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(re: An interesting discussion with Roberta)
21 Grams for me wasn’t that memorable when I watched it last December. I thought the movie was a bit too melodramatic.
Memento was great though. I remember while watching it on DVD, I got to thinking it’s just like a computer game. The ending/twist was pretty good and worth the movie. I didn’t get it at first, I had to search the web to complete my understanding of the movie.
Mulholland Drive was a very creepy movie for me. I don’t know why, my mind was just messed up weeks after watching it. Reading some of the interpretations just make it worse. But strangely enough I liked it, I was scared, but it was good. 12 Monkeys was also good, lots of interesting concepts. I kept second-guessing Brad Pitt’s character.
Puzzle/weird/thinking movies are among my favorites. If you enjoy them, I can recommend M. Night Shyamalan’s movies, Unbreakable and Signs. Shyamalan makes thinking movies that sell well to the public.
(Tsunami, Jim Walls, Police Quest)
Sierra meant a lot to me growing up. I especially appreciated the Space Quest and Police Quest series. Which explains WHY both series’ decline came as a major dissappointment. I know the story behind Space Quest and how the two guys from andromeda split up, etc. but I doubt the real story behind Sierra’s split with Jim Walls (read in the press that it was quite acrimonious), and the rest of the people who went to Tsunami, has ever been told.
How did this happen?
I’ve seen the post-Walls Police Quest games praised for their realism, but as games they were bloody awful. (It is only with the excellent SWAT 3 that the series, though not really PQ anymore, have picked up again.) We were all playing Sierra games were I come from, and the killing off of classic Police Quest and the adventures of Sonny Bonds made quite a few people very mad.
PS. I apologise if this question has already been answered in sufficient detail elsewhere on this most excellent site. If it has, please point the way.
(re: QfG4 – Collection version vs. standalone) Yes, Emily, the original release was on floppy.
The work that NewRisingSun is doing is amazing… I sorta hoped he’d do a QFG4 patch for the disk version too though.
All I’ve ever heard is that the CD version had an extra year of development/testing/bug fixing over the initial release version which was rushed out.
Hmm… I’ve never heard that one! Maybe Ken has a memory about this. Seems like a whole extra year, besides the work that would have to be done for the voices, they could have fixed a lot more than they did.
As far as I can tell, the CD version of QFG4 on the collection CD is version 1.0 (Emily, as I noted before, for CD versions of games on collection CDs, the version file in the root of the CD often belongs to the CD version of the game on the collection CD – since all of the other files for the CD version of the game on the collection CD are also in the root of the CD). The German version on that same CD is a floppy version, and probably the 1.1 increment is just because of the German translation? But that’s only at a first thought, maybe someone else knows more. I don’t have any other copy of QFG4, stand alone CD or floppy.(re: Offline INN)
I found a Value-Priced release version of this a while ago, including both Yserbius and Twinion. I’ve never played these games before, and I haven’t really looked at them or tried playing them yet, but I’ll get around to it sooner or later. Not a bad VP release, in case anyone else out there runs across it. At least it came with a real manual (not photocopies). The VP releases generally seem better than the SLASH releases are.
(re: QfG4 – Collection version vs. standalone) What was the original release version… floppies?
The version number on my standalone CD is 1.0. I can’t tell on the Collection Series CD without installing it, apparently (there’s no Version file in the folder). However, there is apparently a German (?) version of QfG4 on the collection series CD which is version 1.1. Too bad I don’t know German!
Collector, thanks for the link to the patches, that looks really helpful!
-emily
(re: QfG4 – Collection version vs. standalone)
All I’ve ever heard is that the CD version had an extra year of development/testing/bug fixing over the initial release version which was rushed out.
Are there differences in the version numbers? I’ve got the CD version of Quest for Glory 4 from the Sierra Gamer pack buit haven’t played it yet for similar reasons – I’d be interested to know what your version numbers were.
(re: re: re: Did you ever regret selling Sierra?)
