Difference between revisions of "Sierra"

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'''Sierra''' is a video game company founded by Ken and Roberta Williams.
'''Sierra''' is a video game company founded in 1979, as On-Line Systems, by Ken and Roberta Williams.


The company built it's reputation as a company for excellent graphic adventures beginning in the early 1980s, and continued until it was purchased by Vivendi Universal (now known as Vivendi SA) in the late 1990's. Sierra now only exists as a label - as the entire Sierra staff was laid off and the Sierra building was closed. It is doubtful that Vivendi will produce any more adventure games.
The company built its reputation as a company for excellent graphic adventures beginning in 1980. They only published one fully text adventure, ''[[Softporn Adventure]]'', in 1981.


The adventure games created with Sierra's [[AGI|Adventure Game Interpreter]] (and it's predecessors) are implemented in ScummVM using the code base from the Sarien and [http://trollvm.sourceforge.net/ TrollVM] projects. The adventure games created with [[SCI|Sierra's Creative Interpreter]] are implemented in ScummVM using the code base from the FreeSCI project. All of them were done with permission obtained from the original authors of those projects.
They also became well-known as a publisher, publishing games such as the original release of ''[[Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress]]''.


They continued to develop graphic adventures even after Sierra was sold to [[CUC Software International|CUC International]] in 1996.  In December 1997, CUC International merged with HFS Incorporated to become the Cendant Corporation.  After the Cendant book-cooking scandal in 1998, Sierra was sold to Havas S.A, which was purchased by Vivendi (renamed Vivendi Universal in 2000 and now known as Vivendi SA) the same year.  Sierra stopped producing adventure games in 1999. 
Vivendi merged with [[Activision]] (forming Activision-Blizzard) in 2008, the entire Sierra staff was laid off, the Sierra building was closed, and the Sierra label was retired. Activision, who became an independent company in 2013 after they purchased Vivendi's share of the Activision Blizzard stock, brought back the Sierra label to publish games developed by independent game developers, for both original games and games developed based on the Sierra game licenses.
Sierra's earliest games were created with the [[ADL|Adventure Development Language]], and were known as the ''Hi-Res Adventure'' series.  The adventure games created with Sierra's [[AGI|Adventure Game Interpreter]] (and its predecessors) are implemented in ScummVM using the codebase from the [[AGIWiki/Sarien|Sarien]] and [http://web.archive.org/web/20080229125319/http://trollvm.sourceforge.net/ TrollVM] projects. The adventure games created with [[SCI|Sierra's Creative Interpreter]] are implemented in ScummVM using the codebase from the [[SCI/FreeSCI|FreeSCI]] project. All of them were done with permission obtained from the original authors of those projects.
== ADL ==
* Hi-Res Adventure #0 - [[Mission Asteroid]] (1980) (Released after Mystery House and Wizard and the Princess)
* Hi-Res Adventure #1 - [[Mystery House]] (1980)
* Hi-Res Adventure #2 - [[Wizard and the Princess|Wizard and the Princess/Adventure in Serenia]] (1980)
* Hi-Res Adventure #3 - [[Cranston Manor]] (1981)
* Hi-Res Adventure #4 - [[Ulysses and the Golden Fleece]] (1981)
* Hi-Res Adventure #5 - [[Time Zone]] (1982)
* Hi-Res Adventure #6 - [[The Dark Crystal]] (1983)


== PreAGI ==
== PreAGI ==
There were several games that used some parts of the AGI engine, before it was mature enough (see [http://trollvm.sourceforge.net/ TrollVM]):
There were several games that used some parts of the AGI engine, before it was mature enough (integrated from TrollVM):
* [[Dragon's Keep]] (1982)
* [[Dragon's Keep]] (1982)
* [[The Gelfling Adventure]] (1983)
* [[The Dark Crystal|The Gelfling Adventure]] (1983) (Simplified remake of The Dark Crystal, aimed at younger audiences)
* [[Troll's Tale]] (1983)
* [[Troll's Tale]] (1983)
* [[Mickey's Space Adventure]] (1984)
* [[Mickey's Space Adventure]] (1984)
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* [[King's Quest IV]] (1988)
* [[King's Quest IV]] (1988)
* [[Manhunter]] (1988)
* [[Manhunter]] (1988)
* [[Seasons Greetings From Tandy]] AKA AGI Demo for Radio Shack (1988)
* [[Manhunter 2]] (1989)
* [[Manhunter 2]] (1989)


