SierraVault

[Caliburn]

While looking at the AdventureGamers main page, a recent forum post caught my eye.  It seems a fan has posted several scans of Sierra's Interaction Magazine and its predecessors.  That in itself isn't new: one of the old Quest Studios members, runderwo, was as far as I know a pioneer in this and put some scans up here many years ago.  In the time since then there's also been similar projects at SierraGamers here and at SpaceQuest.net here.

But when I hopped over to this latest site, SierraVault, it looked noticeably more extensive than purely Interaction scans.  Try clicking on some of the other sections (Articles, Catalogs, Audio/Video...) and you'll see what I mean.  Has this site been around awhile and I just never heard of it?  (I am extremely out of touch with the Sierra fan scene these days, except for this site.)

If not, and it is new, I thought it worth bringing to your attention.  Happy nostalgia fest!

-Luke

[Tom]

I never heard of the site before, but it sure is interesting.  Quite an extensive collection of classic memorabilia.  He dates back a few years before me, too.  Interesting bio.  It wasn't until 1986 that I ever used a PC Jr., and my first game was Star Trek: The Kobayashi Alternative ... a text adventure, not a Sierra game.

[Ari]

Wow! this is one hell of a collection!
Thanks for the mention, Caliburn

[Andy_Roark]

Hello guys,

Thanks very much for the link and the traffic.  I'm glad you guys are enjoying SierraVault.

I've only been working on the site for a few weeks so you were pretty quick to the party.  I've kept track of the Sierra fan community over the last ten years or so but have been pretty occupied with personal endeavors.  Now that I'm getting a bit more settled I realized there were some pretty decent sized holes in what Sierra history and content had been put up on the Internet.  In looking around at my collection I realized I had a lot of stuff that had never really been "put out there", starting with the InterAction magazine scans and a lot of the early to mid 1980s articles and reviews. 

I've always learned things by doing them and as a hardware engineer I really don't have a good foundation in programming - web or otherwise.  The whole thing made creating and maintaining a webpage a pretty good learning project and it gives me something to do with my evening hours.  The end result is that I'll be continuing to scan and update SierraVault until I get all of this stuff up there.  Beyond that I'm hoping SierraVault will serve as a place where people can send and get some of their classic Sierra treasures out to everyone else.

QuestStudios is a great page - I've had it in my bookmarks for years.  I've been one of those silent leachers that has pulled down the music as you put it up and enjoyed the heck out of listening to the old game classics.  Keep up the good work!

Andy
Webmaster
SierraVault.com

[Tom]

It's quite an impressive archive of Sierra information you've acquired -- a lot of which I wasn't familiar with.  If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to link to your site from my information page.  As most QuestStudios old-timers know, I rarely place links to anyone's site from mine.  But I find your collection a valuable resource for Sierra fans...

[Andy_Roark]

Tom,

I'd be honored.  I've got big plans for the site and then even bigger plans for the material once I get it fully archived.  In the end making sure that all of this material and history does not get lost is the responsibility of the fans and my hope is that sites like yours and mine will pull together enough of that history so that the relevance can still be seen by someone who wasn't a fan at the time.

If that doesn't happen at least they can get really big, obnoxious scans of the inside left cover of The Black Cauldron game box!

Andy

[Andy_Roark]

Big work over at SierraVault over the weekend - most notable was a move to it's own domain to take advantage of some better webservice offering the company I use had.

I apologize for any inconvience but the best way to reach the site is a direct link to www.sierravault.com or http://sierra.gracenroark.net/.  I've got a placeholder page up where the old page was with a link in case anyone gets lost 

A reader stepped up and has scanned most of InterAction Volume 7, Number 2 and it's up and available for download now.  I also spent a good bit of time working on box cover scans and that section of the site is filling up as well.  Probably the coolest file from the weekend was an appendix I scanned from a 1988 issue of PCGames Magazine that showed "all" of the computer games available at the time (to the best of their ability) dating back to the early 80s.  It's under the "Sierra Articles" section and year 1988.

