I agree. A very in depth documentary, I never new about the early adventure program on the DOD network that was instrumental in the whole founding of a company that I have loved for the last forty years. A well done recap of the good old days. I've seen a few docs on youtube about Sierra but this was probably the most researched and well put together on I've seen on here. Time to dust off some good old games and play! Excellent job!
Yep! That me at 29:48 - awesome overview! Sierra was a magical place to work at. I still have lifelong friends from Sierra that I keep in touch with to this day - Great job on the video!
I think a lot of us got out hands on Larry when we were kids. Honestly it's not THAT vulgar, jitsu jokingly so most of the time. Compared to modern media it's quite tame.
my dad brought a tandy 1000 home some time in 1987 and I remember coming home from 2nd grade and saw him playing King's Quest 3. I was instantly intrigued. From that day forward, our library was expanded to include nearly every sierra game, some bootleg, some legit. We got to witness improvements in audio/visual with the release of King's Quest 4 and the compatible Roland MT-32, then, years later, with 256 colors and eventually CD based games. They truly were the golden ages of adventure games. These games still hold nostalgia for me and I find myself occasionally booting up dosbox so I can relive my childhood. It was an absolute tragedy when Sierra eventually closed their doors.
Thanks for the video Pixel THING, I honestly loved it, and took me back to my early gaming days in the 80s and 90s. I just stumbled onto your channel and this video by luck (or fate?), as I was in the mood for some Sierra game and company retrospectives, and have actually been looking on UA-cam for years for an retrospective as detailed and thorough as the one you have produced here, one that offered equal measures of insight and history into the company and Ken and Roberta Williams. And I must say, what a terrific job you did with your research and the overall quality of your video. You covered so much that I was unaware of, and put Sierra as a company into a better perspective for me. I have of course given the video an thumbs up, and have subbed, and will be moving onto you 'Lucasarts History and Games' video straight away, and I will indeed be checking out all your content as well. So thanks again Pixel THING, you have made me one happy subscriber.
Thanks for taking me back nearly four decades, very well done. I would also add to the list of accomplishments about Sierra On-Line, their early entry into the MMORPG genre of gaming with "The Realm Online" in 1996. That game has changed ownership several times over the years, but still has an online server operating today. Great video thanks for sharing!
46 years old Singaporean here. The Sierra Genre really defined my teenage years. I studied in a Catholic boys school, so practically the whole class was interested in video games, and so many hours were spent discussing on ways to solve the puzzles. Thanks to your video, I now know who were the creative minds behind this (although through playing Larry I already know who Al Lowe is - since his name is always in the game!)
Absolutely stunning documentary. Your narration, the editing, the presentation. This is the best work you have done and surpasses your amazing lucasarts/indy documentary. And getting Clint to participate is the cherry on the cake. The best Sierra doc on UA-cam, by far. Well done Pedro, you are a true inspiration for me!
Hard to describe the influence Sierra Online's games had on so many of us. From the stories to the music and graphics, they were quite a memorable, enjoyable and compelling experience. What a talented team they had! Thank you for all the great times!
What a great documentary on Sierra Online. I played a few of their games, inbetween the Amiga and PS1 - on DOS machines, great memories. I loved text adventures, so these were a natural progression. Two thumbs up for this. 👍👍
Este pá... está lá em cima com os melhores mini documentários do género no youtube e arredores. E epa ouvir o Clint a narrar as citações! Nunca tive calo para point and clicks, joguei varios daqui mas desistia sempre muito cedo, pelo meu pobre inglês e falta de paciência em miudo, mas o Logo da Sierra esteve muito presente enquanto cresci. E alguns dos titulos mais recentes editados por eles, como os 3d ultra pinball e rc racers, e o half life estao nas minhas mais estimadas memorias com jogos. Hey eu acho que este vai ser reconhecido como deve ser, porque se não for, não há justiça no mundo. Sempre a subir Pedro, grande abraço
Excellent documentary, and lovely insight about adventure games being born in an era when simply using a PC was a series of puzzles in itself. Thank you for making this!
Heroes quest , space quest and police quests were the best . Back when I had the patience to sit there waiting 30 seconds for every scene change to load
thanks, what a heartwarming story. I had heard bits and pieces of it over the years, but this was a great telling of it all. Sierra online games were huge for me growing up, and were actually what inspired me to make my own games and get into programming!!
Really enjoyable documentary. I was talking to my son about the first time I walked into a "computer" store with my dad in 1982 and would not shut up until we walked out of there with Mystery House. I'd never imagined a game with graphics before, so the idea was enthralling. Played all of those Sierra Online adventures back in the day ... had to write to the company for hints a few times and still have the handwritten "clues" I got back. It was a different, better time back then and Sierra, for all its faults, was a true pioneer !
@@itsaPIXELthing You cannot imagine how many hours I spent on trying to get past that stupid cruise in Leisure Suit Larry 2!!! I even got nightmares about it!
Just finished watching it. What a great video and research dude. I'm speechless. satisfyingly speechless. One of the very best videos out there. Keep up this amazing work.
Fantastic work you've earned a new subscriber. This brought back memories from late 90s when I had just started playing games on my Celeron PC. Just keep doing what you're doing my friend :)
Dynamix' output was incredible in the early 90s. Their simulators ruled! Still have all the "Aces" series on the shelf. Not that I'd had time to play them these last 20 years... ;^) Their adventures were interesting too as they mixed 3D action elements and digitised graphics. "Heart of China" certainly was unusual compared to the typical adventure fare of the day. Wasn't there a frustrating sequence where you had to drive a tank on a narrow winding mountain path? Lots of hours wasted for a good cause!
