Al Lowe

Last updated

Al Lowe
Al Lowe! 3 3 (9559468220).jpg
Lowe at Gamescom 2013
Born
Albert William Lowe

(1946-07-24) July 24, 1946 (age 78)
Education University of Missouri (MA)
Occupation(s) Video game designer, game programmer, musician
Known for Leisure Suit Larry
Spouse
Margaret
​
(m. 1968)​
Website allowe.com

Albert William Lowe (born July 24, 1946) [1] [2] [3] [4] is an American video game designer who developed several adventure games, mostly for Sierra On-Line. He created the Leisure Suit Larry series. He has also worked as a casting director, voice director, writer, director, producer, background photographer, actor and executive producer.

Contents

Career

Teaching, early programming

Al Lowe on programming the monorail in Larry II (Interview 1989)

Lowe began his working life teaching public school music for 15 years. He taught himself programming during a sick leave. [5] He quit teaching and pursued a career in programming. In 1982 he created three video games for the Apple II: Dragon's Keep, [6] [7] Bop-A-Bet , [7] and Troll's Tale . [8] He was on Name That Tune in the 1984–85 season and was a semifinalist in one of that season's Tournaments of Champions.

Sierra Entertainment bought these games in 1983 and Lowe worked for them as a programmer and game designer for 16 years. His first projects included Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood , Donald Duck's Playground , and The Black Cauldron , all based on Disney properties. Later, he was lead programmer on King's Quest III and Police Quest I and also created the music for other Sierra games. Lowe is best known for his Leisure Suit Larry series of games. After Larry's success, Lowe also designed other games such as Torin's Passage and Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist (with Josh Mandel). Throughout his career, Lowe was known for his distinctive bald head, full beard, and considerable beer belly, and liked to call himself "the world's oldest game designer". Next Generation listed Lowe in their "75 Most Important People in the Games Industry of 1995", chiefly for the Leisure Suit Larry series. [9]

Sam Suede: Undercover Exposure

Computer Gaming World reported a rumor in July 1994 that Lowe was working on a new series, Capitol Punishment, with the first game being "Bill and Hillary's Whitewater Adventure". [10] That year he moved with his family to Seattle and supposedly retired in 1998. In a 2006 interview, [1] Lowe revealed that he was not actually retired, but had spent well over a year secretly designing a new game Sam Suede: Undercover Exposure, an action comedy game developed by iBase Entertainment, which he co-founded with Ken Wegrzyn. Unable to locate a publisher to promote and distribute Sam Suede, iBase Entertainment shut down in December 2006. Following this setback, Lowe expressed serious doubts whether he'd ever reenter the gaming industry again. [11] As of January 2007, the website for Sam Suede developer iBase Entertainment listed the project as postponed pending acquisition of additional development funding.

Later developing

In 2010, Lowe produced and directed Al Lowe's Comedy Club, developed by The Binary Mill for iOS devices. [12] He has since been recruited by Replay Games to work on high-definition remakes of six of the first seven Leisure Suit Larry games (the fourth entry in the series was deliberately skipped as part of the "fifth" game's plot). [13] On December 11, 2013, it was announced that Lowe had left Replay Games and returned to retirement. While Replay Games' official statement claimed that Lowe's departure was amicable, Lowe himself disputed this, stating that the parting did not happen on good terms. [14]

Al Lowe's Sierra Source Code

In 2018, Lowe posted a listing at popular auction website eBay of an entire backup of his own works at Sierra because he noted that Sierra had no intention of ever backing up any source code. Lowe said, "I backed everything up because I knew Sierra didn't." These included original floppies, boxes, manuals and source code for various games including popular titles such as the original Leisure Suit Larry and Space Quest among others. Shortly after he posted the listing, he sat down for an in depth interview with MetalJesusRocks, a former colleague and ex-Sierra employee where the two had a detailed discussion regarding the entire collection and its ultimate value. [15]

Personal life

Lowe grew up in Chesterfield, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. [4] Both Lowe and his wife Margaret, whom he married in 1968, are University of Missouri graduates. [16] [3] [17] During college, Lowe played saxophone in university bands, [18] and after graduation, worked in education as a band director. [19]

Lowe is an avid model railroader and a member of the board of directors of the 4th Division of the Pacific Northwest Region of the National Model Railroad Association. [20] [21] In November 2007, he was the guest of honor at the Alternative Party 2007 in Helsinki, Finland and played saxophone live with David Hasselhoff Big Band. [22] [23] He also runs a website, Al Lowe's Humor Site, and CyberJoke 3000, a daily joke mailing list.

