New SQ3 secret: QA-O-Matic *UPDATED* not actually new...

[MusicallyInspired]

So over at the SCIProgramming website, troflip (author of SCI Companion) has been working on a enw SCI decompiler which will decompile scripts with 99% accuracy from any SCI game up to SCI1.1. His new feature will be build into a new version of SCI Companion he's currently developing which will allow us to finally create SCI1.1 games. Which is just awesome. He's been decompiling various Sierra game sources at request and SQ3 was one of them. Cloudee, the maintainer and founder of SCIProgramming.com discovered a new (it's not actually new :( ) secret in Space Quest 3 that was not previously known before, to my knowledge.

 

So, just type in "backstage pass" and then type "qa" and this screen pops up allowing you to warp to any of the game areas without debug mode.

 

 

I have a feeling this new decompiler will open up more secrets that weren't previously known before for many Sierra games...

 

EDIT: So, yeah, not actually new. Already documented. http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/SCI/Debug_Modes#Game_Specific:_Space_Quest_3

[suejak]

I've taken impotent stabs at making a QfG3 demake in parser-based SCI, and the "decompiler" seems like it'd be super useful to that end. It's also possible that I have no idea what I'm talking about.

 

It's surprisingly hard to make SCI games... Especially compared to AGI, which a trained monkey can handle pretty well.

[MusicallyInspired]

It takes some getting used to. But really it's kind of easier once you grasp object oriented programming. Demaking games is certainly more possible now. As is remaking them. I'm already considering creating a KQ1VGA based on AGDI's graphics and KQ1SCI's code....just for kicks. :)

[Collector]

Ken once mentioned that Jeff Stephenson tried to explain object oriented programming to him, but just couldn't quite grasp it. But of course by the time that they were developing SCI it had probably been a while since Ken had done any programming.

 

I'm already considering creating a KQ1VGA based on AGDI's graphics and KQ1SCI's code....just for kicks. :)

That would be fun. But if course I still want to see KQ2 in SCI0.

[MusicallyInspired]

Of course. :)

[Troels Pleimert]

The "backstage pass" cheat sounds familiar somehow. I think I was aware of it back in the FAQ days. Whether or not I remembered to actually put it in the FAQ is another matter.

 

And I didn't find it on my own, that much is certain.

 

Then again, my memory could just be fabricating shit at this point. I'm just saying that cheat looks very familiar.

[pcj]

Yeah: http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/SCI/Debug_Modes#Game_Specific:_Space_Quest_3

 

(Also section 4.3.6 of the SQFAQ references a similar debug mode in SQ2)

[Collector]

The ScummVM Wiki is missing one of the magic phrases found.

[MusicallyInspired]

I remember "backstage" from SQ2, but not SQ3 for sure. Either way, it is already known on ScummVM. Oh well. Weird too because I was just looking at that page last week and it didn't click. I must have just absentmindedly equated it with SQ2 because of the similar activation phrase.

[BlockMaster]

It's funny. I made a post on the Space Quest wiki five months ago about that. If I knew this wasn't well known, I would've post something about that a lot earlier. :P It's cool, anyways, how it's not on most documentation websites for Space Quest III.

[MusicallyInspired]

Aw and here I thought I finally had one over on Blocky! Lol. Oh well. I bow to your greater ingenuity and inquisitive mind. :)