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Robin:
Welcome! Brandon beat me to it, but I was just about to add you to the ex-employees area.
I agree with you — the old days at Sierra are impossible to replicate. Too bad…
-Ken W
Robin – glad you dropped by to say hello! Welcome here 🙂 I’m an admin, and I’ve added you to the ex-employees area. You should see it appear in the left-hand menu on the main page sierragamers.com. You may have to logout and back in again.
I grew up during the late 80s early 90s and own most of the Sierra and Lucasarts adventures. This question is a no-brainer for me – I love playing Sierra games far more than the Lucasarts ones.
This is only my opinion, so don’t get too offended by it. I’d rather have a constructive discussion than an argument. So take it with a grain of salt.
There are a few points behind my thinking.
1. Sierra games had far superior stories – this the key point for me. For the most, their games had great story lines and fantastical worlds to adventure in. I found the Lucasarts adventures to be more focused around humour and sillyness. Stuff like Gabriel Knight, Manhunter, Police Quest and Quest for Glory was brilliant for me.
2. The themes of the Sierra adventures covered such a wide range of topics. Police, Space, Manhunter, Heros, little kids, historical. There were so many variations that I never got bored, and they catered for all kinds of gamers. I used to love playing Mixed Up Mother Goose and Black Cauldron with my little sister as much as I loved playing Police Quest and Quest for Glory with my brother.
3. Sierra was far more prolific – there’d always be something new to play.
4. Finding funny ways for your characters to die, and then watching the cool animation and laughing at the sarcastic comments.
5. The characters in the Sierra games were just so lovable and memorable. Their is a big emotional investment there too. I loved seeing what adventures Roger Wilco, Leisure Suit Larry, Gabriel Knight and Sonny Bond got up to. I never really cared for the LucasArts characters as much. GuyBrush was cool, but he was basically just an imitation of Roger Wilco and Leisure Suit Larry anyway.I do admit that LucasArts had a higher quality ratio, but the argument about Sierra dying slowly and horribly is exactly the same (to me) as what happened to Monkey Island after Ron Gilbert (I think) left. It basically became a lame parody of itself. And some of the Sierra series finished off really well (for me) – I loved the last Space Quest, Gabriel Knight and Larry games (the new one doesn’t count IMO – its not even Larry in the game).
Also, I think Monkey Island 1 is one of the best ever games I have played, and probably as good as any of the top-drawer Sierra games (of which there were only a handful IMO).
Ironically, I see QuestStudios have just put out a ‘help wanted’ request in relation to fans making audio CD covers. Funny, no?
I’ve got a GK1 artist, a LB1/2 artist, a QFG4 artist, a SQ5/6 artist.. just need a PQ1/2 one. And note that of the 4 mentioned, ALL are original designs, except GK1, which is screenshots from the game.
I’m really not fussed whether it’s original or game or other reference-material based, as long as someone is willing to put time/effort into it and create something which looks nice. 🙂
I’d say by mid-2005, even, there’ll be a lot more Sierra music around. QuestStudios should’ve finished their QFG1, QFG2 and Heart of China soundtracks at the very least, and I should finish GK1, QFG4, PQ1/2 at the very least.
With regards to whether I’m asking or not asking, let me clarify.
If someone is going to create original artwork for me, my request for PQ1/2 scans bcomes redundant.
But, in terms of artists, I wasn’t specifically targeting this forum for one. I was more looking for the material itself. But at the same time if I could find an artist here I would definitely be pleased to do so. You get the idea, I hope. 🙂 (Gotta love my logic.)Regards,
– AlistairThanks for that info Jim (and for your other posts too, good stuff), that’s really good to hear – as I’ve tried contacting them before on several matters on behalf of a number of people around here but didn’t get a reply. I will have to email again when I’ve got my stuff newly organized. I also intended to buy their collector’s box thing and I’ll just have to do that soon!
I run my monitor at 120Hz. My reaction times will be twice as fast as you pathetic mortals! 🙂 I’m just saying that the system clock might have been a better way to go especially since if I remember right, monitor refresh rates were often around 45-50Hz on some of the older monitors. (They crept upwards for a while)
-Jim
There seems to be a bug in Gold Rush that game time will not advance with the speed set to fast or fastest. You need to play some sections of the game in normal speed. (house for sale, letters at the post office, changing seasons – by land)
-Jim
They answer. It just takes an incredibly long time. I got a response from the wife of one of the MacNeill Bros.
