Millennium Gaming

George Broussard and Scott Miller
Louis Castle and Brett Sperry
Justin Chin
Richard Garriott
Ron Gilbert
Andy Hollis
Jane Jensen
Norm Koger
Doug Littlejohns
Sid Meier
Peter Molyneux
Michael Morhaime
Ray Muzyka & Greg Zeschuk
Gabe Newell
Chris Roberts
Tim Schafer
Bruce Shelley
John Smedley
Warren Spector
Will Wright
Jane Jensen
Sierra Studios

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It is said by some that the most difficult thing to do in electronic entertainment is to write a funny game. Almost as difficult is writing a scary one. While Jane Jensen has never tried her hand at the former, she is an eminent master of the latter. She has penned a handful of games compared to other luminaries in this feature, but among her credits is the Gabriel Knight series of adventure games. The Gabriel Knight series is a rare breed in the computer industry; they are well-written horror adventure games and have dealt with some rather controversial subjects. Appropriately enough, her last Gabriel Knight adventure dealt with religious conspiracies that echo some of the stranger paranoia being circulated as we enter the new millennium. An accomplished game designer and a published novelist, Jane Jensen is a rare find in the gaming industry: someone with a nose for a good story.

1. If there were one moment from gaming you'd put in a time capsule to represent the 20th century of interactive entertainment, what moment would it be and why?

Jane: I would have to say that playing the first Monkey Island game and just howling over the sword fighting dialogue represents my own gaming experience on the PC. It wasn't the first of its kind, but its charm and modest brilliance - in that it's not all decked out like a big-budget film - represents a lot of what I have loved about PC gaming. Monkey Island represents PC gaming to me the way Pac Man represents arcades.

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Gabriel Knight 3
2. Do you think the gaming industry is underestimating one aspect of interactive entertainment that will take us all by surprise in the early 21st century?

Jane: We went through a "Hollywood meets Silicon Valley" phase in 1995 in which everyone was talking about story and making film/game hybrids. This was obviously premature and bombed miserably. In fact, in the years since, we've run (as an industry) about as far from that idea as you can get. I think the surprise will be that in the long term that idea will not only return, but may shape what mass-market gaming is like ten, even twenty years from now.

Next: Jane Jensen (cont.)