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(re: re: re: re: Oakhurst Facility Rent) Dear Ken!
Thanks for your wise reply!
Indeed all your points are true, even if they do hurt the “nostalgic” side of my mindset. 🙂 I think it was Scott Murphy who said that for Sierra to return, they would have to move back to Oakhurst, because the enviroment there had alot to do with the creativity that made the games of that era. Indeed I never once considered Sierra to be just a building or place, just that those places and things and circumstances that were involved in what created the games I have loved all my life are in some way important to me. Just like you and Roberta. What would be of Sierra without you two?? Yes, maybe similar games may have come along, but it just wouldn’t have been the same.
I just wish things could continue where they left off, so to speak. The original creators, writers, artists that loved and gave birth to Space Quest, King’s Quest, etc. They gave us so much and it just seemed that the whole thing was “executed” and replaced with a mindless company with nothing but Half-Life on it’s mind(I love that game by the way)….
But I guess it is inevitable, just like William Shatner and Star Trek, at some point you just gotta say, “Hey, this guy just can’t do it anymore”
Forgive me Ken, I want nothing but for you do move on to new things, but I just feel like things came to an abrupt end. And I would like to see you and Roberta and everyone else from the old days have just one more go at it, just to see if it can be done. Comebacks are the greatest challenge and the rarest of deeds these days…
But to be honest, you creating and caring about this website and the history that Sierra made really does give it all closure! Many of us never dreamed of being able to talk to the founder of Sierra, it really means alot to those who were formed from those games…
Now I’m gonna go play with my old Sierra boxes!! 🙂
Thanks for your time and this site!
-Ryan(re: re: New Leisure Suit Larry website launched) The Space Quest site is certainly a great resource! Certainly the goal to aim for, but I know I’ve still got a long long way to go!
(re: re: re: Oakhurst Facility Rent) There has to be something we can do to get Sierra back Ken! 🙂
Sierra is/was not represented by a building. A building is just a place to go to work. To get Sierra back is really simple. All you need is a group of creative people doing creative things – with a very high focus on quality and innovation.
Here’s what I mean:
Sierra was special, because of our product development philosophy (and, our marketing strategy). Our philosophy is easy for anyone to replicate. You don’t need to buy buildings. If someone looks at the powerpoint presentation I did, and my interview, and then perhaps talks to me for a few minutes, you have everything that made Sierra what it was (both the good and the bad). I was famous inside the company for what I used to call “Kens Laws” .. I was boringly repetative. I made regular tours of each of the products in development, and almost everyone in every meeting knew what I was going to say before I said it. At times I used to say that anyone could have done the meetings, and just have pretended to be me – just as effectively.
I believe that sooner or later, some software entrepreneur will decide to follow the Sierra Formula. And, that this will be what rebuilds Sierra – even if it isn’t named Sierra, or even if Sierra nor I ever receive any acknowledgement that this was done.
Sierra was a “vision” for how to build and market product. It wasn’t a particular set of brands, or a particular set of developers. All anyone needs to do to rebuild Sierra is to read through this site (and, of course, have MILLIONS and MILLIONs of dollars to spend).
Actually, I’m not convinced that huge money really is needed. The internet as a means of distributing software is just emerging. There are new business models to be figured out. Also, the internet provides a forum for people with a common interest to come together. I bet any of us who wanted to put together a team of people, to build a game, who were willing to work for free, against a piece of the action, could do it in a week (assuming you have charisma and leadership skills). There are thousands of artists, programmers, sound guys, etc who want to build a game. All you need is a leader with a vision. I don’t do it, because I’ve “been there, done that” and want to do new things.
I could repeat here what I’ve said elsewhere about what I think a winning formula is, but that would be redundant. My only point is that people shouldn’t get hung up on trying to restart Sierra. (assuming Sierra needs restarted. For all I know, they may be doing a billion dollars in revenue this year. I really haven’t talked to them in years). To build a company that is the Sierra that people remember, all you need is an entrepreneur with a vision. I’m convinced that dozens of entrepreneurs (maybe thousands) will read this site – and, that one of those will “get it” for what made Sierra unique, and we’ll have a new Sierra (even though it might be called “Cascade software” or something.
