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(re: re: re: re: Problem viewing msgs) Lim:
Hmmm…. I’m not sure why your browser is rejecting cookies. It wouldn’t be the firewall. Do you know if all the other sites are working fine? For instance, Amazon? (they cookie you…)
Here’s a way to get you going (although one way or the other, I need to fix my cookieless browsing bug) –
Choose Internet Options from the Tools menu of your browser
Go to the privacy tab
At the bottom of the dialog box, there is a button that says “Edit”
That button gives you a way to specify websites that are ok for cookies
Add
Link: http://www.sierragamers.com(http://www.sierragamers.com)
to the list!
-Ken W( re: Problem viewing msgs)
Oh btw, I had problems trying to make changes to my msg as well. I will end up getting a page not found error. Also, whenever i click on refresh, i will hit the main page again without my name sign in. Thanks for your help and sorry to bother you during your coffee break. This site is great! nothing is better than having an admin who attends to you immediately!
(re: re: re: Problem viewing msgs)
Hi Ken,
OMG! sorry for overeacting but u’ve done an amazing job with this websites layout! I mean it ask if i needed to add photos, I can see the msg above while replying, unlike the forums I normally go to. you really did pay alot of attention to this didnt you, or does it come naturally
(just like the games u used to design,:) )
a little off topic but, now I know why the games u design those days caught on. The interface is perhaps a very very important part of a game am I right? was the idea of point and click(even the typing ones were excellent) originally yours?
Ok back to the topic, yes u are right and this is what it looks like
I am running on xp ie version 6.0.2800 . Could it be because of my firewall? I am using zone alarm.
ps. The cookie bit made me giggled! hehehe sounds like it would’ve been a line if u were to make a game right now that reflects on current enviroment of tehcnologies.
(re: Venture capital investments in Sierra On-line) But we would actually like to know the amounts that each vc put in, the timing and rounds of investments, the importance of vc funds relative to internally-generated funds as well as individual investors, the distribution of ownership, etc. I wonder whether you would be able to share some of this information with us.
Bill:
I started to read your paper, but quickly realized I need more time for it… I’ll return to it after I finish chasing some bugs…
With respect to venture capital:
It has been over 25 years since Sierra’s first venture capital round. I really don’t remember what venture capital we raised, or who from.
Our first round was only $1.2 million, and was mostly TA Associates, with a small amount by Alex Brown and someone else who I don’t remember.
We raised a second round, of around $5 million a year later (approx. 1981) from TA Associates, Early Stages, Alex Brown, General Atlantic, and ??? I think TA lead the round, and put in $2 or so of the round.
I don’t believe there was a third round, although, in 1983 we almost bankrupted, and there was a small round (approx. $2 million) which came in as debt, with an equity kicker. We turned the company around almost immediately, and wound up not needing the money. It was repaid within a few months of having been borrowed. The bad part was that we gave HUGE options to purchase additional shares as an incentive on the debt, and Roberta and I became enormously diluted as a result.
We raised $20 million in our IPO, which I think was in 1988. We then followed this with a secondary stock offering ($30 million) in 1991, and a convertible debt deal ($50 million) in 1993.
In approximately 1994, we did a small venture capital round (unusual for a public company) of approx. $5 million, with General Atlantic. This money was to form a joint venture between General Atlantic, AT&T and Sierra for The Sierra Network (TSN) – an online games network.
My recollection is that we had $50 million plus in cash at the time we were acquired.
I wish I could give you more detail – but, it has been a LONG time…
-Ken W(re: re: Problem viewing msgs) Lim:
I do use cookies … you shouldn’t have to sign in over and over again.
Hmmm… this definitely indicates that your browser is refusing my cookies (can you imagine the strange looks I would have gotten had I said that to a stranger 10 years ago?)
The question is why… what browser are you on? I’d have you email me offline, but there may be future people who have the same problem — with a little luck we’ll get you going, and help them too.
