Leslie Balfour should be a familiar name to Sierra fans.  Since joining the company in 1993, she has been involved in a number of projects in every capacity from writer to voice actress.  Recently, she had a major hand in the of Sierra's on-line fantasy adventure, the Realm, and is now working on the Space Quest 7 project as co-designer with Scott Murphy.  The Virtual Broomcloset recently had a chance to talk with Leslie about SQ7; here's what she had to say...

Decaffeinated Jedi:  What cosmic coincidences and twists of fate brought you to Sierra?

    Leslie Balfour:  In 1993, I was working as a carney for a small circus called Wanda's Big Top and Catering.  As fate would have it, we were on our way to North Fork, California, to do a rich kid's birthday gig, when the front truck (the one carrying Wanda--she always had to be first) lost its brakes and plunged over the side of a mountain and caught fire.  Thank heavens no one was hurt, but the big top was in that truck, so we were pretty much without the inventory necessary to put on a circus. At that point we broke up the act.

    Wanda was pretty mad about the truck burning up, and blamed me for absolutely no reason, just because I was the mechanic.  She left me on the side of the road with my thumb sticking out.  I couldn't get a ride, though, because I was subbing for the bearded lady that month.  Out of desperation, I walked down to Sierra and put in an application. They gave me a job, insurance paid for the beard removal, and the rest is history.

    Leslie:  We drew straws and I lost.
 
    No really, but seriously folks, I was writing much of the documenation for Sierra, and Josh Mandel asked me to do Popular Janitronics for SQ6.  At  almost the same time, Scott Murphy asked me to help on a tchatchka for the Space Quest Collection to enhance the value of the product.  So I wrote the Making of Space Quest video, then directed it. That's me as the lawyer.  Wow, I just do it all.

    Leslie:  Actually, I'm not involved with that product except that I proofread the documentation.  I think the AVI will be included in hi-res, and I'm sure SQ's 1 through 6 are in there, but beyond that I have no idea.  We're working to include an AVI that serves as a commercial for SQ7.  The Collection should be out by the end of August.

     Leslie:  Scott has cooked up a plot twist that is going to leave players both gasping and gagging.  When he told me, I thought, of course!  Why didn't I see that before!  This one will have tongues wagging. I mean, it's going to be more shocking than the O.J. verdict.  However, Scott told me that if I breathe a word of it, he'll do to me what Fred Goldman is going to do with that Heisman Trophy.

    Leslie:  I am a major X-Phile, and so are most of the other team members. Plus Jay Lee is a big fan of Gillian Anderson, and I think he wants to program her.  So barring lawsuits, I think you can safely assume that the truth will be in there.
 
    Men In Black is also a popular favorite around here.  You can expect an Independence Day send-up as well.  And to complete the circle, we'll also be satirizing prior satiric Space Quests, which we're hoping won't rip a hole in the time-satire continuum, forever changing humor as we know it.

    Leslie:  I like Stellar, but the boys here at Sierra and out there in Customerville tell me that Beatrice is HOT. I'm basically outnumbered. I think Roger will continue to toy with Stellar, and continue to be toyed with by Bea. Ain't love grand?

    Leslie:  Definitely Roger, and we're thinking that everyone will play Roger, even in the multiplayer version!  And I'm going to let you mull that cryptic statement over for a while before I explain.  (And that will give me time to figure out what I meant.)

    Leslie:  It isn't being developed yet, though we know what we're going to do.  I hope to have a skeleton crew going soon, but the presiding rule here is that if there's a resource conflict between teams, the team that's shipping first gets priority.  Which means that SQ7 is at the very bottom of the food chain right now, and the sharks are circling.
 
    The demo will be developed in two phases.  First, we'll want to show Ken Williams and other senior managers a version that will give them an idea of the game, but which doesn't have to be that stable. (Ken dislikes anything more stable than he is, so we don't have much of a high water mark to worry about.)  When we're given the green light (which we will be--this game is going to be HOT) we will stabilize the demo, polish it, and force it on victims like yourself. It will be fully playable with a self-contained story, and Jay even hopes to make it stand-alone AND multiplayer.

    Leslie:  Well, yesterday was a typical day.  I got here about 10, woke up Scott, took out the empties, and started playing Diablo.  Then about 1:30 I felt a little hungry, so I went upstairs to see if Jay had the Mr. Soylent working.  He did, so I had an ice cream cacciatore (he has it working, but it isn't fixed).  Then I threw up, drank a Jolt Cola, woke Scott up again, and played some more Diablo.  Then I got on the Internet and sent the emails about the Darwin Awards and the little boy who needs business cards to everyone I know for the twelfth time.  By that time it was around 4 PM, so I went up to the studio and watched Oprah.  Then I came downstairs, woke Scott up, chewed a pack of gum, fired up my Squirrel Nut Zippers CD, and did some calisthenics.  Then I made some personal long distance calls, emailed Josh with the latest Sierra gossip, woke up Scott, and played some Tetris.  Then at about 9 PM I left for the last showing of Men in Black.
 
    As you can tell, we're really putting in the long hours to get SQ7 out as soon as possible.

    Leslie:  Pig snout and mohawk?  Scott said the new Andromeda outfit is a corset and spike heels!  I'm gonna rip that ugly little snout right off that smug little face. 

    Leslie:  Well, Scott's scrappy, but whenever he starts getting the upper hand, I cry.  Then he stops fighting and asks me what's wrong, and I womp him one in the flanger.  He may be scrappy, but I cheat. (Him Holyfield -- me Tyson.)

    Leslie:  I'd like to express my appreciation to all the fans who have given the series so much support over the years.  We are going to work really, really hard to make this a game that will provide a lot of action, but one that you will like.  We know what we owe the die-hard fans: your support means that we can do another installment. We aren't going to let you down. SQ7 will have all the Scott Murphy[tm] humor... the puzzles... the glamour... and the Festrous snotballs you've enjoyed through the years.  Please do write to me with opinions/comments/requests/likes and dislikes/and et ceteras.

    Thanks for the opportunity to talk about myself; I do so enjoy it.

  Stumble your way back to the Broomcloset!