AGDInteractive - Sierra Adventure Game Remakes Forum

Will there ever be one? Have they said whether they will ever get involvement in game development again?

I believe they retired from game development permanently. I recall hearing about Ken signing a non-competition clause when he sold Sierra, but I'm not sure about the specifics.

Non-Competition clauses tend to expire after a number of years. Surely he wouldn't have signed his entire life away.

Klytos wrote:Non-Competition clauses tend to expire after a number of years. Surely he wouldn't have signed his entire life away.

Depends how much he was offered but yea I highly doubt it was for life.

I can't see him going back into games again...maybe Roberta.

Has anyone seen a recent interview with her? The last I saw was from many years ago. It would be great to get her take on the current state of things.

What 'current state'? (That's usually such a negative term. I'm going to assume it was meant that way. Ignore me if it wasn't.)
Video games are doing fantastic! Better then ever, in fact. You're hard pressed to find a household without at least one console or computer (with games), The Wii and various internet games have revived the casual gamer, online play has opened up limitless possibilities for tournament play and the frighteningly addictive MMORPGs.
Telltale games has proven that adventure games still happen, just like the 'good ol' days' (the same goes for independent sites still dedicated to adventure gaming that have quite a cult following). Graphics are better, (some) games are incredibly innovated and original and gameplay is more intense.
I love customizing my characters, I love professional voice acting and fully orchestrated soundtracks! I love big budget gaming with fully rendered cinematics! I love terrible spin off movies, prequels, sequels, clones and highly advertised over rated 80$ new releases!
I love that games are accesible! Casual gamers to hardcore, interactive to fully automated, young to old, male or female, there are games for everyone and anyone!
I don't understand what could possibly be wrong with the 'current state'
Unless of course you weren't talking about the 'current state of games' and more just the 'current state of the world' in which case I'm sure things aren't going to be quite as optimistic, but at least we're not in the midsts of a nuclear holocaust.

I guess pbpb33's speaking of the current state of adventure games, specifically.

I get the hunch that Ken and Roberta are not overly interested in game development anymore. They've been there, done that, and have decided to move onto other things now. Let's not forget that they also founded Sierra On-Line in easier times, when there was much less competition and vast unconquered territory to pioneer in the fields of graphics, music, speech, sound, and so forth.

The Williams' bowed out of adventure games around the time that 3D was becoming commonplace. That was the same time Sierra stopped being a pioneer and other developers took pole position in pushing the technical envelope instead. In 1998/1999, Gabriel Knight 3 and Mask of Eternity were far from the best-looking examples of 3D games -- even in those polygonaly primitive days. Perhaps the Williams' knew the adventure gaming market better than anyone, and foresaw the genre's decline in popularity and decided to get out while their company was still lucrative to buyers. I believe Ken still posts from time to time on the Sierra Gamers forums. It might be worth reading through some of his more recent posts and seeing if he's shared his thoughts about the modern adventure game market.

Of course I meant her take on the state of computer games, adventure games specifically... wasn't curious about her take on whether Sarah Palin should run for Pres. in 2012 or something else... though maybe I wouldn't mind hearing it since she is Roberta Williams, after all. And "current state" isn't necessarily negative, though there are far fewer adventure game releases from major studios these days, and adventure games are no longer the kinds of games that major publishers typically pour a significant amount of financial and creative resources into. Traditional-style adventure gaming seems like more of a minor niche market now.

Lady Pyro wrote:What 'current state'? (That's usually such a negative term. I'm going to assume it was meant that way. Ignore me if it wasn't.)
Video games are doing fantastic! Better then ever, in fact. You're hard pressed to find a household without at least one console or computer (with games), The Wii and various internet games have revived the casual gamer, online play has opened up limitless possibilities for tournament play and the frighteningly addictive MMORPGs.
Telltale games has proven that adventure games still happen, just like the 'good ol' days' (the same goes for independent sites still dedicated to adventure gaming that have quite a cult following). Graphics are better, (some) games are incredibly innovated and original and gameplay is more intense.
I love customizing my characters, I love professional voice acting and fully orchestrated soundtracks! I love big budget gaming with fully rendered cinematics! I love terrible spin off movies, prequels, sequels, clones and highly advertised over rated 80$ new releases!
I love that games are accesible! Casual gamers to hardcore, interactive to fully automated, young to old, male or female, there are games for everyone and anyone!
I don't understand what could possibly be wrong with the 'current state'
Unless of course you weren't talking about the 'current state of games' and more just the 'current state of the world' in which case I'm sure things aren't going to be quite as optimistic, but at least we're not in the midsts of a nuclear holocaust.

As someone who knows Ken and Berta personally, I can say that neither of them has a bit of interest in creating another game of any kind anytime ever again.

Ken and Roberta are happily retired now and have other interests. Ken has a big, big boat that has captured his attention (he and Berta are currently in Asia and will ultimately circumnavigate the world on it.) Roberta has been researching her family history and is writing a book on the subject. I don't think I've seen either of them play a computer or game in years, and the only video game system they own is an old Sega system that they keep around to enterain the children of visitors to a home they keep in Los Cabos.

They very much loved the early days of Sierra, but I think both of them were ready for retirement after the CUC acquisition in the mid-1990s. That Roberta stuck around for a few more games was actually quite surprising for those of us that knew her.

Their son Christopher (whom actually wrote an article for a while in Interaction Magazine when he was a teen) is perhaps the only hope for another Williams game creation. He lives in Seattle and has been working on a game development engine.

Wow? The Johnny Magpie?

Bt

Anonymous Game Creator 2 wrote:The Williams' bowed out of adventure games around the time that 3D was becoming commonplace. That was the same time Sierra stopped being a pioneer and other developers took pole position in pushing the technical envelope instead.

I love the story he told about Doom being offered to Sierra first, but Ken made the mistake to think it won't sell. Just think where Sierra would have been today if he did go with the title. Heck, maybe the 3D genre would have had more body to the plot!

Yeah, there's also a section on this in the book Masters of Doom by David Kushner, as written from iD Software's perspective.