Forum Replies Created
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(re: re: Animation Tools for Kings Quest VII?)
I’m sorry, i have some problems to say some things right, because my english is so bad… Yeah i know all that about the different animation houses, wich animated kq7. another question: are the desgn sketches which were included in the roberta williams anthology of kq7 drawn by Marc Hudgins himself? And does this Kronos Software still exists?
(re: Iceman missed the boat)
This game would have been cool if it werent for annoyingly hard “battle” sequences and a game of Boss Dice you had to play in which you cold only restore 3 times or have to start over.
I mean seriously, a game of chance and unlike, say, the slot machine in Space Quest 1, you couldn’t use saving and restoring to help. Very annoying.
(re: re: Shadow of Darkness)
YES! Stupid swamp. It’s so good with the internet all the problems seem so easy to fix. Back then it seemed like there was nothing I could do.
(re: Animation Tools for Kings Quest VII?) I believe you mean KQ7 Ken, you must have just missed the key on the keyboard 🙂 Yes, the KQ7 opening / closing were pencil sketch animation, as with the whole game. At this time Sierra started contracting animation houses to do different chapters / sections of the game, and you can see them listed in the game documentation.
Also you mentioned AGI Studio. That is not Sierra’s propriety software. That is a fan-made creation to interpret AGI games. Still, I guess that’s the closest thing to “in-house” software that you’re going to get. Sierra would never release their development tools, even if they’re 20 years old (a shame).
Now, the KQ6 opening was done by Kronos, and as I mentioned before, I would do (almost) anything to see the original video render of that sequence before it was made low-resolution for the game (assuming that such an original was even made and still exists). I don’t suppose you found a copy of that in your videos Ken? 😉(re: Problems with KQ V —-> Dark Forest)
Well since leaving the forest has nothing to do with the spiders, I guess you don’t know how to solve the puzzle!
(re: re: re: Monsters of Doom)
d’oh – that’s why when I asked him about Sierra, he responded “Yes – a good portion of the book is about the Ultima games.”
I had no idea what he was talking about… I think I just smiled and nodded.
I learned something today! Guess now I’ll have to read it.
🙂 emily
(re: re: Monsters of Doom)
You pretty much hit the nail on that one. The two Johns were definitely out there. Still a good read though. BTW the title is Masters of Doom. I got it confused. There is a quick section on a meeting you had with them, that pretty much relayed the same sentiments you just brought up.
ps. do you ever hire Al Lowe for parties and Bar Mitzvahs?
(re: re: Monsters of Doom) Not many people remember this – but, Sierra was the original publisher of Ultima. I remember teaching Richard Garriot to program!
I will read it just to see what happened to Richard. He was one of the greatest people I ever met. Is he still doing games?
-Ken W
PS I’ve got several books already in the queue – if anyone reads it, let me know what it says about Sierra/me.(re: Monsters of Doom)
This reminds me, have you read Dungeons and Dreamers? It’s co-written by John Borland (sorry, not sure of the other author’s name). John was in a fiction class with me earlier this year. He said that there is some talk about Sierra, but it didn’t seem to be the focus. He said it’s mostly about the creation of the Ultima games.
I haven’t read it, but might at some point. Strangely enough it turned up on my Amazon recommendations last week… I was like, hey, I know that guy!
Anyway, just curious… it must be weird to turn up in other people’s books!
🙂 emily
(re: You two are the reason that I wanted to get into the industry)
> However good the mature audience test was before you got to play the game
I loved that test! it was like a puzzle you had to solve before you could get into the game. I think I was 9… and I got into the game…
LSL also taught me what a prophelactic was. 🙂
The KQ4 soundtrack may be available at http://www.queststudios.com
-emily
(RE: You two are the reason that I wanted to get into the industry) Message Kalani Bright:
I loved your email, and have printed it to show to Roberta. Good luck with your career. I visited Digipen many times, and really like what they do. At one time our son Chris was signed up to go there, but then decided he wanted to go to school in Tokyo instead.
-Ken W
(re: Monsters of Doom) I have it sitting next to my bed at home in Seattle – it’s next up on the list to read. They were bright guys .. but I was never completely comfortable with the violence in the games. Also, when I met them, it wasn’t clear there was a company to be bought — they were somewhat disorganized at the time.