Once again, thanks for the linkage and I hope you enjoy the site.

Andy

[Caliburn]

For some reason that 1988 Buyer's Guide reminds me of some of my earliest computer store trips to Egghead Software.  I remember looking through a list sort of like this at one of those and being simultaneously bored (I was pretty young and did not like the store because it was very stuffy feeling* and dominated by "useful" software) and covetous (so many games in the list!).  But from an admittedly very brief Google search, I didn't find any evidence of Egghead keeping an inventory or catalog list out in the sales area, so I suppose it could have been a magazine like this one that I was looking at.

A few years later, I would love visiting stores like Babbages, Software, Etc., Electronics Boutique--and my personal favorite, SoftWarehouse (it hadn't yet became CompUSA, though it would soon), which had the best bargain bins around, chock full of Sierra goodness among other things, not to mention the floorspace to hold multiple displays of different games using the latest and greatest hardware.

It's neat to see random old titles listed in the article that due to their obscurity (deserved or undeserved) I don't normally hear about, like Matterhorn Screamer (ah, the joys of getting Goofy to climb the Matterhorn with finicky keyboard controls) and The Last Ninja (one of my uncle's games that I used to play).


* Maybe Tom or someone can help me out here, because I was quite young as I say, but I remember it having more like a very small showroom-floor feeling, with tables rather than shelves, and sales people hovering about, and I imagine that's what felt stuffy to me as a kid.

-Luke

[Andy_Roark]

Where were you?  The situation you are describing sounds amazingly like the setup I had.

I grew up in Georgia and the Egghead software was in Marietta, Georgia.  You are right with Egghead - they had one or maybe two aisles of computer games with the occasional wall display of some theme (usually a Sierra wall).  Everything else in the place was productivity.

Right down the road from Egghead was a place called MicroCenter (which is actually still there).  They got it in a big way.  One whole side of the sales floor was dedicated to gaming software.  They actually hung the games on the wall with the stick-on rack holders and I remember being able to look down the wall of the room and seeing hundreds of games, hung floor to ceiling.  My copy of Zak McKraken still has the tear on the back of the box from where I tore off the wall hanger (it drove me nuts at the time but now I smile about it remembering).  There were also stacks on tables all around the place.  Looking back I'm sure the setup was much, much smaller than I remember (kinda like your elementary school when you go back and wander around) but MAN it made an impression at the time.

Andy

[Caliburn]

For the trips to Egghead, if I recall correctly, it was when we lived in Bellevue, Washington from 1988-1989, but we were in Florida before that and I suppose it could have been there if Egghead had spread that far that early.  To be honest, I remember zip about the location, only the experience inside, and even that memory I suspect has had the gaps filled in by imagination or had the proportions thrown out of whack or whatever it is that seems to happen to childhood memories over time.  I was six in 1988.

For all the others, it was the northwest suburbs of Chicago from the remainder of 1989 on--so the SoftWarehouse/CompUSA, for example, was in Schaumburg, IL.  Babbages, Software, Etc., and Electronics Boutique were in various indoor malls around the area.  I said "a few years later," but I guess that was a sloppy and misleading statement, because unless I'm wrong and the Egghead was in Florida we would've started visiting these stores shortly after the move to Chicago.  I was thinking of the "center" of my computer game buying golden age, so to speak, rather than its beginning.

I envy all of you who were savvy to LucasArts that early.  I was a Sierra person and amazingly oblivious to LucasArts until much later (circa Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis).  Even my Sierra dedication didn't start until I bought King's Quest III, at which point King's Quest IV was already out*, so I was a bit behind.  Until that it was a lot of stuff my parents had that was either shareware or freeware, and some (mostly lame) commercial games like the aforementioned Matterhorn Screamer, its partner The Chase on Tom Sawyer's Island, Moptown Parade (cutely dopey booter educational software, check it out), a Yogi Bear game where Boo was missing, etc.  I did love these two old booter games called Snooper Troops 1 & 2 (see here) and also Scott Adams' QuestProbe Spider-Man text adventure game (with static graphics).

