Scierra game maker

A few weeks later the prototypes arrived and now the hard work started: We weighed and measured every rod meticulously and photographed the bending curves against a background reference system and compared these to different reference rods. Each and every rod was seriously tested with different lines, both inside to avoid disturbing winds and outside for more realistic conditions.

I had to spend countless hours in ice cold water, spey casting the double handers in their natural habitat. I enjoyed every second of it! We spent a lot of time choosing the right finish for the different series: Colors, guides, reel seats, cork etc. Quality demands hard work. These procedures were repeated through series of prototypes.

Every time a new set of prototypes arrived in Denmark, I flew down so that Robert and I could spend long hours doing what rod nerds love to do: Measure, weigh, photograph, compare, test cast and finally decide on the necessary changes for the nest range of prototypes.

Finally, we calibrated the rods to the different line series we were developing to be able to provide you with the perfect rod-and-line combos. My initial idea has always been that a really good fly rod should require a minimum of human power to perform at its optimum.

A fly rod is nothing but an amplifier of human speed, amplifying the input speed through leverage rod length and elastic recovery as the rod returns from bent to straight. This brings us to the essence of good fly rod design: How the rod bends when loaded, how smooth the bending curve is and how fast it recovers from bent to straight during the stop. We believe that these are the key factors to efficient transformation of human input into line speed.

Green Thumb Software and Arion added gardening and cooking titles to the Sierra line. Collier embarked on a joint venture with Sierra to produce a multimedia encyclopedia. Sierra breezed into the kitchen with its purchase of Arion Software's MasterCook series.

The series offered a way to manage a database of recipes, as well as scale down the ingredients to produce differing numbers of servings. Although the adventure category's share of Sierra's sales fell to 36 percent in from Most of the growth came in the simulation category, nearly doubling from With the coursing growth of computer technology, Sierra On-Line came into its own.

Multimedia systems and the compact disc added the capacity for full-motion video and high fidelity audio to the gaming scene. Sierra On-Line spent lavishly to make the game-playing experience live up to its potential; development efforts occupied more than 75 percent of its staff, and scores of writers, musicians, and actors were employed. The company developed a special computer language, Sierra Creative Interpreter, to allow artists and musicians to contribute without being mired in programming details.

After months of delays, Phantasmagoria finally was released in A true multimedia product, the game was contained on seven CD-ROMs and featured live actors, three-dimensional backgrounds, and high-fidelity sound effects. CD-ROM products, with their capacity to hold tremendous amounts of sound and picture data, grew increasingly important to Sierra, accounting for 36 percent of game sales in and 65 percent in The company included a password protection option with the game to let concerned parents limit their children's access to explicit scenes.

The Leisure Suit Larry series had earlier made certain critics groan because of suggestive themes. Nevertheless, by it had sold more than one million copies. Sierra pushed the envelope of gaming again in when it applied IBM VoiceType speech recognition technology to its Command U-boat simulation. Allowing players to merely speak commands rather than enter them through a keyboard or mouse, the CD-ROM included a video orientation featuring historical footage of World War II U-boat commanders.

To operate, the game required up-to-date hardware and Windows The company's products were distributed in at least 50 countries in the mids. Sierra's recent acquisition spree left it with a plethora of software offerings, allowing it to compete with the likes of Microsoft and Broderbund Software.

At the same time, the firm's diverse content brought it to the attention of consumer services company CUC International. The deal, announced in February , gave Sierra access to CUC's powerful marketing abilities and its outreach of more than 40 million customers. The Cendant Software unit was touted as one of the largest PC consumer software groups in the world. Under new ownership, Sierra continued to grow and develop new software.

Sierra also acquired Books That Work, a software developer dedicated to home-related projects. The company continued to focus on introducing new software. As consolidation continued to sweep through the retail software market, Cendant's arsenal of companies anchored its position as a top player in the market.

In August , it secured As part of its plan to restructure and sell off its noncore assets, Cendant Corp. In January , Cendant Software became Havas Interactive and operated as worldwide leader of interactive content with Sierra among its holdings. Yet again under new ownership, Sierra began to reorganize its operating structure. The firm continued to take advantage of the Internet and its vast opportunities for creating Internet interfaces for its games.

When Starsiege, a science fiction combat game, became available in March , an Internet interface was made available for game players where they could join a game in progress, talk to other players, read information on the game, and get tips and hints for playing the game. Sierra continued to introduce new software throughout the year.

The firm released The Complete Web Studio, catering to home users who needed a simple way to create web sites. The program offered everything from templates to an upload wizard.

The Sierra Home division continued to release new products as the company entered the new millennium. The Generations Family Tree Millennium Collection was launched with more than years of immigration records. With the software package, a user had access to 60, web links, immigration content, Ellis Island information, and family tree clip art. Sierra management continued to pursue avenues that would allow its software products to develop into easy-to-use and informative Internet interfaces.

Its games continued to have a cult-like following among game players and new releases were eagerly anticipated. Under the leadership of Havas International, which was renamed Vivendi Universal Publishing early in , Sierra was poised to remain a leader in software entertainment for years to come. Both men were big names in the industry and reportedly looked forward to their mission as stated in a company press release: 'expanding Sierra's success across platforms, toward what is increasingly a mass market, and internationally.

James Press,