Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers

Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
Developer: Sierra On-Line Publisher: Sierra On-Line Platforms: Mac OS Classic, DOS, Windows, Amiga, PC-98 Released in JP: February 21, 1992 (PC-98) Released in US: March 4, 1991 (floppy), 1992 (CD-ROM) This game has unused areas. This game has unused code. This game has a hidden developer message. This game has hidden developer credits. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused text. This game has revisional differences. This game has a prototype article This game has a notes page

This page is rather stubbly and could use some expansion. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue this article?

Space Quest IV has Roger Wilco traveling back and forth through time, while also being hunted down by Sludge Vohaul and his many henchmen.

The CD release is also the first entry to have voiced narration by Gary Owens, providing snark about just about everything. He would be brought back for both the demo and retail releases of Space Quest 6.

To do: Holy crap, this page needs help bad. There's probably a lot more unused content than what's currently on here. There's also more differences between the floppy and CD versions.

Sub-Page

Prototype Info

Notes

Debugging Material

Please elaborate. Having more detail is always a good thing.

While the floppy version was cleaned of all debugging scripts, many of them were added back into the CD version. Extract script files 800.scr, 943.scr, and 952.scr and text files 800.tex, 943.tex, and 952.tex to see it in action.

Leftover Parser Vocabulary

Vocab.900 contains a list of words that would have been used along with the parser. However, midway through development, Sierra forced the developers to use the point-and-click interface instead.

1 the article 2 a article 3 an article 4 el article 5 la article 6 los article 50 and conjunction 51 or conjunction 52 nor conjunction 54 if conjunction 55 but conjunction 100 it pronoun 101 this pronoun 102 these pronoun 103 that pronoun 104 those pronoun 105 them pronoun 106 themselves pronoun 107 him pronoun 108 himself pronoun 109 her pronoun 110 herself pronoun 111 i, me, myself noun 112 he noun 113 she noun 114 they noun 115 ya, you noun 116 yourself noun 117 we noun 118 us noun 119 ourselves noun 150 until association 151 while association 152 with association 153 without association 154 for association 155 about association 200 to position 201 from position 202 at position 203 on, upon position 204 onto position 205 off position 206 in, inside, into position 207 out, outer, outside position 208 below, beneath, under, underneath position 209 between position 210 across position 211 above, over position 212 through position 213 behind noun, position 214 ahead position 215 back verb, noun, adjective, position 216 front noun, adjective, position 217 around position 218 here position 219 there position 220 everywhere position 221 nowhere position 222 somewhere position 223 forward position 224 backward position 225 toward position 226 by position 229 of position 300 how adverb 301 where adverb 302 when adverb 303 why adverb 304 what, which adverb 305 who adverb 306 soon adverb 307 sooner adverb 308 soonest adverb 309 now adverb 310 late adverb 311 later adverb 312 latest adverb 315 normal adverb 316 abnormal, strange adverb 317 so adverb 318 again adverb 319 always adverb 320 never adverb 321 then adverb 322 up adverb 323 down adverb 324 together adverb 325 please adverb 326 away adverb 327 along adverb 328 overboard adverb 329 not adverb 330 almost adverb 331 affirmative, aye, certainly, ok, roger, sure, y, yea, yeah, yep, yes adverb 332 n, nay, negative, no, nope adverb 333 dunno, maybe, possibly, probably adverb 400 do auxv 401 did auxv 402 does auxv, noun 403 be auxv 404 are, is, wheres, youre auxv 405 am, im auxv 407 was auxv 408 can auxv, noun 409 will auxv, noun 410 would auxv 411 go auxv 412 cease, stop auxv 413 begin, start auxv 414 say auxv 415 says auxv 416 said auxv 417 have auxv 418 has auxv 419 had auxv 420 tell auxv 421 use auxv 422 holler, scream, shout, yell auxv 450 look verb 451 open verb 452 close verb 453 smell verb 454 move verb 455 eat verb 456 get verb 457 climb verb 458 talk verb 500 white noun, adjective 501 black noun, adjective 502 green noun, adjective 503 gold noun, adjective 504 silver noun, adjective 505 orange noun, adjective 506 blue adjective 507 pink adjective 508 purple adjective 509 brown adjective 510 yellow adjective 511 golden adjective 512 red adjective 513 grey adjective 514 gray adjective 1000 quit verb 1001 pause verb 1002 exit, leave verb 1003 restart verb 1004 restore verb 1005 save verb 1006 help verb, noun 1007 give verb 1008 stand verb, noun 1009 pour verb 1010 switch verb, noun 1011 turn verb 1012 flip verb 1013 press, push verb 1014 hide verb 1015 enter verb 1016 lift verb 1017 examine verb 2000 game noun 2001 inventory noun 2002 ego noun 2003 room noun 2004 door noun 2005 babe, female, girl, lady, woman noun 2006 droid noun 2007 death noun 2008 ladder noun 2009 blob, slime noun 2010 sub, submarine noun 2011 hatch noun 2012 bubble noun 2013 mouth noun 2014 dribble, drip noun 2015 eye noun 2016 tongue noun 2017 saliva, spit noun 2018 fin, flipper, fluke noun 2019 beam, laser noun 2020 key noun 2021 pad noun 2022 keypad noun 2023 mall noun 2024 butte noun 2025 manhole noun 2026 sewer noun 2027 burger, hamburger noun 2028 sign noun 2029 hose noun 2030 grabber noun 2031 dummy, manikin, mannequin, mannikin noun 2032 acid noun 2033 jar noun 2034 grate noun 2035 cyborg noun 2036 laptop noun 2037 panel noun 2038 keyboard noun 2039 button noun 2040 gear noun 2041 ship noun 2042 robot noun 2043 eyebrow noun 2044 arm noun 2045 coil noun 2046 wizz noun 2047 mat noun 2048 blotter noun 4000 0, o, zero noun 4001 1, one noun 4002 2, two noun 4003 3, three noun 4004 4, four noun 4005 5, five noun 4006 6, six noun 4007 7, seven noun 4008 8, eight noun 4009 9, nine noun 4010 10, ten noun 4011 11, eleven noun 4012 12, twelve noun 4013 13, thirteen noun 4014 14, forteen, fourteen noun 4015 15, fifteen noun 4016 16, sixteen noun 4017 17, seventeen noun 4018 18, eighteen noun 4019 19, nineteen, ninteen noun 4020 20, twenty noun 4021 30, thirty noun 4022 40, forty noun 4023 50, fifty noun 4024 60, sixty noun 4025 70, seventy noun 4026 80, eighty noun 4027 90, ninety noun 4028 100, hundred noun 4029 1000, thousand noun 4030 1000000, million noun 4093 unknownnumber noun 4094 !*, noword noword 4095 *, any, anyword verb, adverb, auxv, noun, pronoun, adjective, article, position, conjunction

