Space Quest I: Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter

Space Quest I: Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter is a remake of the original Space Quest, a science fiction comedy adventure game. Changes in this updated version include enhanced graphics with an artwork style resembling 1950's sci-fi movies, updated music and sound effects, and a new point and click interface replacing the original typed in commands. The storyline and the puzzles in the game remain more or less the same as the original.

In Space Quest I players control Roger Wilco, a janitor aboard the starship Arcada. Like other 3D animated adventure games from Sierra, the object of the game is to progress the story by collecting objects, talking with other characters, and solving puzzles. Players can navigate Roger around numerous 3D, hand-painted screens and use a series of icons to click on objects or people which will perform various actions. The icons available are:

• Walking: The walking man icon allows players to walk to different locations on the screen.
• Eye: Looks at a specific object and provides a description or causes the scene to zoom in closer.
• Hand: Picks up items or performs an action.
• Head: Talks with other characters
• Nose: Smells an object. Not required to finish the game, but often provides humorous descriptions.
• Tongue: Tastes an object. Not required to finish the game, but often provides humorous descriptions.
• Briefcase: Opens up the players inventory and allows an item that as been acquired to be used.

In addition to the typical adventure game style elements, several arcade/action and timed sequences are also encountered. Near the beginning and end of the game there is a time limit encountered before the ship Roger is aboard explodes, and other sequences require the player to navigate a ship without crashing.

The IBM version of Space Quest I was available in both 16 color and 256 color versions. The 256 color version looked better (see the screenshots for a comparison), but it required a more powerful computer and only came on high density disks; users with slower computers or without high density disk drives would need to use the 16 color version. Additionally the game was available for the Amiga (using 32 colors) and the Macintosh (also in 256 colors).