-Ken W
PS … I’ll be gone for 30 minutes .. have to make a Starbucks run (proof that I’m in Seattle now…)(re: Problem viewing msgs) Lim:
I’ve got an idea what the problem might be… Look at the URL (the address line in your browser). Does it have a parameter showing that says something like: sid=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx – this parameter gets added when the browser isn’t accepting cookies.
I’ve done some testing in a cookie-less environment – but, it sounds like I need to do more.
-Ken W
PS For now, you can solve the problem (assuming that this is the problem) by figuring out why your browser is refusing cookies.(re: Problem viewing msgs)
Oh btw, this website by far has one of the friendliest interface ever!! seriously, apart from the little bug i am facing, I would say kudos to ken! great work. Oh, and one more thing, can I suggest cookies in order to keep me log in whenever I am off so I don’t need to sign in everything?
(re: LSL Chat Area – Picture Header) Ken,
Sounds good. I am in my last few days of school and, procrastinating my last few things that need to be done, have done a bunch of cleanup on the site as well as started playing around with a lot of new ideas for the different areas of the site, primarily concerning the format of museum and chat areas and also starting to process the stuff I scanned from you.
In any event, I too am looking forward to the next months as time to get stuff done. I hope both Roberta and I are equally productive! Good luck as you prepare for the trip. And as we somewhat previously discussed, both Brad and I will be sure to take good care of things around here if you can’t be around as much due to your internet connectivity.(re: LSL Chat Area – Picture Header) Brandon:
There are LOTS of bugs in the editor. I have a major new release of the editor that should go live sometime in the next two weeks. It solves everything you mentioned. It’s on a beta server now if you want to play with it. Just let me know and I’ll send you the URL for the beta server and activate you on the server.
Sorry about the bugs – the editor is the only major piece of code in this product that I didn’t write. Unfortunately, the company whose editor I’m using (Siteobjects.com) promised a new release a year ago, and I’ve been waiting ever since. I finally made the decision to go with a competitor of theirs, which has meant weeks of rewriting a lot of code that surrounds the editor.
Oh well… that’s the sort of stuff that makes this a fun hobby. If there was nothing to complain about, what fun would I have?
-Ken W
PS Just to let everyone know… On May 8th, Roberta and I start on a cross-Atlantic voyage on our boat. We’ll be at sea for about two months, and may or may not have internet connectivity. My hope is that this system will run with or without me, and that only my occasional comments will be lacking. That said – it is not impossible that something major will break and the system will disappear for a few days, or even (gasp) a week or two. Should this occur, don’t worry. I’ll find land sooner or later, and fix whatever went wrong — and, hopefully have something interesting to say about the trip. Of most interest to this website: Roberta is taking boxes of books that she calls “research.” She is in the very early stages of game design, and sees the time at sea as a chance to get some serious work done. I’ll report back as I learn more about what she is thinking….(re: SpaceQuest I- My favorite of the Series)
E-mail me please, and I’ll mail you copies of the SQ Anthology version.
(re: Shadow of Darkness)
If the above-mentioned doesn’t work then, go to “http://www.happy-land.ca/sierra/”, and download “QFG4PatchedDOS.zip”. If your using the windows version, I recommend using the DOS version, it’s got better graphics.
(re: re: Current Inside Copy)
I believe it was Barry T. Smith (did the art for PQ4 amongst other things) who was the reporter and then various people at Sierra did the parts. It’s great, especially the auditioning for the “third guy from Andromeda”.
(re: re: Rights to Quest for Glory Series)
That board game was called Hero Quest. It was actually made into two games for the Amiga platform. I believe the first one was released around the same time as Hero’s Quest.
(re: is Vivendi universal == sierra) Sierra is definitely a subsidiary of VUGames …
My sense is that it really isn’t operated independently. I doubt there is a “President of Sierra” — I think Sierra has become nothing more that a brand name for some products marketed by VUGames.
-Ken Williams(re: Building a Sierra Computer) Roland MT-64 is also a good middle ground, but is very rare. Saw one only at RadioShack, and I bought it, about ten years ago.
DX4s are good, but I’ve encountered some bugs that the first Pentiums had. However, the bugs are Windows 95 related (from my testing) and shouldn’t affect any DOS programs.
