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(re: KQ4 Rare Cover (supposedly the first cover of the game))
I don’t think this cover was ever released, just a comp of it appeared in one of the catalogs.
(You mean the one with Lolotte grabbing the necklace off Genesta, right?)
-emily
(re: re: Obtaining Phantasmagoria 1)
I found a game for 10.99 on ebay (buy it now) I should be getting it tomorrow, hopefully *crosses fingers*
(re: re: A very special thank you, which you`d be suprised to hear, Ken!) Hi,
As a fellow Israeli, I feel that I must comment on this subject.
First, let me begin by inviting you, Ken, to visit Israel with Roberta. I (and other Israeli SierraGamers) would love to show you around. We have quite a beautiful country – and it really is quite different than what you see on the news!
Second, I think that Oded’s story is absolutely amazing. I always knew that things in Sierra were run differently than in other companies (I remember that when I bought QFG4 (I was in Australia for a sabbatical with my parents then), it came without a manual. I went to the computer store and two weeks later I found in my mailbox the complete set of manuals. Another time I received in the mail a few diskettes with bug-fixes…) – but this is something I never would have expected. Absoultely wonderful.(re: Police Quest Collection ver 2)
I got one that was in a dark green box, and was called “SWAT Career Pack.” It came with 1-4, plus SWAT 1&2, plus a demo of Swat 3. Green discs with yellow lettering. I think it also had a trailer of Swat 2, an interactive questioneer for the person responsible of thinking of Police Quest, former police chief Daryl F. Gates. I also think that there was more, but Im a bit absent minded today.
(re: Vivendi Layoffs)
Im a bit worried. If they are laying off people, then that probably means financial trouble. Financial trouble will probably cause Vivendi to halt production on quite a bit of the games that are currently being worked on. They could cancel a few, and even though there are millions of larry fans all around the world, Vivendi probably doesn’t think that they will make a big income from the eighth Larry game. Now they just care about raking in as much money as they can instead of making people happy. Oh well, at least we had a shot at another larry. Hopefully if one of us fans can find a way to make a fan game involving everyone that was involved in making Sierra adventure games, then we would have another larry game. Even if larry 8 does get made, I have a strong feeling that it will be a platformer and not an adventure game. I saw a few screen shots, and it looks like one of those types of games. I hope that it is an adventure game that just looks like a platformer, and that it will even be made with at least Al Lowe in the captians chair. I am a little suspicious that Vivendi is trying to ruin larry, like they did with Batman. I’ll keep my hopes up though, and keep my fingers crossed.
(re: Space Quest Box Scan)
Na, doesn’t really look like the old star trek badges. That font slightly resembles that of an old game published by a defunctional company (won’t say who, dont want to be sued) called Buzz Aldrin Race for Space or something like that. Of course that companies games are no match for police quest 1-5 and the larry games. Speaking of space quest, time to find my cd copy.
(re: Freddy Pharkas Fanart)
I like it. Looks quite a bit like Freddy, The hair and costume are just about pefect. I agree that the face needs a once over, but all in all, its one of the best hand drawn fan art pics that I have seen in a while.
(re: Blue Force)
Im sorry. I dont know what it is but I always get you two mixed up. Sorry about that. It was probably Jims’ son too, sorry about that false information, won’t happen again.
(re: A very special thank you, which you`d be suprised to hear, Ken!) Wow! Thank you for making my day with your letter. I’ll show it to Roberta.
The sad thing is that this was 20 years ago, and things have gotten worse, not better, in Israel.
It’s a bit off the subject, but here’s some background you might enjoy:
Roberta (my wife) loves history, especially biblical history. We’re not religious – but, Roberta’s “hobby” is reading anything having to do with the history of religions.
We’ve done many trips to Israel and the middle east. A huge highlight in Roberta’s life was that recently (just before the recent violence) she was able to climb through one of the pyramids in Cairo. Don’t ask me which one – she’s the historian in the family, and I’m the computer geek. Roberta was amazing. She already knew every twist, turn and chamber.
On another trip we wound up traveling through Israel with Dr. Ruth. In the US, Dr. Ruth is known as a talk show host, who specializes in sex. But, in Israel, she was a national hero. Apparently during an earlier war (notice once again my ignorance of anything historic), Dr. Ruth was a war hero in Israel! Her reputation helped get us access everywhere. We were able to meet with the shakers and movers of the middle east, even people like Netanyahu and Arafat (who ditched us at the last moment because of a terroist attack).
In both Israel and Egypt, groups we were with would quickly discover that it was frequently better to ask Roberta questions than our tour guides.
We are deeply saddened by all the problems in the middle east, and keep hoping things will calm down during our lifetimes – which is unlikely. One of our favorite vacation destinations is Dubai, but I wouldn’t go there now. Roberta has already said that we are going to Iraq as soon as its safe to go.