Looking really good! I commented (very very briefly, different scope) in my own video on the move from text to graphical adventure and the role Sierra played but you really dug into the history of the company.
@@itsaPIXELthing I wasn't trying to promote my video BTW, don't want to you to get that impression. It was just that you talked about things that I also have an interest in. KUTGW! I'll keep an eye on your work going forward.
Meu amigo, tu não brincas em serviço. Um documentário grandioso que faz justiça ao carinho que tens pela empresa. Teres a voz do Clint Basinger foi a cereja no topo do bolo, é que eu adoro o canal dele e tem tudo a ver com o tema! Estou espantado e tu estás de parabéns! Que te traga o retorno que mereces!
I have watched a lot about Sierra over the years, but this is the first documentary that covers their struggling early years really well, because most start at Kings Quest 1 and only briefly mention that they did a few minor things before KQ1. I never knew about their home computer arcade ports and how it backfired.
Sierra's games were magical, along with the Lucasfilm/Arts stuff. They made better use of the hardware than games do these days, which makes me question the use of word "dated". Also the games were a lot more creative and diverse. Now it's around 5 categories and it's mostly the same styles and same ideas in most games...Awesome documentary, great work!
great content, I'm a huge Sierra fan and their series is what made me become a lifelong gamer as a young child. I definitely think KQ8 and GK3 were embarrassing but QFG5 had a lot of work put into it compared to those, even if lie me you're a QFG fan may not care for dragon fire much but it was the better of actual games developed by the dying company
beautifull documentary. I had the luck of being an 11 years old boy by 1989 with my first PC (an AT 286 20/25 with a 40mb of HD space! and 1mb of ram). I played all of them, Larrys, Kings Quest, Space Quests, all the Lucasfilms adventures, and some others from non mainstream companiess like Legend of Kyrandia. Good old nerd times :)
I remember Sierra having a service where if you were stumped, you could write them asking for help. As an eleven-year-old kid, It was so cool to get a letter in the mail with their iconic logo on the letterhead personally responding to your question!
Thanks for this detailed documentary about one of the most important software houses of all time. I still love and play their adventure games, once in a while. I think they're brilliant, even by today standards. Congratulations for this awesome work!
I noticed a trend for Sierra documentaries not to feature one of Sierra's best and most ground-breaking series- Quest for Glory. Why is this? It seems such a huge omission and I see it constantly.. in this video it started with a quote from one of the Coles even, and then only showed the box for the Japanese port of the first game for a couple seconds without even a mention of it. 😟
I also never understood this. QFG always seems to be left 'out of the loop' and like you I still have no idea why. Hero's Quest and QFGIV were awesome - I particularly loved QFGIV, it had such a cool feel to it. I always thought the lack of attention for this series was related to the name change (I believe they had to change it because of the TV DND like board game - which wasn't nearly as good as the quest game - yes, I actually owned that also), and therefore people just lost track of it after it was renamed. I loved that it was basically three games in one and that you could carry your player and their stats onto the next game. It had so much more potential.
Great video, I came here from the SpaceVenture Kickstarter (even though I did not pledge, I still follow the comments. Oh and the rare updates:) anyway this was fun to watch and sad as well. Even though I didn't play a lot of these games back then, I did play a few (LSL 1 & 7, SQ 6) they are still my favorites today and I continue to play them. They are just as good now as they were when I first played them!
Man, no words can define this video. What a awesome work. So well done, this kind of work makes me emotional. Your passion about this and all, simply incredible. Muito obrigado por este vídeo, Pedro. Continua o excelente trabalho!
@@jasonleetaiwan Conservative isn't the right word. She was shy and reserved. Which still makes it surprising that she's on the cover. But she did occasionally do bold things that were out of character which is exactly why she decided to make her own video games.
Bob: "We've got this new lewd release and we need to sell this thing so... we _absolutely_ need you naked on the cover! Now." Bobette: "Sure, whatever..."
Back then I recall these were all cutting edge!! I always admired this genre but still always realized to play in this style requires a great deal of patience.. They had remade a few titles like Grim Fandango & Day of the Tentacle giving them a better interface and such.. They really should do it with more like some of the old Leisure Suit Larry’s and Space Quests
Não tenho muito tempo para andar no youtube, mas cada vez que venho e esbarro num video teu, é sem duvida, trabalho de qualidade. O que tu fazes é o equivalente, se for possível chamar, serviço publico para todos os amantes dos videojogos, especialmente para o pessoal do retrogaming. Também é de louvar um post do grande MJR. Um grande bem-haja e continuação
If you haven't, please take a look at the history of LucasFilm / LucasArts that I've released a couple years ago: ua-cam.com/video/-AS2Mk5kJto/v-deo.html
My first game was Kings Quest 3. I played and LOVED so many Sierra games. After they went to the point and click interface, and away from typing interface, I stopped. Young gamers will never understand.