Edit: What happened to your little personal story on the website?  I can't seem to find it since your update.

Edit 2: * Actually, it looks like the disk version of King's Quest V would've been out at this time, too.  I probably didn't pay it much mind because it would have been new and therefore expensive.  My mom kept a paper log book of my allowance (rather than directly giving me money) and it increased in small enough increments that I had an idea of frugality.  When I started babysitting in 1995 and therefore had more money available, I would catch up on a lot of games I had missed from earlier.  Anyway, what I specifically remember is being at KB Toys in Gurnee Mills and having to decide between KQ2, KQ3 and KQ4.  KQ2 and 3 were on clearance, and 4 was a little more expensive but manageable.  I really wanted KQ1 simply because it was first, but they didn't have it, so KQ3 won out for two reasons: One, KQ2 talked about King Graham as if he was from the first game, whereas KQ3 clearly had a different character in the screenshots, so that appealed more to my sequential fears.  Two, a kid at my church had described to me the pirate ship stuff in KQ3 and it sounded cool.  Sometime later, after I had also played KQ4, I would finally get to play KQ1 when I found the SCI0 remake at Radio Shack.

-Luke

[Tom]

The Egghead in Detroit's "Fairlane Mall" wasn't like you guys are describing.  It was like a 'bookstore' with a big game section, and most notably, a smaller section devoted to Sierra.  I spent a lot of time there in those days -- there, and at "Software, etc."  There were also a few smaller computer stores around Detroit that sold the first Sierra 3D adventure titles.

Guess I'd better get started updating the links on my site....

[Andy_Roark]

I stumbled into Lucasarts - mostly because they had a really good advertising group.  The marketed Zak McKraken as a "Sierra type" adventure game which was all my thirteen or fourteen year old brain needed to hear.  I'm trying to remember which year it was but Sierra came up goose egg one Christmas as far as new offerings went (1988 maybe?).  Whatever games they put out that year had been much earlier in the year and my parents had realized that if they didn't want to watch me go apenuts crazy for months on end we would work to get the game at about the time it came out.  Whatever year it was I ended up with Zak McKraken, Manaic Mansion and MS Flight Simulator 3 under the tree.  

I waffled on putting the "About Me" section back up at the new site.  I've still got it and I'm trying to think of the best way to approach the section.  I hate "look at the glory of me" parts of webpages and I'm not by nature a real outgoing guy so....   I think I want to figure out a better way to present that sort of content that focuses on readers and contributors instead of just me.  There are lots of Sierra fans left around and I'd like to give people a place to show off their collection, talk about what they remember, etc.  If I can get enough of those sort of contributions I may sneak my "about me" section back in as part of that whole.

Now for the funny of the day:  if you downloaded that computer game list I highlighted on the webpage turn to next to the last page.  My twelve or thirteen year old brain was marking the games I wanted and it appears that "Dr. Ruth's Game of Good Sex" made the cut.  I was a little horrified last night when I realized I had scanned that and put it up on the Internet but I finally throught "what the heck?  Everyone is twelve at some point?"

Andy

EDIT:  Sorry about jacking up the link Tom.  SierraVault won't be moving again.

[Caliburn]

The Egghead in Detroit's "Fairlane Mall" wasn't like you guys are describing.  It was like a 'bookstore' with a big game section, and most notably, a smaller section devoted to Sierra.

Hmm, when you say "like a bookstore" do you mean that they carried computer books?  Because that would square with my vague impressions--at the time I would have lumped "useful" books in with "useful" software under the category of Things I Wasn't Interested In.

But if by "like a bookstore" you mean it was set up like a bookstore in layout and feel, then yeah, that does sound a bit different.  Either this shows I am remembering wrong (which is quite possible), or the difference is because of the regional difference.  Some cursory research suggests that Egghead started in Washington state, so maybe some of those original locations near me had a different setup than the chain stores across the country?  I dunno.  It's hard to find pictures on the Internet.