Hello Jim,
Yes, Gold Rush is still available. Yes, you have “found” Doug. I am his wife and have passed your kind words along to him, and he shared them with Ken.
If you would like to order Gold Rush, e-mail me. [Prices, niceties, etc.]
Thanks for contacting us.
Carol MacNeill
—– Original Message —–
From: Larimore, Jim
To:service@softwarefarm.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 11:55 AM
Subject: Still selling Gold Rush!?I’m an old school Sierra game fan and Gold Rush! is one of my favorites. Are you still selling this? Any are you guys (the sellers) the designers Doug and Ken? If so, you rock.
Agreed. Real, quality adventure games are simply not being made right now. Anyone who says the genre just evolved into something slightly different is trying to sell you… something VERY different. The genre may get jump started again sometime in the future when the average intelligence of the gaming community rises back to where it once was, but until then be very wary of anyone trying to sell an adventure, action-adventure, adventure-action, etc. game.
As for DRM (Digital Rights Managment) and Steam, this is absolutely terrible. I cannot play my legit copy of Half-Life 2 because I do not have an internet connection at home. I pre-ordered the game before they announced that an internet connection would be required for a single player game. I will NEVER EVER buy a game/movie/music that uses a DRM scheme ever again. The only way to stop this nonsense is to completely boycott any product that attempts to use such a scheme. DVDs, games, anything. How would you like it if you wanted to take a stroll down memory lane in ten years and show your kid Half-Life 2 only to find out that the company went out of business and the servers for product validation no longer exist? If I purchase software, I want to be able to use it on my terms, not someone elses.
As to what Nintendo says about the legality of backups. I would guarantee that if you sent NOA an email stating: “hey, yeah , I just wanted to let you guys know that I ripped one of your carts for backup purposes in case my cart is destroyed at some point in the future” and attached your name, address, phone number, social security number, and every other piece of unique information that should lead them straight to your door that they would do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. You would never ever in a million years get a response. Do you know why? Because the legality of backups is completely questionable. In fact, everything to date would suggest that they are completely within our rights. (VHS VCR Battles) The last thing any media company wants is to go into a trial that might define some more rigid and recent consumer rights. What if the courts decided in our favor and even decided that efforts to prevent backups were infringing on the consumers’ rights? I can tell you that would absolutely devastate current piracy deterrants with game companies. Safedisc, the prominent copy protection scheme and pretty much the only thing stopping simple duplication, would likely be stopped and piracy would become much more prevalent.
-Jim
Overall I would say that the Sierra documentation was much, much cooler and in depth. But I do not fault the Lucas guys for this. I think there has been a trend starting in the late eighties to cut costs of manufacturing by reducing the amount of cool stuff that we the consumer get in the box. Since the Lucas games really took off near the end of Sierra’s run, most of their games were caught in this trend and had very light documentation (like the rest of the industry). Monkey Island 1 had a pretty comical code wheel that created really silly looking pirates that doubled as the copy protection, but the further time progressed, the more sparse the cool stuff got. Some of the Sierra docs are still really cool. The cool puzzle books that came with the Dr. Brain games, the large history book on the California Gold Rush, and the neat investigative reporter stuff that came with the Laura Bow games are some things that are very memerable off the top of my head.
-Jim
Cool topic idea. It’s hard for an adventure fan who appreciates both Sierra and LucasArts to say which they enjoyed more – that would be me. Then again, there are some people who are strongly in one camp or the other.
Another point for the Pro LucasArts is that their animations were amazing. Their games had tons of animation and it really brought their games to life.
Pro Sierra I would add the awesome documentation and extras that came with most of their games.
Sadly I don’t have a single original boxed LucasArts adventure. I have the first adventurer’s pack, and then all the adventure games that came after that I have on stand-alone value CDs. So I don’t know of the cool stuff if any that came in LucasArts adventures.
Both companies had pretty cool hintbooks.
Yeah, Tom’s covers are OK 🙂 I’m not sure you’re going to find anyone here talented enough to make covers of quality enough without using Sierra material such as scans of the box art – I didn’t know that’s what you meant, making something without reference scans. Another thing that might have good scan material would be the PQ1 VGA hintbook, I assume there is one, though again it’s not something I have. I’m talking about really nice looking CD covers here, something you’d expect to see in a store.
“So I’d say by 2006 there’ll be a lot more around.”
Cool!
