in 2005, and parent company Activision throughout 2009—10, the title has been changed.