-Ken W(RE: You fell off KENNY BOY!! YOU FELL OFF!!!) Well dammit, before I was just pissed off at you for being greedy, now this is ridiculous…. I used to be so fond of you…. I thought you were the one guy with money who actually knew how to run a game company and who actually cared about the gamer…. There must be something you can do, you should get the team back together…. I think there still is an audience for the same type of games you were making…. As soon as you made KQV, ALL WAS LOST…. I knew from that point on it was only a matter of time before the quality of the games was lost to the quality of the graphics and everything else that did not matter…. The SCI hybrid engine that made QFG 2 was perfect, all you needed was a little better graphics…. Have you heard of Tierra? They made King’s Quest I and II vga remakes that are breath taking… Also they are making a QFG 2 vga remake that looks stunning… thanks for the reply… Also i think you did a very poor job with the sierra remakes, qfg-1 was the only one that added anything, kq1 and pq1 remakes were horrible, never played the sq1 remake…….. but boy did i love sq3… i think someone is making a good remake…… Also, how did you start these games? I contacted jim walls and he said you just found him one day and offered him the job… police quest…
Tony
(Grin) … Tony: I agree with you that Tierra is doing great work. Hopefully the new owners of Sierra won’t shut them down. As to me personally – I have no idea what the future holds. I did games for nearly 20 years. In some ways, I was burnt out on it. If I had a really awesome idea for a game, or if Roberta had a serious urge to do a game, we might consider it – but, that’s not reality. For right now, I like being able to travel and play golf – and, write code several hours per day.
-Ken W
Yeah, that was a stumper. I must admit I could only “solve” it by using old DOS debug.exe and looking directly into the program data. (This was on the original self-booting 5.25″ floppy disk version :))
(RE: You fell off KENNY BOY!! YOU FELL OFF!!!) As an avid fan in my 30s today, I agree that the quality and values of the “Old School” Sierra enterprise was outstanding. The company today (IMHO) is Sierra in name only. The sale and downfall, the job loss and loss of creative talent – an absolute shame.
But instead of criticizing Ken, I’ll instead extend my appreciation for the products and memories that you created. I am and will continue to be a fan of the true Sierra. And of Ken and Roberta. Great stories, great games.
And Tony – I’d forgotten how great those Sierra Catalogues used to be…and how excited I’d be not just to have purchased the latest Quest game, but to also have the latest listing of new products….thanks for the memory!!
Thank you!!!!
I’ve been reading through some of the old InterAction magazines. They really made me miss “the old days”.
-Ken W
(re: re: re: re: Animation Tools for Kings Quest VII?)
The openings/closings were done different ways in different games. My recollection of KQ6 was that the entire thing was animated using pencil sketch animation. LOTS of work.
(re: re: re: Animation Tools for Kings Quest VII?)
Is the intro and end sequence avi also done with this animation sequencer from sierra? Pity, that the program’s nowhere to download like the agi studio… i’m very interested in such “In-House” software…
Thanks!
(re: Goldrush lives again)
Goldrush! was my first Sierra game. The MacNeil brothers were the creators of it and from what I can tell they never made another game. Although in my opinion it was the best Sierra game ever released. The puzzles were down right amazing, the story was lightyears ahead of everything else. That game is a true classic often overlooked because it was “educational”.
I just called the number and got a voice message from someone named MacNeil and was told to leave my name and number if I wanted to order Goldrush! so I did. Will update when I hear back. I would kill someone in a most viscious manner for that boxed set.
(re: re: re: re: Site Design)
why not give the user the option to view the responses how they want to? (i.e., let the user select between “View newest message first” and “View oldest message first”)
-emily
(RE: You fell off KENNY BOY!! YOU FELL OFF!!!) Message As an avid fan in my 30s today, I agree that the quality and values of the “Old School” Sierra enterprise was outstanding. The company today (IMHO) is Sierra in name only. The sale and downfall, the job loss and loss of creative talent – an absolute shame.
But instead of criticizing Ken, I’ll instead extend my appreciation for the products and memories that you created. I am and will continue to be a fan of the true Sierra. And of Ken and Roberta. Great stories, great games.