I guess you suffered the same problem with Sierra that Richard Garriott had with Origin.
I have always seen you and Roberta, along with Richard Garriott, as video game visionaries. What you have created basically, was nothing less than the adventure game industry. Same for ‘Lord British’ and role-playing games, at least the way I see it. King’s Quest and Ultima games, as well as the spirit of earlier Sierra and Origin companies (up to the early 90’s), represented to me what was best about the video game industry: a bubbling environment of creators – people who had a vision of entertainment that went beyond the simple need to sell games, people who kept on pushing the boundaries of technology and interactivity.
Sadly though, in your case as in Garriott’s case, your visions were lost because of other people’s corporate goals and narrower ideas. It’s sad. But I don’t hold you people responsible for those disasters; as I know, from years of reading InterAction and in-box catalogues and stuff, among other things, that you always had the best of intentions for Sierra.
(re: QfG4 – Collection version vs. standalone)
Emily, the good news is that most of the bugs have now been fixed. NewRisingSun has developed script level patches for QfG4 CD and several other Sierra games. These are patches that are what Sierra would have released, if they had bothered to patch these games themselves. So far he has fixed:
Conquests of the Longbow
Hoyle Book of Games 3
King’s Quest 1 SCI Remake
Leisure Suit Larry 3
Leisure Suit Larry 5
Quest for Glory 4 CD
Police Quest 2 (version 1.002.011 only)
Police Quest 3
Space Quest 1 Remake
Space Quest 4 CD Version
Space Quest 5
Space Quest 6These patches really work. I have successfully played QfG 4 on my Athlon 2000+ machine to completion. Without the patch, I could not even get down the slippery slope, even with Turbo. You can these patches at http://geocities.com/belzorash/
(Source of images) I got the pictures originally by using the screen capture utility in Wordperfect (I think version 5.2). The origianl images are in WPG format. I converted them for this site to JPEG.
There were a number of interesting DOS utilities at the time that allowed you to “multitask.” Well, sorta anyway. The utiltiy loaded into memory, you hit the hot key combo and a sequentially numbered file was produced. You could even select the portion of screen to capture. I used other similar “multitasking” utilities in my aforementioned nefarious activites.
Anyway, no, I haven’t recreated the service — those are all original images as they appeared at the time in 1996. I just keep shuffling the images from one computer to the next.
What’s funny is that at the time I was worried about how much space it was taking on my 200 and some odd MB drive.
Shortly after INN shut down I upgraded to a Cyrix 150+ (for Windows 95). Anyone remember those? Nice chip. But I have more images, mostly of the posts from the very last day. I took them because I realized it would all be lost once the service shut down, and I wanted to have a final record.
I will endeavor to convert them and post them at some point.(“Hot” times) I joined sometime around 1993 and had a very good time up until the end in 1996.
But it was also a different time, when not many people were “on line” and quite frankly, the average overall quality of people was far better than it is today. By that, I mean people were very friendly, outoing, respectful and generally nice to be around.
While I still run into many such people on the net, it’s been diluted by the other “types” which I’m sure we’ve all run into.
I think, given the newness of the technology, the sense of adventure we all shared, and the high cost and difficulty of participating, that it was just a very special time with very special people that will most likely never be repeated.
I’m very grateful I had a chance to “be there.”(re: QfG4 – Collection version vs. standalone)
It may be simplest to check the version #s. You probably don’t even have to run the game to check them. There’s probably a file called “version” in the root of both CDs. If they’re the same, then you have no worries. If they are different – well, I’m not sure that anyone here could tell you what the differences are in terms of the bugs. But I strongly suspect they are the same.
(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams) If you want to volunteer some graphic design time .. it would be accepted happily!…
-Ken W
(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams) Thanks for the reply, Ken. I didn’t realize that how involved this process was or that you were developing a product. I assumed from the beginning that this was a pet project of yours, a hobby.
