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Inca was published by Sierra, but developed by French company Coktel Vision. To say that it is a mediocre game would be an understatement. If you’re a big Sierra fan, prepared to be dissappointed. It’s basically an uncomfortable mixture of genres that never gels and never works. How Ken brought himself to sign Coktel Vision, I’ll never know.
It is apparently a third-party company that has been given the games to make them compatible for new systems. Who really knows what it will look like and how the games will run until they’re released. I plan on phoning my local software store tomorrow to see if they’ll put copies on order for me. Should be interesting at the least just to see what they’ve done with them, and what they include in each collection.
I found this link a while ago: http://www.sonicimages.com/Action.Lasso?-Response=%2f2001%2fsub%2fmisc%2fdetail.htm&-Search=Action&-Table=CGI&-Database=Products.fp5&-KeyValue=116
If the link hasn’t changed, you can buy the QFGV Soundtrack for about $10 there. Enjoy! đ
Dear Mr. Ken Williams & Mrs. Roberta Williams,
I just discovered your site and Iâm so happy to restore those wonderful memories about the best adventure games ever created.
I and my friends really missed those great games these days, I think no other company comes close to match your adventure games in the past and in the time been.
Iâve been playing your games since 1990, and Iâm still keeping my Sierra on-line magazines at my library (the first one goes back to âspring 1990â).I really missed those pioneer games (from King Quest & Quest for Glory to Conquests of Camelot & IceMan), I and my friends spent months playing them in the weekends with great pleasure and happiness, our spare time at the School was for finding hints for the puzzles we encounter (that was really a true adventurer for us, we felt that we are the happiest people on earth), where are those series todayâŚ. âŚ., its really sad, Vivendi Universal simply killed them.
Mr. Ken, you are not old to retire at this age, neither you Mrs. Roberta, both of you are still young, you can restore this valuable gem back on line, buy it back from Vivendi Universal, you can bring back Nasdaq:SIER, yes you can do it, I think any Venture Capital firm would be glad to invest in this gem.
However as far as I remember your son Chris used to write some articles at Sierra on-line magazine, he liked the gaming industry, what he is doing now, he can lead the new Sierra on-line under your supervision, I would certainly do that if I were him.I was lucky to find your site, thanks to one poster at âwww.adventuregamers.comâ forum, I think you should put an ad for this site at some gaming magazines, to know how many Sierra fans out there, believe me there are many, they are waiting for those legendary games to emerge again.
This site has restored the most beautiful memories I had that time, you donât know how much Sierra on-line contributed to my childhood experience, for me and many of my friends, it was our primary activity to set and talk about those games and how to find a solution if we stuck somewhere in our adventure, now a days we are dreaming about those titles, and we gather and start remembering those days, I wish they come back, even Iâm still keeping my QG5 abilities and skills file, hoping to upload it in the next QG6 one dayâŚâŚâŚ..
Thank you very much Mr. Ken & Mrs. Roberta for creating such a marvelous company, Sierra on-line will be engraved in my heart forever.
A long-time Sierra on-line lover,
Sam.
Computer Networks Engineer.POEM đ
It was a quiet and gloomy day.
I think it was in the month of May.
But flowers weren’t all a bloom.
Amongst the trash there was no room.At the bottom of the Sierra hill you can only wonder
that something once great had gone asunderFrom a window up so high
I heard a voice say why? why? why?
“Young lad, may I speak to you.
The games were great, the sky was blue!I’ll tell you a story.
If you’ll listen my friend.
About the glory
of Roberta and KenThey wrote for the games
With wonderful names
Like King’s Quest and Space Quest
and all the rest.And the kids in the house
poised ready with mouse
waited to see
what the next game would be.Play them they would, all day and all night
Eyes all a glow so happy and bright!
That quest for the crown, love lost and then foundLeisure Suite Larry,
Phantasmagoria so scary
Those were the days as I put it to you
Until the arrival of stinky VUThey littered the land with games that didn’t play
They took the old games and hid them away
The kids pleaded and cried for one remake or release
But nothing was heard from the VU beastSo take this last game from the Princes and Wizard
Hold strong against the VU blizzard
Then smile and claim
Ken and Roberta knew what made a great Sierra game!ok, i got the files working, but for the life of me i cant get the speech to work. why is this so hard?
i have a question… ive just recently gotten this game from bittorrent. but, i dont have sierra.ini, SCIWV.EXE, or HDLOGO.AVI. absolutely everything works except i cant get speech to sound. i can read it, and all the video is fine, but i cant hear the words. any ideas? could someone perhaps send me those files?