So true, the text parser is exactly what made the games so addictive and 'infinite', you were forced to use your imagination to come up with ways to solve each situation, it's why each and every game seemed so huge. And the outcomes of deaths and just the hilarious responses you would get, made dying and losing the game so enjoyable. Sierra is a big reason why I'm a programmer to this day. And although not a game designer myself, I have always wanted to work for Sierra and every time I 'dig a little deeper' into game design, I ALWAYS want to incorporate a text parser like Sierra had, it's all about the imagination and that type of interface brought and ignited your creativity while playing in spades. I'm finally trying to build a game with my daughter and I fully intend on putting a text parser into it just so she can enjoy the same experience (one of the very first games I ever played with her was SQ1). I know I could never make money off of a game like that these days, but I don't care, it's for my enjoyment. It's the same reason why Sierra was so great - at it's greatest - they were all gamers at heart, it was always about the story and the fun that could be had, and clearly not about the money (I know they're a business, but their own natural desire was obvious and it showed in their work) - you could feel the difference in those games, they were clearly made by people who loved what they were doing. All that began to fade once they went into the mouse-click interface, combined with the graphics taking an obvious turn for the worse as well, ya they were higher resolutions and whatnot, but the art was lost and it was like they just began pushing stuff out as much as they could as easily as they could. Everything they designed with the SCI0 engine was gold. I still have all my original boxes that I bought as kid (yes, from RADIO SHACK - along with the Tandy 1000TX my parents bought me from there), and once the internet took hold, and realized I couldn't buy these games any more, I downloaded everything I could find. I even have a couple of the Quest Series on Steam, just so I can continue to enjoy those text parsing adventures wherever I may be at any time. I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I played one of these games, but I played them all throughout my childhood and even my early 20's quite a bit. I will never get rid of these games, or their boxes and the books that came with them (and I think my hint books are still just the coolest thing ever).
The story of Ken Williams selling the company in hopes to secure it's future sounds very similar to Lord British's mind set when he decided to sell Origin.
I still remember sitting with my second cousin infront of his parents IBM PC playing King's Quest, Space Quest and Police Quest games. Thank god for GOG.
Thumbs up instantly for leisure suit Larry straight up👊🏻😁. Although I always thumbs up your video, I’m not sure if I saw this but Ill watch it again as I like all this retro stuff👌🏻😁🇦🇺
It's a Pixel THING It's a Pixel THING I paused this as I needed to go to the shop to get more beer to come back and finish my vid for my channel but just wanted to say mate well done ! this video you released has opened up my eyes completely to the behind-the-scenes stuff and it was absolutely brilliant to see where it started where it came from and where it went to . Great work on the research and the information you have given out in this video mate this is a perfect upload my friend 👊🏻😁 And the 7 donkeys that thumbs down this video I wish I could have five minutes alone in a room with each of them💪🏻🤬👊🏻
very informative and a well made video :D i was not alive back then so i have to learn about the history myself, was very entertained through it all! thanks so much for sharing!
Few people know this but Roberta and Ken was actually part of the local swingers scene back then, so as weird as it may sound I've actually you-know-what with Roberta which is a really strange experience when you're also a fan of their games. I'm not trying to diss Ken btw, as he's also met my then wife of course, that's what the lifestyle is/was all about.
I was more of a Lucasfilm/arts kind of guy in the golden age, but I still remember how much fun I had when I first started the first Larry game with a friend on his dad's computer and trying to get the answers right to enter the game from that quiz thing. Especially since we are non americans and pretty much all of them were non sensical questions to us. Also, Police Quest. One of the favorite gifts I ever got was the Police Quest collection with the first four games in the series. I played that thing over and over again.
Finally I had the chance to watch this ,) Dude...devias estar a fazer conteúdo para a NET Flix e honestamente é incrível como é que tens apenas 9K subs...devia estar pelo menos mais um zero aí. Muitos parabéns por este trabalho. Continua a brindar o pessoal com estes documentários, but for now ,) rest my friend hehe consigo entender o trabalho enorme que esteve por detrás deste vídeo. Forte Abraço e novamente um grande obrigado.
A pesquisa e confirmação de fatos foi, sem dúvida, a parte mais complexa neste trabalho. Mas, no fim, acaba por compensar todo o esforço. O resultado final é o que realmente importa, independentemente de poucas ou muitas views. Adoro investigação e, se tivesse mais tempo livre, seria este tipo de conteúdo que traria sempre ;) Abraço, Johnny! Obrigado pelo apoio!
Excelente trabalho! Parabéns, como já comentei contigo, você sabe como contar uma história. Com detalhes e uma edição primorosa, bem documentado. Mais uma vez, parabéns!
Pareces português, Parabéns pela história detalhada. Visto de um cinquentão que tinham um Philips PC 8088, descobriu o LSL1 que tentou acabar e andou à procura de um "code" a meio do jogo (muitos jogos tinham algo de protecção anti-pirataria básica como uma code sheet) e depois se meteu pelo KQ3 que era genial, ainda com um monitor Hercules, depois CGA e depois wooooooooo EGA/VGA.. foram tempos épicos. Quando saiu o LSL2 e 3 (o da Patty?) papei-os logo , bem como os PQ e SQ ( o janitor era de ir às lágrimas, piadas sobre o Espaço hilariantes)...depois Quest for Glory, até Phantasmagoria. Acho que só não joguei os Gabriel. Acho que consegui até fazer sair o som MIDI deste "Quests" e fazê-lo tocar no meusintetizador Korg X3. A Sierra foi uma companheirona do entertenimento nos anos 80 e 90. Muito Obrigado pelas memórias #clap #thank #bye
I'm so glad that I watched this twice as there is so much content and lots of really interesting facts in this epic episode. You should be very proud of your achievement here. I hope metal jesus rocks watches this having worked for this company. Well done.
Whatever people may think of them now in 2020, growing up in the early 90s, KQVI was one of my favourite games, along with the first two Monkey Island's.
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You went all-out on this one, solid work!
Thank you so much for lending your voice to this one, Clint! Such a pleasure!
I agree. A very in depth documentary, I never new about the early adventure program on the DOD network that was instrumental in the whole founding of a company that I have loved for the last forty years. A well done recap of the good old days. I've seen a few docs on youtube about Sierra but this was probably the most researched and well put together on I've seen on here. Time to dust off some good old games and play! Excellent job!
