Sierra Flashback w/ Ken & Roberta - Good, Bad & Disappointments 

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This is the kind of stuff I feel like you can only get on this channel. 🤘

I owe my career to these two people. My fascination with Sierra games got me into reverse engineering the AGI engine and writing my first compiler so I could modify/create similar games. Their strategy of producing an in-house programming language and interpreter that made other aspects of development much easier was a powerful one, and today I'm fortunate enough to have a job building basically the same kind of thing, albeit for a different domain (Fintech). If it wasn't for Sierra I expect my professional life would have gone in a very different direction. Ken and Roberta were true pioneers of the industry in so many ways. They cared deeply about hiring the best talent, giving designers the autonomy to make the best products, and building a loyal fan base across a wide range of genres, which was a tremendously successful formula. The fact that 25 year later, so many of us fans still feel an emotional connection to the company is testament to that. While it's sad the way the company ended, the amount of joy Sierra brought to the world and their long-term impact on the industry and subsequent generations of game developers (and others outside the industry) is immense.

Roberta still looks so much like she did way back when. As a former Dynamix Alum, it's great to see them both.

I'm looking at this from a different perspective. The relationship that those two had back then. And now. Its crazy how those two worked together. Its a very heartwarming tale. When you feel like you don't have someone...aspire to be these two. They are amazing...even now! Edit: they STILL look at each other with such admiration.

I am 42 Years old Now and I have been playing Sierra games ever since I was 7 years Old. Roberta has always been an inspiration and a role model for me. I was lucky to meet Charles Cecil from Revolution, but meeting Roberta and Ken Williams will be something that I could never have dreamed. KEN, ROBERTA I MISS YOU GUYS PLEASE COME BACK!!!

Congratulations, MetalJesus, you've reached the final boss(es).

Sierra was such a big part of my childhood, thank you guys for giving us such great games and memories.

As someone who's never even played a Sierra game, I find this to be intriguing.

It was great to see my old bosses, though I don't know for sure whether I ever got to ever meet them in person or not. As a former Dynamix dev, I only ever got down to the Oakhurst office once, and that was for a conference they held there with Robert McKee (Roberta might have been there at the time, but I can't remember). I'll always be grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of the extended Sierra Online family thanks to these two.

I’m a huge Sierra fan, and was super excited to watch this.

There's so many good memories connected to the Quest games for me, particularly the Police Quest series!

I’m 41. The King’s Quest series were among the first few games I ever played on PC. It was Myst and then King’s Quest series. This interview is such a treat. Thanks for this interview!

Stuff like this... this is why I'm subscribed! The Sierra nostalgia overload!

What an amazing video. It actually made me teary eyed with joy to listen to these two talk. As a kid growing up in the 1980's. Ken and Roberta were my unofficial faraway parents because they ultimately taught me to read and write and be computer literate at an early age. Roberta's Kings Quest series in particular. I am so thankful for the work they did with Sierra. They are my heroes.

They barely mentioned "Space Quest", that was my favorite game. I loved the humor in it. I played the heck out of that game. Half-Life was also one of my favorites.

What a treat! Loved the chat with Ken and Roberta. And yeah, I was one of the KQ fans. Still pull them out and play them to this day.

Holy shit!!! I haven’t watched this yet, but WOW!! Will be blocking off time this weekend to get cozy and watch this conversation with these two LEGENDS!!

I saw the thumbnail and was like, NO WAY! This is great guys Love Sierra! MT32 games had the best music, despite their lack of digital audio, don't feel too bad, I loved mine.

What a treat this is. Thank you so much for posting it. I am 41 and Sierra games is what got me into computers/gaming back in 1990.

I loved the incredible machine contraptions as a kid, probably one of the reasons I'm in engineering now

Wasn’t expecting this today! I’ve always enjoyed your videos where you and Paul have a longer discussion and to have one with Ken and Roberta takes it to the next level.

Love that these guys came out of coarsegold, CA and seeing the address at @17:09. For anyone that lives in this area, you'd *never* guess that a software company would come out of that area. So cool to see.

Phantasmagoria is one of my all-time favorite games. Roberta Williams is a genius!

I've never seen an interview with them. Really cool seeing the legends in this format.

its easy to see why ken and roberta are such legends in the industry, they really come across as genuinely nice people and someone you'd want to work for. Especially when the leisure suit larry talk comes up. Wonderful discussion here everyone.

Absolute legends. I miss the old days playing Sierra games here in Brazil in the 90s. Great to see they are going well.

That was really sweet. What an adorable couple. Thanks for putting this together. Sierra has such a special place in video game history .

One of the best things in the world is to watch really passionate people talk about their work. It doesn't even matter what they do, it's captivating. When you are also passionate about the topic, it's 2 times better.

