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Ken,
Hey Ken, just stumbled onto your site while reading the book Hackers. I’m kind of a history geek and an avid gamer, so naturally the third section of his book (which heavily features you and your wife’s amazing story) is right up my alley. I was born in 1987, and really never got into computers until my dad stumbled into the P.O.S retail-software business slinging Aloha, I believe it was called. Anyways that’s besides the point. Being a child of the 90’s my first venture into gaming came via the Nintendo then Sony released the PlayStation and I’ve been loyal to that console ever since. With all that said I wonder if you or your wife still play any games, computer or console? It is kind of neat to think of you two sitting in front of a PS5 playing The Last of Us lol. Also do you still keep track of the gaming industry? What do you think of what it’s become?
Thank you for reading this slightly long post (I’ve seen others post longer lol.)
David Harblin a.k.a Itsharbs87
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David:
Neither Roberta or I play games. We probably should, and I think we’d like to, but we always seem to be busy. Roberta has spent most of the last 10 years working on a book whenever she has free time, and I’ve also stayed insanely busy. We constantly whine about our lack of free time.
One thing that has kept us busy is boating. We circumnavigated a small (68′) boat and I wrote several books on boating, plus a book about Sierra (www.kensbook.com)
And .. Roberta and I are working together on a game now!!! I don’t know how far we’ll get, but we have an idea we’re exploring.
-Ken W
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Ken,
That is awesome to hear that you are working on a game! I’ll check in through here in awhile and see how you’re doing if I don’t see if on the market in the next year or two lol.I saw that you wrote a book about Sierra and I actually have it in my Amazon cart right now and will be ordering it on payday! I myself am working on a video project about the history of Coleco and the ColecoVision, since it was manufactured literally in my back yard in Mayfield, NY, that I plan to release on YouTube. It will be the first of many! Maybe one day I could do one on you and maybe get a couple quotes? Nothing much just send you two or three questions if you wouldn’t mind answering I would appreciate it.
Thanks for the reply!
David Harblin a.k.a Itsharbs87 -
Hello Ken
I was wondering if we can already know some details about the game you are working on?
Will it be an adventure game?Best regards
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Greetings! I don’t really want to talk about what I’m working on .. partially because I don’t know if I’ll keep going, or decide it is too much work and bail.
That said, I am working hard. And, yes! It is an adventure game. Roberta is working with me .. but, not too much .. I’m trying to suck her in and have her heavily involved in the design.
My goal to have something worth playing (or, even demonstrating) is September 2021. I don’t know how realistic that is…
-Ken W
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Am I allowed to know the used engine/technology without details about the game itself?
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Hi Roberta,
Is the King’s Quest series available online to play? When I was actively teaching a number of years ago, I was introduced to King’s Quest and loved it. My students had learning differences with specific struggles in reading. As a reward for working hard through the week, they got to play KQ on our Windows computers. They absolutely loved the game and with help from the walkthrough guides, played to the end. It was motivating and made them feel successful. I was thinking about this great game and would love to play it again after all these years! Thank you for sharing your imagination with my students and me. My wish is that a resurrection of this game could be available online as an app. Thanks!!
Holly -
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Also do you still keep track of the gaming industry? What do you think of what it’s become?
I have to confess that Roberta and I don’t follow the industry at all. After nearly 20 years building games I was kind of burnt out on the games industry. Also, we started getting into boating, and we tend to over-do anything that we do. We wound up circumnavigating a small boat which kept us plenty busy.
I’m dropping back in a little bit now, with developing a game. I don’t want to say anything about that though, because I’m not yet certain if I’m just having fun, or if I am serious about releasing a game. Stay tuned, and we shall see!
-Ken W
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Hi Ken,
So you don’t have a development team but all work by yourself (for now)?
I’m curious on what computer you are working. Is it a state of the art PC with latest graphics card?-
I’m working on a game with myself and one other person (a 3d artist)
My official opinion is that, “In today’s world it is impossible for two people to develop a game that is market competitive”
But, my unofficial opinion is: “Damn! The game is looking incredible!!!!”
So …we shall see. There’s a long way and many months between what I have now and a finished game.
As to a computer … I do have a fast machine. It is a high-end Dell laptop with an Nvidia 3d card…
-Ken W
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I was wondering where the idea to make a game suddenly comes from?
Also because I can read Roberta and you didn’t follow the gaming industry at all.So where comes this big contradiction from?