I waffled on putting the "About Me" section back up at the new site.  I've still got it and I'm trying to think of the best way to approach the section.

Well, making a section for people to post recollections seems like a fine idea, but in the meantime I see no reason for you to pull your own memory down, unless you really don't want to share it.  It didn't come across to me as attention-seeking: everyone has a motivation for what they do, and that's just a snapshot of your motivation for the site.  I think it makes the site feel more approachable, if anything.

Now for the funny of the day:  if you downloaded that computer game list I highlighted on the webpage turn to next to the last page.  My twelve or thirteen year old brain was marking the games I wanted and it appears that "Dr. Ruth's Game of Good Sex" made the cut.  I was a little horrified last night when I realized I had scanned that and put it up on the Internet but I finally throught "what the heck?  Everyone is twelve at some point?"

Hah.  Yeah, it is weird reading things like Compute magazine as a kid and finding adult software ads in the back.  Or even just being in a store and seeing LSL3 or Spellcasting 101 on the shelves.

-Luke

[Andy_Roark]

Good enough   Your comments from this morning had me already thinking about it and I think I'd like to move toward putting that section up.  Thanks for the push - I figured no one would even notice the "about me" was gone.  At the same time I really would like to gather more of that type of personal statement/experience stories from people.  Are you game?  Write something up and shoot it my way and I'll be very happy to have some company.  The other thing I'm really hot on getting my hands on are any pictures that might be around - the pictures from Christmas morning when you got the games, childhood pictures playing the games where you had a mullet and parachute pants, all of that kind of embarrassing stuff.  I've got a few and I'll be putting those up but I'd really like the personal sierra history of some of the fans to get on record as well.

Talking about the software stores:  one of the most amazing parts of scanning in all of this Sierra stuff has been finding all of the Babbage's recepits in the game manuals.  I was old enough to have a job in the 94-96 range when Sierra went crazy with publishing and I swear I think I spent more money on software those two years than I make today.  I have no idea where I was getting all of that cash since I was working at Kroger as a bag boy but MAN I managed to lay down some cash on computer games.  Up until that point I always had to beg for software but once I got my own paycheck I went a little crazy.  I stumbled across one receipt in there where I had bought five games at one time (the total bill was over $200).  FIVE.  GAMES.  AT.  ONCE.  All Sierra.  Man I miss the good ol days....

Andy

[Caliburn]

Now that I'm back in town after a trip to Maryland this past week, sure, I will put my money where my mouth is and write a brief Sierra reminiscence for you.   I don't have any Sierra-related pictures that I know of, however.

-Luke

[robbo007]

Nice site. You should also add photos from the insides of the boxes, all the goodies and all that. 

[Andy_Roark]

Robbo,

Go back and check - I've been doing exactly that.

I'm working through the existing pages and added scans of the materials from inside the boxes including the manuals.  There won't be pictures - I'm afraid my collection isn't in the sort of "collectible" condition that would make for good pictures.

Right now I've added contents from the major series games (excepting Gabriel Knight).

Caliburn,

I'm looking forward to getting your write-up!  Email it to alinnenkohl@fusemail.com

I've been a little light on updates this week (I'm in the last two weeks of this semester of grad school and am getting torn up at work) but updates should resume shortly.

Andy

[Andy_Roark]

Normally I wouldn't pimp my own thread on someone else's forum but....

A reader sent in a DVD full of excellent scans of the Sierra published hint books from their early games.  Most of the books are the "hidden text" variety that required a red view finder for the answers to be read.  The reader who sent them in, Vasyl, worked until he found a way to scan the pages as if they were being viewed through one of the viewfinder and the pages have all been scanned twice: once normally so you can read the question and a second time in the alternate method so the answer can be read.  The final PDFs contain both versions of the pages and are very readable and usable.  In total there are 51 and they are available for download individually or in a full archive at this location:

http://sierra.gracenroark.net/index.php?pr=Hint_Books

While I had nothing what-so-ever to do with scanning these I am very, very proud to be hosting the files at SierraVault for general consumption. 

