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The Royal Archives => Gaming Archives => Topic started by: oberonqa on July 31, 2011, 12:32:12 AM

Title: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: oberonqa on July 31, 2011, 12:32:12 AM
Hey all,

I want to take a moment to introduce you to Sierra On-Line Interaction, my pet project which is basically converting the Interaction Magazine issues into an indexable (is that even a word?!?!), searchable, and easily viewable wiki format with extensive hooks to Sierra Chest, Sierra Help Pages, and MobyGames.

As of right now, I have issues 1-4 completely converted and are viewable. I have also overhauled the navigation system (if you have previously visited the early incarnation of the wiki back in December 2010), implemented a game and person index, as well as implementation of site forums and a Facebook page dedicated to the project.

This work is a true labor of love and it is with no small amount of pride that I reintroduce Sierra On-Line Interaction to you, the community. While the entire site is still under construction, I feel I have reached the point where I can begin promoting the project while I continue working on the conversion process. With that said, please feel free to stop by and see what everything is all about. If you wish to stay informed of site updates, simply click the Facebook "Like" button at the bottom of any of the pages of the site, which will enable you to receive project update notifications as they happen via Facebook. If you wish to utilize the forums, Wikidot registration is all that is needed in order to become a member of the site, which enables forum posting privileges.

Right now the site is on Wikidot's "free" package, which has advertising on the top of each page. This is an annoyance, as the project is entirely not-for-profit and no revenue is generated or collected by me. Once I reach a certain daily pageview threshold, I will be upgrading the site to Wikidot's "Pro" package, which will remove the ads. I point this out only to make my not-for-profit intentions clear.

Future plans include revamping the site graphics (which are, at this point, temporary place-holders at best), making an Android version of the site, as well as providing multiple languages. I am also giving some small thought to changing the name of the project to Interaction Magazine Archive... but that is just an idle thought right now...

Special thanks to Tawmis, Collector, and Rudy over at SHP for inspiring me to begin this project and for their continued support. And of course, a special thanks to you, the community, for whom this project is namely for. In all my years, I have never seen a more tight-nit community than the Sierra community. It is a testament to our common love of Sierra and her treasured memory that we are as close as we are and how every day members of our community make great strides in honoring Sierra, be it by participating in game remakes, organizing resources, or providing a home for all of Sierra's wayward sons and daughters the world around.

SITE URL: http://sierrainteraction.wikidot.com/
Title: Re: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: dark-daventry on July 31, 2011, 01:05:23 AM
this is an interesting project, Oberonqa. I liked it on facebook and I'll be following this. keep up the good work. I've never actually heard of the interaction magazine, but that shouldn't be too surprising; while sierra was popular, I was just being brought onto this green earth. it's a wonder i even got into sierra games at all; I'm pretty sure i got into them after their prime, but I love the games regardless!
Title: Re: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: oberonqa on July 31, 2011, 01:45:51 AM
Quote from: dark-daventry on July 31, 2011, 01:05:23 AM
this is an interesting project, Oberonqa. I liked it on facebook and I'll be following this. keep up the good work. I've never actually heard of the interaction magazine, but that shouldn't be too surprising; while sierra was popular, I was just being brought onto this green earth. it's a wonder i even got into sierra games at all; I'm pretty sure i got into them after their prime, but I love the games regardless!

Thank you daventry for the kind words.  This project will be of particular interest to you and others who may have discovered Sierra late in it's life.  At it's core, the magazine is a record of Sierra's growth as a company... from it's humble beginnings as On-Line Systems onward.  The articles contained in each issue also provide a time capsule of sorts, giving a small glimpse into the computer industry as it grew up.  Ken Williams column is a fascinating read for this very reason, as he gives great commentary on the state of the industry.  I have also taken special care to include the advertisements present in each issue, which also provide glimpses into the history of computer gaming and the industry.

To me, InterAction Magazine is a historical periodical, and that is how I am approaching it, as a historian cataloging them with love and care.  I am glad you have discovered the project and hope that you will enjoy reading the articles.  :)
Title: Re: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: Baggins on July 31, 2011, 07:22:25 AM
Good idea! I've actually been trying to do something similar with the various sierra wikis as well. All things interaction on the main Sierra wiki, and themes specifically related articles for each series wiki!

So far I mainly have put together a few of the KQ related articles. I have a few articles up not only from InterAction but also the earlier Sierra Magazine/Newsletters.

Maybe you would like to help! Maybe what I have up already will help you out?
Title: Re: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: oberonqa on July 31, 2011, 09:57:24 AM
Quote from: Baggins on July 31, 2011, 07:22:25 AM
Good idea! I've actually been trying to do something similar with the various sierra wikis as well. All things interaction on the main Sierra wiki, and themes specifically related articles for each series wiki!

So far I mainly have put together a few of the KQ related articles. I have a few articles up not only from InterAction but also the earlier Sierra Magazine/Newsletters.

Maybe you would like to help! Maybe what I have up already will help you out?

I'll keep your offer in mind, Baggins.  Thank you.  :)
Title: Re: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: Big C from Cauney island on July 31, 2011, 10:17:40 PM
Cool project. I've actually seen something like this on the internet, maybe it is your project.  I still have a bunch of old interaction and sierra magazines.
Title: Re: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: Baggins on August 02, 2011, 12:33:10 PM
Hmm, another thing you might want to think about is collecting articles concerning Sierra games from other game and computer game magazines out there, domestic and foreign.

There are alot of concept art out there, lost to the public, for many of Sierra's games.

