#RUNESCAPE SCREENIE THREAD FULL#

I had never worked at a company where every single person was so deeply involved in the creative process. What surprised me most about the company was the atmosphere at the place. Ken came up to me after the show and said, 'Hey, you're an entertaining kinda guy, you could design games.' That was the unexpected break I'd been waiting for. For the Christmas party the first year I was there, my partner and I did a show, and I don't think anyone at Sierra expected it to be as polished and funny as it was. What Ken did do, however, is tap me for a design position about 8 months after I got to Sierra. It is true, though, that I did meet Ken in the parking lot on the way into the building for my interview, and he knew who I was and why I was there. After testing for a couple of years, he offered me a job as his junior producer. Neither of us remembered the other from that at all Гўв‚¬вЂњ but that's another story.) I'd met Guruka on the Gamers Forum on CompuServe, and he's the one I'd asked about betatesting. (As it turns out, through an astonishing 'small world' story, Guruka and I had actually met, and our fathers had been friends, when he was a teenager and I was a little kid. That was Guruka Singh Khalsa, who, for years, was Sierra's sole Producer. Well, he didn't actually recruit me for the company.

#RUNESCAPE SCREENIE THREAD FULL#

What was the circumstance that led to your decision to join the company full time? You had previously worked part time for Sierra On-Line as a beta tester, but what surprised you most about the company and your coworkers when you started working there full time? It was a chance encounter that you met Ken Williams who subsequently recruited you. On the basis of the reviews, both Sierra and Infocom allowed me to be a betatester, and that, I think, is what led Sierra to offer me a job. Prior to being hired by Sierra, I'd been writing game articles, reviews and walkthrus for years, mostly for CompuServe's 'The Electronic Gamer' online magazine (where I was a SysOp in the Gamers and Game Vendor forums), for Videogames & Computer Entertainment, which was the closest thing to a thinking person's videogame magazine, and for Re:Quests, MENSA's roleplaying game magazine. The chance to be able to work on games Гўв‚¬вЂњ which I saw as a far more worthwhile endeavor than most advertising Гўв‚¬вЂњ was too big an opportunity to pass up. I kicked myself every time I had to contribute to that noise. But today's advertising is increasingly 'image advertising,' which is what clients use when they don't have anything of substance to say about their product. When advertising is used to communicate real news about a service or product, it may actually be doing good for people. But I rarely got any sense of accomplishment out of the work. It's their way of making themselves feel better about what they do. I racked up a lot of awards, but then again, in advertising, they give you awards for wiping your nose on paper and calling it a script. I still did a fair amount of acting nights and weekends, but to keep a roof over my head, for my 'day job,' I went into advertising.ДЇrom a career and financial standpoint, advertising was very good to me. My partner and I had largely stopped touring and performing about four years before I went to Sierra. How satisfied were you with your career up to that time? What gaming, programming, and designing experiences did you have prior to joining Sierra On-Line? In the interview, Mandel speaks of his past with Sierra On-Line, his work on Space Quest, his experience with other developers and publishers, his current view of adventure games, and what holds for him in the future.Д¬heck out our exclusive new photos of Mandel!Д«efore you joined Sierra On-Line in 1990, you worked as an actor and a comedian. We are privileged to have this exclusive interview with the multitalented and vocal game designer. Today, he is enjoying a family life with wife Laura since 2001 and daughter Natalie since 2005. Born in 1958, Mandel has had a remarkable but controversial career in the game industry and continues to be an active voice in the gaming community. He has been called 'The Third Guy From Andromeda' for his work in Space Quest and has worked in numerous other games projects from developers such as Sierra On-Line and Legend Entertainment. He is also the designer and writer of such classic adventure games as Space Quest, Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, and Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist. To adventure game fans, Josh Mandel is more than just an accomplished actor, comedian, and author who has a passion for fine culinary cuisine.

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