Answers from Roberta! (Sorry it took so long…)
Questions:
How long had Roberta had the idea for Phantasmagoria?
Phantasmagoria was, in actuality, a much more developed version of my first game, Mystery House. If one were to look at the layout of the house and the way the game play is directed and the way some of the puzzles work, there are many similarities to Mystery House. However, the story line is completely different. The storyline was developed over about a six month period.
How long before she was given the go ahead?
It took about a year of me âbeggingâ before the project was given the go-ahead. Even though Ken liked the idea, many people at Sierra thought it was a dumb idea and didnât understand it, and didnât like the idea of building a whole studio, and whole new technology in order to accomplish thisâŚthisâŚmonstrosity. (However, while it was in development and after it shipped, all of a sudden, all of those detractors suddenly âgot on boardâ and were its biggest supporters. In other words, I was vindicated.)
Ken, What was your role in helping Roberta?
A âKenâ questionâŚ.
Were either of you ever concerned about the massive
costs associated with completing this project?I donât know about KenâŚ. Ken?
For me, I had total confidence in the product. I felt that it was break-through and that it would pay us back in dividends. I was right.
Could either of you describe the process that went along with
assembling the cast? Did you hold many auditions etc?We held several auditions in the Los Angeles/Hollywood area. We went through an audition agency in âHollywoodâ who found us many actors, most unknown, but a few âsemi-known.â A majority of the actors came from LA, but, one came from the Seattle area who I approached when I saw her in a play, and several other âextrasâ were just employees from Sierra On-Line. We also hired a âHollywoodâ director, Peter Maris, who had directed quite a few âBâ type movies to help in directing the actors. I felt that I did not have experience in directing actors, so I wanted someone to do that who knew what they were doing. However, Peter did not have experience with adventure games. Therefore, he and I worked together as a team in the studio; he with directly working with the actors and their lines, and me with making sure that the âgameâ aspects were kept in tack and to âconstantlyâ remind everybody that this was a GAME and not a MOVIE. We also hired a make-up artist from âHollywoodâ who was phenomenal and worked very very hard.
What was it about Victoria Morsell that made her desirable for the role of Adrienne?
I wanted Adrienne to be pretty, but not beautiful and elegant. She had to seem more like a very pretty, âgirl next doorâ type â but with some sexuality. I wanted her to be casual but also to have a strong independent spirit. (I definitely did NOT want a âbimbo type!) I felt that Victoria had that quality. She also had to be willing to put up with working on a game like this in a place like Oakhurst, California, and to wear the same outfit for several months! In other words, she had to have an open mind and to be easy to work with. She was, and she was a perfect Adrienne.
Did the cast have much initial difficulty acting in front
of a blue screen?We ALL did! We were inventing this procedure as we went along. We all had difficulties working with it. As to the actors, at first, it was strange to them, but, after awhile, we all got the hang of it and it became easier and easier. Actually, I think it was harder on the guys who had to set up all of the shots with the lighting, sound, the camera angles with our computerized âback groundâ shots, and with setting up the few actual props that we used. It took hours to set up each shot before we actually shot them. Sometimes, the set guys would work practically a whole day to set up a key shot while the actors just sat around. The difficulty in working with blue screen is getting everything precisely lined up. And precisely is the key word. THAT was the difficult part!
Who selected the outfit that Adrienne would wear? Were the colors of the clothing chosen for any particular reason? I did, along with my project manager, Mark Seibert. We decided that she needed to wear a very simple outfit. Jeans and a tee-shirt fit the bill. She needed a simple outfit because she would be doing many different things, some of which would require her to be able to move easily and to be in difficult or dirty situations. As to the colors, with blue screen, an actor cannot wear anything blue (for obvious reasons), or anything with a âblue castâ to it. For instance, purple is also out, and blue-grays, blue-greens, etc. So you see, Adrienne wears black jeans instead of blue jeans, and she wears an orange shirt which shows up quite well against a blue screen.
Do you have any fun memories between you (Ken or Roberta) and
the cast that you would like to share?Ken?
For me, the whole experience was fun. I enjoyed creating Phantasmagoria more than any other game. Even though I love Kingâs Quest and all of those other games, it was fun working with actors and a director in a studio. I learned a lot and discovered that actors can be very funny while filming. We laughed a lot and kidded around. However, you also learn that actors can be temperamental and âthe other side of the coinâ is that you also have to deal with some of their âissues.â That part wasnât quite as fun. When we were working with all of the gory stuff, we especially had a lot of fun with it. Some of the actors would put on their horrific make-up and just strut around the studio and do little songs and dances while they had a broken bottle stuck in their eye and blood running down their face! Hilarious!!