-Ken W(re: re: Blue Force) Tsunami was a company formed by a bunch of ex-Sierra employees, lead by our former CFO (finance guy), Ed Heinbockel.
At the time, I was upset that Ed left Sierra and started a company to compete with Sierra, hiring away many Sierra developers. I remember that we threatened litigation, and may even have filed litigation.
I’m not sure what ever happened with Tsunami. I heard they left the games business and started doing custom interactive training software for large companies.
-Ken W(re: re: re: Help for my proseminar lecture) You are commenting on (or, replying to) the following message:
Thanks,
I posted the questionaire to Al Lowe and he pointed out
Mark Seibert as developer of Sierra’s sound system, so
I’ll annoy him too with my questions.I’ll paste the questionaire here and also read the forum
thru.– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Questionaire begins here
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –1. Name and (current/former) occupation ?
Ken Williams – Retired. Former CEO of Sierra On-Line
2. Game projects which you’ve taken part ?
(partial list will be okay){link}12583
3. Name 5-10 most important steps in evolution of
PC-game soundscape (technical or software related){link}17079
4. The best pc-game soundscape founds in ? (you may
point out several titles)What is a soundscape? Do you mean soundtrack? It has been a long time since I listened to the Sierra sound tracks, but there are some awesome ones.
5. Personal favourite games (PC / other platforms)
Phantasmagoria and Leisure-Suit Larry!
6. What creates immersion in game soundscape ? Most
common ways to blow out the immersion?I’m not a composer … I couldn’t begin to tell you. My best (but lame) laymans answer would be to say that the music must match the action.
8. How does the interactive music/sounds affect to
game immersion in different genres?There are many books written on scoring films. I haven’t read them. Sorry – this is an area best left to professionals, and I’m not one.
7. Importance/affects of game sounds in different
genres and how they have changed thru time?My career spans the whole computer evolution. When I started sounds were nothing more than a simple buzzer – and, today, there are essentially no limitations.
a) 1st person shooters (Doom, Quake etc.)
Sorry – I’ll pass on these questions. I’m not convinced there is any difference. The composer composes what the composer thinks is appropriate. That depends on the mood the designer is trying to create. It is scene based, not game genre based.
OK – I’ll add one more thought – sound effects are obviously a big deal. Our games had a separate group to do the “foley” work (the sound effects), from the composer. I’m not sure what I can add to this. The sound effect should add to the reality of the action.
Sorry … I feel really dumb answering this. To be honest, I am neither a composer nor a sound effects person. I hired the worlds greatest composers, and the top sound people – but, personally couldn’t begin to understand what they do.
b) Realtime/turnbased strategy games
(Command & Conquer, Warcraft etc.)c) Roleplaying games (Neverwinter Nights,
Pools of Radiance etc.)d) Race / Rally games (Death Rally,
Rally Trophy etc.)e) Platform jumpers (Rayman, Flashback etc.)
f) Fighting games (Street Fighter,
Mortal Kombat etc.)g) Simulators (Flight simulator etc.)
h) Space ‘simulators’ and shooters
(Descent, Freespace, Wing Commander etc.)i) Adventures (point’n click, icon based and
pure text adventures)j) other game genres ?
Thanks for you time and effort.
(re: re: Help for my proseminar lecture)
Thanks,
I posted the questionaire to Al Lowe and he pointed out
Mark Seibert as developer of Sierra’s sound system, so
I’ll annoy him too with my questions.I’ll paste the questionaire here and also read the forum
thru.– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Questionaire begins here
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –1. Name and (current/former) occupation ?
2. Game projects which you’ve taken part ?
(partial list will be okay)3. Name 5-10 most important steps in evolution of
PC-game soundscape (technical or software related)4. The best pc-game soundscape founds in ? (you may
point out several titles)5. Personal favourite games (PC / other platforms)
6. What creates immersion in game soundscape ? Most
common ways to blow out the immersion?8. How does the interactive music/sounds affect to
game immersion in different genres?7. Importance/affects of game sounds in different
genres and how they have changed thru time?a) 1st person shooters (Doom, Quake etc.)
b) Realtime/turnbased strategy games
(Command & Conquer, Warcraft etc.)c) Roleplaying games (Neverwinter Nights,
Pools of Radiance etc.)d) Race / Rally games (Death Rally,
Rally Trophy etc.)e) Platform jumpers (Rayman, Flashback etc.)
f) Fighting games (Street Fighter,
Mortal Kombat etc.)g) Simulators (Flight simulator etc.)
h) Space ‘simulators’ and shooters
(Descent, Freespace, Wing Commander etc.)i) Adventures (point’n click, icon based and
pure text adventures)j) other game genres ?
