Al Lowe
Al Lowe, born
July 24 1942, is a
musician and
game designer of
Sierra On-Line mostly known for the creation of the
Leisure Suit Larry series.
Lowe began his career teaching
public school music for 15 years. After that time, he decided to teach himself programming and in 1982 he created three
games for the
Apple II:
Dragon's Keep,
Bop-A-Bet, and
Troll's Tale.
Sierra Entertainment bought these games in 1983 and Al worked for them as a programmer and game designer for 16 years, which he thinks may be an industry record for longevity.
His first projects include
Winnie the Pooh in the 100-Acre Woods,
Donald Duck's Playground, and
The Black Cauldron, all based on
Disney properties.
In 1986, he was lead programmer on
King's Quest III and
Police Quest I and also created the music for other Sierra games.
He is best known for his
Leisure Suit Larry series of games and its infectious theme song, which he composed. After Larry's success, Al also designed other games like
Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist and
Torin's Passage. Throughout his career, Al was known for his distinctive
bald head, full
beard, and considerable
belly. He liked to call himself "the world's oldest game designer."
In 1994, he moved with his family to
Seattle and has supposedly enjoyed retirement since 1998. Al has played
saxophone professionally since age 13 and still performs with local
jazz bands. He maintains
Al Lowe's Humor Site and
CyberJoke 3000™, a daily
joke mailing list where co-Sierra composer
Mark Seibert is also a member.
In a 2006 interview, Al revealed that he was not actually retired, but had spent well over a year secretly designing a new game
Sam Suede: Undercover Exposure, an action comedy game developed by iBase Entertainment, which he co-founded with
Ken Wegrzyn.
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iBase Entertainment Al Lowe's current company
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Al Lowe's Humor Site*
Al Lowe interview at Adventure Classic Gaming, 1997*
CyberJoke 3000™ joke list*
Al Lowe profile at
MobyGames*
Profile at Game Writers Conference{{Persondata
NAME=Lowe, Al | ALTERNATIVE NAMES= | SHORT DESCRIPTION=musician and game designer | DATE OF BIRTH=July 24 1946 | PLACE OF BIRTH=St. Louis, MO | DATE OF DEATH= | PLACE OF DEATH=
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