(Source: Space Quest Omnipedia)

Room Removed For Legal Reasons

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Identify whatever the note refers to. Per the video (at 15:40), this room was meant to be accessed through entering a set of three time codes present in the resource files.

Present in the CD-ROM version is an inaccessible extra room created as something of an in-joke, as it contains many of the legally dubious things that had landed Sierra in hot water. If loaded in-game (as can be seen at 17:15 in the video), examining each object yields text seen nowhere else, though none of it is voiced. The BGM is the Treasure Room music from King's Quest VI.

From left to right:

• The emblem and logo of Hero's Quest, the original name of Quest for Glory I.
• Containers of Slime Chow and Slug Chow from the floppy disk version of this game.
• ZZ Top, who had an unauthorized cameo in the original Space Quest I and the first release of its VGA remake.
• Earl Sinclair from the Dinosaurs TV series, who had a similarly-unauthorized cameo in the VGA remake of Quest for Glory I.
• A paper that brings up the text "It says: "Please help me fertilize my mother's cat". They took THAT out and left the "Pant load" bit in???" Unlike everything else in the room, this one doesn't indicate which game it was excised from, though the reference to "the "Pant load" bit" suggests this game since quitting will sometimes result in the player being called "a real pant load".
• The Radioshock logo from the floppy disk version of this game.
• The sign for Droids R Us, the original name of Droids B Us from the original Space Quest I.

Attempting to get back in the time machine results in Roger being told that he's been removed from the game for legal reasons.

Unused Graphics

Two more products intended for the player to click on in the Radioshock/Hz. So Good bargain bin, complete with box art. These were removed due to memory issues involving said bargain bin, as the player is able to move the boxes around and that action takes up a significant portion of memory. Both of these were present in a leaked prototype.

