Ken and Roberta donate EVERYTHING to Video Game Library

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

http://gamasutra.com/view/news/37295/Sierra_Founders_Ken_And_Roberta_Williams_Donate_Company_Archive_To_Museum.php

The International Center for the History of Electronic Games in Rochester has expanded its collection to include a major contribution from Sierra On-Line co-founders Ken and Roberta Williams.

The collection includes two decades of work comprising roughly 140 games, as well as design documents, artwork, newspaper articles, memorabilia, photographs, company newsletters, business records, press releases, catalogs, and annual reports, according to museum officials.

In a statement, Ken Williams said the collection, which will now be available to researchers and historians, includes many items the pair never intended for public consumption, including King's Quest design documents that have remained secret for decades.

"Giving them up was not an easy decision, but it seemed the right time, and I'm sure her fans will enjoy this 'behind the scenes' peek at her creativity," Ken Williams said. "I would encourage anyone who is curious about the history of gaming, the history of Sierra, or the creativity behind our games, to visit the museum."

The Williams' long career as game designers began in 1979 with the founding of On-Line systems and the creation of Apple II adventure title Mystery House, based on Roberta's infatuation with Colossal Cave Adventure.

Their company renamed to Sierra On-Line in 1982 and eventually grew to encompass over 1,000 employees. Sierra is perhaps best remembered for popularizing graphical adventure games, creating franchises that include King's Quest, Space Quest, Gabriel Knight, Quest For Glory and Leisure Suit Larry.

The Williams left the company soon after selling it to CUC Interactive in 1996, leaving behind a legacy of IPs and back catalog still being actively sold today.

The collection joins several other important artifacts acquired by the museum in recent months, including the personal papers of home video game inventor Ralph Baer, online multiplayer pioneer and M.U.L.E. creator Dani Bunten Berry, and longstanding simulation game veteran Don Daglow and Sim City creator Will Wright.

The Center also recently accepted a unique collection from Microsoft encompassing its history in the video game industry, and recently received a $500k grant to further the study of the history of games.

The International Center for the History of Electronic Games currently claims a collection of over 35,000 items related to the history of electronic games, the largest collection of its kind in the United States. The Center is part of the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.

Learn more at the Center's official website.

[Cez]

ahhhhhh I want again!!!!

I had the chance to see some of the original designs from the games at Peter Spear's house.

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

ahhhhhh I want again!!!!

I had the chance to see some of the original designs from the games at Peter Spear's house.

He has copies?
Hmm. I wonder if Roberta/Ken donated everything design wise. I cannot wait to go up there and see this stuff.

[MusicallyInspired]

It's too bad the source code for these games weren't part of that contribution. But they don't exist anymore. I wonder if any docs or snippets of code for the SCI engine exist, however...

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

It's too bad the source code for these games weren't part of that contribution. But they don't exist anymore. I wonder if any docs or snippets of code for the SCI engine exist, however...

Why is the source code so important? I'm not asking that in a rude fashion--I just don't understand their importance?

[Blackthorne]

With the original source, the games could be properly ported to modern machines.


Bt

[MusicallyInspired]

Or to other platforms (think iOS, DS, PSP, PS3, 360, etc). With the source you could even link the score system and anything you'd wish to the achievements system of Steam and the 360 or the trophy system of the PS3, much like LucasArts did with SMI:SE and MI2:SE. Heck, you could make a proper special edition with completely reworked artwork on top of the original much like SMI:SE and MI2:SE.

[wilco64256]

Holy crap.

That is all.

[Cez]

ahhhhhh I want again!!!!

I had the chance to see some of the original designs from the games at Peter Spear's house.

He has copies?
Hmm. I wonder if Roberta/Ken donated everything design wise. I cannot wait to go up there and see this stuff.

Yeah, he has copies of the design for every King's Quest game out there (at least up to 7), plus a bunch of other cool stuff.

[Blackthorne]

Yeah, I live about an hour from Rochester - I'm going to give them all call, and see when I can get out to see it.  I'll post a report, take some photos, etc.


Bt

[Lambonius]

Yeah, I live about an hour from Rochester - I'm going to give them all call, and see when I can get out to see it.  I'll post a report, take some photos, etc.


Bt

Awesome.  I'm totally jealous.  You should volunteer to help them catalog and organize the stuff.  You could help curate one of the first Sierra-focused exhibitions! 

[fluxmaster]

It's too bad the source code for these games weren't part of that contribution. But they don't exist anymore.

What is your source of information for this?  If I were cleaning house, I would throw out the design documents and keep the source code.  The design documents are no longer needed once the game is designed (although they may be of interest to fans), but the source code is always useful for making new versions.  You never throw out code.  With the source code you could make, say, a revised version of KQ5 eliminating the dead ends with minimal effort.

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

It's too bad the source code for these games weren't part of that contribution. But they don't exist anymore.