“I wasn’t really ‘applying’ for one here”
I am a bit confused then, because you asked for scans in your first message and then said in your reply that you didn’t need them, and then you asked for an artist in your first message but now say you aren’t “applying” for one!
Well, in terms of CD artwork, using box scans is more of what QuestStudios does. Tom (the webmaster) does it all himself, the music and the artwork. I much prefer to focus on the music and let others do the artwork. To that end, I’ve been fortunate enough to have such great contacts in the Sierra community that I’ve had many offers and volunteers for different artwork projects. Always surprised at the generousity and spirit of the community.
So if an artist was to help out, the box scans would become largely redundant. Some nice images though. Since I own the box for PQ2 I can probably do that myself.. however it’s not in ‘perfect’ condition.
Shame you haven’t heard about SMC, though I wouldn’t blame you- SMC’s updates have been completely ‘behind-the-scenes’ this year (er, last year :P). However I’m changing that this month, with some releases finally due.
With regards to the DVD compilation, what a cool project that sounds! On the note of Sierra music I’d suggest that 2005 will be a busy year for it. QuestStudios seems intent on moving forward and working with and releasing as much MIDI/digital music as possible, which is great. Likewise I have a lot of half-finished projects that will likely be released within short times of each other. So I’d say by 2006 there’ll be a lot more around.
Anyone doing artwork is appreciated. I wasn’t really ‘applying’ for one here, but I’m sure as heck not going to reject your response, Brandon. 🙂 Get back to me.
Thanks for your prompt response!
Regards,
– AlistairI only have faint memories of this, so it may not be true. I believe in the version of King’s Quest 2 that I played originally in the mid eighties, something I typed prompted the game to tell me King Graham’s last name which was “Cracker”. Can anyone verify this? Was this only in certain versions of the game? (later removed) Was this Roberta’s joke or some overzealous scripter?
I also noticed a few years ago while digging through some of the old Sierra games that some of the synonyms that the interpreter would accept were extremely lewd. (such as the witch in KQ2 being synonymous with a whole lot of terms I would imagine most woman would not find pleasant). Now obviously the ESRB wasn’t around and it wasn’t like kids playing the game had access to these synonyms, but I’d be very curious who was the resident sicko?
-Jim
So aren’t you kind of flip-flopping on what you said before? If the cycles in DOSBox are independent and assuming everyone out there has a machine fast enough to handle these games (most of us do), shouldn’t we be able to find the ideal cycles that these games should be run with?
-Jim
Thanks. Now that I have a bit more time on my hands, I finally am getting around to clearing out the old stuff I never took care of – this is now taken care of!
All I’m saying is that the general feeling about Half-life 2 (outside of the dedicated gaming press) is one of dissappointment. Sure, the game may have been upgraded in the areas of graphics and sound, but it’s still the same stilted gameplay.
As with Half-life 1, the player is still following an ultra-linear thread, leading him/her from one big scene to the next. It even has the same “cheesy late night sci-fi movie” atmosphere of the first one.
The problem, in my opinion, started when the games industry somehow added the word “cinematic” to its vocabulary. Since then we’ve been seeing more and more games trying to be more movie-like and less worrying about the actual gameplay (or level of involvement).
Adventure games are in their very essence NOT cinematic, and rather more novel-like. And you’ll notice that the decline of the adventure game coincided with the games industry striving to produce more cinematic gameplay.
But anyway, to each his own. I would simply suggest that people do not relegate past games to history so easily. Many (most?) classic games were released years before Half-life 1, and I would love for people to go back and rediscover them. Which I guess is what this site is all about (at least to a large extent).
Interesting! I wonder if it says that in the original manuals? I’d have to check them, I’m not home right now. Maybe Ken could ask Roberta about that.
I don’t own the original boxes for either of those games, sadly. I’m sure there’s someone out there who could scan for them you. Cool to hear of your project, I wasn’t aware that SMC was still active. I know that in the future, Brad, who is working on the InterAction Magazines project, wants to do a DVD compilation of Sierra soundtrack music as well. Working with SMC and Quest Studios, I’m sure a lot could be compiled for such a collection. I can do some basic design stuff, so I’d be happy to have a go at the covers / insert for a PQ1/2 soundtrack if no one else wants to, if someone can provide the scans first (scan hi-res, 300 DPI and TIF format, uncompressed, PC byte order, “raw” with no color or other corrections, I’ll give you an email or an FTP you can send them to).