@@itsaPIXELthing Absolutely loving your content man, keep up the great work!
It was a great one for sure. I just wish you had a more prominent presence.
Production value always off the charts, I love this channel. And yours too ofc
Yep! That me at 29:48 - awesome overview! Sierra was a magical place to work at. I still have lifelong friends from Sierra that I keep in touch with to this day - Great job on the video!
Thank you so much for watching, Jason! Your feedback is much appreciated! All the best!
This topic here is a gathering of the illustrious! Would be cool if there was ever a part 2, to see some of your stories as well
That would be awesome ;)
Help promote this channel Metal Jesus
Don’t know if you will respond to this but do you know why Space Quest 7 never came to be?
All the _Quest_ games and _Larry_ games were how I spent my time away from school starting way back when I was around 10.
Thanks for sharing :) and for stopping by! Cheers!
I learned English from those games, which got me in a bit of trouble when I asked my mom the meaning of certain words in the Larry game .....
I think a lot of us got out hands on Larry when we were kids. Honestly it's not THAT vulgar, jitsu jokingly so most of the time. Compared to modern media it's quite tame.
Really good upload mate. Thank you. Really enjoyed this. 80s and 90s in US and Japan are fascinating eras in video game history.
Thank you so much for watching! Glad you enjoyed it! :)
This is quality content, I have never heard the story of this great company. Congratulations!!!
Ever heard of Ultima?
Companies like Dynamix even back in the 90s? Sierra had its hands in a TONNE of companies most didnt even know of. Ultima is one of these things.
Glad you enjoyed it, Charles!
my dad brought a tandy 1000 home some time in 1987 and I remember coming home from 2nd grade and saw him playing King's Quest 3. I was instantly intrigued. From that day forward, our library was expanded to include nearly every sierra game, some bootleg, some legit. We got to witness improvements in audio/visual with the release of King's Quest 4 and the compatible Roland MT-32, then, years later, with 256 colors and eventually CD based games. They truly were the golden ages of adventure games. These games still hold nostalgia for me and I find myself occasionally booting up dosbox so I can relive my childhood. It was an absolute tragedy when Sierra eventually closed their doors.
Thanks for sharing your story and memories! Truly enjoyed reading :) Cheers!
Wonderful Job Guys! Loving that Ken and Roberta are still getting love even in 2020.
Such a cool story, the perfect married couple. One's all tech and the others all art. Who says opposites don't attract?
Relationship goals right there.
Thanks for watching and for your much appreciated feedback!
Thanks for the video Pixel THING, I honestly loved it, and took me back to my early gaming days in the 80s and 90s. I just stumbled onto your channel and this video by luck (or fate?), as I was in the mood for some Sierra game and company retrospectives, and have actually been looking on UA-cam for years for an retrospective as detailed and thorough as the one you have produced here, one that offered equal measures of insight and history into the company and Ken and Roberta Williams. And I must say, what a terrific job you did with your research and the overall quality of your video.
You covered so much that I was unaware of, and put Sierra as a company into a better perspective for me. I have of course given the video an thumbs up, and have subbed, and will be moving onto you 'Lucasarts History and Games' video straight away, and I will indeed be checking out all your content as well. So thanks again Pixel THING, you have made me one happy subscriber.
Thank you so much for your comment! Glad you enjoyed the video! :) Truly appreciate it!
Take care! All the best for 2021!
Thanks for taking me back nearly four decades, very well done. I would also add to the list of accomplishments about Sierra On-Line, their early entry into the MMORPG genre of gaming with "The Realm Online" in 1996. That game has changed ownership several times over the years, but still has an online server operating today. Great video thanks for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Have a great 2021!
38:03 Outpost 2, Lords of Magic, and the Caesar series are overlooked gems.
Thanks for putting this together. Sierra was a large part of my childhood.
Mine too :) Thanks for watching!
What an amazing detailed documentary! This professional. 👏 👏 👏
Wow, thank you!
46 years old Singaporean here. The Sierra Genre really defined my teenage years.
I studied in a Catholic boys school, so practically the whole class was interested in video games, and so many hours were spent discussing on ways to solve the puzzles.
Thanks to your video, I now know who were the creative minds behind this (although through playing Larry I already know who Al Lowe is - since his name is always in the game!)
My pleasure! Thanks for stopping by!
Absolutely stunning documentary. Your narration, the editing, the presentation. This is the best work you have done and surpasses your amazing lucasarts/indy documentary. And getting Clint to participate is the cherry on the cake. The best Sierra doc on UA-cam, by far.
Well done Pedro, you are a true inspiration for me!
Wow, thank you! Very inspiring words! Cheers!
Hard to describe the influence Sierra Online's games had on so many of us. From the stories to the music and graphics, they were quite a memorable, enjoyable and compelling experience. What a talented team they had! Thank you for all the great times!
Thanks for watching! :)
I paused the 29:45 photo to see if I could find MJR, then I saw that you made the work easy.
Nice video!
Thanks! Appreciate it :)
I'm glad you pointed out MJR in that company photo. He has told some pretty awesome stories about working at Sierra on his channel.
I can't believe yoy haven't popped up in my recommended videos after all these years. This video was awesome! ❤❤ Merry Christmas to you!
Glad you enjoyed it :) Merry Xmas!
Thanks for this video. I used to play SIERRA games when I was still in elementary school, memories are popping out now... Cheers from Italy
Such an awesome video to make! Thanks for watching! :)
Take care!
