Ken and Roberta Williams created Sierra On-Line in 1979 with their first graphical adventure game for the Apple II compute "Mystery House". From these humble beginnings the world opened up for them and with games such as Police Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry and Kings Quest, Sierra rocketed to the top of the charts and became one of the biggest game publishers in the world.
Today we meet Ken and discuss those early days, and find out a little more about his history and his exciting new game.
🏆 Support RMC
Time is the most valuable thing we have. Patrons create a reliable monthly income that allows to give my all to this channel. If you'd like to support this, and help me make it the very best I can then please visit:
● Support the Sponsors of The Cave
MonsterJoysticks: https://monsterjoysticks.com
1ClickPrint: https://www.1clickprint.com#RMC
●Chapters
00:20 Intro to Ken Williams
01:05 How Ken Williams got into computers
02:57 Ken Williams ambitions as a young man
05:23 Was Ken Williams a geek like us
07:36 Did Ken Williams play games?
08:28 On Ken and Roberta's Apple II
09:34 The inspiration for Mystery House
13:34 Did Ken want to sell more serious software?
14:22 Does Ken have an Apple I?
18:33 The Videogame crash
20:55 Offering royalities to designers
23:10 "Ken Sent Me" & Leisure Suit Larry 4
25:50 Sierra's deal with IBM for Kings Quest
31:12 What is Ken Williams favourite Kings Quest
34:12 Ken Williams on the quality of his big box games
37:30 What is the perfect Sierra game?
38:56 What is it like working with Disney?
41:02 How do you stay ahead in the games industry?
45:53 What Quest games did Sierra never release?
48:05 The demise of Sierra
54:05 Ken Williams on his new game
● Subscribe
Please take a moment to subscribe to the channel
● Episode Links
Kens new game: https://kensgame.com
Kens book: https://kensbook.com
Robertas Book: https://robertasbook.com
● Join me on social media
Twitter: https://twitter.com
● Come and chat on the RMC chat server
Discord: https://discord.gg
●RMC Merch Shop for RMC books, posters, mugs, and a whole lot more
● RMC Podcasts
Enjoy my Podcasts with your favourite app using the links here:
Retro Tea Break - https://audioboom.com
This Week in Retro - https://anchor.fm
#GameDev #Interview #RetroGaming