“but we need to realize gaming genre’s change from time to time.”
I disagree. There have always been action games, strategy games, RPG games, adventure games, etc. Now there aren’t adventure games, but still every other type of game.
I concur with Danny’s assesment of Half-Life 2. He hit the nail on the head. Like Sierra games of the past, which we celebrate here, this is a landmark acheivment in gaming technology and story-telling. The graphics far surpass any other engine out today, including anything from id or Activision. Most importantly, it displays the Sierra name quite prominently, I might add. Yes, the Steam issue can be annoying, but I can live with it.
Yes, yes, I know it is not a Kings’ Quest or Leisure Suit Larry, etc, I love those games as much as the next person hear, but we need to realize gaming genre’s change from time to time. Remember Half-Life 1 was an important part of the “Good ‘Ol Sierra” history and I for one am glad to see its name contune on a very important impact game of today.
Oleh
I have to say that Half-Life 2 is a great game. Unless you have an illegal copy of course…
The graphics engine is amazing, the story has me interested, the puzzles are fun, and there is plenty of action to satisfy anyone who enjoys first person shooters.
That said, you have to consider the brief annoyance of installing another software program (Steam) in order to play the game. For me and most of the people who purchased a legitimate copy, that is fine. Steam does not “download tons of spyware to your computer” and it is actually a pretty cool device for downloading additional content such as the Source SDK. It is also a clever way for Valve to circumvent Vivendi in getting the game to their customers. I bought a boxed copy of the game for nostalgia’s sake. I like to have the physical product in my hands, plus it might be one of the few games left to have the Sierra brand on it. If it weren’t for that I would have downloaded it from Steam.
Half-Life 2 is a great game in the same vein as the original Half-Life. I don’t understand the “disappointment” that is being discussed here. The only thing I was disgusted with was the incredibly drawn out release that this game had. Let me also say that I enjoy computer games and video games. I am not devoted to a particular genre. I’m sure many people equate the rise of shooting games with the death of adventure games. This has created a bias and resentment that is sometimes evident on these forums. Since I can not agree with hating a type of game for its perceived effect on other types of games, and since I have a legitimate copy of this great game I will continue to play through Half-Life 2 and enjoy every minute of it (and download more mods from Steam).
And so it comes full-circle. Fascinating, I’ve read your interview before, Robert.
Ironically, after my earlier post here in June 2004, I’m now on the verge of releasing a ‘soundtrack CD’ of Gabriel Knight 1’s music. Really, really close. Just waiting on my CD artist to come through.
Hopefully it does give a chance for people without good sound cards or Roland modules to hear the score how it was meant to be heard, or at the very least some good memories.
So get those 80 min CD-R’s ready, folks. 😉
– Alistair
There seems to be quite a bit of dissappointment going around regarding Half-life 2. Among the gamers I know, people are definitely growing more and more despondent with the state of computer gaming in general. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing – the sooner people refuse to put up with the crap that gets published nowadays, the better. (I spent hours last night playing Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition on my DOS PC and had a lot more fun than I’ve had in years with a FPS.)
Regarding piracy (and the general rise in acceptance of corrupt and/or unethical/immoral lifestyles), I do believe it’s a problem with mindset. And not just the mindset of a single person or group of people. It’s a societal problem. Ethics and morals just aren’t as highly prized as they once were. And (forgive me for saying this) I reckon this is an American cultural thing. The ruling American value of “win at any cost” (regardless of the context in which you’re competing) really isn’t working. And couple this with the focus and promotion of so-called “individualism” (really just a “me first” attitude) and you’re pretty much on a path of self-destruction. And the sad thing is, thanks to globalisation were all being subjected to (and influenced by) the same.
It’s probable that Ken and Roberta realized from close to the outset that they could make a living from this. Steven Levy’s book Hackers contains a lively account of the early days of Sierra. He writes (about Mystery House):
Ken and Roberta, in a fit of optimism, had bought a box of one hundred blank disks at the nearby Rainbow Computing store, and once the fliers were sent to computer stores and the ad placed for a reluctantly paid two-hundred-dollar fee in the May 1980 issue of a small magazine called MICRO, they waited. The phone rang, on that first day in May, and then there was a break and then it rang again. And from then on, it would be a long time before Ken and Roberta could count on their phone not ringing.
Ken and Roberta made eleven thousand dollars that May. In June, they made twenty thousand dollars…
