It's update time once again. We're pleased to report that our second major block of shooting in February and March for Legends of Adventure: The Story of Sierra On-Line was a huge success – and we're here to give you all the juicy details about the trip.
As we outlined in our previous update, this 15-day road trip took the LOA team down the entire coast of the Western United States – over 3,300 kilometres (2,100 miles) from Seattle to San Diego and back up to San Francisco – with stops in cities, towns, and a certain national park all along the way.
The Legends of Adventure team posing at Yosemite National Park in California – with the famed Half-Dome mountain from the Sierra logo in the distance behind us – on our last day of filming of this production leg
Our main takeaways from the trip?
1) Never sleep on gas station tacos in rural California! 2) It does, in fact, rain in Los Angeles. 3) All of our interview subjects were fantastic to speak with and extremely generous with their time. 4) We're incredibly fortunate to be able to help tell the story of Sierra On-Line thanks to your support!
Documentary Progress Report
If you follow Legends of Adventure on Bluesky and/or Instagram, you probably saw a few updates from our travels, but we wanted to share some more behind-the-scenes photos from our interviews with Sierra alumni Mark Crowe, Christy Marx, Lori Cole, Corey Cole, Jim Walls, Bill Shockley, Jerry Bowerman, and Ken and Roberta Williams.
Our first interview of the trip: Jerry Bowerman, Executive Vice President of Sierra On-Line from 1993-1997
A Guy from Andromeda in the flesh – a behind-the-scenes shot of our conversation with Mark Crowe (Space Quest)
Christy Marx poses with with copies of her two games after our interview
Quest for Glory series creators Lori & Corey Cole go deep on their time at Sierra On-Line
Police Quest creator Jim Walls poses with the first game in the series after our conversation
Former Sierra programmer Bill Shockley tells us about his final days at the company
Ken and Roberta Williams with the Legends of Adventure team after another day of interviews
It was a marathon shoot with a lot of early mornings and hours on the road, but we couldn't be happier with how this leg of production went. We heard stories we'd never heard before and learned more about some of the most beloved games of all time directly from the people who made them. We can't wait to share those conversations with you.
Additionally, nearly all of our interview subjects were kind enough to provide us with photos, documents, and other materials from their time at Sierra that we have scanned and digitized for potential inclusion in the documentary. It's a treasure trove of video game history that will be integral to telling this story.
Keen-eyed backers may have noticed that there are still a few photos and names still missing from the dozen or so interviews we promised in our last update. Rest assured, those interviews did occur as planned and we're just waiting for the right moment to reveal those to the public!
Future Update Plans & Next Steps
One of the highlights of this project has been getting to visit Oakhurst, California – the small mountain town that was home to Sierra On-Line and its employees during its heyday in the '80s and '90s. Our next backer update will be entirely focused on that visit and what we saw, so stay tuned!
While we still have a few more interviews left to conduct for Legends of Adventure, we're moving into the post-production phase. With over 40 hours of footage and interviews collected so far, our editors are beginning to assemble the roughest of rough cuts which we're hoping to have completed by the summer. Our composer Jess Forrest is also beginning preliminary work on the film's score and we're in the process of lining up other important elements for the final product such as sound, animation, titles, and more.
Legends of Adventure has been the project of a lifetime for our team, we're so grateful to the backers for their support and for trusting us to tell this story in a way that it deserves to be told. Be sure to follow us on Blueskyand Instagram for updates about next steps for the documentary – and of course more fun Sierra-related content!
We hope everyone had a safe and relaxing holiday full of friends, family, food, and maybe some time spent with a few classic adventure games.
The Legends of Adventure team took a much-needed break over the holidays after a successful first shooting block in November and we're now all looking forward to 2025!
Documentary Progress Report
The Legends of Adventure team assembles at SeaTac Airport outside Seattle in November 2024
If you follow Legends of Adventure on Twitter and Instagram, you likely saw some of our updates from the road in early November 2024.
