Space Quest 7 (SQ7.org)

Space Quest 7
Name:	Space Quest 7
Team lead(s):	Colin Davis, Matt Holden
Start date:	13 July, 2001
Release date:	On hold indefinetly.
Website:	Space Quest 7
Releases:	SQ7 Media Page
Summary:	Roger finally returns in the seventh numbered installment in the Space Quest series.
Engine:	SLAGE
Position on the SQ timeline:	Between SQ6 and SQ8 of course!

This page refers to the Space Quest 7 fangame. For other games titled Space Quest 7, visit the disambiguation page.

The Space Quest 7 fan project has been put on hold indefinitely, and has been on hold for several years. The designers plan was to try to capture the spirit of the original Space Quest series, and update the look, references, and humor into the modern era. That, and give the fans something new to play with.

The project began a number of years ago in an attempt to make a fun, modern-looking SQ game, to compliment the period-specific titles, such as SQTLC and later SQ0. The project was a fun success for the community, who enjoyed getting together to work on something interesting.

Development of Space Quest 7 has been put on hold indefinitely. If released, it is intended to feature a special combination of parser and point and click, allowing the player to switch between the interfaces, or to use both. Internally, they referenced the same objects in the engine. The SQ7 team was designg the game with the SLAGE Engine, which they are designing. SLAGE is to be a Java-based freeware engine available to the public; the SQ7 programmers are making their engine from scratch for maximum flexibility.

The SQ7 project's design used pre-rendered 3D graphics, and animated using a 2D Java engine. This allowed the designers to have the highest polygon count possible while still allowing for a modern look. The sound system in SQ7 was to have been advanced beyond that of the prior SQ games as well, capable of multi-channel compressed music as well as voices and sound effects.

While the SQ team had hesitant in discussing game details, certain elements are known. The team has released a rendered image and video of the Aluminum Mallard, as well as a man who appears to be Sludge Vohaul. Neither of these are confirmed, however.

The Space Quest 7 site has a number of images, and a video trailer available for release, and (semi) regular updates.

The SQ7 project is always interested in finding people who are interested in keeping Roger alive; If you're a 3D modeller or a Java programmer who's interested in helping ensure our hero makes it through another adventure, or have questions about the project, you're welcome to send an e-mail to Colin@sq7.org.

History[]

Sq7 vohaul render — A picture from SQ7, released to Inventory magazine.

Aluminummallard — The Aluminum Mallard as seen in SQ7.

Space Quest 7 is a fan project of the popular Space Quest series established in early 2001. The project began one peaceful, sunny day, when Vonster, author of the newly released Space Quest:The Lost Chapter and Brian Lusk launched a plan to discuss with Vivendi Universal Games the rights to making a Space Quest game officially. They drafted a letter, which was sent to Sierra, asking for permission to start work on an official title.

Plans continued to develop in the SQ community, and an a request for ideas was put out. Blusk continued to think that waiting until they had heard back would be the most prudent, but some in the community wanted to push forward and create the game. A mailing list was started to assist in communication between the interested members of the SQ community, and a Job Openings post was created, asking for people who would be interested.

Colin Davis took over much of the organizational work, creating the mailing list, website, and acting as head steward. As the project continued, and looks liked it was going to go forward with development, he assumed the role of Project Lead.

The development of Space Quest 7 came a year after the death of an earlier fan project, Space Quest Incinerations, which had demoralized much of the community. The Incinerations project was a democracy which drew in members of the community. It had no real sense of direction, but did manage to get a script and graphics finished, although some accused them of writing by committee.

Incinerations was ultimately doomed, however, due to the lack of strong leadership and the democratized nature of the project. They took far too long to decide on a plot, and artwork was delayed until those creating it lost much of their interest and enthusiasm. Colin and the SQ7 project were determined not to let that happen again.

With the community struggling to recover, the SQ7 project came into being, as a fresh start, and a chance to work together to build something great as a team, as a community, and give people something they could enjoy. Something to keep Space Quest alive, if only a few more years.

A few more years it's taken.

The team began its work with the AGAST engine, but soon found the limitations, undocumented bugs and the parsing language that AGAST uses in the engine to be frustrating. Because AGAST includes its own scripting language, the team was constantly spending time just re-implementing basic programming functionality to acheive what they needed to complete the design of the game. As useful as the engine was, they were forced to move their work to a new design.

The team therefore began work on their own SLAGE engine, which is based in Java, and uses the language directly for scripting. By doing so, they are able to use programming concepts such as object oriented design to make a supurb game system.

The SQ project continues to progress, as shown in Colin Davis' status reports. It is currently believed that the game has finished their plot and writing, and is awaiting the completion of the 3d work and engine development.

Current Status[]

Unfortunately, Space Quest 7 will not see the light of day anytime soon. A statement issued by the Space Quest 7 site states: "Unfortunately, The SQ7.org project is being put "on-hold" for the indefinite future.

I know that this is the last thing that you'd want to hear, particularly after what CUC did to the original SQ7 project, but the current legal environment doesn't leave us much choice. Vivendi has decided that we need to either shut down, or sign over the work of the community to be used by them however they want..."

SQ7.org[]

SQ7.org is the public face and central communications hub of the SQ7 project. The site has been through several revisions, yet it continues to focus on making the game behind closed doors, rather than featuring extensive SQ7 content.

The site provides several gateways for the IRC #sq channel.

The site has been responsible for creating and hosting Spoofoff contests.

Forum[]

The page contains a forum which is used to develop both SQ7 and SLAGE, as well as a few discussions within the communty. The SQ7.org forum is not intended as a general-purpose discussion board however, and encourages members to talk at the Subspace Channel or Janitorial Times.

April Fools[]

SQ7.org once did an April Fools Day prank where they said the site had been shut down. Additionally, they faked a forum crash, and exposed a "Private Forum" entry, which had been hand-created to look like access was open to their guarded developers forum. Inside they listed a set of possible subtitles for the games, which spelled out April Fools, if you took the first letter of each. Additionally, they used the opportunity to release two media pictures, which are now featured on their release page.

The site's current design was created by GGC Media.