What a great documentary on Sierra Online. I played a few of their games, inbetween the Amiga and PS1 - on DOS machines, great memories. I loved text adventures, so these were a natural progression. Two thumbs up for this. 👍👍
Glad you enjoyed it!
Este pá... está lá em cima com os melhores mini documentários do género no youtube e arredores. E epa ouvir o Clint a narrar as citações! Nunca tive calo para point and clicks, joguei varios daqui mas desistia sempre muito cedo, pelo meu pobre inglês e falta de paciência em miudo, mas o Logo da Sierra esteve muito presente enquanto cresci. E alguns dos titulos mais recentes editados por eles, como os 3d ultra pinball e rc racers, e o half life estao nas minhas mais estimadas memorias com jogos. Hey eu acho que este vai ser reconhecido como deve ser, porque se não for, não há justiça no mundo. Sempre a subir Pedro, grande abraço
Daniel, muito obrigado pelas palavras! Foi um trabalho exaustivo, mas bastante recompensador :)
Grande abraço! Tudo de bom!
Excellent documentary, and lovely insight about adventure games being born in an era when simply using a PC was a series of puzzles in itself. Thank you for making this!
My pleasure, Jeremy! Thank You for watching and for leaving your feedback!
Cheers!
Heroes quest , space quest and police quests were the best . Back when I had the patience to sit there waiting 30 seconds for every scene change to load
Hero Quest was the best!!
Thank you for bringing back so many amazing memories!! Great work
Thanks! Appreciate it :)
thanks, what a heartwarming story. I had heard bits and pieces of it over the years, but this was a great telling of it all. Sierra online games were huge for me growing up, and were actually what inspired me to make my own games and get into programming!!
Thanks for taking the time to watch it.
Have a great weekend!
Really enjoyable documentary. I was talking to my son about the first time I walked into a "computer" store with my dad in 1982 and would not shut up until we walked out of there with Mystery House. I'd never imagined a game with graphics before, so the idea was enthralling. Played all of those Sierra Online adventures back in the day ... had to write to the company for hints a few times and still have the handwritten "clues" I got back. It was a different, better time back then and Sierra, for all its faults, was a true pioneer !
Truly appreciate your comment! Thanks for sharing your memories! Here's to an amazing 2024! Cheers!
Thank you so much for this. I grew up playing Sierra On-line games and this is such a treat to know their history!
Thanks for watching! Appreciate it!
@@itsaPIXELthing You cannot imagine how many hours I spent on trying to get past that stupid cruise in Leisure Suit Larry 2!!! I even got nightmares about it!
@@AmbientWalking Eh eh eh eh!
Just finished watching it. What a great video and research dude. I'm speechless. satisfyingly speechless.
One of the very best videos out there.
Keep up this amazing work.
Glad you enjoyed it! Loved making this video! So much work, but truly rewarding :)
Cheers, David! Take care!
Fantastic work you've earned a new subscriber. This brought back memories from late 90s when I had just started playing games on my Celeron PC.
Just keep doing what you're doing my friend :)
Thank you so much for the support, Joe! Appreciate it!
The Dynamix years were probably my favorite. The Metaltech series was awesome.
Yeah! :) Thanks for watching, Andrew!
Cheers!
Dynamix' output was incredible in the early 90s. Their simulators ruled! Still have all the "Aces" series on the shelf. Not that I'd had time to play them these last 20 years... ;^)
Their adventures were interesting too as they mixed 3D action elements and digitised graphics. "Heart of China" certainly was unusual compared to the typical adventure fare of the day. Wasn't there a frustrating sequence where you had to drive a tank on a narrow winding mountain path? Lots of hours wasted for a good cause!
Oh yeah baby!
Let me just take my popcorn and I will be right back to watch this amazing content!
🏆🥇
Did you like it? :)
Cheers! All the best!
Looking really good! I commented (very very briefly, different scope) in my own video on the move from text to graphical adventure and the role Sierra played but you really dug into the history of the company.
I'll check it out! Cheers! All the best!
@@itsaPIXELthing I wasn't trying to promote my video BTW, don't want to you to get that impression. It was just that you talked about things that I also have an interest in.
KUTGW! I'll keep an eye on your work going forward.
Meu amigo, tu não brincas em serviço. Um documentário grandioso que faz justiça ao carinho que tens pela empresa. Teres a voz do Clint Basinger foi a cereja no topo do bolo, é que eu adoro o canal dele e tem tudo a ver com o tema! Estou espantado e tu estás de parabéns! Que te traga o retorno que mereces!
Muito obrigado por todo o apoio, Zé! Fico feliz por teres gostado!
Abraço!
I have watched a lot about Sierra over the years, but this is the first documentary that covers their struggling early years really well, because most start at Kings Quest 1 and only briefly mention that they did a few minor things before KQ1.
I never knew about their home computer arcade ports and how it backfired.
Now you know ;) Thank you so much for watching and for leaving your comment! Cheers!
I hear the ‘Cloud Temple’ music from Spyro when I hear the ‘Sierra’ logo pop up. 👌
Sierra's games were magical, along with the Lucasfilm/Arts stuff. They made better use of the hardware than games do these days, which makes me question the use of word "dated". Also the games were a lot more creative and diverse. Now it's around 5 categories and it's mostly the same styles and same ideas in most games...Awesome documentary, great work!
Thank you, this video was beautifully done
Thank you too! My pleasure!
great content, I'm a huge Sierra fan and their series is what made me become a lifelong gamer as a young child. I definitely think KQ8 and GK3 were embarrassing but QFG5 had a lot of work put into it compared to those, even if lie me you're a QFG fan may not care for dragon fire much but it was the better of actual games developed by the dying company
2022 and I started to discover Sierra Games..... I guess that, when something is good, doesn´t matter how many years pass.
