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(re: Space Quest Movie?) I remember seeing Galaxy Quest, and Deuce Bigolow, on the same day – and, thinking that they MUST have been inspired by Space Quest and Leisure-Suit Larry.
-Ken W(re: Space Quest Movie?) Well, Mark Crowe had said in one interview that there already is a Space-Quest movie, and it’s called “Galaxy Quest”! He was kidding, of course. Here’s the URL:
Link: http://wiw.org/~jess/markcrowe.html(http://wiw.org/~jess/markcrowe.html)
Personally, whenever I watch “Futurama” I find myself thinking “This is so Space-Quest!”
(re: re: You have given the world so much) I remember writing that .. and, remember seeing a picture of me wearing 3d goggles .. but, don’t remember what I said. Was I for them or against them?
-Ken W(re: Comments on Sierra products list)
There was Hunter Hunted and CyberGladiators. Hunter Hunted was released in late ’96 and CyberGaldiators never released, as I know. I found CG demo on the Hunter Hunted CD.
(re: How do I break into the business?)
Jake, if you’re interested in FPS games (or simular) id software GIVES away their old game engines FOR FREE. Just goto their FTP site: http://ftp.idsoftware.com. People have modified their engines in lots of engenous ways (infact, quake 1 not looks as good as quake 3!). The catch is you need to give away your source code with your game, but you can also pay a 1 time fee to aleavite that.
(re: Sierra and Half-Life 2)
I saw the video on Fileplanet (the smaller one, i’m not a subscriber) and I was quite disapointed by it. I thought “This is IT? It took them 5-6 years and all they’ve come up with is this?”
Then I looked at doom 3 and thought “It took them 3 years to make this from scratch. HL2 better have a great storyline.”
Half_Life used to be my favorite FPS game until I got CnC Renegade.
(re: Ken Williams – after Sierra, Meditation?) Dear Ken,
You say:
‘If we did it exactly perfectly, the goal would be to do something that no one has done before. I’m into innovation, not just doing the “same thing over again with a new plot”‘
The point here is indeed to do something no one has done before — but something that has even more meaning and relevance than your previous games. Only then is innovation good, only then technology would assist spiritual development — I’m sure you know what I mean.
Indeed — take a few years off, enjoy yourselves, clear your heads, look within yourselves — and I’m sure you’ll be ready for new, far greater adventures. Roberta could write a book based on your new discoveries, and then you could turn the book into a game — how about that? A good game has a good plot. A game based on a good book would be an outstanding game.
May I suggest practicing meditation as a starter? It has been a life-saver for me, and a real mind and eye opener. By meditation I mean clearing one’s mind and listening to the silence between thoughts. For 1-2 hours a day. Many people confuse various forms of concentration for meditation i.e. some complex visualisation, etc., but believe me, if you take on simple, real meditation as a starter, it would greatly help your creativity and physical condition, too!
Feel free to ask me questions at
Link:vpeev@ewa-bg.com (mailto:vpeev@ewa-bg.com)Warmest regards,
Vesselin Peev (Vesko)(re: re: General Conversation about Sierra & Personal invitation) I agree. I was 10 years old in 1989 too and the times were very uneasy for most people. I am from Bulgaria, Eastern Europe, and we were under totalitarian rule back then, and late the same year it broke; the oppressive regime fell. In the interim and after the events, the world of Sierra games made me look at life from a completely different, non-materialistic perspective. It made me learn new things and expand my imagination in positive ways. The Sierra games have played a big part in making me less materialistic and more focused at mental and spiritual development. Today, in the year 2003, my career as a programmer and a designer is taking off (currently I’m working in the Information Security field), and I could very well do some educational games in the future — expanding and improving on the spirit of Sierra games. We’ll see…
I am very much aware that the old Sierra games mean different things to different people, but there was certain intelligence in them, certain positiveness, certain purposefulness and mindfulness that is totally absent from today’s games — not to mention FPS. Perhaps these positive qualities were dictated by the fact that only more-intelligent-than-average people had access to computers at the time, so Sierra had no choice but to cater to them — the masses that use computers nowadays were nonexistent at the time. Or were the games what they were because people like Ken and Roberta Williams consciously put intelligence, mindfulness and purpose in them? Did Ken and Roberta have a conscious realization that the games were not simply products to be sold, but more or less had to be works of art not only in terms of visual appearance, but in terms of plot and meaning? I very much wish to hear Ken’s response on that, and I hope that the latter is true.
