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Let me start by saying that I have enjoyed many Sierra games
over the years. The first Sierra game I played was Winnie
the Pooh for the old Commodore 64.I honestly had no idea what Phantasmagoria was when it first came out. I became exposed to it due to a desperate attempt to obtain a replacement CD for “The Dagger of Amon Ra” which I had managed to misplace.
As a result, I obtained “The RW Anthology.” back in 1995-96.
Unfortunately, I was still using my 486 66 w/ 8 megs Ram and
didn’t purchase Phantasmagoria because I was worried about
performance issues.However, I was impressed by the 1st chapter.
Later, I bought a new computer and managed to snag Phantas 1
& 2 cheap. I finally finished Phantas 1 a couple days ago.
I played it before but just only got to chapter 4-5 before I
managed to get sidetracked with other things.Questions:
How long had Roberta had the idea for Phantasmagoria?
How long before she was given the go ahead?
Ken, What was your role in helping Roberta?
Were either of you ever concerned about the massive
costs associated with completing this project?Could either of you describe the process that went along with
assembling the cast? Did you hold many auditions etc?What was it about Victoria Morsell that made her desirable for the role of Adrienne?
Did the cast have much initial difficulty acting in front
of a blue screen?Who selected the outfit that Adrienne would wear? Were the colors of the clothing chosen for any particular reason?
Do you have any fun memories between you (Ken or Roberta) and
the cast that you would like to share?Thanks for your time and enjoy Mexico.
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(re: Phantasmagoria Memories? Questions for Ken or Roberta)
I remember reading in Interaction that the outfit Adrienne wears is the outfit the actress happened to be wearing the day she showed up on the set. Apparently someone who makes those types of decisions (Roberta maybe?) liked the outfit and it wound up being the one she wore throughout the project… for something like six weeks? Would love to know if this is really how it happened.
-emily
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(re: re: Phantasmagoria Memories? Questions for Ken or Roberta) My answers to your questions are embedded below. Roberta said she’ll take a stab at these tomorrow afternoon. Her answers will be MUCH better than mine.
-Ken W
Questions:
How long had Roberta had the idea for Phantasmagoria?
*** I don’t know. Roberta will have to answer this. In a way, it’s not unlike her first game, Mystery House – which was 10 years previous.
How long before she was given the go ahead?
*** Phantasmagoria was a tough sell inside Sierra. It needed a huge budget, and was a risky project. New technology, new techniques, new kind of game, everything. That said, my rule was always that your ability to make things happen at Sierra flowed from the profitability of your last game. Roberta had a string of hits, so she could do what she wanted.
Ken, What was your role in helping Roberta?
*** I had two roles: 1) TRY (unsuccessfully) to keep the project on budget. And, 2) Give ideas to the technology group on the extentions to SCI needed to support the game.
Were either of you ever concerned about the massive costs associated with completing this project?
*** Myself much more than Roberta. I always played the evil corporate villain role within the company. (trust me — it didn’t always work)
Could either of you describe the process that went along with assembling the cast?
*** Roberta will have to answer this. I know that she wrote descriptions for each character, and that these were then used for casting sessions down in Hollywood.
Did you hold many auditions etc?
*** Yes!
What was it about Victoria Morsell that made her desirable for the role of Adrienne?
*** Speaking as a fan of the game: I thought she was awesome in Phantasmagoria. She had the right look, and did a solid job as an actress. Roberta dropped out of Phantasmagoria after the first game. Lorelei took over the series for the sequel, and wanted to do her own game. I wanted a direct continuation of the story, and to bring Victoria/Adrienne back. Unfortunately, I didn’t just force this to happen, and Phantasmagoria II had very little to do with Phantasmagoria I — and, sold about 20% of the number of copies.
Did the cast have much initial difficulty acting in front of a blue screen?
*** It was a long shoot — about nine months — and, very complex. It was tough aligning the actors with the 3-d rendered sets.
Who selected the outfit that Adrienne would wear? Were the colors of the clothing chosen for any particular reason?
*** I don’t know — but, I HAVE THAT SHIRT!!! The orange top she wore! I talked her out of it at the end of the shoot, and had it framed.
Do you have any fun memories between you (Ken or Roberta) and the cast that you would like to share?
*** Roberta will have some great answers to this question. -
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(re: re: re: Phantasmagoria Memories? Questions for Ken or Roberta)
>Who selected the outfit that Adrienne would wear? Were the
>colors of the clothing chosen for any particular reason?
>*** I don’t know — but, I HAVE THAT SHIRT!!! The orange
>top she wore! I talked her out of it at the end of the
>shootWhoa, Ken! Not sure you should be admitting that one the board…
Boy, hope Roberta doesn’t find out…
Ha, just kidding. 🙂
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Øystein:
Here’s somewhat of a response from Roberta. It sounds funny, but we email each other all the time. Her computer is upstairs, and mine downstairs. We’re getting ready to leave on a three week trip, so she says that she will work on your questions while we’re traveling.
-Ken W
Quote:
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These are quite a few questions. I will try to work on them during our trip. Until then, I just don’t have the time. Bring them with you on your laptop.I assume, then, that he enjoyed Phantasmagoria I???
Roberta
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I just wanted to add that I’m not a blind fanboy who likes everything she makes only because she is behind the games, I genuinely find them awesome! The only game she’s made that I wasn’t fully happy with is KQ8, but I understand that game had a troublesome production. It’s fun enough, but it’s far from as good as the other games she’s made I think.
Can’t wait to read the answers, but take as long as you need, I’m not in any hurry 🙂
Btw, I just found out how to run XP in 640×480 so now I can play the game in full screen. I’ve just started over and the game still scares me even though I know exactly what’s coming 🙂 It’s awesome!
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I’ve finished the game now and I discovered some new things I hadn’t seen before like the corpse of that dumb big guy (I forgot his name) in the last chapter.
This game is so cool, I love almost everything about it. I wish someone would make a DVD version of it with much higher quality movies.
Can’t wait to hear from Roberta 🙂 -
And there I’ve finished Phantasmagoria 2 🙂
The game is good until that alien dimension thingie, I don’t like that too much. I prefer the first game BY FAR! I guess it was just missing the Roberta touch 🙂Anyway, I hope you haven’t forgotten about this.. I have all the time in the world, but perhaps you could post just so I know that the thread isn’t dead?
Thanks!
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Any update on when she can reply? 🙂 I’m not in a hurry, it would just be nice to know if you’re ever reading this thread.
By the way, I just watched Predator 2 and the minute I saw the female doctor or whatever she is in the movie, I could swear that I’d seen her before, I just couldn’t remember where. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and then a few minutes later it occured to me that she also plays Ethel in Phantasmagoria. I checked it up on IMDB to confirm it 🙂
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Answers from Roberta! (Sorry it took so long…)
Questions:
How long had Roberta had the idea for Phantasmagoria?
Phantasmagoria was, in actuality, a much more developed version of my first game, Mystery House. If one were to look at the layout of the house and the way the game play is directed and the way some of the puzzles work, there are many similarities to Mystery House. However, the story line is completely different. The storyline was developed over about a six month period.
How long before she was given the go ahead?
It took about a year of me ‘begging’ before the project was given the go-ahead. Even though Ken liked the idea, many people at Sierra thought it was a dumb idea and didn’t understand it, and didn’t like the idea of building a whole studio, and whole new technology in order to accomplish this…this…monstrosity. (However, while it was in development and after it shipped, all of a sudden, all of those detractors suddenly ‘got on board’ and were its biggest supporters. In other words, I was vindicated.)
Ken, What was your role in helping Roberta?
A ‘Ken’ question….
Were either of you ever concerned about the massive
costs associated with completing this project?I don’t know about Ken…. Ken?
For me, I had total confidence in the product. I felt that it was break-through and that it would pay us back in dividends. I was right.
Could either of you describe the process that went along with
assembling the cast? Did you hold many auditions etc?We held several auditions in the Los Angeles/Hollywood area. We went through an audition agency in ‘Hollywood’ who found us many actors, most unknown, but a few ‘semi-known.’ A majority of the actors came from LA, but, one came from the Seattle area who I approached when I saw her in a play, and several other ‘extras’ were just employees from Sierra On-Line. We also hired a ‘Hollywood’ director, Peter Maris, who had directed quite a few ‘B’ type movies to help in directing the actors. I felt that I did not have experience in directing actors, so I wanted someone to do that who knew what they were doing. However, Peter did not have experience with adventure games. Therefore, he and I worked together as a team in the studio; he with directly working with the actors and their lines, and me with making sure that the ‘game’ aspects were kept in tack and to ‘constantly’ remind everybody that this was a GAME and not a MOVIE. We also hired a make-up artist from ‘Hollywood’ who was phenomenal and worked very very hard.
