...first a little introduction to the...
Company History
Sierra Entertainment (formerly Sierra On-Line) was founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams after Ken Williams, a programmer for IBM, bought an Apple II microcomputer which he planned to use to develop a FORTRAN compiler for Apple computers. At the time, his wife Roberta Williams was playing text adventure games for the Apple II. Dissatisfied with the adventure games that existed at the time, she realized modern computers could display graphics and had the potential to do more than presenting text descriptions on the screen.
...some of their games...
Mystery House
Main article: Mystery House
Roberta began to write a script for an adventure game. Three weeks later she presented to Ken the script of a computer game called Mystery House, an idea she had developed during the previous days. Roberta managed to talk Ken into helping her develop the game in the evenings after work. Roberta worked on the text and the graphics and told Ken how to put it all together to make it the game she wanted. They worked on it for about three months and on May 5, 1980, Mystery House was ready for shipment.
Mystery House was an instant hit. The graphics, although consisting only of crude line drawings, monochrome and motionless, were something previously unseen in a computer adventure game. Mystery House was the first computer adventure game to have graphics. It sold about 15,000 copies and earned $167,000.
King's Quest
Main article: King's Quest: Quest for the Crown
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King's_..._for_the_Crown
Sierra On-Line was contacted by IBM in 1983 to create a game for their new PCjr. IBM would fund the entire development of the game, pay royalties for it and advertise for the game. Ken and Roberta accepted and started on the project.
Roberta created a story featuring classic fairy-tale elements. Her game concept included animated color graphics, a pseudo 3D-perspective where the main character was visible on the screen, a more competent text parser that would understand advanced commands from the player and music playing in the background through the PCjr sound hardware. For the game, a complete development system, called Adventure Game Interpreter was developed.
In the summer of 1984, King's Quest was released to much acclaim.
Space Quest
Main article: Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter
While working to finish The Black Cauldron, programmers Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy began to plan for an adventure game of their own. After a simple demonstration to Ken, he allowed them to start working on the full game. It was named Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter. The game, released in October 1986, was an instant success and would spawn many sequels in the following years.
Leisure Suit Larry
Main article: Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards
Al Lowe, who had been working at Sierra On-Line for many years, was asked by Ken Williams to write a modern version of Chuck Benton's Softporn Adventure from 1981, the only pure text adventure that the company had ever released.
Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards was a great hit (although not instantly), and won the Software Publishers Association's "Best Adventure Game" award of 1987. A long series of Leisure Suit Larry games would follow in the coming years and become the second best selling game series of Sierra On-Line after King's Quest.
Now which one is your favorite...and why?
Regards!
//jim_T
What is your favorite Sierra On-Line Adventure Game?