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* [[Leisure Suit Larry 3]] (1989)
* [[Leisure Suit Larry 3]] (1989)
* [[Laura Bow: The Colonel's Bequest]] (1989)
* [[Laura Bow: The Colonel's Bequest]] (1989)
* [[Codename: Iceman]] (1989)
* [[Codename: ICEMAN]] (1989)
* [[Hoyle's Official Book of Games: Volume 1]] (1989)
* [[Hoyle's Official Book of Games: Volume 1]] (1989)
* [[Christmas Card 1990: The Seasoned Professional]] (1990)
* [[Christmas Card 1990: The Seasoned Professional]] (1990)
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* [[Space Quest IV]] (1991)
* [[Space Quest IV]] (1991)
* [[Castle of Dr. Brain]] (1991)
* [[Castle of Dr. Brain]] (1991)
* [[The Fun Seeker's Guide to Eastern Madera County]] (1991)
* [[Fun Seeker's Guide to Eastern Madera County]] (1991)
* [[Ms. Astro Chicken]] (1991 - from Space Quest IV)
* [[Ms. Astro Chicken]] (1991 - from Space Quest IV)
* [[Crazy Nick's Software Picks: King Graham's Board Game Challenge]] (1992)
* [[Crazy Nick's Software Picks: King Graham's Board Game Challenge]] (1992)
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* [[Quest for Glory III]] (1992)
* [[Quest for Glory III]] (1992)
* [[EcoQuest II]] (1993)
* [[EcoQuest II]] (1993)
* [[Hoyle Classic Card Games]] (1993)
* [[Slater & Charlie Go Camping]] (1993)
* [[Slater & Charlie Go Camping]] (1993)
* [[Freddy Pharkas]] (1993)
* [[Freddy Pharkas]] (1993)
* [[Leisure Suit Larry 6]] (1993)
* [[Pepper's Adventures in Time]] (1993)
* [[Pepper's Adventures in Time]] (1993)
* [[Space Quest V]] (1993)
* [[Space Quest V]] (1993)
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* [[Inside The Chest]] (1994)  
* [[Inside The Chest]] (1994)  
* [[Behind the Developers' Shield]] (1994)
* [[Behind the Developers' Shield]] (1994)
* [[The Royal Scribe]] (1994)
* [[King's Questions]] (1994)
* [[King's Quest trivia]] (1994)
* [[Hoyle Classic Games]] (1995)
* [[Phantasmagoria]] (1995)
* [[Phantasmagoria]] (1995)
* [[The Beast Within]] (1995)
* [[The Beast Within]] (1995)
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* [[Torin's Passage]] (1995)
* [[Torin's Passage]] (1995)
* [[Police Quest: SWAT]] (1995)
* [[Police Quest: SWAT]] (1995)
* [[Hoyle Bridge]] (1996)
* [[Hoyle Children's Collection]] (1996)
* [[Hoyle Solitaire]] (1996)
* [[Leisure Suit Larry 7]] (1996)
* [[Leisure Suit Larry 7]] (1996)
* [[Lighthouse]] (1996)
* [[Lighthouse]] (1996)
* [[Phantasmagoria II]] (1996)
* [[Phantasmagoria II]] (1996)
* [[RAMA]] (1996)
* [[RAMA]] (1996)
* [[Shivers 2]] (1997)
* [[Shivers II: Harvest of Souls]] (1997)
* [[Leisure Suit Larry Casino]] (1998)


A version history of Sierra's games can be found under [[Sierra Game Versions]]
A version history of Sierra's games can be found under [[Sierra Game Versions]].


==External links==
==External links==
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Entertainment Wikipedia article on Sierra]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Entertainment Wikipedia article on Sierra]
[https://ultimatepopculture.fandom.com/wiki/Sierra_Entertainment Fandom article on Sierra]


[[Category:Companies]]
[[Category:Companies]]

Latest revision as of 17:04, 12 March 2023

Sierra is a video game company founded in 1979, as On-Line Systems, by Ken and Roberta Williams.

The company built its reputation as a company for excellent graphic adventures beginning in 1980. They only published one fully text adventure, Softporn Adventure, in 1981.

They also became well-known as a publisher, publishing games such as the original release of Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress.

They continued to develop graphic adventures even after Sierra was sold to CUC International in 1996. In December 1997, CUC International merged with HFS Incorporated to become the Cendant Corporation. After the Cendant book-cooking scandal in 1998, Sierra was sold to Havas S.A, which was purchased by Vivendi (renamed Vivendi Universal in 2000 and now known as Vivendi SA) the same year. Sierra stopped producing adventure games in 1999.

Vivendi merged with Activision (forming Activision-Blizzard) in 2008, the entire Sierra staff was laid off, the Sierra building was closed, and the Sierra label was retired. Activision, who became an independent company in 2013 after they purchased Vivendi's share of the Activision Blizzard stock, brought back the Sierra label to publish games developed by independent game developers, for both original games and games developed based on the Sierra game licenses.

Sierra's earliest games were created with the Adventure Development Language, and were known as the Hi-Res Adventure series. The adventure games created with Sierra's Adventure Game Interpreter (and its predecessors) are implemented in ScummVM using the codebase from the Sarien and TrollVM projects. The adventure games created with Sierra's Creative Interpreter are implemented in ScummVM using the codebase from the FreeSCI project. All of them were done with permission obtained from the original authors of those projects.

ADL

PreAGI

There were several games that used some parts of the AGI engine, before it was mature enough (integrated from TrollVM):

AGI

SCI

Starting in 1988, adventure game development switched to the more versatile SCI (Sierra's Creative Interpreter) engine. This new engine is object oriented, contrary to AGI that is procedural.

A version history of Sierra's games can be found under Sierra Game Versions.

External links

Wikipedia article on Sierra

Fandom article on Sierra

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