-Ken W(re: re: Oakhurst Facility Rent) Hi Ken!
$16,000!!! Ouch!!! I didn’t realize the facility was that large! Maybe one day I will just buy the place, have you and other Sierra members come and set it up the way it used to be, and start a whole new game company!
We would probably be doing Oakhurst a favor anyways right?? The pictures of that old building conjure up many memories, I guess that one day I had hoped to be able to go there, but of course it doesn’t matter since it’s no longer Sierra held.
There has to be something we can do to get Sierra back Ken! 🙂
Thanks for writing and thanks again for this site! I visit it as much as eBay and AVSforum now!!! 🙂
Thanks,
Ryan(re: re: re: re: re: Little mistake in Sq6) Oops! You’re right! I looked at the intro again and then I even remembered wondering about the “safe return of the SCS Eureka” when I first saw it. I thought that maybe there was an alternative ending or something and just accepted it – Hey! It was Space Quest! It had to be right! ;o)
Of course that’s not the only plot inconsistency. But does it really matter? I’ve loved all of these games (including SQ0 and SQTLC) and I’m really hoping that the sq7.org team will stick with their project and continue the saga. They say there will even be an optional parser in the game – is that cool or what?(re: re: re: re: Dryad musical theme in HQ1) Hall of the mountain king… Isn’t that a song by The Who?
(re: re: re: Dryad musical theme in HQ1) Both Anitra’s Dance and Hall of the Mountain King are from the play Peer Gynt by Ibsen. Anitra was the troll princess that danced for Peer and seduced him in the beginning of his journey.
(re: Solution to old copyrights) Revolution Studios gave the Scummvm team the assembly source code for their old game Beneath a Steel Sky. They also made the game freeware!
This means that you can now get the game for free from
Link: http://www.scummvm.org/(http://www.scummvm.org/)
and you can also play it in Windows with Scummvm.(re: re: re: Sierra video promos) I just got through digitizing my 89-90 Sierra Catalog VHS, and am set up to digitize more, as well as convert to a DVD compilation . I have a fairly decent MPEG, it is weighing in around 80MEGS for 14mins worth of vintage Sierra. Ken – can I upload this to you for the gang to d/l?
-Brad(re: re: Sierra video promos)
Ken, so what do you think about having someone digitize those video’s for you?
(re: re: Ken Williams Q&A) How come the share holders sold seirra? Have you or Roberta thought about working at sierra to creat a new game?
Sierra was a public company. We weren’t for sale, but were surprised by an offer to acquire us for approximately 90% over the price we were trading at. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but I think we were trading for around $25 per share, and were offered $48 per share.
As CEO, I had a “fiscal duty” to shareholders to take the deal.
At the time, I thought that it was a win-win for both shareholders and Sierra. The company that acquired Sierra also acquired Blizzard, and had plans to do other acquisitions. The goal was to create a major entertainment company, with even better distribution for Sierra products.
Unfortunately, the company that acquired Sierra turned out to have falsified its financials, and several members of its management team are facing very possible jail time. The Sierra acquisition turned out to be a total disaster, both for shareholders (and option holders) and for employees – most of which lost their jobs.
Roberta and I have thought about working at Sierra to do another game, but aren’t sure we would want to – and, its not clear they would want us.
-Ken W(re: New Leisure Suit Larry website launched)
I think it’s a great looking site already. Very professional, very easy to navigate, content-whise it looks promising. An excellent start, and I hope you continue to work hard on it. It could be for LSL what SpaceQuest.net is for SQ.
(re: QG4 bugs)
I have played this game in all but the Magician and it went fine. I am now trying to play it as an Magician. I get to the Castle and to Tanya but she will not go with me and I cannot get anything about the staf to come on. Can anyone give a clue?
(Daily Digest Works) Ken, I got it – except I got it twice! Also the links in the messages didn’t work properly, but I guess that’s the same problem you were having before. Otherwhise, it’s really great, and having the messages included in the email is also perfect. Two thumbs up!