It is when a company goes beyond the mere “maximization of profit” and draws a high baseline for the quality of their products, endowing these products with meaning and relevance to universal human values, that such a company would be revered by its customers in the long term, and subsequently, would have profit in the long term. There are so many companies nowadays that cater to the base instincts of the masses, simply because only then they would maximize profit.
The buzzword of “multimedia” took real content out of games, and today’s best-selling games are nothing but empty shells, devoid of deeper meaning and limiting the creative horizons before the present generation.
Ken, Roberta — thank you for inspiring me to look beyond the obvious and seek deeper meaning in life. As part of my profession and spare time, I am programming, painting, composing music, writing. I keep an open mind and have been practicing meditation, concentration and yoga. All the activities I mention were in part inspired by YOU — of course not only you — but YOU, the old Sierra guys, in a large part.
Thank you, and be seeing you!
-Vesselin Peev (Vesko)
P.S.
I am NOT considering myself a Sierra fan, since a fan means a fanatic. A fanatic is someone who is mindlessly worshipping someone or something, and I don’t think anything should be worshipped — including God. I am just a person whose rational thought and imagination were inspired by your Sierra, Ken. I am a FRIEND of the old Sierra, the Sierra of Ken and Roberta.
P.P.S.
Ken, please respond! I would also like to extend an invitation to you and Roberta that if you ever come to Bulgaria, you would be my guests. This summer, I’ll be having professional training in Washington (the Pentagon) and Ottawa, and, just in case, if you are around, I’d like to meet you personally.(re: I changed how messages get posted) Here’s another good piece of forum software:
Link: http://www.phpbb.com(http://www.phpbb.com)
And it’s free, and very easy..(re: Ken Williams – after Sierra) Dear Ken,
Ah your last comments reek of hope!!!
I feel what you are saying about not doing the same thing all over again. I think you could make a new King’s Quest and at the same time redifine gaming again.
Like King’s Quest V. I had grown with the Sierra games, and technology, and nothing hit me as hard as KQV. The speech, graphics, story, music, the whole presentation was to me shockingly awesome. Wow, the first game I think I ever owned on CD.
I think you could even have King Graham in it again, and still be more innovative than any other company around. Look at Squaresoft and the Final Fantasy series. Every game has the same basic elements of gameplay, and yet the games are innovative almost every new chapter. The technological leap from Final Fantasy 6 (SNES) to Final Fantasy 7 (PS2) was insane!!! But nowdays a King’s Quest on say X-Box might not be as strange as it was to put KQV on the old Nintendo.
Hey maybe you could talk Mr. Gates into getting Sierra back for you and Roberta!!! Then just promise to give all publishing or manufacturing to Microsoft!! You and Roberta could develop the “Ressurecting” King’s Quest for PC and X-Box exclusivley.
The adverts : “The Rebirth of Adventure Gaming”
But I will stop badgering you Ken, it sounds like you would love to do something along those lines, and that will help me have sweet Sierra dreams again.
Even if that never happens, I plan on going back through every Sierra game ON THE BIG SCREEN!!! I plan on having a 11ft wide theater screen and digital projector, and man that will give new life to those old games!!!
I do think “Adventure” gaming is in need of deep change, and that can only be found at it’s roots. Who better than you and Roberta!! What better game to bring it all around than KQ???
Thanks for reading!