What is your source of information for this?  If I were cleaning house, I would throw out the design documents and keep the source code.  The design documents are no longer needed once the game is designed (although they may be of interest to fans), but the source code is always useful for making new versions.  You never throw out code.  With the source code you could make, say, a revised version of KQ5 eliminating the dead ends with minimal effort.

Sierra had the source code, not Ken or Roberta. In 1999 when Oakhurst was closed, the source code was trashed by the new management--Ken himself said this on his forum years ago.

The design documents shed light on the whole making of the game, concepts that are abandoned, etc, the influences on certain elements. They're basically the Bible of the KQ series. Roberta's design documents span 500-1,000 pages.

[Arkillian]

*sighs* More awesomeness that wont get to look at my side of the hemisphere. Well, if for some crazy reason I feel the need to go to New York I can visit. If I go though, it'll more likely be to California. Most of my close friends live there.

[MusicallyInspired]

It's too bad the source code for these games weren't part of that contribution. But they don't exist anymore.

What is your source of information for this?  If I were cleaning house, I would throw out the design documents and keep the source code.  The design documents are no longer needed once the game is designed (although they may be of interest to fans), but the source code is always useful for making new versions.  You never throw out code.  With the source code you could make, say, a revised version of KQ5 eliminating the dead ends with minimal effort.

Basically what Perceval said. After Ken and Roberta left Sierra they were legally disallowed to own the source code. That's a copyright of the company. And all that stuff was thrown out when Sierra got bought out. Truly sad.

[DawsonJ]

Since the discussion of "Behind the scenes" material has been brought up, I figured I'd take this opportunity to offer some scripts I decoded from MoE. They're in plain text (.txt) format. They're decoded .msg files. I just need to find a place to upload the files, which are very small.  Any recommendations? They have audio and programming instructions and speech scripts.

[dark-daventry]

Stupid question: Couldn't someone just reverse-engineer the King's Quest games to get the source code? I mean, the game is right there. Isn't it theoretically possible that it could be reverse-engineered?

I must get out to see this. Living in Massachusetts, driving to Rochester isn't necessarily an easy thing (driving out there would likely be an all day trip), but I must set aside a day to do so. This is a must see for me.

[DawsonJ]

Stupid question: Couldn't someone just reverse-engineer the King's Quest games to get the source code? I mean, the game is right there. Isn't it theoretically possible that it could be reverse-engineered?

I must get out to see this. Living in Massachusetts, driving to Rochester isn't necessarily an easy thing (driving out there would likely be an all day trip), but I must set aside a day to do so. This is a must see for me.

You know, I thought the same thing, so I researched the topic. I found out that there's a process that programmers use when compiling the program files which makes reverse engineering a total pain. It's called Obfuscating, and it makes script files lose their variable names when reverse engineered. For example, code that refers to KQConnor in MoE would refer to <Unknown>, or something along those lines, just like all other objects would then be called <Unknown>. Hence, one would have to research and reestablish titles for each object and variable. Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Edition comes with its own Obfuscator software, as do most, if not all, other programming packages, so all programmers can keep their code proprietary.

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

Stupid question: Couldn't someone just reverse-engineer the King's Quest games to get the source code? I mean, the game is right there. Isn't it theoretically possible that it could be reverse-engineered?

I must get out to see this. Living in Massachusetts, driving to Rochester isn't necessarily an easy thing (driving out there would likely be an all day trip), but I must set aside a day to do so. This is a must see for me.

You know, I thought the same thing, so I researched the topic. I found out that there's a process that programmers use when compiling the program files which makes reverse engineering a total pain. It's called Obfuscating, and it makes script files lose their variable names when reverse engineered. For example, code that refers to KQConnor in MoE would refer to <Unknown>, or something along those lines, just like all other objects would then be called <Unknown>. Hence, one would have to research and reestablish titles for each object and variable. Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Edition comes with its own Obfuscator software, as do most, if not all, other programming packages, so all programmers can keep their code proprietary.

But technically, from what you're saying, it wouldn't be IMPOSSIBLE. It would be very difficult and take someone with a lot of time and patience.

[DawsonJ]

Right. And, in the case of most Windows-based games, the code - like in the case of MoE - would be disassembled to C. So, someone better be skilled in C just to have an idea of which file calls to which file and section, in order to know which object is being called.

I think MoE would be the easiest of the series, due to a lack of compiled resource files (i.e. Resource.aud). Plus, the Console reveals the current codes/object names.

Edit:
Here's the link to the voice / programming directions for MoE (The number in the filename corresponds to the original message file - i.e. 500.msg is Script500.txt):
http://www.mediafire.com/file/mcae6ci0hinft7v/MoEScripts.zip

And here's a VS2010 Save As of Mask.exe (Open it with a regular text viewer):
http://www.mediafire.com/file/r3rnli38s47rlr7/MaskTest.rc