Amazing video.
Thank you so much for watching, Ignacio! Appreciate it!
Some of my fondest childhood memories are of Space Quest, Police Quest and all the other Sierra games.
beautifull documentary. I had the luck of being an 11 years old boy by 1989 with my first PC (an AT 286 20/25 with a 40mb of HD space! and 1mb of ram). I played all of them, Larrys, Kings Quest, Space Quests, all the Lucasfilms adventures, and some others from non mainstream companiess like Legend of Kyrandia. Good old nerd times :)
Thank you so much for watching and for leaving your memories, Luis! Appreciate it!
Take care!
I just found your channel through your emperors tomb review I really like the topics you cover and your narrative style! Thanks for the vids
Welcome aboard, Justin! :) Enjoy the content!
Cheres!
Police Quest is still the closest we'll ever have to a proper police simulator
That's right. Where else can you learn that your car will explode if you don't walk around it before you drive off?
chaos legion and astral chain are police rpgs
@@haruhisuzumiya6650 also anime AF lol
ba bupadubbaaaa....BAM! (every time u get a point) 😀
A very thoroughly work. Lots of informations and pictures. Great!
Many thanks, David!
I remember Sierra having a service where if you were stumped, you could write them asking for help. As an eleven-year-old kid, It was so cool to get a letter in the mail with their iconic logo on the letterhead personally responding to your question!
That must have been awesome, indeed! Thanks for sharing :)
Sierra was amazing back in the day. Kings Quest was so great.
Indeed, it was!
Thank you so much for watching, Lou! Appreciate it!
Vou em 8 min e tou a adorar!! Obrigado Pixel é isto que faz o teu canal aquilo que é!!! Great Work!!!
Espero que tenhas gostado, Marco!
Abraço!!
@@itsaPIXELthing duas palavras IN CRIVEL 😅👍
Thanks for this detailed documentary about one of the most important software houses of all time. I still love and play their adventure games, once in a while. I think they're brilliant, even by today standards. Congratulations for this awesome work!
Glad you enjoyed it! Cheers!
I played all of them! Larry, Hero's Quest, Police Quest, King's Quest, Space Quest.... Great games!
Indeed :) Thanks for watching!
Excellent research and presentation. Very good. Lots of information and history that I had absolutely no clues of. Super-video !!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Congrats from France for the quality of this documentary, it reminds me a lot of things as sierra on line fan
Thank you very much! Appreciate it!
I've always said, if I ever come across a time machine... this is where I want to work.
Netflix should pay to have this kind of content on their product...
It's that good... 👍👍
Master
Thanks for those kind words, mate! You're the best!
Cheers!
Just watch it, and I said the same thing.
It's a Pixel Thing is not just a gaming channel, its a gaming Bastion from our country ,)
There is now a small part of Sierra in the amazing series 'Highscore' on Netflix.
I noticed a trend for Sierra documentaries not to feature one of Sierra's best and most ground-breaking series- Quest for Glory. Why is this? It seems such a huge omission and I see it constantly.. in this video it started with a quote from one of the Coles even, and then only showed the box for the Japanese port of the first game for a couple seconds without even a mention of it. 😟
I also never understood this. QFG always seems to be left 'out of the loop' and like you I still have no idea why. Hero's Quest and QFGIV were awesome - I particularly loved QFGIV, it had such a cool feel to it. I always thought the lack of attention for this series was related to the name change (I believe they had to change it because of the TV DND like board game - which wasn't nearly as good as the quest game - yes, I actually owned that also), and therefore people just lost track of it after it was renamed. I loved that it was basically three games in one and that you could carry your player and their stats onto the next game. It had so much more potential.
Great video, I came here from the SpaceVenture Kickstarter (even though I did not pledge, I still follow the comments. Oh and the rare updates:) anyway this was fun to watch and sad as well. Even though I didn't play a lot of these games back then, I did play a few (LSL 1 & 7, SQ 6) they are still my favorites today and I continue to play them. They are just as good now as they were when I first played them!
Awesome, thank you!
I remember playing Kings quest on a dusty old PC at my local library in 1995, what a trip
Man, no words can define this video. What a awesome work. So well done, this kind of work makes me emotional.
Your passion about this and all, simply incredible.
Muito obrigado por este vídeo, Pedro. Continua o excelente trabalho!
O meu muito obrigado pelo teu comentário! Fico feliz por teres gostado!
Abraço!
HOW DID I NEVER NOTICE THAT ROBERTA WILLIAMS WAS ONE OF THE WOMAN ON THE COVER OF SOFTPORN ADVENTURE UNTIL JUST NOW!?
And I thought she was ultra conservative too...
@@jasonleetaiwan Conservative isn't the right word. She was shy and reserved. Which still makes it surprising that she's on the cover. But she did occasionally do bold things that were out of character which is exactly why she decided to make her own video games.
Bob: "We've got this new lewd release and we need to sell this thing so... we _absolutely_ need you naked on the cover! Now."
Bobette: "Sure, whatever..."
This was fascinating and far more detailed and interesting then I expected. Thank you!
Thank you so much for watching! Glad you enjoyed it :) Cheers! Take care!
A wild Clint appears.
A collab for the ages!
Yeah ;) Such a cool guy!
Thanks for watching!
@@UpYourArsenalTV indeed😁
Played the old ones on my Atari ST. KQ, SQ, PQ... Great games and great memories. And great documentary this one.
