How did this all get started?

[kindofdoon]

I've only been following the project for about 5 years, and even then it was well under way. And it just occurred to me that I have no idea how this glorious project got started in the first place.

So I'm just wondering: How/where did the original developers meet? Who's idea was it in the first place? How big was the original team? Any information is welcome.

[sahara]

Yeah, I think it would be nice to see a webpage devoted to this story.  It's always nice to learn about the real life "human" side behind the games.  Telling and retelling the story of Sierra with timelines and old pictures, etc. always seemed to be something that worked well for that company.  I think it makes players feel more of a connection with the development team... and makes for more loyal fans in the end.

On a related note, I don't like it when posts on this forum now and then kind of assume that many of the people reading have been long term TSL forum regulars.  Of course, not everyone has been reading and posting on TSL forums for years.   

[KatieHal]

The two founders of the original project have long been gone, actually--Luke Jensen and Jonathan Haling (though you will see them listed as such in the credits). They founded the project in 2000, and left in 2002 and handed the director role over to Cesar, who asked Rich to co-direct with him.

The rest of us came along at various points--myself, I joined in late 2002 as a staff writer and not too long after that became Cesar's co-writer/designer on the project.