Getting both Rolands is possible, as RadioShack has a splitter for MIDI keyboards, it ought to work with MIDI mods for old PCs. Once you hear Roland (espcially on Mortal Kombat), you don’t want to go back.
A SoundBlaster16 is nice for stereo sounds, but older SB cards do more clear speech. The reality for old Sierra games is I’ve never heard Stereo effects on any, so I’d use an older SB card. Some SB cards allow the Rolands to go through the joystick port, or even some joystick cards from the past (like Kraft’s) would fool the Rolands into working, but this’s just experimentation and ought to be done only at one’s own risk.
(re: Building a Sierra Computer)
this is a great setup, but i also recommend a roland mt-32 midi module and isa midi processor to get the good music out of the old games. but you need a soundblaster also for the speech in the later ones. also if your really into it, you could get a roland sc-55 midi module for the later midi games, i dont think there are quite as many as the mt-32. also the 486dx4 100mhz is really good. and i found it on ebay for 4 dollars. probably not much different than the 66 though.
(re: Building a Sierra Computer)
Error 52 has been conquered as well as several other Sierra timer bugs! go to http://geocities.com/belzorash/ for script level patches. These patches really do work.
(re: Building a Sierra Computer) What I recommend is this:
i486DX/66 MHz
64 MB RAM
Cirrus Logic SVGA/VESA card
SoundBlaster 16 ISA
2 2 GB internal HDs
DOS 2000 and Windows 3.1
CD-ROM/R/RW or whatever, as long as OS recognizes it.(re: Building a Sierra Computer)
I have a copy of DOS 2000 that can be “backed-up”, as well as other ODCP copies of DOS 3-7, but I can mail you the DOS 2000 disks.
(re: re: re: re: Sierra (Vivendi) to release Tribes/Tribes 2 for FREE)
Maybe on dvd rom, but yeah, they aren’t doing anything with them, might as well add Win XP compatability and make some easy money.
(re: re: re: Sierra (Vivendi) to release Tribes/Tribes 2 for FREE)
well, i think they should release all the classic games for free..at leasty put them all on a cd..they might all fit
(re: Building a Sierra Computer) hey there is a program called freedos it is found at
Link: http://www.freedos.org(http://www.freedos.org)I am have played several sierra games on it and appears to have full dos support including sound and video drivers support I would try that see if that helps
(re: re: About Mask of Enternity….)
Sorry for my terrible English
I never play KQ8 over 15 min . Though it’s not a bad game , but 3D style made me headache . With QFG5 , the 3D style is good and I can play to the end . Perhap KQ8 will be more better if it can be made in 3D style like QFG 5 , Resident Evil .
BTW , the later cartoon-style games of Sierra such as KQ8 , SQ6 are very excellent things . I always love adventure games ( though in this time I use walkthrough more than previous times :)))). They say Adventure is dead , but look at Syberia , Runaway , Black Mirror . If I remember right , adventure games has revived when Tierra out remake of KQ1 . Well , Sierra games create adventure genre and still Sierra games revive adventure genre .(re: Building a Sierra Computer)
Seeing as how Quest for Glory IV is my favorite game of all time, I considered this once as well. Error 52 is one tough nut to crack. I saw some 486s on E-Bay for as little as twenty bucks. In the end though, I found DOSBOX and just ran everything through that. To me it was much less of a hassle for the most part, but I can see how it might not have the same feel for the true enthusiast. If you’ve never tried it though, I highly recommend it. I’ve managed to get every sierra game I own to work through it, though some require some creative tweaking.
(re: re: Finally – Al Lowe won´t be involved in LSL – MGC)
I hate to say it but the last review I read certainly didn’t make it sound promising (there’s a link to the review on Al’s site)… I don’t want to make a decision based on one source so I’ll wait for more reviews, but I’m a little apprehensive. The problem I face is: If the game is bad, do I buy it simply to support the old Sierra titles? Would I really be supporting them if Al isn’t involved? Ah, who am I kidding… I’m a college kid. I’ll buy it just for the pervy jokes.
