http://comments.****edcompany.com/fc/phparchives/search.php?search=sierra

This is currently a RUMOR, but I thought the forum might be interested.

Cartman

You will have to replace the **** to get this link to work.

Rumour? VUG announced 350 layoffs from their North American operation. VUG is the parent company of Sierra. Apparently Blizzard are unaffected by the layoffs.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/06/21/news_6101014.html

Originally posted by dogbert
...Apparently Blizzard are unaffected by the layoffs.


So far. Once Worlds of Warcraft is released, though, I'm sure their immunity ends.

-David

Which would be a terrible tragedy... Blizzard is one of the few development houses I really respect as a customer in the industry.

Anthony

Originally posted by Justiciar
Which would be a terrible tragedy... Blizzard is one of the few development houses I really respect as a customer in the industry.

Anthony
Most of the leads (and I'm sure much of the original staff) of the games that people really love from Blizzard (Warcraft 2, Diablo, Starcraft) have since moved on. I'm not sure how similar the current Blizzard is to the one that produced those games.

Really? What about the producers at Blizzard?

Do you know where they have moved on to?

Anthony

http://www.flagshipstudios.com was formed by former Blizzard employees.

> Lionhead:

Ron Millar (lead designer of Starcraft Ghost)
Chris Millar (lead designer of Warcraft 2)

> Flagship Studios:

Bill Roper (Blizzard's ex-vice-president)
Erich Schaefer (Blizzard North co-founder)
Max Schaefer (Blizzard North co-founder)
David Brevik (Blizzard North co-founder)
+ 5 others

> Castaway Entertainment:

Mike Scandizzo (programmer)
Stefan Scandizzo (designer)
+ 7 others

> Ready at Dawn Studios:

Andrea Pessino (senior software engineer)
Ru Weerasiya (senior artist)

> Allen Adham (Blizzard co-founder) left to launch a financial consulting firm

I thought the Millar brothers went to Jaleco. They were definitely the head guys behind "Goblin Commander". Have they already left Jaleco and gone to Lionhead?

Yup, Lionhead made an announcement about it in the past week or so.

Studios shmudios.

Man, it's really about time games started to be known by their authors. I mean, did you go and see Saving Private Ryan and say "Yeah, I like those Dreamworks movies"...

Originally posted by Anthony Flack
Studios shmudios.

Man, it's really about time games started to be known by their authors. I mean, did you go and see Saving Private Ryan and say "Yeah, I like those Dreamworks movies"...

This is one of the IGDA's areas of advocacy. A committee was recently formed; they're working on a whitepaper and a standards proposal. For more info: http://www.igda.org/credit/

Nice one. Imagine if games had the lead designers' names printed prominently on the cover, like you'd see on a movie poster? And prominently displayed at the start of the game? Instead of listed all small at the back of the manual, typically. Imagine if this was actually a prerequisite?

Good for game authors, and good for the game industry too, I reckon. Good for game players as well, who will be able to support their favourite authors, who in turn will feel obliged to maintain a high quality standard.

The problem is one that, in the case of big-budget games, the guy getting the credit is usually the one who's spending most of his time schmoozing and butt-kissing instead of actually working on the game. The guys doing the real work and making the game a success are too %$#^ busy to spend their time trying to grab the spotlight.

Ah, but that's how it is now... this would be a positive shift in the industry which could help to change that.

For example, a film director is far too busy to grab the spotlight when they're busy directing. But then, they don't need to grab the spotlight if their work is fairly credited to them. They just need to do consistently good work.

I believe that games need a strong guiding hand to be great. And certainly if they are to be consistently great. Any spotlight-hugging designer/art lead etc, would surely become quickly known as an attention-seeking slacker who puts out patchy product.

Actually, just thinking about it some more, it seems like this is already the case, anyway.

Thinking of the big names in game design, known for producing consistently good, interesting product, like Shigeru Miyamoto, Peter Molyneux, Will Wright, Sid Meier etc... I haven't worked for any of them so I can only speculate... but it certainly seems to me that they take their work seriously and have a strong guiding hand to the shaping of their products. And it is the quality of their products that they are known for.

Those that get caught up in their own celebrity (John Romero etc) seem to end up damaging their reputations in the long run, when their standards slip.

But the other half of the point is - you can't really spotlight a team, you have to spotlight an individual. A game is a team effort. So you are going to have people unfairly ignored no matter what.

But those guys working "behind the scenes" are usually far more important than the audience / consumer will ever know. The "credits" thing is really just going to help people when they are job-hunting (or hurt people who like to lie on their resume). I don't see it making Jim the tools wizard a household name even amongst the savvy hardcore gamers, in spite of the fact that the game would have never come close to making it to market OR looking / playing as good as it does without his skilled and unique handiwork.

And nor will you see the lighting director on a film become a household name, despite them having an equally important role to fill as Jim...

Film is, of course, equally much a team effort, and all the people involved are highly skilled professionals or they wouldn't be there. But ulitimately, there are still a few key people who are responsible for shaping the product, whose names and reputations are being staked on it, and whose vision it is that all the other people working on the project are trying to realise.

This is what Sierra did in some of their adventures wasn't it?

Like for instance, I still remember that the guy doing the Larry's was Al something. And SpaceQuest was done by the ehhhm Andromeda brothers (I can't spell their real names).

Two Guys From Andromeda. And the KQ's were Roberta's, and the QFG's were Lori and Corey Cole...

The Two Guys also showed up as game characters, so they were hard to miss. Beyond that, it's hard to say if I know these names because of Sierra policies of promoting them or because I was a total fangirl.

Mention Jane Jensen near an adventure board and heads spin around, hoping for a new game. :)

Cool, you know!!! :)

Does anybody know whatever happened to those guys? Are they all retired and living the good life sort of thing now or are they still answering fan mail at Sierra.

---

Maybe the magic ingredient is to make yourself appear in your own game. So, how about it Anthony, will there be a Clay version of you in Cletus?

Actually, come to think of it, what I did in my first game was to take a picture of me (and the graphics artist) as a child, make it more cartoonish and put it into the credits screen. That was quite a funny sort of an effect actually. I won't do it again though... Promise! ;)

So, how about it Anthony, will there be a Clay version of you in Cletus?


Cletus is a clay version of me, dagnabbit! Now where's my shootin' iron?

Here's what your looking for KoekTromL:

Ken and Roberta Williams site
http://www.sierragamers.com/

Al Lowe
http://www.allowe.com/

On Ken's site, he answers alot of questions from fans about the early years. Its a great history lesson of Sierra.

I've had a few email conversations with Al Lowe. He's a really nice guy and I always liked his sense of humor.

Originally posted by Cartman
Here's what your looking for KoekTromL:

I've had a few email conversations with Al Lowe. He's a really nice guy and I always liked his sense of humor.

Thanks for the links, I'll go check 'em out!
Talking to Al Lowe, how cool is that!

@Anthony:
:)

With regards to the shootin' iron:
Shoot first, and whatever you hit, call it the target.

KoekTromL ducks...