Questions from Hawaii

[Unknown,Unknown]

(was RE: join (somebody is on mushrooms))
Hehe,
I knew someone was on mushrooms. Well at least we’re getting some list activity.
So I should start taking advantage of the opportunities of this list and ask you some questions. What made you want to this? How did you and Roberta meet and how long where you together when you had the idea lets make a game together. What were those early days like? (I know you’re sick of this question, but I’d really like to know)
I’m still learning. Being from Hawaii myself one thing I see is the Hawaiian language being lost along with the beauty of the culture as Walmart, Starbucks, and Home Depot move in to mainstream us into another resort community. I hate it.
Having a Hawaiian game would be wonderful. One of the things that Sierra did for me as a child through its text adventure games is it gave me excellent verbal and written communications skill and good vocabulary and spelling.
I’m in the midst of designing a scripting engine and parsing system similar to Sierra’s. I’m tempted to create it with AGS but I want the challenge of doing it myself from scratch. I’m doing it in Hawaiian with basic vocabulary like the text commands in Sierra’s early games. This is both a intellectual challenge and a wonderful opportunity which is putting me in touch with my native culture and its original and mostly lost language. Even if I failed in it I would learn much in the process about my culture. Though I am determined to succeed.
I got into this because I wanted to make games. It seems along the way I realized I could make a much bigger contribution. I will enjoy all of my endeavors and opportunities.
I’m trying to pull in from Hawaiian legends and stories much in the same way as Roberta pulled from Fairy Tales. But have my own line of character development and plot that links in this things to bring the culture into it.
I visited Oakhurst this Christmas and boy was it a trip. I hadn’t been there for almost seven years. It is gorgeous, peaceful, and quiet. It has a good feeling about it. And Yosemite is breathtakingly gorgeous and driving up there in the snow was an experience I will never forget. I even learned that chains/cables don’t go on the back tire. After 40 minutes of trying to get them off I got them on the front tires and I was good to go. HAHAHA!!
Running in snow meadows with my girlfriend, having a beer with a snowman…it was a good trip.
So do you still live up there? I don’t see why you would want to leave (other than the cold and the lack of much of anything up there) but it’s almost perfect otherwise. And It was the most beautiful new thing I can say I’ve ever remember being up in Yosemite in the snow.
So my questions I guess are:
Do you still live in Oakhurst or are you in warmer weather now?
What problems do you see with the game industry today?
What are you perceived solutions?
What made you want to start?
How did you and Roberta meet and how long where you together when you had the idea lets make a game together.
What were those early days like?
Would you like a website so you don’t have to answer this question so much? I’d do it for free.
Project management in Game Development – will you ever write a book? I think you’re one of the best out there. Put me down for 10 copies if you do. I remember someone asking you this before and you said no – that writing books is just not something you do – so you don’t need to answer this question…I’m just trying to kick you into doing it because I want to read it and learn from you…so ignore me I’m a rude ass 😛
I hope there are nothing but smiles on your face in these retirement days. What are some of the joys/pains of not being in the game industry today?
Any advice to someone who looks up to you for all these things for the game industry today. One day I would like to be in project management position getting people to work better together and teams to be more effective and make it still a enjoyable and rewarding experience for everyone.
You stepped out of the boundaries with the release of Kings Quest 4 with a female protagonist. Looking at games today what do see for games that are about culture, richness, and adventure pushing the envelope in new creative ways…rather than finding 60 ways to kill someone with a steroid induced whatever. I don’t really know specifically what I’m asking it’s really a feeling and I’m sure you understand what I mean. I guess there have always been good and bad games but we really don’t remember all the bad games. But I believe Sierra games stood for something good and not for money. You guys cared about the quality and what it would bring to the values you all had, it is evident in the games which I played.
Did you have a good Christmas/Holiday season?
Me Ke Aloha,
Kalani

Link:kalani@secureshops.net (mailto:kalani@secureshops.net)

“Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?” – George W. Bush
—

[Unknown,Unknown]

(Re: Questions from Hawaii) My answers are embedded — prefaced by ***
-Ken W
From: Sierra On-Line Fan Site [mailto:sierragamers@talkspot.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 8:00 PM
To:
Link:sierragamers@talkspot.com (mailto:sierragamers@talkspot.com)