While "Dacron Danny does Dirty Deeds in the Dark wearing Drip-Dry Duds" is a parody of the Leisure Suit Larry series and its lengthy subtitles, Stunt Flyer is a real Sierra game that had been published in 1985.

This cursor of a keycard is all that remains of the deleted item.

The CD version does have a portrait for Professor Lloyd, but it never shows up. The only time Lloyd shows up is in the holographic data entry he left behind.

(Source: Akril15, Space Quest Historian)

Unused Text

It looks like a cross between a praying mantis and Richard Nixon.
Must be a duck billed planetpuss.
Hey, it's a gilled Thwarkian lambotraus! I havn't seen one of those in years!

These lines are coded in the intro sequence, specifically during the bar scene where Roger is. However, at no point during the intro sequence can the player interact with it. If these were used, they would be used while clicking on the aliens in the background.

Development Text

Where To?
Debug - can't cheat for Estros - You need to enter two complete entries - second entry will be Estros' code from now on.
Debug - can't go to the mall before you go to Estros

A couple of debug messages left behind in 531.tex.

Easter Eggs

A pair of textual easter eggs can be found outside the Software store.

Go Beavers!

Taste the blue box in the right-side window 18 times to display this message.

QA people were here.

Smell the letter O in the "Software" sign to display this message.

(Source: Ben Shoof)

Secret QA Credits

In the floppy version, go to the Ulence Flats bar and look at the unreadable alien text in the staircase five times to bring up a text box crediting the game's Quality Assurance team.

At the time, Sierra credits policy only credited the QA team leaders (this was changed with Conquests of the Longbow, following the lobbying of that game's lead programmer), but grateful programmers still found a way...

(Source: Benshoof)

Alternate Credits

In the floppy version, use the ScummVM debugger to set an otherwise unused global variable:

vv g 169 1

Now upon beating the game, the credits will be altered to move the "Programmers" section from near the end to the very start, with the modest new job title "Programming Studs" and every name displayed by itself in large type (as opposed to every name being on one card).

(Source: Benshoof)

Revisional Differences

This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this.

EGA Floppy Version

A standalone floppy release was released at the same time the VGA floppy version was. While the two are largely similar, there are a few differences.

• The logo is reminiscent of previous Space Quest entries.
• Static picture behind Roger Wilco as he is transported to "Space Quest XII", as opposed to a background with a rotating palette.
• Zondra is missing her boots in the picture where Roger is captured, like in the prototype.
• Appropriately, the bikers in Ulence Flats snark how Roger has 16 colors instead of 256.

CD-ROM Version

In 1992, Sierra released an enhanced version on CD-ROM, containing a full voiceover track, and close-up portraits for anything that can be talked to.

Between the floppy and the CD versions, quite a few things were changed around:

• The Sierra logo is green in the floppy version, but bronze in the CD version.
• The IV in the game's logo Space Quest IV" now rotates into place.
• The cursors are redrawn to be more colorful.
• Several pieces of art were altered to accommodate for the Windows version, as Windows reserved 20 of the 256 color entries for itself.
• Pictures of Neil's European vacation are included inside the game.
• The ooze will only come out of one vent in the original floppy disk version. However, there are several more places in the CD version.
• The copy protection screen has been removed, though its graphics are still in the game.
• A point bell glitch occurs in the game, if the player has Roger Wilco change back into his clothes, it won't trigger the bell point sound preventing the player from getting 3 points which prevents them from reaching 315 points. Though the player can beat the game, they'll only get 312 out of 315 points. Unless the player quickly gets the unstable ordinance before boarding the police ships which allows them 332 out of 315 points at the end of the game.

Floppy	CD

The titles now have drop shadows on them.

Floppy	CD

The references to Purina Chow are purged from the CD version and replaced with a "Cream of X" soup pastiche.

Floppy	CD

The sea slug got its fins recolored red in the CD version.

Floppy	CD

Floppy	CD

The Radioshock store has been changed to a Hz. So Good one, most definitely to avoid a lawsuit from Radioshack.

Floppy	CD

Likewise, the Dandy branding is removed from the PocketPal.

Cedric makes a cameo in "Ms. Astro Chicken".

Also, there is now a MediaVision plane. MediaVision actually worked out a deal to include their logo in this game.

Floppy	CD

The monochrome guys' motorcycles were changed from color to monochrome. To make it easier to distinguish the bikes, slight alterations are done with the bike handles and body types.

(Source: Sierra Chest)