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Space Quest I

Space Quest:
Chapter I – The Sarien Encounter

Original cover art.

Developer(s) Sierra On-Line
Publisher(s) Sierra On-Line
Director(s)
Producer(s)
Designer(s) Mark Crowe
Scott Murphy
Programmer(s) Scott Murphy
Ken Williams
Sol Ackerman
Artist(s) Mark Crowe
Composer(s) Mark Crowe
Series(s) Space Quest
Engine AGI
Platform(s) DOS, Macintosh, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Amiga, Atari ST
Release September–October 1986
Genre(s) Adventure
Mode(s) Single-player

“ Those Sarien bastards are gonna pay for shooting down my ride! ”
- Roger Wilco (maybe)


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. 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. Space Quest I became an instant hit, selling in excess of 100,000 copies 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.

Gameplay

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

Setting

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,5,11, 13}} which became the de facto name of the hero in the later games of the series.

Story

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.

References

[1] Sierra On-Line OTC Standard Stock Report. 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. p. 52. DB Weston.
[4] Purcaru, John Bogdan; Games vs. Hardware. The History of PC Video Games: The 80's. p. 296. (January 29, 2014). Retrieved December 11, 2016.
[5] Three More Sierra Games Go for the Gold!. Sierra News Magazine. No. 4. (Winter 1988). p. 4. Sierra On-Line. https://www.sierragamers.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/004 Sierra Newsletter Volume 1 Number 4 Winter 1988.pdf. Retrieved 2025-10-10.
[6] "Adventure Comics (Firm)" to "Adventure Series". Michigan State University Libraries. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
[7] https://archive.org/details/questbusters-v6n05. QuestBusters.
[8] Whack Your Porcupine and Other Drawings. (1977).

Game Demos

AGI_Demo_Pack_2.zip
Download AGI_Demo_Pack_5.zip
Download

Minimum Run

Main Article: Space Quest I Minimum Score Run

Notes

Following the variable and flags in memory, there is an entry for the cartridge name and an entry for the player name. When the player access the computer monitor in the Data Archive, the cartridge name is cleared from memory and is filled in by the player as they type. When the game starts anew from the DOS prompt, the default Roger Wilco is given to the player, allowing them the opportunity to change it if they wish.

Extra Points:

Commands

aid, aid you - Brings up the help menu. ken - Brings up Ken Williams in Room 1 (start of the game) complaining about when the game is coming out. Applies to V1.0x, only.

Unused Text

logic.106 -- There is another line of text that goes: Hope your life insurance is paid up under the Time Till Detonation line. There is no way to view this dialogue during regular gameplay. This implies that, at some point, the player would have seen this as an alternate to the usual line should the timer get close to zero.

Unused Items

i
It does make a good fire starter.

Precious Lint

Credit: Kuro-chan

The player can get lint from this body. While there is an ID for said item (#23), it is not added to inventory.

Debug

Press Alt+D to enable some debugging functions. These features are disabled upon entering a new room.

Here's the complete word list:
Input Result
CASH Allows the player to set the number of Buckazoids they have.
GET OBJECT Puts the appropriate object by ID in the player's inventory.
OBJECT or SP Gives status on the appropriate object.
POS Set Roger's X and Y position on the screen.
RESET FLAG Resets the appropriate flag.
SHOW PRI Shows the priority layer.
SET FLAG Sets the appropriate flag.
SHOW FLAG Displays info on a flag (Can be either set or not set).
SET VAR Sets a chosen variable to a given value.
SHOW VAR Displays the value of a variable.
TP Teleport to the room number. Crashes if the number is bad.
The following updates Roger's outfit.
DRINK CLOTHES Space suit.
BE ALIEN Sarien disguise.
DRINK JET PACK Space suit + jetpack
NO HELMET Sarien disguise, no helmet


Locations

Main Article: Arcada

Main Article: Deltaur

Main Article: Kerona

Main Article: Misc.

Main Article: Ulence Flats

For Fun

So, 'Tandy mode' in DOSBox establishes that Tandy could not handle the screen shaking. However, when running it in DOSBox, this appears to create others problems when using DOS saves:

V1.0X V1.1A
Arcada Explodes! Works fine Works fine
Pull throttle on Escape Pod Game does not complete animation and locks up Game completes the animation. Other commands can be given, but the pod does not leave the ship.
Crash on Kerona Looks fine at first, but locks up after the animation is complete. Gives a bad action id, then a bad discard.view ID. The option to exit the game is made available.
Meteor lands on Roger Meteor lands, then game freezes. Meteor lands. Player can enter in commands, but cannot continue current game.
Skimmer Mini-game Hit a rock Screen shows "THUMP", then locks up. The rocks cycles/animates behind the player. No other rocks show up. Game continues.
Deltaur Explodes~ Shows a blank 'error', then exits the game. No animations, commands, position checks or anything related to operating the game will work properly once the timer hits 0. The player can move around the screen, but that is it. Player can still access menu options, inventory, etc.
Launch Deltaur escape pod Screen fails to update and draws the escape pod multiple times. Game freezes and locks up in an endless cycle. Gives a bad action id, then a bad discard.view ID. The option to exit the game is made available.
Exploding Deltaur (player escapes) Explosions start, but the sprites for them are all messed up. Games freezes after the 1st explosion happens. Gives a picture 0 not found error, then exits.
Exploding Deltaur (distant) Animation completes, but the frame is not redrawn, resulting in overlap. Text box appears, but no text. Game freezes. Gives a picture 0 not found error, then exits.


Locations - Space Quest I: The Sarien Encounter

Arcada Vehicle Bay
Kerona Acid Pool · Laser Room · Orat Cave · Underground Complex 2
Ulence Flats Back of the Bar · Bar · (Slot Machine) · Cruiser · Droids-R-Us · (Inside) · North End · South Edge · Tiny's Used Spacecraft Lot (SQ1)
Deltaur Laundry Facilities
Misc.


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Category: Games | DOS | Macintosh | Apple II | Apple IIGS | Amiga | Atari ST
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