Andy

[robbo007]

Very cool.

[Andy_Roark]

Below is a link farm I've been posting in and around the Sierra web community.  I wanted to also say that most of my traffic at this point is coming directly from Quest Studios.  Thanks to everyone here again for the early bump to SierraVault's credibility!

...

Hello all. It's been a while since I've updated this forum on SierraVault's progress so I wanted to point out the update highlights over at SierraVault ( http://sierra.gracenroark.net/ )in the last couple of months. I've been working pretty hard to archive a lot of the game specific files (manuals, box covers and contents) and I've had several big submissions from readers as well. All in all I felt a brief 'look at me!' post was justified for those of you who might have forgotten about 'the new Sierra site' and aren't checking me on a regular basis yet.

First things first. You can access my update log here ( http://gracenroark.net/roark/sierraboard/viewforum.php?f=23 ).

Sierra Newsletter, News Magazine and InterAction scans
http://sierra.gracenroark.net/index.php?pr=InterAction

A reader, DaveJustDave, has mailed me two issues of InterAction magazine and the Sierra/Dynamix News Magazine. This now brings the total missing issues number down to six and the number of available issues for download to 32. Right now there is a slightly outdated '.zip' archive of the issues available as well as individual downloads of each issue. At some point this weekend I'll be updating the .zip to include all of the issues.

If anyone is interested, the missing issues at this point are:
Sierra Newsletter Volume 1, Number 1
Sierra Newsletter Volume 1, Number 3
InterAction Volume 5, Number 3 (Fall 1992) King's Quest 6
InterAction Volume 6, Number 4 (Spring 1994) Gabriel Knight 1
InterAction Volume 8, Number 1 (Spring 1995) Twisty Brained Kid
InterAction Volume 10, Number 4 (Holiday 1997) Lords of Magic

If you have a copy of any of these issues, please contact me at alinnenkohl@fusemail.com and we'll work out a way to get them scanned and uploaded. Several of my readers have sent in items to me for scanning and I've started a thread on my forum so the readers can report back the reliability of getting their items back from me. That thread is located here ( http://gracenroark.net/roark/sierraboard/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=102 ). The first box of submissions went out in the mail this week and it's return has not been reported. If you are concerned about getting your items back you can at least check that thread to make sure I'm not stealing and ebaying anything sent to me Wink

Sierra Hint Book Archive
http://sierra.gracenroark.net/index.php?pr=Hint_Books

Another reader sent in a DVD of his collection of carefully scanned Sierra Hint Books. Vasyl had worked at it and determined a technical way to alter his scan settings so the red 'cover' in the text books could be seen through on the scans. The PDFs are created with a scan of the page on one side (red cover intact) and then a second scan of the same page with the red cover gone and the answer visible. While I haven't done a one to one check on whether or not all of the Hint Books are available I think everything I knew about is there.

As with most sections of SierraVault, I have created a single .zip file with all of the Hint Books in it for download. You can still download each file individually as well.

The Games
http://sierra.gracenroark.net/index.php?pr=The_Games

While my readers have been stealing my thunder by sending in better submissions than what I'm putting out I am still working at scanning the original manuals, catalogs, box contents, diskettes and CDs. I am attempting to digitally 'recreate' the contents of each Sierra game by making PDF scans of each item available along with the best quality box cover scans I can find. This is very much a work in progress and I doubt, very seriously, I have ANY of the content mixes right. At the same time I've worked through about 80% of the manuals and box contents and those are available for download. As is always the case at SierraVault there is no abandonware - what I'm making available is everything EXCEPT the games. If you are one of these excellent OCD collectors and can give me a hand in determining which 'files' to link under which releases I'd love to hear from you.

As always, thanks for reading and I hope you like what you find over at SierraVault. My forums are here ( http://gracenroark.net/roark/sierraboard/ ). If you like what you find, drop by and let me know about it. Thanks!

Andy