And Tony – I’d forgotten how great those Sierra Catalogues used to be…and how excited I’d be not just to have purchased the latest Quest game, but to also have the latest listing of new products….thanks for the memory!!
Cheers
Kevin Byrnes
Ontario, Canada (eh)(RE: You fell off KENNY BOY!! YOU FELL OFF!!!) I did suspect what would happen, but convinced myself it wouldn’t. Generally when a large company buys a small company, the result is a disaster. But, I thought our acquisition would be an exception to the rule.
The company was purchased by one of our board members; Walter Forbes, of a company called CUC. I had known him for years, and had great respect for him. We were assured that I would be left in charge of everything product related, and none of the things that made Sierra special would be changed. I would not have sold the company, regardless of price, had I known, or had even the vaguest indication, of what would occur.
As it turned out, the Walter Forbes I knew may not have been the person I thought he was. His company, CUC, was fabricating hundreds of millions of dollars in fake profit. Promises made at the time of acquisition were not kept. Civil and Criminal litigation continues to this day. Mr. Forbes may someday soon experience real time in jail, along with other members of his senior management.
I was not the only one fooled by CUC. Investors across the country lost BILLIONs (seriously) through believing in Mr. Forbes and his company.
As to your question about making a new home for Sierra’s employees: I was locked out of the game business for five years. That time has expired, and I have thought from time to time about going back into the business. We may do so someday – but, I doubt it. I contacted Sierra a couple of years ago, to see if I could help them out, but they weren’t interested.
-Ken W
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From: Tony Loomin [mailto:phemail@cox.net]
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2003 7:42 AM
To:kenw@seanet.com
Subject: Re: You fell off KENNY BOY!! YOU FELL OFF!!!No, Mr. Williams, I do realize you sold it…. Did you not know what would happen? Come on… Market trends, cost effeciency… you know how the big companies work… How come you didn’t take that money and make a new home for sierra employees? what do u do now?
Tony
(re: re: re: Site Design) I need all the help I can get!
Here’s one topic people can give me feedback on: Currently, I display the messages on the message board from the newest message, to the oldest message.
Specifically, I display the message that started the discussion, then the newest response, then all the other responses in newest to oldest sequence.
This is backwards. Should I go ahead and display them in oldest to newest sequence?
All comments on anything about this site appreciated I always hate hearing them, but that’s what makes things better. And, I’d rather move forward than worry about my feelings.
The big project that is coming up, which I will be asking people here for help with, is to help me with the interface for building websites using the software running this site.
Behind the scenes, this website is running on software I built which is intended to allow anyone to build a website. My goal was to make small businesses, non-profits, individuals in large corporations and regular people, self-sufficient in building their own websites.
I’m a good programmer, but a horrible software designer. Roberta, and our sons, have all the software design skill. Roberta keeps saying she’ll review the product when I am ready, but I keep stalling it. She’s tough to please – and, I know I need to improve it a lot before showing it to her.
In a few weeks, or a month, I hope to have the software in decent shape. At that time I’ll beg as many people as I can here to try building a site with it, and give me their feedback. I’ll then read it, get defensive, feel bad for a while, and most importantly, start making changes. THEN, I’ll be ready for the Roberta-test – and, ultimately, for real paying customers.
-Ken W(re: Coarsegold, Cali) What ever happend to that small log house in coarsegold California? The trademark of Sierra. Still own it?
The original home of Sierra was our house, on Mudge Ranch Road, in Coarsegold Calif. It’s where the hot tub was located that was featured on one of our boxes, and which featured in Steven Levy’s book Hackers.
In about 1982, Roberta and I were at a computer festival in San Francisco, at dinner with Steve Wozniak (founder of Apple) when I got a call that our home had burned down. Our kids, and the babysitter, made it out of the house fine, but, the house had burned to the ground. The four hour drive back to Coarsegold that night seemed MUCH longer. We kept calling the kids every few minutes just to reassure ourselves that they really were ok.
We rebuilt the house, but only lived there another year or so. After the rebuild, it was a much more normal house. It was impossible to give it the same charm as the original. The house was sold to my brother John who lived there for several years.
-Ken W
PS It was on this trip to San Francisco that we first met Al Lowe, who became a major part of Sierra and of our personal life for decades to come.