I’ll stop harrasing you now!!! 🙂
-King Rygar(re: Ken Williams – after Sierra) It’s very interesting that you mention writing a book or going to film school. As I think about story-telling, I try to think of the best ways to tell that story – and I think of two perfect genres. One is the computer game. It combines images and text and sound, and it has interactivity. My other favorite genre is a good graphic novel – a comic book. It is a real book, which is nice because it doesn’t rely on technology to exist, and it is a wonderful combination of images and words.
That is why I was so excited with the Space Quest comic books, especially that brilliant artist John Shaw.(Just do it!) “Whereas if I could find something that Roberta could design, and I could program – we’d definitely do something.”
To quote Nike… Just Do It! Screw the flashy graphics, they just get in the way of the story anyways…. IMHO, the best Sierra games were the ones with simple graphics and great stories / solid gameplay, the Police Quest 2, Space Quest 3, King’s Quest 4 era of games… I enjoyed each of them alot more than their final incarnations. Better yet, give us a game with King’s quest 6 era Graphics (sorry, you guys never pulled off the KQ7 Cartoony-look like LucasArts has done so well) and give us a good story…
No freakin’ actors, no musicals between puzzles, just GOOD STORIES.
I’d really be interested in knowing, in this age of pentium 4’s and Voodoo Videocards, how many old Space Questers, if they just now discovered and picked up a copy of the unofficial SQ2 1/2, would play it start to finish, text input, ega graphics and all.
Now think if that the game had SQ4’s graphics?
That’s gotta at least turn a profit.(re: Love for Police Quest) Yea, the Police Quest games were great when Jim Walls was doing them. I snagged another Walls game about policework… I think it was called “Blue Force” by Tsunami <sp> or something.
Long time fan, just came out of a 5-year College induced Coma to find out that Sierra (along with most other fond memories from my youth) has been decimated. I knew it was coming every since the Company was sold– still I can’t believe there are so many other people out there with such a fond memory of the “Old Sierra.” Makes you wonder why anyone would risk changing perfection, eh? It’d be nice if one of us had enough extra loot taking up space to buy the company back and save a part of Computer Gaming History.
My Thesis Paper, “The Collapse of Sierra: or how to destroy a Computer Gaming Dynasty in 3 easy steps,” will be posted shortly.
After I go play some golf.(re: Ken Williams – after Sierra) Everyone:
I am convinced that Roberta and I will do something again, sooner or later. I can’t tell you what, or when – but, I am absolutely, positively, with no reservations, convinced that I’m almost certain that we might, someday, maybe, possibly, do something, I think. However, I’m not sure what it will be, or when it will be.
Sorry — that comment was meant somewhat in jest — but, it more accurately summarizes the situation than anything else I might say.
Here’s the exact status: we would love to do something. Both Roberta and I are eager to do something, and have tons of ideas. Unfortunately, we also like retirement. We spent 20 years of our lives doing games. To be honest, it doesn’t matter what one does – 20 years is a long time to do it. Try to imagine your favorite meal, and then imagine eating it for 20 years straight. I love Disneyland, but if someone invited me to live there for 20 years – I might not take them up on it.
To be fair: there ARE some things for which 20 years isn’t that long a time. For instance, we’ve been married THIRTY years, and we’re really just getting started – so I don’t mean to imply that there aren’t some things that last forever. Certainly our love of making games hasn’t diminished, but the desire to “sit still” for the 2-3 years it takes to ship a hit product has. Perhaps after a couple more years of retirement we’ll be ready to “drop back in”. I don’t know. Lately, we’ve talked a lot about going to film school, or, Roberta writing a book. It would be nice to find some new way to express our creativity. Both Roberta and I would like to find something that combines all that is good about creating games, with doing something that we haven’t done before. If we did it exactly perfectly, the goal would be to do something that no one has done before. I’m into innovation, not just doing the “same thing over again with a new plot”.