Alot of KQ8 development page is incomplete, because I no longer have access to some of the PC Gamer, etc, articles out there, that showcased earliest versions of the game, and talked about ideas Roberta had for the game.

It woudl clearly be great to have access to the various game reviewsw out there for the earliest KQ games, and the like. Any of sierra's series even.

Bah, if only someone had the third episode of the Talkspot interview, when Roberta and Mark Seibert went into great detail about many things that had to be cut from KQ8... Transcripts of that would be most excellent.
Title: Re: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: oberonqa on August 02, 2011, 03:52:19 PM
Quote from: Baggins on August 02, 2011, 12:33:10 PM
Hmm, another thing you might want to think about is collecting articles concerning Sierra games from other game and computer game magazines out there, domestic and foreign.

There are alot of concept art out there, lost to the public, for many of Sierra's games.

Alot of KQ8 development page is incomplete, because I no longer have access to some of the PC Gamer, etc, articles out there, that showcased earliest versions of the game, and talked about ideas Roberta had for the game.

It woudl clearly be great to have access to the various game reviewsw out there for the earliest KQ games, and the like. Any of sierra's series even.

Bah, if only someone had the third episode of the Talkspot interview, when Roberta and Mark Seibert went into great detail about many things that had to be cut from KQ8... Transcripts of that would be most excellent.

That is a good idea, but I'm afraid that goes far beyond the scope of what I am doing.  That would be a great project to do once I have finished converting all the issues of InterAction Magazine into wiki format.  Like you said, it would be great to have those reviews and interviews in an easy-to-find and accessible place.
Title: Re: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: Baggins on August 02, 2011, 07:19:26 PM
You wouldn't happen of a copy of Fall 1996 issue handy? The version on SierraGamers is missing pages of the KQ8 article.
Title: Re: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: oberonqa on August 02, 2011, 07:40:45 PM
Quote from: Baggins on August 02, 2011, 07:19:26 PM
You wouldn't happen of a copy of Fall 1996 issue handy? The version on SierraGamers is missing pages of the KQ8 article.

No I don't.  I'm actually using the SierraGamer's PDF files as my source for the conversion... that missing content is going to be an issue when I get there... but knowing there is a content issue now means I have time to try to track down a hard copy issue of it so when I get that far along (which is quite a ways away), hopefully I'll have a hard copy to go off of and scan the missing content in as needed.
Title: Re: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: Baggins on August 02, 2011, 07:50:16 PM
I'm pretty sure I have a copy of that issue, someplace...

The only problem is family members packed all my stuff in plain unmarked box while I was off at university... I have no clue where to look through them... Its annoying really. They know nothing about creating digital databases of the boxes and contents, of which I could easily search through for a specific box. It's going to be a freaking pain when I finally get my own place!

That being said SierraGamers may be missing an issue or two as well. One of which I think I have the complete copy. I think its an issue from 1996 or 1997 or so. But I may just be misremembering.
Title: Re: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: oberonqa on August 02, 2011, 08:30:29 PM
Quote from: Baggins on August 02, 2011, 07:50:16 PM
I'm pretty sure I have a copy of that issue, someplace...

The only problem is family members packed all my stuff in plain unmarked box while I was off at university... I have no clue where to look through them... Its annoying really. They no nothing about creating digital databases of the boxes and contents, of which I could easily search through for a specific box. It's going to be a freaking pain when I finally get my own place!

That being said SierraGamers may be missing an issue or two as well. One of which I think I have the complete copy. I think its an issue from 1996 or 1997 or so. But I may just be misremembering.

Yea there are some holes in the SierraGamers list (notably there seems to be 3/4 issues for each year when in fact there is supposed to be 4/4 each year).  There is also a giant gap between the first issue (June 1981) and the second issue (sometime in 1987). 

Such holes will be addressed... just a matter of finding private collectors who would be willing to either scan each page so I have a digital copy to work with or, if scanning is not an option, to purchase outright.  But that is something I will address when the time comes.  For now, I've got 20+ issues to work with and that will certainly take some time.  :)
Title: Re: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: Baggins on August 03, 2011, 04:44:23 PM
So i've gone through box after box, and I still haven't recovered those Interaction Magazines... Ga... I sure hope they didn't destroy them!

Also I seem to recall SierraVault when it existed, had a more complete archive... But its unfortunately down!
Title: Re: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: rudy on August 14, 2011, 08:38:59 AM
SierraVault was Andy Linnenkohl's website. About a year ago Ken asked if he wanted to be admin of SierraGamers. Andy then uploaded all the content from the Vault to SierraGamers and took the Vault down. He may not have made all documents accessible on SierraGamers though. I just became the new admin there and have quite some work digging through all the files in it. There's lots of stuff that simply isn't displayed yet. I'll be on the lookout for those missing InterActions too.
Title: Re: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: kindofdoon on August 14, 2011, 07:54:37 PM
This is awesome, Oberonqa, and may I add that it's great to see you around here again.
Title: Re: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: Baggins on August 20, 2011, 07:25:45 AM
SierraVault apparently was taken down due to a hackers implanting viruses in much of the content. According to a thread i was reading over on sierragamers.
Title: Re: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: Sir Perceval of Daventry on August 20, 2011, 08:51:51 PM
I just bought several copies of InterAction off Ebay, in pristine, new condition:
Fall 1991
Spring 1992
Summer 1992
Fall 1992
Holiday 1993
Fall 1996
Holiday 1996
Summer 1997
Holiday 1997
Spring 1998
Title: Re: Sierra On-Line Interaction
Post by: Baggins on August 20, 2011, 09:55:53 PM
Good job!