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I was wondering where the idea to make a game suddenly comes from?
Also because I can read Roberta and you didn’t follow the gaming industry at all.So where comes this big contradiction from?
Roberta and I do not follow the game industry. We are VERY retired. I started working on a game, mostly because I was curious to see current technology, plus writing the book about Sierra rekindled my interest in games.
As of now, Roberta is watching what I am doing, but is not involved. I am hoping that she will get excited and start working with me.
I may be fooling myself, and the game I am working on is terrible, or I will never find the time to finish it. I do not want to over promise. All I can say at this point is that I am working on something and it looks great to me, and more importantly — it is fun to play. And, that’s really what counts more than anything.
-Ken W
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Hi Ken,
If you decide at some point in time the game will not be released and it will stay a “fun project”, would it be possible to write a sort of developer blog of the game (or what’s finished of it) with screenshots?
I would be very interested to read what you worked on.Thanks
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I just was remembering my childhood and then I googled Sierra.
What a surprise to find your official website. My remains wouldn’t be the same without your Sagas.
Now I’m trying to restore a 486 computer to let it be playing like those old wonderful games has to be played.
CTR Screen, Sound Card, VGA and tons of realy nice memories.
A few weeks ago I watched “HIGH SCORE”, Wow. It was great.
Thanks to you and Roberta for your efforts.
Nel Bazán from Spain.
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I just sent an email to the webmaster because I could not find any contact info.
I would like to port King’s Quest 1 to the Coleco ADAM. Old 1984 z80 based computer.
Yes it sounds crazy but I think I can accomplish this.
Of course I am not going to without some type of blessings.
KQ1 would bring legitimacy to an obscure computer system from the past which never received the respect that it should.You have my email so please contact me with your thoughts.
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Thanks for the info.
My 5 minute research leads me to believe that Activision now owns the Kings Quest brand but any attempt to contact “a person” is more hassle than what it is worth.My sense would be they are only interested in massive worlds like Call of Duty and would only look my way if I made more than $1.95 off all 10 sales of a Coleco ADAM Kings Quest port.
My last game made around $5k but that was over a years work of programing along with sales dripping in for over at least 3 years.
7000 lines of z80 code, graphics, sound….No one is making any money and if I were not retired then none of my work would exist at all.
But thank you anyway and thank you for the great memories.
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Ken! How’s that FORTRAN compiler coming along? Stop getting distracted!
Ok, more serious: I challenge you to present a demo of your game at the Vintage Computer Festival West this August 7-8 🙂
Wait, if you’re using Unity, I suppose that means it doesn’t run on a vintage computer. Well, I’ll be demo’ing my game at this event – I can’t haul around my Commodore PET thru the airport, so I’m ordering a MiniPET (same 6502 and same ROMs, just a more portable version of that equipment with modern ICs).
-Steve
p.s. I actually still use FORTRAN where I work! Although, not by choice.
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Hello, Ken.
My husband and I started playing Sierra Games on our Apple IIe back in the 1980s with “Mystery House.” Sometimes knowing the correct word was frustrating. How could we forget to use the word “up” to get back into the house? My mother-in-law suggested it when we played with her.
We played “The Wizard and the Princess” and early versions of “King’s Quest” with my sister and her husband and used the TV as the monitor.
Then I played Sierra Games on the Mackintosh. Now I have a PC.
I noticed that in the list of Sierra Games that “Time Zone” is missing. We played it in 1985/1986 on our Apple IIc. For us, back then we thought that $100 was an awful lot to pay. LOL. When we moved in the fall of 1986, We forgot about the game until after my husband sold the computer. We were in our late 30s, so it wasn’t due to senility, I hope. Was “Time Zone” released for the PC? I would love it if you would re-release the game for the PC. I’d love to finish the game or a least have you write a book on how it is solved.
I’m happy to learn that you are working on a new game and have a new book.
Always,
Barbara-
Greetings Barbara!
I don’t know if Timezone was ever released for the PC. I think so, but maybe not. It was one of the first games we ever did and was released prior to the IBM PC introduction.
Many of our old games can be found on websites around the web. There are emulators that will play them. That said, I’m not sure where to look. So — good luck!
-Ken W
PS Check out http://www.kensgame.com — I’m working on a game now with Roberta. It’s a long way from release but .. register on that site and I’ll keep you up to date as we make progress.
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