Not All Fairy Tales Have Happy Endings: The rise and fall of Sierra On-Line

by Ken Williams

Overview

Sierra On-Line was one of the very first computer game companies and at one time dominated the industry. The author, Ken Williams, founded Sierra On-Line Sierra with his wife Roberta who went on to create many of the company's best selling games. Sierra grew from just Ken and Roberta to over one thousand employees and a fan base that still exists today, despite the fact that the company was torn apart by criminal activities, scandal and corruption that resulted in jail sentences and the collapse of Sierra. This is the behind-the-scenes story of the rise and fall, as it could only be told by the ultimate insider.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781716727368
Publisher:	Lulu.com
Publication date:	07/24/2020
Pages:	410
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.84(d)

Table of Contents

Prologue ,Chapter 1: (1979) Happy Endings ,Chapter 2: (1960-1970) Growing Up: The Younger Years ,Chapter 3: (1971) Growing Up: Ken Goes to College,Chapter 4: (1971) Growing up: Ken Meets a Girl ,Chapter 5: (1972-1973) Growing Up: Ken Gets an Education ,Chapter 6: (1973-1979) The Days Before Sierra ,Chapter 7: (1979) Roberta Has An Excellent Idea ,Chapter 8: (1980) Roberta Gives Birth (And, It's a Game AND a Company!) ,Chapter 9: Let's Talk About Letters ,Chapter 10: (1980) A Brief Flirtation with Software Distribution ,Chapter 11: (1980) Wouldn't It Be Cool to Live in The Mountains? ,Chapter 12: (1980) Color Makes It Better ,Chapter 13: How To Be A Software Engineer ,Chapter 14: (1981) Crazy Times, Lawyers, Hackers and a Hot Tub ,Chapter 15: Sierra's Unique Marketing Strategy ,Chapter 16: (1982) Venture Capital and The Board Meeting From Hell,Chapter 17: Short Takes ,Chapter 18: (1983) King's Quest and the PCJr ,Chapter 19: Roberta and Licensed Properties ,Chapter 20: (1983) Cartoon Time ,Chapter 21: Product Strategy ,Chapter 22: (1987) Sierra Goes Public ,Chapter 23: Memories of Meetings With Industry Titans ,Chapter 24: (1989) The Sierra Network ,Chapter 25: Managing Growth ,Chapter 26: (1991) Merging with Broderbund? ,Chapter 27: So, You Want to Be a Game Developer? ,Chapter 28: (1992) Chief Daryl F. Gates and SWAT ,Chapter 29: How I Picked Sierra's Designers ,Chapter 30: (1992) Doomed ,Chapter 31: (1993) Sierra Moves To Seattle ,Chapter 32: (1994) Outpost ,Chapter 33: Working with Family and Friends ,Chapter 34: (1995) A Multiplayer Adventure Game? ,Chapter 35: (1995) Phantasmagoria ,Chapter 36: (1996) Half-Life ,Chapter 37: (1996) Selling the Company ,Chapter 38: (1997) The Aftermath of The Merger ,Chapter 39: (1998) The Ship Hits An Iceberg ,Chapter 40: (1998) King's Quest 8: Mask of Eternity ,Chapter 41: (1998) The End and Saying Goodbye ,Chapter 42: Epilogue ,Chapter 43: Why did I Write This Book? ,Appendix A: Other Books about Sierra ,Appendix B: Timeline ,Appendix C: Sierra Subsidiaries ,Appendix D: Sierra Firsts ,Appendix E: Acknowledgments ,Appendix F: Image Attributions and Licensing ,Appendix G: Pages from the Kings Quest 8 Design ,Index