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 in the late 1990's. Sierra now only exists as a label - as the entire Sierra staff was layed off and the Sierra building was closed. It is doubtful that Vivendi Universal 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.


Sierra produced many adventures like the [[King's Quest series]] with the [[AGI]] (Adventure Game Interpreter) engine.
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 ==
There were several games that used some parts of the AGI engine, before it was mature enough (integrated from TrollVM):
* [[Dragon's Keep]] (1982)
* [[The Dark Crystal|The Gelfling Adventure]] (1983) (Simplified remake of The Dark Crystal, aimed at younger audiences)
* [[Troll's Tale]] (1983)
* [[Mickey's Space Adventure]] (1984)
* [[Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood]] (1984)
== AGI ==
* [[King's Quest]] (1984)
* [[King's Quest]] (1984)
* [[King's Quest II]] (1985)
* [[King's Quest II]] (1985)
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* [[King's Quest III]] (1986)
* [[King's Quest III]] (1986)
* [[Space Quest]] (1986)
* [[Space Quest]] (1986)
* [[Christmas Card 1986]] (1986)
* [[AGI Demo]] (1987 through 1988)
* [[Leisure Suit Larry]] (1987)
* [[Leisure Suit Larry]] (1987)
* [[Mixed-Up Mother Goose]] (1987)
* [[Mixed-Up Mother Goose]] (1987)
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* [[Manhunter 2]] (1989)
* [[Manhunter 2]] (1989)


Starting in 1988, adventure game development switched to the more versatile SCI (Sierra's Creative Interpreter) engine. ScummVM does not support these games.
== 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.
 
* [[King's Quest IV]] (1988 - SCI remake)
* [[Christmas Card 1988]] (1988)
* [[Leisure Suit Larry 2]] (1988)
* [[Space Quest III]] (1988)
* [[Astro Chicken]] (1988 - from Space Quest III)
* [[Quest for Glory]] / Hero's Quest (1989)
* [[Police Quest II]] (1989)
* [[Leisure Suit Larry 3]] (1989)
* [[Laura Bow: The Colonel's Bequest]] (1989)
* [[Codename: ICEMAN]] (1989)
* [[Hoyle's Official Book of Games: Volume 1]] (1989)
* [[Christmas Card 1990: The Seasoned Professional]] (1990)
* [[Conquests of Camelot]] (1990)
* [[Hoyle's Official Book of Games: Volume 2]] (1990)
* [[Mixed-Up Mother Goose]] (1990 - SCI remake)
* [[King's Quest|King's Quest I]] (1990 - SCI remake)
* [[Quest for Glory II]] (1990)
* [[King's Quest V]] (1990)
* [[Jones in the Fast Lane]] (1991)
* [[Leisure Suit Larry|Leisure Suit Larry 1]] (1991 - SCI remake)
* [[Leisure Suit Larry 5]] (1991)
* [[EcoQuest]] (1991)
* [[Mixed-Up Fairy Tales]] (1991)
* [[Police Quest III]] (1991)
* [[Space Quest]] (1991 - SCI remake)
* [[Space Quest IV]] (1991)
* [[Castle of Dr. Brain]] (1991)
* [[Fun Seeker's Guide to Eastern Madera County]] (1991)
* [[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: Parlor Games with Laura Bow]] (1992)
* [[Crazy Nick's Software Picks: Robin Hood's Game of Skill and Chance]] (1992)
* [[Crazy Nick's Software Picks: Roger Wilco's Spaced Out Game Pack]] (1992)
* [[Crazy Nick's Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry Casino]] (1992)
* [[Hoyle's Official Book of Games: Volume 3]] (1992)
* [[Police Quest]] (1992 - SCI remake)
* [[Conquests of the Longbow]] (1992)
* [[Christmas Card 1992]] (1992)
* [[The Island of Dr. Brain]] (1992)
* [[King's Quest VI]] (1992)
* [[The Dagger of Amon Ra]] (1992)
* [[Quest for Glory III]] (1992)
* [[EcoQuest II]] (1993)
* [[Hoyle Classic Card Games]] (1993)
* [[Slater & Charlie Go Camping]] (1993)
* [[Freddy Pharkas]] (1993)
* [[Pepper's Adventures in Time]] (1993)
* [[Space Quest V]] (1993)
* [[Leisure Suit Larry 6]] (1993)
* [[Gabriel Knight]] (1993)
* [[Police Quest IV]] (1993)
* [[Quest for Glory IV]] (1993)
* [[King's Quest VII]] (1994)
* [[Inside The Chest]] (1994)
* [[Behind the Developers' Shield]] (1994)
* [[King's Questions]] (1994)
* [[Hoyle Classic Games]] (1995)
* [[Phantasmagoria]] (1995)
* [[The Beast Within]] (1995)
* [[Shivers]] (1995)
* [[Space Quest 6]] (1995)
* [[Torin's Passage]] (1995)
* [[Police Quest: SWAT]] (1995)
* [[Hoyle Bridge]] (1996)
* [[Hoyle Children's Collection]] (1996)
* [[Hoyle Solitaire]] (1996)
* [[Leisure Suit Larry 7]] (1996)
* [[Lighthouse]] (1996)
* [[Phantasmagoria II]] (1996)
* [[RAMA]] (1996)
* [[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]].


==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]]

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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