I’m not so sure that their re-entry into the gaming industry would be as easy as you imagine. The industry is a different beast now. Publishers are taking far fewer risks with respect to game funding and even one failure on your record can spell doom. Most people in the industry have very short memories and don’t know what to think of adventure games. The genre has gone out of favor with the majority of gamers and no longer seems profitable to publishers. Is vast success in a failed genre a good or bad mark on your record? That being said, Tim Schafer still seems capable of getting funding (maybe not after Psychonauts) and I’m confident that Ken could get adequate funding from venture capitalists with his background and track record. I think he’d have just one chance to reprove himself though. And if his first attempt flopped, it would be near impossible to create another multi-million dollar title.
Good question, and one I should probably do my darndest to ignore and not answer.
That said… I’ll plunge ahead anyhow.
My policy at Sierra was always to avoid censorship, and to publish the product Sierra’s authors wanted to produce. Certainly if someone had stepped WAY over the line, I would have had to take action, but I don’t remember any specific situations where that occured. The one area where I did constantly have to “censor” the games was when there was too much inside humor. I allowed some of it, but generally felt that consumers didn’t care about our internal politics — they just wanted to have fun.
In playing the games, you should keep in mind that they were produced nearly 20 years ago. I’ve been retired nearly 10 years! Awareness of “political correctness” wasn’t quite as strong in those days as it is today. Humor that would have been fine then, might not be now. I do think that virtually every group is fair game for parody from time to time. There are ways to do humor that are not insulting or that reinforce negative stereotypes (although blondes do seem to be an unprotected species). Overall, when it comes to deciding what is politicaly correct, and what isn’t – I’m just happy I’m long retired, and don’t have to make those decisions anymore.
-Ken W
Quote:
“… (by Patrick B) One thing is obvious after playing this one though … Roberta and Jane are irreplacable queens of the Adventure Game.
…”I’ll second that! đ
Finally got around to finishing this one. Different than Phantasmagoria 1. The comparison to an ’80’s cheesy horror flick is definitely fitting! đ I like FMV and would definitely suggest buying this one if you enjoy FMV adventures as well.
The little flashbacks and psychotic episodes sort of ran thin after about the 100th one. The acting was ok.
One thing is obvious after playing this one though … Roberta and Jane are irreplacable queens of the Adventure Game.
I can’t wait to see what it looks like!
I’ve been working at 1280×720 resolution a bit recently, and it’s nice to have a widescreen for interface design.
[quote] (by raasugar@aol.com ) Lol I wish. It’s not actual video (though I love to make movies),
What kind of movies have you made? Check out my website: http://ak47.talkspot.com
If you have any to show, I’d love to see them.
Heres a drawling of Laura Bow from Dagger of Amon Ra.
Laura BowLol I wish. It’s not actual video (though I love to make movies), it’s sort of…well, here’s how it works:
You Make A Production Company
You Press “New” (For new movie)
You Write the title, pick the genre, if it’s an animated movie, or if its an epic (anim. and epic are optional, you dont always have to press them).
And if you want, you can write a description, though it doesnt affect anything
Then, you ask major studios, some reject you, some offer you a budget.
Pick one, then get the Director, Actor, Actress, Composer, Effects House, Sound Mix, and your ready.
Make a tagline, buy some advertising, (TV, Trailer, Magazine ad, poster)
Then pass by the weeks. When it’s done filming, yoou release it and see how it does in the box office, and if its succesful or not.Its a fun game. If you have a mac and want to play it, which i highly reccomend, go to download.com.
(Oh yeah, come to think of it, Rachel McAdams WOULD make a really good Laura Bow. She has the same colored wavy hair, which can really be seen more in Amon-Ra (the cover) and really does just look like Laura. Not very strongly, but they both have the same features.
The chat will be completely replaced in a month or two.
The recode of the BBS system is nearing completion. Recoding Photo Galleries comes next — and, then the chat.
I wish software didn’t take so long to write!
-Ken W
PS For those who haven’t noticed, my little website maker has become TOOOOO popular. I’m nearing 4,000 websites and adding about 25 a day! This started as a hobby, and will hopefully stay that way.
I don’t know? Javascript and html are not as bad as Java. Java is a powerful language similar to c. I’m a novice programmer so I don’t know the extent someone could code into the chat room.
Yeah, I think I recall that. I never thought of trying to do anything other than bold or color or what-have-you. Could anyone do something that would seriously mess up the site? This is one for Ken to look at.