As you can probably tell from my words and my personality, I’m an amateur graphic designer, a trained but non-active journalist, and a professional media/advertising peon. I’m also a part-time bouncer. Half the time I blow through websites (attention deficit disorder) and I didn’t look far enough into your site to see what it really was. All flash and no substance – that’s me. I still needed to apologize, and now I need to apologize for underestimating you and your site at first glance, which is probably a greater sin than insulting the graphic design. Anyway, have fun on your trip!!!
(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams) …I know Ken has more than a few dollars in the bank so I figured he would hire a design firm to make something flashy…
Actually .. I did hire a design firm – most of their work isn’t up yet though …
It’s not as easy as it sounds. The software behind this site is VERY complex, and is currently being used by 300+ websites. Every change impacts a LOT of people. Also, my product development group is small: me.
Actually, I recently hired a young man to assist me with product development, but he hasn’t really started yet. Thus far, his net impact is probably a negative. He’s a great guy, and will do fine — but, bringing him up to speed on a HUGE mountain of code has taken a lot of time.
In other words, you are seeing a work in process. It looks better now than it did six months ago, and will look better in six months. You can’t compare it to products with large teams of programmers who have been at it for years. At least not today — in a year, maybe. For now, it is what it is….
If you have specific features you’d like to see on the list, post them. I’m always looking for ideas, and love studying other sites, to see what good ideas I can borrow. I’ll be on my boat for the next three months, and am looking forward to getting a ton of work done (no distractions).
Don’t worry about apologizing. It isn’t necessary. I’ve seen a lot of software (possibly more than almost anyone alive). I know where the product behind this site is weak, and where it’s strong. I know where it’s cute and where it’s ugly. I know when it will be good enough to be considered a product. I also have a good sense of how much additional work needs to be done.
Most people would not expose their work in process to the outside world. Every product that has ever been developed went through an ugly-duckling phase. Most people just hide their ugly ducklings until they become swans. I don’t believe in that as a development strategy. I like the concept of real-world guided software development. Another of my “Ken’s Rules” is: give them something. Watch how they use it, and give them more of what they like, and less of what they don’t.
By involving customers in the design process, the ultimate product is better. Sure – there will be some people that are turned off by how the product looks now. That’s ok — I’m not selling the product, and I’m not charging anyone money. There will come a day when the product is at a point where it’s worth charging for — and, at that point, it will be beautiful. In the meantime, people can take it for what it is — or, not. I’ll let each of them decide on their own… my preference though is that they post a message that says “Gosh .. this would be a cool product if you would just add [X] to it” .. I’ll then look at their message, form my own opinion about how badly the product needs [X], prioritize the task, and throw it on the list. It’s not a perfect system .. but, it works!
Visitors to this site may not realize it, but behind the scenes, we ARE already building a software product together….
-Ken W
(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams) Wow – so you help Ken with this site? Very cool, and quite a prestigious internship, if you can call it that.
I mentioned this on another board, but I said some hurtful and disrespectful things about this site on Al Lowe’s board, dealing with the design. I’ve since come to learn that not only has Ken done all of it himself (impressing me greatly as opposed to him going cheap on a design firm, which was my original though) but he is actively involved in these boards. If he doesn’t find my original apology, I’d like to apologize again. Without getting insulting again, I know Ken has more than a few dollars in the bank so I figured he would hire a design firm to make something flashy, but this is much more personal and interesting.
(re: Ken!)
This is as good a time as any to mention that both Brad and I (Brad’s the other admin here) watch all the posts, and we will move posts into the correct area if they’re in the wrong place. It can be confusing which area is best to post in. That is one of the things I will be working on making more clear. So if you ever find your post is missing, it’s likely just been moved. And you can find it again by going to “System” / “New Messages,” if it’s a recent post just click on it there and you’ll be able to find out the new location.
