Josh Mandel (video game designer)

Last updated
Josh Mandel
Born (1958-10-09) October 9, 1958 (age 66)
Occupation(s) Video game designer, writer, voice actor, producer
Known for King's Quest V
The Dagger of Amon Ra
Freddy Pharkas
Space Quest 6
Callahan's Crosstime Saloon

Josh Mandel (born October 9, 1958) 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 . [1]

Contents

Sierra Entertainment

Josh Mandel joined Sierra Entertainment in 1990. He was the first person to play the voice of King Graham, the hero of the King's Quest series. He also played Shamir Shamazel in King's Quest VI , Steve Dorian in The Dagger of Amon Ra , and numerous other minor roles.

In 2001, Mandel reprised the role of King Graham for the unofficial fan-made remakes King's Quest I , King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones , and King's Quest III Redux by AGD Interactive and King's Quest III by Infamous Adventures. [2]

Post Sierra

From 2012 to 2013, Mandel was employed with Replay Games where he, in cooperation with Sierra veteran Al Lowe, worked as a designer and writer on Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded [3] and Fester Mudd: Curse of the Gold[ citation needed ] He quit the company some time after the release of Reloaded. [4] [5]

In January 2014, he contributed to the independent adventure game, Serena , wherein he voices the game's protagonist. [5]

In February 2016, Mandel began working for another Sierra veteran, Corey Cole on Hero-U , a new adventure roleplaying game. [6]

Games

NameYearCredited withPublisher
Zeliard (English version, DOS) 1990 producer Sierra On-Line
King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown 1990 producerSierra On-Line
Fire Hawk: Thexder - The Second Contact (DOS) 1990 producerSierra On-Line
Mixed-Up Mother Goose (SCI0/SCI1) 1990/1991 producer, voice actor (CD-ROM)Sierra On-Line
Jones in the Fast Lane 1991 writer, voice actor (CD-ROM)Sierra On-Line
Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers 1991 additional material, voice actor (CD-ROM)Sierra On-Line
King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder! (CD-ROM) 1992 voice actorSierra On-Line
EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus (CD-ROM) 1992 voice actorSierra On-Line
The Dagger of Amon Ra 1992 writer, voice actor (CD-ROM)Sierra On-Line
Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist 1993 director, producer, designer, writerSierra On-Line
Hoyle Classic Card Games 1993 voice actorSierra On-Line
King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow (CD-ROM) 1993 voice actorSierra On-Line
Pepper's Adventures in Time 1993 designerSierra On-Line
Space Quest 6: Roger Wilco in the Spinal Frontier 1995 designerSierra On-Line
Shannara 1995 writer Legend Entertainment
Callahan's Crosstime Saloon 1997 designer, artist, writer Take-Two Interactive
Terminus 2000 voice actorVatical Entertainment
The Wild Thornberrys: Rambler (Game Boy Color) 2000 designer Mattel Interactive
Blue's Clues: Blue's Alphabet Book 2001 designerMattel Interactive
King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown 2001 voice actor Tierra Entertainment
King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones 2002 voice actorTierra Entertainment
Hungry Red Planet 2002 consultantHealth Media Lab
King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human 2006 voice actor Infamous Adventures
Insecticide 2008 designer, writer Gamecock Media Group
King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human 2011 voice actor AGD Interactive
Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded 2013 producer, designer, writerReplay Games
Fester Mudd: Curse of the Gold 2013 consultantReplay Games
Serena 2014 voice actorSenscape
Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption 2018 writerTransolar 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberta Williams</span> American video game designer (born 1953)

Roberta Lynn Williams is an American video game designer and writer, who co-founded Sierra On-Line with her husband, game developer Ken Williams. In 1980, her first game, Mystery House, became a modest commercial success; it is credited as the first graphic adventure game. She is also known for creating and maintaining the King's Quest series, as well as designing the full motion video game Phantasmagoria in 1995.

<i>The Dagger of Amon Ra</i> 1992 video game

Roberta Williams' Laura Bow in The Dagger of Amon Ra is a computer game published by Sierra On-Line in 1992. The game is the second and final installment in The Laura Bow Mysteries line of adventure games, the first of which was The Colonel's Bequest. Unlike the first game, it was not written or designed by Roberta Williams, but she was a creative consultant on the project. It uses 8-bit color and a point-and-click interface. The CD-ROM version included voice acting. The Dagger of Amon Ra was developed using Sierra's Creative Interpreter (SCI1.1). It is a spiritual sequel to the original game, contains the same elements and themes as the first, and is a much more traditional point-and-click game. It was re-released in 2017 on GOG.com with modern Windows support.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Lowe</span> American video game designer (born 1946)

Albert William Lowe 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.

AGD Interactive (AGDI), LLC. is a non-profit company given a fan license to remake Sierra Entertainment's popular classic adventure games from the 1980s and early 1990s.

<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>Kings Quest I</i> 1984 video game

King's Quest: Quest for the Crown is an adventure game developed by Sierra On-Line and published originally for the IBM PCjr in 1984 and later for several other systems between 1984 and 1989. The game was originally titled King's Quest; the subtitle was added to the games box art in the 1987 re-release, but did not appear in the game.

<i>Kings Quest II</i> 1985 video game

King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne is the second installment in the King's Quest series of graphic adventure games by Sierra On-Line. It was originally released in 1985 for PC DOS/PCjr, and later made available for the Apple II/IIGS, Atari ST, and Amiga. It uses the same AGI game engine as King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown and features King Graham as the player character. The title is a spoof of the 1984 film Romancing the Stone.

<i>Hoyles Official Book of Games</i> Video game series

Hoyle's Official Book of Games is a series of computer games released from 1989 to 2016 that was initially developed and published by Sierra On-Line. The series focuses primarily on playing cards, but has also included board games, puzzles, dice, and dominos. It spawned a spin-off series dedicated to casino table games and machines called Hoyle Casino in 1996.

<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 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.

Infamous Adventures is an amateur game development company, founded in 2004 by Shawn Mills and Steven Alexander, and is dedicated to making games in the classic adventure style made famous by the releases of Sierra Entertainment and LucasArts in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Himalaya Studios is a video game developer that focuses on adventure games. The limited liability company was established in 2004 in Chandler, Arizona by Britney K. Brimhall and Christopher T. Warren. In 2011, it was incorporated as a C Corporation in Delaware.

King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones is a fangame reimagining/retelling of Sierra Entertainment's King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne by AGD Interactive produced through a fan license by Sierra Entertainment. It was followed up by King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human. In 2009, the version 3.0 Enhanced Edition was released, with improved graphics and full-speech narration. The game earned the AGS award for best music and game in 2002.

There have been several King's Quest fangames both original and retellings/remakes of the original games that have been released by various developers.

<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.

References

  1. "Josh Mandel Video Game Credits and Biography" . Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  2. "AGD Interactive Studios" . Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  3. "Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded Retail Edition Revealed". electronictheatre.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 February 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  4. Contributor, John Walker; Walker, John (13 December 2013). "The Messy Saga Of Replay's Paul Trowe, As Al Lowe Quits". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Rockpapershotgun.com. Retrieved 13 December 2013.{{cite web}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  5. 1 2 "Impressions: 'A Disturbing Gift For Fans Of Adventure Games.'". Kotaku.com. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  6. "Newest Names and Numbers". 26 February 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2018.