Great vid. Always down to watch history on Sierra and this was well done.
Thanks, Brian! Appreciate it
Back then I recall these were all cutting edge!! I always admired this genre but still always realized to play in this style requires a great deal of patience..
They had remade a few titles like Grim Fandango & Day of the Tentacle giving them a better interface and such.. They really should do it with more like some of the old Leisure Suit Larry’s and Space Quests
Thank you so much for watching and for your comment, Michael! Appreciate it!
Wow this was a great watch. Thanks for making this documentary. :)
Glad you enjoyed it!
Well worth the wait. Keep up the excellent work, cheers!
Thanks, mate!
Cheers! All the best!
34:16 just hit me with the anime style twist. I did not expect that.
Não tenho muito tempo para andar no youtube, mas cada vez que venho e esbarro num video teu, é sem duvida, trabalho de qualidade. O que tu fazes é o equivalente, se for possível chamar, serviço publico para todos os amantes dos videojogos, especialmente para o pessoal do retrogaming. Também é de louvar um post do grande MJR. Um grande bem-haja e continuação
Muito obrigado pelo teu comentário que me encheu de vontade de continuar a fazer mais e mais!
Grande abraço! tudo de bom!
@@itsaPIXELthing Não tens de agradecer. Eu é que agradeço.
What a sad end of an epic company. Remembers me to the story of Lucas Arts.
Your documentary is one of your best works. So much details!
If you haven't, please take a look at the history of LucasFilm / LucasArts that I've released a couple years ago: ua-cam.com/video/-AS2Mk5kJto/v-deo.html
@@itsaPIXELthing Oh, thanx for the hint. I will watch it.
Que documentário fantástico. Foram 40m num flash. Que altissima qualidade. Wish you the best!
Muito obrigado pelo apoio, Mike! Fico feliz por teres gostado!
Excelente qualidade de investigação e produção, parabéns!
There is a lack of documentaries on Sierra, and this was a very good one.
Muito obrigado, Miguel! Abraço!
Great video! Thanks for the work put into this!
My pleasure! Glad you enjoyed it 😊
As soon as I heard the accent I detected a Portuguese fellowman :D Bom trabalho!
Muito obrigado pelo apoio, Fausto! :) Grande abraço!
@@itsaPIXELthing agora tenho um monte de videos para ver ahaha
Tenho outros documentários do género, sobre a LucasArts, Bitmap Brothers, Timex Portugal, Ocean Software, etc :) Enjoy! Grande abraço!
That intro brings back so much nostalgia!
My first game was Kings Quest 3. I played and LOVED so many Sierra games. After they went to the point and click interface, and away from typing interface, I stopped. Young gamers will never understand.
Thanks for watching and for leaving your comment! Cheers!
So true, the text parser is exactly what made the games so addictive and 'infinite', you were forced to use your imagination to come up with ways to solve each situation, it's why each and every game seemed so huge. And the outcomes of deaths and just the hilarious responses you would get, made dying and losing the game so enjoyable. Sierra is a big reason why I'm a programmer to this day. And although not a game designer myself, I have always wanted to work for Sierra and every time I 'dig a little deeper' into game design, I ALWAYS want to incorporate a text parser like Sierra had, it's all about the imagination and that type of interface brought and ignited your creativity while playing in spades. I'm finally trying to build a game with my daughter and I fully intend on putting a text parser into it just so she can enjoy the same experience (one of the very first games I ever played with her was SQ1). I know I could never make money off of a game like that these days, but I don't care, it's for my enjoyment. It's the same reason why Sierra was so great - at it's greatest - they were all gamers at heart, it was always about the story and the fun that could be had, and clearly not about the money (I know they're a business, but their own natural desire was obvious and it showed in their work) - you could feel the difference in those games, they were clearly made by people who loved what they were doing. All that began to fade once they went into the mouse-click interface, combined with the graphics taking an obvious turn for the worse as well, ya they were higher resolutions and whatnot, but the art was lost and it was like they just began pushing stuff out as much as they could as easily as they could. Everything they designed with the SCI0 engine was gold. I still have all my original boxes that I bought as kid (yes, from RADIO SHACK - along with the Tandy 1000TX my parents bought me from there), and once the internet took hold, and realized I couldn't buy these games any more, I downloaded everything I could find. I even have a couple of the Quest Series on Steam, just so I can continue to enjoy those text parsing adventures wherever I may be at any time. I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I played one of these games, but I played them all throughout my childhood and even my early 20's quite a bit. I will never get rid of these games, or their boxes and the books that came with them (and I think my hint books are still just the coolest thing ever).
Simplesmente genial!! Obrigado por este momento de pura nostalosgia. Ainda me lembro de jogar Larry I com um dicionário ao meu lado.. 😂
Larry 1 foi o meu primeiro contato com um jogo da Sierra ;)
The story of Ken Williams selling the company in hopes to secure it's future sounds very similar to Lord British's mind set when he decided to sell Origin.
Brilliantly done! You should be very proud of this.
Thank you so much!
Owesome review, good translation of mood of the great Sierra company. Ken and Roberta is most influential persons in adventure games genre.
Couldn't agree more! Thank you so much for watching, Alexei!
All the best!
30:18 When I see this game I immediately have to think about this phrase: "The Frog's Name is horny?!" xD
Good video, very well researched and edited! I am so glad I found this channel through Twitter. Pixels UNITE! :D
Thank you so much! :) Enjoy the content!
for someone who couldn't stop fucking up, ken sure struck gold when he sold his sierra shares before the accounting fraud came out
I still remember sitting with my second cousin infront of his parents IBM PC playing King's Quest, Space Quest and Police Quest games. Thank god for GOG.
