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Once Upon a Point & Click: The Tale of King's Quest, Gabriel Knight, and the Queens of Adventure Gaming
Once upon a time, video games did not tell stories. They were games of skill. Before that, they were experiments and military tests. As technology advanced, two women dreamed of making games that went beyond shooting down spaceships and setting high scores.
Once Upon a Point and Click charts the careers of Sierra designers Roberta Williams and Jane Jensen, from the origins of graphical adventures to the merger of computer games and Hollywood cinematography that paved a path for the interactive stories of today.
Once Upon a Point and Click charts the careers of Sierra designers Roberta Williams and Jane Jensen, from the origins of graphical adventures to the merger of computer games and Hollywood cinematography that paved a path for the interactive stories of today.
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About the author
David L. Craddock
45 books99 followersDavid L. Craddock lives with his wife in Ohio. He is the bestselling author of
Stay Awhile and Listen
: How Two Blizzards Unleashed Diablo and Forged a Video-Game Empire - Book I, and
Heritage
: Book One of the Gairden Chronicles, an epic fantasy series for young adults. Please follow along with him on his website/blog at
DavidLCraddock.com
.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 17, 2017
A short but unexpectedly exciting history of Sierra OnLine and its adventure games. Besides the ones in the title, it covers most projects before King's Quest plus Phantasmagoria.
I've often asked myself: What was life like for creators like Roberta Williams and Jane Jensen, once the excitement of Sierra was over? Have they found something else to spark them?
I've often asked myself: What was life like for creators like Roberta Williams and Jane Jensen, once the excitement of Sierra was over? Have they found something else to spark them?
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September 18, 2017I wrote this book, so I won't cheat by leaving a star-rating or critique. Instead, I'll talk a bit about the process of writing it. (I'm also counting it toward books read in 2017 since I revised and read it several times earlier this year to get it ready for publication by Schiffer Publishing later this summer.) What follows is the introduction to the book, wherein I share my motivation for, and the process of writing ONCE UPON A POINT AND CLICK (OUAPAC).
In 2010, I was commissioned by Good Old Games (now known by its orphan acronym GOG) to write retrospectives for King's Quest 4-6. GOG had just struck a deal to add Activision titles to its service, and rather than offer the first three KQ titles, GOG would roll out the back half of the series. Perhaps because the multimedia trappings of 4-6, which included animated cutscenes and point-and-click interfaces, had aged better than the text parser-driven early entries, although that's just supposition on my part.
While I wanted the job, I had no interest in writing the history of King's Quest by starting in the middle. One can't appreciate the sweeping changes and innovations introduced in KQ4-6, three of the most inventive and important games in the adventure genre, without first appreciating the foundation they built on. I asked my contact at GOG, Tom Ohle, if I could start at the beginning. Earlier than the beginning, actually, since KQ designer Roberta Williams cut her teeth on other games before founding the kingdom of Daventry. Tom gave me the green light, so I commenced writing "From Monochrome to Monarchy," a multi-part series that was well-received by GOG readers. I wrote the articles based on old interviews and articles dug up during research, as Ken and Roberta Williams could not be reached for comment. (A site-wide redesign by GOG broke links to those articles. You might be able to hop in the Internet Wayback Machine and find them somewhere, but a standard Google search isn't likely to bear fruit.)
"From Monochrome to Monarchy" holds a special place in my heart. I wrote it when I was still learning the ins and outs of writing retrospectives about game development and culture. A few years ago, with GOG's blessing, I dusted off the articles and decided to revise them, adding more historical tidbits and details to further illustrate Roberta Williams' efforts. She was a pioneer on several fronts. A confident and intelligent woman in a male-dominated field, Williams raised the bar for interactive storytelling, and not just as the creator of King's Quest. She also directed Phantasmagoria, a breakthrough in FMV (full-motion video) design. GOG had me write an article about "Phantaz" as well, titled "Smoke and Mirrors." I've included it here to add further context to Williams' career and influence.
Although King's Quest VI was my first Sierra adventure, Gabriel Knight 2—aka The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery—is my favorite. Jane Jensen, the trilogy's director, got her start as a co-designer on KQ6 alongside Roberta Williams. I'd wanted to pick Jensen's brain about Gabriel for years, so I tracked her down and interviewed her—as well as some of the cast and crew for GK2—for three brand-new articles.
