Scott Murphy | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | October 13, 1954 |
| Occupation | Game designer |
| Employer | Guys from Andromeda |
| Website | www.guysfromandromeda.com |
Scott Murphy (born October 13, 1954) is an American video game designer, programmer, and writer who developed several adventure games, mostly for Sierra On-Line. He is best known for creating the Space Quest series, mostly with his fellow "Guy from Andromeda", Mark Crowe.
Murphy started out in Sierra's hometown of Oakhurst, California by cooking at a local restaurant. [1] When his friend Doug Oldfield joined Sierra, Murphy discovered his love for adventure games and soon joined the company himself. Murphy worked his way up from customer support to actually working on games. He first worked with Mark Crowe on The Black Cauldron . Crowe was the Art Director for the game when Murphy was added as a programmer. Murphy slowly became the only programmer on the project: "I put in a lot of free time over a summer spending nights out at his house debugging Black Cauldron. And then I ended up being the only one working on it. After a while, Ken and Al Lowe bailed out on me. So I got Black Cauldron shipping, and I was hooked." [2]
During the development of The Black Cauldron, Murphy and Crowe discovered their mutual fondness for science fiction. Eventually, they created a four-room concept to propose to Sierra founder Ken Williams that would eventually become the beginning scenes of Space Quest . First released in 1986, Space Quest was a quick hit among adventure game fans and Murphy worked with Crowe to develop another three games, ending with Space Quest IV in 1991. [3] During this time, Murphy also worked on games from other series, including King's Quest , EcoQuest , and Police Quest . [4] [5] After Space Quest IV, Crowe moved to work at Eugene, Oregon, home of Sierra subsidiary Dynamix, where he developed Space Quest V without Murphy's input. Space Quest returned to Murphy after Sierra came to him with a Space Quest 6 that had been started by Josh Mandel before he was ejected from the project. In 1997, Murphy began work on a proposed Space Quest 7, which was shelved and restarted several times until Sierra finally closed down its Oakhurst facility on February 22, 1999, in a layoff called "Chainsaw Monday" by Murphy. [6] Murphy had been fired a month and a half prior, and as he had no formal education beyond high school, took up odd jobs and eventually moved to Alabama to support his mother. [1] [4]
In 2012, Murphy and Crowe came back together, and were joined by Chris Pope to start their own company called Guys from Andromeda. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, they began work on a project called SpaceVenture as a spiritual successor to the Space Quest series. [7]
Space Quest is a series of six comic science fiction adventure games released between 1986 and 1995. The games follow the adventures of a hapless janitor named Roger Wilco, who campaigns through the galaxy for "truth, justice, and really clean floors".
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.
King's Quest is a graphic adventure game series, released between 1980 and 2016 and created by the American software company Sierra Entertainment. It is widely considered a classic series from the golden era of adventure games. Following the success of its first installments, the series was primarily responsible for building the reputation of Sierra. Roberta Williams, co-founder and former co-owner of Sierra, designed all of the King's Quest games until the series' reboot in 2015.
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.
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.
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.
Mark Crowe is an American video game designer, artist, and writer who developed several adventure games, mostly for Sierra On-Line and its subsidiary Dynamix. He later worked at Pipeworks Software as Studio Design Director. Crowe is best known for creating the Space Quest series, mostly with his fellow "Guy from Andromeda", Scott Murphy.
Jim Walls is an American video game designer. He is notable for having designed the successful Police Quest series of adventure games for Sierra On-Line.
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.
The Coles is a colloquial term referring to Corey Cole and Lori Ann Cole, a husband and wife team who are both video game designers. Working together they designed the Quest for Glory series. They have also each designed games independently.
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.
Space Quest: Chapter I – The Sarien Encounter is a graphic adventure game, created by Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe, and released in October 1986 by Sierra On-Line. It is the first game in the Space Quest series, and sees players assume the role of a lowly janitor on a research ship, who becomes involved in stopping an alien race using a new form of technology for evil purposes.
Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers is a 1991 graphic adventure game by Sierra On-Line, and the fourth entry in the Space Quest series. The game was released originally on floppy disks in March 1991, and later released on CD-ROM in December 1992 with full speech support; an Atari ST version was announced via Sierra Online's magazine, Sierra News Magazine, but was later canceled. The game sees players assume the role of Roger Wilco, who is thrust into a new adventure across time and space where he must thwart the plans of an old foe that is seeking revenge against him.
Space Quest V: Roger Wilco – The Next Mutation is a graphic adventure game, created by Dynamix, and released by Sierra On-Line for MS-DOS on February 5, 1993. The game is the fifth entry in the Space Quest series, and the first game to be only designed by Mark Crowe. The story, set within a spoof of the Star Trek franchise, focuses on players taking control of Roger Wilco, who achieves his dreams of becoming a star captain but winds up involved in saving the galaxy from a deadly threat posed by a man-made virus.
Space Quest 6: Roger Wilco in the Spinal Frontier is a point-and-click adventure game developed and published by Sierra On-Line in 1995. It is the sixth and final game in the Space Quest series.
Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon is a 1989 graphic adventure game by Sierra On-Line, and the third game in the Space Quest series. Players assume the role of Roger Wilco, a lowly space janitor, who becomes involved in rescuing a pair of computer programmers from a sinister video game company. The game received positive reviews from critics, and contributed further to the series' commercial success for Sierra. A sequel, Space Quest IV, was released in 1991.
Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel is a 1987 police procedural adventure video game developed and published by Jim Walls and Sierra On-Line. Police Quest follows police officer Sonny Bonds as he investigates a drug cartel in the town of Lytton, California.
Chris Pope is an American internet personality, video game developer, producer, social media professional, podcaster. Pope is best known by fans as the SpacePope.
Cluck Yegger in Escape From The Planet of the Poultroid is an indie survival horror point-and-click video game designed by Mark Crowe and Chris Pope of Guys From Andromeda LLC. The game centers around a heroic rooster character named Cluck Yegger, who after crash landing on the planet Poultroid in front of a chicken factory called BFC, must defend himself from mutated chickens that have been sent by his nemesis, the evil "Colonel Zanderz". The game is an offshoot of the Kickstarted video game called "SpaceVenture" created by the Two Guys From Andromeda. It was released privately to backers of SpaceVenture on October 29. 2015, and then was greenlit on Steam and released publicly on November 9, 2015.
