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The Coles

From Alfawiki
Far Studio / Transolar Entertainment
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games, Art and web design
Founded1980s
FounderCorey Cole, Lori Ann Cole
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsShannara, Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption

The Coles denotes the married couple Corey Cole and Lori Ann Cole, united in matrimony since 1982, who gained recognition as the designers behind the Quest for Glory franchise. Both individuals have also pursued game development projects separately.

They established Far Studio, the creator of Shannara, which has since shifted its focus toward art and web design. Additionally, they founded Transolar Entertainment,<ref>the company responsible for producing the adventure-RPG title Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption.<ref>

Corey Cole

Corey Stuart Cole (born November 27, 1955, in Santa Monica) is an American designer, programmer, and writer within the gaming industry. He contributed to the development of multiple versions of the SCI engine, collaborated with Lori Ann Cole on designing the initial four Quest for Glory installments, and took on design and directing duties for Castle of Dr. Brain.

Biography

Before joining Sierra, Corey was an enthusiastic Dungeons & Dragons participant for a decade and had sold a role-playing game module to Judges Guild. Together with Lori Ann, he published a role-playing newsletter titled The Spell Book and managed fantasy campaigns featuring a custom rule set that ultimately served as the conceptual basis for the Quest for Glory series.<ref>

Career at Sierra

Corey Cole's programming journey at Sierra On-line began in 1988 when he adapted the SCI engine for the Atari ST. Throughout his tenure, he co-developed successive versions of the SCI engine utilized in numerous Sierra games.

Alongside his wife Lori Ann Cole, Corey embarked on his game development path with Hero's Quest (later renamed Quest for Glory) released in 1989. Although not formally credited as co-developer, both Coles received industry acknowledgment as designers of the game, which earned Computer Gaming World’s Adventure Game of the Year award. They jointly designed the following three entries in the Quest for Glory saga.

In 1991, Corey took on design responsibilities for Castle of Dr. Brain, initiating Sierra's well-known Dr. Brain puzzle-adventure series. This franchise became Sierra’s sole property adapted into a television format by the Children's Television Workshop in 1993.

Following layoffs during Sierra’s 1994 reorganization, Corey made a return in 1997 to program Quest for Glory V, which launched in 1998. That same year, his image was featured as a character model in Police Quest: SWAT 2. His last position at Sierra was as a programmer on Hoyle Casino (2000).

Games

Lori Ann Cole

Lori Ann Cole (born Armbruster) is an American game designer, director, and writer recognized for her collaborative work on the initial four Quest for Glory games alongside her husband, her solo design of Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire, and her role as director of Mixed-Up Fairy Tales. She also provided the voice for Queen Isabella in King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!.

Biography

With expertise in elementary education, film animation, and writing, Cole entered the game development field through her husband's association with Sierra On-line. She is passionate about role-playing games.

Career at Sierra

Together with her husband Corey Cole, she co-created the Quest for Glory series and independently designed Quest for Glory V, which debuted in 1998. She was responsible for designing Sierra’s second and last installment of the Mixed-Up children’s adventure franchise, titled Mixed-Up Fairy Tales. Additionally, she lent her voice to the CD-ROM edition of King's Quest V. Following Sierra’s staff reductions in 1994, she took charge of the development for Quest for Glory V. Her image was also used as a character reference in Police Quest: SWAT 2.

Games

Far Studio/Transolar Games

Following Sierra’s restrictions on budget and schedule for the production of Quest for Glory V, Lori and Corey Cole established FAR Productions—named after their Flying Aardvark Ranch—to create games on behalf of other publishers. Among these was the 1995 title Shannara, developed for Legend Entertainment.

In 2003, the Coles embarked on developing a game inspired by an unpublished book co-authored by Lori, originally titled How to Be a Hero. After losing access to their initial website, they renamed the project to School of Heroes. Corey created an early text-based adventure prototype using Inform, but development was halted due to dissatisfaction with its gameplay mechanics. They maintained a website promoting this book/game hybrid concept that allowed visitors to register as "students" and complete interactive tasks; however, plans to evolve it into a full-fledged game were never realized.

Toward the end of 2011, the Coles redirected their efforts from maintaining the website toward producing a complete game. Motivated by encouragement from fans and fellow Sierra veterans’ achievements, they launched a Kickstarter campaign on October 19, 2012, to fund Hero-U, a 2D adventure RPG drawing inspiration from their earlier ideas. The resulting game, Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption, was released by Transolar Games in 2018.

Recognition

In 1990, Corey and Lori Ann Cole, together with producer Guruka Singh Khalsa, received the Adventure Game of the Year award from Computer Gaming World for their work on Hero's Quest.

External links

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