[PILMAN]

What was the reason Jim Walls originally left Sierra for Tsunami Media? I heard rumours that he had a fight over something, anyone know details? Also does Jim Walls have any plans to make any new police games?

[Collector]

If no one here knows, you could ask on Ken Williams board. You may have a little bit of a wait, though, as the Williams' are frequently sailing and often without an internet connection. Some Sierra employees occasionally post there, too. http://www.sierragamers.com/

[Bobske]

If I remember correctly, there was an argument about a possible new Police Quest game. No budget etc, so Jim decided to leave for Tsunami.

Jim Walls will not be making any new police games because he has retired from creating games. Can't recall the interview in which he states this. I'll post the link if I find anything...

If you want an answer from the big kahuna himself you should indeed post a message on the Sierra Gamers forum. Ken does frequent the forum and is always willing to answer questions about Sierra's past...

[Josho]

FWIW, Jim already seemed to have one foot out the door well before Tsunami came around...although I can't tell you exactly why that was the case.

(Tsunami, it should be mentioned, started promising Sierra employees the moon and the stars in order to get them to jump ship, and I'm sure they did the same with Jim.)

Although Jim is credited as having designed PQ3, his original design document was fairly anemic, and he was pretty much AWOL throughout the making of the game. Mark Crowe, who's credited as the "director" of PQ3, had to do a great deal of design work in order to make the game hang together and get it shipped. If I remember correctly, Jane Jensen and Lorelei Shannon also had to do a large amount of work to compensate for Jim's lack of involvement.

So I believe that whatever events led Jim to leave Sierra had begun before Tsunami was even a factor.

--Josh

[Collector]

Says the voice of King Graham.

[Bobske]

Originally Posted by Josho

So I believe that whatever events led Jim to leave Sierra had begun before Tsunami was even a factor.

--Josh

Thanks for clearing that up, always good to hear from an insider

I remember that there was a discussion about Police Quest and Jim Walls on the Sierra Gamers Forum but I can't remember what was discussed.

Unfortunately, I can't access the forum, stupid office computers with all their restrictions

[Risingson]

Originally Posted by Josho

Although Jim is credited as having designed PQ3, his original design document was fairly anemic, and he was pretty much AWOL throughout the making of the game. Mark Crowe, who's credited as the "director" of PQ3, had to do a great deal of design work in order to make the game hang together and get it shipped. If I remember correctly, Jane Jensen and Lorelei Shannon also had to do a large amount of work to compensate for Jim's lack of involvement.

So I believe that whatever events led Jim to leave Sierra had begun before Tsunami was even a factor.

--Josh

Now that you are around here, it's funny because the thing I like most about the first Police Quest games is how well they are written, in a very Joe Gore's fashion of hard-boiled thriller, which culminated in that irregular but great piece of vigilante that is the third part. What I like is not only what the game tells you, a bunch of police clichés that *could* be part of Jim Walls experience in the streets (and maybe some freudian stuff like the redemption of a prostitute in the second part), but how the three games talk about violence, segregation, corruption and anger in a very strong, direct way. Of course I don't agree with many of the perceptions the "narrator" has about the world that Bonds has to patrol, but I love how they are exposed, written and how it makes you empathise with all those characters.

So tell me: do you know if this is something I can give the credit to Jim Walls?

[Josho]

Risingson,

Truly, I don't know. I wasn't around during the making of PQ1 or PQ2 (unless you count the VGA remake of PQ1, which was totally rewritten by the writers in the Product Development department).

I really enjoyed the structure and writing of all the PQ games. The only thing that bothered me about the series -- the first three, anyway -- was the fact that the plots were all essentially the same: Jessie Bains (or his relative!) captures and imperils Sonny Bonds's sweetheart/fiancee/pregnant wife (depending on the game), and Bonds must attempt a daring rescue. Seems awfully repetitive.

--Josh

[Nelza]

Originally Posted by Collector

Says the voice of King Graham.

Okay, I'm feeling rather star-struck!

[Risingson]

Originally Posted by Josho

I really enjoyed the structure and writing of all the PQ games. The only thing that bothered me about the series -- the first three, anyway -- was the fact that the plots were all essentially the same: Jessie Bains (or his relative!) captures and imperils Sonny Bonds's sweetheart/fiancee/pregnant wife (depending on the game), and Bonds must attempt a daring rescue. Seems awfully repetitive.

Well, I could forgive that, because, after all, all James Bond's movies are also repetitive in their plots. What I didn't like about them, apart from the irritating arcade scenes, dead-ends and some puzzles than seemed more arbitrary than based on police procedures, is how the story and the characters move following the perjudices of the main character. I mean, it's not the fact that many of the criminals there are inmigrants, or drug-addicts, or sex-offenders of the lighter kind ("those couple are kissing each other as they were having straight sex in the street") and will never go out of a criminal condition... but the fact that there is nothing that gives you the other side of the coin, the other side of the story, the one who seemed criminal and ended up being a good person and such. Of all of those stories, the one that annoyed it me most was the one about the drug-dealer, drug-user and whatever more in the third part, which deserved no redemption. I forgive clichés, but not that egocentric view of ethics, which can be notoriously dangerous when you are a police officer.

Risingson, freudian in his spare time.

[Spikey]

Thanks Josh, that makes a heap more sense!

For anyone who's played PQ3, the game is totally odd. It is much less about police procedure and interesting stories then the first two games. Much of the game is tedious and odd. Including a certain guy playing a laughing coroner (Actually, I liked Coroner Mandel.)

Yeah, PQ3 was a major disappointment, and I now know why. The 'rushed out the door' syndrome is also explanatory of the massive timer bugs and also, the second half of the game feeling very disjointed and a bit silly.

Once again, thanks Josh.

One final thing- do you believe Tsunami's promises weren't really kept? In my field of Sierra music, I thought Ken Allen (another notable Sierra employee who went to Tsunami, and even did music for Blue Force, Walls' game, I think) never really went anywhere after he left Sierra, and he was really talented.

Regards,
- Spike

[Josho]

Hey, Spikey,

I have no idea if Tsunami's promises were kept or not, but I strongly suspect not. AFAIK, the company never did well enough to make much money for anyone (except, possibly, the owners). Certainly nobody I've spoken to who went to work there had much good to say about it once they'd left.

Incidentally, a side note about PQ to all: during the making of Leisure Suit Larry 6, Al Lowe asked me to write a Country/Western song for Char Donay to sing during the game. I wrote the lyrics, Al wrote the music: the song was called "Cell Block Love," and it actually kinda tells the story of the romance between PQ's main characters, "Sweet Cheeks" Marie and Sonny Bonds.

It's downloadable here.

Enjoy!

--Josh

[Spikey]

and it actually kinda tells the story of

Sorta maybe kinda of.

Actually, it's funny you bring up Cell Block Love. I was thinking of it last night, it's always been really nerdy that my brother and I know the words by heart to that song (we really liked LSL at the time).

- Spike

[PILMAN]

Blue Force had beautiful graphics for it's time but it definitely wasn't like the old police quest games, almost like police quest lite. I had heard rumours in the past there were plans to develop a second one but I wonder what caused Tsunami to go under and where the people that worked with it are now?

[Nope]

Originally Posted by Spikey

I thought Ken Allen (another notable Sierra employee who went to Tsunami, and even did music for Blue Force, Walls' game, I think) never really went anywhere after he left Sierra, and he was really talented.

He's still in the industry and has been at quite a few places since then, see his LinkedIn for reference.