Our team returned to the Pacific Northwest for our first post-campaign round of interviews for the documentary, completing four days of interviews with six Sierra alumni in a little under a week – including Al Lowe, Jane Jensen, Robert Holmes, John Williams, Ken Williams, and Roberta Williams. It was a whirlwind road trip that took us all over beautiful Seattle and the surrounding areas and helped us collect nearly 20 hours of interview footage and b-roll.
Here is a selection of behind-the-scenes photos from our November 2024 interviews:
Setting up with Jane Jensen
Setting up with Robert Holmes
Shooting b-roll with Jane Jensen
Shooting b-roll of the former Sierra headquarters in Bellevue, Washington
Interviewing Al Lowe
Shooting b-roll with Al Lowe
Setting up with John Williams
Shooting b-roll with John Williams
Getting ready to roll with Ken and Roberta Williams
Shooting b-roll with Ken and Roberta Williams
The entire team is extremely happy with the results of this first shooting block. We're so grateful to all the folks we spoke with for being so generous with their time, our families for being patient with us while we were away on the road, and most of all, the backers for making this entire project possible.
We've now collected many never-before-told stories from the earliest days of Sierra On-Line through to its final weeks as a company, interviews that will form the backbone of the documentary. We cannot wait to show you all more!
The Quest Continues...
We're planning our second block of shooting for the spring that will take us back to the West Coast of the United States.
This production block will include stops in Eugene, Oregon and Los Angeles, California among other places, as well as a certain small town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains: Oakhurst – where Sierra On-Line was based from 1981 onward.
We're planning to speak with many of the already-announced participants, plus a few more high-profile individuals that we still can't reveal quite yet. Stay tuned for more updates about additional cast members as we confirm our spring 2025 production schedule!
That's all for now – watch out for our next update before the next phase of production!
Backers: Be sure to visit the Legends of Adventure Community page (or simply scroll down if you're viewing this on Backerkit.com) to see some exclusive "Backer Only" content from the first block of interviews.
It's been a few months since our last update, but we're here to share the exciting news that Legends of Adventure: The Story of Sierra On-Line officially enters production later this week!
The production team is heading out to the Pacific Northwest on Friday for a week of planned interviews with some very recognizable Sierra alumni.
Who will we be interviewing? Project backers can find out below in the exclusive "backer-only" part of this update, but be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram for live updates throughout this production phase of production to see what we're up to.
But this is just the beginning. We'll embark on an even bigger shooting block this spring, taking us all over the United States and beyond. More interviews, more locations, and more stories about the history of Sierra On-Line from the people who were there.
None of this would be possible without you – the backers – so thank you again for helping us get to this point.
Stay tuned for more updates about additional cast members, rewards fulfillment, and some big surprises we cannot wait to share!
A Wild Game Grump Appears
You likely know him from his work on Game Grumps and as the frontman of Ninja Sex Party, and now Dan Avidan can add Legends of Adventure cast member to his impressive resume.
Dan was kind enough to record a quick message for us about his love of Sierra games and why he thinks the documentary is an important project. Watch it below:
That's all for now – look out for our next update in mid-November after this phase of production is wrapped.
Backers: Be sure to visit the Legends of Adventure Community page to see our exclusive "Backer Only" announcement about our first round of interviews!
That's a wrap on the Legends of Adventure crowdfunding campaign!
What an exciting final day it's been – thank you to all of our new backers who helped us go into overtime mode on the campaign, exceed 477% funded, and reach an incredible $357,557.75 raised! And to those who upgraded your pledges over the past few days, thank you for helping us get across the finish line with style.
Although we didn't reach our final stretch goal, we did come very close – and because of that, we may have some news to report about Legends of Adventure: The Book very soon.
In the meantime, our team will be taking a much-needed break tomorrow – but stay tuned because we'll have more updates for you soon about the next steps, from when production of the documentary will begin to rewards fulfillment, additional cast and crew member announcements, and more!
And, in case you missed it, you can watch a recording of our Campaign Wrap Party live stream – with a cavalcade of amazing guests from the world of adventure games – below:
And if that's not enough Legends of Adventure content, you can still ask us questions on our Reddit AMA from earlier today here.