Awesome! These are the stories I wanted to listen to. It’s so awesome that you got work at Sierra during the height of adventure games. We need more.

The highlight of this video, hands down, is the authentic early 90s dancing at 38:14 - more than likely recorded on a VHS tape rolling in a massively oversized video camera!🤘😎

I played so many games on my pc from Sierra. When I was little I was obsessed with Mixed up Mother Goose. Love the memories. Thanks Sierra 🥰

Omg I am so excited!!! I was a young embedded developer back when all the Sierra games were first coming out, and I loved them. Also, as a woman (something I usually still conceal online), I was so stoked to see Roberta. It was always such an inspiration to me to see women succeed in tech in any capacity. By the way, the Quest For Glory games were my favorite Sierra games. I still play them, and as I near retirement, I’m sure I’ll play them more 😊 I think Leisure Suit Larry might have been the first non-text based PC games I played back when I was in the Air Force 😂

Finally, Metal Jesus goes back to his roots. It was these kinds of videos with paul that got me watching the channel around 2017

Awesome interview! I worked at Dynamix between 93 and 99. Lots of great memories and friendships were formed out of that job and it springboarded my career. Very thankful for that time in my life.

Sierra Games were my childhood. Thank you everyone who worked for Sierra Online for all the wonderful memories.

My childhood heroes, they're responsible for so much fond memories. Thank you!

Metal Jesus, I can't help but feel proud watching the former heads of the Sierra meet you years later and come full circle knowing one of their employees revolutionized gaming content online as well as they did gaming itself. You're truly a gem my friend, I wish you the best in the future such an amazing channel. Keep it up for us fans! :)

Roberta and Ķen are innovators . This interview was so necessary. Wish they did more interviews/videos.. These guys deserve their flowers for their contributions to video game history. Absolute Legends ✌

This is such a great video. I've been a Sierra fan most of my life, but don't think I ever saw Ken and Roberta in a video before. I always wondered what they were like as people and I can't say I'm disappointed. I always thought of them like celebrities, but they seem so down to earth. I read Ken's book as soon as it came out and it felt like he had invented a time machine...it had so many great stories of the past. Sierra games inspired me to get my first computer as a teenager. The effect their games had on my life is hard to over state. I still have some of those old boxes on my shelf!

Ken sent me. Great to see Ken & Roberta! Betrayal at Krondor was especailly one of those games I played many hours.. and still have it. It was funny to hear that one copy is in Finland. So many great games, which I player as younger version of me.

This is possibly the most wholesome bosses and employees reunion ever

Sierra, and specifically, Roberta's works along with Jane, Scott and Mark's works, are the blood that brings life to my life. I have spent a lifetime collecting, playing, and loving Quest after Quest! It has spanned multiple generations in our family, being passed on from my uncles and grandfather to me, and from me on to my own children. Thanks for the excellent vid Metal, and big thanks to Ken and Roberta for doing this with you! They have no idea how much joy they have brought to my life.

My first exposure in life to games was playing Sierra Adventures on my family's first PC. It's one of my very favorite things about you, is that you work for Sierra. Seeing Ken and Roberta in this special you've done is an absolute joy!

"I wanted people to love us." Mission accomplished!

Love your content MetalJesus, thank you for entertaining us.

I grew up playing Sierra On-Line games and often wondered what Ken and Roberta Williams were like. I've known their names my entire life but this is the first time that I've seen and heard. What lovely people!

That was awesome! Didn't expect this to pop up. Every so often I wonder what Roberta and Ken are up to, so this made me very happy.

I could listen to those legends reminisce for hours. Congratulations for this amazing video!

This is magical! Amazing job guys thanks for doing this, whenever I ran an installer in the 90's and the Sierra logo came up you knew you were in for an awesome game!

Thank you so much for putting this together!

This was amazing to watch. I grew up on all of these games. I appreciate that you made a video like this for us to go back and reminice along with you.

This is the the best video on youtube. Thank you for making it happen MJ!

grew up playing every sierra game i could get my hands on. this was such a great video to watch! thanks for doing it

It was lovely listening to these old classic video game developers discussing historical events that they we're apart of...🤘🏼💯✔️

Amazing video guys! Thanks for making this kind of content. I grew up playing Sierra games and it was a real treat to get some behind the scenes stories. Thank you for the stroll down memory lane!

Love to hear from the two's own words. Thank you for conducting this interview!

That was amazing! I wanted it to keep going and have them go through the entire gaming catalog. Really loved this interview!

This was an amazing interview. Love it.

Those two people had such an impact on my childhood and my teen years it's unbelievable. Love you Ken and Roberta!

As a lover of racing games, papyrus is probably one of my favorite studios of all time. Especially with Nascar Racing 2003. The game still has a thriving community too this day. Terrible they lost the license but I have heard some of the devs moved on to work on Iracing, which works directly with Nascar so good for them.