The end result is a book that is in no way intended to be a comprehensive account of Sierra On-Line's history. For that, I would need more time, more interviews, and a much higher page count. Think of Once Upon a Point and Click as a collection of essays, threaded together to explore a set of games made by two women whose contributions to interactive storytelling are still being felt today.
In 2010, I was commissioned by Good Old Games (now known by its orphan acronym GOG) to write retrospectives for King's Quest 4-6. GOG had just struck a deal to add Activision titles to its service, and rather than offer the first three KQ titles, GOG would roll out the back half of the series. Perhaps because the multimedia trappings of 4-6, which included animated cutscenes and point-and-click interfaces, had aged better than the text parser-driven early entries, although that's just supposition on my part.
While I wanted the job, I had no interest in writing the history of King's Quest by starting in the middle. One can't appreciate the sweeping changes and innovations introduced in KQ4-6, three of the most inventive and important games in the adventure genre, without first appreciating the foundation they built on. I asked my contact at GOG, Tom Ohle, if I could start at the beginning. Earlier than the beginning, actually, since KQ designer Roberta Williams cut her teeth on other games before founding the kingdom of Daventry. Tom gave me the green light, so I commenced writing "From Monochrome to Monarchy," a multi-part series that was well-received by GOG readers. I wrote the articles based on old interviews and articles dug up during research, as Ken and Roberta Williams could not be reached for comment. (A site-wide redesign by GOG broke links to those articles. You might be able to hop in the Internet Wayback Machine and find them somewhere, but a standard Google search isn't likely to bear fruit.)
"From Monochrome to Monarchy" holds a special place in my heart. I wrote it when I was still learning the ins and outs of writing retrospectives about game development and culture. A few years ago, with GOG's blessing, I dusted off the articles and decided to revise them, adding more historical tidbits and details to further illustrate Roberta Williams' efforts. She was a pioneer on several fronts. A confident and intelligent woman in a male-dominated field, Williams raised the bar for interactive storytelling, and not just as the creator of King's Quest. She also directed Phantasmagoria, a breakthrough in FMV (full-motion video) design. GOG had me write an article about "Phantaz" as well, titled "Smoke and Mirrors." I've included it here to add further context to Williams' career and influence.
Although King's Quest VI was my first Sierra adventure, Gabriel Knight 2—aka The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery—is my favorite. Jane Jensen, the trilogy's director, got her start as a co-designer on KQ6 alongside Roberta Williams. I'd wanted to pick Jensen's brain about Gabriel for years, so I tracked her down and interviewed her—as well as some of the cast and crew for GK2—for three brand-new articles.
The end result is a book that is in no way intended to be a comprehensive account of Sierra On-Line's history. For that, I would need more time, more interviews, and a much higher page count. Think of Once Upon a Point and Click as a collection of essays, threaded together to explore a set of games made by two women whose contributions to interactive storytelling are still being felt today.
April 8, 2020
This book, as the author writes in the introduction, began as an expanded version of some articles Good Old Games commissioned to Craddock when publishing some King's Quest episodes. It follows the history of Sierra On-Line, from the beginnings (with a short history of video games that led Roberta and Ken to found it) with some pages about the Hi-Res Adventure Series and then on with King's Quest. This first part contains references to interviews from the time (linked in the bibliography at the end of the book) and it's very well done because Craddock connects every node, not wasting words nor concepts.
The most interesting part is the second one, devoted to Gabriel Knight, because of the interviews conducted during 2014 with Jane Jensen, Will Binder, Dean Erickson and Mark Seibert. The very last chapter is a long, technical interview with Randy Littlejohn, director of photography on The Beast Within who worked also on Phantasmagoria.
Everything's well researched, the author is above competent on the subject and his writing is good, with some lesser known words that don't undermine the readability of the book. Craddock knows his stuff.
This book is too short and shallow, unfortunately, and unbalanced towards the second part. I wish the author had the chance to work more on it.
It is a must read if you are a fan of GK, if you are reasearching KQ and need a headstart, and especially if you want to know about the technical aspects of making FMVs in the 90s: the interview with Littlejohn is extremely detailed and I believe there is almost nothing on par with that anywhere else.
The most interesting part is the second one, devoted to Gabriel Knight, because of the interviews conducted during 2014 with Jane Jensen, Will Binder, Dean Erickson and Mark Seibert. The very last chapter is a long, technical interview with Randy Littlejohn, director of photography on The Beast Within who worked also on Phantasmagoria.