What was it about Victoria Morsell that made her desirable for the role of Adrienne?
I wanted Adrienne to be pretty, but not beautiful and elegant. She had to seem more like a very pretty, ‘girl next door’ type – but with some sexuality. I wanted her to be casual but also to have a strong independent spirit. (I definitely did NOT want a ‘bimbo type!) I felt that Victoria had that quality. She also had to be willing to put up with working on a game like this in a place like Oakhurst, California, and to wear the same outfit for several months! In other words, she had to have an open mind and to be easy to work with. She was, and she was a perfect Adrienne.
Did the cast have much initial difficulty acting in front
of a blue screen?We ALL did! We were inventing this procedure as we went along. We all had difficulties working with it. As to the actors, at first, it was strange to them, but, after awhile, we all got the hang of it and it became easier and easier. Actually, I think it was harder on the guys who had to set up all of the shots with the lighting, sound, the camera angles with our computerized ‘back ground’ shots, and with setting up the few actual props that we used. It took hours to set up each shot before we actually shot them. Sometimes, the set guys would work practically a whole day to set up a key shot while the actors just sat around. The difficulty in working with blue screen is getting everything precisely lined up. And precisely is the key word. THAT was the difficult part!
Who selected the outfit that Adrienne would wear? Were the colors of the clothing chosen for any particular reason? I did, along with my project manager, Mark Seibert. We decided that she needed to wear a very simple outfit. Jeans and a tee-shirt fit the bill. She needed a simple outfit because she would be doing many different things, some of which would require her to be able to move easily and to be in difficult or dirty situations. As to the colors, with blue screen, an actor cannot wear anything blue (for obvious reasons), or anything with a ‘blue cast’ to it. For instance, purple is also out, and blue-grays, blue-greens, etc. So you see, Adrienne wears black jeans instead of blue jeans, and she wears an orange shirt which shows up quite well against a blue screen.
Do you have any fun memories between you (Ken or Roberta) and
the cast that you would like to share?Ken?
For me, the whole experience was fun. I enjoyed creating Phantasmagoria more than any other game. Even though I love King’s Quest and all of those other games, it was fun working with actors and a director in a studio. I learned a lot and discovered that actors can be very funny while filming. We laughed a lot and kidded around. However, you also learn that actors can be temperamental and ‘the other side of the coin’ is that you also have to deal with some of their ‘issues.’ That part wasn’t quite as fun. When we were working with all of the gory stuff, we especially had a lot of fun with it. Some of the actors would put on their horrific make-up and just strut around the studio and do little songs and dances while they had a broken bottle stuck in their eye and blood running down their face! Hilarious!!
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Thanks a lot for replying Roberta! I didn’t mind that it took a while at all, as I said many times I was not in a hurry 🙂
It’s really cool that we get a chance to get replies from our “game industry heroes” like this… stuff we would only be able to get through interviews in the past.
So thanks again and thanks a LOT for creating Phantasmagoria.. that game both intrigued and scrared the living shit out of me 😀 -
Out of curiousity, Ken/Roberta:
How do you feel, in general, about some of teh fanfiction that your games have inspired? I actually have a relevant question about it, but as it’s my first post, I’m just trying to figure out what the game designers in general think of the fans who couldn’t let the story go, and it got into their imaginations and kept growing.
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If you search around these forums, you’ll see that we’ve answered this a few times.
Generally, we support the fan fiction, and have seen some great work. Our only concern is that we’ve seen people put in a lot of work, of commercial quality, and yet they can never really do anything with their creation when it is finished. When you are using someone else’s copyrighted material, your ability to distribute your product is limited.
-Ken W
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Completely understood. The relevant part of the question actually is no longer relevant- I wrote a lot of fanfiction in various genres a while back trying to break a writer’s block. Since then I’ve gone pro, and I had been toying with the idea of putting my one Phant fanfic up on my personal site as a promotional sample- this is how I write, if you like it, here’s where you can get my original fiction- but while I was away for a bit I started rewriting that piece into a different story entirely- and it no longer qualifies even remotely as fanfiction, lol. Sorry. >.< I actually do that quite often- but who says cannibalism is a bad thing?
However, if you ever do consider starting a book line based on the Phantasmagoria concept- I call dibs on one! Thanks for taking the time to answer my silly and futile question.
Renee.
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