I apologize for not being able to give you a straight answer. The bottom line is that we haven’t the vaguest idea what the future holds. On a different, but somewhat related, topic: I just read an article today about the Rolling Stones going on tour. Mick Jagger is much older than my dad! I doubt he needs the money. So, why is he still working? It bothers me that Roberta and I don’t have the same willingness (as Mr. Jagger (or, even Mr. Gates!)) to still be working hard after all these years. My guess (and it’s only a guess) is that at some point in Mr. Jagger’s career, he took some time off to clear his head. That might be what we’re doing now, and in a few years we’ll be hard at work making games. Perhaps, no one (except those of you who visit this website) will remember that we slacked off for a bit. Or, better yet (and, this is my preference), we’ll be doing something new that you haven’t seen before – and, that shifts entertainment some cool new direction.
Does that answer your question?
-Ken W(re: Ken Williams – after Sierra) Dear Ken Williams,
I’ve been playing Sierra games since childhood I beat Space Quest 1 on my mother’s Knee and own all the King’s quest up to 6 and all the Space Quest up to 6. Please get a Unnofficial team toghether and Rebirth Sierra!(re: Ken Williams – after Sierra) Ken,
First off, thank you for doing this site! This is the most exciting thing for me as a Veteran Sierra fan in a while, and it’s all because it has your signature on it!
I became hooked on Sierra products when I was 4, my big brother got an IBM PCjr with 128k RAM, and King’s Quest 1 (in the old grey IBM box) We played Black Cauldron as well in the dark, and thanks to your games I learned to type in the dark by 5! I do play Counterstrike but really, I was very sad when it was obvious you and Roberta departed, the Sierra logo even changed and I wept 🙂 !! I always look at the old Sierra catalogs and look at the Oakhurst building and dream of buying that place and calling everyone back there to continue the games, and I’d sign the company over to you!!! But until then, Thanks for the games, and the wonderful memories!
Have you ever considered using a new name other than Sierra and getting the rights back to the series themselves??? Hey you could use On-Line Systems again !!!! : ) How would we make Sierra a non-public company again????? Ahhhh dreams I suppose !!
I hope one day you and Roberta get back into games, I’ll be right there ready to buy every game, something I was unable to do, I relied on my parents and brother to buy the games (I was a kid!!) Now I use ebay and have collected almost every single Sierra game, they are timeless!!
Thanks again for this awesome site!(re: Manhunter section?) Manhunter’s a pretty cool game. Doesn’t it take place in 2003? 🙂
You know, I even asked my mother to make one of those Manhunter Monk robes for me. Gotta love Sierra look-a-likes.(re: Manhunter section?) I just created the Manhunter section – and you are the first message in it!
(re: What happend to Lori and Corey Cole?) As far as I know, they tried starting another game company called Transolar (
Link: http://www.transolar.com(http://www.transolar.com)
), but it didn’t take off. They’re now at a company called Explorati (
Link: http://www.explorati.com(http://www.explorati.com)
). I hope this helps. 🙂(KQ6)
hmm… don’t think it’s a bug.
make sure you don’t go upstairs until the wedding music starts to play.
also, when you say “go upstairs,” you mean from the basement to the first floor, right? (don’t go up to the second floor.) try entering the wedding through the big door on the first floor and saladin should come out.
-emily
(King’s Quest 6 Problem)
I’m at the very end of King’s Quest 6 and I’m very stuck- I took the long way to the end and the hints that I got online told me to go upstairs when everything is done and show Saladin the Vizir’s plans- but Saladin isn’t upstairs and the guard dogs keep capturing me. Is this a bug or am I not doing sonething right?
(re: Release Dates) Actually, I just noticed I am missing a date for the original SQ1. Here’s the other days I have:
SQ2 – 11/14/1987
SQ3 – 3/24/1989
SQ4 – 3/4/1991
SQ1 VGA – 8/20/1991
SQ5 – 2/5/1993
If you have dates for SQ6 and SQ4CD, that would be great too. Thanks!
– Evan
