The Coles

The Coles is a colloquial term referring to Corey Cole and Lori Ann Cole, a husband and wife team (married 1982) who are both video game designers. While they are most well known working together designing the Quest for Glory series, both are notable separately for designing games and (in the case of programmer Corey Cole) game engines independently of each other.

The Coles
Corey Cole and Lori Ann Cole photographed at Yosemite Entertainment in 1998.
Known forQuest for Glory
Spouse(s)Lori Ann Cole, Corey Cole
Websitehero-u.com

They formed Far Studio, which was the developer of Shannara[1] and is now used for art and web development.[2] They also formed a studio called Transolar Entertainment,[3] which is the developer of the adventure- RPG hybrid Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption.[2]

Corey Cole

Corey Stuart Cole (born 27 November 1955 in Santa Monica[4]) is an American game designer, programmer, and writer who co-created various iterations of the SCI engine, co-designed the first four games in the Quest for Glory series with his wife, and designed and directed Castle of Dr. Brain.

Biography

Corey Cole is an avid Dungeons & Dragons fan, playing the game for 10 years before joining Sierra, and ultimately selling one role-playing module to Judges Guild.[5] At that time he and his wife, Lori Cole published The Spell Book, a role-playing game newsletter. They ran fantasy campaigns for years that had a unique rule system that later became the core of their Quest for Glory games.[6]

Career at Sierra

Corey Cole started his programming career at Sierra On-line in 1988, porting the SCI engine to Atari ST. He later co-programmed new iterations the SCI engine for use in many Sierra games during much of his tenure at Sierra.

He began his career as a game developer, alongside his wife Lori Ann Cole, with Hero's Quest (which was later renamed Quest for Glory) in 1989. He wasn't credited as co-developer of the game, but he was acknowledged as such by the games industry. Computer Gaming World recognized both Corey Cole and Lori Ann Cole as the game's designers when they awarded Hero's Quest the Adventure Game of the Year award.[7] He and his wife were co-designers of the next three games in the Quest for Glory series as well.

He designed the puzzle adventure game Castle of Dr. Brain, the first game in the Dr. Brain series, in 1991. The series is notable for being Sierra's only property to be licensed for use in television, as the Children's Television Workshop licensed it for use in their programming on December 9, 1993.[8]

After being included in the major 1994 Sierra layoff, Corey returned in 1997 to work on Quest for Glory V, which was released in 1998. Corey did not take a development role on the game, but he did serve as a programmer. That same year, a photograph of his face was used as a head shot for a character in Police Quest: SWAT 2. Corey's final role at Sierra was as a programmer on Hoyle Casino. which was released in 2000.

Games

Lori Ann Cole

Lori Ann Cole (née Armbruster) is an American game designer, director and writer who co-designed the first four Quest for Glory series with her husband, designed Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire, and designed and directed Mixed-Up Fairy Tales. She is also a voice actor, voicing Queen Isabella in King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!.

Biography

Cole's varied background includes elementary education, film animation, and writing. She is a fanatic role-playing video game player who became involved in game designing because of her husband's involvement in Sierra On-line.

Career at Sierra

Lori Ann Cole co-designed the Quest for Glory series with her husband Corey Cole.[9] She was the sole designer of the final chapter, Quest for Glory V, although her husband was a programmer for that game.

She was also the designer of the second and final game in Sierra's Mixed-Up children's adventure game series, Mixed-Up Fairy Tales. While at Sierra, she also was a voice actor, voicing Queen Isabella in the CD-ROM version of King's Quest V.

After Sierra downsized in 1994, Lori returned the following year as the sole designer of Quest for Glory V, which was released in 1998. That same year, a photograph of her face was used as a head shot for a character in SWAT 2.

Games

Far Studio/Transolar Games

Since Sierra didn't give the Quest for Glory V team the budget and time that the Coles felt the game needed, they decided to create games for other publishers. As a result, they formed a mini company called FAR Productions (named for the property they lived on, Flying Aardvark Ranch) and created Shannara for Legend Entertainment in 1995.[1]

In 2003, Corey and Lori decided to make a game based on a book that she was co-writing that was never published called How to Be a Hero. After losing the website named after the book after running it for three years, they decided to rename the idea School of Heroes. They originally planned to make the game a text adventure, which Corey programmed using Inform, but they were not satisfied with the feel of the game and put it aside. At the same time, they decided to create a website to promote the book. Corey programmed the interactive parts of the site, which would automate the original How to Be A Hero website's theme of allowing users to become "students" and complete "assignments". They planned to expand the site into a full interactive game, but those ideas never materialized.[6]

In late 2011, the Coles decided to stop taking assignments at School of Heroes and instead make the idea into a game. On October 19, 2012, after the success from successful projects by fellow Sierra alumni and at the encouragement of fans, Lori Ann and Corey Cole launched a Kickstarter for 2D adventure RPG based on that idea, Hero-U. Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption was published by Transolar Games in 2018. [10]

Recognition

Computer Gaming World awarded Corey and Lori Ann Cole (and producer Guruka Singh Khalsa) the Adventure Game of the Year award for Hero's Quest in 1990.[7]

References
  1. "Lori Ann Cole - Interview". Adventure Classic Gaming. 2003-09-08. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
  2. "Hero-U is a Kickstarter for a new RPG-Adventure Hybrid". The International House of Mojo. 2012-10-28. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
  3. "IGDA Summit 2013 Speakers". International Game Developers Association. Archived from the original on 2013-07-04. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
  4. Who's Who in the West, 1985
  5. "Corey Cole Interview". Adventure Gamers. 2002-05-20. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
  6. "Interview with Corey Cole, creator of Quest for Glory, on upcoming Kickstarter: Hero U". New York Post. 2012-10-18. Archived from the original on 2013-02-07. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
  7. "Computer Gaming World's 1990 Game of the Year Awards". Computer Gaming World. September 1990. p. 70.
  8. "Sierra On-Line Inc. Signs Licensing Agreement With Children's Television Workshop". TheFreeLibrary.com. 1993-12-09. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
  9. "Quest for Glory creators take to Kickstarter with Hero U: Rogue to Redemption". Eurogamer. 2012-10-23. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
  10. "How Hero-U avoided disaster to resurrect '90s adventure game nostalgia". PC Gamer. PC Gamer. 2018-08-02. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
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