Thank you again for all your support!
- The Legends of Adventure Team (Dave, Cade, and Will)
Wow, thank you all for helping us get across the finish line! this campaign was a nail-biter for so many reasons and we're immensely grateful for the trust that you continue to put in us after so many years.
There are a few more minutes left in the campaign -- and the backer train will continue until you all get tired -- but we wanted to make sure that everyone is ready for what to expect next for The Gamers: Attack of the Pwns.
BackerKit will begin charging cards when the campaign ends. If your charge doesn't work, don't worry, we can fix it in the surveys.
We'll receive campaign funds in a few weeks, unlocking all of the pieces of post-production that we couldn't pay for without your help.
Editing will continue and VFX, music, sound mix, color, insert shots, and the rest of the tasks that make up a movie will begin.
The pre-order store will open, allowing late pledges for a limited time.
We're build and release backer surveys, which WILL include add-ons for the ZOE/DG back catalogue (films, books, games, minis, dice, modules, etc).
Backers at $250 and higher will receive messages from us to begin designing your cards.
We'll continue monitoring the tariffs situation. IF that improves, we'll try to unlock a few extra goodies.
There may be some kind of preview screening at Gen Con, although likely not the final, polished edit. Everyone at $10 and higher will get access before that preview, so you're the first to see it.
When the movie is totally finished, we'll send a special watch-it-first link to everyone at $10 and higher.
As soon as the film is finished, we'll start authoring DVDs and Blu-rays. All other rewards should already be in the manufacturing queue by then, including a run of discs in the EU for international backers.
When we have rewards in hand, we'll charge the shipping cost in backer surveys and begin fulfillment.
Some time after all rewards are sent, we'll release Attack of the Pwns to the public and set up a pre-campaign page for our final Gamers film, Revenge of the Myth.
But first, we're going to take well-deserved naps! This was one of our hardest campaigns and it's time for some rest and recovery.
BUT even before that, we'll be livestreaming in just a few minutes, so don't forget to join us on BackerKit or Twitch what is thankfully a celebration, rather than a death march. We did it! Thank you!
Just $10 apiece from each unpledged follower would instantly make this campaign a success. As always, crowdfunding isn't about who can give the most, it's about small actions from each of us that make a big collective difference. Right now, with almost 2000 backers already on board, we're 92% funded. We're so close!
As always, no matter what happens, thanks for your support, enthusiasm, and encouragement.
LIVESTREAM ANNOUNCEMENT
Join director Gabriel Gonda at 4pm for a special end-of-campaign livestream! We'll announce and embed it on BackerKit, or you can watch at https://www.twitch.tv/zombieorpheus.
Whether we make it across the finish line or not -- and at almost 90% funded we should -- a huge thanks to the entire community of Gamers fans who pledged and showed that there's still massive interest in this story, even after almost twenty-five years!
We're grateful to this community for your enthusiasm, support, and Glorion-style "encouragement" when the going gets tough.
But enough about funding. We have a trivia challenge to wrap up!
There are no more questions. We've dropped every question and now bragging rights are on the line!
Make sure you check your answers and answer every question RIGHT HERE, because the polls close at 5PM Pacific time. Need hints for some of the tougher questions? Get an eyeful at this link.
One more thing... we've decided to be generous, since we messed up on the "eye damage" question, and since one answer requires access to The Fartherall Companion. Everyone who gets 15/17 questions correct gets credit in the movie!
But really, check your answers. Make sure you didn't miss any questions. Once the contest ends, everything gets locked in.
NEW POSTER TEASER
Attack of the Pwns director Gabriel Gonda has been hard at work on a new poster, in the style of classic political thrillers. The following is an in-progress draft, but we're so excited that we just have to share!
The final version of this poster will be added to digital rewards at the $25 level and higher, in full print resolution. (And yes, you'll be able to print it at a whopping 27"x40" movie-size format!)