Thanks for you time and effort.
(re: re: Space Quest Box Scan)
I like that box cover. Mine is quite different (more like the SQ2 one with the patch-metal type letters). This box looks just like the title screen (my favourite title screen ever, actually).
(re: Blue Force) Not Ken but Jim ‘Police Quest’ Walls was the male at the Information desk in the jail. The Tsunami Game System was made by former Sierra employees.
(re: Space Quest Box Scan)
I just noticed this. The “A” in Space resembles the old Star Trek badges quite a bit. Maybe I am wrong, since its 11:00 pm where I hail from, so I might be seeing things. Have a nice day.
(PQ1 Sales Invoice)
Old! Thats cool man, nice item there. Its been a while since I saw something that authentic and intact from the 80s. You can barely make out the date, but the year is 88. Amazing that recipts looked like that in the 80s compaired to now. Nice pic there James.
(re: re: LSL movie)
I like the hair, and the nose, but (this is not an insult to race) having him as larry wouldn’t feel right because of his probable accent. Having him as the clerk in the department store would be nice if the movie would be based on Leisure Suit Larry 1. Rob Schnieder is a dead ringer, and has a good larryish voice, but Jim Carrey needs more comedic roles. I dont know, but at this point, I will go with Schnieder. He’s a perfect larry, and I like those stupid, silly comedies, even though ebert says they are pure crap. If anyone can talk Carrey into it, more power to them.
(re: Help for my proseminar lecture) Aki:
Post any questions you have here, and I’ll do my best to answer them.
You should read through the board first though, as 99% of your questions are probably already answered here.
Thank you,
Ken Williams(re: Shareware 3d Game Engine) I remember shareware catalogs too, those were fantastic. Ah, shareware and BBS’, those were the days… Sadly I could never afford the rest of the games as a kid, usually in trilogies, that came after the first game was a shareware one, nor could I convince my parents to buy them!
I remember programs to make Sierra-type games too, but don’t remember any of them now. But now, you can get Chris Jones’ Adventure Game Studio for the low, low price of FREE! And it’s better than sliced bread. Seriously, it’s an amazing program and better yet, Chris continues to develop it with feature requests from the huge community following.Link: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk(http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk)
(re: re: re: re: re: Hmmm .. I wonder why?) Eyal:
Thanks! I’ll add these all to my “to do list” – this is an area I’ve never had to deal with before. Up to now, I’ve not really felt the site was ready for lots of traffic, so I’ve tried to downplay things. After the next major upgrade to this site is released (another couple of weeks), I’ll shift my attention to this issue.
-Ken W(re: Conquests of the Longbow Manual )
Thanks for putting this up. I just started playing it again, and remembered the high dependency on the manual.
I have always thought Conquests of Longbow to be one of the most wonderful, charming, and beautiful games by Sierra.
Manish
(re: re: re: re: Hmmm .. I wonder why?) Ken – a few tips for that issue: first, add META tags. (in the part) Well actually, you should first fix the mess you’ve got there! you have 2 meta tags referring to “robots”, and you need to fix the “copyright” and “expires” meta tags. but primrily – fix the most important meta-tag – “keywords”. currently, it’s “association, club, fan”… you should swamp that meta tag with company names (“Sierra, Sierra On-Line, On-Line systems” …), games (“Quest for Glory, Hero’s quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry” …) keywords relating to the content of the website (“games,museum,tips,technical help,bugs,hints, TSN,INN”..) and miscellaneous words (“classic games, adventure games, SCI, AGI, Ken Williams, Roberta Williams, Al Lowe” … you get the point… Also, referring to the pages that cannot be accessed without registering, I recommend opening sections like “Sierra History”, “Computer History”, “Sierra Links” entirely! I suggest opening “Game Bugs/ Tech help”, which is a very active page, in order to attract more visitors to register, as well as optimizing the site for the search engines (that will find more information in the website and rate you higher)… lastly to register to every search-engine you can find; (use free-of-charge listing), eventually the website will surface very high in the search-engines’ databases without putting any money to them. -Eyal
(re: re: re: Hmmm .. I wonder why?) I hope so!
Currently, the search engines don’t really cover this site – because much of the site is hidden until you register. I’m not sure how to handle this, but know there is a solution. I’m currently swamped, so I’m not really focused on the search engine issue yet, but know it’s one I’ll have to focus on soon.
-Ken W(re: Setting up a 486 to play older (late 80’s -> early 90’s) Sierra games, and a question…) Josh,
There’s currently 3 LAPC-1’s on E-Bay (I’d love to have one myself). I’ve been watching the going rate on them for about a month…it looks like they typically are going for about $60-100. Supposedly 2 of the 3 currently listed are New Old Stock and are still in the original packaging.
HTH,
GeoffP
