Several smaller projects, such as a baseball trivia game, a series of columns for The Cursor, and teaching some multimedia courses. I tend to have a short attention span, so after I finish something the size of Callahan's, doing a lot of little things is a nice break.
I wasn't really leaving the SQ6 project specifically; I would've liked to have stayed and finished it. Rather, I was leaving Sierra, mostly because it was a chaotic period at the company from a management persepective, and my ability to work was suffering as a result. Good creative work demands some stability in the work environment, but I was feeling very tossed around.
It'd be hard to think of them all. I co-designed FREDDY PHARKAS with Al Lowe, and wrote portions of Larry 1-VGA, Larry 5, The Laffer Utilities, and Burgundy's C/W song in Larry 6. I also wrote portions of Space Quest 4, most of Jones in the Fast Lane, large parts of Laura Bow II and Police Quest 1-VGA, all of King's Quest 1 (the SCI remake), some design for Pepper's Adventures in Time, and some of Heart of China. I did a lot of voiceover and on-camera work, in KQ5 (I was the voice of King Graham), KQ6, Phantasmagoria, PQ1-VGA, PQ3, PQ4, SQ4, Jones in the Fast Lane, Laura Bow II, Ecoquest, and Outpost. Probably others as well. It was a busy four years.
Probably SQ3. I liked the structure of that game, I thought the graphics were simply astounding (even though the artists had only an EGA palette), it just all came together so well. Third time's the charm. But SQ6 is my other favorite, for other reasons.
I was heavily involved with the gaming community on CompuServe, writing reviews and walkthrus. I didn't realize that some of the people I was mouthing off to either were working at, or beta-testing for, Sierra. I eventually asked if I could beta test as well, and Guruka Singh Khalsa, sole producer at Sierra at the time, agreed. After a year or two of rather manic devotion to the beta process, Guruka offered me a job as assistant producer. I had a responsible, respectable job in advertising at the time, and was still doing comedy (though less often than I had been), and really couldn't wait to chuck it all for a chance to actually MAKE games.
I rank Planetfall by Steve Meretzky very highly, along with Christy Marx's Conquests of Camelot. Everett Kaser's shareware game Sherlock hasn't been off my hard drive since I installed it at least 5 years ago. And the same with the legal simulator Objection!. The latter two games are not well-known, but I think they're wonderful...even if they're not adventures.
Well, Scott was the logical choice, but he was juggling several other projects at the time. I had finished Freddy Pharkas and was developing concepts for several potential new series. Sierra was more interested in another Space Quest; new series are riskier and more expensive to get off the ground. So Sierra opted for a game proposal I had written for SQ5, and this is what was eventually turned into SQ6.
You're very welcome, my pleasure!
© 1997-1998 Sterling Jones