(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams)
I have compiled everything that Ken has said (of any importance) on these boards. I have it all on disk. The only question is now the time to go through it, and the format. A FAQ format is a great idea – it could be posted at the top of each relevant forum for newbies to read. Excellent idea – and I’ll get to work on it. I will have a lot more time these days to work on many different things for this site since school is now over for the semester. Except for the next couple of weeks I’m having internet / driver problems so I’m working to backup / re-arrange gigs of data before I re-install my OS.
(re: Ken!) I know I’m replying to my own message once again, but I wanted to mention that I realize now I posted this on the wrong board. Ignore, and I shall be ashamed. All of these questions and ideas have probably already been answered anyway somewhere else…
Ken – I did want to mention that you might have read some critical comments I made (under the handle “oldsierragamer”)about the design of your site on Al Lowe’s board. I apologize for being an a**hole, but I’m personally more of a style over substance guy, while this site is definitely a text book example of substance (a record amount of it) over style (although I’m beginning to appreciate the retro feel of the design since this is a site dedicated mostly to Sierra nostalgia. I have a fansite (http://lowrock.com) that I’ve intentionally designed in a retro fashion).
(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams) Cool beans. I’ve resolved to not post any more until I’ve had a chance to review all of these boards – it seems like every time I get the urge to ask a question, I find it’s already been answered in the next thread I read.
I don’t have time for something like this, but perhaps someone with more time on their hands (anyone unemployed?) could prepare a FAQ which answers these questions that all the newbies seem to have that Ken seems to be nice enough to answer, in one form or another, over and over again.
(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams) Ken actually just answered that question at the link below:
(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams)
Perhaps this is just my ignorance of how big business works, but did you (Ken) HAVE to sell Sierra? The one aspect of Sierra’s story that has always confused me is how successful or unsuccessful the company actually was. I’ve read how the games sold millions of copies, how great designers (such as Al Lowe and Roberta) were dedicated to the company, and how great Oakhurst was, then what happened? Was it that internet network that brought everything down? Was it piracy? Or did you (Ken) simply want to expand the business so you took other risks that didn’t pan out? Or was it simply that you were ready to leave and you wanted to sell for no other reason than to make money and split? Maybe these questions have been answered on another board or in another section of the site – if this is true, then would someone please point me in that direction? Otherwise, maybe giving some more information on this would answer a lot of questions that we the fans have.
(re: AOL Games Channel???? The end of an era) It’s OK to post these here – in your other thread you thought you had mis-posted them. How did you get these now? Do you still have the source software that somehow allows you still view these pages? Is it possible to re-post these pictures in a format such as GIF or PNG that will not add compression artifacts? Is it possible to re-capture these pictures through the Windows clipboard system thus changing their resolution from 320×200 to 640×400?
(re: Roberta Williams Anthology) And it was very fitting that this tribute to Roberta was made in the first place.
Usually, I am against these sorts of things… a company making more and more collections for the sake of making collections… take for example the most ridiculous thing I ever heard… after releasing all 7 seasons of ST:TNG on DVD (charging much more $ than any other TV series on DVD does), Paramount is now going to release “The Captain Picard Collection” of episodes on DVD. That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.
Anyway, I don’t feel this way in Sierra’s case, and you’re right – the tribute to Roberta is fitting. I sure wish I had got a copy of it when it was released!(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams) What always impressed me and still impresses me about the Williams is their willingness to take risks, attention to detail and focus on the customer.
That’s very true – and it was industry recognized. I picked up a few computer magazines yesterday searching for Sierra advertisements and articles, and in reviews of products such as KQ:MOE and Phantasmagoria, the reviewers noted that even if everything Roberta tried to do didn’t work 100%, the important thing is that she was willing to get out there and take risks in pushing the technology.
(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams) Kevin:
Thank you! And, good luck with whatever you are up to these days.
I added you to the list of ex-employees. You’ll notice that the next time you access this site, a hidden menu appears, giving you access to an area of the site which is for ex-employees only.
-Ken W
