Update and new additions

Greetings Patrons!

December has been quite a busy month at the Sierra Chest. Most of the time I spent updating all the Sierra boxes in the database. Quite an annoying task to be honest, but it had to be done in order to make Sierra Chest 2 properly functional on mobile devices. All box art had fixed widths and heights, so it's been converted to relative values where all the box parts resize depending on the users'  screen resolution. With currently around 1,300 of boxes in the database, it was quite a daunting task.

I did also add new game entries and focussed on really old classics, dating from before even King's Quest was released. I added four of them:

- Dragon's Keep (1982): Al Lowe's very first game, an educational game for young children in the same style as Troll's Tale.

http://www.sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=357&fld=general

- Hi-Res Adventure #6: The Dark Crystal (1983). Based on Jim Henson's 1982 film, The Dark Crystal, designed by Roberta Williams, was the last of the Hi-Res Adventures. A spin-off, titled Gelfling Adventure (1984), should also be completed at the Sierra Chest soon.

http://www.sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=199&fld=general

- Learning With Leeper (1983): another educational game for young children, featuring the long-legged jumpy character from arcade game Lunar Leeper.  Learning With Leeper contains four minigames to teach counting, shape recognition, eye-hand coordiantion and other skills to children aged 3 to 6. Another similar game, titled Learning With Fuzzywomp, was released the following year, but has yet to be completed on the site.

http://www.sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=360&fld=general

- Threshold (1981): designed by Warren Schwader (best known for Sierra's classic Hoyle games and Jones in the Fast Lane), Threshold is a fast-paced arcade shooter where you control a fighter plane defending earth against invading squads of enemy fighters. One of Warren's earliest games, though not his first - that would be Hi-Res Cribbage (1980).

http://www.sierrachest.com/index.php?a=games&id=461&fld=general

For January I will continue updating version 2 of the Sierra Chest. That includes adjusting more content, as well as making it more Google-friendly, and then it's gradually time for all the member features - really looking forward to that. I will also complete more game entries, of course. Currently I have a bunch of games I'm considering to add, including some more ultra classics like Hi-Res Adventure #4: Ulysses and the Golden Fleece, Sabotage and Laf Pak. Others I'm interested in adding are Codename: Iceman, Thexder or one of the Incredible Machine games. If you have any other game suggestions,  then of course, please let me know.

Well, that pretty much rounds it up for 2016. I'll continue working on the Chest tomorrow but now I'll start preparing dinner with my lovely wife and cool the champagne for midnight :-).

Happy Newyear, everybody, and may 2017 bring you happiness, good health and, of course, lots more Sierra goodies :).

Rudy