Way back in the Apple II days, I was into playing various games that guys at college had obtained (ok, they were pirated). Among the games were Wizard & the Princess, from Sierra, of course. Since then I followed what Sierra was doing in the industry even though I was a big Commodore 64, and then Amiga guy. I thought the Amiga kicked the PCs butt in every way, but corporate America didn't care about that. Since my job required it, I began using PCs, and about the same time, Sierra released had released KQ5 and SQ4 with 256 color art. Once I saw how beautiful the graphics were, I was convinced that the PC was going to be a viable gaming platform, so I started honing my skills in C++, and then Windows, hoping perhaps that one day I could get into the industry. Just over 2 1/2 years ago, I answered an ad in Sierra's Interaction magazine, because I thought there may finally be a match between my skills and what Sierra was looking for. Sierra thought so too, and I left my previous job of 10 years to start all over again in the R&D group in Oakhurst, CA.
When I first got to Sierra, I worked in R&D, and we were responsible for SCI interpreter that all the adventure games were being done in. Among the more notable games that were released while I was in R&D included Phantasmagoria, Gabriel Knight 2, Rama, Shivers and Lighthouse. I also did some specific engine work that was used in Shivers 2 and Betrayal in Antara. Sierra in Oakhurst made a decision to go away from SCI, and as part of the change, many of the guys in R&D moved on to be lead programmers on various games. I became the lead on the Colliers Encyclopedia product. I really wanted to get on a game though, so about half way through when there was a replacement for me, I moved on the do engine work for Swat2. Once I'm released from Swat2, I will be full time on SQ7. The good news is that much of the work I'm doing on Swat2 will be usedon SQ7, so it is not as if SQ7 is not making any progress.
Not as fast as we'd like on the programming side, since my current project, Swat2 has yet to ship. We are trying to get our approval prototype up and ready for early December. The design and artwork is proceeding, however, and our art staff is set to ramp up next week.
I'd have to say SQ4, because it was the first one I played. It was a great touch that you got to go back into SQ1, with EGA graphics and all. SQ3 is really close though, because of the fun that it made of Sierra. I really appreciate when a place can make fun of itself - i.e. you don't take yourself too seriously.
This one is really tough because I've had many 'favorites' over the years. The following are the ones that really stand out in memory:
Fahrenheit 451 (adventure game on Apple II) Lode Runner (the original) XCom : Ufo Defense XWing Interstate '76 Diablo
Our biggest focus at this time on SQ7 is getting it through prototype approval. This means that we will build a small playable portion of the game for Ken Williams and the other executives to approve. Our current push is to ship SWAT2 and Quest for Glory 5, and every resource has been focused on those two products. In the short run that postpones SQ7 development, but in the long run we will have the same advantage as QFG and SWAT, because we'll be able to demand resources when we're at the critical point in SQ's development.
© 1997-1998 Sterling Jones/I>