Subject: RE: join (somebody is on mushrooms)
Hehe,
I knew someone was on mushrooms. Well at least we’re getting some list activity.
So I should start taking advantage of the opportunities of this list and ask you some questions. What made you want to this?
*** Do what? Start Sierra? Roberta and I were kids at the time, with romantic notions of living in a log cabin in the woods. It had more to do with leaving Los Angeles, and moving to the mountains, than with making money. Sierra was started as a way of moving to the boondocks, where there were no computer jobs.
How did you and Roberta meet
*** in high school. Roberta was dating a friend of mine.
and how long where you together when you had the idea lets make a game together.
*** We were married, and I was working as a programmer. Roberta had the idea to do our first game (Mystery House) after seeing a text adventure game on a mainframe computer I was working on. She talked me into programming an adventure game with graphics. She did the design and the art. I did all the code.
What were those early days like? (I know you’re sick of this question, but I’d really like to know)
*** We had no idea the company was going to be big — to us it seemed like the fulfillment of a dream. Our goal had been to find something that would allow me to quit my job in Los Angeles and buy a small log cabin in the woods. When I quit, I thought that we were going to just retire to the woods, and write computer games. I remember us specifically saying that our goal was to someday make $10,000 per year. I think we did that our second month.
I’m still learning. Being from Hawaii myself one thing I see is the Hawaiian language being lost along with the beauty of the culture as Walmart, Starbucks, and Home Depot move in to mainstream us into another resort community. I hate it.
Having a Hawaiian game would be wonderful. One of the things that Sierra did for me as a child through its text adventure games is it gave me excellent verbal and written communications skill and good vocabulary and spelling.
I’m in the midst of designing a scripting engine and parsing system similar to Sierra’s. I’m tempted to create it with AGS but I want the challenge of doing it myself from scratch. I’m doing it in Hawaiian with basic vocabulary like the text commands in Sierra’s early games. This is both a intellectual challenge and a wonderful opportunity which is putting me in touch with my native culture and its original and mostly lost language. Even if I failed in it I would learn much in the process about my culture. Though I am determined to succeed.
*** Cool! Lucas did one game which used a non-conventional parser (Loom) — they tried using music as a mode of communication. What you’re discussing could be interesting.
I got into this because I wanted to make games. It seems along the way I realized I could make a much bigger contribution. I will enjoy all of my endeavors and opportunities.
*** Games are best when the person building the game is passionate about what they are doing. If it becomes a job, the game will not be good.
I’m trying to pull in from Hawaiian legends and stories much in the same way as Roberta pulled from Fairy Tales. But have my own line of character development and plot that links in this things to bring the culture into it.
I visited Oakhurst this Christmas and boy was it a trip. I hadn’t been there for almost seven years. It is gorgeous, peaceful, and quiet. It has a good feeling about it. And Yosemite is breathtakingly gorgeous and driving up there in the snow was an experience I will never forget. I even learned that chains/cables don’t go on the back tire. After 40 minutes of trying to get them off I got them on the front tires and I was good to go. HAHAHA!!
Running in snow meadows with my girlfriend, having a beer with a snowman…it was a good trip.
So do you still live up there? I don’t see why you would want to leave (other than the cold and the lack of much of anything up there) but it’s almost perfect otherwise. And It was the most beautiful new thing I can say I’ve ever remember being up in Yosemite in the snow.
*** No – we had to leave the area in order to keep growing the company. We’ve thought about going back, but that would feel like we were moving backwards. We always like to do new things, rather than doing something we’ve done before – no matter how good it was.
So my questions I guess are:
Do you still live in Oakhurst or are you in warmer weather now?
*** Currently, we primarily live in Mexico. It’s normally warm here, but not today … it feels like Seattle! (which is where we usually live when not here in Mexico)
What problems do you see with the game industry today?
*** I’ve been out of the game industry for seven years — I don’t know much about it now. My sense is that not much has changed, which is the #1 problem. The industry should reinvent itself to keep things interesting. I don’t think it is doing that.
What are you perceived solutions?
*** Some problems solve themselves. Someone out there is working on something innovative as I type this. I don’t know who they are, or what it is — but, it will surprise us, and give the industry a new sense of direction. It’s been too stagnant too long. Someone needs to shake up the business.
What made you want to start?
*** My quest for a programming job I could do from where I wanted to live. For Roberta though, it was a chance for her to do something creative. She felt like she was born to do adventure games, and really misses doing them.
How did you and Roberta meet and how long where you together when you had the idea lets make a game together.
*** Already answered
What were those early days like?
*** Already answered
Would you like a website so you don’t have to answer this question so much? I’d do it for free.
*** I have a website!!!! You must have found it, or, I wouldn’t be reading this email!
Project management in Game Development – will you ever write a book?
*** Me? Write a book? Nah…. Well … maybe. I’ve thought about it. Maybe someday.
I think you’re one of the best out there. Put me down for 10 copies if you do. I remember someone asking you this before and you said no – that writing books is just not something you do – so you don’t need to answer this question…I’m just trying to kick you into doing it because I want to read it and learn from you…so ignore me I’m a rude ass 😛
*** Grin!
I hope there are nothing but smiles on your face in these retirement days. What are some of the joys/pains of not being in the game industry today?
*** I miss being part of the action. I miss feeling like I’m making a d
***CONTINUED***

