It's been a busy past few months, so weāre excited to share another meaningful update about the journey of Legends of Adventure: The Story of Sierra On-Line with you and reveal what's coming next.
We're still targeting a 2026 release for the documentary ā and as you'll read below we've made a lot of progress towards that goal!
Recently Completed Interviews
We are pleased to announce that our most recent round of interviews included conversations with:
Josh Mandel,a designer and producer at Sierra On-Line and the voice of King Graham, who helped craft the tone and humour of some of the company's most beloved games. Josh spoke from the heart about his experience at Sierra, calling it "the best four years of his life."
Mark Seibert, a composer, director, and producer at Sierra, who helped establish the sound that set Sierra's adventures apart. His vantage point revealed how Sierra stayed on the cutting edge of multimedia storytelling, and we're so happy to have interviewed him!
Laine Nooney, an Associate Professor of Media Industries at NYU and one of the foremost scholars on the history of the early computer and games industries in the United States. Laine has researched and written about Sierra On-Line extensively, and will help the viewer understand why Sierra mattered, how it succeeded, and why it still resonates so strongly today.
Marcus Mera, theco-producer of Ken and Roberta Williams' recently released remake of Colossal Cave, which brought them out of retirement. As a fan and collector of Sierra On-Line games himself, he gives us a window into why the Williams' returned to gaming after decades away from the industry.
Each interview subject brought thoughtful perspectives and their own unique personal experiences to the story, and we are grateful for their participation.
Post-Production Progress
A behind-the-scenes shot of our editor's desk ā where the magic happens!
We are now deep into post-production and have nearly completed an assembly cut of the film. This is the first rough version of the film where every scene, interview, and story beat is placed in order from start to finish.
For the first time, we are able to watch the story unfold from beginning to end. It's been an incredible experience seeing the tale of Sierra On-Line ā as well as years of work by our team ā finally take shape on screen. This has been a long journey and though there is much more work to be done, we're so thrilled to see it starting to come together.
Next Steps: Final Interviews
A very dedicated collector recently showed us some classic On-Line Systems computer games in person
With the assembly cut nearly completed, we're still working to schedule a few very exciting final interview subjects and we're working diligently to make these conversations happen. We're excited to reveal who these people are when we're able to confirm their participation!
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Thank you again for your continued support, enthusiasm, and patience as we work to tell the story of Sierra On-Line and the remarkable people behind it. We look forward to sharing more soon, including an exclusive backer-only look behind the scenes as the film continues to take shape. Be sure to follow us on Blueskyand Instagram for day-to-day updates on the doc and more!
We're here today with a very special update marking one year since Legends of Adventure: The Story of Sierra On-Line was successfully 100% funded on BackerKit!
With the generous support of our backers, we went on to exceed our original goal and our own expectations. It was an important day for the team because it was the day we officially knew that we were going to get to tell this incredible story and do it in a way that was worthy of the subject matter. So thank you again for making this possible!
Documentary Progress Report
It's been a year full of progress on the project ā almost two dozen amazing interviews, over 40 hours of footage, hundreds of pieces of archival material sourced, and almost a month spent on the road by our team ā and there's so much more to come.
Interviews continue (more on that in the "Backer Only" section below) and we're now deep in post-production with work on a first assembly cut well underway, as well as the film's score and main title design.
We're excited to share more news on this front in the coming months, but for now we want to give you a sneak peek at one of the highlights of our last production road trip...
Inside the Williams' Oakhurst Home
As mentioned in our last update, the previous production leg brought the LOA team to Oakhurst, California ā home of Sierra On-Line's headquarters from the early 1980s until 1993. The majority of the Sierra team lived in and around the area during this time, including co-founders Ken and Roberta Williams.
After some early successes at Sierra and around the time that development on the original King's Quest began, Ken and Roberta decided to build a home in Oakhurst. With six bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, two kitchens, a bar and game room, and indoor volleyball court, the palatial house was unlike anything else in the region and a tribute to what they'd built at Sierra so far.
Home to the Williams' young family, more than a few wild company parties, and the development of some of Sierra's most beloved games, today the house remains largely the same as when it was first built, complete with stained glass referencing early Sierra titles like Mystery House, The Wizard and the Princess, and The Dark Crystal.
Take a look inside the Williams' Oakhurst home below:
So if you're planning a trip to the Yosemite area in the near future or want to relive the glory days of Sierra On-Line with a big group of friends, the owners of the property have provided us with a discount code ā SIERRADOC10 ā that can be used until the end of 2027 to book the house on loveyosemite.comfor 10% off.
Once again, we're incredibly grateful to all the backers for their support and for coming along with us on this wild journey. Follow us on Blueskyand Instagram for updates on the documentary and more!
WE'VE REACHED 1,500 FOLLOWERS ON THE PRE-LAUNCH PAGE!!!!!
And, as promised, here's a glimpse of the city where Ricky and Spencer live: San Taras.
The city of San Taras is a small maritime city with severe waste disposal and pollution problems. A big river intersects the city, which is partly used to dispose of waste, carrying masses of garbage into the ocean.
Want to know more? Follow the project and support it on launch day! As each milestone is reached, we'll share more information about the world of The Little Trashmaid!
Now on to the next goal: REACH 2500 FOLLOWERS ON THE PRE-LAUNCH PAGE!!!
Hiya! As of writing, we are now 104k FUNDED on the We Love Cold War!! Backerkit campaign!! šš (we briefly hit 105k but we dipped a bit below, BUT I'm pretty confident now in announcing that we've hit the third milestone and WLCW's 2nd Episode starring Waverly & Eden, Yvette & Josie, as well as the UN's Mackenzie is greenlit!)
Also if you haven't seen it yet, we just posted up two new teasers of the upcoming season.
Key Visual of the United Nations' ANNE MACKENZIE-LAURENT!
Character Sheet for Magdi, the Hungarian representative
Original Character Sheet for the Warsaw Pact's Karolina (renamed to Katerina in Season One)
Next up! is the $145k goal! Which is Serafina and Ingrid's episode! Featuring a CIA/KGB mission sent into the Heart of Darkness to dispatch a rogue unit of UN Peacekeepers and mercenaries who've gone "native"
Original UN Illustration, co-designed by Kotori, illustrated by Nico
But regardless of whether we make our goals, we'll be VERY hard at work on the upcoming season! More is coming VERY soon! On the way, and we plan to be making plenty of updates throughout the rest of the campaign and are still aiming to finish up the first part of the Pilot by July 4th!
Thank you everyone for supporting WE LOVE COLD WAR!!
Jacob Blackmon has been a friend of ZOE, uh, probably since forever. If you've been a fan for more than a minute, you have seen his work in many ZOE/DG places. So, naturally, when I dreamed up a crazy anime interlude in this installment of The Gamers, he was the natural person to turn to for the drawings.
I approach character design with a focus on shapes (and colors) and a huge inspiration for me is Ryoko Kui - the mangaka behind Dungeon Meshi. Iām a big fan, and for these line-up poses I was digging through her wonderful artbook Daydream Hour. Tbh her work makes me want to disappear from the radar for a while and study harder to become a better artist (which Iāll probably do after the campaign wraps)...
So for this line-up, Iāve only designed the character models - no signature poses that scream who they are yet, thatāll come in the next update! But you can already tell a lot just by what theyāre wearing: preppy, posh, rustic, streetwear-ish, and a classic Eastern European grandpa fit (the look is stolen straight from my own grandpa)
