Sierra

Documents about Sierra

Article

The State of Native Representation in Videogames

Native representation in videogames has been dominated by negative, stereotyped, and often exploitative depictions, according to this analysis of the medium's treatment of Indigenous peoples.

• The report argues that videogame depictions of Native peoples have been dominated by negative, stereotyped, and often exploitative portrayals, citing examples from Custer's Revenge (1982) to Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018) and Horizon Zero Dawn (2017), which it says erase living Native communities while appropriating their symbols.
• The central conclusion is that games are most respectful when Native peoples tell their own stories, framing the issue as one of authorship and self-determination as much as individual content choices.
• Never Alone (2014) is presented as a model for the industry as the first game produced by an Indigenous-owned studio.

Diversity & InclusionGame DesignNarrative RPG+1

Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game CultureDec 2025

Article

Valve VP of Marketing Doug Lombardi Leaves Company After 22 Years

Doug Lombardi, the long-standing vice president of marketing at Valve, departed the company in February 2022 after a 22-year tenure.

• Doug Lombardi, Valve’s longtime VP of Marketing, departed the company in February 2022 after a 22-year tenure.
• Kaci Aitchison, who joined Valve full-time in 2019 after hosting various Dota 2 events, has succeeded Lombardi as the primary press contact.
• Valve is transitioning the Steam 'Discounts and Events' section from a manually curated calendar to an algorithmic, personalized feed, with a full rollout planned for early 2027.

EmploymentMarketingPC+1

Game World ObserverMar 2022

Article

Classic Game Postmortem: Wolfenstein 3D

This retrospective on the development and marketing of the seminal PC title Wolfenstein 3D chronicles the strategic evolution of iD Software during the early 1990s.

• The iD Software team achieved rapid development cycles by releasing multiple titles, such as Commander Keen 4, 5, and Catacomb 3-D, which allowed them to master game mechanics before building Wolfenstein 3D.
• The developers secured the Wolfenstein IP for $5,000 by purchasing the rights from an individual who had acquired the assets of the defunct original publisher, Muse Software.
• iD Software successfully utilized a shareware distribution model that generated $50,000 per month, a figure that caught the attention of industry peers like Sierra.

Game DevelopmentGame DesignPC+1

How To Market A GameMar 2022

Article

Thinking Out of the Box (and Back in the Plane): Concepts of Space and Spatial Representation in Two Classic Adventure Games

Veugen and Quérette's article, published in Eludamos in 2008, examines how spatial representation shapes gameplay in classic point-and-click adventure games, using the Gabriel Knight series as its central case.

• Veugen and Quérette argue that gameplay and the audiovisual representation of space in adventure games cannot be separated, so how gamespace is represented shapes what players can do within it.
• The authors frame their analysis through Stockburger's five modalities of space and use Sierra's Gabriel Knight series as their central case study.
• The move from fixed two-dimensional screens to navigable 3D environments changed both how narrative space is experienced and how players search for clues and move through the world.

Game DesignNarrative AdventureAdventure+1

Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game CultureSep 2008