Space Quest V: The Next Mutation

Space Quest V: Roger Wilco: The Next Mutation (aka Space Quest V: The Next Mutation) is a sci-fi adventure game developed by Dynamix, and it was published by Sierra On-Line on February 5, 1993 for DOS. A parody of Star Trek, it is the sequel to Space Quest VI: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers and it serves as the fifth game in the Space Quest series. It is also the first in the franchise to not be designed by the Two Guys From Andromeda: only Mark Crowe worked on the project with David Selle at Dynamix (using the SCI engine), leading to a somewhat altered sense of humor. This change also resulted in the game not having any voice acting.

The game also features plugs for the telephone company Sprint (and was one of several Sierra games given away as a reward for signing up for service at the time). A reference to AT&T, a major electronics corporation and phone company competitor, is also made.

Synopsis
We find Roger Wilco is now a cadet of StarCon Academy. He then graduates as the captain of the SCS Eureka, a space garbage scow which comes with a command bridge and several officers that he can give orders to (such as "activate cloaking device", to which the technical officer responds with a suggestion to paint the ship black...)

Of course, nothing in Roger's life ever proceeds normally. He ends up finally meeting the mysterious blonde woman introduced as his future wife in Space Quest IV, who catapults him into uncovering a trashy (literally) conspiracy that could prove to be the doom of the universe (again)...

Credits

 * Executive Producer: Ken Williams
 * Designer/Producer/Director: Mark Crowe
 * Assistant Director: David Selle
 * Lead Programmer: David Sandgathe
 * Programmers: Hugh Diedrichs, Nancy Hamilton, Joseph Nelson, and Geoff Rosser
 * Art Director: Shawn Sharp
 * Lead Production Artist: Mike Jahnke
 * Artists: Kerrie Abbott, Ron Clayborn, Rhonda Conley, Jarrett Jester, and Sean Murphy
 * 3D Art: Cyrus Kanga, Peter Lewis, and Joel Mariano
 * Additional Art: David Aughenbaugh, Robert Caracol, and Ian Gilliland
 * Original Score/Sound Effects: Timothy Steven Clarke and Christopher Stevens
 * Theatrical Coordinator: Sher Alltucker
 * QA Manager: Forrest Walker
 * Lead Tester: Gregg Giles
 * Testers: Gerald Azenaro, Tucker Hatfield, Eli Hayworth, Daniel Hinds, Corey Reese, Nat Rudolph III, and Christopher K. Singleton
 * System Development: Chad Bye, Dan Foy, J. Mark Hood, Brian K. Hughes, Ken Koch, Jack Magné, Terry McHenry, Larry Scott, Christopher Smith, and Mark Wilden
 * Photographers: Dale Tendick and Tim Weyant
 * Special Thanks to: Back Stage, Jamie's and The Road Crew
 * Director for German and French Version: Norman Nelson
 * German Translation: Elfie Friedrichs
 * French Translation: Agnès Massion

Game Manual

 * Contributing Writers: Mark Crowe, Bob Lindstrom, Josh Mandel, David Selle, Shawn Sharp, and Barbara Ray
 * Copy Editor: Barbara Ray
 * Design: Shawn Sharp and Jenny Gray
 * Production: Jenny Gray
 * Box Design: Terry Robinson

Copy Protection
As a copy protection device, the coordinates for each planet are located only within the manual.

Behind the scenes

 * The simulator seen at the start of the game resembles the Milennium Falcon.
 * Although Roger starts with a collection of buckazoids, they are not used throughout the entire game.
 * In one part of the game, Roger can read the technical specifications for the evil scientific organization on the deserted space station. Much of the technology listed, while relatively advanced by early 1990's standards, has long since become obsolete. Examples include the use of baud (a measurement associated with dialup modems).
 * A reference to Sprint is made in Cyberspace in Space Quest 6.
 * Several times throughout the game, Roger can be heard letting out an angered "D'oh!" a la Homer Simpson.
 * In one conversation, Cliffy asks Roger "What'd ya do, Roger? Inhale?". This is a reference to then-President of the United States Bill Clinton's denial that, despite experimenting with marijuana, he "did not inhale".

Patches

 * Space Quest 1 SCI Update (SQ1RLX) Space Quest V Patch (SQ5PAT): This patch disk will resolve the following issues that you may encounter while playing Space Quest V:
 * Inability to Restore or Quit game when Roger runs out of time while trying to steal the cloaking device from WD-40's ship.
 * Inability to skip polishing the Star Con Crest when running on 286 systems with EGA graphics.
 * Loss of the icon when Roger steps off the log which spans the river on Kiz Urazgubi.
 * Space Quest I SCI Updated Sound Drivers (E29PATCH) Space Quest V Patch (SQ5_NRS): This non-Sierra update is one of NewRisingSun's script level timer bugs patches. Extract SQ1_NRS.ZIP into the directory where the game is installed. Fixes:
 * Rescuing Cliffy in the EVA pod
 * Various animation issues
 * Space Quest 4 and 5 sound patch: This update corrects a problem with some Soundblaster cards in which only the first digitalized sound effect is heard. It also fixes the "unable to initialize audio hardware" error.