This is the article Josh s referring to about Callahan's: https://www.filfre.net/2025/06/the-last-...of-legend/

Ooh, I thought of another question!

Why is Steve Dorian's voice in Dagger of Amon Ra pitch shifted so low?

Ooh, I thought of another question!

Why is Steve Dorian's voice in Dagger of Amon Ra pitch shifted so low?

Hiya, PrincessPearl,

Hah! Yeah, as it was described recently on the CGG Podcast, that voice is right out of Uncanny Valley!

Bruce Balfour wanted Steve to have a really low, sexy voice (I'm not why he chose ME for that voice, maybe because I was inexpensive?). So as we were recording, I kept going lower and lower...and Bruce kept saying, "Take it lower...lower..."

Finally, I reached a point where I couldn't speak in any lower of a register, but it still wasn't quite to Bruce's vision. So he had it pitched down electronically to compensate, to get it to a point where he wanted it.

Recording that game was a ton of fun. So was writing on it. Bruce's humor was so dry and Lorelei and I had a fantastic time trying to match his style. He knew how to run a project!

Josh

Can you talk about Space Quest 7. If you had any evolvement, what you knew about it, what happened, how the design was coming, what was the vibe of the team, etc.

Josh left Sierra half-way through Space Quest 6's development, so...

Can you talk about Space Quest 7. If you had any evolvement, what you knew about it, what happened, how the design was coming, what was the vibe of the team, etc.

Hi, Sneaky,

Yes, the Space Quest Historian is correct (as you'd expect!). At the time I left the company, SQ7 was just a distant hope. Nobody from management was talking yet about a 7th game, so they were far from assigning a team, or a designer, or anything. Everything that happened with it went down without my knowledge, and to this day, I'm totally in the dark about who worked on it, and how it all came about.

I did promise to make up any answers I didn't know, so here goes: SQ7 was designed by Scott Murphy and Alyosious McSlutt. It was originally conceived as a scrolling isometric first-person open world real-time text adventure, but those plans had to change VERY VERY early on. The team was always sweating profusely for no particular reason. It was a golden time!

And that's probably not that far from the truth.

Best regards,
Josh

Josh left Sierra half-way through Space Quest 6's development, so...

Yes, very true but a boy can dream.

---

Can you talk about Space Quest 7. If you had any evolvement, what you knew about it, what happened, how the design was coming, what was the vibe of the team, etc.

Hi, Sneaky,

Yes, the Space Quest Historian is correct (as you'd expect!). At the time I left the company, SQ7 was just a distant hope. Nobody from management was talking yet about a 7th game, so they were far from assigning a team, or a designer, or anything. Everything that happened with it went down without my knowledge, and to this day, I'm totally in the dark about who worked on it, and how it all came about.

I did promise to make up any answers I didn't know, so here goes: SQ7 was designed by Scott Murphy and Alyosious McSlutt. It was originally conceived as a scrolling isometric first-person open world real-time text adventure, but those plans had to change VERY VERY early on. The team was always sweating profusely for no particular reason. It was a golden time!

And that's probably not that far from the truth.

Best regards,
Josh

I knew it! Thank you for finally confirming my suspicions. 

That's a harsh nickname for Leslie Balfour...

Hi Josh, I hope you're still on this forum. I just wanted to say a huge and sincere thank you for making games that have resonated with me (and so many others) for decades.

Sierra games taught empathy, creativity, humor, artistic integrity, morality and so many other good things. Most of the games pushed for compassion and peace over things like "defeating your enemies through violence." They've definitely shaped my life, in a good way, starting from around age 12 and now pushing 50. King's Quest 5 has always been a favorite of mine, for the absolutely to this day gorgeous artwork and music, and like all Sierra games, for the atmosphere.

Thank you so much!

Estória,

Thank you so much for all the kind words. The thought that they were such a positive and  formative influence is really (for me at least, and I hope for other Sierra alums) the icing on the cake. And the gratitude people are expressing is so unexpected, it's so heartfelt and it feels like it all went down so long ago. It's...okay, I've backed myself into a corner with the cake analogy. The edible glitter on top of the icing? 

I hope we can continue to find ways to make games that entertain and educate and surprise and delight. In another 35 years, it would be great to have people coming up to me and saying, "Hey, I remember playing your games back when I was in my second childhood!"

Warm regards,
Josh