- This topic has 4 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 11 months ago by
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Ken and Roberta,
Thank you so much for providing me with so much entertainment while I was growing up. I got King’s Quest 1 for my old Apple IIc computer in 1987 (or thereabouts) and fell in love with the series immediately. Me and my brother hounded my parents to get us KQ2 soon afterward. After that installment it all mushroomed from there. I used to have typing as a class when I was in middle school and I was slow. My teacher told me I had to improve my speed. After getting KQ’s 3 and 4 for my Apple I spent that summer literally playing these games non-stop. I finished them, then restarted them. Over and over for the duration of my summer vacation, my brother did the same thing. When I went back to school and took the second part of my typing class the teacher had us copy some stuff out of a typing book and I literally BLEW everyone away on the keyboard. I calculated my WPM to be around 85 or so during one session and the teacher just couldn’t believe it. When some kids after class asked me how I became so fast I said, “Two words…King’s Quest.” Soon my Apple IIc gave way to my IBM compatible 286 and I got PQ 1 and LSL1 for it. Soon I got Space Quest 1 and 2. I upgraded to a 386 and picked up SQ’s 3 and 4, LSLs 2-5, and KQ’s 5 and 6. It was here that I fell in love with the Quest for Glory series. Eventually I bought all of the compiliation packs and just recently I picked up the new ones put out by Vivendi (I irritates me that I have to give THEM the money for the work YOU guys did). Trust me when I tell you (and I’m sure you know this) that the blood, sweat, and tears produced by you guys and your team of game designers was worth the effort. I know a lot of people who played and loved these games growing up (and still love them). The games were so innovative and fun it eclipses a lot of games that are coming out now. I also noticed that I put them aside to play games like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Grand Theft Auto, but I always return to them and become facinated with them all over again. Thanks again, to you and everyone involved. You have made me one of the happiest gamers on the planet!
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Steve: Thank you! …. Actually, you touched on something which I’ve been thinking about. It does seem like the nature of computer games, and how people think of computers in the family, has changed. I remember when everyone thought that computer games were healthy, and that products like Master Type and Carmen San Diego were huge hits. We sold something like a half million Mixed Up Mother Goose games. Our adventure games were a big hit with parents because they taught typing and thinking skills. Sierra’s “The Incredible Machine” is still one of my favorite products that Sierra ever produced.
I don’t understand how things have changed so dramatically… It’s a sad commentary, but none of these products would have a place in today’s market.
-Ken W
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Steve said… “After getting KQ’s 3 and 4 for my Apple I spent that summer literally
playing these games non-stop. I finished them, then restarted them.
Over and over for the duration of my summer vacation, my brother did
the same thing. When I went back to school and took the second part of
my typing class the teacher had us copy some stuff out of a typing book
and I literally BLEW everyone away on the keyboard. I calculated my
WPM to be around 85 or so during one session and the teacher just
couldn’t believe it.”That’s my story as well. By the time I got to typing class in Jr. High, I easily beat the teacher in terms of speed and accuracy. I owe every bit of it to my time spent playing Sierra’s adventure games with the typing interface. This year at work, we had an “Office Olympics”. One of the events was a typing speed contest. Again, I blew everyone away, owing it all to the Sierra games I played nearly 15 – 20 years ago. Although not as easily measured as typing, I think Sierra’s games provided inspiration in other areas as well — creativity, grammar, spelling, technology, etc.
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Saying dito to it all.My brother had a number of your early games, and at 6, you had me needing to know where the keys were and how to spell so I could play, too. Only difficulty was I had to remember something like KQ/kingsquest/run…. you certainly kept me in line, I had to ask permission every time I wanted to play, simply bec I couldn’t remember what to type in.But anyways, within a year or two I could type at a reasonable speed.And it only got better from there. good intro to computers. I got the entire series for my little brother recently. He LOVES it. (yes it’s old and nostalgic, but so what. it’s fun.)
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Game Interfaces!
With rose colored glassesfirmly affixed, I have a thought for everyone that extends even further from the“learning to type” discussion…
I’ve always had a nigglingfeeling that somewhere along the line, the potential of this art form – adventuregames, and indeed computer games in general – was lost. The glinting of graphics and action somehowdistracted the world, and made them forget the other elements that give so much. The writing. The conceptualization of the world. The possibilities hidden beneath the surfaceof the world, to be examined and revealed by the player.
Now I’m not saying thatSierra actually achieved all that was to be achieved here. Indeed they didn’t. But I feel as though, with their initialtyping interfaces, they touched on a truly conceptual way to interact with theworld. One that has been lost, and hasnot really be re-explored since.
I feel as though no-one hasreally taken up the baton in striving to explore the nature of interaction. Sure, typing is a bit slow. Sure, it’s a hassle to create content andinteractions based on written input! Butit’s actually the best way to allow players to interact deeply with aworld. It provides gamers with thewidest breadth of verbs – even going beyond physical actions. Players can not only hit, look, get, give,hide and jump, but they can also persuade, lift, turn, press, scrape, joke,nudge, brush, sift, or seduce!
Personally, I loved thetyping interface which was the gateway to a world full of possibilities. A range of possibilities that the point-and-clickinterface compressed into the 5 verb icons, and a cursor you’d wave over thescreen. To me, that turned the game intosomething closer to a “watched” experience, and further from the experience ofexploring the world with your mind. Iloved those early typed interfaces, where you really considered the world throughan empty window, without icons or cursors. Your controls were words and concepts.
And intrinsically linked tothis, I think Roberta had a real knack for populating those worlds with wordsand concepts.
Maybe it’s just my rosecolored glasses, but I’d love to see a game that is accessed through words andconcepts again…
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