Games

NameYearCredited withPublisher
Bop-A-Bet 1982 programmerSunnyside Soft
Dragon's Keep 1982 programmer, writer, artistSunnyside Soft
Troll's Tale 1983 programmer, writer, artist Sierra On-Line
Gelfling Adventure 1984 programmerSierra On-Line
Donald Duck's Playground 1984 designer, programmer, composerSierra On-Line
Mickey's Space Adventure 1984 composerSierra On-Line
Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood 1984 designerSierra On-Line
King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne 1985 composerSierra On-Line
The Black Cauldron 1986 designer, programmerSierra On-Line
King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human 1986 programmerSierra On-Line
Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards 1987 designer, programmer, writer, composerSierra On-Line
Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel 1987 programmerSierra On-Line
King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella 1988 programmerSierra On-Line
Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places) 1988 designer, programmer, writer, composerSierra On-Line
Leisure Suit Larry III: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals 1989 producer, designer, programmer, writerSierra On-Line
Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work 1991 director, designer, programmer, composerSierra On-Line
Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards 1991 director, designer, programmerSierra On-Line
Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist 1993 designer, writer, voice directionSierra On-Line
Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out! 1993 director, producer, designer, writer, composerSierra On-Line
Torin's Passage 1995 designer, writer, composerSierra On-Line
Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail! 1996 director, designer, writer, composerSierra On-Line
Leisure Suit Larry's Casino 1998 director, designer, writerSierra On-Line
Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded 2013 designer, writerReplay Games

Related Research Articles

<i>Leisure Suit Larry</i> Video game series

Leisure Suit Larry is an adult-themed sex comedy video game series created by Al Lowe. Drawing inspiration from Softporn Adventure, the Leisure Suit Larry series centers on Larry Laffer—a middle-aged man known for his balding head, penchant for double entendre, and iconic leisure suits. The stories typically focus on his unsuccessful attempts to seduce young women, portraying him as an unsuccessful pickup artist. A common link between the games are Larry's explorations of luxurious and cosmopolitan hotels, ships, beaches, resorts, and casinos.

Sierra Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game genre, including the first such game, Mystery House. It is known for its graphical adventure game series King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Gabriel Knight, Leisure Suit Larry, and Quest for Glory, and as the original publisher of Valve's Half-Life series.

Mark Seibert is an American musician, composer, and producer best known for his work on various video games from Sierra Entertainment.

<i>Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail!</i> 1996 video game

Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail! is an adventure game originally developed and published by Sierra On-Line in 1996. It was the sixth and last Leisure Suit Larry game written by series creator Al Lowe, and the last to feature original protagonist Larry Laffer as the main character until the release of Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry in 2018. It followed the 1993 Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out!.

<i>Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist</i> 1993 video game

Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist is a comic Old West adventure computer game created by Al Lowe and Josh Mandel and published by Sierra On-Line in 1993. It was dubbed "the Blazing Saddles of computer games" by Computer Gaming World.

<i>Softporn Adventure</i> 1981 video game

Softporn Adventure is a comedic, adult-oriented text adventure game produced for the Apple II in 1981. The game was created by Charles Benton and released by On-Line Systems, later renamed Sierra On-Line. Years later, Softporn Adventure was remade and expanded as Leisure Suit Larry series of adult-oriented video games, and the first entry in that series, 1987's Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, was a nearly direct graphical adaptation of Softporn Adventure. Another graphical version was released as Las Vegas for various Japanese computers in 1986 by Starcraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Williams (game developer)</span> American video game programmer

Kenneth A. Williams is an American businessman and game programmer who co-founded On-Line Systems together with his wife Roberta Williams. On-Line Systems eventually became Sierra On-Line and was ultimately renamed Sierra Entertainment. The couple were leading figures in the development of graphical adventure games. At its height, Sierra employed nearly 1,000 people prior to its acquisition in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Laffer</span> Protagonist from the Leisure Suit Larry video game series

Lawrence Laffer is a player character and the protagonist in the Leisure Suit Larry series of adventure video games, created by Al Lowe and Mark Crowe for Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards in 1987 and later voiced by Jan Rabson. A man approaching middle-age, Larry is a balding nerd who, following a lifelong virginity, has suddenly become obsessed with sex and now lives a new life, awkwardly trying and usually badly failing to seduce attractive women. Due to the popularity of the series in the later 1980s and early 1990s, Larry was one of the well known video game characters during that era.