[Unknown,Unknown]

ifference. Retirement is tough. You feel like you’re just putting in time. On the other hand, we’re traveling a lot, and I’m playing a lot of golf – plus, I spend a lot of time writing code, which I love. Running Sierra, I never had time to write code. For me, coding is like solving an adventure game. I love the feeling of chasing a tough bug.
*** The early days of Sierra were my favorite, and what I miss most. Towards the end, we had nearly 1,000 employees. Game teams were starting to have 50 to 100 people working on them. Modern games aren’t solo efforts. It takes a team, and once you start having a team, bureaucracy creeps in. I like what I’m doing on my website. I have no pressure to ship anything by a certain date. I work on it when I want, and don’t when I don’t want. If I make progress, I feel good — and, if I don’t, I work harder. There’s no budget, and no revenue projection. It’s just hacking for hackings sake. And, more importantly, I’m confident I’ll come up with something new. It’s just getting started, and pioneering is a little like making sausage (not much fun to watch). Currently, it’s not obvious I’m doing anything that will be interesting, but I’m only in the first 1% of the project. Stay tuned.
Any advice to someone who looks up to you for all these things for the game industry today. One day I would like to be in project management position getting people to work better together and teams to be more effective and make it still a enjoyable and rewarding experience for everyone.
*** Most people aren’t willing to make the commitment to succeed. The secret is: work harder than those around you. It sounds silly, but it’s true. Skip watching tv, wake up early (and work or study) and then go to bed late (after working and studying some more). I’m famous for studying everything I do, to look for ways to use my own time more effectively. The book Hackers makes Sierra sound like a fun place, which it was in the early days — but, that fun almost put us out of business. Towards the end, I had come to understand that Sierra was in a competitive industry and that we would only survive by working harder than our competitors. We certainly had our flaws, but generally, I think we won, while others failed, simply because we worked our butts off.
*** The last part of your question is: “…and make it still a enjoyable and rewarding experience for everyone.” I always complain about expressions such as this. I really tried to focus everyone on building great product, and working harder than our competitors. Enjoyable experiences are something best saved for your family, after you leave work. I tried to send a message to employees that if fun was their goal, they should have plenty of it — but, only after the workday finishes. Sierra’s focus should always be on things that “move the ball forward” rather than distractions. Because of this clear setting of priorities, we won award after award — and, had more fun than anyone. Ultimately, job satisfaction comes from doing great work and succeeding – not from company picnics or small talk at the water cooler. It’s just semantics, but this is an issue I assign great importance to. I had a reputation for being rude, or more accurately stated: brusque. To me, I wasn’t rude, I was just succinct. My goal was to always “cut to the chase, get the facts, and make a decision.” Small talk was best left to those who weren’t out to build a great company. My focus was always on customers, and making sure that we were giving them good value for their money. I always believe that if you take care of customers, they will take care of you. If you start thinking about yourself first, then customers forget you. My needs, and my employees’ needs, were always secondary to our customers needs. Focus on customers above all else.
You stepped out of the boundaries with the release of Kings Quest 4 with a female protagonist. Looking at games today what do see for games that are about culture, richness, and adventure pushing the envelope in new creative ways…rather than finding 60 ways to kill someone with a steroid induced whatever. I don’t really know specifically what I’m asking it’s really a feeling and I’m sure you understand what I mean. I guess there have always been good and bad games but we really don’t remember all the bad games. But I believe Sierra games stood for something good and not for money. You guys cared about the quality and what it would bring to the values you all had, it is evident in the games which I played.
*** The company was partially a reflection of Roberta and I. Neither of us liked shootem-up games, so we didn’t really publish them. We did some games, like Aces over Europe, that did have shooting, but I considered these sims more than just action games. The same with early games like Thexder — I didn’t really put these into the same category with games like Doom. I remember feeling like I was selling out when I made the decision to publish Half-Life, but it was a VERY special looking game, and I liked that it was pioneering the merger of story-telling with an action game format.
Did you have a good Christmas/Holiday season?
*** Absolutely!
*** PS Great questions!
Me Ke Aloha,
Kalani

Link:kalani@secureshops.net (mailto:kalani@secureshops.net)

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