Ken and Roberta thank you for a lovely interview! Metal Jesus thank you for the wonderful content and for history of gaming to hopefully live on forever.

This was a great interview! Very happy to listen to Ken and Roberta talk about their games, stories and friendships they had with companies and their employees. Thank you so much for sharing this with us!

Loved the entire discussion amongst the Sierra gang! absolutely stellar throwback ❤❤❤❤

Nice! I love these old sierra sit down chats they’re awesome

Oh wow. This is such a treat. Thank you all so much for doing this. I live in the Oakhurst area and I drive by the old Sierra On-Line building every day going to and from work and I love to imagine what it was like in the glory days. I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and join the fun.

Wonderful video. Very well done with the kinds of questions you asked and the games covered. Such a good trip down memory lane with some new information never heard before!

I loved this, thanks for sharing man. Quality, authentic, and genuine content. BIG love

This is a good example of nostalgia done right.

This is tremendous, Jason! Thank you so much for the interview! Also, ALWAYS good to see Drunken Master Paul!

They both seemed so nice! Great video guys, thanks.

Such fond memories you have brought back! This was a real treat.

Amazing conversation with these legends. Only thing I was missing was love for King's Quest 6; that was my favorite game they ever made and would have loved to hear stories about that masterpiece.

One of the greatest memories in life, was playing Phantasmagoria 1 and 2, and Grabriel Knight as a kid, and being scared as shit.

Ken & Roberta are legends. So glad for this video. Absolutely important interview and retrospective.

Superb video, so cool to hear directly from Ken and Roberta and get their thoughts. Nice one !

As a guy in my early 40's this is definitely reminiscing my childhood and teens. Surprised no mention of the Gabriel Knight series. . Have you guys interviewed Jane Jenson before? It's amazing how many classic PC games had Sierra logo on the cover! I missed out on Kings Quest 7 and Phantasmagoria probably because I didn't have the money or the right PC to play them at the time.

Awesome interview and experience to see. I loved it. One of the most successful and groundbreakings pair of game developers of their generation and yet they still come across as parents that don’t know anything about video games. So strange and wonderful.

Greetings from İstanbul. This interview amazed me so much, I met Sierra games through my late brother. It brings so many memories, we improved our English playing all those amazing series from LSL to King’s Quest. What struck me most is, how humble these two legends are. I am sure their iq is off the charts combined with their financial success but they share their fascinating story so calm and humble.

Oh man that was a phantastic and graceful interview thanks a lot for doing this !

This video is really special - two absolute legends of the industry, and they seem down-to-earth despite all they achieved. The most memorable of their games for me is Mystery House / Hi-res Adventure #1.

You just defined the gold standard for nostalgic computer retro youtube this year! Now we want more; any chance of a video with the two guys from andromenda?

Thank you so much for putting this together - truly great storytelling.

What a treat, two of the most important people in gaming history. I love how Ken still has his big tash!

Wonderful interview! Dynamix did one of my favorite adventure games as a kid. "The Adventures of WIllie Beamish"

I’ve been waiting for this for so long! Awesome. Thanks.

I grew up with Sierra, starting with King's Quest II and Space Quest, and I can't even describe how this makes me feel. The videos with Al were amazing, but this is just another level and I found myself choked up with nostalgia and near-forgotten memories. The only thing that would come close for me, and it's not out of the realm of possibility, is a sit-down with Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy.

This was amazing to watch, Roberta you are my hero and a huge inspiration as a woman game developer. Thank you for hosting this interview, it was an absolute treat!

Dynamix were amazing! My big fave: Rise of the Dragon. What a game!

How fascinating to hear all their opinions and memories. Thanks for this amazing video!!

This just made my day!!!!!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I really enjoyed hearing Ken and Roberts speak about their company and the games they created. This was just so much fun!

First Al Lowe and now the Williams! If you somehow interview Jane Jensen and talk about Gabriel Knight, you'll be the new king of Sierra.

Roberta & Ken Williams saved my life. LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGENDS!

so much nostalgia!! thank you guys for this video... brings me back to childhood. so much memories playing these games...

I still play Lords of the Realm II. Great game that has that still works on all window versions. Thanks!

I remember being excited as a kid to play King's Quest VII, but had to return it as my computer didn't have enough RAM. I had played through most of the King's Quest games up to that point. Sierra was a big part of my childhood, along with Lucasarts.

My Dad bought one of those MT32 because he was really into MIDI music at the time, so us kids would play Sierra games on his PC when he wasn't using it because the sound from that was amazing - and Sierra games actually supported it really well using custom sound effects (most games would just use the built in midi sounds)

This was absolutely delightful; thank you so much!

What an amazing analysis/interview!

Sierra was like the Rockstar Games of the 80s and 90s