Everything's well researched, the author is above competent on the subject and his writing is good, with some lesser known words that don't undermine the readability of the book. Craddock knows his stuff.
This book is too short and shallow, unfortunately, and unbalanced towards the second part. I wish the author had the chance to work more on it.
It is a must read if you are a fan of GK, if you are reasearching KQ and need a headstart, and especially if you want to know about the technical aspects of making FMVs in the 90s: the interview with Littlejohn is extremely detailed and I believe there is almost nothing on par with that anywhere else.
January 4, 2023
Light on content, but focused on the games
I just finished reading Ken Williams' book 'No All Fairy Tales Have Happy Endings: The Rise and Fall of Sierra On-Line. There's is surprisingly little overlap between this earlier book by Craddock and Williams' own book released in 2020. Whereas Williams is more focused on the company itself, and less on the games, Craddock focuses more on the games and a little on the company. That said, the only games covered are King's Quest I to VIII, and Gabriel Knight 1-3.
Though light on content, Craddock is a better writer than Williams. If you're really passionate about Sierra and their games, you can read both books, though I would read Williams' book first. This one will seem quite light on content.
I just finished reading Ken Williams' book 'No All Fairy Tales Have Happy Endings: The Rise and Fall of Sierra On-Line. There's is surprisingly little overlap between this earlier book by Craddock and Williams' own book released in 2020. Whereas Williams is more focused on the company itself, and less on the games, Craddock focuses more on the games and a little on the company. That said, the only games covered are King's Quest I to VIII, and Gabriel Knight 1-3.
Though light on content, Craddock is a better writer than Williams. If you're really passionate about Sierra and their games, you can read both books, though I would read Williams' book first. This one will seem quite light on content.
January 8, 2018
O scurtă cronică digitală care se ocupă, în general, cu istoria firmei Sierra și, în special, cu ascensiunea a două dintre cele mai bune designere de jocuri pe calculator care au lucrat acolo – Roberta Williams și Jane Jensen.
Realizarea ebookului nu este impresionantă. Autorul ne furnizează un schelet istoric de bază al firmei și cum s-a dezvoltat aceasta, iar golurile le umple cu interviuri culese din izvoarele internetului. Dar pentru fanii Sierra, pentru pasionații de jocuri old-school point and click și pentru cei mereu dornici de o dușcă din fântâna melancoliei, cartea vine la fix.
Realizarea ebookului nu este impresionantă. Autorul ne furnizează un schelet istoric de bază al firmei și cum s-a dezvoltat aceasta, iar golurile le umple cu interviuri culese din izvoarele internetului. Dar pentru fanii Sierra, pentru pasionații de jocuri old-school point and click și pentru cei mereu dornici de o dușcă din fântâna melancoliei, cartea vine la fix.
December 6, 2017
Too short for getting any deeper into what you want to know: Jane and Roberta's personalities, dreams and fears. The story is no more complex than a journalist description of a story in the papers, just spitting facts and losing humanity in the process. The last interview (an addendum), although interesting for some like me (I'm a TV and movie producer), adds nothing to the rest of the book. It's a shame, because I had high hopes of this book and was saving it.
February 18, 2019
Great depiction of the PnC game industry from it's beginnings with Ken and Roberta Williams.
Wonderful to read the progress of the games and where they're going.
I just started creating PnC games, so this was a great boost to my energy level.
Wonderful to read the progress of the games and where they're going.
I just started creating PnC games, so this was a great boost to my energy level.
November 14, 2022
A really interesting book
I'm not a huge point and click adventure fan, but I like reading about software development, and this book provides great insights into how Sierra and its deva created their games.
I'm not a huge point and click adventure fan, but I like reading about software development, and this book provides great insights into how Sierra and its deva created their games.
February 5, 2023
3.5 stars… not really comprehensive, slightly uneven and occasionally redundant (presumably because of its origins as a series of articles) but otherwise an insightful look into a small subset of Sierra adventure games.
January 8, 2021
As a fan of King's Quest (especially II to V), I had a great time reading about the history of these games. It really scratched my nostalgia itch!
September 2, 2021
Not a lot of in-depth interviews with former employees which I would have preferred, but still a nice summary of Sierra's biggest games.
October 22, 2021
I mean this is 5 stars if you like the output of Sierra On-Line, Gabriel Knight and the King’s Quest, and probably minus 1 if not?
September 9, 2024
Once Upon a Point & Click is speeding through a buffet.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews