Sierra's Creative Interpreter

Sierra's Creative Interpreter (SCI) is the scripting language created by Jeff Stephenson of Sierra On-Line for its adventure games after the older AGI, and the runtime environment for such adventure games.

Although ports for the Amiga, Atari ST and Macintosh platforms exist, the primary development was for the IBM PC platform.

Design

While AGI was a procedural language, SCI is completely object-oriented.

Versions

Although continuously developed between 1988 and 1996, five major versions can be isolated:

SCI0

First used for King's Quest 4 in 1988, "SCI0" (0.000.xxx) allowed for 320x200 graphics with 16 colors as well as a music-card compatible soundtrack. It also supported parser-based keyboard input which a game could be scripted to use if it wishes to do so (non-adventure games usually didn't).

Games using SCI0 (in order of release):

* ""
* "Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places)"
* ""
* "1988 Christmas Card"
* ""
* ""
* ""
* ""
* "The Colonel's Bequest"
* ""
* "Conquests of Camelot: King Arthur, Quest for the Grail"
* ""
* "Mixed-Up Mother Goose (Version 1.011)"

Later versions of SCI0 added bilingual support for international versions; their version string reads "S.OLD.xxx". Games include:

* "" (1990 remake)
* "Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon" (international versions)
* "" (international versions)
* "Jones in the Fast Lane" (disk version)

The last SCI0 game, "Jones in the Fast Lane", already used the graphics engine from SCI1 and thus was available in a 256 color version.

SCI1

Released in 1990, the most notable improvement in "SCI1" (1.000.xxx/T.A00.xxx) was the support of 256 color graphics, still at a resolution of 320x200; EGA 16 color graphics were still available (games were usually sold in separate 16 and 256 color versions). Some people prefer to call the 16-color SCI1 interpreters "SCI01". With the shift to SCI1, Sierra began using a digitized painting process for background artwork, rather than the pixel-by-pixel process of previous engines: the difference is readily apparent if one compares, for example, King's Quest 4 against King's Quest 5.

Most SCI1 games are completely mouse-driven, using an icon-based interface; contrary to popular thought, it is up to the game's script code, not to the interpreter, to implement the user interface. For example, even though "Quest for Glory 2" is parser-driven and "King's Quest 5" is mouse-driven, they use compatible interpreters, as it is possible to use the interpreter from QFG2 with the EGA version of KQ5.

The version numbering scheme is somewhat confusing for the reason that the third number in the version string (the build number) has only three digits, even though four are needed. For example, the game "Space Quest 4" Version 1.052 ships with an interpreter labeled "1.000.753", whereas the game "Conquests of the Longbow" Version 1.0 ships with an interpreter labeled "1.000.168"; nevertheless, the latter interpreter is newer because the build number is actually 1168, not 168. Also, in some cases the "1.000" is replaced with "T.A00", which however does not indicate a separate development fork.

SCI1 games include:

* "1990 Christmas Card - The Seasoned Professional"
* ""
* ""
* "" (disk version)
* "Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards" (enhanced remake)
* "" (disk version)
* "Mixed-Up Mother Goose" (CD-ROM version)

Interpreters with build numbers >1000 have slightly modified file formats and improved foreign language support (resulting from a code merge with SCI0's S.OLD fork), but are otherwise like earlier SCI1 versions. Games include:

* ""
* "" (disk version 1.0)
* "Jones in the Fast Lane" (CD-ROM version)
* "" (CD-ROM & international disk versions)
* "Mixed-up Fairy Tales"
* ""
* "" (enhanced remake)
* "Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers" (international versions)
* "Conquests of the Longbow: The Adventures of Robin Hood"
* "Castle of Dr. Brain"

SCI1.1

Apart from considerable internal changes, "SCI1.1" (1.001.xxx) added support for animated movie sequences (first used in KQ6) as well as scaling sprites: characters would become smaller as they walk into the distance, giving a pseudo-3D effect. (The interpreters from some early SCI1.1 games bear a "2.000.000" version stamp; this is most likely an inconsistency which should be ignored.)

Separate 16-color packages were no longer available; EGA owners instead would be presented a 640x200 graphics display that simulated 256 colors via dithering.

* "1992 Christmas Card"
* "EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus" (disk version 1.1, CD-ROM version)
* ""
* ""
* "The Island of Dr. Brain"
* ""
* "Laura Bow: The Dagger of Amon Ra"
* "" (disk and low-res CD-ROM version)
* "Mixed-Up Mother Goose" (Version 2.000)
* "Pepper's Adventures in Time"
* "" (enhanced remake)
* "" (256 color remake)
* ""
* "" (CD-ROM version)
* ""

SCI2

Often called "SCI32" (along with "SCI3"), "SCI2" (2.xxx.xxx) runs in 32-bit mode by using the DOS4G extender or by running it in Windows 3.1's Enhanced Mode. Most notable is the support of high-resolution 640x480 graphics, as well as better movie support. There are two known revisions, 2.000.000, and 2.100.002. Games include:

* ""
* ""
* ""
* "" (hi-res CD-ROM version)
* "Mixed-Up Mother Goose Deluxe"
* "Phantasmagoria"
* ""
* ""
* "Shivers"
* ""
* "Torin's Passage"

SCI3

The last version, "SCI3" (3.000.000) could not only run under DOS or Windows 3.1, but also natively under Windows 95. Games include:

* ""
* ""
* ""
* "RAMA"
* ""

Related software

FreeSCI is an open source engine that can run SCI0 games. FreeSCI works on Linux/Unix, Microsoft Windows, Sega Dreamcast, and GP32.

An open source program called SCI Studio is available that lets users create games that are based on the SCI0 engine. SCI Studio is designed for Windows. On Linux, using Wine version 20050830, SCI Studio seems to work for editing games, but not for testing or running them. The workaround is to use SCI Studio for development and FreeSCI for game testing.

An SCI editor, such as SCI Studio, has also been used to uncover unfinished game elements that had been concealed in the game's resource files by the developer during the game's development. These hidden resources include unfinished artworks, puzzles, scenery, voiceover or music recordings as well as gags inserted by the development team.cite web|url=http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/features/374/|title=Resource Quest: hidden treasures in Sierra’s adventure games|author=Beebe, Jess|publisher="Adventure Classing Gaming"|date=2008-08-18|accessdate=2008-09-14] Examples of game titles from which such hidden resources have been uncovered include (SCI1.1), (SCI1.1), (SCI1.1), (SCI2), (SCI2).

References

ee also

* SCI Games
* Adventure Game Interpreter
* Game engine recreation

External links

* [http://scicommunity.com/sciforums/index.php The SCI Community]
* [http://freesci.org/ FreeSCI homepage]
* [http://www.bripro.com/scistudio/index.php SCI Studio: The Complete SCI Game Development System]
* [http://agisci.classicgaming.gamespy.com/ The Ultimate AGI & SCI Web Site]
*
* [http://www.squirtthecat.com/ Updates to run SCI3 based games on XP/Vista]