<i>Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places)</i> 1988 video game by Al Lowe

Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places) is the second game in the Leisure Suit Larry series of graphical adventure games, designed by Al Lowe and published by Sierra On-Line in 1988. Like its predecessor, Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, it was developed for multiple platforms, including MS-DOS, Atari ST and Amiga. It utilizes Sierra's Creative Interpreter (SCI0) engine, featuring 16-color EGA graphics and a mouse-based interface for movement. The story continues the exploits of Larry Laffer, who becomes stranded on a tropical island during an ill-fated vacation.

<i>Leisure Suit Larry III: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals</i> 1989 video game by Al Lowe

Leisure Suit Larry III: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals is a graphical adventure game designed by Al Lowe and published by Sierra On-Line for DOS, Atari ST and Amiga in 1989 as the third entry in their Leisure Suit Larry series. The plot first follows series protagonist Larry Laffer, fresh from an abrupt divorce, as he combs through a tropical resort looking for love. After he meets the latest woman of his dreams, Passionate Patti, and leaves her to enter the wilderness, the player takes control of Patti to search for him.

<i>Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work</i> 1991 video game

Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work is a graphical adventure game developed and published by Sierra On-Line for the Amiga, DOS and Macintosh computers in 1991. It is the fourth entry in their Leisure Suit Larry series and the first Larry title to have 256-color graphics and a fully icon-based interface. Being an (in)direct sequel to 1989's Leisure Suit Larry 3, its title is misleading, as there is no Leisure Suit Larry 4. The game is followed by Leisure Suit Larry 6 in 1993. It was re-released in 2017 on Steam with Windows support.

<i>Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out!</i> 1993 video game

Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out! is the fifth entry in the Leisure Suit Larry series of graphical adventure games published by Sierra On-Line and is a sequel to the 1991 video game, Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work. Originally developed for MS-DOS in 1993, an enhanced CD-ROM version was published a year later.

<i>Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude</i> 2004 video game

Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude is a 2004 adventure video game developed by High Voltage Software and published by Vivendi Universal Games and their subsidiary Sierra Entertainment. It is the seventh main installment in the Leisure Suit Larry series and the first game in the series without any involvement with series creator Al Lowe and the final game to be released by Sierra before the rights were sold to Codemasters following its parent company Vivendi Games' merger with Activision to form Activision Blizzard. The game introduces a new main character, Larry Lovage, as Larry Laffer's nephew.

<i>Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards</i> 1987 video game

Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards is a graphic adventure game, developed by Sierra On-Line, and published in 1987. It was developed for the MS-DOS and the Apple II and later ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, Apple IIGS, Mac, and Tandy Color Computer 3. It utilizes the Adventure Game Interpreter (AGI) engine. In 1991, Sierra released a remake titled Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards for MS-DOS, Mac, and Amiga. This version used the Sierra's Creative Interpreter (SCI) engine, featuring 256 colors and a point-and-click, icon-driven user interface.

<i>Torins Passage</i> 1995 video game

Torin's Passage is a point-and-click adventure game developed and published by Sierra On-Line in 1995. The game was designed by Al Lowe, author of the Leisure Suit Larry series.

Josh Mandel is an American video game writer, designer, voice actor, and producer. He worked on computer games such as King's Quest V, The Dagger of Amon Ra, Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist, Space Quest 6, and Callahan's Crosstime Saloon.

Bop-A-Bet is a 1982 educational video game developed and published by Sunnyside Soft for the Apple II. It was subsequently also published by Sierra On-Line. The game teaches letter recognition and alphabetization. The speed of the game increases as the user becomes more proficient.

<i>Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust</i> 2009 video game

Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust is an action-adventure video game developed by Team17 and published by Codemasters for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It was released on March 27, 2009 in Europe. It is the 8th game in the series, and the first Leisure Suit Larry game to be released for seventh generation consoles. It was announced on January 17, 2008 in a press release.

<i>Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded</i> 2013 video game

Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded is a point-and-click adventure game released on June 27, 2013, by N-Fusion Interactive, Intermarum and Replay Games working with series creator Al Lowe and intellectual property holder Codemasters. The game is available for Microsoft Windows via Steam and GOG, OS X, Linux, Android and iOS. It is an enhanced remake of the 1987 Sierra On-Line adventure game Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards. It is the second remake of this game, following the 1991 remake, which featured VGA graphics.