Thanks for sharing your memories, Thomas! Appreciate it :)
Take care!
I've spent my childhood playing Sierra games.
Those were incredible years! :)
Thumbs up instantly for leisure suit Larry straight up👊🏻😁. Although I always thumbs up your video, I’m not sure if I saw this but Ill watch it again as I like all this retro stuff👌🏻😁🇦🇺
Thank you so much!
It's a Pixel THING It's a Pixel THING I paused this as I needed to go to the shop to get more beer to come back and finish my vid for my channel but just wanted to say mate well done ! this video you released has opened up my eyes completely to the behind-the-scenes stuff and it was absolutely brilliant to see where it started where it came from and where it went to . Great work on the research and the information you have given out in this video mate this is a perfect upload my friend 👊🏻😁
And the 7 donkeys that thumbs down this video I wish I could have five minutes alone in a room with each of them💪🏻🤬👊🏻
Thank you so much!
very informative and a well made video :D i was not alive back then so i have to learn about the history myself, was very entertained through it all! thanks so much for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed it! Cheers!
Wow, you've got LGR to do voice-overs! Great documentary, congrats!
My pleasure! Thanks for watching! :)
Few people know this but Roberta and Ken was actually part of the local swingers scene back then, so as weird as it may sound I've actually you-know-what with Roberta which is a really strange experience when you're also a fan of their games. I'm not trying to diss Ken btw, as he's also met my then wife of course, that's what the lifestyle is/was all about.
I get a vibe from Roberta and Ken but i cannot put any name to it
I was more of a Lucasfilm/arts kind of guy in the golden age, but I still remember how much fun I had when I first started the first Larry game with a friend on his dad's computer and trying to get the answers right to enter the game from that quiz thing. Especially since we are non americans and pretty much all of them were non sensical questions to us. Also, Police Quest. One of the favorite gifts I ever got was the Police Quest collection with the first four games in the series. I played that thing over and over again.
Thanks for watching! Don't forget to watch my documentary on Lucasfilm/Lucasarts ;)
@@itsaPIXELthing that's the one that got me to watch this one
@@DarkEternal999 Appreciate it!
great work, and thanks for putting the grand prix legends intro video :)
Always! :) Thanks for watching!
Finally I had the chance to watch this ,)
Dude...devias estar a fazer conteúdo para a NET Flix e honestamente é incrível como é que tens apenas 9K subs...devia estar pelo menos mais um zero aí.
Muitos parabéns por este trabalho.
Continua a brindar o pessoal com estes documentários, but for now ,) rest my friend hehe consigo entender o trabalho enorme que esteve por detrás deste vídeo.
Forte Abraço e novamente um grande obrigado.
A pesquisa e confirmação de fatos foi, sem dúvida, a parte mais complexa neste trabalho. Mas, no fim, acaba por compensar todo o esforço. O resultado final é o que realmente importa, independentemente de poucas ou muitas views. Adoro investigação e, se tivesse mais tempo livre, seria este tipo de conteúdo que traria sempre ;)
Abraço, Johnny! Obrigado pelo apoio!
Excelente trabalho! Parabéns, como já comentei contigo, você sabe como contar uma história. Com detalhes e uma edição primorosa, bem documentado. Mais uma vez, parabéns!
Muito obrigado pelas palavras inspiradoras, Eduardo! Abraço!!
Pareces português, Parabéns pela história detalhada. Visto de um cinquentão que tinham um Philips PC 8088, descobriu o LSL1 que tentou acabar e andou à procura de um "code" a meio do jogo (muitos jogos tinham algo de protecção anti-pirataria básica como uma code sheet) e depois se meteu pelo KQ3 que era genial, ainda com um monitor Hercules, depois CGA e depois wooooooooo EGA/VGA.. foram tempos épicos. Quando saiu o LSL2 e 3 (o da Patty?) papei-os logo , bem como os PQ e SQ ( o janitor era de ir às lágrimas, piadas sobre o Espaço hilariantes)...depois Quest for Glory, até Phantasmagoria. Acho que só não joguei os Gabriel. Acho que consegui até fazer sair o som MIDI deste "Quests" e fazê-lo tocar no meusintetizador Korg X3.
A Sierra foi uma companheirona do entertenimento nos anos 80 e 90.
Muito Obrigado pelas memórias
#clap
#thank
#bye
Sim, sou tuga ;) Obrigado eu por partilhares todas essas tuas memórias e experiência na época! :) Adorei saber! Grande abraço!
I'm so glad that I watched this twice as there is so much content and lots of really interesting facts in this epic episode. You should be very proud of your achievement here. I hope metal jesus rocks watches this having worked for this company. Well done.
Much appreciated, Jim!
my first pc (used) came with a few sierra games, space quest 1 and 2, goldrush, police quest. oh god i feel like a boomer
Whatever people may think of them now in 2020, growing up in the early 90s, KQVI was one of my favourite games, along with the first two Monkey Island's.
Just like me. Those are included on my video related to my 10 favorite point 'n click games ever made ;)
Grande qualidade como sempre amigo, óptimo vídeo. Abraço 👏🏻👏🏻
Muito obrigado, Marisa! :)
Awesome and unbeatable content, amazing video 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you so much 😀
Doc extraordinário! Muito obrigado pelo conteúdo de altíssima qualidade!
Obrigado eu! Grande abraço!
Why does every photo of Ken Williams look like someone just said to him, "Hey, Roberta is really, really hot!"?! He looks so angry! Ha ha!