(re: Building Old Computers For Sierra Gaming)
My company was throwing out a bunch of old equipment recently, and I brought home an old workstation. It has a 166MHz Pentium processor, so it’s a little newer than yours, but so far I’ve been able to play all my Sierra oldies with it. It’s great because I never hesitate anymore before buying an old DOS game.
The machine was originally running NT, so I reformatted and installed Win98, and I had to add a sound card. (I learned a lot that week!)
I use the same monitor I use with my regular computer, and it works fine. I’m going to get a switchbox so it’s easier to swap the monitor between the two machines.
-emily
(re: No Promises) thankyou, ken. that’s very much appreciated. for a while, i lived on this site with the notification turned on, and it got a wee bit insane – a digest-format version of the same thing is a *very* good idea and very welcome.
*bow*(re: re: QG4 bugs) that Win2k & XP patch is for QfG 5 not 4 !…
anyway it can be found as well on
Link: http://www.geocities.com/qfgs(http://www.geocities.com/qfgs) (re: re: re: re: Little mistake in Sq6)
No No, I have to restart the game because my saves were erased. At the intro they say “However, we commend you for the safe return of the SCS Eureka”…..but the Eureka exploded into tiny bits. The Goliath was the one that was safely returned…yet they are thanking you for returning the ship that you already destroyed.
(re: re: Space Quest 4 CD) Bob: Much too difficult doesn’t quite suit it, it’s impossible! But it worked at the time, so it was alright. Who might have guessed that the game would be such a big hit that some freaks still want to play it YEARS later? ;o)
That’s why Sierra provided these nice savegames to get past it. And they’re still available from their public ftp server! I just found out that although there is no related information in their knowledge base anymore, these files are still accessible:Link: ftp://ftp.sierra.com/pub/goodies/pc/sq4sg.exe(ftp://ftp.sierra.com/pub/goodies/pc/sq4sg.exe)
Chances are this doesn’t work on every system, but whoever wants to play the CD version again should be able to using the savegames contained therein.
(re: re: re: Little mistake in Sq6) Paul, what game are you referring to? In Space Quest 6 the whole back-to-janitor-story is in the intro, nothing to play there. In SQ5 it’s rather clear – destroy the Eureka to save the Goliath. Couldn’t it be that Roger was decommisioned for *NOT* returning the Eureka safely?
Gotta look at that again, at least the intro still runs!(re: re: Little mistake in Sq6) The Eureka was definitely an issue, but I think they blamed him for its destruction (which is correct yet silly since the evil Cpt. Quirk i.e. the monster he had become wouln’t have been defeated hadn’t it been for Roger activating the Eureka’s self-destruction sequence.)
This is btw one more game I can’t play no more because of incompatibility with new hardware. There is one point where it crashes (right after DNA analysis) and there used to be a savegame to get past this point – which didn’t work for me… :o( It was one of my favorites and the only reason I bought a CD-ROM drive back then (Which were already a standard, but I’d always been a bit behind with the hardware)! I preordered this one, waited for ages and when I finally called the mail-order company they told me they were waiting for it to be translated to German! I thought I’d drop dead! I had my copy in no time then, after telling them that English would be OK. :o)
A fine game really. I once read a review on JA dubbing it the worst Space Quest yet but I think it was one of the best. Oops! TMI. I always get carried away when it’s about Space Quest… ;o)(re: re: re: Urgent QfG News!)
I joined and replied….I’m going to see if I can get others to as well! A QFG novel would be great!
(re: re: Urgent QfG News!) I’ve posted a long and detailed explanation, and I hope that it inspires the publisher and other people.
-Vesko(re: Urgent QfG News!) Wow! This is really cool. I sent my contribution and immediately got a personal thank you email from her! I really hope this deal comes through! Those books would be soo cool!
Apparently, this means that the rights to QFG doesn’t belong to Sierra anymore. Or do they?(re: re: re: re: Creators of Manhunter?) very sad news to hear of barrys passing :(, and the manhunter games really were very twisted and dark. was always hoping for a 3rd after finding the poster on the side of the tram in the 2nd one, which maybe hinted of a 3rd (london or paris) its been a while since ive played through them both (at least 10 years) might just have to dig them out again 🙂
always thought it would make a cool movie too..