<i>Trolls Tale</i> 1983 video game

Troll's Tale is an adventure video game developed in by Sunnyside Soft and published by Sierra On-Line for the Apple II in 1983. It uses the same engine for Sunnysoft's earlier game Dragon's Keep. Sierra acquired the game from Sunnysoft, along with Dragon's Keep and Bop-A-Bet by April 1983 and appointed Nancy Anderton to manage the publishing of their educational games. Peter Oliphant converted the games for the Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64 and, as a self-booting disk, IBM PC compatibles. Coleco made a deal with Sierra planning to release the game on ColecoVision with a Super Game Module.

References

  1. 1 2 Adventure Classic Gaming (2006). "Al Lowe Interview". Archived from the original on June 10, 2006. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  2. ↑ Lowe, Al. "Clues & Cheats!". Al Lowe's Humor Site. Retrieved January 1, 2023. When I was testing the game...I made my birthday a substitute for any or all of them: 0724.
  3. 1 2 "Paul–Lowe". St. Joseph News-Press . June 23, 1968. p. 9C.
  4. 1 2 "Missouri U. Band Here on April 24". The St. Louis Post-Dispatch . March 25, 1965. p. 7N.
  5. ↑ "Al Lowe Reflects on Leisure Suit Larry". SuperJumpMagazine.com. August 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2024.
  6. ↑ Lucas, Jay (October 24, 1983). "Dragon's Keep, learning game for first graders". InfoWorld. Vol. 5, no. 43. p. 39. Retrieved June 14, 2016. Dragon's Keep is a graphic adventure originally designed by Al and Margaret Lowe and Micheal and Rae Lynn MacChesnet ... Originally they worked under the corporate name of Sunnyside Soft.
  7. 1 2 Mace, Scott (January 17, 1983). "Neighbors from game-software firm". InfoWorld. Vol. 5, no. 3. p. 16. Retrieved June 14, 2016. The company is Sunnyside Soft, which last month released two educational games for the Apple, Dragon's Keep and Bop-A-Bet. ... Al Lowe is head programmer
  8. ↑ "SIERRA GOES ON LINE WITH SUNNYSIDE SOFT" (PDF). arcade express. Vol. 1, no. 18. April 10, 1983. p. 3. Sierra On-Line has acquired the product line originally developed by Sunnyside Soft. ...The three educational programs developed by...are 'Bop-A-Bet', 'Dragon's Keep' and 'Troll's Tale'
  9. ↑ "75 Power Players". Next Generation (11). Imagine Media: 51. November 1995.
  10. ↑ Santos, Ernie Ryne (July 1994). "Cub Reporters?". The Rumor Bag. Computer Gaming World. p. 166.
  11. ↑ John Callaham (December 1, 2006). "Interview with Al Lowe following the cancellation of Sam Suede". FiringSquad.com. Archived from the original on December 6, 2006. Retrieved December 3, 2006.
  12. ↑ "Al Lowe's Comedy Club". The Binary Mill.
  13. ↑ "Exclusive-Leisure Suit Larry Returns in HD". egmnow.com. Archived from the original on June 17, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
  14. ↑ Takahashi, Dean (December 11, 2013). "Updated: Leisure Suit Larry creator Al Lowe retires from Replay Games (exclusive)". VentureBeat . Retrieved December 12, 2013.
  15. ↑ Machkovech, Sam (November 30, 2018). "Al Lowe reveals his Sierra source code collection—then puts all of it on eBay". Ars Technica. arsTECHNICA. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  16. ↑ McKenna, Marti (Spring 1990). "Ladies and Lounge Lizards: Al Lowe". Sierra News Magazine. I have a Masters in music from the University of Missouri.
  17. ↑ "Board Names Band Director". The Daily Capital News. Jefferson City, Missouri. May 15, 1968. p. 2.
  18. ↑ "'Marching Mizzou' to Give Concert at Kiel Auditorium on Mothers Day". Naborhood Links News. St. Louis County, Missouri. May 4, 1966. p. 28.
  19. ↑ "Winter Concert Includes Combo". The Mexico Ledger . February 16, 1973. p. 3.
  20. ↑ "Model Railroader Al Lowe Lives on Little Rails". Seattle Met.
  21. ↑ "4th Division of the Pacific Northwest Region of the National Model Railroad Association – Contact Us". Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
  22. ↑ Adok, Magic. "Al Lowe interview". Hugi Magazine. Archived from the original on May 13, 2009. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
  23. ↑ fiikus (November 5, 2007). "DHBB feat Al Lowe". Flickr.com. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.